An electrolyte for a lithium secondary battery, which includes a lithium salt, a nonaqueous organic solvent and at least one additive selected from the group consisting of vitamin G (vitamin B2, riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacinamide), vitamin B4 (adenine), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin H (vitamin B7, biotin), vitamin M (vitamin B9, folic acid), vitamin BX (4-aminobenzoic acid), vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), vitamin K1 (phylloquinone), ascorbyl palmitate, and sodium ascorbate.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to electrolytes for lithium secondary batteries and lithium secondary batteries including the electrolyte, and more particularly, to an electrolyte for a lithium secondary battery and a lithium secondary battery including the electrolyte that may improve lifetime characteristics and high-temperature durability characteristics of the lithium secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typical rechargeable secondary batteries include lead storage batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, and lithium secondary batteries. The lithium secondary batteries, due to the nature of lithium, which is the lightest metal in the periodic table, have a high energy density per unit weight and an electromotive force of 4 V, which is three times as high as that of nickel-based batteries, and thus may be manufactured smaller. The lithium secondary batteries have no memory effect with reduced energy capacity even when charged in an incompletely discharged state. Due to these characteristics, lithium secondary batteries have been extensively used in devices such as mobile products, laptop computers, and electric tools. Lithium secondary batteries are expected to be available as major power sources for electric vehicles and power storage.
A lithium secondary battery includes a cathode, an anode, a separator, and an electrolyte. Lithium ions are separated from the cathode and migrate to the anode during charging, while the lithium ions are separated from the anode and migrate back to the cathode during discharging.
The electrolyte, which is one of the main elements of the lithium secondary battery, may serve as a migration medium (conductor) of lithium ions that are generated from electrochemical reactions in the cathode and the anode. The electrolyte may consist of a lithium salt and an organic solvent. The electrolyte of the lithium secondary battery is typically a non-aqueous system, which may be used to generate a high voltage due to a wide electrochemical stability window, even though it has low conductivity.
With the secondary battery market expanding into electric vehicle and power storage markets, lithium secondary batteries are adopting novel electrode active materials that ensure high energy density. However, the use of a low-potential anode active material and a high-potential cathode active material to increase the energy density has caused the electrolyte to be vulnerable to decomposition at the surface of the cathode and anode due to a narrowed potential window of the electrolyte relative to the active materials.
In a graphite anode, use of an appropriate electrolyte or an electrolyte additive is known to form a film on the surface of an anode active material during initial charging, which prevents the anode active material from directly contacting the electrolyte that would decompose the electrolyte. In a cathode, an electrolyte additive is known to work as an overcharging inhibitor by forming a thick film on the surface of the cathode when the voltage of the battery rises over a specific voltage, thus blocking passage of lithium ions and stopping operation of the battery.
With the recent use of cathode active materials possessing high voltage characteristics, there has been a growing demand for forming thin protective films on the cathodes. In this regard, research has shown that a thin film formed on the surface of a cathode by adding an overcharging inhibitor in a low concentration improves the lifetime of a battery (Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, 7(12) A462-A465 (2004)). However, this thin film is non-polar, and thus hinders passage of lithium ions, adversely affecting battery characteristics.
Batteries for electric vehicles and power storage are more likely to be exposed to high-temperature environments, and the temperatures of the batteries are apt to rise during periods of instantaneous charging and discharging. Thus, these batteries need to operate normally at high temperatures. However, chemical activity of the electrolyte increases at high temperatures, causing unwanted additional chemical reactions, such as self-discharging, to occur.

Electrolyte for lithium secondary battery and lithium secondary battery including the same


A method of introducing oxygen-containing gas into a fluidized bed of cracking catalyst particles through a plurality of nozzles which are arranged in the underside portion of the catalyst bed. One aspect of the invention comprises positioning at least one of a plurality of nozzles, used in the fluidized bed, substantially vertically downward. Another aspect of the invention comprises installing at least one nozzle with a length greater than the diameter of a header pipe which supplies the plurality of nozzles. In yet other aspects of the invention comprises installing at least one of the nozzles with a beveled tip, and installing at least one nozzle with a baffle on its tip.

This invention relates to regenerating a cracking catalyst. In a particular aspect, it relates to introducing oxygen containing gas into a fluidized bed of cracking catalyst.
Cracking catalyst is regenerated by burning off the coke deposits which were laid down during the previous cracking cycle. The coke burn-off usually occurs in a fluidized bed in the presence of air optionally containing steam. The air is distributed into the bed through hundreds of nozzles connected to a piping system. When the nozzles fail, catalyst is drawn into the air piping, cutting the pipes from the inside. The ability to distribute the air throughout the bed is lost. Catalyst can no longer be regenerated properly. Unit product value falls until the unit must be shut down to repair. Damage could be very extensive due to uncontrolled discharge of air from eroded piping.

