A pattern matching processing unit 10 binarizes input image data 1, compares a binarized pattern with a pattern provided for each of groups, and outputs either first information indicating a group to which a pattern that matches the binarized pattern belongs or second information indicating no match. A 0-degree direction dedicated filter 21, a 45-degree direction dedicated filter 22, a 90-degree direction dedicated filter 23, and a 135-degree direction dedicated filter 24 which are disposed correspondingly to the groups carry out smoothing processes according to the direction of an edge of the image, respectively. When the pattern matching processing unit outputs the first information, a selector 30 selects the output of either one of the filters corresponding to the group as output image data 2, whereas when the pattern matching processing unit outputs the second information, the selector outputs the input image data 1 as the output image data 2.

Conventionally, as a smoothing method of smoothing an edge of a character intended for a color laser printer, for example, there has been provided a method of binarizing or ternarizing image data, determining whether the binarized or ternarized image data match a pattern in a predetermined pattern table, and, when determining that the binarized or ternarized image data match a pattern in the predetermined pattern table, replaces a notice pixel by a predetermined image signal (for example, refer to patent reference 1). Further, this patent reference 1 describes a method of carrying out edge determination on an input image, determining whether a notice pixel is placed either on a peripheral edge portion or on an image flat portion other than the peripheral edge portion, and switching whether or not to carry out a matching process according to the result of the determination, thereby providing a high-resolution output image.

Image smoothing method based on content-dependent filtering


A non-absorbent ink guide is provided which allows a ballpoint pen to replaceably use different ink cartridges of different concentration. The ink guide has channels of different pitches for guiding the ink to the tip thereof and for returning flow of the ink after the tip has been saturated with the ink, a buffer portion to reduce the hydrodynamic pressure and flowing speed of the ink, and a collar to define the distance of the tip to the steel ball of the ballbearing of the ballpoint pen.

The present invention relates to ink guides for ballpoint pens, and more particularly the present invention relates to such an ink guide which allows a ballpoint pen to replaceably use different ink cartridges of different concentration.
Various ballpoint pens have been proposed, and have appeared on the market. FIG. 1 illustrates a ballpoint pen according to the prior art which comprises a reservoir tube filled with ink and held inside a barrel, a ballbearing attached to an absorbent rod, which is connected to the reservoir tube by a connector. The ink is continuously absorbed by the absorbent rod and guided out of the steel ball in the ballbearing during writing. As the absorbent rod keeps absorbing the ink even if it is saturated with the ink, the leakage of the ink may occur easily. There is also known in the prior art another ballpoint pen arrangement, as shown in FIG. 2, which comprises a barrel having an ink chamber on the inside to contain the ink, a tubular plug inserted into the barrel to hold a ballbearing and an absorbent rod. The absorbent rod continuously absorbs the ink, and then applies the ink to the steel ball in the ballbearing for writing. This ballpoint pen arrangement increases the ink holding capacity, however, it does not eliminate the leakage of the ink. Another problem of either of the aforesaid two ballpoint pen arrangement is that the ballpoint pen will become useless and shall be thrown away when the ink is used up. If the ballpoint pen of either structure is refilled with a different ink, the refilled ink may cause a chemical reaction with the residue of the ink previously used, to block the ink passage. Further, the assembly process of either ballpoint pen is complicated. It is difficult to control the best distance between the steel ball of the ballbearing and the tip of the absorbent rod. Since the distance between the tip of the absorbent rod and the steel ball of the ballbearing determines the flow rate of the ink to the steel ball, the ballbearing should be properly fastened to the absorbent rod, and accurately checked by an instrument after assembly.


In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, systems and methods for sensing and communicating sensed downhole parameters using a hybrid micro-structured fiber optic cable are provided. The micro-structured fiber optic cable may be used to communicate and/or amplify sensor signals indicative of the sensed downhole parameters. These sensed downhole parameters may include one or more of a downhole temperature, pressure, magnetic field, electromagnetic energy, radioactivity, telemetry signal, or some other downhole measurement. The micro-structured fiber optic cable may include opto-electronic circuitry built into the internal structure of the cable for modulating the optical signal based on the sensed parameters. The opto-electronic circuitry may include diodes, triodes, and other components that are communicatively coupled to external sensors used to measure downhole parameters. The opto-electronic circuitry may include an internal sensor in the form of a functional material disposed within the micro-structured fiber optic cable for measuring downhole parameters.

Hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, are commonly obtained from subterranean formations that may be located onshore or offshore. The development of subterranean operations and the processes involved in removing hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation typically involve a number of different steps such as, for example, drilling a wellbore at a desired well site, treating the wellbore to optimize production of hydrocarbons, and performing the necessary steps to produce and process the hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation.
Upon drilling a wellbore that intersects a subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formation, a variety of downhole tools may be positioned in the wellbore during exploration, completion, production, and/or remedial activities. For example, sensor components may be lowered into the wellbore during drilling, completion, and production phases of the wellbore. Such sensor components are often lowered downhole by a wireline, a slickline, a work string, or a drill string, and the sensors are used to perform a variety of downhole logging services. Sometimes the sensors are coupled to communication systems for conveying data indicative of sensed downhole parameters from the downhole sensor component to a surface location. For example, the downhole system (e.g., wireline, slickline) may utilize a fiber optic communication system for relaying sensed parameter measurement data from the downhole sensor to the surface for evaluation in real time or near real time.
In existing optical communication systems, an optical fiber is typically used to guide and propagate light waves from a source to a receiver (or detector). Light wave sources are often unable to operate at high temperatures experienced in a wellbore, so the sources are often positioned at a surface of the wellbore instead of downhole. Unfortunately, existing methods for communicating sensor signals from downhole to the surface using optical fibers (with a surface-positioned source and receiver) are generally limited to low sensitivity levels. For example, communication systems that use external optical or electrical modulation components positioned downhole along the optical fiber can lead to undesirable variation in the sensor data signal, due to losses at the interface between the fiber and the modulation components. In addition, these modulation components tend to add undesirable bulk to the optical fiber communication system. Some fiber communication systems are designed to sense downhole properties based on mechanical changes to the fiber itself, but these systems are limited to sensing a small range of properties at relatively low sensitivities.

Micro-structured fiber optic cable for downhole sensing


A method of manufacturing the semiconductor device includes: (a) providing a substrate having a semiconductor layer; (b) forming a first insulating film over an insulating layer so as to cover the semiconductor layer; (c) forming an opening extending through the first insulating film and reaching the semiconductor layer; (d) forming, over the semiconductor layer exposed at a bottom surface of the opening, a semiconductor portion having a thickness smaller than that of the first insulating film over the semiconductor layer by a selective epitaxial growth method; (e) forming a second insulating film over the first insulating film and the semiconductor portion; (f) removing the second insulating film from over the first insulating film, while leaving the second insulating film in the opening; (g) removing a semiconductor particle formed over the first insulating film in the (d); and (h) forming a third insulating film over the first insulating film.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and particularly to a manufacturing technique for a semiconductor device having a semiconductor layer formed by an epitaxial growth method.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-91570 (Patent Document 1) describes a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which grows a semiconductor thin film by vapor-phase selective epitaxial growth.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that accesses memory locations in an object-addressed memory system. During a memory access in the object-addressed memory system, the system receives an object identifier and an address. The system then uses the object identifier to identify a paged memory object associated with the memory access. Next, the system uses the address and a page table associated with the paged memory object to identify a memory page associated with the memory access. After determining the memory page, the system uses the address to access a memory location in the memory page.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure is generally related to the design of computer systems that support object-based memory addressing. More specifically, this disclosure is related to identifying and accessing memory pages that are associated with paged memory objects.
2. Related Art
Virtual machines can be used to emulate different hardware environments on a computing device. For instance, a virtual machine can facilitate executing programs that have been compiled for a different instruction set architecture (ISA) than that of the computing device. Moreover, two or more virtual machines that emulate different hardware environments and/or operating systems may co-exist and simultaneously execute guest programs on the same computing device.
However, managing multiple address spaces for different simultaneously executing guest programs can be complex. For example, while translating and executing guest programs, a runtime environment on the computing device needs to ensure that each given load and store instruction accesses the correct address space with the correct privileges. For instance, different load instructions may need to access memory locations associated with guest applications, guest operating systems, and/or a virtual machine's private address space (which should be invisible to the guest application or guest operating system). Precisely emulating different ISAs requires that such memory accesses be handled correctly, which can involve substantial programming effort and overhead.
Hence, what is needed is a method that facilitates accessing memory without the above-described limitations of existing techniques.

Accessing memory locations for paged memory objects in an object-addressed memory system


According to an embodiment, a method provides information regarding the vicinity of a vehicle. The method includes, in the vehicle, providing a sensor signal representative of an environmental condition in a vicinity of the vehicle, transmitting the sensor signal over a power line in the vehicle, receiving the sensor signal transmitted over the power line and transmitting a corresponding wireless sensor signal in the vehicle, receiving the wireless sensor signal and recovering the sensor signal, and presenting the recovered sensor signal in a human-perceivable form.

