Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for location reporting. A mobility management node determines to establish a connection between the mobility management node and a terminal device for which location reporting is required. The mobility management node sends, to a base station, a request for establishing the connection. The request is configured to request the base station to report location information of the terminal device.

This section introduces aspects that may facilitate better understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Next generation (NG)-radio access network (RAN) supports NG-RAN location reporting for the services that require accurate cell identification (e.g. emergency services, lawful intercept, charging) or for a UE mobility event notification service subscribed to an access and mobility management function (AMF) by other network functions (NFs). The NG-RAN location reporting may be used by the AMF when a target user equipment (UE) is in connection management (CM)-CONNECTED state.

Methods and apparatuses for location reporting


A tool for cutting elongated turf strips has a cutting head secured to lateral stabilizing members. The cutting head is a rectangular box-shaped member having forward peripheral cutting edges. The stabilizing members have rollers that ride on the turf surface to ensure a uniform cutting depth of the cutting head. An upwardly and rearwardly directed handle is pivotally connected to the top wall of the cutting head to facilitate moving the cutting head through turf to cut a strip of sod therefrom.

Often it is necessary to cut strips of sod from a damaged area of turf for replacement with sod strips from a turf nursery. Turf repair is a common golf course maintenance procedure. Sod cutters have been used in the past to cut strips of sod from nursery sod for replacing damaged turf areas. For example, a sod cutter having a one-piece frame accommodating a downwardly directed adjustable cutting blade is marketed by the R. L. Gould & Co. This sod cutter has a roller rotatably mounted on the forward portion of the frame. A pair of upwardly and rearwardly directed handles are secured to the frame. The cutter is used to cut sod into conventional 12-inch or 18-inch strips. Frequently, more sod is cut than is necessary for repair. The width of the cut is not adjustable. Further, a downward force cannot be applied on the cutter when a cut is being made because both hands of the operator are required to be used to push the tool forwardly through the turf. This is likely to result in cut depths being uneven.


Thermal imaging of heat sources in thermal processing systems for determination of workpiece temperature are provided. In one example, a thermal processing apparatus can include a processing chamber, a workpiece support, a plurality of heat sources configured to heat a workpiece, and at least one camera. The at least one camera can capture one or more images of thermal radiation of the plurality of heat sources during thermal treatment of the workpiece. In one example, a method for calibrating the camera can include obtaining the one or more images of thermal radiation of at least one heat source, obtaining one or more reference signals indicative of irradiation of the at least one heat source, and calibrating the camera based at least in part on a comparison between the one or more images of thermal radiation and the one or more reference signals indicative of irradiation of the heat source.

A thermal processing chamber as used herein refers to a device that can heat a workpiece(s), such as a semiconductor wafer. The device can include a support plate for supporting the workpiece(s) and an energy source for heating the workpiece(s), such as heating lamps, lasers, or other heat sources. During heat treatment, the workpiece(s) can be heated under controlled conditions to a preset temperature regime. For instance, the workpiece(s) can be heated by an array of lamps through the support plate to temperatures of, for instance, from about 300° C. to about 1,200° C., for times that can be typically less than a few minutes in rapid thermal processing. During heat treatment, a primary goal can be to measure a workpiece temperature as precisely as possible.

BEIJING E-TOWN SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An array substrate for a gate-in-panel (GIP)-type organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device is provided. A plurality of circuit blocks are formed on gate circuit units and separated into pixel lines in which respective gate lines are disposed, and a plurality of clock lines formed in each of signal input units. Each of the signal input units includes at least one group. Each of the groups includes the plurality of clock lines. Each of the circuit blocks includes one or two partial circuit blocks, which are sequentially disposed in a row in a lengthwise direction of the gate line in each of the pixel lines. Each of the partial circuit blocks is included in a signal input unit disposed most adjacent thereto, and connected to a clock line formed in one group disposed most adjacent thereto through a plurality of first connection lines.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device, and more particularly, to an array substrate for a gate-in-panel-type (GIP) OLED display device, which may minimize parasitic capacitance of a signal input unit.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device, which is a flat panel display (FPD), has high luminance and a low operating voltage. Also, the OLED display device, which is an emissive display, has a high contrast ratio, may embody an ultrathin display, has a response time of about several microseconds (us) to facilitate formation of moving images, has an unlimited viewing angle, may be stably driven even at a low temperature, and be driven at a low direct-current (DC) voltage of about 5V to about 15V. Therefore, the OLED display device may facilitate the manufacture and design of a driver circuit.
Accordingly, the OLED display device having the above-described advantages has lately been employed for various information and technology (IT) apparatuses, such as televisions (TVs), monitors, and cellular phones.
Hereinafter, a basic structure of the OLED display device will be described in further detail.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a related art OLED display device.
A typical OLED display device 1 may broadly include an array substrate 10 including an array device and an OLED E, and an opposite substrate 70 disposed opposite the array substrate 10 and serving an encapsulation function. The array device may include a switching thin film transistor (TFT) (not shown) connected to gate and data lines (not shown), and a driving TFT (DTr) connected to the OLED E. The OLED E may include a first electrode 47 connected to the driving TFT DTr, an organic emission layer (EML) 55, and a second electrode 580.
To complete the OLED display device 1 having the above-described construction, a driver unit having a driver circuit configured to drive the OLED E is required.
In general, the driver unit is embodied on a printed circuit board (PCB) (not shown). In this case, the PCB is divided into a gate PCB (not shown) connected to a plurality of gate lines (not shown) formed on the array substrate 10, and a data PCB (not shown) connected to a plurality of data lines (not shown).
Meanwhile, the gate PCB and the data PCB may be respectively mounted on a gate pad portion and a data pad portion using a tape carrier package (TCP), or by interposing a flexible printed circuit (FPC) therebetween. The gate pad portion may be formed on one side surface of the array substrate 10 for the OLED display device and connected to the gate line. Also, the data pad portion is typically formed on a top side surface orthogonal to the one side surface on which the gate pad is formed, and connected to the data line.
However, when the PCB is divided into the gate PCB and the data PCB and mounted on the gate pad portion and the data pad portion as in the related art, the volume and weight of the PCB may increase.
Accordingly, to solve this problem, a gate-in-panel (GIP)-type OLED display device in which gate and data PCBs are integrated into a single PCB and mounted on only one side surface of an array substrate, has been proposed.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of an array substrate for a related art GIP-type OLED display device, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of region A of FIG. 2.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an array substrate 40 for a GIP-type OLED display device may broadly include a display region AA configured to display an image, a pad portion PA disposed above the display region AA, first and second gate circuit units C1 and C2 provided in a non-display region NA disposed on one side of the display region AA, and first and second signal input units S1 and S2 connected to the gate circuit units C1 and C2.
More specifically, a gate line 73, a data line 76, a TFT Tr, and a first electrode 78 may be provided on the display region AA. The gate line 73 and the data line 76 may intersect each other and define a pixel region P. The TFT Tr may be connected to each of the gate line 73 and the data line 76 and serves as a switching device. The first electrode 78 is connected to the TFT Tr.
In addition, a data pad DP and a plurality of gate pads GP may be formed on the pad portion PA disposed above the display region AA. The data pad DP may be connected to the data line 76 formed on the display region AA, and connected to an external PCB (not shown). The gate pads GP may be connected to a plurality of clock signal lines CLK1 to CLK13, and a plurality of gate signal lines VGH, VGL, and VST formed in the first and second signal input units S1 and S2.
Furthermore, a plurality of circuit blocks CB1 and CB2 may be provided on the first and second gate circuit units C1 and C2. The circuit blocks CB1 and CB2 may be connected to one another and separated into respective pixel lines PL including a plurality of pixel regions P connected to the same gate line 73. Each of the plurality of circuit blocks CB1 and CB2 may include a combination of a plurality of switching devices, a plurality of driver devices, and a plurality of capacitors. Each of the circuit blocks CB1 and CB2, which belongs to each of the pixel lines PL, may be internally divided again into one or two partial circuit blocks PB1 and PB2. In this case, the plurality of circuit blocks CB1 and CB2 provided in the same pixel line PL may be connected to one another by the gate line 73 and a subsidiary line (not shown) provided in the pixel line PL.
The gate circuit units C1 and C2 and the signal input units S1 and S2 will be described in further detail.
In the array substrate 40 for the related art GIP-type OLED display device, the first signal input unit S1 and the first gate circuit unit C1 may sequentially alternate with the second signal input unit S2 and the second gate circuit unit C2 on the non-display region NA disposed on one side of the display region AA.
In addition, a first partial circuit block PB1 and a second partial circuit block PB2 may be provided in the first gate circuit unit C1, which belongs to each of the pixel lines PL, in a widthwise direction of the corresponding pixel line PL.
In this case, the first partial circuit block PB1 becomes an 8-phase type requiring eight different clock signals, while the second partial circuit block PB2 becomes a 5-phase type requiring five different clock signals.
Furthermore, the first signal input unit S1 may include first through eight clock lines CLK1 to CLK8 configured to input signals to the first partial circuit block PB1, ninth to thirteenth clock lines CLK9 to CLK13 configured to input signals to the second partial circuit block PB2, a gate high signal line VGH, a gate low signal line VGL, and a storage signal line VST configured to apply a storage voltage.
Although an enlarged view is not presented, the second gate circuit unit C2 and the second signal input unit S2 may have the same configurations as the first gate circuit unit C1 and the first signal input unit C1, respectively.
However, in the above-described array substrate 40 for the related art GIP-type OLED display device, each of the first and second circuit blocks CB1 and CB2, which belongs to each of the pixel lines PL, is internally divided into the first and second partial circuit blocks PB1 and PB2 in the widthwise direction of the corresponding pixel line PL. Thus, since there are plenty of intersected and overlapped portions between the clock lines CLK1 to CLK13 and a plurality of first connection lines CL configured to connect the clock lines CLK1 to CLK13 provided in the first and second signal input units S1 and S2, the first and second signal input units S1 and S2 may have very large parasitic capacitances.
In a specific example, the 8-phase-type first partial circuit block PB1 may be connected to the first through eighth clock lines CLK1 to CLK8, while the 5-phase-type second partial circuit block PB2 may be connected to the ninth to thirteenth clock lines CLK9 to CLK13. In this case, referring to the drawings, all of a plurality of first connection lines CL connected to a plurality of elements (not shown) included in the first partial circuit block PB1 are basically configured to intersect the ninth through thirteenth clock lines CLK9 to CLK13 connected to the second partial circuit block PB2, so that relatively large parasitic capacitances may be generated.
Accordingly, since a parasitic capacitance accumulates from a first pixel line PL1 toward an n-th pixel line PLn due to the parasitic capacitances generated between the plurality of clock lines CLK1 to CLK13 and the plurality of first connection lines CL, a difference between clock signals passing through each of the clock lines CLK1 to CLK13 may occur.
As a result, the first and second gate circuit units C1 and C2 disposed relatively close to the pad portion PA on which an external PCB (not shown) is mounted, may be normally driven to output normal images to the display region AA through the pixel line PL connected to the first and second gate circuit units C1 and C2. However, the first and second gate circuit units C1 and C2 disposed relatively far away from the pad portion PA cannot properly output signals due to the accumulated parasitic capacitance, so the pixel line PL connected to the first and second gate circuit units C1 and C2 cannot output normal images to the display region AA to degrade display quality.

