The invention relates to a method for forming a pattern on a substrate (S) with an upper surface and a lower surface which comprises the steps of depositing a first layer (E1) of an opaque material on the upper surface of the substrate (S), depositing a photosensitive layer (R) such that part of the photosensitive layer (R) covers at least part of the first layer (E1), exposing the photosensitive layer (R) to a light beam (L), the light beam (L) impinging on the lower surface of the substrate (S) under an oblique angle (Φ) of incidence, removing the exposed region of the photosensitive layer (R), depositing a second layer (E2) of an opaque material such that part of the second layer (E2) covers a remaining region of the photosensitive layer (R), and removing at least a part of the remaining region of the photosensitive layer (R). According to another aspect of the method of the invention anisotropic plasma etching is applied from above the upper surface of the substrate (S) after removal of the exposed region of the photosensitive layer (R) and thereafter the second layer (E2) is deposited. The method of the invention can be applied for forming a source electrode and a drain electrode of a thin-film field effect transistor. The invention furthermore relates to an electronic device fabricated by such a method.

For forming patterns in structures in the micrometer and sub-micrometer range for electronic and micro technology applications usually methods relying on electron beam, X-ray, ion beam and optical lithography are employed. With these lithographic methods a resolution of 1 micrometer or better can be achieved. The methods are based on a step-and-repeat process and are thus not compatible with continuous in-line manufacturing. At the moment, a throughput of 10−3 m2/s, which corresponds to 50,000 300 millimeter wavers per month, can be achieved with these lithographic methods, the required equipment being rather expensive.
Traditional high-throughput print technologies such as offset, flexography, and gravure—a type of intaglio print process—have been employed for patterning and forming electronic circuits. Offset printed transistors have been reported in Y. Mikami, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 41, 306 (1994) and by D. Zielke et al, Applied Physics Letters 87, 123508 (2005), for example. Transistors structured by flexographic printing have been reported by T. Mäkelä et al., Synthetic Metals 153, 285 (2005). An intaglio print process is disclosed in WO 2004/021751 A1. Processes employing these print technologies offer a throughput of several m2/s but their resolution is currently limited to 20 micrometers or more, which is usually not sufficient for electronic applications.
Another known method for forming patterns with nanometer resolution on a substrate is the so-called nanoimprint lithography (NIL) (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905 A). Nanoimprint lithography is a process wherein a mould is is pressed into an imprint polymer. Nanoimprint lithography allows in principle for parallel, arbitrarily complex patterning with less than 10 nanometer resolution. The imprinted polymer layer is usually used as an etch resist in a subsequent process step and the pattern is transferred into an underlying layer by etching. Typically, the mould has to be reconditioned or even replaced after a fairly limited number of imprint processes. Furthermore, during the imprint process, material is usually flowing from the raised regions of the pattern to the mould's recesses. Depending on the pattern to be imprinted as well as the imprint material, the process time of nanoimprint lithography might be quite large.
Solid-state embossing is another known method for forming a pattern on a substrate. It is a non-lithographic patterning technique that is often used for manufacturing diffraction gratings, compact discs, and security features such as holograms. Nanoscale patterns may be formed. The process consists of forcing a microcutting tool that is normally made from silicon and comprises an array of protruding wedges into a multilayer structure. In WO 02/29912 A1 solid-state embossing is employed for manufacturing electronic circuits. It can be used to "cut" transistor channels into a single conducting layer supported by a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) substrate. Channel lengths of down to 12 micrometers can be achieved. The method can also be employed for the manufacture of vertical-channel transistors. A vertical-channel transistor is defined such that the source and the drain electrodes are positioned on top of each other and the channel length is defined by the thickness of an insulating layer. As the thickness of the insulating layer can be well controlled even on a sub-micrometer length-scale, vertical architectures are highly relevant for short channel length transistors. In N. Stutzmann et al., Science 299, 1881 (2003) solid-state embossing is used for controlled microcutting of vertical sidewalls into a conductor-insulator-conductor trilayer structure. Vertical channel transistors with channel lengths of down to 0.7 micrometer can be generated. Solid-state embossing is usually quite time consuming and the employed microcutting tool has to be robust, especially for a large-scale production facility.
Another known method for forming and patterning high-resolution structures is so-called microcontact printing. Microcontact printing is based on the selective transfer of an organothiol or a silane to a substrate using an elastomeric stamp. The areas of the substrate that have been contacted by the raised surfaces of the elastomeric stamp are covered with a self-assembled monolayer of the organothiol or the silane and can be used as etch resist in a subsequent processing step. The resolution of the method is mainly determined by the resolution of the elastomeric stamp. The elastomeric stamps are usually fabricated from poly (dimethyl) siloxane (PDMS), polyimide, or phenolformaldehyde polymer. Microcontact printing is usually followed by either etching, electroless plating (e.g. U. Zschieschang et al., Advanced Materials 15, 1147 (2003)), or area-selective electropolymerisation (e.g. C. B. Groman et al., Chemical Materials 7, 526 (1995)) for forming electronic circuits. M. Leufgen et al., Applied Physics Letters 84, 1582 (2004) describes microcontact printing followed by etching for forming transistors with down to 100 nanometer channel length. WO 03/099463 A1 discloses a wave printing technique for automated patterning with microcontact printing. J. Schellekens et al., Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings EXS-2. M2.9.1 (2004) describes transistors with down to 1 micrometer channel length, which have been microcontact wave printed onto 150 millimeter glass wavers. E. Kim et al., Applied Physics Letters 80, 4051 (2002) describes a method based on microcontact printing for direct patterning of a metal layer. A metal layer coated on a pre-patterned poly dimethyl siloxane stamp is transferred to a substrate by cold welding. When removing the stamp, the metal on the raised regions of the stamp adheres to the substrate and a metal pattern is formed. The inverse process where a stamp is used to lift-off a pattern from a homogenous metal layer is described in T. Wang et al., Advanced Materials 15, 1009 (2003). EP 0 953 420 A2 discloses so-called micromoulding in capillaries (MIMIC) for patterning polyaniline and carbon structures. A mould is put in conformal contact with a substrate, thereby forming microchannels. Capillary forces pull an ink solution into the channels. Solidification by evaporation of a solvent or thermal conversion followed by removal of the mould completes the fabrication of the microstructures. For micromoulding the electrode layout must fulfil tight requirements for the ink to actually flow by capillary forces. Because of the ink flow and the drying step micromoulding is a comparably slow process.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,946,332 B2 extends the microcontact printing concept to nanoscale dimensions in an additive process referred to as nanotransfer printing. In nanotransfer printing metal structures are directly transferred onto a substrate surface. Patterning of features with sizes approaching 100 nanometers and an edge resolution of less than 15 nanometers is achievable. WO 2004/004025 A2 discloses direct patterning of water-based conductive inks via a self-assembly process based on microcontact printing. A substrate is pre-patterned into hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions by microcontact printing of a hydrophobic self-assembled monolayer. When applying water-based ink, it spontaneously dewets from the hydrophobic regions, thereby forming material free channels.
Summarizingly, microcontact printing-based methods offer a resolution of down to below 100 nanometers. Microcontact wave printing allows for patterning of micron-sized features with an overlay accuracy of more than 2 micrometers over a 150 millimeter waver (M. M. J. Decré et al., Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings EXS-2. M4.9.1. (2004)). The printing contact time for the 150 millimeter waver is reported to be 15 seconds which corresponds to a throughput of 10−3 m2/s, not taking into account the stamp soaking and drying time.
Ink-jet printing is another known patterning method. Ink-jet printing is intrinsically a non-contact, additive technique. Sacrificial resist or lift-off layers are not required. Material is only deposited where it is actually needed. With ink-jet printing droplet volumes of down to 10 picoliters can be achieved which corresponds to a diameter of about 20 micrometers. Due to statistical variations of the flight direction of the droplets and the spreading on the substrate, the smallest features and gaps currently attainable with ink-jet printing are about 50 and 20 micrometers, respectively. Combining ink-jet printing with other patterning techniques that offer a resolution of below 10 micrometers, as taught for example in WO 01/46987 A2, may improve the method. Here the substrate is pre-patterned into hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions prior to the ink-jet deposition. The droplets are repelled by the hydrophobic regions and, hence, confined by their edges. The pre-patterning into hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions can be achieved by using self-assembled monolayers of a perfluorinated silane (WO 2005/038881 A2) or by a direct-write process based on laser patterning (WO 02/095805 A2). WO 03/056641 A1 discloses furthermore a lithography-free self-aligned ink-jet printing process, wherein a first conductive pattern is ink-jet printed onto a substrate, the surface of the first conductive pattern is selectively modified to be of low surface energy by using CF4 plasma or by adding a suitable surfactant to the ink while not modifying the surface of the substrate, and a second conductive pattern that partially overlaps the first conductive pattern is ink-jet printed, not requiring precise relative alignment. The droplets of the second conductive pattern are repelled by and flow off the low energy surface of the first pattern and dry with their contact line in close proximity to the edges of the first pattern, thereby forming a small self-aligned gap. Transistors with less than 100 nanometer channels may be obtained.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,134,516 discloses the use of ink-jet printed hot-melt wax as etch resist that solidifies on contact with the substrate. Spreading of the printed droplets can thus be prevented. Ink-jet printed transistors with 30 to 50 micrometer channel length can be realized.
Ink-jet printing is intrinsically a serial process. Its throughput is nowadays limited to about 0.01 m2/s.
Thermal imaging can also be used for forming patterns on a substrate, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,192 A, WO 02/070271 A2, or WO 2004/087434 A1. Thermal imaging is a dry, solvent-free digital printing process in which functional materials are transfer printed, layer by layer, from donor sheets onto a substrate using localized laser-induced heating. With a method based on thermal imaging transistors with down to 5 micrometer channel length can be produced. A resolution of less than 10 micrometers has been achieved over areas of more than 3 m2. The materials, however, have to withstand high temperatures. Thermal imaging is intrinsically a serial process and its throughput is currently limited to about 0.002 m2/s.