The pilots of some large aircraft may not be able to easily see the wingtips of their aircraft and may have difficulty discerning whether there is sufficient clearance for a wingtip of their aircraft to pass by an object, especially if the weather is bad or it is nighttime. This reduced visibility may be a factor in several incidents wherein the wingtips of a large aircraft have struck another aircraft or a fixed object during taxi. If such a collision occurs the aircraft will be removed from service until it has been inspected and, if necessary, repaired. The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a Safety Recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for installation of anti-collision aids, such as onboard camera systems, to help pilots with clearance issues during taxi.

Taxiing aircraft vicinity visualization system and method


A mantel device for storing and dispensing fuel for insert-type pellet stoves having a continuous feed hopper. A pellet stove mantel has a hopper inside the mantel. The mantel hopper is attachable to the continuous feed hopper of the pallet stove and provides hopper to hopper fuel feed. The mantel device has the appearance of a zero clearance fireplace including a flush mounted mantel, a pedestal lift attached to the main frame of the mantel and a hearth mat is fastened to the main frame of the mantel and the pedestal lift. The mantel hopper is located in the upper portion of the mantel and has a plurality of angled sides forming a funnel. The mantel also has a cap at the top with an opening covered by a lid which provides an access to the hopper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mantel which can be utilized in connection with a pellet stove, more particularly to a mantel having a hopper which combines with the hopper of a pellet stove to create a hopper to hopper fuel feed.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
It has been common practice to provide insert pellet stoves for fireplaces. However, it has been necessary to load pellets into the stove hopper every day or two.
There have been numerous devices which generally provide means for feeding fuel from a hopper into the fire. One of these is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 810,719 which discloses a fireplace adapted to either fit a domestic hearth or receive an open grate or stove. The fuel hopper is located at the top of the fireplace, and burning fuel descends by gravity through the chute. Fuel may also be added through an external door.
Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 1,391,394 discloses a method of introducing fuel into a fireplace heating system by means of a chute from an internal fuel box.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,231 discloses a telescoping fuel hopper and chute for introduction of fuel into the firebox of an open hearth type fireplace.
The designs discussed above share the disadvantage that the fuel must be continuously added to the fireplace. Furthermore, these designs do not incorporate a modern insert pellet stove.

Pellet stove mantel with integral hopper


The present invention relates to a multithread processor. In the multithread processor, when a cache miss occurs on a request related to an instruction in, of a plurality of caches arranged hierarchically, a cache at the lowest place in the hierarchy, with respect to the request suffering the cache miss, a cache control unit notifies an instruction identifier and a thread identifier, which are related to the instruction, to a multithread control unit. When a cache miss occurs on an instruction to be next completed, the multithread control unit makes the switching between threads on the basis of the instruction identifier and thread identifier notified from the cache control unit. This enables effective thread switching, thus enhancing the processing speed.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thread switching control in a multithread processor.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In the recent years, as the representatives of computer architectures, in addition to a CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) architecture designed to carry out complex processing in accordance with one instruction, there have been known an RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture made to simplify processing to be implemented relative to one instruction, a VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) made to collect a plurality of simultaneously processible instructions into one long instruction through software, and other architectures.
In addition, the processing methods in a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer for realizing these architectures are roughly classified into two: in-order execution type and out-of-order execution type.
FIG. 23 is an illustration for explaining an in-order execution type processing method, while FIG. 24 is an illustration for explaining an out-of-order execution type processing method. As shown in FIG. 23, the in-order execution type is a method of conducting instruction processing according to a program, and as shown in FIG. 24, the out-of-order execution type is a method of seeing the dependence (dependent relationship) between instructions so that, in the case of an instruction having no dependence, the processing is conducted without following the program sequence.
Furthermore, in the recent years, in addition to single thread processing for carrying out one program (thread) in one processor, attention has been paid to a multithread processor system designed to physically carry out a plurality of threads in parallel in one processor.
FIGS. 25A and 25B are illustrations for explaining a multithread processor system. FIG. 25A is an illustration for explaining single thread processing, while FIG. 25B is an illustration for explaining multithread processing. FIG. 25B shows an example of multithread processing in which two programs A and B are processed in parallel in one CPU.
In general, in addition to a register visible to software and a status register (CPU status register), a CPU has resources for carrying out the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, load processing for reading out memory data into a register and software processing for writing register data in a memory. The multithread processor is designed to multiplex registers visible to software in one CPU so that a plurality of programs share an instruction execution resource for addition/subtraction or the like while implementing separate programs.
As a method of realizing the above-mentioned multithread processing, in addition to a fine grained multithreading method or simultaneous multithreading (SMT) method (see FIG. 26) which carries out a plurality of threads simultaneously, there has been known a coarse grained multithreading method or vertical multithreading (VMT) method (see FIG. 27) which is designed to make the switching to a different thread and implement it in the case of the occurrence of an event such as a cache miss without carrying out a plurality of threads simultaneously (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-163121).
FIG. 26 is an illustration for explaining the SMT method, while FIG. 27 is an illustration for explaining the VMT method.
The VMT method is for covering up the cache-miss instruction processing which requires a long time, and it is designed to, in the case of the detection of cache miss, make the switching to a different thread and carry out the thread in an execution unit or control unit (both are not shown) with respect to the processing other than a memory access while a cache control unit (not shown) conducts the processing to bring data from a memory to a cache. Moreover, in this VMT method, with respect to threads in which cache miss is hard to develop, the switching to a different thread is made when a given period of time elapses.
FIG. 28 is an illustration for explaining the processing at the occurrence of a cache miss in the in-order mode, and FIG. 29 is an illustration for explaining the processing at the occurrence of a cache miss in the out-of-order mode, and FIG. 30 is an illustration for explaining a conventional thread switching method in the out-of-order mode.
So far, the VMT method has been used on only the aforesaid in-order processor. In a processor made to conduct the in-order execution, an event of a cache miss occurs in a program sequence, and the response of cache miss data from a memory is made in the program sequence (see FIG. 28). On the other hand, in a processor made to conduct execution in the out-of-order mode, the memory access does not arise in an instruction sequence in a program, and as shown in FIG. 29, the cache miss event does not always occur in the program sequence.
For example, as shown in FIG. 30, in a case in which two instructions A and B in which a cache miss occurs exist on a thread X and the sequence on the thread X is the order of the instruction A and the instruction B, when the execution of the instruction B can be conducted prior to the instruction A, a cache miss of the instruction B is detected prior to the detection of a cache miss of the instruction A. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 30, if the cache miss of the instruction B is detected and the switching is made from the thread X to another thread Y before the occurrence of the cache miss of the instruction A, the cache miss of the instruction A occurs after the resumption of the execution of the thread X.
Incidentally, in the case of the in-order execution type processor, since the execution of the instruction B starts after the start of the execution of the instruction A, the cache miss occurs in the order of the instruction A and the instruction B.
There is a problem which arises with the conventional VMT type multithread processing, however, in that, since the thread switching is made whenever a cache miss occurs, the frequency of the thread switching increases, which leads to inefficient processing. Thus, there is a need to achieve the thread switching efficiently for increasing the processing speed.

Multithread processor and thread switching control method


A route-quality learning method, system, and computer program product include collecting a first route for a trip recommended from a first third-party application, collecting a second route for the trip recommended from a second third-party application, and after the trip is completed, estimating best alternatives given completion data of the trip and using the first third-party application and the second third-party application recommendation.

The present invention relates generally to a route-quality learning method, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a system, method, and computer program product for cognitive-enabled reasoning and learning about previous actions (e.g., transport routing) leveraging the pervasive sensing of Internet of Things (IoT) in the traffic space.
Conventionally, tools for personalized traffic information on mobile devices have been developed in which traffic predictions along a driver's usual route were provided in advance of the journey. This leverages the pervasive sensing available in IoT capabilities of mobile and in-vehicle devices. However, the conventional techniques have limitations, such as, the driver's route taken may not have been the best choice, but the driver is unable to know whether or not it is the case since only an after-the-fact service could provide such information and this precludes effective learning. Further, the conventional routing applications may be unable to integrate unstructured sources of information that the driver is accumulating, such as crowd sentiment, social events along the routes, driving behaviors, route preferences, etc. thereby neglecting crucial data sources in their learning process.

Cognitive route quality-learning service

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Weighing systems and methods for dynamic loads are provided. A plurality of sensors are configured to provide force information based on a weight of a bin and a weight of a material in the bin. An IMU is coupled to the bin and configured to provide gyroscope information and accelerometer information based on orientation and movement of the bin respectively. A controller is communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors and to the IMU. The controller is configured to receive the force information from the plurality of sensors and the gyroscope information and the accelerometer information from the IMU. The controller is configured to compensate the force information based on slope of the bin to provide slope-compensated force information, filter the slope-compensated force information using a Kalman filter to provide filtered force information, and estimate the weight of the material in the bin based on the filtered force information.