Array substrate for gate-in-panel-type organic light-emitting diode display device


A system and method are disclosed for aggregated non-transparent requester ID translation in a PCIe switch. The system may include a first switch that is enabled to receive a request from a non-transparent port of a second switch at an aggregated downstream port of the first switch and translating the requester ID of the request at the first switch using the aggregated switch number and the captured bus number of the requester ID. The method may include receiving a request from a non-transparent port of a second switch at an aggregated downstream port of a first switch and translating the requester ID of the request at the first switch using the aggregated switch number and the captured bus number of the requester ID.

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) is a third generation Input Output (3GIO) system that implements a serial, switched-packet, point-to-point communication standard at the system level. PCI Express has achieved many advantages over the prior shared bus system, such as quality of service (QoS), high speed peer-to-peer communication between external devices, adaptability, and low pin counts. The basic PCI Express architecture includes a root complex, a PCI Express switch, and various external devices. In a PCIe switch, transaction layer packets are routed between requesters and completers utilizing requests generated by the requesters and completions generator by the completer in response to the request.
PCI Express standards define the transmission of transaction layer packets (TLPs) between a root complex and various endpoints connected to external devices. In standard PCIe, there is only one root complex (RC) at the top of the hierarchy and the root complex assigns addresses and requester IDs to the other functions (i.e. endpoints, bridges, etc.) of the hierarchy. In accordance with the PCIe standard, non-posted requests are routed by address and their completions are routed by requester ID.
In the case of multiple root complexes in a PCIe system, in order to route between two or more root complexes, and thus their PCIe hierarchies, non-transparent bridging is required. Non-transparent bridging is a non-standard method of translating a transaction layer packet (TLP) from one PCI Express domain to another PCI Express domain. Non-transparent bridging between two or more domains requires mapping of the address and requester ID (REQID). In non-transparent bridging only the request has its address translated because there is no address field in the completion. Additionally, both the request and the completion of the routed TLP require the translation of the REQID field.
In the case of multiple root complexes in a PCIe system, each root complex may be coupled to a PCIe switch and each of the PCIe switches may be coupled together to implement a PCIe system having multiple root complexes. The PCIe switch may be coupled together in a cascaded or tree topology, or a combination thereof. In order to accommodate multiple root complexes in one PCIe system, each of the PCIe switches must store a requester ID (REQID) table having an entry for each requester directly connected to the switch itself and for each of the requesters connected to the other downstream PCIe switches in the hierarchy. Such a configuration requires a very large lookup table, which is undesirable due to the large integrated circuit embedded memory required to store the table.
Additionally, emerging applications for solid state drives using I/O virtualization require a large number of requester IDs to be translated by a non-transparent port of a PCIe switch. The table size required to store the requester IDs for these applications is pushing the practical limits of ASIC technology. PCIe switches are often coupled together in a cascaded topological hierarchy to accommodate multiple solid state drives. In this topology, the PCIe switch that is positioned at the top of the hierarchy must store requester ID entries in the lookup table for not only locally attached endpoints, but also for all endpoints attaches to switches below in the hierarchy. As such, the required storage for the table increases as the number of cascaded PCIe switches increases to accommodate the solid state drives. This large lookup table is undesirable due to the large integrated circuit embedded memory required to store the table.
Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus that will reduce the size of the requester ID lookup table in a PCIe switch implementing non-transparent bridging. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved requester ID lookup table having a reduced number of table entries, therefore requiring a reduced amount of memory storage, for use in a PCIe non-transparent bridging switch to accommodate multiple root complexes.

Method and apparatus for an aggregated non-transparent requester ID translation for a PCIe switch


The present invention relates to a method for detecting the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule by monitoring changes of electrical property accurately according to the biological, biochemical or chemical reaction of the biomolecule, and a biochip provided for this purpose. The present invention provides a method for detecting the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule in a target sample, wherein the reaction of the target sample is performed under known reaction solution, in which a reference fluid having a high dielectric constant such as water is filled into a reaction chamber before the reaction to measure an impedance value or a capacitance value, after completing the reaction, the reaction solution is removed and said reference fluid having a high dielectric constant is refilled to measure an impedance value or a capacitance value, and then the impedance value or the capacitance value measured before and after the reaction is compared with each other.