Method for forming a pattern on a substrate and electronic device formed thereby


A solid electrolytic capacitor element which comprises an anode body, a dielectric layer placed so as to cover the anode body, a semiconductor layer placed on the dielectric layer, an insulator layer placed on the semiconductor layer, a carbon layer placed on the insulator layer, and a silver layer placed on the carbon layer, wherein the insulator layer has a part having a thickness of 10 to 100 nm accounting for not less than ⅔ of the whole insulator layer.

A solid electrolytic capacitor element is usually composed of an anode body, and a dielectric layer and a cathode layer stacked in this order on the anode body. The cathode layer is usually composed of a semiconductor layer, a carbon layer and a silver layer stacked in this order on the dielectric layer. If the solid electrolytic capacitor element having a capacity set to a predetermined value is left for a long period before encapsulating with a resin or the like, the capacity may change. For example, the leaving for a long period increases a capacity of a solid electrolytic capacitor element using an anode body comprising tungsten, or the leaving for a long period decreases a capacity of a solid electrolytic capacitor element using an anode body comprising aluminum, tantalum or niobium. A great change in capacity is undesirable for electronic components in both cases of increase or decrease. The increasing of capacity is remarkable in a solid electrolytic capacitor element using an anode body comprising tungsten.
Techniques intended to decrease leakage current have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a solid electrolytic capacitor which comprises an anode body, a dielectric placed on the surface of the anode body, a conductive polymer placed on the surface of the dielectric, an insulating portion placed in an island shape on the surface of the conductive polymer, and a current collector placed on the surfaces of the insulating portion and the conductive polymer, wherein the insulating portion comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of alumina, an alumina hydrate, silica and a silica hydrate.
In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a solid electrolytic capacitor characterized in that, the solid electrolytic capacitor comprises an anode member, and a dielectric layer, a solid electrolytic layer, a cathode lead-out layer and an outer shell resin layer placed in this order on the outside of the anode member; and further comprises a protective layer, made of a material mainly comprising an inorganic oxide, between the cathode lead-out layer and the outer shell resin layer.


The methods described herein are configured to correlate frames of a video stream to a system clock. A correlator application receives a frame of a video stream from a capture device via a bus interface, the frame including start frame and end frame timestamps based on a device clock of the capture device. A second start frame timestamp and second end frame timestamp are predicted based on previously received frames and a system clock. A skew value of the frame is calculated based on differences between the start frame timestamps and the end frame timestamps. Upon the calculated skew value exceeding a skew threshold, the frame is corrected to correlate to the predicted start frame and end frame timestamps. The corrected frame is then provided for display. Correcting timestamps of video stream frames in the described manner reduces jitter and enables accurate synchronization of multiple video streams.

Modern video capture devices make use of a variety of different types of technologies for capturing, processing, and transmitting or otherwise transferring captured video data. A video capture device may be designed to capture primarily visible light video, depth-based video, infrared-based video, or a combination thereof. However, in some cases, the technologies used by video capture devices to process and/or transfer the captured video data limit the quality of the resulting video stream and/or negatively affect the user experience of watching the resulting video stream. Device clocks of video capture devices may drift, causing temporal distortion or "jitter" in the video stream, video processing operations may cause the video stream to skew out of sync, and/or a communication bus or other medium may provide less reliable data transfer than necessary to provide a high-quality video stream to users on the other end of the transfer. For example, use of universal serial bus (USB) technology to transfer frames of video stream may present a variety of challenges associated with accurate timing of the frames in the video stream after transfer.
These challenges are compounded when multiple video streams are combined to form three-dimensional video streams, video streams with multiple points of view, or the like. Synchronizing each video stream requires extremely accurate timing of each frame, and each video stream may be captured by different video capture devices, each with a unique set of technologies that must be considered in order for the video streams to be correlated to a shared timeframe. Providing combined video streams for viewing without significant temporal distortion, jitter, or other issues that cause a negative user experience is a challenging task.

Correlation of video stream frame timestamps based on a system clock


A satellite, intended to be placed in a station in orbit about a celestial body, including a first electrical thruster of orientatable thrust direction, a second electrical thruster of orientatable thrust direction, and an electrical thruster of fixed orientation that is fixed with respect to the satellite and of line of thrust passing through the center of gravity of the satellite. The satellite includes two electrical-thruster power units and an electrically interconnecting network connecting a first power unit to the first thruster of orientatable thrust direction and to the thruster of fixed orientation, and connecting a second power unit to the second thruster of orientatable thrust direction and to the thruster of fixed orientation. Each of the power units is configured to power either the associated thruster of orientatable thrust direction or the thruster of fixed orientation.