Weighing agricultural crops while harvesting is important for determining yield and implementing yield management systems. Conventional techniques for estimating weight of agricultural crops are prone to error due to uneven or rough ground. During harvest, trucks, carts, and/or trailers (e.g., bins) carrying agricultural crops bounce around which causes disturbances in weight measurement systems. Factors such as chassis and suspension of machinery and pot holes contribute to the disturbances. These same factors contribute to disturbances when applying a product to an agricultural crop. Improved systems and methods for estimating weight of agricultural materials in a bin are desired.


A mechanism for simultaneous multithreading is provided. Responsive to performing a store instruction for a given thread of threads on a processor core and responsive to the core having ownership of a cache line in a cache, an entry of the store instruction is placed in a given store queue belonging to the given thread. The entry for the store instruction has a starting memory address and an ending memory address on the cache line. The starting memory addresses through ending memory addresses of load queues of the threads are compared on a byte-per-byte basis against the starting through ending memory address of the store instruction. Responsive to one memory address byte in the starting through ending memory addresses in the load queues overlapping with a memory address byte in the starting through ending memory address of the store instruction, the threads having the one memory address byte is flushed.

The present disclosure relates generally to processor cores, and more specifically, to simultaneous multithreading (SMT) on the processor cores.
Simultaneous multithreading allows various core resources of a processor to be shared by a plurality of instruction streams known as threads. Core resources can include instruction-execution units, caches, translation-lookaside buffers (TLBs), and the like, which may be collectively referred to generally as a core. A single thread, whose instructions access data, typically cannot utilize the full core resource due to the latency to resolve data located in the memory nest. Multiple threads accessing data sharing a core resource typically result in a higher core utilization and core instruction throughput, but individual threads may experience slower execution. In a super-scalar processor simultaneous multithreading (SMT) implementation, multiple threads may be simultaneously serviced by the core resources of one or more cores.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Load and store ordering for a strongly ordered simultaneous multithreading core


This invention provides methods, processes, compounds and compositions for modulating the gene expression or secretion of adhesion proteins, angiopoietins or their receptors to cure diseases, for anti-angiogenesis and for treating parasites, wherein the adhesion proteins or receptors comprise fibronectin, integrins family, myosin, vitronectin, collagen, laminin, glycosylation cell surface proteins, polyglycans, cadherin, heparin, tenascin, CD 54 , CAM, elastin and FAK; wherein the angiopoietins comprise angiopoietin 1, angiopoietin 2, angiopoietin 3, angiopoietin 4, angiopoietin 5, angiopoietin 6, angiopoietin 7, angiopoietin-like 1, angiopoietin-like 2, angiopoietin-like 3, angiopoietin-like 4, angiopoietin-like 5, angiopoietin-like 6, and angiopoietin-like 7; wherein the cancers comprise breast cancer, leukocyte cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer, brain cancer, leukemia cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, CNS cancer, melanoma cancer, renal cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, testicular cancer, spleenic cancer, kidney cancer, lymphatic cancer, pancreas cancer, stomach cancer and thyroid cancer.

The composition from Maesa balansae for anti-leishmanial is a United Nation funding project. This invention provides methods for inhibiting cancer metastasis or growth, wherein the cancers comprise breast cancer, leukocytic cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, prostatic cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer, brain cancer, leukemia cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, CNS cancer, melanoma cancer, renal cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, testicular cancer, spleenic cancer, kidney cancer, lymphatic cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer and thyroid cancer., wherein the method is using the extract, composition and compounds from Maesa balansae, Barringtonia acutangula, Xanthoceras Sorbifolia, Harpullia, Aesculus hippocastanum.

Triterpenes for modulating gene expression and cell membrane, and as antiprotozoal agents


An improved tool and method for enhancing the surface of a heat transfer tube are provided. The tool, which can be easily added to existing manufacturing equipment, includes cutting bits that may be retracted with a housing. The cutting bits include a cutting edge to cut through the surface of a tube and a lifting edge to lift the surface of the tube to form protrusions. A method for enhancing the inner surface of the tube includes mounting a tool on a shaft, positioning the tool in the tube and causing relative rotation and axial movement between the tube and the tool to cut at least partially through at least one ridge formed along the surface of the tube to form ridge layers and lift the ridge layers to form protrusions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a tool for forming protrusions on the inner surface of a heat transfer tube and a method for using the tool.
2. General Background of the Invention
This invention relates to heat transfer tubes having an enhanced inner surface to facilitate heat transfer from one side of the tube to the other. Heat transfer tubes are commonly used in equipment, such as, for example, flooded evaporators, falling film evaporators, spray evaporators, absorption chillers, condensers, direct expansion coolers, and single phase coolers and heaters, used in the refrigeration, chemical, petrochemical, and food-processing industries. A variety of heat transfer mediums may be used in these applications, including, but not limited to, pure water, a water glycol mixture, any type of refrigerant (such as R-22, R-134a, R-123, etc.), ammonia, petrochemical fluids, and other mixtures.
An ideal heat transfer tube would allow heat to flow completely uninhibited from the interior of the tube to the exterior of the tube and vice versa. However, such free flow of heat across the tube is generally thwarted by the resistance to heat transfer. The overall resistance of the tube to heat transfer is calculated by adding the individual resistances from the outside to the inside of the tube or vice versa. To improve the heat transfer efficiency of the tube, tube manufacturers have sought to uncover ways to reduce the overall resistance of the tube. One such way is to enhance the outer surface of the tube, such as by forming fins on the outer surface. As a result of recent advances in enhancing the outer tube surface (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,430 and 5,996,686), only a small part of the overall tube resistance is attributable to the outside of the tube. For example, a typical evaporator tube used in a flooded chiller with an enhanced outer surface but smooth inner surface typically has a 10:1 inner resistance:outer resistance ratio. Ideally, one wants to obtain an inside to outside resistance ratio of 1:1. It becomes all the more important, therefore, to develop enhancements to the inner surface of the tube that will significantly reduce the tube side resistance and improve overall heat transfer performance of the tube.
It is known to provide heat transfer tubes with alternating grooves and ridges on their inner surfaces. The grooves and ridges cooperate to enhance turbulence of fluid heat transfer mediums, such as water, delivered within the tube. This turbulence increases the fluid mixing close to the inner tube surface to reduce or virtually eliminate the boundary layer build-up of the fluid medium close to the inner surface of the tube. The boundary layer thermal resistance significantly detracts from heat transfer performance by increasing the heat transfer resistance of the tube. The grooves and ridges also provide extra surface area for additional heat exchange. This basic premise is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,212 to Withers, Jr. et al.
The pattern, shapes and sizes of the grooves and ridges on the inner tube surface may be changed to further increase heat exchange performance. To that end, tube manufacturers have gone to great expense to experiment with alternative designs, including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,405 to Takima et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,332,034 and 5,458,191 to Chiang et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,196 to Gaffaney et al.
In general, however, enhancing the inner surface of the tube has proven much more difficult than the outer surface. Moreover, the majority of enhancements on both the outer and inner surface of tubes are formed by molding and shaping the surfaces. Enhancements have been formed, however, by cutting the tube surfaces.
Japanese Patent Application 09108759 discloses a tool for centering blades that cut a continuous spiral groove directly on the inner surface of a tube. Similarly, Japanese Patent Application 10281676 discloses a tube expanding plug equipped with cutting tools that cut a continuous spiral slot and upstanding fin on the inner surface of a tube. U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,364 discloses forming a continuous groove along the inner surface of a tube using a cutting tool that cuts into the inner tube surface and folds the material upwardly to form the continuous groove.
Manufacturing heat transfer tubes using known cutting tools can be a delicate and often expensive endeavor. Generally, these tools incorporate cutting bits that are always exposed. Thus, as the tool enters the tube, it easily can be damaged. Additionally, known tools can also be damaged when finning is stopped, then restarted. These tools often get stuck in the groove created between the finned section and the smooth section of the tube.
While the tools described above aim to form the desired surface on a heat transfer tube, there remains a need in the industry to continue to improve upon known tools by modifying existing and creating new tools that enhance heat transfer performance. As described below, Applicants have developed new tools for forming surfaces on heat transfer tubes which have significantly improved heat transfer performance.

Retractable finning tool and method of using


A display device includes a display portion, a display processing portion, a detecting portion, and a notification processing portion. The display processing portion displays one or more predetermined display objects on the display portion. The detecting portion detects a shielded area in the display portion shielded by a shielding object. The notification processing portion notifies by voice, among the one or more display objects, a display object that includes an area partially or completely overlapped with the shielded area detected by the detecting portion.