Catalyst regeneration including method of introducing oxygen into fluidized bed


By determining a control direction of a pulling-up velocity without using a position or a width of an OSF region as an index, a subsequent pulling-up velocity profile is fed back and adjusted. A silicon single crystal ingot that does not include a COP and a dislocation cluster is grown by a CZ method, a silicon wafer is sliced from the silicon single crystal ingot, reactive ion etching is performed on the silicon wafer in an as-grown state, and a grown-in defect including silicon oxide is exposed as a protrusion on an etching surface. A growing condition in subsequent growing is fed back and adjusted on the basis of an exposed protrusion generation region. As a result, feedback with respect to a nearest batch can be performed without performing heat treatment to expose a defect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a silicon single crystal and a silicon single crystal ingot, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a silicon single crystal that is grown by a Czochralski method (CZ method) and used preferably as a substrate of a semiconductor device and a silicon single crystal ingot. Further, the present invention relates to a silicon wafer, and more particularly, to a silicon wafer that is sliced from a silicon single crystal ingot grown by a Czochralski method and preferable as a substrate of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of Related Art
When a silicon single crystal is grown by the Czochralski method, kinds and distributions of defects that are included in the silicon single crystal depend on a ratio of a pulling-up velocity V of the silicon single crystal and a temperature gradient G in a growth direction in the silicon single crystal.
FIG. 16 illustrates a general relationship between V/G and kinds and distributions of defects. A pulling-up condition of FIG. 16 is set to Gc/Ge<1, when a central portion of a pulled-up single crystal is disposed in a temperature range from a melting point to 1370° C., a temperature gradient in the central portion is defined as Gc, and a temperature gradient in an outer circumferential portion is Ge.
As illustrated in FIG. 16, when V/G is large, the amount of vacancies becomes excessively large, and a minute void (defect generally called a COP: Crystal Originated Particle) that is an aggregate of the vacancies is generated. Meanwhile, when V/G is small, the amount of interstitial silicon atoms positioned between lattices becomes excessively large, and dislocation clusters that are an aggregate of the interstitial silicon atoms are generated. Accordingly, in order to manufacture a crystal that includes neither the COPs nor the dislocation clusters, V/G needs to be controlled to be in an appropriate range in a radial direction and a length direction of the crystal. First, with respect to the radial direction of the crystal, since V is constant even at any position, a structure of a high-temperature portion (hot zone) in a CZ furnace needs to be designed, such that the temperature gradient G is in a predetermined range. Next, with respect to the length direction of the crystal, since G depends on the pulling-up length of the crystal, V needs to be changed in the length direction of the crystal to keep V/G in the predetermined range. At the present time, even in a silicon single crystal whose diameter is 300 mm, a crystal that includes neither the COPs nor the dislocation clusters are massively produced by controlling V/G.
As described above, the silicon wafer that includes neither the COPs nor the dislocation clusters are massively produced by controlling V/G and used when manufacturing an electronic device. However, this wafer includes plural regions where entire surfaces are not uniform and behaviors at the time of heat treatment are different from each other. As illustrated in FIG. 16, between a region where the COPs are generated and a region where the dislocation clusters are generated, three regions including an OSF (Oxidation Induced Stacking Fault) region, a Pv region, and a Pi region exist in the order of large V/G. The OSF region includes platelet oxygen precipitates (OSF nuclei) in an as-grown state (state where any heat treatment is not performed after a crystal is grown). The OSF region is a region where OSFs are generated when being thermally oxidized at a high temperature (in a temperature range from 1000° C. to 1200° C. in general). The Pv region includes oxygen precipitation nuclei in an as-grown state. The Pv region is a region where oxygen precipitates are easily generated when heat treatments of two steps of a low temperature and a high temperature (for example, 800° C. and 1000° C.) are performed. The Pi region rarely includes oxygen precipitates in an as-grown state. The Pi region is a region where it is difficult to generate the oxygen precipitates, even though the heat treatment is performed.
Since a difference between V/G where the COPs starts to be generated and V/G where the dislocation cluster starts to be generated is very small, a pulling-up velocity V needs to be strictly managed in order to manufacture a crystal not including the COPs and the dislocation cluster. However, even though the crystal is pulled up at a targeted pulling-up velocity V, the COPs or the dislocation clusters may be generated due to various factors. This is due to the following reasons.
The CZ furnace includes some members, such as a carbon heater, a heat insulating material, and a carbon crucible. These members are continuously used while pulling-up is performed tens of times to hundreds of times. These members are temporally deteriorated and wasted due to a reaction with vapor of a silicon melt or a solution droplet, a reaction with gas generated from carbon and the silicon melt, and a reaction with a quartz crucible, and a thermal characteristic of a hot zone in the CZ furnace is temporally varied. If the temporal variation of the hot zone is generated, a temperature gradient G is varied. Even though the crystal is pulled up at the targeted pulling-up velocity V, V/G may be deviated from a designed value. Therefore, the COPs or the dislocation clusters are generated even though the crystal is pulled up at the targeted pulling-up velocity V.
Accordingly, in order to realize the targeted V/G, a profile of the pulling-up velocity V needs to be changed according to the temporal variation of the hot zone.
In the related art, a pulling-up velocity profile is set to include an OSF region. A sample that is sliced from the pulled-up crystal is decorated with Cu (copper) or subjected to heat treatment for an OSF evaluation to evaluate the width of the OSF region, and a subsequent pulling-up velocity profile is adjusted on the basis of the width (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-194186 and International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 99/40243). That is, if the OSF region is wide, the CZ furnace is varied in a direction where V/G increases (G decreases). In the subsequent pulling-up, the pulling-up velocity V is set to be low. In contrast, if the OSF region is narrow, the CZ furnace is varied in a direction where V/G decreases (G increases). In the subsequent pulling-up, the pulling-up velocity V is set to be high.
In these methods, since the width or the position of the OSF region is used as an index and the subsequent pulling-up velocity profile is adjusted, the OSF region is necessarily included even in a wafer that is shipped as a product. At the present time, the OSF region does not seem to affect an electronic device. However, since the OSF region is a region that includes OSF nuclei even in an as-grown state, that is, a platelet oxygen precipitate, the possibility of the OSF region becoming a factor causing a characteristic of a future electronic device to be deteriorated is high. Accordingly, in the future, necessity of a development of a method that stably pulls up a crystal not including the OSF region without using the width of the OSF region as an index of the pulling-up velocity adjustment is considered.
As the method that does not use the OSF region as the index of the pulling-up velocity adjustment, a method that estimates a vacancy concentration of crystal from the amount of decrease in an elastic constant softening of silicon due to an extremely low temperature and adjusts a subsequent pulling-up velocity profile has been suggested (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2007-261935). However, in order to realize the above method, etching is performed on the wafer sliced from the silicon single crystal to remove a processing distortion, ZnO or AlN that becomes a thin film vibrator is deposited, and an external magnetic field is applied according to necessity. In this state, an ultrasonic pulse is propagated while the wafer is cooled down in a temperature range of 25K (−248° C.) or less, a sound velocity variation of the propagated ultrasonic pulse is detected, the decrease amount of an elastic constant according to the decrease in the cooling temperature is calculated from the sound velocity variation, and a vacancy concentration in the silicon wafer is evaluated from the calculated decrease amount of the elastic constant. The processes according to the above-described sequence should be executed. Therefore, an expensive evaluation facility and a complex sequence are needed, and the above method cannot be applied to a routine inspection during the manufacturing process of the silicon single crystal.
As a method that detects crystal defects in the silicon single crystal, evaluation methods based on various principles are suggested. A generally used selective wet etching method immerses a sample in a mixed solution of a material having an oxidation action with respect to silicon and a material having an oxide dissolving action, and exposes crystal defects as unevenness (etch pit in most of cases) of the etched surface. Nitric acid or chromic acid is used as the material having the oxidation action, and hydrofluoric acid is used as the material having the oxide dissolving action. Depending on the kind of used chemical material and a mixed ratio thereof, a selected ratio of normal silicon/defect is different, and sensitivity or the kind of detectable defect is different. The selective wet etching has low sensitivity as compared with the other methods, but is simple. Therefore, the selective wet etching is still used for a crystal defect evaluation at the present time. As typical etching solutions, there are a Write solution, a Secco solution, and a Dash solution that take names of people that suggest the solutions.
An infrared tomography method that is generally used from 1990's is a method that uses a difference in refractive indexes of silicon and a defect. Since infrared rays transmit the silicon, a defect in the wafer can be evaluated. This method has high sensitivity to oxygen precipitates or COPs, as compared with the selective wet etching.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 2000-58509 and 2007-123542, a defect detecting method using reactive ion etching (RIE) will be described. This method exposes an oxygen precipitate, such as a BMD, by heat treatment, and performs the RIE to a sample under the condition where a selected ratio of Si/SiO2 is high. Thereby, the oxygen precipitate (SiO2) is not etched and exposed as a protrusion. If the condition where a selected ratio of Si/SiO2 is high is selected, it is reported that a defect evaluation having high sensitivity is possible as compared with the infrared tomography method.
It has been so far strongly required to provide a wafer where an oxygen precipitate is formed with a high density and a gettering capability is excellent. However, if the oxygen precipitate is one kind of crystal defect and exists on a surface layer of the wafer where a device is formed, this causes a device defect. Therefore, an annealed wafer where high-temperature heat treatment is performed on a silicon wafer having an oxygen precipitate, and the oxygen precipitate existing on the surface layer of the wafer where the device is formed is removed, or an epitaxial silicon wafer where an epitaxial film is formed on a surface of a wafer having an oxygen precipitate has been developed. However, any of new processes need to be additionally executed with respect to the wafers, productivity is decreased, and a manufacturing cost is increased.
In recent years, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) has been developed. Like an LSI, such as a memory, the IGBT is not a device that uses only the neighboring portion of the surface of the wafer in a horizontal direction but a device that uses the wafer in a vertical direction (wafer thickness direction), and a characteristic thereof is affected by a quality of the bulk of the wafer. Therefore, the oxygen precipitate in the wafer as well as the oxygen precipitate in the wafer surface layer needs to be reduced. In recent years, a wafer that is not limited to the IGBT wafer, greatly reduces the risk of an impurity contamination due to a cleaned device, does not depend on the gettering ability as a quality required in the wafer, and a wafer that reduces, without limitation, not only the COPs and the dislocation clusters but also the oxygen precipitate as one kind of crystal defect is anticipated as a next-generation wafer to be requested.
In general, in order to decrease the oxygen precipitate in the wafer, the oxygen concentration of the crystal can be decreased. At a current situation, a low-oxygen silicon single crystal ingot where an oxygen concentration is decreased to 3×1017 atoms/cm3 by adjusting a crucible rotation velocity or a crystal rotation velocity using a magnetic-field-applied Czochralski method (MCZ method) for applying a magnetic field can be manufactured (oxygen concentration described in this specification is a value that is measured by Fourier transformation infrared spectrophotometry standardized in ASTM F-121 (1979)).
However, when silicon single crystal that includes a non-defect region where an oxygen precipitate is small and COPs and dislocation clusters do not exist is grown, a crystal region (Pv region) where an oxygen precipitate is active needs to be excluded as maximal as possible. However, the oxygen precipitation in the Pv region may be decreased due to the decrease in the oxygen concentration in the crystal, and the difference of the oxygen precipitate distributions in the Pv region and the Pi region may be extremely reduced. Therefore, in the defect distribution evaluation by the currently executed oxygen precipitate evaluation heat treatment (two-step heat treatment at a high temperature and a low temperature), it becomes difficult to determine a boundary between the Pv region and the Pi region.
In the oxygen precipitate evaluation heat treatment, two-step heat treatment of low-temperature heat treatment (at the temperature of 800° C. for 4 hours) and high-temperature heat treatment (at the temperature of 1000° C. for 16 hours) is performed in an oxygen atmosphere, an oxygen precipitation nucleus in the crystal is grown by the heat treatments and exposed as the oxygen precipitate, and a density distribution is evaluated by an optical microscope. However, in the evaluation method, the minute oxygen precipitation nucleus cannot be exposed, and a density or size of the exposed oxygen precipitate depends on the oxygen concentration. Additionally, due to high-temperature heat treatment for a long time, an oxygen precipitation nucleus having a small size in the crystal may be removed. Accordingly, in the defect distribution evaluation by the oxygen precipitation evaluation heat treatment, the risk of the minute oxygen precipitate existing in the crystal is high, and it is difficult to grow a silicon single crystal from which the crystal region where the minute oxygen precipitate exists is excluded.
Meanwhile, a copper decoration method that contaminates a surface of an evaluation sample with copper, is subjected to heat treatment at a temperature in a temperature range of 800° C. to 1000° C. for 3 to 20 hours to diffuse the copper into a sample, and exposes a defect of the crystal surface is effective because the crystal defect can be detected with high sensitivity. However, since the high-temperature heat treatment needs to be performed, the minute oxygen precipitation nucleus may be removed, similar to the oxygen precipitation evaluation heat treatment. Furthermore, since the plural heat treatments need to be performed for a long time, a large amount of time may be needed for the evaluation, and a time lag until the evaluation result is fed back to the single crystal growing condition may increase.
Meanwhile, according to the RIE method that is described in JP-A No. 2000-58509, the minute oxygen precipitate can be detected. In JP-A No. 2000-58509, it is only reported that the oxygen precipitate such as the BMD exposed by the heat treatment can be evaluated, and an evaluation with respect to a silicon wafer in an as-grown state is not described. At the technology level of when JP-A No. 2000-58509 is filed, only OSF nuclei become a problem as a defect included in the silicon wafer in an as-grown state. Since the OSF nuclei are easily exposed by the thermal oxidation, the OSF nuclei do not need to be detected in the as-grown state. Further, at the technology level of when JP-A No. 2000-58509 is filed, it cannot be determined whether or not the Pv region includes an oxygen precipitation nucleus in the as-grown state.
JP-A No. 2007-123542 describes that the OSF nuclei can be exposed by the RIE method. However, like the oxygen precipitate that is included in the Pv region, whether or not the RIE method is effective with respect to the oxygen precipitate more minute than the OSF nuclei are not described. This is because the oxygen precipitate included in the Pv region is generally needed as a getter site, and does not need to be removed.