Spacecraft such as artificial satellites are intended to be stationed in orbit around a celestial body, in particular in Earth orbit, notably in geostationary orbit, in order to carry out their mission there, for example telecommunications, Earth observation, etc. Placing in station is usually carried out in two stages. The first stage consists in launching the satellite into space, notably from the surface of the Earth, by means of a specifically dedicated vehicle commonly called a launch vehicle, and injecting it into an initial orbit called the injection orbit. In the second stage, the satellite is transferred from this injection orbit to its mission orbit, also called its final orbit.
As is known in itself, in its mission orbit, notably in Earth orbit, a satellite is subjected to numerous disturbances. Those disturbances tend on the one hand to move the satellite relative to a set point position in its orbit and on the other hand to modify the attitude of said satellite relative to a set point attitude. In order to maintain the satellite substantially in the set point position and substantially in the set point attitude it is necessary to perform orbit control and attitude control of said satellite.
Orbit control consists in limiting variations of the orbital parameters. In the case of a GEO satellite, such as a telecommunication satellite, orbit control consists in controlling the position of the satellite relative to the Earth in terms of inclination, longitude and eccentricity, and is also known as station keeping (S/K).
Orbit control of a GEO satellite is generally effected by means of a plurality of orbit control maneuvers during which thrusters of the satellite are activated. Orbit control of the satellite is effected by adjusting the thrust forces produced by said thrusters during various orbit control maneuvers. A plurality of orbit control maneuvers are conventionally effected:                north/south (N/S) maneuvers enable control of the inclination of the orbit of the satellite,        east-west (E/W) maneuvers enable control of the longitude of the orbit of the satellite.
For its part, eccentricity can be controlled during E/W maneuvers or N/S maneuvers.
It is possible to define a satellite frame of reference centered on a center of mass of this satellite and comprising three axes X, Y and Z: when the satellite is on station in its mission orbit, the axis X is parallel to a speed vector of the satellite, the axis Z is directed toward the Earth, and the axis Y is orthogonal to the axes X and Z. In the satellite frame of reference, N/S maneuvers necessitate thrust forces along the axis Y whereas E/W maneuvers necessitate thrust forces along the axis X. In the present description, the center of mass of the satellite means the theoretical center of mass of the satellite; its real center of mass can vary slightly over time as a function of the quantity of propellants in the tanks, the position/orientation of the equipments of the payload, etc.
Satellites are conventionally equipped with propulsion means able to perform on the one hand their transfer from the initial orbit to the mission orbit and on the other hand their station keeping in that mission orbit. These propulsion means can be of chemical type. Recently electrical propulsion has been used instead of chemical propulsion to carry out the transfer and station keeping of satellites because it enables better performance to be achieved compared to chemical propulsion.
Prior art satellites using electrical propulsion means employ electrical thrusters the thrust direction of which can be oriented by a mechanism. Orienting the thrusters notably makes it possible to control the position of the thrust direction relative to the center of mass of the satellite and to change from a configuration appropriate for the electrical transfer, in which all the thrusters are oriented along the same axis in the plane XZ (generally the axis Z of the satellite frame of reference) to a configuration appropriate for station keeping.
By way of example, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,231A describes a satellite comprising four electrical thrusters each mounted on a mechanism enabling orientation of its thrust direction. The orbital transfer and station keeping of this satellite are effected by simultaneous or sequential use of two thrusters disposed diagonally, both in nominal mode and in failure mode. However, a system of this kind is lacking in robustness, situations in which two thrusters disposed on the same side of the satellite become faulty being particularly penalizing for the mission of the satellite. Moreover, the maneuvers necessary for orbit and attitude control of such a satellite can prove complicated, notably where the control of eccentricity is concerned, and they are in particular liable to generate moments that can modify the attitude of the satellite, which it is necessary to remedy.

Satellite comprising electrical propulsion means, method for placing such a satellite in a station and method for keeping said satellite in its station


A wiring board module has two wiring boards placed on an external circuit board. In each wiring board, a terminal end of a laminated waveguide tube is exposed at a lateral side of a dielectric substrate, thus forming an exposed face, and the dielectric substrate is provided at the bottom thereof in the vicinity of the exposed face with connection pads to be used for mounting the wiring board on the surface of the external circuit board. The exposed faces of the laminated waveguide tubes of the two wiring boards are contacted with each other, and the connection pads at the bottoms of the wiring boards are connected and fixed to connection pads disposed on the surface of the external circuit board.

This application is based on application No. 200-1083749 filed in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring board which is used for a frequency domain of a microwave or a millimeter wave and which can be mounted on an external circuit board, and also relates to a wiring board module formed by combining a plurality of such wiring boards with one another. The wiring board and the wiring board module of the present invention are applied, for example, to an electric wave system using a millimeter wave such as a radar for measuring the distance between two vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
In this advanced information age, it is now under examination how to utilize as an electric wave for communication, an electric wave whose frequency is in a range from a microwave domain of 1 to 30 GHz to a millimeter wave domain of 30 to 300 GHz.
In such a high frequency system, because the frequency is high, a high frequency signal is highly attenuated. tenuated. Accordingly, a transmission line made of a low-loss material is used for every line through which a high frequency signal passes. Conventionally, there has been formed a multichip module in which high frequency elements are mounted on a wiring board made of material such as high-purity alumina which is small in dielectric loss tangent tan xcex4, and this wiring board and a connection board made of a similar material are bonded and connected to a metallic chassis.
FIG. 7 is a schematic section view illustrating the structure of such a multichip module. As shown in FIG. 7, a multichip module 60 comprises a metallic chassis 61, a lid 62, a plurality of high frequency elements 63 disposed inside of the lid 62, a connection board 64 and a waveguide tube conversion microstrip line board 65. The high frequency elements 63 are connected to the connection board 64 and/or the waveguide tube conversion microstrip line board 65 with wire bondings 68. The metallic chassis 61 has a waveguide opening, to which a dielectric window 66 is brazed for a hermetical sealing. A connection waveguide tube 67 is connected to the waveguide opening.
In such a multichip module, a number of high frequency elements are mounted on a single metallic chassis, resulting in an increase in the size of the metallic chassis. Accordingly, the metallic chassis and the lid are readily deformed, thus introducing the danger of the hermetical sealing being ruined. To form one module, it is required to connect each high frequency element to each wiring with the use of a gold wire or a gold ribbon 68. Accordingly, even a single defective connection makes the whole module defective. This adversely affects module production yield.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, it is proposed to form a module by hermetically housing a plurality of high frequency elements in a plurality of packages, respectively and by mounting such a plurality of packages on the surface of a predetermined module substrate.
When forming a wiring board module by surface-mounting, on the surface of a module substrate, wiring boards such as packages having high frequency elements mounted thereon, the wiring boards are connected to one another by a wiring layer formed on the surface of the module substrate, and signal transmission is made through this wiring layer. In such a case, when the signal frequency is high, a high frequency signal reflects at the connection parts of the wiring boards with the wiring layer of the module substrate, thus disadvantageously causing the high frequency signal to be readily attenuated.
Further, when a composite material such as a glass-epoxy resin composite material is used as the material of a module substrate, the dielectric loss tangent which causes a high frequency signal to be adversely attenuated on the surface of the module substrate. However, when a material small in dielectric loss tangent is used as the module substrate material, the cost becomes extremely expensive.
It is therefore desired to realize a wiring board and a wiring board module, both of which are low in cost and loss, and which can be used for a high frequency domain.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wiring board arranged such that when high frequency elements are mounted thereon, signal transmission among a plurality of such wiring boards can be made without a wiring layer on the surface of a module substrate serving as an intermediary. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a module substrate which is made of an ordinary, economical substrate such as a glass-epoxy resin composite material. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wiring board module which has excellent transmission characteristics, and uses such wiring boards.
A wiring board of the invention has a laminated waveguide tube comprising: a pair of conductor layers parallel to the top surface and the underside of at least one dielectric layer of a dielectric substrate having one dielectric layer or a plurality of laminated dielectric layers; and lateral-wall via-hole conductor groups arranged in two rows in a line direction at an interval of less than xc2xd of a signal wavelength, the conductor layers being electrically connected to each other by the lateral-wall via-hole conductor groups. In the wiring board, a terminal end of the laminated waveguide tube is exposed at a lateral side of the dielectric substrate, thus forming an exposed face. The dielectric substrate is provided at the bottom thereof in the vicinity of the exposed face with connection pads to be used for mounting the wiring board on the surface of an external circuit board.
A wiring board module of the invention comprises: two wiring boards each having the arrangement above-mentioned with their exposed faces of the laminated waveguide tubes contacted with each other; and an external circuit board on which these two wiring boards are placed, the connection pads at the bottoms of the wiring boards being connected and fixed to connection pads formed on the surface of the external circuit board.
According to the present invention, terminal ends of the laminated waveguide tubes are exposed at lateral sides of the wiring boards, and with these exposed faces contacted with each other, the wiring boards are surface-mounted on the surface of a module substrate. Accordingly, a high frequency signal of a microwave or a millimeter wave can be transmitted directly from one wiring board to the other wiring board without an intermediary of connection parts of the wiring boards to the module substrate or a wiring layer on the module substrate. This achieves a low loss high frequency transmission between the wiring boards regardless of the dielectric loss tangent and dielectric constant of the module substrate.
Further, an economical module substrate can be used, and mounting the wiring boards on the surface of a module substrate improves productivity. It is therefore possible to obtain a low-cost wiring board module.
Further, according to the present invention, a notch can be formed in both or one of the exposed faces to come in contact with each other, and is filled with adhesives having predetermined dielectric properties. This enhances the bonding properties of the wiring boards, thus further improving the transmission characteristics.

