A radiant heating system for installation or a subfloor. Header panels having arcuate cutouts are secured on the subfloor near opposite walls of a room. Spaced apart sleepers are secured to extend between the header panels and provide channels that receive radiant heating tubing. The cutouts are initially occupied by break away header plates which can be detached to allow the tubing to curve through the cutouts so that it can extend between the ends of adjacent channels. The cutouts can be inserted back into the cutouts to secure the tubing bends in place. Heat conductive panels overlie the sleepers and channels and can be overlaid with finished flooring.

This invention relates in general to radiant heating systems using heated fluid which is pumped through radiant tubing extending in the floor area of the space that is to be heated. More particularly, the invention relates to a radiant heating system that is specifically constructed for installation on top of a subfloor and to a method of installing the system.
Radiant heating has achieved considerable popularity for the heating of buildings. Traditionally, radiant heating tubing has been installed in concrete slabs, in thin slabs applied to frame floors, or under subflooring between the flooring joists. Heated fluid is pumped through the tubing and transmits heat to the floor area and in turn to the space above the floor. The types of tubing installations that have been used in the past are generally satisfactory. However, there are many instances when it is desirable to install a radiant system on an existing floor. This can create significant problems in that it can reduce the height of the room and can adversely affect many existing parts of the building, including toe space beneath cabinets, door clearance at the bottom, built-in appliances, and trim on the perimeter of the floor.
Wooden panels or composite insulation panels having grooves for accepting radiant tubing have been used as structural components in subfloors. However, the panels must retain adequate structural integrity, so the grooves cannot extend too deeply into the panels and the panels must be oriented so that the grooves are installed perpendicular to the structure supporting the floor joists. This can make the pipe layout very difficult and complex. A second type of non-structural panel is sometimes installed on top of a slab or structural wood subfloor. In addition, the outside diameter of the tubing is limited to the groove depth, and this limitation in the tubing size limits the flow rate. The transmission of warmth to the room is limited as well unless an expensive oversized pump is used to circulate fluid through the tubing.
Further, the tubing fits closely in the grooves so that it rubs against the sides of the grooves and creates an undesirable clicking rubbing noise whenever the tubing thermally expands as the system cycles. This noise problem can be severe. Also, some systems require adhesives, or silicon caulks to hold the tubing in the groove in an effort to alleviate the noise problem, and this significantly increases the cost and difficulty of the installation.
The present invention is directed to an improved radiant heating system that can be installed on an existing subfloor while minimizing the thickness that is required to be added on top of the subfloor. It is a particular feature of the invention that the entire thickness of the added sleeper members is available for the tubing, so the tubing diameter is maximized for efficiency in the transfer of warmth to the room that is being heated.
In accordance with the invention, two sides or ends of a room are provided with special wooden header panels that are constructed to accommodate curved bends in the radiant tubing. Spaced apart wooden sleepers are secured to the subfloor that run between the header panels. The sleepers provide parallel channels between them that receive straight runs of the radiant tubing. The channels are considerably wider than the tubing diameter so that the tubing can thermally expand and contract without rubbing against the sleepers and creating unwanted noise. The sleepers and channels are overlaid with heat conductive sheeting such as aluminum panels that have a clearance with the underlying tubing to avoid rubbing between the tubing and the sheeting.
The header panels have arcuate cutouts that are initially occupied by break away header plates that have the same shape as the cutouts. The header plates can be detached so that the tubing can be bent, inserted in the cutouts, and pressed against curved surfaces to provide curved paths for the radius bends of the tubing. Ledges projecting from the curved surfaces hold the bent tubing in place until the header plates can be inserted back into the cutouts and screwed to the subfloor. This permanently secures the tubing against the curved surfaces of the cutouts. The header plates have undercuts that allow them to be pried loose from the headers with a screw driver or other simple tool to facilitate their detachment from the header panels.
The invention is further characterized by the use of holding blocks that secure the tubing in place at strategic locations, where it would otherwise be dynamically stressed by thermal expansion and contraction, such as where the tubing emerges from the floor and where it extends back down through the floor. The holding blocks pivot closed on the tubing and fit closely in the channels. A beveled surface on each block has a predrilled hole that allows the block to be secured to the floor with the screw head recessed below the top surfaces of the sleepers and headers.
Other and further objects of the invention, together with the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the course of the following description.

Radiant heating system for subfloor installation


A hydraulic system for a machine is disclosed. The hydraulic system may have a first pump with variable displacement and being load-sense controlled, and a first hydraulic circuit associated with the first pump. The hydraulic system may also have a second pump with variable displacement and being electro-hydraulically controlled, and a second hydraulic circuit associated with the second pump. The hydraulic system may further have a flow-sharing valve arrangement configured to selectively share fluid flow between the first and second hydraulic circuits.

Machines, for example wheel loaders, motor graders, excavators, and dozers are commonly used in material moving applications such as mining, road maintenance, and surface contouring. To effectively accomplish tasks associated with these applications, the machines are typically outfitted with steering components such as hydraulically-powered articulation joints and/or traction devices, and hydraulically powered implements such as shovels, buckets, and blades. A prime mover, for example a diesel, gasoline, or gaseous fuel-powered engine, drives dedicated steering and implement pumps that provide hydraulic power to the steering components and the implements.
The steering pump can be driven by the prime mover to pressurize fluid in response to a fluid demand from steering actuators during a steering event. When no fluid demand exists or when the fluid demand is relatively low, the steering pump may have excess capacity to pressurize fluid.
Hydraulically powered implements are typically velocity controlled based on an actuation position of an operator interface device. For example, an operator interface device such as a joystick, a pedal, or any other suitable operator interface device is movable to generate a signal indicative of a desired velocity of an associated hydraulic actuator. When an operator moves the interface device, the operator expects the hydraulic actuator to move the implement at an associated velocity. However, when multiple actuators are simultaneously operated, the hydraulic fluid flow from a single implement pump can be insufficient to move all of the actuators at their desired velocities. Situations also exist where the single implement pump is undersized and the desired velocity of a single actuator requires a fluid flow rate that exceeds the flow capacity of the single implement pump.
When the steering pump has excess capacity and the implement pump has insufficient capacity to supply a commanded/demanded flow of pressurized fluid, it may be desirable to share pressurized fluid between steering and implement circuits. One example of a system that provides for flow sharing between steering and implement circuits is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,290 (the '290 patent) issued to Huffman on Dec. 27, 1983. The '290 patent describes a hydraulic control system that includes a pressure compensator for diverting excess fluid from a steering pump to an implement control valve based on a fluid pressure within a steering circuit. A solenoid-operated control valve is provided between the pressure compensator and the implement control valve for selectively allowing or blocking fluid flow between the steering circuit and an implement circuit.
Although potentially helpful in some situations, the hydraulic control system of the '290 patent may be problematic. In particular, the disclosed system provides no control for variable displacement type pumps (load-sense or electro-hydraulic pumps), and provides excess fluid flow from the steering pump to the implement circuit regardless of a demand for pressurized fluid flow in the implement circuit. For these reasons, the hydraulic control system of the '290 patent may be inefficient and have limited applicability.
The disclosed hydraulic system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

Hydraulic system having implement and steering flow sharing


A furnace may include a furnace cabinet, an inducer blower, and a flue vent adapter. The furnace is configured as a multi-poise furnace and configured to be installed and operated in each of the horizontal left flow orientation, the horizontal right flow orientation, the upflow orientation, and the downflow orientation. The flue vent adapter is used when the furnace is installed and operated in the downflow orientation. Alternatively, the flue vent adapter is used when the furnace is installed and operated in each of the horizontal left flow orientation and the horizontal right flow orientation. The flue vent adapter has a unitary construction to reduce manufacturing costs, reduce a pressure drop through the flue vent adapter, and reduce leakage.

Heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) systems often include a furnace in many commercial and residential applications for heating and otherwise conditioning interior spaces. Installation of a furnace requires connecting an inducer blower of the furnace to a flue vent to carry and/or vent combusted flue gases from the structure in which the furnace is installed.