The present disclosure relates to a display device, an image processing apparatus including the display device, a notifying method executed in the display device, and a process executing method.
In an image processing apparatus such as a multifunctional peripheral, a display portion such as a liquid crystal display may be provided. In addition, in this type of image processing apparatus, a shielding object such as a document sheet may be placed on the display portion, and a portion of a screen displayed on the display portion may be shielded. As a technology to deal with the problem, there is known a display device that can, when a shielded area is detected in the display portion, reduce the screen displayed on the display portion, and display the reduced screen outside the shielded area in the display portion.

Display device capable of notifying display object by voice, image processing apparatus, notifying method, process executing method


A toilet seat (10) having a cleansing facility with an pivotable arm (18) supplied with warm water for cleaning and warm air for drying the anal and genital areas of a user. The arm (18) being automatically controlled to operate along a path substantially parallel with the central fore and aft axis of the toilet seat (10) between a stored position and an active position. The water is supplied though a duct (36) which has a relatively small cross-sectional area and the air is supplied through a duct (44) having a relatively large cross-sectional area so as to provide respectively differing volumes of fluid to the user. The water duct (36) and air duct (44) are substantially parallel and both terminate in upward disposition to direct the water and air upwardly onto the user at a close range for efficient cleaning and drying, respectively. The toilet seat (10) has a bi-directional fan (50) that rotates clockwise for delivering air to the anal area of the user and anti-clockwise for delivering air to the genital area of the user. A heater coil (49) is provided in the air duct (44) and optionally upstream of the fan (50). A second water outlet (60) is provided for cleaning male genitals and can be manipulated to adjust its orientation.

This invention relates to a toilet seat having a cleansing facility.
The feature of the present invention comprises a development of two earlier inventions which were disclosed in International patent application PCT/AU91/00523 and PCT/AU94/00537.
Throughout the specification the term pedestal should be taken to include toilet pedestals of a substantially conventional form which defines a pa n and which is capable of receiving a toilet seat. In addition, the toilet seat should be taken to include a toilet seat which is adapted to be mounted to a pedestal to overlie the rim of the pedestal to provide support for an occupant, said toilet seat having an opening which overlies the pan of the pedestal.
Accordingly, the invention resides in a toilet seat having an opening providing access through the toilet seat, said toilet seat being provided with a cleansing facility, said cleansing facility comprising an arm supported at a one end thereof by said toilet seat at one side of the periphery of the opening, said on e end being supported from the toilet seat by a mounting which enables the arm to be capable of substantially longitudinal movement along a longitudinal path which Is substantially parallel with the central fore and aft axis of the toilet seat, said mounting also enabling pivotal movement of the arm when the arm is at a position on the path between a stored position at which the arm lies within or closely adjacent an inner periphery of the toilet seat and an active position at which the arm extends laterally from the inner periphery of the toilet seat across the opening such that its other end lies generally in the region of the central fore and aft axis of the toilet seat, said arm comprising a water supply duct adapted to receive water from a water delivery means, the water duct terminating at the other end of the arm as a water outlet, the water outlet being directed upwardly when the arm is In its active position, said arm further comprising a first air supply duct adapted to receive air from an air delivery means, the first air supply duct terminating at the other end of the arm as an air outlet, the air outlet being directed upwardly when the arm is in its active position, said cleansing facility having a control means operatively associated with a drive means and the water delivery means, said control means being adapted to cause activation of the drive means to cause the arm to move from its stored position to its active position, to move along the longitudinal path to one or more locations along the path, to cause activation of the water delivery means to enable the delivery of water from the water outlet when at the one or more locations.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention the pivotal movement of the arm is about a substantially upright axis.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the mounting comprises a longitudinal track provided in the toilet seat and the one end of the arm is slidably supported from the track. According to a further preferred feature, the mounting further comprises a slider, slidably supported on the track, said arm being pivotally supported from the slider to be movable between the stored and active position when at the said position. According to a further preferred feature of the invention, said position is located at one end of the path whereby the arm is in its stored position when the slider is at the one end of the path and the arm is moved from the stored position to the active position as the slider moves from the one end of the path and the arm moves from the active position to the stored position as the slider moves approaches the one end of the path. According to one particular embodiment, the movement of the arm between the stored and active position is effected by a bearing member provided on the arm slidably engaged with a formation on the toilet seat.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the water supply duct is connected at the one end of the arm to a delivery conduit provided in the toilet seat which is connected to source of water said delivery conduit comprising the water delivery means. According to one embodiment, the source of water comprises the mains supply and the water delivery means further comprises a control valve operatively controlled from the control means and associated with the delivery conduit. According to an alternative embodiment, the source of water comprises a reservoir and the connection to the water duct is effected through a pump controlled from the control means.
According to a preferred feature of each of the embodiments, a water heater is associated with the water supply.
According to a preferred feature of the invention, said first air duct is associated with at least one second air duct provided in the toilet seat, the air delivery means being connected to the at least one second air duct, said first air duct communicating with the at least one second air duct when the arm is in its active position and is at said one or more locations.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the slider has a passage which is connected to the first air duct when the arm is in its active position, said passage communicating with the at least one second duct when the arm is at said one or more locations. According to a further preferred feature of the invention said at least one second air duct comprises two second air ducts each having an outlet, the outlets being located in spaced positions along the track, said one or more locations comprising two locations and wherein said passage engages with one or the other outlets when it is at the respective locations.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention, each of the second air ducts are connected to a common inlet and a means is provided for directing airflow from the inlet to the outlet of which the slider is located. According to a preferred feature of the invention, the air delivery means comprises a fan.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention an air heating means is provided in association with the first and/or second air duct and which is controlled by the control means to heat air delivered from the outlet. According to one embodiment the heating means comprises a heating element located in the first duct in heat exchange relationship with the flow path through the first duct. According to another embodiment the heating means comprises a heating element provided between the fan and the inlet.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the toilet seat further comprises a second water outlet located at the forward inner periphery of the opening, the delivery of water to the second water outlet being controlled by the control means.
According to a further preferred feature of the invention, said second water outlet is capable of being manipulated to control the direction of the water flow.
The invention will be more fully understood in the light of the following description of several specific embodiments.


Methods and devices are disclosed herein that generally involve applying thermal therapy to tissue (e.g., localized cooling or heating of tissue), and in particular applying thermal therapy to the spinal canal, tissue disposed within the spinal canal, and/or nerve roots extending from the spinal canal. In some embodiments, tissue can be cooled or heated by implanting a malleable or deformable thermal device in proximity to the targeted tissue. The thermal device can be left in place following surgery to facilitate application of post-surgical thermal therapy. In some embodiments, the thermal device can be removed post-surgery in a minimally- or non-invasive manner. The thermal device can be connectionless or can include penetrable regions, pre-attached tubing, or detachable connectors to facilitate application of cooling or heating means to the device. Methods are disclosed for utilizing thermal devices and for carrying out various treatment regimens that involve cooling or heating tissue using such devices.

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, there are more than 259,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the United States. Traumatic spinal cord injury afflicts around 15,000 people in the United States each year. Approximately 12,000 survive the cord injury with a neurological deficit, which is commonly a severe, disabling physical impairment and mental burden. Long-term care for cord injuries costs an estimated $9.7 billion annually in the United States.
Application of certain degrees of hypothermia to a patient's spine and spinal cord after a spinal cord injury can lead to benefits, such as a reduction of the metabolic demand of spinal cord cells, reduction of edema, added tolerance to hypoxia/ischemia, and ultimately a reduction in spinal cord tissue damage or cell death. Realizing these benefits could mean the difference between quadriplegia and being able to use one's arms. The use of a cooling effect for these purposes can be referred to as therapeutic hypothermia.
Besides traumatic spinal cord injury, the spinal cord can be injured due to surgical procedures such as abdominal aneurysm repair, wherein blood flow to the spinal cord is reduced. This lack of blood flow, also known as ischemia, can cause cellular damage to the spinal cord. Local cooling of the spinal cord can decrease the incidence of spinal cord injury in abdominal aneurysm surgery. Nerve roots or any member of the central nervous system in the spine can also become damaged from trauma and/or surgical insult, and can cause neurologic deficits and/or significant patient pain. It will be appreciated that the spinal cord and nerves can become injured through any number of means.
Existing methods for cooling the spine involve systemic cooling of the entire body. Such treatments carry a number of disadvantages. For one thing, systemic cooling techniques lack the ability to specifically target the injured tissue and, as a result, other unrelated tissue can be damaged or destroyed by the cooling. Systemic cooling can also cause a wide variety of side effects. In addition, the degree to which the body can be cooled systemically is very limited, and it is difficult to precisely control the degree to which the body is cooled in systemic approaches. Body temperature changes using systemic techniques also tend to occur very slowly, which can undesirably delay administration of a cooling effect to the injured tissue.
In some instances it can be desirable to apply localized heating or therapeutic hyperthermia to a patient.
There is a continual need for improved methods and devices for applying thermal therapy.