Biochip is a device that can analyze genetic information and protein information automatically in a large scale, or detect the presence and the function of a biomolecule easily and rapidly. This biochip is being actively applied for various fields including gene and protein researches, medicines, and agricultural, environmental and chemical industries, etc.
The biochip is classified broadly to genotyping chip, expression chip and microfluidics chip: the genotyping DNA chip is to detect the presence of a particular gene by using a probe; the expression DNA chip is to monitor the expression profiling of gene associated with a particular disease; and the microfluidics chip is to detect the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule within a sample including blood and urine. Presently, the genotyping DNA chip is commercialized and used widely in research areas and medical diagnosis areas.
Generally, the term microarray chip defines a chip that arrays hundreds to ten thousands kinds of genes or proteins mounting on a glass plate by using a microarray apparatus. Among these, DNA chip is to microarray oligonucleotides as probes on a glass plate in order to identify the presence of a particular gene with a fluorescence scanner.
The DNA chip is being utilized practically for research and diagnosis fields. Particularly, this chip is applied to elucidate the gene function including cellular metabolism, physiological phenomena and mutual relation between genes by using gene expression profiling and genotyping techniques, etc. The DNA chip is also used widely in diagnosis to examine a mechanism causing a particular disease such as cancer, prognostic diagnosis and action of drugs, to identify genetic information of microbes causing diseases, and to screen mutations, etc.
Diagnostic DNA chip has been developed in 1994 by Dr. Steve Fodor in Affymetrix Co. Ltd., and the first HIV gene chip started to be commercialized in a market. Nowadays, researches upon the diagnostic DNA chip are attempted actively in order to diagnose chronic diseases including HIV, rheumatism, autoimmune disease, chronic nephritis, atherosclerosis, atopic dermatitis and allergy, etc. Especially, recent studies upon DNA chips tend to develop chips for diagnostic use rather than chips for research use. Moreover contrasting to genotyping chips useful for diagnosing genotype, pathogen and virus, an approach on gene expression profiling capable of diagnosing various diseases including cancer and leukemia, is being accomplished.
Recently, microfluidics chip (Lab-on-a chip) that can detect a lot of diseases coincidentally from one trial and predict outbreak of diseases from genetic information of an individual by introducing IT and nano technologies, attracts attention. The microfluidics chip is also referred to as biochip. This chip is used to analyze a reaction profiling of various biomolecules within a chip, after a minute amount of an analytic target material (DNA, RNA, peptide, protein, etc.) is introduced into a chip chamber. This biochip is to detect the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule by monitoring changes of electrical property from an electrode installed in a chip, after being reacted with the biomolecule in a reaction chamber.
Such a biochip is highly applicable for medical diagnosis, because it can identify the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule more easily and rapidly by detecting electrical signals than any other DNA chips mentioned above.
For example, HPV DNA chip is a device that prepares HPV oligonucleotide probes and microarrays these probes on a glass plate in order to diagnose whether HPV, a pathogenic virus causing cervical cancer is positive or not. Nevertheless, it is impossible to directly diagnose the positive status of HPV, right after suspected sample is collected. That is to say, primers for amplifying HPV viral gene, labeled with fluorescence should be prepared in advance. Then, the collected sample should be amplified by performing a PCR, mounted onto an HPV DNA chip and monitored to examine a fluorescent signal with a fluorescence scanner. However, this system for detecting hybrids by using a DNA chip (laser-induced fluorescence) is inconvenient to be manipulated and spends time a lot. Therefore, this method has various problems and disadvantages. It needs high cost due to labeling a DNA sample with a fluorescent material and is not portable because of using an expensive fluorescence scanner.
In contrast, the biochip can identify the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule relatively easily and rapidly by detecting electrical signals. Particularly, the biochip can detect the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule (for example, DNA) by using electrical signals rather than fluorescent signals. More particularly, the biochip adopts a system for detecting changes electrically, in which the change of an impedance value (or a capacitance value) is monitored after reacting a receptor immobilized onto an electrode with a biomolecule, or the change of an impedance value (or a capacitance value) is monitored after reacting between biomolecules in a chip chamber.
For example, it is reported in the PCR process that dNTP should degrade to dNMP and diphosphate and the resulting dNMP is polymerized simultaneously from a primer complementary to a DNA template sequence so as to synthesize DNA. Accordingly, the impedance value within a PCR reagent increases as DNA concentration increases (See Korean Patent Laid-open NO. 10-2004-0042021). Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the PCR reaction is performed and a particular DNA sequence exists or not, when a PCR reaction chamber is manufactured with a biochip structure and the changes of an impedance value in a reagent are detected electrically on an electrode installed in such a biochip.
In addition, it is possible to detect electrically whether a PCR reaction or a hybridization reaction is accomplished and/or whether a target nucleotide sequence exists or not, when oligonucleotides such as primers or probes are immobilized on a biochip electrode, a PCR reaction or a hybridization reaction is conducted and then, the changes of a capacitance or impedance value are measured with the electrode on which the oligonucleotides are immobilized.
In general, the biochip adopts a system for determining the reaction and the presence of a particular biomolecule by monitoring the impedance change with an electrode equipped in the biochip after reacting the biomolecule and other reagents (for example, the receptor immobilized onto an electrode). Accordingly in order to guarantee the reliability of a biochip, it is important to measure the change of the impedance value accurately. Generally, impedance (Z) indicates the sum of resistance (R) as a real number portion and reactance (X) as an imaginary number portion (See following Mathematical formula 1), and the magnitude of impedance corresponds to a square root of resistance score (R) and reactance score (X) (See following Mathematical formula 2).
                                                        Z              =                              R                +                                  j                                                                                X                                                                                =                              R                +                                  j                                                        (                                                                  X                        L                                            -                                              X                        C                                                              )                                                                                =                              R                +                                                      j                                                              (                                                                        ω                                                                                L                                                -                                                  1                                                      ω                                                                                C                                                                                )                                                                                [                    Ω                    ]                                                                                [                  Mathematical                                                              formula                                                              1                ]                                                                                                Z                                            =                                                                    R                    2                                    +                                      X                    2                                                                                =                                                                                R                      2                                        +                                                                  (                                                                              ω                                                                                L                                                    -                                                      1                                                          ω                                                                                C                                                                                )                                            2                                                                                [                  Ω                  ]                                                                                [                  Mathematical                                                              formula                                                              2                ]
Accordingly, the impedance (Z) value is made to have a correlation with reactance (X). Also, the reactance (X) has a correlation with the capacitance (C) value because it is ωL−1/ωC. Therefore, the change of the capacitance (C) value varying according to biological, biochemical or chemical reactions, is reflected by the change of the impedance value, which enables to check the reaction and/or the presence of a biomolecule after its measurement. Finally, it is verified that the change of the capacitance value should change the impedance value in a biochip and influence upon the sensitivity of the biochip.
The change of the impedance value can be affected by two kinds of capacitance values after reacting the biomolecule and other reagents (for example, the receptor immobilized onto an electrode). Particularly, when the change of the capacitance value is measured by the electrode of a biochip, total change of capacitance value (CT) in a biochip can include change of a capacitance value (Cd) on the surface of a sensing electrode after reacting a receptor immobilized onto an electrode with a biomolecule, and a capacitance value (Ct) between an imaginary electrode plate and another sensing electrode, which is different from the change of the capacitance value (Cd) (See following Mathematical formula 3).
                              C          T                =                  1                                    1                              C                t                                      +                          1                              C                d                                                                        [                  Mathematical                                                              formula                                                              3                ]
In a biochip, the biomolecule is reacted under a reagent filling a reaction chamber and the reagent generally contains a buffer solution or electrolytes. The buffer solution and electrolytes contain ions to influence conductance between sensing electrodes of a biochip. This buffer effect upon the conductance between sensing electrodes further affects the capacitance value (Ct) between the imaginary electrode plate and another sensing electrode, which are contained in the buffer functioning as a dielectric substance. Finally, this influences total change of the capacitance value (CT).
On the other hand, the capacitance value depends on the dielectric constant of a material between electrodes as defined in following Mathematical formula 4. It is verified that when the dielectric constant of a material between electrodes is small, the capacitance value becomes small.
                                                        C              =                                                                            Q                  V                                =                                  ɛ                                                        A                    t                                                                                A                                                  :                                                                                area                                                                                of                                                                                electrode                                                                                T                                                  :                                                                                interval                                                                                between                                                                                electrodes                                                                                ɛ                                                  :                                                                                dielectric                                                                                constant                                                                                of                                                                                material                                                                                between                                                                                electrodes                                                                        [                  Mathematical                                                              formula                                                              4                ]
However, the reagent such as the above-mentioned buffer has a small dielectric constant due to the ion conductivity and thus, 1/Ct, an element comprising total change of the capacitance value (CT) becomes large in Mathematical formula 3. Accordingly, when the biomolecule is reacted under a buffer solution filled in the reaction chamber of a biochip, the capacitance value (Cd) changed by the reaction between the sensing electrode and the biomolecule can be absorbed into the capacitance value (Ct) between the imaginary electrode plate and the another sensing electrode contained in the buffer functioning as a dielectric substance. Particularly as demonstrated in the Mathematical formula 3, the capacitance value (Cd) changed on the surface of the sensing electrode by reacting the receptor immobilized onto the electrode with the biomolecule does not influence the total change of the capacitance value (CT), because the reciprocal number (1/Ct) of the capacitance value (Ct) between the imaginary electrode plate and the another sensing electrode filled with the reagent containing buffer ions as a dielectric substance is large. Therefore, it is difficult problematically to determine the presence and/or the reaction of a biomolecule by the electrical detection using the sensing electrode of a biochip.
Referring to this, FIG. 1 illustrates that the curve of the impedance value varied according to frequency is observed to have the same trend before and after PCR reaction, even though a particular target DNA template as a diagnostic sample exists. If conventional biochip could measure PCR reaction using a particular target DNA template as a biomolecule accurately, the change of the capacitance value (Cd) on the surface of a sensing electrode could be detected electrically after the PCR reaction between a primer fixed onto the sensing electrode and a template ssDNA. The change pattern of impedance curves might also be observed before and after the PCR reaction, because the change of the capacitance value (Cd) on the surface of the sensing electrode should be reflected after DNA amplification by the PCR reaction.
However, since the capacitance value (Cd) changed after reacting a sensing electrode and a biomolecule may be passed over by the capacitance value (Ct) between an imaginary electrode plate and another sensing electrode as described above, the impedance curve is not changed and just observed as a single curve before and after the PCR reaction, when being measured with an biochip-connected apparatus monitoring an impedance value (See FIG. 1). Therefore, in biochips of prior arts, the capacitance value (Cd) changed by reacting a receptor immobilized onto an electrode and a biomolecule, is passed over by the capacitance value (Ct) between an imaginary electrode plate and another sensing electrode containing a buffer solution as a dielectric substance, and thus, two curves of the changes of the impedance value which mean total change of the capacitance value (CT) are not measured. Problematically, it is difficult to monitor whether the biomolecule reacts and/or exists or not in practice.
Particularly, in US Patent Laid-open No. 2004/0110277, the system for sensing a hybridization reaction, in which a probe DNA is immobilized onto an electrode of sensor cell in a biosensor and hybridized with a target DNA to change a capacitance value and finally, a current value of a transistor, has been disclosed. However, it does not focus to settle following problem: since the capacitance value (Cd) changed by reacting a receptor immobilized onto an electrode with a biomolecule is passed over by the capacitance value (Ct) of the buffer solution, the reaction between the receptor immobilized onto the electrode and the biomolecule as a target material cannot be detected electrically.
Besides, in US Patent Laid-open NO. 2006/0226030, the technique for sensing a hybridization reaction by detecting a capacitance value with a sensor comprising a plate, an electrode and a catcher molecule immobilized on the plate, in which the catcher molecule is hybridized with DNA single strand labeled with metallic ball (having a different dielectric constant from that of the other material) and as a result, the label surrounds the electrode to change a part of the capacitance value regarding an electrode impedance value, has been disclosed. However, it did not pay attention to overcome following problem: since the capacitance value (Cd) changed by reacting a receptor immobilized onto an electrode with a biomolecule is passed over by the capacitance value (Ct) of a buffer solution, changes of electrical property can not be detected sensitively during actual reaction.
Furthermore, in conventional techniques, a system for increasing sensing sensitivity of IDE by reducing the interval of sensor electrodes in order to improve the sensing sensitivity of a biochip, has been disclosed. But, it did not recognize the problem mentioned above: since the capacitance value (Cd) changed by actual reaction is passed over by the capacitance value (Ct) of a buffer solution, the changes of the capacitance value and the impedance value cannot be detected sensitively.
Therefore, conventional biochips and methods using the same for identifying the reaction and/or the presence of biomolecules disclosed in prior arts should be improved.
In order to settle above-mentioned problems, the present inventors have accomplished to design a method for detecting a biomolecule and a biochip therefor, wherein the dielectric constant of a material filled between electrodes within a reaction chamber of a biochip is made large, which does not distort actual change of the capacitance value when reacting on the surface of a sensing electrode, and thus, reflects accurately the biological, biochemical or chemical reaction of a biomolecule in a reaction chamber.