Flue vent adapter for multi-poise furnace


A semiconductor device is disclosed, a substrate structure; a raised source region; a raised drain region; a separation region disposed laterally between the raised source region and the raised drain region; a gate structure, disposed between the raised source region and the raised drain region and above a part of the separation region, the gate structure being spaced apart from the drain region and defining a drain extension region therebetween; a dummy gate structure in the drain extension region; an epitaxial layer, disposed above and in contact with the substrate structure and forming the raised source region, the raised drain region, and a raised region between the gate structure and the dummy gate structure, wherein the raised region between the gate structure and the dummy gate structure is relatively lightly doped to a conductivity of a second conductivity type which is opposite the first conductivity type.

In modern silicon-based (or silicon-germanium, or other group-4) based semiconductor processing technologies, in particular those for lateral devices and at advanced manufacturing nodes, which for present purposes may be considered those for which the gate length or minimum feature size is less than 28 nm, it has been found that forming the source and drain regions of the device using an epitaxial layer may be beneficial to improve the channel mobility and reduce source-drain resistance. However, for high voltage devices such as lateral drift MOS (LDMOS) devices such a raised source drain region can create a very high electric field between the drain-side edge of the gate and the drain extension region, which may cause high gate-drain leakage currents and a potential risk of gate oxide breakdown.

Lateral semiconductor device having raised source and drain, and method of manufacture thererof


An optical printer capable of controlling the amount of exposure light, and so forth, accurately is disclosed, and the optical printer comprises a light source irradiating light and an optical shutter producing exposure light for exposing a photosensitive object by controlling transmission of the light from the light source.

In a conventional optical printer for producing an image on a photosensitive object by using the light which has passed through an optical shutter from a light source, the amount of the light of the light source is corrected by using the direct light from the light source. However, the amount of the light from the light source varies after passing through the optical shutter. The amount of the light which has passed through the optical shutter does not always vary linearly according to the variation of the amount of the light of the light source. For this reason, the amount of the light which is irradiated directly to a photosensitive object and contributes to the produced image cannot actually be controlled well by controlling the amount of the light of the light source.
On the other hand, when an image is produced on a photosensitive object, the exposure starting position must be decided accurately. Hence, in the conventional optical printer, a sensor for detecting the position of the photosensitive object is provided near the position to start the conveying of the photosensitive object, and the start of the conveying of the photosensitive object is detected based on the output signal from the sensor, and then the time that will elapse before the photosensitive object will reach the exposure starting position, and so on, are presumed to decide the timing of the starting of the exposure. However, the conventional optical printer has a defect that the photosensitive object is not conveyed accurately, the time when the photosensitive object reaches the exposure starting position varies, and thereby the exposure starting position on the photosensitive object is different. As a special sensor must be provided to detect the start of the conveying of the photosensitive object, the cost increases accordingly.
Furthermore, the surface of the instant film in which self-developer is stored is uneven because of the storing portion in which the self-developer is stored. In an optical printer for exposing and developing such an instant film, when the self-developer is squeezed out of the storing portion by the developing device, if the conveying speed at which the instant film is conveyed is increased, the conveying speed fluctuates due to the unevenness of the surface of the instant film. For this reason, the instant film is conveyed with a constant low speed. As a result, there is a problem that much time is required from the exposure and development to the output of the instant film.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an optical printer forming images by exposing a photosensitive object comprises: a light source irradiating a light; an optical shutter producing exposure light for exposing the photosensitive object by controlling a transmission of the light from the light source; and a photo detector outputting a signal by detecting the exposure light which exposes the photosensitive object.


A low-inductance capacitor assembly (12) is provided. The capacitor assembly (12) includes a positive terminal plate (16), a negative terminal plate (18) and an array (20) of capacitors (22) disposed between and electrically coupled to the positive terminal plate (16) and the negative terminal plate (18). A passage (30) extends through the positive terminal plate (16), the negative terminal plate (18) and through a void (35) formed within the array (20) of capacitors (22). The passage (30) may allow routing of a conductor (14) through the capacitor assembly (12).

Power switching circuits are used in aerospace applications, including in electrical motor drives for starter/generators as parts of gas turbine engines. For optimal control of switching speeds and pulse rise times, it can be important to reduce or otherwise control the inductance associated with capacitors. In addition, conventional capacitors typically used in high-power switching circuits are relatively bulky and require relatively large packaging envelopes.
In aerospace applications, the smallest possible envelope for equipment is nearly always desired, in order to reduce weight and drag of the overall vehicle. Other design objectives for equipment onboard aircraft include increasing reliability while reducing size, weight and cost.
Improvement in packaging, and control of switching speeds and pulse rise times of low-inductance capacitors and capacitor assemblies is therefore desirable.


A method of cementing a liner in a well includes mounting a valve assembly that is biased in a closed position to a running tool assembly. The running tool assembly has a stinger inserted through the valve assembly, retaining the valve assembly in an open position. The stinger has a cement retainer releasably mounted to it. After lowering the running tool assembly into engagement with the liner string, the operator pumps a cement slurry through the stinger and the valve assembly. The operator then pumps the cement retainer down the liner string into latching engagement with a lower portion of the liner string. Afterward, the operator lifts the stinger from the valve assembly, causing the valve assembly to move to the closed position. The valve assembly blocks upward flow of fluid from the well conduit through the valve assembly in the event of leakage of the cement retainer.

Oil and gas wells are conventionally drilled with drill pipe to a certain depth, then casing is run and cemented in the well. The operator may then drill the well to a greater depth with drill pipe and cement another string of casing. In this type of system, each string of casing extends to the surface wellhead assembly.
In some well completions, an operator may install a liner rather than an inner string of casing. The liner is made up of joints of pipe in the same manner as casing. Also, the liner is normally cemented into the well. However, the liner does not extend back to the wellhead assembly at the surface. Instead, it is secured by a liner hanger to the last string of casing just above the lower end of the casing. The operator may later install a tieback string of casing that extends from the wellhead downward into engagement with the liner hanger assembly.
When installing a liner, in most cases, the operator drills the well to the desired depth, retrieves the drill string, then assembles and lowers the liner into the well. A liner top packer may also be incorporated with the liner hanger. A cement shoe with a check valve will normally be secured to the lower end of the liner as the liner is made up. When the desired length of liner is reached, the operator attaches a liner hanger to the upper end of the liner, and attaches a running tool to the liner hanger. The operator then runs the liner into the wellbore on a string of drill pipe attached to the running tool. The operator sets the liner hanger and pumps cement through the drill pipe, down the liner and back up an annulus surrounding the liner. The cement shoe prevents backflow of cement back into the liner. The running tool may dispense a wiper retainer following the cement to wipe cement from the interior of the liner at the conclusion of the cement pumping. The operator then sets the liner top packer, if used, releases the running tool from the liner, and retrieves the drill pipe.
A variety of designs exist for liner hangers. Some may be set in response to mechanical movement or manipulation of the drill pipe, including rotation. Others may be set by dropping a ball or dart into the drill string, then applying fluid pressure to the interior of the string after the ball or dart lands on a seat in the running tool. The running tool may be attached to the liner hanger or body of the running tool by threads, shear elements, or by a hydraulically actuated arrangement.
In another method of installing a liner, the operator runs the liner while simultaneously drilling the wellbore. This method is similar to a related technology known as casing drilling. One technique employs a drill bit on the lower end of the liner. One option is to not retrieve the dell bit, rather cement it in place with the liner. If the well is to be drilled deeper, the drill bit would have to be a drillable type. This technique does not allow one to employ components that must be retrieved, which might include downhole steering tools, measuring while drilling instruments and retrievable drill bits.
Published application US 2009/0107,675, discloses a system for retrieving the bottom hole assembly by setting the liner hanger before cementing the liner. If the liner is at the total depth desired after retrieving the bottom hole assembly, the operator then runs a cementing assembly on a running tool back into engagement with the liner hanger. The cementing assembly includes a tieback assembly that stabs into sealing engagement with an upper portion of the liner string. A packer may also be included with the cementing assembly for sealing an annulus surrounding the liner. In addition, a cement retainer carried by the cementing assembly is pumped down to a lower end of the liner and latched after cementing. The cement retainer prevents backflow of cement.

Apparatus and method for cementing liner


A method and apparatus for providing an authentication logic to authenticate a registered caller, the authentication logic to use hashes of one or more random locations within the caller's code base to validate that the caller is registered.