Implantable devices for thermal therapy and related methods


A surgical retractor assembly for providing surgical exposure. The surgical retractor assembly consists of multiple ring segments connected by adjustable ratchet mechanisms to form a complete ring. The ratchet mechanisms are attached to tissue retractor blades which provide exposure of the wound when expanded, without the requirement of a direct connection/attachment to an operating table. The tissue retractor blades are attached in a manner which is adjustable and facilitates the ability of the overall surgical retractor assembly (ring segments and connectors) to be raised or lowered with respect to the patient. The ring segments also allow attachments of additional retractor blades or other surgical retractor accessories for additional surgical exposure.

Abdominal operations in both emergency and elective surgery settings require adequate exposure of abdominal contents in order for the surgeon to properly visualize areas of injury or disease. This is typically accomplished by the use of static metal retractors. Two of the most common retractor mechanisms in current use are the Balfour retractor and the Bookwalter retractor. Each of these retractors presents advantages and disadvantages in their design and use. The Balfour retractor consists of a frame with integrated metal blades on a ratchet system which, when engaged, retracts the abdominal wall laterally, thereby exposing the abdominal contents and allowing the surgeon to operate. The Bookwalter mechanism consists of a supporting frame attached to the operating table upon which a rigid non-adjustable metal ring is attached to which retractor blades are then attached individually. Despite the ubiquitous use of these retractors, these surgical retractor mechanisms have not been improved upon for considerable time.
The Balfour retractor is perhaps the most commonly utilized abdominal retractor due its simple design, ease of use, and rapid exposure of the abdomen, particularly in trauma and emergency surgery settings when time is of the essence. Since it does not require the attachment of a metal frame to the operating room bed, as with the Bookwalter retractor, valuable time is not wasted and it can be quickly inserted after the abdominal incision is created.
Despite the Balfour retractor's prevalence in operating rooms and ease of utilization, there are several limitations to its use. It provides inadequate abdominal exposure of large or obese patients. In larger or obese patients, the current design of the standard Balfour retractor often does not provide enough retraction to adequately expose the abdomen. The frame along which the retractor blades run is typically too short for larger or obese patients, resulting in suboptimal exposure and frequently necessitating conversion to another retractor system. Due to the Balfour retractor's inherently limited design, the surgical incision is only retracted along one axis (transverse), limiting overall exposure of the wound. An optional additional retractor blade (bladder blade) can be attached which only adds retraction in the inferior direction, typically resulting in suboptimal exposure requiring conversion to another retractor system.
The standard Balfour retractor does not provide an additional frame upon which to attach additional retractor blades except for a single bladder blade. This significantly limits the ability to retract additional incisional or abdominal contents compared to other retractor mechanisms, thereby limiting surgical exposure. Additionally, the Balfour retractor system commonly poses a significant problem during its use due to the unintentional movement and migration of the retractor blades along the edges of the surgical wound. The two retractor blades which provide lateral traction on the wound edges (or abdominal wall in abdominal operations) frequently unintentionally migrate to either the superior or inferior parts of the wound, causing rotation of the entire retractor mechanism, loss of wound edge retraction, and requiring either time-consuming repositioning of the retractor or conversion to another type of retractor system. This is particularly common in large or obese patients.
The Bookwalter retractor is typically the retractor system used when the Balfour retractor system is considered inadequate or ineffective. It consists of a supporting metal rod which is attached to a side rail on the operating room table by a non-sterile individual in the operating room after the patient is under anesthesia (the rail on the operating table is not considered part of the sterile operating field). A second metal arm is then attached to this supporting rod, and a rigid circular or oblong metal ring is then attached to the second metal arm. Once this is in place, individual retractor blades can then be attached, using the rigid ring for support.
Despite the popularity of the Bookwalter retractor it also presents several limitations. The Bookwalter retractor mechanism involves fixation to the operating room table which requires attachment by a non-sterile individual in the operating room. Occasionally this causes concerns in maintenance of the sterile field, as the surgeon may need to place his hands below the sterile barrier in order to assist and properly place the retractor arm. In addition, the multiple arms which require setup before surgical retraction is achieved mandates a significant amount of time in instrument setup, rendering this system inadequate for emergency settings or operations when time is of the essence. The circumferential ring used in the Bookwalter system is not expandable and frequently limits the placement of additional retractors in both the longitudinal and transverse axes. In addition, the fixed sizes of the rings do not allow adjustment of retraction depending on the individual physical characteristics of each patient and various types and sizes of wounds or incisions. The Bookwalter system also requires frequent repositioning by the surgical team during its use. After the Bookwalter system is set up and attached to the bed frame, the ring system is thereby fixed in place and additional retractors are attached. However, as the operation progresses and surgical exposure requirements change, the system needs to be repositioned to place the static non-expandable ring into the correct location. This requires interruption of the operation, removal of the retractor blades, repositioning of the ring, and reattachment of the retractor blades, again requiring significant time. There is an existing need for additional retractor systems.

BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM


A copper alloy material having: 1.0 to 5.0 mass % of Ni; 0.2 to 1.0 mass % of Si; 1.0 to 5.0 mass % of Zn; 0.1 to 0.5 mass % of Sn; 0.003 to 0.3 mass % of P; and the balance consisting of Cu and an unavoidable impurity. The mass ratio between Ni and each of Si, Zn and Sn is to be Ni/Si=4 to 6, Zn/Ni=0.5 or more, and Sn/Ni=0.05 to 0.2.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a copper alloy material and, in particular, to a copper alloy material that is excellent in mechanical strength such as tensile strength and yield strength, in elongation, in electric conductivity, in bending workability, and in bonding reliability in the case of using a Pb-free solder. This invention also relates to a method of making the copper alloy material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an electronic hardware such as a cellular phone or notebook PC is downsized, low-profiled and reduced in weight. Along with this, electric and/or electronic components used therein tend to be reduced in weight, length and thickness.
In the downsizing, although materials used therein also have to be reduced in thickness, a material is needed to have a high mechanical strength (herein also called simply "strength") even when it has the reduced thickness so as to keep a reliability in properties. Further, in order not to arise any crack in the bending process of parts, it also needs to have a good elongation. It is not suitable that the material has a difference in properties (anisotropy) between in a rolling direction and in an orthogonal direction to the rolling direction thereof, and it is important that the material has good properties in any directions.
Further, generated Joule heat increases with increasing in applied current and in the number of electrodes due to the sophistication of equipment. Thus, the material also needs to have a good electric conductivity as well as the mechanical strength. Such high electric conductivity is needed especially in a terminal and connector material for automobiles and a lead frame material for power IC, where applied current goes on increasing rapidly.
On the other hand, solder bonding is generally used for connecting and mounting the above electric and electronic parts. Although Sn—Pb eutectic system solders have been mainly used conventionally, Pb-free solders with a high Sn concentration are recently in wide use since Pb is restricted as a harmful material.
Due to the change from the Sn—Pb eutectic system solders used conventionally to the Pb-free solders, the following problems occur which have never happened before. Since most of the Pb-free solders have a higher melting point than the conventional Sn—Pb eutectic system solders, heating temperature in bonding the parts is needed to be higher than conventional one when the Pb-free solder is applied. When the heating is repeated in the process of assembling the electric and electronic parts, the interdiffusion between the Cu in the parts and the Sn in the solder is promoted at the bonding interface which is subjected to high temperature. As a result, the formation and growth of Cu—Sn intermetallic compounds at the bonding interface is promoted than before. The intermetallic compounds formed (or generated) are mainly Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn. Since especially Cu3Sn is a brittle material, the bonding reliability will be degraded according as its growth progresses at the bonding interface.
Various copper alloys are used as materials for the electric and electronic parts. Especially copper alloys containing Cu—Ni—Si as a main component are suggested as a material to have a high mechanical strength and a high electric conductivity (e.g., JP-A-2002-266042, and JP-B-2572042, 2977845 and 3465541).
However, the Ni contained in the copper alloys has a high diffusion rate toward the solder layer and can promote the formation and growth of the intermetallic compound between the Cu and the Sn. Therefore, the intermetallic compound will be grown easily when the content of Ni increases in the above Cu—Ni—Si alloys.
Further, in the Cu—Ni—Si alloys, if it is intended to have a high strength, the bending workability deteriorates and the an isotropy in mechanical properties becomes significant. Thus, it is difficult to satisfy simultaneously these properties in the Cu—Ni—Si alloys.