Method for detecting biomolecules electrically and biochip therefor


A propeller fan includes a hub that has a side surface around a central axis, and blades that are provided on the side surface, wherein a blade of the blades includes an inner peripheral portion located on a side of a base, and an outer peripheral portion located on a side of an outer edge, the outer peripheral portion is formed as one blade, the inner peripheral portion includes blade elements arranged at a predetermined interval, a ratio r/R of a radius r which is a distance from the central axis to the outer peripheral portion and a radius R which is a distance from the central axis to the outer edge is 0.4 or less, and when a wind speed at the outer peripheral portion is V1 and a wind speed at the inner peripheral portion is V2, a relational formula of V1≤V2×2.0 is established.

For example, an air conditioner has a propeller fan in its outdoor unit. The wind speed in the propeller fan is high at the outer peripheral portion of the blade and decreases toward the center of rotation. In recent years, in order to improve the energy saving performance of air conditioners, the air flow rate of propeller fans has been improved. Specifically, the "increase in diameter and high speed rotation" of propeller fans have been carried out.
Note that the technology in this field is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-101223, International Publication No. WO 2011/001890, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-503643, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-116511.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system for reducing pressure in a subsea operator. In one embodiment, a subsea system includes an operator and a deintensifier. The operator includes a housing and a piston. The piston is movably disposed within the operator housing and divides an inner volume of the operator housing into a closing chamber and a second chamber. The deintensifier is fluidically coupled to the operator. The deintensifier includes a housing and a piston. The piston includes a closing surface and an opening surface. The closing surface is fluidically coupled to the second chamber of the operator housing. The opening surface is fluidically coupled to ambient pressure. The area of the closing surface is greater than an area of the opening surface so as to increase the pressure differential between the closing chamber and the second chamber and assist in moving the operator piston to the closed position.

Subsea equipment is typically hydraulically actuated. To effect actuation, deepwater accumulators often provide a supply of pressurized working fluid that helps control and operate the subsea equipment. This pressurized working fluid (e.g., hydraulic fluid) may be used to operate underwater process valves and connectors, and/or to manage fluid power and electrical power on subsea drilling BOP stacks, subsea production Christmas trees, workover and control systems (WOCS), and subsea chemical injection systems, to name but a few possibilities.
Accumulators are typically divided vessels with a gas section and a hydraulic fluid section of adjustable volumes. Accumulators operate on a common principle: The gas section is precharged with a gas at a pressure equal to or slightly below the anticipated minimum pressure required to operate the subsea equipment. As working fluid is added to the accumulator in the separate hydraulic fluid section, the volume of that section increases. In turn, the volume of the gas section is reduced, thus increasing the pressure of the gas and the hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic fluid introduced into the accumulator is therefore stored at a pressure at least as high as the precharge pressure and is available for doing hydraulic work.
The precharge gas can be said to act as a spring that is compressed when the gas section is at its lowest volume/greatest pressure and released when the gas section is at its greatest volume/lowest pressure. Accumulators are typically precharged in the absence of hydrostatic pressure, and the precharge pressure is limited by the pressure containment and structural design limits of the accumulator vessel under surface (ambient) conditions. Yet, the efficiency of conventional accumulators decreases in deeper waters because hydrostatic pressure and lower temperatures can cause the non ideal gas to compress, leaving a progressively smaller amount of useable volume of hydraulic fluid to power the subsea equipment's functions. The gas section must consequently be designed such that the gas still provides enough power to operate the subsea equipment under hydrostatic pressure even as the hydraulic fluid approaches discharge and the gas section is at its greatest volume/lowest pressure.
For example, BOP mounted accumulators at the surface typically provide 3000 psi of working fluid maximum pressure. At a depth 1000 feet below the sea surface, the ambient pressure (i.e., hydrostatic pressure) is approximately 465 psi. Thus, to provide a 3000 psi of differential pressure at a depth of 1000 ft, the accumulator has a precharge of 3465 psi, which is 3000 psi plus 465 psi. At a depth of slightly over 4000 ft., the ambient pressure is almost 2000 psi, making the effective precharge 5000 psi, which is 3000 psi plus 2000 psi. This would mean that the surface precharge would equal the working pressure of the accumulator, and any fluid introduced for storage or temperature increase after precharge may cause the pressure to exceed the working pressure and significantly degrade performance of the accumulator.
At progressively greater hydrostatic operating pressures, the accumulator thus has greater pressure containment requirements than at non-operational (no ambient hydrostatic pressure) conditions. The inefficiency of precharging accumulators under non-operational conditions thus requires large aggregate accumulator volumes that increase the size and weight of the subsea equipment. With rig operators increasingly putting a premium on minimizing size and weight of the drilling equipment to reduce drilling costs, the size and weight of all drilling equipment must be optimized. With deeper drilling depths, more and larger accumulators are required, increasing not only the size and weight of the subsea equipment, but also the rig equipment used for transport and handling of the subsea equipment.
Accumulators may be included, for example, as part of a subsea BOP stack assembly assembled onto a subsea wellhead. Fluid pressure, supplied by the accumulators can be used to operate the rams of the BOP. The BOP assembly may include a frame, BOPs, and accumulators to provide hydraulic fluid pressure for actuating the rams. The space available for other BOP package components such as remote operated vehicle (ROV) panels and mounted controls equipment is being reduced due to the increasing number and size of the accumulators required to for operation in deeper water depths. When a function of a subsea control system is activated, most of the high pressure fluid stored in the subsea or surface accumulators is used to move the function to the close position or the shear rams onto the pipe. It is desirable to minimize use of the high pressure stored fluid for movement of the function, but use it to actually perform the work to create a seal or shear the pipe as this will reduce the amount of accumulators that have to be installed on surface and on the BOP stack. Consequently, techniques for reducing the fluid pressure and high pressure fluid volume requirements of subsea equipment, and correspondingly reducing the need to increase surface and subsea accumulator capacity are desirable.