Wiring board with a waveguide tube and wiring board module for mounting plural wiring boards


A bonded metallurgical powder composition including: an iron-based powder having a weight average particle size in the range of 20-60 μm, in an amount of at least 80 percent by weight of the composition, graphite powder in an amount between 0.15-1.0 percent by weight of the composition, a binding agent in an amount between 0.05-2.0 percent by weight of the composition, a flow agent in an amount between 0.001-0.2 percent by weight of the composition; wherein the graphite powder is bound to the iron-based powder particles by means of the binding agent, and wherein the powder composition has an apparent density of at least 3.10 g/cm3 and a hall flow rate of at most 30 s/50 g. Also, a method for producing a sintered component with improved strength from the inventive composition, as well as to a heat treated sintered component produced according to said method.

In industries the use of metal products manufacturing by compaction and sintering metal powder compositions is becoming increasingly widespread. A number of different products of varying shape and thickness are being produced and the quality requirements are continuously raised at the same time as it is desired to reduce the cost. As net shape components, or near net shape components requiring a minimum of machining in order to reach finished shape, are obtained by pressing and sintering of iron powder compositions, which implies a high degree of material utilisation, this technique has a great advantage over conventional techniques for forming metal parts such as moulding or machining from bar stock or forgings.
One problem connected to the press and sintering method is however that the sintered component contains a certain amount of pores, decreasing the strength of the component. Basically there are two ways to overcome the negative effect on mechanical properties caused by the component porosity: 1) The strength of the sintered component may be increased by introducing alloying elements such as carbon, copper, nickel molybdenum etc. 2) The porosity of the sintered component may be reduced by increasing the compressibility of the powder composition, and/or increasing the compaction pressure for a higher green density, or increasing the shrinkage of the component during sintering. In practise a combination of strengthening the component by addition of alloying elements and minimising the porosity is applied.
There are three common ways of alloying iron powders: prealloying, admixing and diffusion alloying.
During sintering, metal powder particles of the compacted or pressed component, the green component, will diffuse together in solid state forming strong bonds, so called sintering necks. The result is a relatively high dense net shape, or near net shape, part suitable for low or medium performance applications. Typically, sintered articles are manufactured from iron powder mixed with copper and graphite powders. Other types of materials suggested include iron powder prealloyed with nickel and molybdenum and small amounts of manganese to enhance iron hardenability without developing stable oxides. Machinability enhancing agents such as MnS are also commonly added.
As mentioned in US2002/0146341A1, dynamic mechanical properties of a sintered component, such as fatigue strength, are affected by the size of the pores. The lower the amount of large pores present in the sintered structure, the better the dynamic mechanical properties. US2002/0146341A1 describes the use of fine lubricant particles in order to improve dynamic properties.
An effective way to decrease the pore size in a sintered structure is to use finer powders when compacting. However, fine powder compositions are not free flowing and can therefore not be used commercially.
Agglomeration has been suggested to improve flow of fine powders (WO98/25720, U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,569B2), by increasing the mean particle size of the particles in the process. One disadvantage with agglomeration is that porosity will form between the bonded small particles as well as between the agglomerated particles, thus reducing the apparent density of the powder composition and consequently tool cavities with larger fill depth are required.
WO 2007/078232 discloses the use of a combination of fatty alcohol, lubricant and flow agent to reduce powder segregation and dusting, improve powder flow and apparent density, as well as to reduce the ejection force and dimensional spread of the green component of compacted powder. This document does not specifically relate to fine powders.


The hot and cold water mixing valve having a cylindrical casing is provided with a control valve member which adjusts a ratio between hot and cold water inlets by balancing loads applied by a biasing member and an actuator, and cylindrical temperature adjuster which adjusts a position of the control valve member when rotated. In the temperature adjuster, an upper surface is formed at one end, a knob is provided in the center of the upper surface, and a ring-shaped recess is formed around the knob at the upper surface. The temperature adjuster is arranged inside the casing and the knob is inserted, coaxially with the casing, into the hole which opens at one end of the casing. A spacer which covers the recess is interposed and held between the upper surface of the temperature adjuster and one end of the casing.