Because of the nature of software calls between software modules, it is relatively easy to trap calls to steal input and output information generated by those calls. The "man in the middle" type of security attack is a means for rogue or virus software to masquerade as legitimate software. This type of rogue or virus software can thereby obtain critical data, because the caller assumes the target is valid. In a secure environment, target software needs to ensure that it is receiving calls from a trusted source—e.g. authorization & authentication—and delivering information back to the same trusted source. The calling software may also need to ensure a host is valid.
In the prior art, the security uses a handshake, password, or memory range checks of the callers. However, all of these security precautions are easily circumvented by a caller.
Another prior art method of solving the security problem is computing the hash of the complete target software for each function call or IOCTL, to determine whether it's legitimate caller. However generating such a complete hash is a time consuming activity. Furthermore, once the hash has been validated, virus software can step in to capture function calls.

Method and mechanism for validating legitimate software calls into secure software


An image processing apparatus includes: an acquiring unit that acquires a display request including a first external apparatus identification information and screen identification information; a storage unit storing external apparatus screen information; an update unit updating the first external apparatus screen information whenever the display request is acquired; a determining unit determining a polling interval for a first external apparatus on the basis of the stored external apparatus screen information; and a transmitting unit transmitting, to the first external apparatus, screen data which includes information of the determined polling interval, wherein, when a second external apparatus identification information item corresponding to the same screen identification information as that in the display request is stored in the storage unit, the determining unit determines the polling interval for the first external apparatus to be less than that for a second external apparatus indicated by the second external apparatus identification information item.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program.
(ii) Related Art
In recent years, a technique has been proposed in which a computer that requests an image processing apparatus connected to a network to perform printing checks the execution state of printing or the state of the image processing apparatus. In addition, an information processing apparatus has been proposed which acquires the state of the image processing apparatus (for example, an abnormal state or a printing state) and changes a polling interval for the image processing apparatus.

Image processing apparatus, method and non-transitory computer readable medium storing program with variable polling interval


A digital system is provided with a several processors, a private level one (L1) cache associated with each processor, a shared level two (L2) cache having several segments per entry, and a level three (L3) physical memory. The shared L2 cache architecture is embodied with 4-way associativity with corresponding tag arrays (502(n)), four segments per entry and four valid and dirty bits. Each tag entry (1236) includes task-ID qualifier field (522) and a resource ID qualifier field (520). Data is loaded into various of lines (506) in the cache in response to cache access requests when a given cache access request misses. After loading data into the cache in response to a miss, a tag (1236) associated with the data line is set to a valid state (526). In addition to setting a tag to a valid state, qualifier values are stored in qualifier fields (520, 522) in the tag. Each qualifier value specifies a usage characteristic of data stored in an associated data line of the cache. In response to an operation command (1251), each tag in the array of tags that contains a specified qualifier value is modified (1258) in accordance with the operation command. Various types of operation commands can be included in an embodiment of the invention, such as clean, flush, clean-flush, lock, and unlock, for example.

This invention generally relates to microprocessors, and more specifically to improvements in cache memory access circuits, systems, and methods of making.
Microprocessors are general purpose processors which provide high instruction throughputs in order to execute software running thereon, and can have a wide range of processing requirements depending on the particular software applications involved. A cache architecture is often used to increase the speed of retrieving information from a main memory. A cache memory is a high speed memory that is situated between the processing core of a processing device and the main memory. The main memory is generally much larger than the cache, but also significantly slower. Each time the processing core requests information from the main memory, the cache controller checks the cache memory to determine whether the address being accessed is currently in the cache memory. If so, the information is retrieved from the faster cache memory instead of the slower main memory to service the request. If the information is not in the cache, the main memory is accessed, and the cache memory is updated with the information.
Many different types of processors are known, of which microprocessors are but one example. For example, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) are widely used, in particular for specific applications, such as mobile processing applications. DSPs are typically configured to optimize the performance of the applications concerned and to achieve this they employ more specialized execution units and instruction sets. Particularly in applications such as mobile telecommunications, but not exclusively, it is desirable to provide ever increasing DSP performance while keeping power consumption as low as possible.
To further improve performance of a digital system, two or more processors can be interconnected. For example, a DSP may be interconnected with a general purpose processor in a digital system. The DSP performs numeric intensive signal processing algorithms while the general purpose processor manages overall control flow. The two processors communicate and transfer data for signal processing via shared memory. A direct memory access (DMA) controller is often associated with a processor in order to take over the burden of transferring blocks of data from one memory or peripheral resource to another and to thereby improve the performance of the processor.
Particular and preferred aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying independent and dependent claims. In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of operating a digital system that has a cache with an array of data lines with an associated array of tags. Data is loaded into various of lines in the cache in response to cache access requests when a given cache access request misses. After loading data into the cache in response to a miss, a tag associated with the data line is set to a valid state. In addition to setting a tag to a valid state, a qualifier value is stored in a qualifier field in the tag. The qualifier value specifies a usage characteristic of data stored in an associated data line of the cache. In response to an operation command, each tag in the array of tags that contains a specified qualifier value is modified in accordance with the operation command. Various types of operation commands can be included in an embodiment of the invention, such as clean, flush, clean-flush, lock, and unlock, for example.
The qualifier field in the present embodiment represents a task-ID indicative of a software task that requested the associated data. There is a second qualifier field that represents a resource-ID indicative of a hardware resource that requested the data.
In another embodiment, there may be other qualifiers, such as a qualifier field that indicates the data is shared, for example.
In another embodiment, separate valid bits are associated with the address field and the qualifier field of the tag. If a qualifier field valid bit is not set, then the qualifier field is ignored.
In another embodiment, a digital system is provided with a cache that has a data array with a plurality of lines for holding data and a tag array having a plurality of lines for holding a plurality of tags. Each line of the tag array is associated with a particular line of the data array and each line of the tag array contains an address field and a qualifier field. Control circuitry is arranged to select a tag and then examine the qualifier field of the selected tag. The control circuitry can than modify the tag in response to an operation command, such as clean, flush, clean-flush, lock, and unlock, for example. The control circuitry receives a specified qualifier value from a given operation command and only modifies tags in which the qualifier field matches the specified qualifier value.
The cache is a level two cache, but in other embodiments the cache may be a first level or a higher level cache. In another embodiment, there are additional qualifier fields and additional comparison circuitry to compare the additional qualifier field(s) to specified qualifier values.
In another embodiment, a first level cache embodying the present invention may make requests to a second level cache that also embodies the present invention.

Fast hardware looping mechanism for cache cleaning and flushing of cache entries corresponding to a qualifier field


A method of determining defect detection sensitivity data, comprises: taking image data from the desired surface areas of each of semiconductor devices, processing at least two of the image data through arithmetic operations and comparing the processed image data with a parameter of defect detection sensitivity substituted by predetermined threshold data to obtain information on defects in the desired areas at least in one-to-one correspondence with any of the image data arithmetically processed, repeating more than once the step of varying the parameter of the defect detection sensitivity to obtain the defect information, so as to obtain more than one sets of combination data on a value of the parameter of the defect detection sensitivity correlated with the defect information, processing more than one sets of the combination data to produce a mathematical function expressing a relation of the desired statistical data with the parameter of the defect detection sensitivity, the mathematical function being used to determine defect detection sensitivity data, the defect detection sensitivity data being used in obtaining the information on the defects in the desired surface areas of the semiconductor devices under defect inspection, and the defect detection sensitivity data defining an existence range of the defect information in the image data which are taken from the desired surface areas of each semiconductor device and which are arithmetically processed in the previous step.