An apparatus for a vehicle is provided that includes a structural enclosure configured to attach to both first and second spaced battery module housings while spanning the gap between the spaced battery module housings. The structural enclosure is configured to support power electronics and is configured to allow connection of the power electronics to the battery modules through the structural enclosure. A method of servicing vehicles and a method of manufacturing vehicles is also provided.

Saddle-bag batteries are characterized by an arrangement in which two large battery modules are situated about the centerline of the vehicle adjacent to the longitudinal drive shaft which provides motive power to the rear wheels. This type of arrangement is used in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles to maximize battery size given the architecture of such vehicles. In such an arrangement, the battery modules are typically separated into separate enclosures which complicates high voltage and control system wiring from one battery module to the other. Separate power electronics for each battery module are housed in the separate enclosures. Packaging of the power electronics is challenging, given the cramped conditions which exist within each battery module. This arrangement also presents difficulties associated with gaining access to and connecting the high voltage and control cables needed to link the battery modules to the vehicle transmission.

Structural enclosure for packaging power electronics for vehicle battery modules and methods of servicing and manufacturing vehicles using same


A method for making a composite integrated device includes providing a first integrated device having a substrate, an overlying interconnect region, and a contact, wherein the contact electrically contacts the interconnect region and is at a surface of the first integrated device. The method further includes forming a sidewall spacer along a sidewall of a first opening in a first dielectric layer, located over the surface of the integrated device, and providing a deformable metal feature adjacent to the sidewall spacer and in the first opening. The method further includes providing a second integrated device having a substrate, an overlying interconnect region, a contact, and a second dielectric layer surrounding the contact of the second integrated device. The method further includes contacting the contact of the second integrated device with the deformable metal feature and pressing the first dielectric layer against the second dielectric layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to semiconductor devices and more specifically to a composite integrated device and methods for forming thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Composite integrated devices formed using face-to-face bonding, where metal-to-metal interconnect and dielectric-to-dielectric bonds are formed in the same process flow, suffer from several problems. For example, a lack of co-planarity of the metal and dielectric surfaces may result in unreliable formation of the metal-to-metal interconnects and dielectric-to-dielectric bonds. Prior attempts to solve this problem have resulted in processes with manufacturing problems, such as creating high degree of stresses on underlying dielectrics and/or requiring the formation of a conductive bridge between two unconnected metal regions.
Thus, there is a need for improved composite integrated devices and methods for forming thereof.
Skilled artisans appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention.

Composite integrated device and methods for forming thereof


The present invention provides a tubular linear actuator, comprising: a tubular coil assembly comprising multiple tubular coils arranged next to each other in longitudinal direction of the tubular linear actuator and concentric with respect to a longitudinal axis of the tubular linear actuator, and a magnet assembly comprising a series of permanent magnets with alternating polarization direction extending in the longitudinal direction, wherein the magnet assembly is at least partially arranged in the coil assembly and movably with respect to the coil assembly, wherein the tubular coils comprise edge windings.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In a known scanner type lithographic apparatus, a patterning device masking device is used to block any light which would be projected outside the actual pattern to be projected. Such patterning device masking device may have the following benefits. The patterning device masking device (1) removes the need for having a wide (i.e., expensive) light blocking border area, for instance of chrome, (2) blocks light that might otherwise leak through pin holes in the border area, (3) allows a selected portion of the full patterned area to be exposed, and (4) selectively blocks patterning device alignment targets so that they are not printed on the substrate.
Generally, the patterning device masking device of the known lithographic apparatus includes four independently movable masking blades configured as two pairs. One pair of masking blades has edges that are aligned parallel to the exposure scan axis. This first pair remains normally stationary during the exposure scan and delimits the width of the exposed field. A second pair of masking blades has edges that are aligned orthogonal to the scan axis. This second pair moves synchronously with the patterning and delimits the dimension of the radiation beam which is to be projected on a patterning device and thus of the length of the exposed field.
An example of a known patterning device masking device is for instance disclosed in US 2005/0200830A1, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
With increasing demand on throughput and overlay performance of a lithographic apparatus, there is a need to improve the performance of the patterning device masking device. In particular, the movement of the masking blades should be sufficiently fast and accurate. Thereby, there may also be the need to provide an actuator system for the masking blades that requires a smaller volume, more efficiency and as a result less power dissipation.

Tubular linear actuator, patterning device masking device and lithographic apparatus


A system, method, and article of manufacture are provided for navigating an electronic data source by means of spoken language where a portion of the data link between a mobile information appliance of the user and the data source utilizes wireless communication. When a spoken input request is received from a user who is using the mobile information appliance, it is interpreted. The resulting interpretation of the request is thereupon used to automatically construct an operational navigation query to retrieve the desired information from one or more electronic network data sources, which is transmitted to the mobile information appliance.

The present invention relates generally to the navigation of electronic data by means of spoken natural language requests, and to feedback mechanisms and methods for resolving the errors and ambiguities that may be associated with such requests.
As global electronic connectivity continues to grow, and the universe of electronic data potentially available to users continues to expand, there is a growing need for information navigation technology that allows relatively naive users to navigate and access desired data by means of natural language input. In many of the most important marketsxe2x80x94including the home entertainment arena, as well as mobile computingxe2x80x94spoken natural language input is highly desirable, if not ideal. As just one example, the proliferation of high-bandwidth communications infrastructure for the home entertainment market (cable, satellite, broadband) enables delivery of movies-on-demand and other interactive multimedia content to the consumer""s home television set. For users to take full advantage of this content stream ultimately requires interactive navigation of content databases in a manner that is too complex for user-friendly selection by means of a traditional remote-control clicker. Allowing spoken natural language requests as the input modality for rapidly searching and accessing desired content is an important objective for a successful consumer entertainment product in a context offering a dizzying range of database content choices. As further examples, this same need to drive navigation of (and transaction with) relatively complex data warehouses using spoken natural language requests applies equally to surfing the Internet/Web or other networks for general information, multimedia content, or e-commerce transactions.
In general, the existing navigational systems for browsing electronic databases and data warehouses (search engines, menus, etc.), have been designed without navigation via spoken natural language as a specific goal. So today""s world is full of existing electronic data navigation systems that do not assume browsing via natural spoken commands, but rather assume text and mouse-click inputs (or in the case of TV remote controls, even less). Simply recognizing voice commands within an extremely limited vocabulary and grammarxe2x80x94the spoken equivalent of button/click input (e.g., speaking xe2x80x9cchannel 5xe2x80x9d selects TV channel 5)xe2x80x94is really not sufficient by itself to satisfy the objectives described above. In order to deliver a true xe2x80x9cwinxe2x80x9d for users, the voice-driven front-end must accept spoken natural language input in a manner that is intuitive to users. For example, the front-end should not require learning a highly specialized command language or format. More fundamentally, the front-end must allow users to speak directly in terms of what the user ultimately wants xe2x80x94e.g., xe2x80x9cI""d like to see a Western film directed by Clint Eastwoodxe2x80x9d xe2x80x94as opposed to speaking in terms of arbitrary navigation structures (e.g., hierarchical layers of menus, commands, etc.) that are essentially artifacts reflecting constraints of the pre-existing text/click navigation system. At the same time, the front-end must recognize and accommodate the reality that a stream of naive spoken natural language input will, over time, typically present a variety of errors and/or ambiguities: e.g., garbled/unrecognized words (did the user say xe2x80x9cEastwoodxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cEasterxe2x80x9d?) and under-constrained requests (xe2x80x9cShow me the Clint Eastwood moviexe2x80x9d). An approach is needed for handling and resolving such errors and ambiguities in a rapid, user-friendly, non-frustrating manner.
What is needed is a methodology and apparatus for rapidly constructing a voice-driven front-end atop an existing, non-voice data navigation system, whereby users can interact by means of intuitive natural language input not strictly conforming to the step-by-step browsing architecture of the existing navigation system, and wherein any errors or ambiguities in user input are rapidly and conveniently resolved. The solution to this need should be compatible with the constraints of a multi-user, distributed environment such as the Internet/Web or a proprietary high-bandwidth content delivery network; a solution contemplating one-at-a-time user interactions at a single location is insufficient, for example.
The present invention addresses the above needs by providing a system, method, and article of manufacture for mobile navigation of network-based electronic data sources in response to spoken input requests. When a spoken input request is received from a user using a mobile information appliance that communicates with a network server via an at least partially wireless communications system, it is interpreted, such as by using a speech recognition engine to extract speech data from acoustic voice signals, and using a language parser to linguistically parse the speech data. The interpretation of the spoken request can be performed on a computing device locally with the user, such as the mobile information appliance, or remotely from the user. The resulting interpretation of the request is thereupon used to automatically construct an operational navigation query to retrieve the desired information from one or more electronic network data sources, which is then transmitted to a client device of the user. If the network data source is a database, the navigation query is constructed in the format of a database query language.
Typically, errors or ambiguities emerge in the interpretation of the spoken request, such that the system cannot instantiate a complete, valid navigational template. This is to be expected occasionally, and one preferred aspect of the invention is the ability to handle such errors and ambiguities in relatively graceful and user-friendly manner. Instead of simply rejecting such input and defaulting to traditional input modes or simply asking the user to try again, a preferred embodiment of the present invention seeks to converge rapidly toward instantiation of a valid navigational template by soliciting additional clarification from the user as necessary, either before or after a navigation of the data source, via multimodal input, i.e., by means of menu selection or other input modalities including and in addition to spoken input. This clarifying, multi-modal dialogue takes advantage of whatever partial navigational information has been gleaned from the initial interpretation of the user""s spoken request. This clarification process continues until the system converges toward an adequately instantiated navigational template, which is in turn used to navigate the network-based data and retrieve the user""s desired information. The retrieved information is transmitted across the network and presented to the user on a suitable client display device.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the construction of the navigation query includes extracting an input template for an online scripted interface to the data source and using the input template to construct the navigation query. The extraction of the input template can include dynamically scraping the online scripted interface.