Conventionally, a hot and cold water mixing valve has been used for controlling a temperature of a mixture of hot and cold water by biasing a movable valve for changing a mixture ratio of hot water to cold water by means of a spring made of a shape memory alloy whose spring coefficient changes with temperature. Such a hot and cold water mixing valve is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. Here, a structure of the hot and cold water mixing valve disclosed in Patent Document 1 will be shown in and described with reference to FIG. 4.
As shown in FIG. 4, the hot and cold water mixing valve in Patent Document 1 employs a structure in which a cylindrical casing 3 is provided with a control valve mechanism. A hot water inlet a through which hot water flows and a cold water inlet b through which cold water flows are formed at a cylinder wall of the casing 3 and arranged in parallel in an axial direction. A hot water valve seat 3a is formed in a position inside the hot water inlet a, and a cold water valve seat 3b is formed in a position inside a cold water inlet. Further, a mixing chamber 13 which communicates with the hot water inlet a and the cold water inlet b is formed at one end of the casing 3. A temperature adjusting means 330 which is subjected to temperature setting by a user is formed at another end.
A control valve member 300 which is movable in an axial direction of the casing is incorporated between the hot water valve seat 3a and the cold water valve seat 3b which are formed in the casing 3. This control valve member 300 whose one end is subjected to a load of a bias spring 310 which is in abutment with the temperature adjusting means 330 and whose other end is subjected to a load of a spring 320 (temperature sensitive spring) which is made of a shape memory alloy and disposed in the mixing chamber 13 changes an opening/closing ratio between the hot water inlet a and the cold water inlet b by balancing between the loads applied by the bias spring 310 and the temperature sensitive spring 320.
Then, a user operates the temperature adjusting means 330 and adjusts a position of the control valve member 300 to thereby change the opening/closing ratio between the hot water inlet and the above-mentioned cold water inlet and to set up a temperature of mixed water to be discharged from the hot and cold water mixing valve. Further, for example, in a situation where a desired temperature is set up by the temperature adjusting means 330, it is assumed that the temperature of the mixed water in the mixing chamber 13 rises since a flow rate of the incoming water decreases etc., due to a hydraulic pressure drop etc. In this case, the temperature sensitive spring 320 disposed in the mixing chamber 13 acts to increase the generating load to move the position of the control valve member so that the temperature of the mixed water is controlled by changing the opening/closing ratio between the hot water inlet and the cold water inlet.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-307971


An X-ray imaging method and apparatus are provided for forming an X-ray image having reduced noise and showing a clear boundary of a lesion region. The X-ray imaging method includes performing a first main shot which irradiates an object in a compressed state by using X-rays at least once to obtain a single two-dimensional image, performing a second main shot which irradiates the object by using X-rays at different positions to obtain a plurality of two-dimensional images, and forming a two-dimensional final image by removing a lesion region having a unclear boundary from each of the plurality of two-dimensional images and substituting a lesion region of the single two-dimensional image into an area which corresponds to the removed lesion region.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to an X-ray imaging method and apparatus for performing X-ray imaging by transmitting X-rays toward an object, reducing noise in soft tissue images of the object, and forming a clear X-ray image of a lesion region inside the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mammography uses radiation, such as X-rays, to capture an X-ray image of breasts, which image can then be used for diagnosing breast cancer. An apparatus using mammography may be, for example, a mammography system. The mammography system irradiates a breast with X-rays in a state in which the breast is compressed in order to obtain a two-dimensional X-ray image of the breast.
The mammography system is advantageous in that lesions inside breasts may be detected at low cost, and, in particular, a detection rate of microcalcifications is high. However, an image which is obtained using the mammography system is one slice of a two-dimensional X-ray image, and thus inner tissues of breasts overlap one another in the two-dimensional X-ray image. In particular, inner tissues of dense breasts overlap each other to a large extent, and thus it is difficult to distinguish normal tissues from lumps.
To address this problem of the mammography system, a tomosynthesis system has been developed. The tomosynthesis system performs radiography on a compressed breast at different angles while moving an X-ray generator which generates X-rays in order to obtain a three-dimensional X-ray image.
The tomosynthesis system performs radiography on a compressed breast at several angles and combines two-dimensional images which are obtained via the respective radiography processes in order to form a three-dimensional image. Thus, the tomosynthesis system may provide reduced overlapping of inner tissues of a breast as compared to the mammography system.

Method and apparatus for forming X-ray mammogram


Devices and methods are provided for adapting to interference in a spectrum shared by a WAN macro cell and a femto cell. In particular, described herein are techniques for adapting to the presence of a jamming WAN access terminal (AT) by avoiding or selectively utilizing those bandwidth portions jammed by the WAN AT/AP. For example, the technique may involve intercepting a control message from the WAN AP to the WAN AT, and determining a spectrum resource that the WAN AT will use to communicate with the WAN AP based at least in part on information (e.g., a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier, a Media Access Control Identifier, etc.) in the control message.

1. Field
The present application relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for adapting to interference in spectrums shared by WAN macro cells and femto cells.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to multiple users. As the demand for high-rate and multimedia data services rapidly grows, there lies a challenge to implement efficient and robust communication systems with enhanced performance.
In recent years, users have started to replace fixed line communications in their homes and offices with mobile communication devices, and a new class of small base stations has emerged, which may be installed in homes and offices to provide better indoor wireless coverage to mobile units. Such personal miniature base stations are generally known as femto access points, access point (AP) base stations, Home Node B (HNB), or Femto cells. Typically, such miniature base stations are connected to the Internet and the mobile operator's network via a digital subscriber line (DSL) router or cable modem.
Femto cells allow for cellular access where normal base station support is weak or unavailable (e.g., indoors, remote locations, and the like). Femto cells may be described as small base stations that connect to wireless service providers via a broadband backhaul link, such as DSL, cable internet access, optical fiber, T1/T3, etc., and offer typical base station functionality, such as base transceiver station (BTS) technology, radio network controller, and gateway support node services. This allows cellular devices to connect to the femto cells and utilize the wireless service. Femto cells provide significant capacity benefits and improved user experience.
Sometimes, femto cells and wide area network (WAN) macro cells share the same cellular spectrum, which may result in signal interference. Interference issues are further exacerbated by the fact that femto cells may restrict which nodes can and cannot connect to it. For example, the owner of a femto cell may want to limit its use to a set of users that he/she defines. This is in contrast to conventional cellular system wherein a user with a subscription can connect to any base station, preferably the best RF link, deployed by the operator. Such femto cells are sometimes referred to as restricted association or closed subscriber group femto cells. For example, a femto access point (AP) may be trying to serve a femto access terminal (AT) (e.g., in a femto user's house), when a WAN AT, that is restricted from accessing that Femto, comes near the femto AP/AT. The femto cell becomes susceptible to interference when the WAN AT communicates with the WAN network near the femto AP/AT, such as, for example, when a visitor to the user's house tries to make a call using his/her mobile phone. The interference may particularly affect the femto cell on certain bandwidth portions of the shared spectrum dynamically based on the scheduling actions of the WAN AP. Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to mitigate the effects of such interference associated with such bandwidth portions of the spectrum.

Method and system for interference management in a spectrum shared by WAN and femto cells


A connection for transmitting rotating torque has a first component having a shaft with male spline teeth on an outer peripheral surface of the shaft. The male spline teeth extend to an inner end, and there is a blocking portion of the shaft extending in an inner direction from the inner end of the male spline teeth. A second component has a hollow portion with female spline teeth on an inner periphery of a bore. The female spline teeth extend to an outer end. Bolt holes are formed in both the hollow portion and the shaft. The bolt hole in the shaft is formed in a portion of the shaft receiving the male spline teeth. A bolt extends through the bolt holes, and the shaft is secured within the hollow portion. A distance from an inner end of the blocking portion to the inner end of the male spline teeth is greater than a distance between an outer surface on the bolt to the outer end of the female spline teeth on the hollow portion.