Method of manufacturing silicon single crystal, silicon single crystal ingot, and silicon wafer


A polypropylene resin composition obtained by mixing a crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymer, an amorphous ethylene-propylene copolymer, talc and fibrous magnesium oxysulfate and then, at the time of melt-kneading the mixture, adding a metal soap to the mixture, retains the fiber length of the fibrous magnesium oxysulfate and has high rigidity with the addition of a small amount of the metal soap.

The present invention relates to a polypropylene resin composition and, more particularly, to a polypropylene resin composition which is composed mainly of a crystalline ethylene-propylene copolymer, which is well balanced particularly in rigidity and impact resistance, has good mar resistance and excellent moldability and can provide a molded article of excellent appearance. The polypropylene resin composition can be utilized in the field of large-sized parts for automobiles.
Crystalline polypropylene is in use in various molded articles in which physical properties such as rigidity, resistance to heat deformation and the like are required. However, having insufficient low temperature properties and being a non-polar highly-crystalline polymer, crystalline polypropylene has poor impact resistance and cannot be used in applications in which rigidity, resistance to heat deformation and impact resistance are required together.
In order to improve the impact resistance of crystalline polypropylene, there have been proposed, for example, a polypropylene composition which is a blend of a crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymer as a crystalline polypropylene with an amorphous ethylene-propylene copolymer, and a polypropylene composition which is a blend of crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymer, an amorphous ethylene-propylene copolymer and various polyethylenes.
In these polypropylene compositions, however, the rigidity, resistance to heat deformation, etc. inherently possessed by crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymers are reduced.
In order to improve these drawbacks of the above polypropylene compositions, various attempts have been made. For example, Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 64257/1978 discloses a resin composition with improved low temperature impact resistance, comprising a crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymer, an amorphous ethylene-.alpha. -olefin copolymer and talc. The document describes that the resin composition, as compared with conventional crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymers, is substantially improved in low temperature impact resistance, rigidity and coatability, and provides Examples for supporting the description. The above composition, however, is insufficient in rigidity-impact resistance balance, mar resistance and molded article appearance.
There have also been disclosed various polypropylene compositions comprising, as a filler other than talc, a granular filler (e.g. calcium carbonate) or a fibrous filler (e.g. glass fiber). However, in the polypropylene compositions comprising a granular filler, the molded articles have no sufficient rigidity; and in the polypropylene compositions comprising a fibrous filler, although the rigidity is improved significantly, the impact resistance is low and the molded articles have poor surface appearance and give rise to warpage, deformation, etc. For example, Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 91545/1987 proposes a polyolefin resin composition comprising a polyolefin, a thermoplastic elastomer, a fibrous reinforcing agent, talc and calcium carbonate. This composition, however, tends to yield poor appearance (e.g. silver) during injection molding and has a small improvement in rigidity because it contains calcium carbonate. Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 69848/1986 proposes a polypropylene resin composition comprising a polypropylene resin, a fibrous filler, talc and an elastomer. This composition, however, causes deformation when molded into large-sized parts for automobiles because it contains a large amount of a fibrous filler. Meanwhile, this composition gives a small improvement in rigidity when the content of fibrous filler is low.
Thus, the molded articles made from the hitherto known resin compositions cannot be used in, for example, large-sized parts for automobiles, particularly instrument panels in which not only mechanical properties but also appearance are important, even though they can be used in certain applications in which appearance is negligible.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha & Ube Industries, Ltd.


An illuminating apparatus includes a columnar light guide, a board having a light source fastened on one surface thereof, and a holder. The holder is formed with a through-hole into which an end of the light guide in the columnar center axis direction is fitted to hold the light guide, and a catch that catches and holds the board with the light source facing the end surface of the light guide in the columnar center axis direction in the through-hole.

It becomes necessary for an image sensor utilizing an illuminating apparatus of a line light source applied to an image reader apparatus to ensure uniform light emission in a main scanning direction (a lengthwise direction), and a reading depth (a focal depth) in accordance with an improvement of a resolution. Example conventional technologies known are as follows. Patent Literature 1 discloses a mechanism in which an optical housing secures a liquid crystal element.
In addition, FIG. 1 of Patent Literature 2 discloses an illuminating apparatus that causes a lighting element to emit light through an end face of a cylindrical light guide that is long in the main scanning direction to uniformly emit light in the scanning direction. More specifically, the light guide and a lighting element board on which the lighting element is mounted are attached to a holder, and are positioned relative to each other. This holder is secured to a frame by engagement pins provided at both end faces of the holder in the sub scanning direction (a shorter direction) and a positioning hole formed in a wall of the frame. Note that an example image sensor of Patent Literature 2 is a contact image sensor (CIS).
Still further, in accordance with an increase of an output by a light source applied to an illuminating system of a contact image sensor, an efficient heat radiation structure for a light source is necessary. FIG. 4 of Patent Literature 3 discloses that an LED chip that is a light source is mounted on a metal plate, and a bent heat radiation plate is attached to a planar portion at an opposite face side of the LED chip to perform heat radiation on the light source.

Illuminating apparatus, image sensor, and methods for manufacturing illuminating apparatus and image sensor


In the case that the motor travel priority mode is set and the restriction mode is set as the control mode because of the request of the operation of the engine, the threshold value Peg that is smaller value between the obtained value (kw·Wout) from multiplying the output limit Wout of the battery by the preset conversion factor kw and the preset power Pset that is smaller than the converted output limit Wout of the battery at a normal time is compared with the driving power Pdrv*. The hybrid vehicle is driven with the motor travel in idle operation of the engine when the driving power Pdrv* is not more than the threshold value Peg, and the hybrid vehicle is driven with power from the engine when the driving power Pdrv* is more than the threshold value Peg.

One proposed hybrid vehicle, which is equipped with an engine that outputs power for driving the vehicle and a motor that outputs power for driving the vehicle, is driven with a higher priority given to a hybrid mode where the vehicle is driven in operation of the engine when a remaining quantity of fuel is not less than a threshold value, and driven with the higher priority given to a motor travel mode where the vehicle is driven with power from the motor in operation stop of the engine when the remaining quantity of fuel is less than the threshold value (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this hybrid vehicle, it is delayed that the remaining quantity of fuel becomes completely zero according to the above described control.

Hybrid vehicle and control method thereof


The invention is a method of treatment for the relief of an addictive, compulsive disorder which comprises the administration to a human or animal suffering from such a disorder an effective amount of the compound of the formula: ##STR1##. wherein R is hydrogen, alkyl (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6); R.sup.1 is hydrogen, mono or disubstituted halogen, alkoxy (C.sub.1 -C.sub.3), CF.sub.3, alkyl (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6); and R.sup.2 is hydrogen, methyl or ethyl, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with treating a chemically dependent mammal with a 1-(substitutedphenyl)-3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane in order to reduce or alleviate the dependency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A series of 1-(substitutedphenyl)-3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,088,652; 4,118,393; 4,118,417; 4,131,611; 4,196,120 and 4,231,935. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,419 a method of treating depression and stress in warm-blooded blooded animals is described.
Chemical dependency in a mammal is the abnormal craving or desire for, or an addiction to a drug. The drug can encompass alcohol or any of the legal prescription medications as well as those compounds such as cocaine and heroin which are sold illegally.
While abstinence is ineffective in drug dependency, other agents are needed in order to compromise the dependency. Products such as tetraethylthiuram disulfide; TETD (Antabuse) are used in sobriety programs, McNichol, R. W., Ewing, J. A., Faiman, M. D. Disulfiram (Antabuse): a unique medical aid to sobriety, Springfield, Ill., Thomas, 1987 and Mendelson, J. H., Mello, N. K., Eds, The Diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1979, 204.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,175 is described the use of a composition containing local anesthetics such as tetracaine, procaine and mixtures with suitable carriers. These agents can be used to treat cocaine addiction with a method called aversion therapy. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,803 is described the treatment of withdrawal symptoms resulting from addiction to a drug by treatment with azabicyclo indazole-3-carboxamides. In European Patent Application 90309062.9 published 06.03.91 is described a method of treating a chemical dependency in a mammal administering a compound (1S-cis)-4-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-N-m-ethyl-1-naphthalena mine, which is also known by the generic name of sertraline.
The most popular agent for the treatment of substance abuse is 4,4-diphenyl-6-dimethylamino-heptanone-3 hydrochloride also know as methadone. The principal actions of therapeutic value are analgesia and sedation and detoxification or maintenance in narcotic addiction.