Mobile navigation of network-based electronic information using spoken input


An umbilical member arrangement unit for an umbilical member, having a simple structure and high rigidity, capable of avoiding interference between the umbilical member and external equipment. The unit has a guide member constituted by a first plate member attached to a front end of a wrist section, a second plate member opposed to the first plate member and a connecting member connecting the first and second plate members. A cross-sectional region of the connecting member includes the wrist axis, extends from the axis in a first radial direction by a distance not smaller than a half of a size of the umbilical member in the cross-sectional direction thereof, and extends from the axis in an axisymmetrical second radial direction by a distance not larger than a half of the size of the umbilical member, so that the umbilical member contacts the second plate member and/or the connecting member at any rotational angular position of the guide member.

1. Field of the Invention
The preset invention relates to an arrangement unit for an umbilical member arranged at a robot wrist section of an industrial robot.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an industrial robot is used, the robot is required to be provided with an umbilical member including a cable for transmitting power or a signal and/or a tube for transmitting coolant or activation gas to an end effector, such as a hand or a welding gun, attached to the end of a wrist section of the robot, via a forearm of the robot. It is necessary that the umbilical member, arranged around the wrist section of the robot, has a certain amount of extra length (margin) so that excess force is not applied to the umbilical member over the entire operation range of the wrist section. On the other hand, the extra length of the umbilical member may be slack depending on the position and/or the orientation of the wrist section of the robot, and the umbilical is required to not interfere with external equipment, such as a neighboring robot, a hand, a jig, workpiece, etc.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-136462 discloses an intermediate member for avoiding interference with a cable or the like and external equipment. Concretely, it is described that intermediate member 6 is disposed between a wrist flange 4 and a spot welding gun 5, and has connecting members 6c and 6d parallel to each other. In this regard, a welding cable 7 extends below intermediate member 6 and is fixed to spot welding gun 5 via the center of a third wrist axis 23 and a region between connecting members 6c and 6d.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-288560 discloses an intermediate member or a connecting member for avoiding interference between a tube/wire member and external equipment. Concretely, it is described that C-shaped connecting member 7 has a connecting wall 71 arranged at one circumferential side and guide members 73, 73 arranged at an opening 72 at a side opposed to connecting wall 71.
In the configuration of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-136462, when the umbilical member is replaced with another, removing and attaching of the umbilical member relative to the intermediate member must be carried out, which is troublesome for an operator and maintenance performance may be decreased. On the other hand, in the configuration of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-288560, the umbilical member may protrude from the opening and interfere with external equipment. Further, since the rigidity of the connecting member at the opening is relatively low, the end effector easily vibrates during operation of the robot. One way to avoid the vibration of the end effector is to limit the operation speed of the robot. However, a cycle time of the operation is increased in this case.

Umbilical member arrangement unit of robot wrist section


An improved amino acid enriched cardioplegic solution adapted for use in preventing and treating heart muscle damage due to regional ischemia. The solution includes a calcium ion concentration of between about 50-300 umol, a metabolizable substrate concentration of 400-1000 mg % and an osmolarity of between about 400-500 mOsmols.

The present invention relates generally to solutions which are used in treating the heart. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved amino acid enriched cardioplegic solution which is designed for use as a solution to be infused directly into the heart in order to either protect the heart against ischemic damage when its blood supply is interrupted (i.e., during routine open heart surgery) or to avoid or reverse ischemic damage to the heart which has been deprived of its blood supply (i.e., acute coronary occlusion) while such blood supply is re-established under controlled conditions (i.e., in the operating room or in the cardiac catheterization laboratory).
This invention was made with Government support under Grant No. HL 16292 awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The Government has certain rights in this invention. The publications and other reference materials referred to herein to describe the background of the invention and to provide additional detail regarding its practice are hereby incorporated by reference. For convenience, the reference materials are numerically referenced and grouped in the Bibliography at the end of the Detailed Description of the Invention.
Cardioplegic solutions are chemical solutions designed to stop the heart and reduce its energy demands during cardiac surgery. They are used by most surgeons worldwide to protect the heart from damage when its blood supply must be interrupted while the cardiac condition is corrected surgically (1,2).
Several years ago, the concept of using oxygenated blood as the vehicle to deliver the cardioplegic solution was introduced (3). This "blood cardioplegia" is usually prepared by first formulating an aqueous solution of concentrated ingredients. The concentrated solution is then diluted with blood and introduced into the heart. This concept of blood cardioplegia was developed from studies of "reperfusion damage" whereby the heart which is deprived of blood supply can be shown to be intact structurally while its blood supply is interrupted, but undergoes dramatic deleterious changes when blood supply is re-established with normal unmodified blood.
Experimental studies have shown that recovery of muscle function can be delayed for up to a month when revascularization occurs after two hours (4) and further, that six hours of coronary flow interruption provides irreversible damage (5). Clinical studies have confirmed that reperfusion with normal blood either in the catheterization laboratory or in the operating room fails to provide immediate recovery of muscle function during hospitalization. Follow-up studies after one year show that revascularization after 6 hours does not restore contractility (6).
Early studies have shown that delivering an initial reperfusate of warm blood with low calcium, alkalosis, and high potassium avoids the above-described damage (7). Subsequent studies have demonstrated that enrichment of the cardioplegic solution with the amino acid glutamate (8,9) and more recently aspartate (10) improve markedly the recovery obtained after cardiac operations in hearts which must undergo operation after they have been damaged acutely.
The amino acid enriched cardioplegic solutions presently in use are made by diluting a previously prepared concentrated aqueous solution with blood or some other diluent containing a source of oxygen to form a cardioplegic solution for intraoperative utilization which includes: an ionic calcium concentration of above 500 umol; a concentration of glucose or other metabolizable substrate of below 400 mg %; a pH of 7.7-7.8; and an osmolarity of below 400 mOsmol.
Although the above described amino acid enriched cardioplegic solutions have markedly improved cardiac recovery, there is still a continuing need to provide even more effective cardioplegic solutions. In addition, it would be desireable to provide cardioplegic solutions which not only prevent heart muscle damage due to ischemia, but also are effective in reversing such damage