Copper alloy material and method of making same


Provided are an interworking procedure with an external network in a WLAN, a station supporting the interworking procedure, and a message format for the interworking procedure. In the interworking procedure, a non-AP station transmits a request message which includes an advertisement protocol ID set to a value indicating native query protocol and a native query information ID set to a value indicating emergency call number information. And the non-AP station receives from an access point (AP) a response message including zero or more emergency call numbers in response to the request message.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless local access network (WLAN), and more particularly, to an interworking procedure with an external network in a WLAN, a station supporting the interworking procedure, and a message format for the interworking procedure.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of information communication technology, a variety of wireless communication technology has been developed. A WLAN permits wireless access to intra network and/or Internet in specific service areas such as home or companies or air planes by the use of portable terminals such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, and a portable multimedia player (PMP) on the basis of radio telecommunication technology.
These days, thanks to the increased availability of WLANs, portable terminal users such as laptop computer users are able to perform their tasks with increased mobility. For example, a user can take his laptop computer from his desk into a conference room to attend a meeting, still have access to his local network to retrieve data, and have access to the Internet via one or more modems or gateways present on the local network without being tethered by a wired connection. Similarly, business travelers commonly use their portable terminals to gain access to their email accounts, to check if there is any unread email, and to read and send email.
In the initial WLAN technology, a data rate of 1 to 2 Mbps was supported by the use of frequency hopping, spread spectrum, and infrared communication using a frequency of 2.4 GHz in accordance with the IEEE 802.11. In recent years, with the development of the wireless communication technology, 54 Mbps in maximum can be supported by applying the orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) technology, etc. to the WLAN. In addition, the IEEE 802.11 has developed or is developing wireless communication technologies for improvement in quality of service (QoS), compatibility of an access point (AP) protocol, security enhancement, radio measurement or radio resource measurement, wireless access in vehicular environment, fast roaming, mesh network, inter-working with external networks, wireless network management, and the like.
On the other hands, the IEEE 802.11u standard which is a kind of WLAN standards describes an interworking service in the WLANs. The main purpose of the interworking service is to permit the transmission of information from an external network for WLAN users, to help selection of connection networks, and to enable an emergency service. The IEEE 802.11u standard prescribes medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols necessary for accomplishing the main purpose.

Interworking procedure with external network in wireless LAN and message format for the same


An apparatus and a method for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine, particularly in a medium density ion implanter. The apparatus and method can be used to accurately calibrate the zero-angle position of a wafer platform in the medium energy ion implanter. The apparatus includes a process chamber that has a cavity and a wafer platform therein, a window that is substantially transparent to laser energy mounted in a top wall of the chamber, and a laser emitter and receiver positioned outside the process chamber juxtaposed to the window for emitting a laser beam onto a wafer positioned on the wafer platform and receiving a reflected laser beam to determine a tilt angle of the wafer platform by the intensity of the reflected laser beam.

The present invention generally relates to a calibration method for semiconductor process equipment and more particularly, relates to an apparatus and a method for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a semiconductor process machine.
Ion beam implanters are used to implant or xe2x80x9cdopexe2x80x9d silicon wafers with impurities to produce n or p type doped regions on the wafers. The n and p type material regions are utilized in the production of semiconductor integrated circuits. Implanting ions generated from source materials such as antimony, arsenic or phosphorus results in n type material. If p type material is desired, ions generated with source materials such as boron, gallium or indium are typically used.
The ion beam implanter includes an ion source for generating positively charged ions from ionizable source materials. The generated ions are formed into a beam and accelerated along a predetermined beam path to an implantation station. The beam is formed and shaped by apparatus located along the beam path en route to the implantation station. When operating the implanter, the interior region must be evacuated to reduce the probability of ions being deflected from the predetermined beam path as a result of collisions with air molecules.
During ion implantation a surface is uniformly irradiated by a beam of ions or molecules, of a specific species and prescribed energy. The size of the wafer or substrate (e.g. 8 inches or greater) is typically much larger than the cross-section of the irradiating beam which deposits on the wafer as a spot or xe2x80x9cribbonxe2x80x9d of about 1 inch. Commonly, in high current machines, the required uniform irradiance is achieved by moving the wafer through the beam.
Operation of an ion implanter results in the production of certain contaminant materials. These contaminant materials adhere to surfaces of the implanter beam forming and shaping structure adjacent the ion beam path and also on the surface of the wafer support facing the ion beam. Contaminant materials also include undesirable species of ions generated in the ion source, that is, ions having the either the wrong atomic mass or undesired ions of the same atomic mass.
In a conventional ion implanter 10 such as that shown in FIG. 1, an ion beam 12 is emitted from an ion source 14 and passed through a pre-analyzing magnet 16 to remove undesired types of ions. Ions having identical energies but different masses experience a different magnetic force as they pass through the magnetic field due to their differing masses thereby altering their pathways. As a result, only those desired ions of a particular atomic mass unit (AMU) are allowed to pass through a prepositioned orifice in the pre-analyzing magnet.
After passing through the pre-analyzing magnet the ion beam is accelerated to a desired energy by an accelerator 18. Negative ions are changed into positive ions by a charge exchange process involving collisions with a chemically inert gas such as argon. The positive ions then pass through a post-analyzing magnet (not shown) and a pair of vertical and horizontal scanners 20, 22 finally reach a wafer 24 where they impact the wafer 24 and are implanted.
Ion implantation has the ability to precisely control the number of implanted dopant atoms into substrates to within 3%. For dopant control in the 1014-1018 atoms/cm3 range, ion implantation is superior to chemical diffusion techniques. Heavy doping with an ion implanter, for example, can be used to alter the etch characteristics of materials for patterning. The implantation may be performed through materials that may already be in place while other materials may be used as masks to create specific doping profiles. Furthermore, more than one type of dopant may be implanted at the same time and at the same position on the wafer. Other advantages include the fact that ion implantation may be performed at low temperature which does not harm photoresist and in high vacuum which provides a clean environment.
In the convention ion implanter 10 of FIG. 1, the wafer to be implanted is clamped onto a wafer platform during the implantation process. For instance, such a wafer platform 32 is shown in FIG. 2 in a sample holding device 30 complete with a rotation mechanism 34. A perspective view of the wafer platform 32 in a horizontal position is shown in FIG. 3. After a wafer is mounted to the wafer platform 32, either by mechanical clamping or by electrostatic chucking, the wafer platform is turned by the rotational mechanism 34 into a vertical position such that ions from the ion beam emitter which are emitted in a horizontal direction may be bombarded on the surface of the wafer. The orientation of the wafer platform in the vertical direction is therefore very important for achieving a highly accurate implantation process. The criticality of the wafer platform orientation, i.e., the maintaining of a zero-angle position, becomes more important in the next generation wafer processes, such as for the 0.13 xcexcm process. It has been found that when the tilt angle of the wafer platform 32 deviates about 2xc2x0 from a zero-angle position during an ion implantation process, a variation as large as 20-30 mV in the threshold voltage value for the device produced may result. It is therefore an important process for calibrating the tilt angle of a wafer platform in order to avoid reliability issues.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine that does not have the drawbacks or shortcomings of the conventional calibration apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for calibrating the zero-angle position of a wafer platform in an ion implantation machine.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for calibrating the zero-angle position of a wafer platform in a medium current ion implanter that can be used out with high repeatability.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine by utilizing laser optics, including a laser emitter and a laser receiver mounted in the machine.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine by measuring the reflectance angle of a laser beam reflecting off a wafer surface that is sensitive to a change in the tilt angle.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for calibrating the zero-angle position of a wafer platform in a medium current ion implanter.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus and a method for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform are provided.
In a preferred embodiment, an apparatus for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine is provided which includes a process chamber that has a cavity and a wafer platform in the cavity; a window that is substantially transparent to laser energy in a top wall of the process chamber; and a laser emitter and receiver positioned outside the process chamber juxtaposed to the window for emitting a laser beam onto a wafer positioned on the wafer platform and receiving a reflected laser beam to determined a tilt angle of the wafer platform by the intensity of the reflected laser beam.
In the apparatus for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine, the laser emitter emits a continuous laser beam, or the laser emitter may be adjusted to emit a laser beam onto a portion of the wafer within 1 mm from an edge of the wafer. The process machine may be an ion implanter, or a medium current ion implanter. The wafer platform may be equipped with a mechanical clamping device, or may be equipped with an electrostatic chucking device. The window may be formed of quartz. The laser emitter may be adjusted to emit a laser beam onto a portion of the wafer that does not have active device built thereon. The process chamber may further include means for rotating the wafer platform from a horizontal loading position to a vertical test position.
The present invention is further directed to a method for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine which can be carried out by the operating steps of first providing a chamber for the process machine that is equipped with a top wall, a bottom wall, and side walls connecting the top and bottom walls, and a wafer platform; then mounting a window that is substantially transparent to laser energy in the top wall; positioning a laser emitter and receiver outside the chamber juxtaposed to the window; and emitting a laser beam onto a top surface of a wafer positioned on the wafer platform and receiving a reflected laser beam by the receiver and determining an intensity of the reflected beam.
The method for detecting the tilt angle of a wafer platform in a process machine may further include the steps of providing a wafer platform that is situated in a horizontal position in the chamber, and then positioning a wafer on top of the wafer platform. The method may further include the step of emitting a continuous laser beam from the laser emitter. The method may further include the step of emitting a laser beam onto a portion of the wafer that is within 1 mm from an edge of the wafer, or the step of emitting a laser beam onto a portion of the wafer that does not have active devices built thereon. The method may further include the step of mounting a quartz window in the top wall. The method may further include the step of calculating a tilt angle from an intensity of reflected laser measured. The method may further include the step of clamping a wafer on the wafer platform by mechanical clamping means, or by electrostatic chucking means. The method may further include the steps of rotating the wafer on a wafer platform from a horizontal loading position to a vertical ion implantation position, and ion implanting a top surface of the wafer.