Use of 1-(substitutedphenyl)-3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes for the treatment of chemical dependencies


The present invention is directed to a non-human mammal with at least 30% of all of its glial cells in its corpus callosum being human glial cells and/or at least 5% of all of its glial cells in the white matter of its brain and/or brain stem being human glial cells. Methods of producing and using the non-human mammal are also disclosed.

Glial progenitor cells and the neural stem cells from which they derive may be isolated and transplanted into myelin-deficient hosts, as a means of introducing new oligodendrocytes able to myelinate host axons (Yandava et al., "Global Cell Replacement is Feasible Via Neural Stem Cell Transplantation: Evidence From the Dysmyelinated Shiverer Mouse Brain," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:7029-34 (1999); Learish et al., "Intraventricular Transplantation of Oligodendrocyte Progenitors Into a Fetal Myelin Mutant Results in Widespread Formation of Myelin," Ann Neurol 46:716-22 (1999); Archer et al., "Myelination of the Canine Central Nervous System by Glial Cell Transplantation: A Model for Repair of Human Myelin Disease," Nature Medicine 3:54-59 (1997); Mitome et al., "Towards the Reconstruction of Central Nervous System White Matter Using Neural Precursor Cells," Brain 124:2147-61 (2001); Eftekharpour et al., "Myelination of Congenitally Dysmyelinated Spinal Cord Axons by Adult Neural Precursor Cells Results in Formation of Nodes of Ranvier and Improved Axonal Conduction," J Neuroscience 27:3416-3428 (2007)). Applicants have previously noted that enriched preparations of human glial progenitor cells, when engrafted into the neonatal shiverer mouse, a mutant that lacks full-length myelin basic protein (Roach et al., "Chromosomal Mapping of Mouse Myelin Basic Protein Gene and Structure and Transcription of the Partially Deleted Gene in Shiverer Mutant Mice," Cell 42:149-55 (1985)), generate substantial myelin in these otherwise unmyelinated recipients (Windrem et al., "Fetal and Adult Human Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Isolates Myelinate the Congenitally Dysmyelinated Brain," Nature Medicine 10:93-97 (2004)). However, the potential utility of this approach to the development of clinical remyelination strategies has been unclear, since previous studies have failed to note significant brainstem, cerebellar or spinal engraftment from intracerebral grafts, and no effect on disease phenotype or survival has yet been reported in hypomyelinated mice as a consequence of progenitor cell transplantation (reviewed in Keyoung et al., "Glial Progenitor-Based Repair of Demyelinating Neurological Diseases," Neurosurg. Clin. NA 18:93-104 (2007) and Goldman, S. A., "Stem and Progenitor Cell-Based Therapy of the Human Central Nervous System," Nature Biotech. 23:862-871 (2005)). Indeed, applicants' initial study of the efficacy of isolated human glial progenitors revealed no overt effect of cell transplantation on either the condition or fate of the engrafted recipients; despite widespread forebrain myelination, the transplanted mice typically died between 18 and 20 weeks of age, just as did unengrafted shiverers.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art.

Non human animals with human-glial chimeric brains


A multi-unit building for residential or commercial use that includes a plurality of dwelling units and an enclosed solarium area that is bordered at least in part by portions of at least two dwelling units. Each of the dwelling units includes an interior space having exterior access and a separate solarium access, the dwelling units and the solarium area are covered by a roof structure, and the solarium area is divided into a plurality of private areas so that a private area is associated with each of the two dwelling units. Each private area is associated with a dwelling unit so that such private area is accessible by way of that unit's solarium access. Preferably, the solarium area also includes a common area for shared usage by tenants of the dwelling units. The solarium area is provided at substantially at the same level as the ground level of the area surrounding the multi-unit building, and the plural dwelling units also preferably completely and equally surround the solarium area so as to define a centrally located area. The environment within the solarium area may advantageously by controlled by artificial systems including automatic control systems.

For a variety of reasons, many different building constructions have been developed within which one or more spaces are provided having at least some aspect of an outdoor environment inside the building construction. That is, one or more elements from the outdoor environment are replicated or allowed to pass from the outdoors to inside the building. Residential and commercial building structures have been developed, for example, in order to take advantage of natural sunlight for lighting, to provide an environment for the display and growing of all types of flora, or to create a more "natural" living space or commercial space that incorporates elements of the outdoors into the buildings.
For the purpose of lighting a living or commercial space by natural sunlight, all sorts of window adaptations have been made. In commercial structures, glass atriums are well known covering courtyard, garden or market place type areas. Typically, such atriums enclose an area between adjacent buildings, or cover an open lobby area within such a building construction. In residential structures, skylights are commonly used, and three season rooms or sun porches are sometimes enclosed by walls and/or roof portions of glass.
As to the enjoyment of flora and growing of all types of plants, greenhouse structures are well known. Greenhouses may be constructed as a glass structure in and of itself, or may comprise a glass structure attached so as to extend from another building. For example, small greenhouse additions to residential and agricultural structures are common.
With respect to any of the type of structures discussed above, it is sometimes also desirable to create a more natural "outdoor" setting in addition to the provision for natural sunlight. That is, planters, gardens and other outdoor setting features may be somewhat duplicated within a residential or commercial building structure. Within the atriums discussed above, garden areas are often provided. In certain apartment buildings, condominiums and hospitals, solarium areas are known to provide residents/patients an area to relax in a more natural setting. In three season rooms and sun porches, planters are also common.
In each of these situations, however, and to varying degrees, these indoor spaces merely artificially simulate an outdoor environment within the building construction. For the purpose of growing plant life, plants are typically either provided in pots or planters or within an artificial soil containing area that has been created within the building construction. But, the main advantage of an artificial environment is that the climate can be effectively controlled within the inside environment so that plants of all varieties can be grown regardless of the diverse climatic conditions that may occur outdoors. In this regard, significant technological advances have been recently made for the provision and control of environmental conditions within building structures.


A method for enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener is disclosed. The method for enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener includes receiving an input sound, increasing or decreasing the energy of the high frequency section and then lowering the frequency of the high frequency section, and then combining the low high frequency section with the high frequency section of which the energy was increased/decreased and the frequency was lowered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and hearing aid for enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener; more particularly, the present invention relates to a method of and hearing aid for enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener by means of modifying the frequency of an input sound.
2. Description of the Related Art
The main concept of the hearing aid is to amplify sounds so as to help a hearing-impaired listener to hear previously-unheard sounds. As a result, the hearing-impaired listener can hear the voice of a speaker without the need for the speaker to raise his or her voice. However, the hearing-impaired listener cannot hear sounds with two specific characteristics: the frequency is too high, or the intensity is too low. For example, the sounds corresponding to the Mandarin phonetic symbols "", "" and "" have such characteristics that the hearing-impaired listener has trouble hearing them. However, most conventional hearing aids, which only enhance the energy of the overall sound without identifying partial syllables that need to be enhanced, may cause sound distortion in the process of amplification. Related known prior arts regarding improving the sound by processing the frequency are briefly described hereinafter:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,100 discloses a "dynamic compression in a hearing aid" mainly used for minimizing a sound delay.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,609 discloses a "speech intelligibility enhancement" used for enhancing the consonant sounds of speech with high frequency. The greater the high frequency content relative to the low, the more such high frequency content is boosted. In this known prior art, consonant high frequency sounds are enhanced. However, it is very difficult to detect the occurrence of consonants in daily conversations. Therefore, this known prior art is not applicable for a hearing aid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,071 discloses an "automatic noise eliminator for hearing aids" mainly used for noise elimination. It removes all sounds below a predetermined level and transmits a compressed sound range for all sounds above a predetermined level. The object of this known prior art is different from that of the present invention. Further, it may cause sound distortion after all sounds below the predetermined level are removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,739 discloses an "apparatus and methods for proportional audio compression and frequency shifting", which provides an understandable audio signal to listeners who have hearing loss in particular frequency ranges by proportionally compressing the audio signal. However, this known prior art compresses all audio signals, which may result in serious sound distortion.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,609,841 (hereinafter "the '841 patent") discloses a "frequency shifter for use in adaptive feedback cancellers for hearing aids", which improves a conventional frequency shifting method by means of applying frequency shifting only to the high frequency portion of the signal (which is shifted alternately upward and or downward), wherein the frequency shifting ratio is less than 6%. Although the frequency shifter of the '841 patent also applies frequency shifting to high frequency signals, it does not increase or decrease the energy of the high frequency signals.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,580,536 (hereinafter "the '536 patent") discloses a "sound enhancement for hearing-impaired listeners", which provides a method of enhancing sound heard by a hearing-impaired listener. The method of the '536 patent compresses high frequency sounds with energy greater than a predetermined threshold or shifts the high frequency sounds to a lower frequency range without altering low frequency sounds (such as normal human speaking frequencies). According to the embodiment of the '536 patent, the processed high frequency sounds are at 32 kHz (column 6, line 18), which is not a normal human speaking frequency. Furthermore, the specification of the '536 patent does not disclose the value of the "predetermined threshold".
Therefore, there is a need to provide a method of and hearing aid for enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener that is capable of identifying sounds that need to be enhanced so as to modify the frequency accordingly, thereby mitigating and/or obviating the aforementioned problems. The applicant filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/064,645 (Taiwan Patent Application Serial No. 099141772), which also discloses a "method and hearing aid of enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener", whereas the present invention discloses another novel solution.