This application relates to a rotating connection between two components, wherein a feature is included that will assist in assuring a proper assembly.
Torque tubes are known and utilized to in aircraft actuation systems to transmit rotational motion from one system component, to another system component. Components may be the power drive unit, actuators, bearing supports, sensors, brakes, or other components. Actuation systems may be employed to actuate slat and flap panels on fixed wing aircraft for high lift, flight control surfaces, aircraft doors, landing gears, and etc. This application may apply to any system which requires torque tubes to transmit motion to/from adjacent components.
It is known to use a spline connection formed between the torque tube and the component. This spline connection may have a spline on the torque tube termination and a mating spline on a surface of the component. Typically, a bolt hole is formed through both the torque tube termination and the component, and in an area having spline teeth. The component and the torque tube are assembled together with their spline teeth engaged and the bolt is passed through the bolt holes to secure the connection axially.
Such connections may be utilized in any number of applications, such as an aircraft actuation system which consists of drive unit, flap actuators, slat actuators, bearing supports, sensors, brakes, or other components, all of which must be attached in synchronous motion.
The tube termination possesses a female spline which will receive the male splined incorporated into the shaft of the adjacent component. In other cases, the male spline may be placed on the torque tube termination and the female spline placed on the adjacent component.
In the prior art, when the component and the torque tube have been incorrectly assembled, it has been the case that the bolt has not been inserted through the bolt hole in the inner member. Still, the spline teeth may be positioned such that there is some engagement. In such a case, rotational motion may be transmitted, even though the two are not properly secured from sliding out of engagement.

Torque tube with assembly assurance feature


An ion implantation method and the like by which a circular implantation region and a peripheral implantation region surrounding it and the dose amount of which is different from that of the circular implantation region can be formed within the surface of the substrate without the use of the step rotation of the substrate. The ion implantation method is forms a circular implantation region and a peripheral implantation region surrounding it and a dose amount of which is different from that of the circular implantation region within a surface of the substrate by making variable a scanning speed of the ion beam 4 within the surface of the substrate and changing a scanning speed distribution, in an X direction, of the ion beam within the surface of the substrate for each one-way scanning or each reciprocative scanning, according to a position of the substrate in a Y direction.

In recent years, the processes of the manufacture of semiconductor devices such as Large Scale Integrations (LSIs) and memories have become complicated, and semiconductor substrates have been increased in size and have become very expensive. For this reason, it is very important to improve the yield of the semiconductor device manufacture. That is, it is very important to use one substrate as efficiently as possible. To realize this, there are cases where in the ion implantation process among a plurality of semiconductor device manufacturing processes, the distribution of the amount of dose by ion implantation is intentionally made nonuniform within the surface of the substrate. As described above, there is a strong demand for the correction of the semiconductor device property in a specific region in a semiconductor device formed within the surface of the substrate.
For example, in the manufacture of a semiconductor device, in the process preceding ion implantation (e.g. a thin film formation process by vacuum deposition or Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), or an etching process), to uniformly perform processing within the surface of the substrate, in many cases, processing is performed with the substrate being rotated. However, even by that, processing cannot completely uniformly be performed, and as to property variation of the semiconductor device formed within the surface of the substrate, there is a tendency for variation to occur between a circular region and a peripheral region surrounding it.
To cite a more concrete example, the thickness of a gate oxide film formed on the substrate in the process preceding ion implantation tends to vary between a circular region and a peripheral region surrounding it within the surface of the substrate. If this is left as it is, in the manufacturing process in which a multiplicity of field-effect transistors are formed on a semiconductor substrate, variation occurs in the property of the field-effect transistors and the yield decreases.
Therefore, it is important to make it possible to form a circular implantation region and a peripheral implantation region surrounding it and the dose amount of which is different from that of the circular implantation region within the surface of the substrate in the ion implantation process. By thus changing the dose amount distribution, it is made possible to correct the variation in semiconductor device (e.g. field-effect transistor) property between the circular region and the peripheral region within the surface of the substrate and improve yield.
As a method capable of performing the ion implantation as described above, a method has been proposed in which as shown in FIG. 22, ion implantation is performed into a substrate 2 both by reciprocatively scanning an ion beam 4c in an X direction by an electric field or a magnetic field and by mechanically driving the substrate 2 in a Y direction intersecting the X direction. That is, this is an ion implantation method in which under a condition where the ion beam 4c is incident on the substrate 2, a circular implantation region and a peripheral implantation region surrounding it and the dose amount of which is different from that of the circular implantation region are formed within the surface of the substrate 2 both by stepwisely changing the scanning speed of the ion beam 4c or the driving speed of the substrate 2 and by step-rotating the substrate 2 about the central portion 2a thereof by 360/n degrees (n is the number of times of the implantation process), for example, in a direction indicated by the arrow J (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 4155327). The ion implantation using the step rotation of the substrate 2 as described above will be called step rotation implantation.
According to the above-described conventional ion implantation method, for example, it is possible to form three implantation regions A, B and A as shown in A of FIG. 23 after the first implantation process and form a plurality of implantation regions C to F as shown in B of FIG. 23 after the eighth (when n=8) implantation process. The central implantation region C is the circular implantation region, and the implantation regions D to F surrounding it are the peripheral implantation regions.
When the dose amount of one implantation process is d1 and d2, the dose amounts of the above-mentioned implantation regions A to F are mathematically as follows:
Implantation region A: dose amount d1
Implantation region B: dose amount d2
Implantation region C: dose amount 8d2
Implantation region D: dose amount 2d1+6d2
Implantation region E: dose amount 4d1+4d2
Implantation region F: dose amount 6d1+2d2

Ion implantation method and ion implantation apparatus


A vehicle information display apparatus includes display areas displaying information concerning an in-vehicle device and displaying an operation screen page for operating the in-vehicle device; an operating part for performing an operation on the operation screen page and a control part receiving an operation signal corresponding to the operation performed on the operating part, controlling a display on the plurality of display areas and determining, based on the operation signal, an operation valid display area from among the display areas. The control part executes the operation on the operation screen page in the operation valid display area based on the operation signal corresponding to a first operation performed on the operation part. The control part changes the operation valid display area based on the operation signal corresponding to a second operation performed on the operating part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle information display apparatus for displaying information according to an operation performed by an occupant of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, an information display apparatus is known including a plurality of display devices, an operating switch to be operated in common on operation screen pages displayed on the plurality of display devices and a changeover switch for switching the display device in which an operation performed by using the operating switch is valid (for example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2007-153194). Thereby, it is possible to reduce the troublesomeness in operations by using the common operating switch while it is possible to present a greater amount of information to the occupants by using the plurality of display devices.


Ophthalmic apparatuses, systems and methods are disclosed. One embodiment is an ophthalmic scanning apparatus including a laser operable to emit a laser beam, a scanning mirror operable to scan the laser beam over at least a +/−15 degree scan, and a lens system operable to receive the laser beam from the scanning mirror and direct the laser beam to a spot on an image plane. The spot has a root mean square radius of less than about 3.8 microns over the +/−15 degree scan. Further embodiments include methods of modeling and determining corrective prescriptions for patient's eyes. Additional embodiments are described herein.

Human beings depend on peripheral vision in a number of important visual tasks such as locomotion and driving. These activities are limited by the optical quality in the peripheral visual field. Peripheral optical quality is also implicated in emmetropization and myopia development. The optical quality of the eye also limits diagnostic imaging of the retina which is needed to detect disease. At the same time the human beings also highly depend on the central visual field in performing a number of important visual tasks. Present approaches to measuring ophthalmic aberration and determining ophthalmic prescriptions suffer from significant limitations relating to the peripheral visual field as well as the central visual field. There is a need for the unique and inventive ophthalmic apparatuses, systems and methods disclosed herein.