The present invention relates to a method for determining defect detection sensitivity data, a control method of a defect detection apparatus, an apparatus of determining defect detection sensitivity data, and a method and apparatus for detecting defect of semiconductor devices.
It has been a significant matter of concern inspecting if semiconductor devices processed as required are defective in order to attain better yields and maintain the increased yields. Especially, the current semiconductor device manufacturing industry has been shifting its strategy from mass production of a restricted variety of items as represented by the production of semiconductor memories to reduced scale production of a great variety of items as in the production of logic circuits having short lives, and hence, it becomes a critical matter to efficiently perform the aforementioned semiconductor device defect inspections with the optimum sensitivity as much as possible.
Disclosed below is one of ways commonly taken to determine semiconductor devices as being defective from a defect of minute pattern shaped in wafer and a random defect found in unfinished crystalline phase of devices.
First, gathered are surface images of adjacent pairs of chips of the wafer or adjacent pairs of array blocks of a memory having cells deployed in matrix, which are produced into detectable format of optical images or electron-beam images. The detected images of the adjacent pairs of chips or cell array blocks are compared to one another to extract differences among them, and portions on a chip, for example, corresponding to the differences are discriminatively taken as defects of the chip.
More specifically, the differences are extracted by way of the filtering to eliminate noise from the obtained images of the adjacent pairs of the chips, and the succeeding counting of a uniqueness quantity (gray scale value) of each of pixels of the image. The uniqueness quantity of each pixel is compared with that of a counterpart image (e.g., these samples undergo subtraction). If the difference of the uniqueness quantities (gray scale values) is equal to a predetermined level (threshold value) or even higher, the pixel is discriminatively extracted as the difference.
However, such a method of detecting deficiencies of semiconductor devices has a requirement of setting an inspection apparatus with the aforementioned threshold value (inspection sensitivity) in advance, and a determination of the threshold value is a time consuming task. There is additional problem that the determined threshold value lacks reliability. These disadvantages in the prior art will be detailed below.
FIG. 24 is a flow chart illustrating a prior art method of setting the threshold value. With reference to FIG. 24, this prior art method will be described.
First, an arbitrary threshold value is set to the semiconductor device defect detection apparatus in advance (Step S101). Then, each of the pixels of a surface image taken for a targeted semiconductor device on an image pickup unit is converted in multi-level data to produce digitized image data (Step S102). The digitized image data is compared with another digitized image data obtained from the similar type of semiconductor device (e.g., an adjacent chip) on the single-pixel-at-a-time basis in the same manner as mentioned above, to detect differences of those digitized image data, and eventually, real portions of the semiconductor device corresponding to the differences are discriminatively determined as defects (Step S102). The defects are subjected to the sampling (Step S103) and then, undergo an eye inspection (review) by a human operator (Step S104). As a result of this inspection, it is checked if the defect detection level reaches the desired criteria on types and scales of the defects, that is, if the arbitrary threshold value is appropriate (Step S105). After the review, if the inspection level is satisfactory (YES at Step S105), the arbitrary threshold value preset is employed, or otherwise, if not (NO at Step S105), the procedural steps (Steps S101 to S105) are repeated from the setting of the threshold value to the review of the inspection level till it reaches the satisfactory inspection level.
As is recognized, the aforementioned manner of setting the threshold value may often have to repeat more than one set of steps starting with the setting of the arbitrary threshold value and terminated with the review of the inspection level till the determination of the threshold value, and inevitable is a time consuming task of trial and error till the eventual determination of the threshold level. In other words, the successful setting of the threshold value highly depends upon skills of a recipe planner (a person who determines factors including the threshold value), and it may take an unacceptably long time to obtain the threshold value and the required time for this task is often non-predictable.
There is additional disadvantage as mentioned below in this threshold value setting method, especially, in the step of defect review (Step S104 in FIG. 24). The defect review primarily includes a method of reviewing all the semiconductor devices judged as defective (total review) and a method of taking some samples from the defective semiconductor devices if there are so many (sampling review). The total review is more time consuming and not efficient, and the sampling review may leave the defective products unmarked to find a remarkable error in the determined threshold value, which often unavoidably leads to a re-correction of the threshold value.
To overcome the disadvantages, it has been necessary to provide an improved way of accurate quantitative setting of a threshold value to attain a reduced time high precision setting of the threshold value.
Semiconductor device mass production factories, which process numerous wafers of the same type, typically use a number of wafer inspection apparatuses for efficient inspection. However, such inspection apparatuses of the same type have their respective minor inherent peculiarities, and thus, it is undesirable to consistently use the same recipe (e.g., various requirements for each inspection such as the threshold value, an intensity of light directed to devices for image pickup, and so forth). This is why adjustments of components such as optics are necessary for the individual inspection apparatus with its own unique references. In general, since recipes are made in a non-quantitative fashion, a successful recipe highly depends upon how its planner is skilled, and such recipe making is a time consuming job. As mentioned above, it takes an extraordinarily long time to adjust optics of the inspection apparatus on the one-at-a-time basis; and this is a cause of varied performance in obtaining the results of the matching from one inspection apparatus to another.
The matching for the individual inspection apparatus will be exemplified as follows: First, more than one wafers, which have undergone the predetermined process, are inspected on an inspection apparatus to determine coordinates (defect coordinates) specifying defects detected in the wafer. The defect coordinates of the wafers are further examined to discriminatively extract master defect coordinates that are detected at an arbitrary detection rate or higher, and then, portions of the wafers corresponding to the master defect coordinates are counted to obtain the number of master defects and then saved. The sequence of tasks from detecting the defect coordinates of the wafers to saving the counted number of the master detects are repeated for the same wafers in the same fashion on the remaining inspection apparatuses. The results of the inspections on the inspection apparatuses are compared, and the inspection apparatuses have their respective optics regulated to have the same result on the master defects in number.
However, the wafers applied to the matching on the inspection apparatuses are standardized wafers prepared by a manufacturer of the inspection apparatuses and factory processed wafers, but are of different type from the inspection target wafers (the matching of and the types of the targeted wafers is impossible for various reasons such as a restriction of time). This way of the matching does not cover the thorough inspection of all wafers that should be inspected and does not satisfy the desired reliability.
It has been desired to carry out the matching on more than one inspection apparatuses with wafers of the same type as that of the inspection target wafers in a quantifying manner instead of the prior art time consuming matching method that causes the undesirably uneven matching results among the inspection apparatuses.
Furthermore, as also mentioned above, in the prior art recipe design for the inspection apparatuses, the fulfillment of the recipe highly depend upon the skills of its planner, and samples employed in the recipe is unsatisfactory in variation and number. Thus, the recipe designed in this way is not fully reliable and often lacks durability to noise (robustness). This is also a matter of concern in the standpoint of quality control (QC) of which orientation is periodical inspections and maintenance of the performance of the inspection apparatuses. This will be more detailed below.
FIG. 25 is a graph illustrating an example of the prior art inspection apparatus QC.
In the prior art inspection apparatus QC, the same sample is examined at predetermined time intervals (e.g., one-week intervals) with the same recipe, and a "fail or safe" test is discriminatively performed, depending upon if the result of the detection, namely, the total of defects is in a range of tolerance between the lower and upper limits of the number as in FIG. 25. If the detection result or the number of the defects is not in the range, the resolution is that the inspection apparatuses do not meet the standardized quality requirements and have to send for maintenance. As mentioned above, the fulfillment of the recipe depends upon the skills of the recipe planner, and as is often the case, any error factor cannot be negligible without leaving margin of the threshold value in the course of recipe planning. In such a case, an excessively large number of defects would be found to draw a conclusion that the inspection apparatuses actually meeting the quality requirements are numerically unsatisfied to conform to the standard. Thus, it has been an urgent matter of concern to provide the improved recipe planning, especially, the improved method of determining the threshold value to introduce and perform an appropriate inspection apparatus QC.
In the process lines of semiconductor devices at manufacturing plant, there are a variety of and a number of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses for processes of wafers, and the semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses work with various process sequences for batch processing, multi-chamber processing, and so on. Hence, it is unavoidable that wafers having undergone various processes through the processes have lot-to-lot variations and wafer-to-wafer variations in the same lot. To avoid such variations, it is desired that the thorough inspection of all the wafers (total inspection) is carried out. Taking the cost and throughput into consideration, however, the total inspection of the wafers is hard to introduce. In typical practice, the upper limit in number of wafers the inspection apparatuses can deal with is predicted from a capacity of the apparatuses, and the inspection is performed to such as many a number of wafers as possible, although the number is limited, to reduce wafers skipping the inspection. For example, prior to the wafer inspection, a wafer-sampling plan is drafted based upon a statistical analysis of a manufacturing history of wafers to reduce the wafers overlooked without inspection with this solution, the wafer inspection still has a problem as mentioned below.
This wafer inspection is planned having great weight upon inspecting as many a number of wafers as possible with the limited number of inspection apparatuses, and the optimization of cost performance (or loss) is the second or third matter. A yield of the wafers is always varied, but factors of the; cost estimation such as the time interval from one inspection to the next (inspection frequency), the number of inspected wafers, and so forth, once determined, are never changed. Hence, a matter that cannot wait, is a tactic of automatically revising values of the cost factors, allowing for the optimized estimation of cost, in a quantifying manner.