Method of and hearing aid for enhancing the accuracy of sounds heard by a hearing-impaired listener


A storage feed device for a yarn which unwinds from a corresponding bobbin and is fed to a textile machine. The device includes a rotary or fixed drum and an optical sensor member arranged to sense the movement of the yarn towards the textile machine. The optical sensor includes a plurality of emitters and receivers between which a light beam is generated and is interrupted by the yarn during its movement. The optical sensor includes a first fixed part and a second fixed part which includes the emitter and receiver elements, the first part being coaxial with the rotary member, the second being annular and surrounding the first part, the yarn moving between the parts.

Various types of yarn feed devices or feeders are known in which the yarn originating from a spool or bobbin is deposited onto a fixed drum loaded by an external member driven by its own motor, or onto a rotating drum from which it is withdrawn by the textile machine. In these feeders a system has necessarily to be provided for measuring or counting the number of turns present on the drum such that the yarn stock present on this latter remains virtually constant, and to prevent it from being totally consumed by the machine, with obvious problems for the operation thereof.
Various methods for measuring the yarn quantity (or number of turns) present on the drum are known. A first of these utilizes the reflection of light generated by an emitter and received by a corresponding receiver which are associated with the feeder. One or two reading zones (comprising emitters and receivers) are used to verify that at least one turn is present within them. Usually, one is positioned at the drum entry (yarn inlet zone) and one at the drum exit (yarn outlet zone) to control the so-called minimum stock and maximum stock respectively.
Feeders provided with this type of control are however able to ensure only that the number of turns is within a given range, but are not able to know their exact number (with the consequent impossibility of knowing how much yarn is stored on the drum, of which the lateral surface area is known).
The aforedescribed reflection method also has the limit of its well known dependence on the colour of the yarn to be monitored, and which can negatively affect the effectiveness of sensing the yarn by the optical elements utilized by the method under examination.
Feeders are also present in which the turns unloaded from the drum (and hence the fed yarn quantity) can be counted, again by reflection, however these known devices also present the limit that the reading resolution is strongly influenced by the yarn colour and by any dirt and dust deposits on the optical elements by which the number of turns is measured.
Other feed devices comprise optical elements inserted into a single emitter/receiver member and hence do not comprise separated emitter and receiver portions. This emitter/receiver member is of barrier operation and is able to measure the yarn quantity which has moved in front of it (i.e. the yarn quantity fed and hence the yarn quantity remaining on the drum), however as it does not know the exact position of the yarn within the sensor it is unable to know the yarn position at the feeder outlet, consequently it is unable to offer optimal resolution and precision.
Other feeders comprise mechanical solutions using mechanical lever detectors to which sensors (proximity sensors, Hall sensors) are connected to determine a minimum and a maximum yarn stock on the drum.
Such solutions again do not enable the number of turns present on the drum to be known exactly; moreover, the mechanical action of the levers modifies the yarn tension, with obvious repercussions on the yarn fed to the textile machine.


An optical scanning method includes detecting a resonance frequency of a tip of a fiber while sweeping a vibration frequency of the tip of the fiber over a predetermined frequency range, the tip of the fiber being supported to allow oscillation, determining a driving frequency of the tip of the fiber on the basis of the detected resonance frequency, and scanning light over an object by causing the light to be emitted from the tip of the fiber while driving and vibrating the tip of the fiber at the driving frequency.

An optical scanning observation apparatus that scans a beam of light from the end of an optical fiber over an object and detects light that is reflected, scattered, or the like by the object or detects fluorescent light or the like generated by the object is known (for example, see patent literature (PTL) 1). For such an apparatus to scan the irradiated light over the object, an end of the optical fiber is supported to allow oscillation of the tip where light is emitted, and the optical fiber is vibrated by disposing a piezoelectric element near the support.
Typical known methods of scanning an optical fiber include spiral scanning, in which the spot of irradiated light is scanned to trace a spiral, and raster scanning, in which the optical fiber is vibrated at high speed in one direction while being moved in an orthogonal direction at low speed. In a typical spiral scanning pattern, the vibration frequency is set to the resonance frequency. During raster scanning, the optical fiber is preferably vibrated at the resonance frequency in the direction of vibration at high speed. Therefore, the fiber has been driven to vibrate on the basis of the resonance frequency that is determined by the design values of the optical scanning observation apparatus.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optical scanning method and optical scanning apparatus


Improved efficiency is obtained in a rotary machine having a rotary shaft (18) mounting a compressor wheel (20) that discharges into a heat exchanger (36) having a core (82) with a central opening (42) in surrounding relation to the shaft (18). The heat exchanger (36) includes a coolant tank (90) on one side of the core (82) and in fluid communication with the same which serves as one boundary of radially extending space (68) through which a gas is discharged by a compressor wheel (20). A deswirling vane structure (80) causes gas discharged by the compressor wheel (22) to move radially outward within the space (68) and is formed of a material of good thermal conductivity and thermally bridged to the tank (90) to conduct heat thereto to be rejected to coolant in the tank.

This invention relates to a heat exchanger used as an inter-cooler in a rotary compressor machine such as a turbocharger or a super-charger for engines.
Combustion air chargers, such as turbochargers or super-chargers, have been employed with engines, particularly internal combustion engines, for many years. In a turbocharger, at least one rotary compressor wheel is driven by the exhaust of the engine. In the case of a supercharger, at least one rotary compressor wheel is driven mechanically, usually by the rotary output of the engine. In either case, a compressor wheel is employed to compress ambient air prior to its admission to the engine to support combustion therein. Because the air is compressed, a given volume thereof will have a greater mole content of oxygen than an otherwise equal of volume of air at ambient pressure. As a consequence, the additional oxygen permits the combustion of a greater quantity of fuel so that for a power plant of a given size, a greater power output may be derived as a result of the charging of the combustion air.
Over the years, it has been determined that the efficiency of such combustion air charging devices can be improved through the use of a so-called intercooling system. Because the air is heated as it is compressed, part of the efficiency derived by employing the combustion air charging device in the first place, i.e., the densification of the combustion air charged to the engine, is lost because a volume of hot compressed air will contain less oxygen than an equal volume of cooler compressed air when both are at the same pressure. Thus, for a given pressure, upon admission to an engine for combustion, a cooler combustion air charge will allow the development of more power within the engine than the same charge at the same pressure if at a higher temperature.
Consequently, intercoolers as mentioned previously have been employed to cool the air after it exits the combustion air charger (or a stage thereof) and prior to its admission to the engine so as to provide, for any given pressure, a maximum mole content of oxygen.
In many cases, the intercooler will be employed as a conventional, rectangular-shaped heat exchanger and is mounted side-by-side or to the front or rear of the usual heat exchanger employed for cooling engine coolant. While this sort of an arrangement adequately handles the cooling of the pressurized combustion air, it may have certain constraints in terms of size and the volume available in an engine compartment as, for example, in a vehicle, that houses both the engine and the various heat exchangers employed for cooling. It also may require extensive hose connections between the turbocharger, the intercooler and the engine combustion air inlet which necessarily require relatively large diameter hoses because of the low density of the combustion air and the consequent large volume thereof.
It has therefore been proposed to incorporate the intercooler within the combustion air charger itself to provide a more compact combustion air charging and intercooling system as well as to avoid large, bulky hose connections to the extent possible. The goal here is to incorporate the intercooling heat exchanger within the combustion air charger in such a way that it may be easily serviced, requires a minimum of plumbing connections and does not unduly increase the bulk of the combustion air charger while at the same time maximizing the cooling of the combustion air after compression thereof.
The present invention is directed toward the provision of advantageous solutions to these problems in an intercooling heat exchanger that is intended to be located internally within a rotary compressor machine.
It is the principal object of the invention to provide a new and improved rotary compressor machine with intercooling for use in cooled, compressed air. More specifically, it is the object of the invention to provide an improved rotary compressor machine with an internal inter-cooler that is more compact than known such systems, that is easily serviced, and/or which requires a minimum of plumbing connections and which maximizes the efficiency of the air cooling process.
According to one facet of the invention, an exemplary embodiment thereof achieves one or more of the above objects in a rotary machine that includes a rotatable shaft having at least one compressor wheel thereon and a housing containing the compressor wheel and having an inlet to the compressor wheel and an outlet. A heat exchanger is disposed in the housing and is located between the compressor wheel and the outlet. The heat exchanger includes a core having a gas flow path with a substantial radial extent and a gas inlet in fluid communication with the compressor wheel and a gas outlet in fluid communication with the housing outlet. A coolant flow path is provided in the heat exchanger in heat exchange relation with the gas flow path and has a substantial axial extent. The heat exchanger has a donut-shaped core containing the flow paths, the core being substantially concentric with the shaft. The core is flanked by axially spaced, donut-shaped tanks with one such tank serving as a boundary for compressed air being discharged by the compressor wheel as it moves in a radially outward direction. The invention contemplates that the tank be thermally conductive and that the usual deswirling vanes mounted in this area near the outlet of the compressor wheel be thermally bridged to such tank so that, in addition to providing the usual deswirling function, the vanes further act as fins to which heat of the compressed air may be rejected to ultimately be conducted through the tank to coolant therein to thereby increase the transfer of heat from the compressed gas to the coolant.
In a preferred embodiment, the vanes are part of a metallic vane structure which is metallurgically bonded to the tank.
In a highly preferred embodiment, the rotary machine is a turbocharger or a supercharger and the heat exchanger serves as an inter-cooler for combustion air.
In one embodiment of the invention, the vane structure comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes bonded to the tank.
The invention contemplates that the heat exchanger has a radially outer periphery spaced inwardly of the housing and the core has a gas inlet at the radially outer periphery to receive the discharged gas after the same has passed through the vane structure.