Apparatus and method for detecting tilt angle of a wafer platform

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A storage unit comprising a frame portion and a liner portion. The frame portion is comprised of vertical supports that engage and support the liner portion. The liner portion included a backer portion. The liner portion also comprises angled shelving components that extend from the front and back of the liner portion, with the shelving components attaching to the backer portion and the frame.

Storage shelves and units are generally known in the art, as are storage shelves for shoes and the like. However, many currently known designs commonly fail to adequately secure the shoes or other items intended to be stored in the rack, resulting in such shoes or other items falling from the rack. This problem is especially persistent with portable storage racks, where the movement of the unit causes the shoes and other items to shift and potentially fall. This can be especially problematic when shoes and other items of different dimensions are stored on the same rack or shelf. Accordingly, a need exists for a portable shoe storage rack capable of retaining shoes in the rack and preventing shoes from falling out of the front, back or sides of each shelf.
The present invention meets this need.


The disclosure is related to systems and methods of smart packaging. In one example, a package can include an embedded data storage element that is readable at a point-of-sale terminal and includes custom data stored on the data storage element. The custom data may be associated with a specific product related to the package, such as a SIM card or phone. The custom data can include information to allow a process related to the product to be performed. The process may include allowing activation of the product only when an indicator at a server indicates the package was processed at an authorized terminal.

The present disclosure is generally related to systems and methods for smart packaging.
Devices such as cellular phones and phone calling cards can be bought at many retail locations. To use many of these devices, the device must be activated via a time consuming activation process. The activation process usually involves a user manually inputting a lengthy activation number or additional hardware such as a barcode scanner at the retail location specifically adapted for the activation process. Thus, the activation process at the retail location can be time consuming and expensive. The systems and methods described herein present solutions to at least these problems.


The embodiments herein relate to method in a node (105, 110) for handling modes in the wireless device (105). The node (105, 110) and wireless device (105) are comprised in a wireless network (100). The wireless device (105) is in active mode. The node (105, 110) obtains information indicating that the wireless device (105) should reduce its radio power consumption. The node (105, 110) determines that the wireless device (105) should change from active mode to a first power saving mode based on the obtained information and based on a first criterion. And, the node (105, 110) or the wireless device (105) determines that the wireless device (105) should change from active mode to a second power saving mode based on the obtained information and based on a second criterion.

In a typical communications network, also referred to as e.g. a wireless communications network, a wireless communications system, a communications network, a communications system or a wireless network, a wireless device communicates via a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more Core Networks (CNs).
The wireless device may be a device by which a subscriber may access services offered by an operator's network and services outside operator's network to which the operator's radio access network and core network provide access, e.g. access to the Internet. The wireless device may be any device, mobile or stationary, enabled to communicate over a radio channel in the wireless network, for instance but not limited to e.g. user equipment, mobile phone, smart phone, sensors, meters, vehicles, household appliances, medical appliances, media players, cameras, Machine to Machine (M2M) device or any type of consumer electronic, for instance but not limited to television, radio, lighting arrangements, tablet computer, laptop or Personal Computer (PC). The wireless device may be portable, pocket storable, hand held, computer comprised, or vehicle mounted devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the radio access network, with another entity, such as another wireless device or a server.
The wireless device is enabled to communicate wirelessly in the wireless network. The communication may be performed e.g. between two wireless devices, between a wireless device and a regular telephone and/or between the wireless device and a server via the radio access network and possibly one or more core networks and possibly the internet.
The wireless network covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas. Each cell area is served by a base station. The base station may be referred to as e.g. evolved Node B (eNB), eNodeB, NodeB, B node, Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Radio Base Station (RBS), depending on the technology and terminology used. The base station communicates over the air interface with the wireless device(s) within range of the base station.
The wireless network further comprises network nodes such as Serving GateWay (SGW), Packet data network GateWay (PGW), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS) etc.
Today wireless networks suffer from an increasing signaling load. This is mainly due to wireless devices frequently going online to download updates etc. for applications and features.
To save radio power consumption, e.g. battery consumption, the wireless device may quickly disable its radio whenever possible. This may be done by setting the wireless device in power saving modes such as idle mode or connected mode. A mode may also be referred to as a state. When the wireless device is not in the idle mode or the connected mode, it may be in active mode and it is actively connected to the base station, i.e. it is not in any power saving mode. The active mode may also be referred to as awake mode. The connected mode may also be referred to as a discontinuous reception mode, in which the wireless device performs discontinuous reception when saving radio power consumption. The connected mode may be DRX in connected mode if the wireless network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network or URA-PCH if the wireless network is a 3G network, e.g. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). DRX is short for discontinuous reception. URA is short for Universal terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) Registration Area and PCH is short for Paging CHannel.
If the need to save radio power consumption is signalled as the idle mode to the wireless device, it will lead to that all resources related to the wireless device are being released in the base station. Next time the wireless device comes online, i.e. enters active mode, all these resources have to be recreated. This causes signaling load in the wireless network.
DRX and URA-PCH may be used both in connected mode or idle mode. However, the embodiments herein relate to DRX in connected mode and URA-PCH in connected mode. If the need to save radio power consumption is signalled as the DRX in connected mode or URA-PCH in connected mode to the wireless device, the wireless device effectively stays connected with the base station, while the radio in the wireless device is turned off. This will not release resources in the base station, and signaling is kept to a minimum. DRX in connected mode and URA-PCH in connected mode may however cause more signaling, since handover must be done for all movements around the wireless network. Handover may be described as transfer of ongoing data session for a wireless device from one base station to another base station. DRX in connected mode and URA-PCH in connected mode is a process of turning off the radio receiver in the wireless device when it does not expect to receive incoming data. When the wireless device is in DRX in connected mode and URA-PCH in connected mode, its radio is periodically and momentarily switched on, to check for any pending downloads from the wireless network. Connected mode may also be referred to as sleep mode. This reduces the radio power consumption which extends the battery life of the wireless device. DRX in connected mode should not be mixed up with DRX in idle mode in which the wireless device may be set into after a time of air interface inactivity.


An integrated protection unit is a circuit breaker which includes basic overcurrent protection facility along with selective electrical accessories. A molded plastic accessory access cover secured to the integrated protection unit cover protects the accessory components contained within the integrated protection unit cover from the environment. A combined overcurrent trip actuator and multiple accessory unit can be field-installed within the integrated protection unit. The combined actuator-accessory unit includes electronic control circuitry for the accessories along with supplemental trip and reset interface components. The reset mechanism allows the actuator-accessory unit to become reset without interfering with the operation of the integrated protection unit. The trip interface components allow the circuit interrupter to interrupt a protected circuit by operation of the actuator-accessory unit.

The trend in the circuit protection industry is currently toward complete circuit protection which is accomplished by the addition of supplemental protection apparatus to standard overcurrent protective devices, such as molded case circuit breakers. In the past, when such auxiliary protection apparatus or other circuit breaker accessories were combined with a standard circuit breaker, the accessories were usually custom-installed at the point of manufacture. The combined protective device, when later installed in the field, could not be externally accessed for inspection, replacement or repair without destroying the integrity of the circuit breaker interior. U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,631 describes a molded case circuit breaker containing an actuator-accessory unit which provides a wide variety of circuit protection accessory options. This patent is incorporated herein for purposes of reference and should be reviewed for its description of the state-of-the-art of such circuit breakers and accessory devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,503 describes a reset mechanism for a lower ampere-rated circuit interrupter usually employed as a "branch" circuit interrupter within industrial power distribution systems downstream from a higher-rated "main" circuit interrupter. When electronic trip units are used within the higher-rated circuits, a "flux shifter" tripping device is used to articulate the interrupter operating mechanism upon overcurrent conditions. One such flux shifter device is described within U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,117 which Patent is incorporated herein for purposes of reference. With the heavier operating mechanism springs used within higher-rated circuit interrupters, the actuator-accessory unit, per se, is incapable of generating sufficient tripping force to articulate the operating mechanism, such that additional tripping force is required. The additional tripping force is provided by a supplemental tripping mechanism which interacts with the actuator-accessory unit through a sequential resetting arrangement to insure that the actuator-accessory unit becomes reset before the main operating mechanism is reset. The operation of the sequential latching arrangement is described within U.S. patent application Ser. No. 518,672 filed May 3, 1990 entitled "Actuator-Accessory Reset Arrangement for Molded Case Interrupter or Electric Switch" which Application is incorporated herein for purposes of reference.
One purpose of this invention is to describe the supplemental tripping mechanism and its interaction with the sequential latching arrangement to interrupt circuit current by direct operation of the actuator-accessory unit.