A coplanar integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulator comprises a substrate (1) of an electro-optic material, at least two optical waveguides (41, 42) integrated in the substrate in correspondence of a surface (71) thereof, and an electrode system (80, 90, 100; 80, 90, 900; 12-15; 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) arranged on the surface for applying a modulating electric field to the waveguides suitable for causing a modulation of a refractive index of the two waveguides in a device modulation region (50). The waveguides are formed, for at least a section thereof (411, 421) in the device modulation region, in respective substrate regions (61, 62) which have electro-optic coefficients of opposite sign along an axis transversal to the waveguide sections, so that a modulating electric field of same direction and orientation in the waveguide sections causes refractive index modulations of opposite sign in the waveguide sections. Chirp-free coplanar waveguide modulators and single-drive double coplanar strip modulators can thus be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of integrated optics. More specifically, the invention relates to integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulators, that is devices based on the electro-optic effect in which optical beams propagate through optical waveguides integrated in an electro-optic substrate material, particularly optical intensity, i.e. amplitude, interferometric modulators of the Mach-Zehnder type. Still more particularly, the invention relates to a coplanar integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulator, in which the electrodes necessary for applying a modulating electric field are arranged on a same substrate surface.
2. Technical Background
Integrated electro-optical devices, such as modulators and switches, are fabricated on substrates of electro-optic material. Among all the known substrate materials, lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is probably the most widely used because of the enhanced electro-optic properties thereof and the possibility of making low loss optical waveguides. Another known substrate material is for example lithium tantalate (LiTaO3).
Electro-optic materials show an electro-optic response, a second-order non-linear property which is characterized by a tensor. This tensor relates the polarization changes at optical frequencies (i.e., refractive index changes) of the material to low-frequency modulating electric fields, that is modulating electric fields at frequencies much lower than those of the optical fields. Phase and amplitude modulation of optical fields can be obtained by applying external electric fields, which modify the material refractive index via the electro-optic effect.
Overlooking, for simplicity, the tensorial nature of the electro-optic effect, the refractive index change xcex94n(xcfx89) at the optical frequency xcfx89 is proportional to the product of an electro-optic coefficient r and the modulating electric field Eo: xcex94n(xcfx89)xe2x88x9drxc2x7Eo.
In the case of a LiNbO3 crystal the electro-optic coefficient having the highest value is r33≈30 pm/V. The electro-optic coefficient r33 relates the refractive index change experienced by electromagnetic waves polarised along the c (also called z) crystal axis to the component of the modulating electric field along the same axis.
For this reason LiNbO3 crystal substrates are generally made available in z-cut slices, with the z crystal axis normal to the substrate surfaces of largest area, since this configuration is the one ensuring superior modulation performances even at relatively high modulation frequencies.
A Mach-Zehnder interferometric electro-optical modulator is a device capable of providing an electrically-induced amplitude modulation of an optical signal. In a Mach-Zehnder interferometric electro-optical modulator the voltage required to drive the modulator is reduced when the two optical modes propagating along the two interferometer arms experience changes of the refractive index having opposite sign. This is achieved by properly designing the electrode geometry, so that the component of the modulating electric field along the z axis has opposite signs (i.e. opposite orientations with respect to the z axis orientation) in the two interferometer arms. The resulting device is said to have a push-pull configuration.
FIGS. 1 to 4 show typical examples of push-pull Mach-Zehnder interferometric electro-optical modulators. Specifically, FIGS. 1 and 2 schematically show, respectively in top-plan and in cross-sectional views, a so-called coplanar waveguide (xe2x80x9cCPWxe2x80x9d) configuration. FIGS. 3 and 4 schematically show, again in top plan and in cross-section, a so-called double coplanar strip (xe2x80x9cCPSxe2x80x9d) configuration.
The electro-optic performances of devices based on the above cited configurations are extensively described in literature. For example, the performances of the CPW configuration is discussed in K. Noguchi et al., xe2x80x9840-Gbit/s Ti:LiNbO3 optical modulator with a two-stage electrodexe2x80x99, IEICE Trans. Electron., vol. E81-C, p. 316 (1998) and in K. Noguchi et al., xe2x80x98Millimiter-wave Ti:LiNbO3 optical modulatorsxe2x80x99, J. of Lightwave Tech., vol.16, p.615 (1998). The double CPS configuration is for instance described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,170.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in a z-cut LiNbO3 substrate 1 a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is integrated comprising an input optical waveguide 2 or input channel, a first Y-junction 3 for splitting an input optical signal propagating along the input waveguide 2 into two optical signals propagating along two generally parallel optical waveguides 41, 42 forming the interferometer arms, a second Y-junction 5, spaced apart from the first Y-junction, for combining the two optical signals into an output optical signal propagating along an output optical waveguide 6 or output channel. The waveguides 2, 41, 42 and 6 are formed by conventional techniques in correspondence of a surface 7 of the substrate 1 perpendicular to the z crystal axis. The substrate forms a single ferroelectric domain so that throughout the substrate the z crystal axis keeps a same orientation, for example the orientation shown by the arrow in FIG. 2.
In the region of the interferometer arms, a first metal electrode 8 is superimposed over the surface 7 above the waveguide 42 and extends for a section 421 thereof, a second metal electrode 9 is superimposed over the surface 7 above the waveguide 41 and extends for a section 411 thereof substantially corresponding to the section 421 of the waveguide 42, and a third metal electrode 10 is superimposed over the surface 7 and extends, laterally to the second electrode 9 and on the opposite side of the first electrode 8, for a segment substantially corresponding to the section 411 of waveguide 41. Conventionally, a buffer layer 11, typically of silicon dioxide (SiO2), is formed over the surface 7 for separating the metal electrodes 8, 9 and 10 from the optical fields in the waveguides 41, 42 so to avoid attenuation of said optical fields.
The electrodes 8, 9 and 10 are used for applying a modulating electric field useful for varying, by electro-optic effect, the refractive index in the two waveguides 41, 42. The electrodes 8 and 10 are electrically connected to a reference potential (ground), and are therefore called ground electrodes. The electrode 9 is electrically connected to a modulating potential V, and is called hot electrode. The shape and layout of the electrodes are properly designed so as to allow the operation of the device up to the microwave region of the spectrum of the modulating electric field. By applying a modulating electric field, the refractive index of the two waveguides 41, 42 undergoes opposite variations and the optical signals propagating along such waveguides correspondingly undergo opposite phase shifts (push-pull effect). An amplitude modulated output optical signal is thus obtained in waveguide 6, the amplitude depending on the overall phase shift.
The main disadvantage of the CPW configuration is the asymmetry of the structure, which gives rise to an asymmetry in the interaction between each optical mode propagating along the interferometer arms and the modulating electric field. Such an asymmetry causes different phase shifts in the two interferometer arms, thus inducing chirps in the phase of the amplitude modulated output optical field. This asymmetry is inherent to the device, since in order to have opposite phase shifts in the two interferometer arms the two waveguides must be placed one under the hot electrode and the other under the ground electrode. The efficiency of the phase shift induced on the optical mode propagating through a waveguide by the modulating electric field depends on the overlap between the modulating electric field and the optical mode, and is expressed by an overlap factor xcex93. The ratio of the overlap factors xcex93h in the waveguide 41 under the hot electrode 9 and xcex93g in the waveguide 42 under the ground electrode 8 is significantly high, reaching typical values of 6, so significantly different phase shifts take place in the two waveguides.
In the double CPS configuration of FIGS. 3 and 4, two hot electrodes 13 and 15 are provided, respectively superimposed over and extending for corresponding sections 421 and 411 of the waveguides 42 and 41. Two ground electrodes 12 and 14 are also provided, respectively adjacent a respective one of the hot electrodes 13 and 15. The two hot electrodes 13, 15 are electrically connected to modulating potentials +V, xe2x88x92V of opposite sign with respect to the ground potential. For this reason, this configuration is also called dual-drive.
In some cases, a third ground electrode, shown in dash and dot in the drawings and identified by 16, can be provided in between the hot electrodes 13 and 15, so that each of the latter extends between two ground electrodes. The resulting structure, ensuring a still higher symmetry, is said to have a double CPW configuration.
The double CPS configuration, as well as the double CPW one, does not suffer of the problem previously discussed in connection with the CPW configuration and is therefore referred to as chirp-free. However, the need for a dual drive significantly increases the complexity of the electronic circuits generating the driving potentials of opposite sign. This is a great disadvantage of the double CPS configuration.
JP 07-191352 discusses the problems of an optical waveguide device, such as a directional coupling optical switch, in which mutual exchange of wave energy between the waveguides takes place. This device, which is clearly different from an electro-optical modulator since in the latter no exchange of wave energy takes place between the waveguides, comprises a crystal substrate formed from a z-cut LiNbO3 crystal, in which two optical waveguides are formed adjacent and parallel to each other in the substrate surface. The device has a coupling region, that is the region of the substrate wherein the mutual exchange of wave energy between the waveguides takes place. Positive and negative electrodes are formed on the same substrate surface as the optical waveguides, with interposition of a buffer layer, and extend parallelly to each other in partial overlap with a respective waveguide. An electric field which curves toward the negative electrode from the positive electrode is generated, which has an action in approximately reverse directions, with respect to the z crystal axis, in the two waveguides.