Opthalmic apparatuses, systems and methods

Indiana University Research & Technology Corporation


Systems provide for a test system for capacitors in a digitally controllable oscillator (DCO). The system includes: capacitor toggling logic configured to switch on and off a selected one of the capacitors at a modulation frequency; a tone generator configured to generate a tone; a mixer configured to receive the tone and an output carrier signal from the DCO while the capacitor toggling logic is switching the selected one of the capacitors on and off and to output an intermediate frequency signal having FM sidebands based on the modulation frequency and relative capacitor size; and an evaluation circuit configured to evaluate a frequency deviation associated with the selected one of the capacitors based on at least one of the FM sidebands.

Ongoing technological developments have led to an increasing number of electronic and electrical devices, e.g., cell phones, which use and need the support of timing technologies. Phase locked loops (PLLs) found in integrated circuits are used in signal processing and synchronizing applications in support of these timing needs. A phase locked loop typically includes an oscillator and a phase detector for comparing the phases of two signals. Various forms of phase locked loops have been used over time for this purpose, including a digital phase locked loop (DPLL) which includes a digital controllable oscillator (DCO).
For transmitters with a polar and highly digitized architecture, a DCO can be used to generate the phase modulation (PM). To generate a transmitter (TX) signal with sufficient quality (e.g., low EVM and low spectral mask) the accuracy of the DCO frequency versus settings should be very good, e.g., the steps size should be approximately linear, e.g., for Bluetooth (BT) typically within a few percent.
The DCO can be tested on a production tester (ATE) to guarantee a good modulation quality before shipment to the customer. The area covered by the DCO including its quantity of capacitors is significant and therefore chances of structural errors are normally considered to be too high to leave it untested. The quality of the modulated signal can, for instance, be measured to test the quality of the DCO. However, there are at least two problems associated with this method. First, the measurement takes a relatively long time since many different sequences of test symbols are needed to get a good average of the signal quality (EVM). Secondly, the measurement is relatively complex to implement on a tester, since a complete demodulation algorithm needs to be build in the tester.
Alternatively the DCO can be tested with a simpler method, i.e., measuring of the frequency of the DCO over all settings. However, the change in frequency is relatively small (approx 40 ppm) so an even higher accuracy is normally needed to test the linearity of the steps, which requires relatively long measurement times.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide new testing systems and methods for DCO capacitors which avoid or reduce the above described drawbacks.

Methods and systems for production testing of DCO capacitors


A method for navigating a computer generated original image presented on a display screen, comprising: displaying a first region of the original image; distorting the original image to produce a presentation having a distorted region for the first region and displaying the presentation; receiving a signal from a user to select a second region of the original image through the presentation; and, displaying the second region.

Computer graphics systems are typically used to examine and perform operations on large, detailed, digital images. Examples of such tasks include an artist editing a high resolution image for print publication, an image analyst examining an aerial photograph, and a silicon chip designer examining chip layouts. Often, users of such graphics systems need to zoom-in to specific regions of a particular image in order to recognize detail. When zoomed-in to a specific region of interest, often the entire image will not fit on the display screen of the system and hence a large portion of the image may no longer be visible to the user. If the user, still zoomed-in, wants to navigate to a different region of the image, it will be necessary to either first zoom-out, then zoom back in, or to pan repeatedly until the new region of interest is located. Both of these operations are slow and time consuming. Thus, traditional methods of navigating large images such as panning and zooming are inefficient. This is an example of what has been referred to as the "screen real estate problem".
U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,854 to Light discloses a method for navigating in three-dimensional graphic scenes. In Light, a user may zoom-in to an object in a scene by clicking on the object. To zoom-out to the original scene, an "opportunistic" control icon is provided. By clicking on this control, the original scene is redisplayed. The user may then select another object in the original scene to zoom-in on. However, the screen real estate problem remains evident in Light. When viewing an object which has been zoomed-in, the relationship between that object and other objects in the original scene may be lost to the user.
A need therefore exists for an improved method and system for navigating digital images. Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least some of the above mentioned disadvantages.

Navigating digital images using detail-in-context lenses


The invention concerns a method of catalytic reforming in a plurality of fluidized bed type reaction zones located side by side, the catalyst circulating from zone to zone with the aid of elevating means and a carrier gas in the form of hydrogen. According to the invention, nitrogen is used as the elevating gas to raise the exhausted catalyst drawn off from the bottom of the last catalytic zone (through which the feedstock passes) to the top of the catalyst regenerating zone, and also to raise the regenerated catalyst to the top of the first catalytic zone through which the feedstock passes.