Method and apparatus for determining defect detection sensitivity data, control method of defect detection apparatus, and method and apparatus for detecting defect of semiconductor devices


In a sound synthesizer, a noise adder generates a noise signal having a frequency band of 3,400 to 4,600 Hz, adjusts the gain of the noise signal, and adds the gain-adjusted noise signal to an excitation source after being filled with zeros by a zero-filling circuit, thereby providing a wide-band excitation source which is rather flat. The signal gain is adjusted by determining a narrow-band excitation source or a power of the wide-band excitation source after being filled with zeros and fitting the gain to the narrow-band excitation source or the power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sound synthesizing apparatus and method, adapted to synthesize at a receiving side a wide-band signal from an input narrow-band sound signal or its parameters transmitted by a communications system or a broadcasting system, for example. The present invention also relates to a telephone apparatus adopting the sound synthesizing apparatus and method, and a program service medium by which the sound synthesizing method is served as a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
The sound quality of the conventional wire telephone and radio telephone has not satisfied the telephone users. One of the reasons for such a low sound quality lies in the fact that the frequency band of the current telephony is limited to a range of 300 to 3,400 Hz.
Since the transmission path for use in the telephony is limited by the relevant rules and standards, it is difficult to widen the frequency band. For a higher sound quality in the field of the telephony, various methods have been proposed to predict at the receiving side an out-of-band component of a received sound and generate a wider-band signal.
Typically, there has been proposed a method in which based on the well-known method for linear predictive coding (LPC) analysis and synthesis, used in the sound signal processing, both a linear predictive factor xcex1 acquired from a narrow-band sound signal and a linear prediction residual or an excitation source acquired by quantizing the residual are band-widened and a wide-band sound is synthesized by the LPC from the band-widened linear predictive factor xcex1 and excitation source.
However, since the wide-band sound thus acquired is distorted, the frequency component of the original sound is filtered out of the synthesized wide-band sound and it is added to the original sound.
There has also been proposed an excitation source frequency band widening method in which taking in consideration the fact that an excitation source is a nearly white noise, a zero is inserted between two successive samples to generate an aliasing component and this component is taken as a wide-band excitation source.
When one zero is inserted between two successive samples, for example, the spectrum will appear symmetrical with respect to the Nyquist frequency taken as a line. Therefore, this method will be somehow effective for acquiring a wide-band excitation source from a narrow-band excitation source which is originally a nearly white noise.
On the assumption that the sampling frequency of a narrow-band signal is 8 kHz, that of a wide-band signal is 16 kHz and a narrow-band excitation source is limited to 300 to 3,400 Hz, for example, the wide-band excitation source acquired by the above-mentioned method will be of 300 to 3,400 Hz and 4,600 to 7,700 Hz with a gap between 3,400 and 4,600 Hz. Thus, the frequency band corresponding to this gap will not be generated even by the wide-band LPC synthesis but a wide-band sound not containing a frequency band corresponding to the gap will be generated. Thus, the wide-band sound is not any natural sound.
As in the above, since the excitation source resulted from the LPC synthesis including the band widening, etc. is low in quality, the synthesized signal will also have a low quality.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a sound synthesizing apparatus and method capable of synthesizing a quality wide-band signal through improvement of the quality of the excitation source.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a telephone apparatus having a receiving means capable of providing a quality wide-band signal by adopting the above sound synthesizing apparatus and method.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a program service medium serving the sound synthesizing method in the form of a program and thus capable of providing a quality wide-band signal inexpensively.
According to the present invention, there is provided a sound synthesizing apparatus for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the apparatus including means for adding a noise signal to the linear prediction residual or excitation source.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing apparatus for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the apparatus including means for generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source and means for adding a noise signal to the wide-band excitation source.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing apparatus for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the apparatus including means for adding a noise signal to the linear prediction residual or excitation source and means for generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source to which the noise signal has been added by the noise adding means.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing apparatus for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the apparatus including means for analyzing the narrow-band signal to provide a linear prediction residual signal, means for generating a wide-band residual signal from the linear prediction residual acquired by means of the analyzing means, and means for adding to the wide-band residual signal a noise signal having a signal component whose frequency is not included in the frequency band of the wide-band residual signal generated by the wide-band residual signal generating means.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing apparatus for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the apparatus including means for analyzing the narrow-band signal to provide a linear prediction residual signal; means for adding to the linear prediction residual signal a noise signal having a signal component whose frequency is not included in the frequency band of the linear prediction residual signal generated by the analyzing means; and means for generating a wide-band residual signal from the linear prediction residual signal to which the noise signal has been added by the noise adding means.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing method for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the method including a step of adding a noise signal to the linear prediction residual or excitation source.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing method for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the method including steps of generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source and adding a noise signal to the wide-band excitation source.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing method for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the method including steps of the sound synthesizer including means for adding a noise signal to the linear prediction residual or excitation source, and generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source to which the noise signal has been added at the noise adding step.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing method for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the method including steps of analyzing the narrow-band signal to provide a linear prediction residual signal, generating a wide-band residual signal from the linear prediction residual acquired at the analyzing step, and adding to the wide-band residual signal a noise signal having a signal component whose frequency is not included in the frequency band of the wide-band residual signal generated by the wide-band residual signal generating means.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a sound synthesizing method for synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the method including steps of analyzing the narrow-band signal to provide a linear prediction residual signal, adding to the linear prediction residual signal a noise signal having a signal component whose frequency is not included in the frequency band of the linear prediction residual signal acquired at the analyzing step, and generating a wide-band residual signal from the linear prediction residual signal to which the noise signal has been added at the noise adding step.
With the sound synthesizing apparatus and method according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the quality of the excitation source and thus provide a quality wide-band signal.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a telephone apparatus including a transmitting means for transmitting parameters of a narrow-band signal encoded by the PSI-CELP or VSELP method as a transmission signal, and a receiving means for adding a noise signal to a linear prediction residual or excitation source included in the parameters and synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a telephone apparatus including a transmitting means for transmitting parameters of a narrow-band signal encoded by the PSI-CELP or VSELP method as a transmission signal, and a receiving means for generating a wide-band excitation source from a linear prediction residual or excitation source included in the parameters, adding a noise signal to the wide-band excitation source and then synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a telephone apparatus including a transmitting means for transmitting parameters of a narrow-band signal encoded by the PSI-CELP or VSELP method as a transmission signal, and a receiving means for adding a noise signal to a linear prediction residual or excitation source included in the parameters, generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source to which the noise signal has been added, and synthesizing a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis using the wide-band excitation source.
In the telephone apparatus according to the present invention, the receiving means can provide a quality wide-band signal.
According to the present invention, there is provided a program service medium for providing a sound synthesis program for synthesis of a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the program including procedures of generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source, and adding a noise signal to the wide-band excitation source.
According to the present invention, there is provided a program service medium for providing a sound synthesis program for synthesis of a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the program including procedures of adding a noise signal to the linear prediction residual or excitation source, and generating a wide-band excitation source from the linear prediction residual or excitation source to which the noise signal has been added in the noise adding procedure.
According to the present invention, there is provided a program service medium for providing a sound synthesis program for synthesis of a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the program including procedures of analyzing the narrow-band signal to provide a linear prediction residual signal, generating a wide-band residual signal from the linear prediction residual signal acquired in the analyzing procedure, and adding to the wide-band residual signal a noise signal having a signal component whose frequency is not included in the frequency band of the wide-band residual signal generated in the wide-band residual signal generating procedure.
According to the present invention, there is provided a program service medium for providing a sound synthesis program for synthesis of a wide-band signal from a part of an output signal acquired by a filtering synthesis whose input parameter is a linear prediction residual or excitation source of a narrow-band signal, the program including procedures of analyzing the narrow-band signal to provide a linear prediction residual signal, adding to the residual signal a noise signal having a signal component whose frequency is not included in the frequency band of the linear prediction residual signal acquired in the analyzing procedure, and generating a wide-band residual signal from the linear prediction residual signal to which the noise signal has been added in the noise adding procedure.
The program service medium according to the present invention can provide a quality wide-band signal by serving the sound synthesizing method in the form of a program.
That is, a noise signal is intentionally added to a signal which would originally be an excitation source, in order to improve the quality of a synthesized signal.
More specifically, a noise signal whose gain has been adjusted with the power of a narrow-band excitation source and whose frequency ranges from 3,400 to 4,600 Hz, is generated separately, and added to a wide-band excitation source acquired by zero-filling. A resultant signal is taken as a wide-band excitation source. Alternately, a noise signal of 3,400 to 4,000 Hz is generated separately, added to a narrow-band excitation source, and then filled with zeros. A resulted signal is taken as a wide-band excitation source. Thus, the gap between the frequencies of 3,400 and 4,600 Hz can be eliminated.
In the aforementioned sound synthesizing apparatus and method, a linear predictive factor xcex1 and an excitation source or prediction residual exc are given, and the separately produced noise signal is added to the prediction residual exc. The resultant signal will be referred to as xe2x80x9cexcxe2x80x9d hereinafter. It is supplied to a synthesis filter in which with the linear predictive factor xcex1 taken as its filter factor, it is filtered to provide an output signal.
A filter factor xcex1N used for synthesis of a narrow-band signal has the band thereof widened by any predictive means to provide a wide-band filter factor xcex1W. The excitation source or prediction residual excN is made an aliased signal by zero-filling. The separately produced noise signal is added to the excitation source or prediction residual. The resulted signal will be referred to as xe2x80x9cexcWxe2x80x9d hereinafter. Thereafter, the signal excW is supplied to the synthesis filter having the wide-band filter factor xcex1W, where it is filtered to provide an output signal.
Also, the filter factor xcex1N used for synthesis of a narrow-band signal is band-widened by any predictive means to provide a wide-band filter factor xcex1W. The excitation source or prediction residual excN has the separately produced noise signal added thereto, and further is made an aliased signal by zero-filling. The resulted signal will be referred to as xe2x80x9cexcWxe2x80x9d hereinafter. Thereafter, the signal excW is supplied to the synthesizing filter having the wide-band filter factor xcex1W, where the signal is filtered to provide an output signal.
Also, an input narrow-band signal is subject to a linear predictive analysis or the like to provide a narrow-band factor xcex1N. This narrow-band factor xcex1N is reversely filtered to provide a prediction residual signal excN, and its frequency band is widened by any predictive means to provide a wide-band filter factor xcex1W. The excitation source or prediction residual excN is made an aliased signal by zero-filling and has the separately produced noise signal added thereto. The resulted signal will be referred to as xe2x80x9cexcWxe2x80x9d hereinafter. Thereafter, the signal excW is supplied to the synthesis filter taking the wide-band filter factor xcex1W as its filter factor and in which the signal is filtered to provide an output signal.
Also, a narrow-band signal is subject to a linear predictive analysis or the like to provide a narrow-band factor xcex1N. This narrow-band factor xcex1N is reversely filtered to provide a prediction residual signal excN, and is band-widened by any predictive means to provide a wide-band filter factor xcex1W. The excitation source or prediction residual excN has the separately produced noise signal added thereto and is made a signal which is aliased by zero-filling. The resulted signal will be referred to as xe2x80x9cexcWxe2x80x9d hereinafter. Then, the signal excW is supplied to the synthesizing filter taking the wide-band filter factor xcex1W as its filter factor and in which the signal is filtered to provide an output signal.