Internally mounted radial flow intercooler for a rotary compressor machine


Provided is a storage controller and method of controlling same which, if part of a storage area of a local memory is used as cache memory, enable an access conflict for access to a parallel bus connected to the local memory to be avoided.

Conventionally, a storage controller, which is connected between a host system, such as a host computer, and a storage apparatus such as a hard disk drive and which controls data I/O between the host system and storage apparatus, is known.
Upon receiving a read/write request from the host system, the storage controller temporarily stores read/write target data (hereinbelow called 'user data') in the memory based on the received read/write request. In addition, the storage controller also stores 'control information' for controlling operations in the apparatus/system.
The memory which the storage controller comprises typically uses both an involatile memory such as flash memory, which is capable of retaining data even when the power source of the storage controller is cut and volatile memory such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), which is not capable of retaining data when the power source of the storage controller is cut. Furthermore, typically, the involatile memory is used as cache memory and the volatile memory is used as local memory. Furthermore, each of the parts in the cache memory and local memory and the storage controller are connected by parallel buses.
As mentioned above, one of the parallel buses is connected to a cache memory and local memory, while the other parallel bus is connected to a data transfer control unit such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration) or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and to a central processing unit such as CPU (Central Processing Unit). Furthermore, the data transfer control unit and central processing unit input user data and control information and so on via a parallel bus.
Here, since a transfer system such as a parallel bus is a system which transfers data in parallel, the connector requires a plurality of pins. Hence, if the data transfer speed is to be improved by increasing the memory bandwidth, a large number of pins are required and there is then the problem of the costs involved in preparing the applicable LSI or ASIC and CPU and the like.
Therefore, PTL1 discloses a technology according to which, when part of the data to be stored in the cache memory is stored in the local memory, part of the local memory storage area is used as cache memory. Technology for using the local memory as involatile memory by means of a battery backup (BBU: Battery Back Up) function is also disclosed.
By using part of the local memory storage area as cache memory, the memory bandwidth which can be used as cache memory can be increased and the data transfer speed can be improved. Furthermore, the local memory is, as mentioned above, typically a volatile memory and is incapable of retaining data when the power source is cut, however, by rendering the local memory involatile memory using the BBU function, the reliability of the data stored in the local memory can be ensured.

Storage controller and method of controlling storage controller

Abstract: A storage controller which exercises control of data between a host system and a storage apparatus, comprising a data transfer control unit which exercises control to transfer the data on the basis of a read/write request from the host system; a cache memory which is connected to the data transfer control unit via a parallel bus; a control unit which is connected to the data transfer control unit via a serial bus; and a local memory which is connected to the control unit via a parallel bus, wherein the control unit decides to assign, from a cache segment of either the cache memory or the local memory, a storage area which stores the data on the basis of a CPU operating rate and a path utilization of the parallel bus connected to the cache memory.


An upper contoured die which mates with a lower contoured die is rotated relative to and against the lower die to progressively squeeze and deform a softened thermoplastic sheet. The two dies create sharp detail on both surfaces of the deformed sheet without tearing the sheet.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for deforming thermoplastic sheet material.
2. Description of Related Art
Certain thermoplastic materials referred to as engineering thermoplastics, have relatively high strength, high impact resistance, are tough, and have high temperature and load bearing capabilities making them particularly useful in certain applications. For example, thermoplastics are achieving more widespread use in automotive applications including bumpers and other component parts requiring high strength. It would also be desirable to form large body panels of automobiles out of sheet material plastics. However, present processes for producing panels from thermoplastic materials have certain drawbacks.
Presently, notwithstanding the process of the aforementioned patent, two general types of processes are used to form thermoplastics into large parts: injection molding and sheet stamping. Each of these processes has substantial disadvantages, particularly with respect to the forming of large thin parts. As disclosed in the aforementioned patent, injection molding processes for thermoplastics are typically limited to parts less than approximately 600 square inches of surface area. This limitation is imposed by large clamping forces which must be applied to mold dies to counteract large forces generated by high injection pressures acting on large part areas.
Sheet stamping processes are also limited in their application to thermoplastics. One aspect of the problem is lack of current knowledge regarding large deformation behavior of thermoplastic materials. A further problem is that sheet stamping processes require matched dies to be compressively directed against one another to squeeze under compressive load the sheet material therebetween. The simultaneous contact of two dies for compressively squeezing the material therebetween, when deep drawing portions of the material is required, causes relatively large localized tensile loads on the material which tends to tear the thermoplastic material.
The stretching of the material results from the fact that points of the material surrounding deep drawn concave or convex areas are simultaneously clamped while the portions of the material which form the convex or concave regions are subject to relatively large elongations which thins the material. This stretching action may tear the thermoplastics materials. Additionally, the stamping process, because it requires formation of the entire sheet material simultaneously, requires relatively large stamping load forces. Such machines are costly. The present inventors recognize a need for an apparatus and a process for forming thermoplastic material which is cost effective and which is practical for forming large sheet component parts without tearing the material.
In the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,460, a procedure is disclosed for roll-forming thermoplastic sheet material. However, the present inventors recognize that the roller employed in the disclosed procedure, being pliable and deforming generally to the shape of the lower die against which the sheet material is formed does not provide sufficient detail to the surface of the formed sheet material engaged by the roller for certain implementations. In certain instances, it is desirable that the sheet material be deformed with sharp, clearly defined detail on both surfaces. Such sharp detail normally is produced by two dies in a stamping operation. Therefore, the present invention is directed toward providing sufficient detail to the themoplastic material as normally produced by two mating dies as employed in the stamping process while alleviating the tearing and large machine force problems of prior art stamping machines.