Tripping arrangement for molded case circuit interrupter


A database index management system uses one or more machine learning models to analyze a query log in relation to a database. A machine learning model may identify a query pattern and/or a change in the query pattern from the query log, identify a column associated with the query pattern, and identify an addition, removal, or modification of an index related to the identified column. The database index management system may perform one or more additions, removals or modifications of indices of the database based on query patterns identified in the query log. The database index management system continuously improves database performance in response to changing database usage patterns over time.

Databases are large collections of data, typically accessible by a computer. A relational database may include multiple tables, each table having a number of records, and each record having one or more fields. Tables of a database may also be conceptualized as rows and columns of data. Data may be retrieved from a relational database by a query identifying records with relational operators. A computer may search the records of a relational database to identify all records that match the query. In order to improve the speed of searching database records, one or more fields of a table may be indexed. The selection of which field to index and the type of index to assign to the field can impact database performance, and different indices and index types may perform better or worse depending on the queries that are performed on the database. One task of database administrators is to identify which fields should be indexed. The fact that database usage can change over time makes the task of identifying an optimal index more difficult.


A bipolar transistor includes: a substrate; a collector and a base layer with a p-conductive-type, an emitter layer with an n-conductive-type. The collector layer is formed above the substrate and includes a first nitride semiconductor. The base layer with the p-conductive-type is formed on the collector layer and includes a second nit ride semiconductor. The emitter layer with the n-conductive-type is formed on the base layer and includes a third nitride semiconductor. The collector layer, the base layer and the emitter layer are formed so that crystal growing directions with respect to a surface of the substrate are in parallel to a [0001] direction of the substrate. The first nitride semiconductor includes: InycAlxcGa1-xc-ycN (0≦xc≦1, 0≦yc≦1, 0<xc+yc≦1). In the first nitride semiconductor, a length of an a-axis on a surface side is longer than a length of an a-axis on a substrate side.

There is known a bipolar transistor containing a group III nitride semiconductor as a main material. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a typical configuration of a bipolar transistor. Such a bipolar transistor is reported in, e.g., L. S. McCarthy et al., "AlGaN/GaN Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor", IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 277, (1999).
In FIG. 1, the bipolar transistor includes a sapphire substrate 100, a sub-collector layer 103 including high density n-type GaN, a collector layer 104 including low density n-type GaN, a base layer 105 including p-type GaN and an emitter layer 106 including n-type Al0.1Ga0.9N. A crystal growing direction with respect to a substrate surface is in parallel to a [0001] direction. An emitter electrode 10E contacting the n-type AlGaN emitter layer 106, a base electrode 10B contacting the p-type GaN base layer 105 and a collector electrode 10C contacting the n-type GaN sub-collector 103 are respectively formed.
As a related technique, a p-type nitride semiconductor structure and a bipolar transistor are disclosed in the international patent publication No. WO2004/061971 (corresponding to U.S. patent publication: US2005/224831(A1)). This p-type nitride semiconductor structure is provided with a p-type nitride semiconductor layer including In that is re-grown on the p-type nitride semiconductor subjected to an etching process.
Further, a bipolar transistor and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. JP2006-128554(A). This bipolar transistor includes a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer and a third semiconductor layer. This bipolar transistor is provided with an insulating film having an opening portion formed under the second semiconductor layer and a part of the first semiconductor layer formed in contact under the insulating film.
Further, a nitride semiconductor bipolar transistor and a manufacturing method of a nitride semiconductor bipolar transistor are disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. JP2008-4779(A). This nitride semiconductor bipolar transistor is provided with a nitride semiconductor layer formed in contact with an emitter electrode or a collector electrode, including InAlGaN quaternary mixed crystal.
This time, the inventors have now discovered the following facts. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an energy band of the bipolar transistor shown in FIG. 1. This diagram of the energy band shows the case where a forward bias is applied between the base and the emitter and a reverse bias is applied between the base and the collector. According to a band calculation, it is known that there exist an L-M valley and a second gamma (Γ) valley in high energy side by approximately 2.0 eV from a bottom of a conduction band of GaN, i.e., gamma (Γ) valley. These are collectively called "upper valley" depicted in FIG. 2 (represented by a dashed line in the figure).
As shown in FIG. 2, an electric field intensity becomes maximum in the vicinity of an interface between the base layer 105 and the collector layer 104 in the bipolar transistor shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, electrons injected to the collector layer 104 from the base layer 105 become high energy and undergo phonon scattering to be easily transited to the upper valley. Consequently, this bipolar transistor has a tendency that a carrier speed at a high voltage operation is lowered so as to lower a cutoff frequency. Moreover, since electrons are apt to have high energy within the collector layer 104 and GaN composing the collector layer 104 has a relatively narrow band gap, an avalanche breakdown easily occurs. Therefore, this bipolar transistor is involved with a problem that a collector breakdown voltage is low.


The present invention relates to an improved catalyst for the selective synthesis of monomethylamine (MMA) and dimethylamine (DMA) at the expense of trimethylamine (TMA) for a starting feed of methanol and/or dimethyl ether and ammonia. The current industrial catalyst for this process is a standard SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 material. The present invention combines this standard catalyst with microporous carbon molecular sieves (CMS) to form a composite material (i.e., a CMS/SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 material) with higher selectivity for the desired products MMA and DMA. The invention also relates to methods of making the improved catalyst and a process of using the improved catalyst material in the production of MMA and DMA.

The production of monomethylamine (MMA), dimethylamine (DMA) and trimethylamine (TMA) is performed industrially by the reaction of methanol and/or dimethyl ether and ammonia (and sometimes recycled methylamines) over amorphous silica-alumina catalysts. The reaction goes toward an equilibrium distribution of products, of which the thermodynamically most favored product is TMA. However, TMA is the least desirable commercial product. Table 1 summarizes the equilibrium product distribution and the market demand for MMA, DMA, and TMA.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Equilibrium Product Distribution and Market Demand for Methylamines* MMA DMA TMA ______________________________________ Equilibrium 17 21 62 Market 33 53 14 ______________________________________ *400.degree. C., 1:1 NH.sub.3 :CH.sub.3 OH feed ratio
The discrepancy between the market demand and the normal product distribution of methylamines has created interest in developing catalysts with higher selectivity for the desired products MMA and DMA at the expense of TMA.

CMS/SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 catalysts for improved selectivity in the synthesis of amines from methanol and/or dimethyl ether and ammonia


An adaptive cruise control system for a host vehicle includes a radar device for detecting a distance between the host vehicle and a preceding vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a vehicle speed of the host vehicle and a controller for executing a host vehicle speed control based on the distance and the host vehicle speed. The controller cancels the host vehicle speed control when the radar device loses sight of the preceding vehicle.

The present invention relates to an adaptive cruise control system which executes a following control of a host vehicle relative to a preceding vehicle.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. Heisei 7-76237 discloses a vehicle drive control system which estimates a vehicle speed of a preceding vehicle when an inter-vehicle distance detector loses sight of the preceding vehicle, in order to prevent a host vehicle from excessively approaching the preceding vehicle.
However, such a vehicle drive control system estimates the vehicle speed of the preceding :vehicle on the basis of the preceding vehicle speed at a moment before the inter-vehicle distance detector loses the sight of the preceding vehicle. Therefore, in some cases such that the preceding vehicle is decelerated just after the inter-vehicle distance detector loses the sight of the preceding vehicle, such an approach of the host vehicle to the preceding vehicle impresses the driver as strange feeling.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an adaptive cruise control system which control a vehicle speed of a host vehicle so as to prevent a driver from having strange feeling.
An aspect of the present invention resides in an adaptive cruise control system which is for a host vehicle and which comprises a preceding vehicle detecting device, a vehicle speed detecting device and a controller. The preceding vehicle detecting device detects a preceding vehicle ahead of the host vehicle. The vehicle speed detecting device detects a host vehicle speed of the host vehicle. The controller is coupled to the preceding vehicle detecting device and the vehicle speed detecting device. The controller is arranged to execute a vehicle speed control of the host vehicle on the basis of detection results of the preceding vehicle detecting device and the vehicle speed detecting device, and to cancel the vehicle speed control when the preceding vehicle detecting device is incapable of detecting the preceding vehicle.
Another aspect of the present invention resides in a method of controlling an adaptive cruise of a host vehicle. The method comprises a step for detecting a preceding vehicle ahead of the host vehicle, a step for detecting a host vehicle speed of the host vehicle, a step for executing a vehicle speed control for controlling the host vehicle speed on the basis of a detected state of the preceding vehicle and the detected host vehicle speed, and a step for canceling the vehicle speed control when the preceding vehicle detecting means is incapable of detecting the preceding vehicle.
The other objects and features of this invention will become understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Adaptive cruise control system for vehicle