Sound synthesizing apparatus and method, telephone apparatus, and program service medium


Disclosed is a detergent composition containing one or more anionic surfactants and one or more soil release agents characterized by the presence of an anionic surfactant-interactive nonionic hydrophile and/or an anionic surfactant-interactive hydrophobic moiety, or both, and a soil release agent-enhancing amount of a polyhydroxy fatty acid amide surfactant of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is H, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 hydrocarbyl, 2-hydroxy ethyl, 2-hydroxy propyl, or a mixture thereof, R.sub.2 is C.sub.5 -C.sub.31 hydrocarbyl, and Z is a polyhydroxylhydrocarbyl having a linear hydrocarbyl chain with at least 3 hydroxyls directly connected to the chain, or an alkoxylated derivative thereof.

Various soil release agents have been suggested for use in detergent compositions in order to enhance grease and oil cleaning of detergent compositions for synthetic fibers and fabrics. Synthetic textiles, such polyesters, polyacrylamides (e.g. nylon), and acrylics typically have hydrophobic surfaces which make removal of grease- and oil-type stains difficult. Soil release agents are compounds having both hydrophobic and hydrophilic sections. The hydrophobic portion of the soil release agent adheres to the surfaces of the synthetic fibers or fabric, and the hydrophilic portion of the soil release agent increases hydrophilicity of the surface of the synthetic material. Once deposited, these soil release agents enhance cleaning ability of detergents in subsequent washings since grease and oil are more easily removed from the hydrophilized fabric surface.
Unfortunately, other components present in detergent compositions, especially anionic materials such as anionic detersive surfactants and builder salts, can interfere with soil release agent performance and, hence, impair overall cleaning ability of the detergent.
The formulator of liquid detergent compositions can face an especially difficult challenge because the type of soil release agent best suited for liquid detergents typically are characterized by having nonionic hydrophile sections (which typically comprise ethoxylate monomeric units) that have a strong propensity to interact with anionic surfactants.
Detergent compositions can be easily prepared which do not include surfactant systems that significantly interact with soil release agents by eliminating or severely reducing the level of anionic surfactant present in the formulation. However, the presence of anionic surfactants is often highly desirable in detergent compositions for superior cleaning ability across a broad spectrum of stains. Conventional nonionic surfactants can be added to the composition to assist in overall detergency performance, however it remains desirable to provide compositions containing anionic surfactants and soil release agents which have both enhanced soil release agent efficiency and improved overall detergent performance, especially improved grease/oil cleaning ability.
Accordingly, there is a need for developing detergent compositions containing anionic surfactants and soil release agents that can provide improved detergency performance.

Polyhydroxy fatty acid amides in soil release agent-containing detergent compositions


An orthopedic device is arranged for scapulothoracic stabilization, inclusive of features for biomechanical stabilization of the shoulder, scapula and spine, treated alone or in combination with assembly features for supporting an arm or shoulder. The orthopedic device may be arranged in a garment or shoulder harness such that either may include first and second strap systems for extending over first and second shoulders of a user, respectively, and each of the first and second strap systems forms a “Figure 9” shape about the respective shoulder, with a strap section arranged to extend toward a waist stabilizer that may form part of the orthopedic device.

Certain pathological conditions may benefit from scapulothoracic stabilization. Optimal posture includes not only cervical, thoracic and spinal alignment in coronal and saggital planes, but it also includes appropriate scapulothoracic and concomitant sternal clavicular and acromial clavical alignment.
Traditional thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis (TLSO) braces or supports, and often referred to as dorsolumbar corsets, have existed for many years. Early designs focused on including a non-stretch cotton ducking, with a hook and eye closure on the anterior side of the support. Laces are along the sides of the support to allow for circumferential reduction. Tightening of the laces creates abdominal compression with the intention of raising intracavitary pressure that should internally reduce a load on a vertebral column.
Channels are sewn onto the fabric to form pockets allowing for rigid stays to be added at locations of the support. Stays located over the abdominal region create extra stabilization of the abdominal tissue of a user. Long paraspinal stays are located over the paraspinal musculature extending from the sacrum to the level of the spine of the scapula to enhance saggital plane stabilization of the thoracic-lumbar-sacral spine. Axillary straps are used to attach proximally at the posterior proximal aspect of the support to course over the shoulder and draw down through the axilla.
The combination of materials used in the support, areas of compression, and the stays and the axillary straps function together to provide moderate stabilization of the thoracic-lumbar-sacral spine in the sagittal plane while improving shoulder posture.
While effective, the known supports are heavy, cumbersome and deter users from wearing them. Due to their size, they inhibit mobility and appear unwieldy which limits their desirability by users.

Orthopedic device for scapulothoracic stabilization


Disclosed are systems, methods, devices and computer-readable mediums for image fetching for timeline scrubbing of digital media. In some implementations, a method comprises: receiving at a first time prior to receiving a scrub command, a first set of scrub images associated with digital media, the first set of scrub images having a first set of positions on a timeline of the digital media; receiving a first scrub command; receiving at a second time after the first time, a second set of scrub images associated with the digital media, the second set of scrub images having a second set of positions on the timeline that fill time gaps in the first set of positions on the timeline; animating, a timeline overlay including the timeline, a playhead and a scrub image window; and selecting a scrub image from the first or second sets of scrub images for presentation in the scrub image window.