According to JP 07-191352, in this configuration the direction of action of the electric field in the two optical waveguides is only approximately reverse, so there is a large loss of electric field action compared to a case of perfectly reverse directions. In addition, in order to ensure the most effective action of the electric field on both optical waveguides, fine position adjustment is necessary, by way of example edge sections of the electrodes are matched to the optimum position in the central region of the optical waveguide device so that the dense section of the electric field is concentrated on the optical waveguides. High-precision position adjustment of this kind on the minute optical waveguides is extremely difficult and hinders productivity improvements. Furthermore, because the positive and negative electrodes are formed in alignment on the same surface of the crystal substrate, a phenomenon (DC drift) is generated in which the operation voltage fluctuates due to the presence of the buffer layer between both electrodes, and this presents a significant problem in terms of actual application.
In that document the coplanar electrode arrangement is therefore excluded and a device is described which allegedly solves these problems. In the described device a pair of optical waveguides, formed on the surface of a z-cut lithium niobate crystal substrate, perform a mutual exchange of wave energy in a coupling area of the substrate. The z axis directions of the crystal, from which the optical waveguides are formed, are formed in mutually reverse directions, and opposing and parallel flat-plate positive and negative electrodes are arranged in the upper and lower surfaces of the crystal substrate. Based on this configuration, by the action of a linear, uniform and parallel electric field formed between the opposing flat-plate electrodes, an action in the respective reverse directions with respect to the z axis of the optical waveguides is effected.
The solution proposed by JP 07-191352 is based on the known property of ferroelectric materials that the signs of the non-linear optical coefficient (identified as d) and electro-optic coefficient (r) are related to the orientation of the ferroelectric domain, i.e. to the orientation of the spontaneous polarization of the crystal. When the orientation of the crystal spontaneous polarization is inverted both d and r change sign, being the manifestation of the second-order non-linear material response to, respectively high and low frequency, electromagnetic fields.
This phenomenon has been exploited in laser-diode-based second-harmonic generation (SHG) devices to achieve highly efficient quasi-phase-matched frequency conversion, as reported in M. Yamada et al., xe2x80x98First-order quasi-phase-matched LiNbO3 waveguide periodically poled by applying an external field for efficient blue second-harmonic generationxe2x80x99, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 62, p. 435 (1993).
In connection with electro-optical modulators, the effects of ferroelectric domain inversion have been exploited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,924 for obtaining an opto-electric modulator which compensates for phase velocity mismatches between optical modulation and an RF electric signal.
Both in SHG devices and in the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,924 a suitable periodically inverted ferroelectric domain structure is requested and the optical modes propagate through many ferroelectric domain boundaries. The linear loss due to scattering and reflection at these boundaries is often below the detection level, in any case negligible when compared to any waveguide loss. In fact it is well known that differently oriented domains have the same linear dielectric properties (the refractive index is the same in differently oriented domains).
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,924 an integrated optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric coplanar waveguide travelling wave electrode is formed in a substrate which has a ferroelectric domain that has inverted regions and non-inverted regions. The inverted and non-inverted regions extend parallel to each other transversally to the interferometer arms in alternated succession along the arms. The optical signal in each interferometer arm passes through the inverted and non-inverted regions of the ferroelectric domain. Each transition between inverted and non-inverted regions changes the sign of the induced phase modulation of the optical signal. This compensates for 180xc2x0 phase difference between the modulation on the optical signal and the RF electric signal caused by the phase velocity mismatch between the RF and optical signals.
In still another context, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,336 the effects of ferroelectric domain inversion have been exploited to obtain an electric field sensor useful in detecting and measuring wideband transient electrical responses by means of an integrated optical waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer without any electrodes. This document addresses the drawbacks of conventional electro-optical sensors, in which an external electric field to be measured is picked up by an antenna and converted to a voltage which is then applied to appropriate electrodes positioned on or near the interferometer arms in such a way as to create electric fields in opposite directions in each of the two interferometer arms. According to this document, in a variety of applications that require the measurement of electric fields the presence of a metal electrode tends to disturb the electric field under measurement. In severe cases the close proximity of the electrodes could create arcing, thus creating a short circuit. The metal electrode also tends to limit the frequency response of the sensor due to the capacitive nature of the electrical circuit. This electrical circuit could also pose hazard in the presence of combustible or explosive materials. Therefore, according to this document, there is the desire to have electric field sensors that do not require any metal electrodes. According to this document, this is achieved by reversing the ferroelectric domains of one of the two interferometer arms, so that an external vertically directed electric field produce equal and opposite phase shifts in the two interferometer arms, leading to a total phase shift as experienced by the conventional electrode device.
The Applicant has observed that coplanar electrode arrangements are advantageous over non-coplanar counterparts, especially in high-frequency applications.
The Applicant has also found that exploiting the effect of sign reversal of the electro-optic coefficient to realise coplanar integrated electro-optical Mach-Zehnder type modulators in an electro-optic material substrate, for example by means of ferroelectric domain inversion in ferroelectric materials such as LiNbO3, so that at least in a modulating region of the device the sign of the electro-optic coefficient is different in one interferometer arm with respect to the other, new and advantageous modulator structures can be devised with respect to single domain electro-optic substrates. Such structures include for example a chirp-free coplanar waveguide modulator (where only one hot electrode is used) and a single-drive double coplanar strip modulator (where two hot electrodes are used).
According to one aspect of the invention, a coplanar integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulator is provided, comprising:
a substrate of an electro-optic material;
at least two optical waveguides integrated in the substrate in correspondence of a surface thereof and defining a device modulation region therebetween, such waveguides disposed with respect to each other so as to substantially prevent the exchange of optical energy between said waveguides within the device modulation region, and
an electrode system arranged on said surface for applying a modulating electric field to the waveguides suitable for causing a modulation of a refractive index of the two waveguides in a device modulation region, characterized in that the waveguides are formed, for at least a section thereof in the device modulation region, in respective substrate regions each of which includes at least two successive segments having electro-optic coefficients with alternated sign, each successive segment being passed through by a respective one of the at least two waveguides, pairs of regions in the successive segments, substantially aligned in the direction transversal to the waveguides, having electro-optic coefficients of mutually opposite sign, so that a modulating electric field of same direction and orientation in the waveguide sections causes refractive index modulations of opposite sign in the waveguide sections.
In one embodiment, the waveguide sections and the respective substrate regions having electro-optic coefficients of opposite sign extend substantially for the whole device modulation region.
The electrode system may comprise at least two ground electrodes each one extending over said section of a respective waveguide, and at least a hot electrode extending between the ground electrodes. The electrodes thus form a coplanar waveguide electrode system.
Alternatively, the electrode system may comprise one hot electrode extending over said sections of the waveguides, and at least one ground electrode extending at the side of the hot electrode. Also in this case, the electrodes form a coplanar waveguide electrode system, but a drive voltage to be applied to the hot electrode can be reduced.
In this case, since the waveguides shall be spaced apart of a distance suitable to substantially prevent optical coupling therebetween in the modulation region, the hot electrode preferably comprises a wider portion having a width equal to or higher than said distance, and a narrower portion on the top of the wider portion.
In another embodiment, the electrode system comprises two hot electrodes, each one extending over said section of a respective waveguide, for receiving a same modulating voltage, and at least one ground electrode extending aside the hot electrodes, so as to form a double coplanar strip electrode system.
Preferably, the at least one ground electrode comprises two ground electrodes, each one extending aside a respective hot electrode on an side thereof opposite to the other hot electrode.
In a preferred embodiment, the coplanar integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulator has an electrode system comprising an integrated power splitter for receiving an externally-generated modulating voltage and supplying it to the two hot electrodes.
Outside the modulation region the waveguides are optically connected by means of respective Y-junctions to an input waveguide and an output waveguide. The two hot electrodes may merge together at said Y-junctions and have extensions over the input and output waveguides.
Preferably, the ground electrodes extend aside said extensions so as to form, in correspondence of the input and output waveguides, coplanar waveguide electrode systems.
In case the substrate of electro-optic material is a z-cut substrate of ferroelectric material, that is a material having a spontaneous polarization, such as for example lithium niobate, the regions having electro-optic coefficients of opposite sign are regions having mutually oppositely oriented ferroelectric domains.
The substrate material may also be an x-cut substrate of ferroelectric material, particularly lithium niobate. In this case, the provision of opposite oriented ferroelectric domains allows to form a push-pull modulator by placing one hot electrode and one ground electrode.
According to a second aspect of the invention, an electro-optical modulator is provided comprising the coplanar integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulator according to the first aspect of the invention, and an electrical drive element adapted for supplying to the electrode system a unipolar drive potential.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a transmission station for an optical communication system is provided, comprising at least an optical beam generation means for generating an optical beam and an electro-optical modulator according to the second aspect of the invention.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention.

Coplanar integrated optical waveguide electro-optical modulator