Apparatus for die forming thermoplastic sheet material


A substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, is cut without using a dicer or an adhesive sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate cutting method and particularly it relates to a substrate cutting method suitable for cutting a semiconductor wafer having a number of elements formed therein to produce semiconductor pellets.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor devices are produced, generally, by forming a number of elements (including integrated circuits; hereinafter the same) in a semiconductor wafer sliced from an ingot and polished, cutting said semiconductor wafer along scribed lines between said elements to provide pellets, die-bonding said pellets to a lead frame or the like, making wire-bonding between the elements and the leads, molding them in resin or the like, and dividing said lead frame or the like.
The cutting of said semiconductor wafer is effected, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, by sticking a wafer W formed with a number of elements P to an adhesive sheet S, holding the adhesive sheet S by suction through suction holes H in an x-y table ST, dicing the wafer along scribed lines between the elements P by a dicer D having a diamond blade B, thereby dividing the individual elements P to provide pellets P.
However, the method of cutting the wafer W using the dicer D by sticking it to the adhesive sheet S has the following problems.
First, cutting by mechanically forming and proliferating material defects by a dicer D results in cracks or chippings produced in the wafer W or elements P during cutting, thus decreasing the yield of the pellets P. Although apparent cracks or chippings can be detected and removed by imaging as by a camera, microcracks or the like produced in the interior are difficult to detect by external imaging, leading to defectives found as by characteristic examination after assembly, thus resulting in wasting not only adhesive agents, heat dissipation plates, etc., during die-bonding, and wires and other materials during wire-bonding but also time, electricity, gas, etc., which result from applying unnecessary process treatments.
Second, cutting by the dicer D inevitably involves cooling since heat of friction is produced. Further, cuttings are produced by dicing and to wash away the cuttings, a large amount of cooling water is required during dicing. Further, because of the cooling water, the device has to be made water-tight and hence the device becomes complicated and expensive.
Third, recently, there has been a growing demand for thin type semiconductor devices, such as solar cells, IC cards, and stack type semiconductor devices. However, thinning the wafer W to cope with such demand for thinning lowers the mechanical strength, so that the wafer W tends to be damaged by the pressing force with which the wafer W is stuck to the adhesive sheet S and moreover the pellets P tend to be damaged when peeled from the adhesive sheet S after cutting.
Therefore, for thinning the pellets P, a production method, referred to as foredicing, as shown in FIGS. 12(A)-(D) has been developed. This method comprises the steps of (A) forming a number of elements P on the front side a of a relatively thick wafer W having a thickness t1 (for example, 500 xcexcm), and sticking the back b to a first adhesive sheet S1, (B) dicing the wafer W from the front side a along scribed lines between elements P to form a grove G of predetermined depth, (C) peeling the adhesive sheet S on the back side, and sticking a second adhesive sheet S2 this time to the front a side, and (D) grinding the back b side to remove the material by an amount corresponding to a thickness t3 which exceeds the groove G formed by said dicing, thereby forming a thinned back c and at the same time dividing into individual pellets P, thus providing pellets P of desired thickness t2 (for example, 30-50 xcexcm)
However, this production method referred to as foredicing is troublesome and greatly increases production costs. Further, when the pellets P are peeled from the adhesive sheet S2, the fact remains that the pellets P tend to be damaged.
Fourth, as shown in FIGS. 13(A)-(D), there has been developed another production method based on a batch adhesive agent layer, comprising the steps of (A) forming an adhesive agent layer AD of solder, resin or the like on the back of the wafer W in advance by batch-processing and sticking the adhesive agent layer AD side to the adhesive sheet S, (B) cutting it into pellets P by dicing, (C) peeling the pellets P from the adhesive sheet S to provide pellets P having the adhesive agent layer AD on the back, and (D) die-bonding the pellets P to a heat dissipation plate R, such as a lead frame, by utilizing the adhesive agent layer AD on the back.
Since this method is not required to feed an adhesive agent to the heat dissipation plate R meticulously during die-bonding, the die-bonding process becomes easier and can be reduced in time. Moreover, the adhesive agent layers of the pellets P bonded to the heat dissipation plate R become uniform in thickness, the height of the bonding position becomes constant in the subsequent wire bonding process. Therefore, the troublesome height adjustment of the bonding tool for each bonding place becomes unnecessary; thus, the production method allows quick, easy and reliable wire bonding. With the production method for thinning the pellets P, referred to as foredicing, described above, however, pellets P having the adhesive agent layer AD on the back cannot be obtained by forming the adhesive agent layer AD of solder, resin or the like on the back of the wafer W in advance. Further, in the case where the adhesive agent layer AD is formed of soft material, such as solder, the adhesive agent clogs the blade B, making the satisfactory dicing impossible.
Fifth, the method using a dicer D comprises the steps of setting the height of the blade B at a position deviated from the wafer W position, horizontally moving an x-y table with the wafer W held thereon by drawing while maintaining the blade height, thereby reciprocating the blade from a position outwardly of one end of the wafer W to a position outwardly of the other end and vice versa to dice the wafer W; therefore, non-square pellets are produced in large numbers around the periphery of the wafer W, making it necessary to sort out square pellets from non-square pellets, which is a troublesome process.
Thus, a method may be contemplated which, rather than mechanically cutting the wafer W by the dicer D having a diamond blade B, comprises the steps, as shown in FIGS. 14(A)-(C), of (A) irradiating CO2 laser, YAG laser or other continuous wave laser, or long pulse laser L along scribed lines between the pellets P of a wafer W, (B) melting and scattering a laser-irradiated portion to form a groove G, and (C) repeatedly irradiating laser L to grow the groove G through the back so as to cut the wafer W.
However, since such laser L a continuous wave or has a large pulse width, laser irradiation results in a temperature rise in the vicinity of the laser-irradiated portion by heat conduction, producing a heat strain in the wafer W, which not only forms a cause of cracks or microcracks but also heats and melts up to the vicinity of the portion irradiated with the laser L. And since the melted portion is scattered together by the drastic scattering force of the melt of the portion irradiated with laser L, the width w of the groove G being formed becomes large and nonuniform. Further, since the angle of inclination of the groove G is small, it is necessary to set the scribed line width between the elements P at a large value, resulting in a decrease in the pellet yield. Moreover, the melted wafer material deposits on the edge of the groove G or scatters in the vicinity of the laser-irradiated portion to stick to the electrodes or the like of the elements (pellets) P. Further, since the angle of inclination of the lateral end surface Pa of the pellet P obtained is small, there has been a problem that it sometimes constitutes obstacle depending on the use of the pellets P.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a substrate cutting method using laser irradiation, wherein the prior art problems described above are solved.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized by irradiating a substrate with ultrashort pulse laser to cut it.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an ultrashort pulse laser device. Trying to directly amplify titanium sapphire laser output would result in the peak strength being too high, damaging the optical elements; therefore, a chirped pulse amplification method is used. The chirped pulse amplification method refers to a technique comprising the steps, as shown in FIG. 5, of (1) causing the pulse width of ultrashort pulse laser TL incident on a regenerative amplifier RA to chirp by using a diffraction grating pair, thereby (1) increasing the pulse width more than thousands of times (pulse stretching), (2) amplifying while keeping the peak power low (pulse amplification), and then (3) compressing to the original pulse width by the diffraction grating pair (pulse compression). The finally amplified pulse, for example, has an energy of 2 mJ, a pulse width of 130 fs, and a repetition rate of 10 Hz, and the peak strength is amplified to 15 GW. Since the peak strength of titanium sapphire laser is 107 kW, it follows that it has been amplified about 100,000 times.
The substrate cutting method which irradiates ultrashort pulse laser, unlike mechanical cutting using a dicer having a diamond blade, has the possibility of pellets being scattered by mechanical force during cutting, so that the conventional adhesive sheet is unnecessary and can be dispensed with. Therefore, material costs can be saved and moreover since the sticking process can be reduced, process costs are low. Further, because of dry process, the cleaning process can be omitted. Further, ultrashort pulse laser, as compared with the conventional method of cutting the wafer W by irradiating CO2 laser, YAG laser or other continuous wave laser or pulse laser L, has a short laser pulse width, so that the heat conduction is low; therefore, and there is almost no rise in the substrate temperature in the vicinity of the laser-irradiated portion; thus precluding a decrease in yield due to cracking caused by thermal strain produced by a rise in the temperature of the substrate. Since a narrow groove can be formed only in the portion irradiated with laser, the scribed line width can be designed to be narrow, thus increasing the number of elements per substrate. Moreover, since the possibility of the melted substrate material scattering in the vicinity of the laser-irradiated portion is decreased, the yield of pellets can be increased.
That is, the thermal diffusion length LD during laser irradiation is LD=(Dxcfx841)1/2 where D is the diffusion coefficient of the material and xcfx841 is the pulse width of the laser. Here, D=kT/xcfx81cp where kT, xcfx81, and cp are heat conductivity, density and heat capacity, respectively. Thus, since the heat diffusion length LD is proportional to the square root of the pulse width xcfx841, ultrashort pulse laser irradiation results in the heat diffusion length being greatly reduced as compared with the prior art during laser irradiation, and when the pulse width becomes less than picoseconds, heat diffusion can be almost entirely neglected.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that the pulse width of said ultrashort pulse laser is less than 1 picosecond.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, the pulse width is less than 1 picosecond. For example, irradiation with femtosecond pulse from a titanium sapphire laser source results in almost no rise in temperature being found in the vicinity of the portion irradiated with laser 7 when the substrate 1 is irradiated with the laser 7, as shown in FIG. 6(A). Therefore, there is formed a groove 8 having steep lateral surfaces only in the portion irradiated with the laser 7, as shown in FIG. 6(B). Irradiation with the laser 7 with a repletion frequency of 1 kHz-100 kHz results in pellets 2 being obtained with the lateral end surfaces 2a having almost no slope, as shown in FIG. 6(C). Therefore, the aspect ratio of the groove 8 is high, and the scribed line width of the substrate 1 can be set at a small value, making it possible to increase the number of pellets 2 per substrate and to improve the yield of the pellets 2. When this is compared with FIGS. 14(A)-(C) described above showing the conventional substrate cutting method using laser, the differences are obvious. Further, there is almost no rise in the temperature of the substrate, nor is the deposition or scatter of melted substrate material in the vicinity of the laser-irradiated portion.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that the surface layer of the substrate which is in an improved state is irradiated with said laser.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, laser irradiation is effected in an improved state in which the temperature of the surface layer of the substrate is raised to lower the laser penetration; therefore, the laser absorption coefficient of the improved surface layer becomes high, making it possible to improve the processing accuracy.
The invention of the invention is characterized in that the ultra short pulse laser emits a plurality of pulses having an interpulse separation of 3 to 30 picoseconds.
In the method for cutting a substrate of the invention, scattered particles produced by a preceding pulsed laser beam are prevented from re-adhering to the periphery of the hole which may be caused by the subsequent pulsed laser beam. It is thus made possible to reduce the height of a swelling around the hole.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that said substrate is a semiconductor wafer formed with a number of elements and said ultrashort pulse laser is irradiated along the scribed lines between said elements.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, since the scribed line width between elements can be reduced as described above, the number of pellets per semiconductor wafer can be increased, and moreover since no cracking or chipping occurs in the pellets, the pellet yield can be greatly improved and so can be the pellet strength.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that the thickness of said semiconductor wafer is not more than 50 xcexcm.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, a semiconductor device having thinned pellets such as an IC card, now in great demand, or of the stack type can be produced without employing the production method referred to as foredicing.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that said semiconductor wafer has a batch-processed adhesive agent layer on the back.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, since the pellets obtained by cutting the semiconductor wafer have batch-processed adhesive agent layers on the back, the troublesome operation of meticulously feeding an adhesive agent such as solder or resin to a lead frame or the like during die-bonding to the lead frame or the like can be omitted. Moreover, the presence of the adhesive agent layer of uniform thickness on the back eliminates the possibility of the pellets die-bonded to a lead frame or the like being inclined. In the subsequent wire bonding process, the bonding height position becomes constant, thereby making unnecessary the troublesome operation of adjusting the bonding tool height for each bonding place, thereby not only facilitating the bonding operation but also making the bonding strength in each bonding place constant; thus, a semiconductor device having uniform and superior characteristics is obtained.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that the back of said semiconductor wafer is drawn by an x-y table.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, since the semiconductor wafer is drawn to the x-y table by static electricity or vacuum suction force during cutting, the aligned state of the elements in the wafer can be retained in the pellets after cutting; therefore, the batch-movement of the plurality of pellets onto a tray or the like after cutting can be easily realized and so can be the successive pick-up of pellets from the x-y table after cutting to die-bond them directly to a lead frame or the like.
A substrate cutting method of the invention is characterized in that said laser is irradiated to the semiconductor wafer excluding the peripheral portion thereof.
According to the substrate cutting method of the invention, since the peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer is not irradiated with laser, the laser irradiation time can be correspondingly reduced to improve the throughput. Moreover, since the peripheral portion of the wafer is not cut, there is no possibility of a number of non-square pellets due to non-square elements being produced in the peripheral portion of the wafer as in the case of a cutting method using a dicer, and hence the processing of the same is unnecessary, facilitating the production.