A digital media receiver (DMR) is an electronic device that runs an application that streams digital media (e.g., music, videos, podcasts) to a personal computer, mobile device or television system. A user may access an online digital media store through the DMR to acquire videos, television shows, podcasts and other digital media. The user may also access personal data from cloud storage (e.g., photo streams). The DMR provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user to navigate digital media files with a remote control device.

Image fetching for timeline scrubbing of digital media


A method and apparatus for programming a cellular telephone with activation parameters. A cellular telephone to be programmed is connected to a computer via communications interface. A user input device is provided to allow a user to provide programming information, including a cellular telephone type, to the computer. A visual representation of the cellular telephone type is displayed on a display monitor o allow the user to interactively verify the inputted programming information. Upon such user verification, the computer determines activation parameters and transmits the activation parameter to the cellular telephone. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, certain activation parameters are dynamically computed based on the user provided programming information. In one embodiment, the user enters a cellular telephone number to be assigned to the cellular telephone. The computer looks up a system identification associated with the cellular telephone number in memory unit. Certain activation parameters are dynamically computer based on the cellular telephone number and system identification.

The present invention relates generally to the programming of cellular telephones. More particularly, the present invention relates to the automated programming of a cellular telephone.
Cellular telephones are becoming increasingly popular. In the past, the sale of cellular telephones was limited to specialized cellular telephone dealers. Today, due to the increased popularity of cellular telephones, such telephones may be purchased from a variety of retailers, including electronic specialty stores, electronic chain stores, department stores, and cellular service provider retail outlets. Upon the purchase of a cellular telephone, the telephone must be activated before it can be used with a particular cellular service provider in a geographic location. Such activation generally requires the programming (i.e. storing) of activation parameters into the memory of the cellular telephone.
The cellular telephone memory which stores the activation parameters is called a Number Assignment Module (NAM), and the data which is stored in the NAM is called NAM parameters. Such NAM parameters include the telephone number associated with the cellular telephone and an identification of the cellular service provider which will provide the cellular telephone service associated with that telephone. There are other NAM parameters which must be programmed in order to activate the telephone. These parameters will be discussed in more detail below in the detailed description.
The programming of NAM parameters is a time consuming and error prone process. Each manufacturer""s telephone(s) has different programming requirements and procedures. As a result, point-of-sale personnel must have access to large amounts of programming reference material for each of the different types of phones. The actual programming is generally done through the cellular telephone keypad. The first step in the programming is to enter a programming code into the keypad which will instruct the telephone to enter a programming mode. Once in the programming mode, each of the NAM parameters is entered through the keypad. Such keypad programming is prone to errors and a small mistake in programming renders the phone unusable until correctly programmed.
The complexity of NAM parameter programming has made the sale of cellular telephones less profitable for retail stores which do not specialize in such sales, because point of sale personnel must be trained to program the cellular telephones. In addition to the training expense, such sales personnel must dedicate a substantial amount of time in programming the phones, time which could be otherwise spent with customers in the sale of new phones. In addition, programming by inexperienced sales personnel often results in an incorrectly programmed telephone. In many instances, such incorrect programming is not discovered until the customer has left the store and has attempted to use the telephone. As a result, the customer must return to the store to have the phone reprogrammed. This results in both more time required by sales personnel, and reduced customer satisfaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,455 entitled System and Method for Automatic Activation of Cellular Telephones discloses a system for programming NAM parameters in a cellular telephone. In accordance with the technique described therein, a local computer is connected to both a cellular telephone and an authorizing computer of a selected cellular carrier. User information, such as credit information, is manually entered into the local computer. The local computer interrogates the cellular telephone to determine certain data stored in the cellular telephone. The user information and cellular telephone data is sent to the authorizing computer of the selected cellular carrier via a modem. Upon approval by the local carrier, the authorizing computer sends to the local computer the data required for programming the cellular telephone. Upon receipt of the data, the local computer programs the cellular telephone with the received data. Thus, in accordance with this technique, the activation data to be stored in the cellular telephone is not stored or computed locally in the local computer, but is stored at a remote authorizing computer, and the data must be transferred from the remote authorizing computer to the local computer prior to programming the cellular telephone. In addition, there is no disclosure of user interaction with the programming function apart from the entering of user information.
UK Patent Application GB 2256113-A, entitled xe2x80x9cProgramming A Cellular Radio Telephonexe2x80x9d also discloses a system and method for programming activation data into a cellular telephone. The system includes a remote computer which is coupled to an acoustic converting device (e.g. an acoustic coupler) thus providing communication between the cellular telephone and the remote computer. The preferred embodiment shows the link between the computer and the acoustic converting device being a network (i.e. telephone network). In operation, the computer ascertains the type, serial number, and other basic data from the telephone, and using this data, selects the appropriate set-up data for the telephone from a stored table. The data is then sent to the mobile telephone via the link and the acoustic converting device. There is no interactive communication between a user and the remote computer which controls the programming.
In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus for storing activation parameters in a cellular telephone is provided. A cellular telephone to be programmed is connected to a local computer. The computer includes a user input device which allows a user to input programming information, including the cellular telephone type, to the computer. Upon the receipt of the user programming information, a visual representation of the user inputted cellular telephone type is displayed on a display screen to allow the user to interactively verify the inputted programming information. Upon user verification of the programming information, the computer determines appropriate activation parameters based on the inputted programming information, and transmits the activation parameters to the telephone for storage in the cellular telephone memory.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, certain activation parameters are neither stored in the computer memory, nor are they supplied by the user, but instead they are computed dynamically by the computer based on the user inputted programming information. In one embodiment, the user inputted programming information includes a cellular telephone number to be assigned to the telephone. The computer retrieves from memory a stored system identification which is associated with the area code and prefix of the user inputted cellular telephone number. Certain activation parameters are dynamically computed based on the cellular telephone number and the system identification.
Thus, in accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus for programming a cellular telephone is provided with a level of user interaction which provides advantages over the prior systems. The user may interactively verify inputted programming information prior to an attempt to store activation parameters in the cellular telephone. In addition, computer memory requirements are reduced by dynamically computing certain activation parameters, thus saving the memory space which otherwise would be taken up by stored activation parameters. These advantages are provided in a method and apparatus which may be implemented on a computer system which is local to the cellular telephone programming location.

Method and apparatus for storing activation data in a cellular telephone


The latency of a PSRAM is set according to its current state when receiving an external command. If the PSRAM is not executing a specific operation or has completed the specific operation while meeting corresponding timing parameters, the PSRAM is configured to execute the external command with a first latency. If the PSRAM is executing the specific operation or has completed the specific operation before meeting corresponding timing parameters, the PSRAM is configured to execute the external command with a second latency larger than the first latency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method of operating a PSRAM and related memory device, and more particularly, to a method of automatically adjusting latency of a PSRAM and related memory device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Random access memory is a data storage device categorized into two types: static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In DRAM, each memory cell includes a transistor and a capacitor. The capacitor may either be charged or discharged. The transistor may function as a switch which allows a peripheral control circuit to access or change the status of the capacitor. Due to capacitor charge leakage, DRAM is required to periodically execute refresh operation in order to maintain accurate data. In SRAM, each memory cell includes bistable latching circuitry capable of storing date without executing refresh operation when powered. SRAM has faster data access, but occupies larger space and consumes more power.
Pseudo-static random access memory (PSRAM) adopts the memory cell structure of DRAM and the timing control of SRAM. It combines the high density of DRAM with the ease of use of SRAM. PSRAM offers variable latency with which the wait time for accessing a specific column address may be adjusted. The unit of latency is the period of the central clock signal. A larger latency means slower data access. When receiving an external command, a PSRAM may be executing a specific operation or has completed the specific operation but before meeting corresponding timing parameters. Under such circumstance, the PSRAM whose latency is set to one clock period can provide faster data access, but may not be able to access data accurately; the PSRAM whose latency is set to two clock periods is given sufficient time to complete the specific operation and meet corresponding timing parameters, but the overall data access speed is compromised.