Abstract: A semiconductor wafer 1 formed with a number of elements 2 is drawn and held by an x-y table 4, and ultrashort pulse laser 7 having a pulse width of not more than 1 picosecond is irradiated along scribed lines between the elements 2 to cut the same.


In a cooling system for cooling power electronics on a locomotive where the cooling system includes a finned heat sink that has air passing therethrough an airway passage to reach a plurality of fins where reducing airborne debris clogging of the plurality of fins is preferred, the heat sink includes at least one of a by-pass area having no fins located at an area where debris is expected to pass through the plurality of fins, a turning guide directing air between the plurality of fins at a specific location, a blockage reduction fin structure on at least one fin of the plurality of fins, and fins proximate within the inlet airway passage.

Locomotives and related transportation vehicles are equipped with power electronics whose cooling systems use finned heat sinks to aid in heat dissipation. These heat sinks are cooled by forced air. Previous heat sink designs have been used which employ typical fin arrangements with uniform spacing. The number of fins and spacing and the shape and size of the fins determine the cooling capability of the heat sink. An exemplary heat sink that is currently used in locomotives is one developed by Aavid Thermalloy.
In some situations, airflow is directed to flow through the heat sink. Such designs may be susceptible to plugging with airborne debris such as diesel fumes, dust, dirt, etc. When plugged, the heat sink's effectiveness is dramatically reduced, resulting in poor cooling of the power electronics and increased failure rates due to the excessive temperatures the electronics may experience.


A communication device is disclosed including a communication unit configured to receive a message including an SCG configuration, wherein the communication unit transmits a message, which does not include the SCG configuration, to another communication device and causes the another communication device to perform full configuration. In other aspects, another communication device and a communication method are also disclosed.

Currently, with respect to 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project), specifications are being developed for a new radio communication system referred to as New Radio Access Technology system (NR) as a successor to LTE (Long Term Evolution) system and LTE-Advanced system. NR may be referred to as 5G.
The NR system assumes that a configuration in which multiple distributed nodes (DU) are extended from one central node (CU) is used as architecture of the radio access network. In this configuration, CU-DU functional separation is made, and as an example, the CU has functions of layers of PDCP or higher and the DU has functions of layers of RLC or lower. The interface between the CU and the DU is standardized as an F1 interface (e.g., non-patent document 1).
In addition, the NR system is considering introduction of EN-DC (E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity) which divides data between base stations of the LTE system and base stations of the NR system and simultaneously transmits and receives data by these base stations, as in the case of dual connectivity (DC) in the LTE system. The EN-DC is constituted by a MN (Master Node) and a SN (Secondary Node).

Communication device and communication method


A smart cart for automatically managing a plurality of information handling systems. The system provides a plurality of functions. For example, in certain embodiments, the system provides one or more of security authentication for distributing the notebooks, automatic asset tracking functionality; identification of notebook charge status; provides identification of asset information (e.g., an asset tag number, a serial number or a computer name); network access to push patch updates at night when units are not in use; and charging control to optimize system availability and prevent AC input circuit overload.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems and more particularly to smart cart to automatically manage portable information handling systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
One example of an information handling system is a notebook (or portable) type information handling system. It can often be challenging to manage notebook type information handling systems in organizations with multiple notebook type information handling systems. Education facilities are one example of an organization in which managing multiple notebook type information handling systems can be challenging. One known solution for managing multiple notebook type information handling systems is a notebook cart. Known notebook carts are typically relatively crude racks which to store multiple notebook type information handling systems for recharging.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system for automatically managing a plurality of notebook type information handling systems.

Smart cart to automatically manage portable information handling systems


A device and a method for testing fuel injectors, in particular, of the piezo type. The device includes at least one, in particular, bidirectional interface for connecting an operator control unit, at least one outlet for connecting at least one fuel injector, at least one integrated circuit, as well as a microcontroller for controlling the integrated circuit, the integrated circuit and the microcontroller cooperating in a way that allows the fuel injector to be tested as a function of the type and/or subtype thereof, including at least the piezo type having the subtypes active high and active low.

Fuel injectors are used, for example, in fuel injection systems in motor vehicles. To be able to test these during manufacture thereof or also subsequently in a repair shop, specially adapted test devices are used that are specifically adapted to each particular fuel injector type. For many special types of fuel injectors, for example, piezo fuel injectors of the subtype "active low," thus piezo fuel injectors, where an injection valve is closed in the presence of an operating voltage (fuel injection into a cylinder is interrupted), testing is only possible, if at all, during manufacturing and only of individual components of the corresponding fuel injector. Known methods provide for testing of a fuel injector following the manufacture thereof.
The German Patent Application DE 10 2007 038 537 A1 discusses a test device and a method for testing an actuator of a fuel injector, the fuel injector being a piezo fuel injector. A test voltage is applied in steps or steplessly to the fuel injector, and a detected variation in a characteristic of an electrical quantity of a total resistance of the fuel injector ensuing during the change in the test voltage is measured.

Device for testing fuel injectors, and corresponding method


A keyless access system for securely authorizing access to a resource via a dynamic interface that user equipment (“UE”) may access using a changing access identifier without the UE installing or executing any specialized applications or code. The secure authorization of visitor access may include periodically modifying the access identifier, providing access activation data with a first access identifier to a UE in response to a triggering action, providing the dynamic interface to the UE in response to the access activation data automatically directing a browser of the UE to the first access identifier, receiving UE authorization data that is entered using a keypad or login screen of the dynamic interface, and providing access to the resource based on the first access identifier being associated with the resource, the UE authorization data authorizing access to the resource, and the access being provided before an expiration time.

Keyless access systems may be more convenient and secure than using physical keys. Physical keys can be lost and easily copied, and cannot be individualized for different users. For instance, different users may have the same physical key to access a door, whereas keyless access systems can uniquely identify which user accesses the door at what time based on unique access credentials that may be wireless transmitted from one or more devices associated with different users.
For visitors and/or other users that do not have previously configured keyless access or physical key access, a physical keypad may be provided adjacent to the particular door. The visitor may receive an access code that can be entered using the physical keypad in order to gain access.
Without the physical keypad or previously configured keyless access (e.g., a wireless keycard that is configured with valid access credentials or a specific application of the keyless access system that is installed and configured with valid access credentials on the visitor mobile device), the visitor may have no direct means of accessing the door or another secured resource. Instead, the visitor would have to involve another authorized user at the time of access.

Secure authorization via a dynamic interface on a visitor device