Method of operating PSRAM and related memory device


The support arm of a camera stabilizing device is provided with a tensioning assembly which is mated to the support arm in a fashion which permits continuous adjustment of the geometric relationship between the end points of the tensioning assembly and the remaining structures which comprise the support arm. This can include adjustment of the frame of the support arm, or adjustment of an end point of the tensioning assembly relative to the frame of the support arm using a cable and drum arrangement coupled with a spring of appropriate size and tension.

This invention relates generally to equipment supports, and more particularly, to portable equipment utilized in conjunction with motion picture film or video cameras.
In employing motion picture film cameras or video cameras to capture a sequence of images, it is extremely important to maintain the camera which is used in as stable a position as possible in order to obtain a high quality result. This is important in eliminating the effects of undesirable camera motion while in use. This is particularly desirable when employing such cameras under conditions wherein it is necessary or desirable for the camera to be mobile, or subjected to movement to acquire the images which are desired.
In order to overcome these problems, and to reduce the expense encountered in producing motion picture films and video productions, the "Steadicam.RTM." portable camera stabilizing device was developed- Using this device, which has become a de-facto standard in the industry, high quality results have been obtainable in a variety of circumstances. This is so even when the camera operator walks or runs with the camera because of the attendant increase in stability, particularly in stabilizing quick angular deviations along the axes of pan, tilt and roll, which previously could not be adequately controlled.
Further detail regarding the "Steadicam.RTM." camera stabilizing device may be found with reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 32,213 (formerly U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,168); 4,156,512; and 4,474,439. A key component of this device is the so-called "arm" which serves as the interface between the frame which supports the camera and its ancillary components (e.g., battery packs, view finders, remote control equipment, etc.) and the body harness which is worn by the camera operator. Further detail regarding this support arm may be found with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,028.
The support arm disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,028 is generally comprised of a pair of substantially friction-free arm sections which are rotatably and pivotally interconnected at a hinge bracket. Each arm section is formed as a parallelogram, and is provided with segmented springs which are designed to apply a constant force to compensate for the weight applied to the end of the support arm. As a result of this, the weight carried by the support arm is spatially decoupled from the body mounting to increase isolation of the weight from the operator as well as the camera support itself.
A principal design feature of the support arm, which is critical to proper functioning of the "Steadicam" camera stabilizing device, is the ability of the support arm to support the fixed weight of the overall system from its lowest to its highest point of articulation with a relatively constant amount of positive "buoyancy". This ability is generally referred to as "iso-elasticity" and the maintenance of such iso-elasticity is quite critical in ensuring effective operations of the "Steadicam.RTM." camera stabilizing device.
The mechanical principles and geometry of the support arm disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,028 are perfectly valid for a variety of different types of cameras. However, a particular design was only found to be valid for a particular type of camera, primarily due to weight considerations, and was found not to be readily adaptable to different types of cameras. Nevertheless, in practice, use of the "Steadicam.RTM." camera. stabilizing device has generally come to require its use in conjunction with different types of cameras. This is because practicalities such as space availability and cost considerations tend to prevent the dedication of different camera stabilizing devices to the different cameras necessary for a particular production. Consequently, means for adjusting the support capabilities of the arm of the "Steadicam.RTM." camera stabilizing device have become an ever-increasing consideration.
Responding to this need, adjustability has been provided for by altering the length of the springs used in conjunction with the arm sections of the support arm in order to increase or decrease the load characteristics of the resulting spring set. While this allows cameras of different weight to be supported by the arm, it has been found that the desired positive buoyancy for the arm is only valid in one position of its vertical articulation. In other words, the important feature of iso-elasticity is lost. What is more, the adjustments required for altering spring length are significant and time consuming, and are therefore preferably avoided.

Adjustable, iso-elastic support apparatus


There is provided a method for well construction comprising the steps of: a first phase of the well construction, in which a bottom hole assembly, BHA, with a first drill is used for drilling, and a conductor casing is lowered into the well and cemented; a second phase of the well construction, in which a second drill is used for drilling, wherein a production adapter base, PAB, is installed in parallel with lowering a blowout preventer, BOP; and a third phase of the well construction in which a third drill is used for drilling, for the steps of landing and geonavigation inside a reservoir.

In the prior art, a high proportion of shallow-water and deep-water oil wells are constructed according to a so-called slender design, which comprises four principal phases of installation, in which conductor, surface and production casings are lowered, before drilling the last phase, normally horizontal, for subsequent installation of a gravel pack.
In general, in phase 1 of the slender design, the start of the well may be drilled, blasted or based on using a torpedo, depending on the characteristics of the sea floor. In the case of a drilled well start, a BHA (bottom hole assembly) is used with a 36″ drill, and a 30″ conductor casing is lowered and cemented.
Phase 2 is usually drilled with a 17½″ drill, with seawater and return to the seabed. Then the 13⅜″ surface casing is lowered and cemented. The PAB (production adapter base) is installed by the SSV (subsea support vessel/subsea equipment support vessel) in an operation parallel with lowering of the BOP (blowout preventer) by the rig.
Next, phase 3 is drilled with a 12¼″ drill with synthetic fluid, in a closed circuit, until landing the well at the top of the reservoir. Next, the 9⅝″ production casing is then lowered and cemented.
Drilling of phase 4 is carried out with an 8½″ drill using water-based fluid with a horizontal path navigating inside the reservoir. At the end of drilling, the well is conditioned and the drilling fluid is replaced with completion fluid.
It is possible to streamline the above process by combining the aforementioned steps 3 and 4 into a single step. Such a combination of steps is not observed in the known processes of the prior art.
After the 4 aforementioned phases of drilling are done, the completion phase is performed. The completion phase is divided into two stages, lower completion and upper completion, which will be described below.
Lower completion includes installation of the gravel pack for turbidite (turbidity) reservoirs. In the case of producing wells this operation consists of assembling and lowering the sand control screens (screened tubes), blank pipes (blind tubes), and modulated with Gravel Pack, with packer sealbore and formation isolating valve (FIV), besides the inner string of wash pipes. After positioning the screens at the bottom of the well, the packer is seated and gravel pumping (GPH) is carried out. In other words, once the screens are in place, the gravel in a carrier fluid can be pumped into the annular space between the screens and the well.
For injection wells, lower completion consists of assembling the same equipment as described above, but without the inner string of wash pipes, since there is no need to place propping agent in the annulus between the well and the screens, i.e. the well remains stand-alone (SAW). However, stimulation of the formation is required, and is carried out by acidizing via direct bullheading using ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) as spacer.
For injection wells, it may still be preferable to carry out the injectivity test, if requested by the reservoir team.
At the end of the gravel, or acid, operations, the FIV is closed and tested, and the wear sleeve of the PAB is recovered.
The upper completion phase consists of assembling, lowering and installing the production or injection string (COP/COI) and laying the TH in the housing of the PAB in One and a Half Trip.
For the balancing manoeuvre, the string is assembled with anchor seal, DB nipple, TSRH, PDG, HFIV, string accessories (CIM and GLM for producing wells) and production tubes until close to the position of installation of the SSSD. All of these processes are familiar to a person skilled in the art, who will have no difficulty in reproducing the steps described.
The string is then lowered with drill pipes from the rig, the anchor is seated in the bore of the packer sealbore, the TSR is released and the balancing mark is made. The string is then withdrawn, balancing is carried out and the SSSD and TH are installed. The string is then lowered with 6⅝″ drill pipes from the rig or DPR. The TSR is jacketed, the TH is seated and prevention of hydrates is carried out. At the end of the operation, the FIV is opened with pressure cycles and the well is delivered with the HFIV and the SSSD closed and tested for subsequent installation of the WCT at the end with SESV.
However, it would be very advantageous if the steps of upper and lower completion, described above, could also be carried out in a single manoeuvre, which would result in a great saving of working time, and would also result in a saving of resources.
Various studies concerning the potential for using wells of the slender type are known from the prior art, and the following may be mentioned in particular: Slender Well Drilling and Completion (Tangen, E. H.); Advancements in Slender Well Design (P. D. Howlett); and Case Study of New Slender Well Construction Technology (P. D. Howlett et al.).
However, none of the documents cited discloses a well design of the slender type where the steps of upper and lower completion are carried out in a single manoeuvre. Moreover, none of these documents discloses the possibility of condensing aforementioned phases 3 and 4 of well drilling into a single step.
As will be described in more detail hereunder, the present disclosure aims to solve the problems of the prior art described above in a practical and efficient manner.

Methods for well construction and completion