The invention concerns a method of continously converting hydrocarbons, in the presence of a catalyst, at a temperature of from 480.degree. to 600.degree. C., wherein an initial feedstock comprising hydrocarbons and hydrogen are circulated through at least two fluidized bed type reaction zones; the catalyst circulates through the reaction zone in the form of a fluidized bed, flowing continuously down said zone; it is then drawn off continuously from the bottom of the reaction zone and passed into a regenerating zone; the regenerated catalyst is sent into a zone for treatment with hydrogen, separate from the reaction zone, where it is treated at a temperature generally bellow the reaction temperature; after the hydrogen treatment the catalyst is passed continuously into a sulfurizing zone, separate from the hydrogen treatment zone and separate from the reaction zone; and after being treated with a sulphur compound, the catalyst flows continously to the reaction zone.
The invention more particularly concerns a method of hydro reforming hydrocarbons; the feedstock may be a naphtha distilling at from about 60.degree. to about 220.degree., particularly a direct distillation naphtha; it also concerns the production of aromatic hydrocarbons, for example the production of benzene, toluene and xylenes (ortho, meta or para), either from saturated or unsaturated gasolines (e.g., gasolines modified by cracking, particularly thermal cracking, or by catalytic reforming), or from naphthenic hydrocarbons which can be converted into aromatic hydrocarbons by dehydrogenation.
The feedstock circulates successively in each reactor or reaction zone in an axial or radial flow (that is, from center to periphery or from periphery to center). The reaction zones are arranged in series, side by side, so that the feedstock flows successively through each of them, with intermediate heating between zones; the fresh catalyst is introduced at the top of the first reaction zone where the fresh feedstock is introduced; it then flows continuously down that zone and is drawn off continuously at the bottom; any appropriate means (particularly a lift) is used to convey it to the top of the next reaction zone, in which it again flows down continuously, and so on to the last reaction zone, where it is drawn off continuously from the bottom, then passed into a regenerating zone.
The catalyst is circulated from the bottom of one reaction zone to the top of another, from the bottom of the last reaction zone to the regenerating zone and from the bottom of the regenerating zone to the top of the first reaction zone using any known elevating means. In the rest of the description and the claims, these means will be referred to as a "lift".
The solid which is displaced from one reaction zone to another and to the regenerating zone may, for example, be a granular catalyst. The catalyst may, for example, be in the form of spherical pellets generally from 1 to 3 mm and preferably from 1.5 to 2 mm in diameter, although the invention is not restricted to these values. The apparent density of the catalyst is generally from 0.4 to 1, preferably from 0.5 to 0.9 and more particularly from 0.55 to 0.8, although the invention is not restricted to these values.
The actual regeneration of the catalyst may be carried out by any known means. The catalyst is preferably subjected to:
(a) Combustion by means of a gas containing molecular oxygen;
(b) Oxychlorination by means of a gas containing molecular oxygen and simultaneously by means of a halogen or halogen compound, for example, a hydrohalic acid or an alkyl halide and;
(c) A final treatment by a gas containing molecular oxygen.
The three treatments are carried out either successively in a single fixed bed or in a fluidized bed, with the catalyst passing successively into three separate zones where each of the three regenerating stages are carried out.
Regeneration is followed by purging, for example with nitrogen, to eliminate any traces of residual gaseous oxygen from the catalyst.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,027 describes several aspects of such a process. In particular, FIG. 1 of the present application corresponds to the prior art described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,027 corresponds to a method which is still currently used for the many advantages it offers.
In FIG. 1, which is given to illustrate prior art, purified hydrogen from the unit, which has been purified, is used as the lift gas. This so-called purified hydrogen may contain up to 10 volume percent or preferably 4% of various light hydrocarbons such as ethane and propane. It should be noted that methane is not considered as an impurity up to a volume equal to that of the hydrogen; this means that in this case, at the upper limit, the so-called purified hydrogen stream would contain 50 volume percent of methane.
The hydrogen from the unit can thus be used as it is as the lift gas, not only temporarily when the other hydrogen sources run out but also, after simple purification, as a hydrogen source throughout the whole reforming or aromatic hydrocarbon producing reaction, for hydrogen treatment of the regenerated catalyst and, when the regenerating zone is beside the first reactor, as a fluid providing the lift required to raise the catalyst above the first reactor after it has been regenerated and treated with hydrogen.
In FIG. 1 three reactors are used. The feedstock is introduced through the pipe 1, the furnace 2 and the line 3 into the first reactor 29. The effluent from the first reactor is drawn off through the pipe 30 and passed through the oven 37 and pipe 38 into the second reactor 42. The effluent from the second reactor is drawn off through the pipe 43 and passed through the oven 50 and pipe 51 into the third reactor 55. The effluent from the third reactor is drawn off through the pipe 56. When the unit is started up, the fresh catalyst is introduced through the pipe 4 in FIG. 1. The catalyst from the regenerating zone 10 enters the first reactor 29 through the pipes 27 and 28, in which it travels in the form of a fluidized bed. The catalyst is drawn off from the reactor 29 through a plurality of pipes such as 31 and 32 and through the pipe 33, through which it reaches the lift pot 34. This drawing off is a continuous process (a valve system is not essential), since the flow rate of the catalyst is regulated by an appropriate conventional control using hydrogen (pure or from the unit), which is injected through a pipe (not shown).
Enough gas is withdrawn from the unit to prevent part of the effluent from the reaction from being entrained with the particles of catalyst. The catalyst is then conveyed from the lift pot 34 to the second reactor 42 by any known elevating device, which will be referred to as a "lift" in this specification. As explained above, the lift fluid is advantageously recycled hydrogen or hydrogen produced by the unit and is introduced through the pipe 35. The catalyst thus conveyed in the lift 36 reaches the container 39, from which it reaches the second reactor 42 through a plurality of pipes such as 40 and 41. (The container 39 and pipes 40 and 41 could be an integral part of the reactor 42; that is they may be provided right inside the reactor. The catalyst passes through the reactor 42 in the form of a fluidized bed, is drawn off from it continuously as with the first reactor 29 through the plurality of pipes such as 44 and 45, and reaches the lift pot 47 through the pipe 46.
The catalyst passes through the lift 49, which may, e.g., be supplied with recycled hydrogen through the pipe 48. It reaches the container 52, from which it passes through the plurality of pipes such as 53 and 54 to arrive at the third fluidized bed reactor 55. The catalyst is drawn off continuously from the reactor 55 as it was from the first and second reactors 29 and 42, through the plurality of pipes 57 and 58; this exhausted catalyst reaches the lift pot 30 through the pipe 59. The exhausted catalyst is then sent into a "storage and settling" vessel 7 by means of the lift 6, which may be supplied with recycled hydrogen introduced through the pipe 61 into the lift pot 60. Passing through the valve system 8 (there are generally two valves about 10 to 15 cm in size on an industrial scale and the pipes 21 and 9, the exhausted catalyst reaches the regenerating zone 10. When it has been regenerated and purged therein, the catalyst passes through the lines 11 and 13 and the valve system 12 (there are again generally two valves about 10 to 15 cm in size) into the upper part of a tank 15. Purified hydrogen from the unit, is introduced into the tank 15 through the pipe 14 with preheating in the oven 5. The catalyst travels in the form of fluidized bed to the lower part or zone 26 of the tank 15; the regenerated catalyst is treated with hydrogen in the zone 26, using hydrogen introduced through the pipe 14. It moves within, zone 26 in the form of a fluidized bed.
In FIG. 1 the catalyst, which has been regenerated and treated with hydrogen, is drawn off continuously from the tank 15 through the pipe 16 and reaches the lift pot 17. From here, the catalyst carries continuously by hydrogen from the unit which is purified and introduced through the pipe 18 into the lift 19, to a receiving vessel 20 located above the first reactor 29 in FIG. 7. From the receiving vessel 20 the catalyst then flows continuously in the form of a fluidized bed through a plurality of pipes or "legs" such as 27 and 28, to the first reactor 29. Sulfurization, which takes place when the regenerated catalyst has been hydrogenated, is carried out partly in the lift pot 17, partly in the lift 19, and possibly partly in the vessel 20 and legs 27 and 28. The sulphur compound and possibly hydrogen (preferably hydrogen from the unit, purified) acting as a carrying gas for the sulphur compound, are fed into the lift pot 17 through the pipe 24.
The catalyst travels continuously within the zones 15, 17 and 20, the lift 19 and the associated pipes. This ensures that the hydrogen treatment and sulfurization temperatures are well regulated and avoids subjecting the catalyst to sudden temperature changes.
During the hydrogen treatment the excess hydrogen can be eliminated through the discharge pipe 22.
However, a layout of this type has some disadvantages due to the use of hydrogen as the lift gas (the gas used to lift the catalytic particles from a low to a high position, for example from the bottom of one reactor to the top of the next one, from the bottom of the last reactor to the top of the regenerating zone and from the bottom of the regenerating zone to the top of the first reactor). The disadvantage of using hydrogen is felt chiefly upstream and downstream of the regenerating zone (10). The regenerating zone must be free of any trace of hydrogen. So the hydrogen from the lift 6 which has brought the catalyst from the last reactor 55 to the regenerator has to be removed with effective purging and well upstream of the regenerating zone 10. Similarly, a hydrogen stream has to be re-established downstream of the regenerating zone, in order to drive the regenerated catalyst through the lift into the first reactor. These arrangements for protecting the regenerator from any trace of hydrogen at present require valves, e.g., 8, 8a, 12 and 12a in the drawing, which valves are currently fairly large (approximately 4 inches (10.16 cm) and are being replaced by 6 inch or 15.27 cm valves) due to the hydrogen pressures near the tank 15. FIG. 1 is simplified, showing two valves 8 and 8a and two valves 12 and 12a, though in reality there are five or six valves 4 or 6 inches in size upstream of the regenerator (10) and the same number downstream. Heretofore such valves have always posed specific manufacturing and safety problems.

Method of catalytic reforming in a plurality of side-by-side fluidized bed reaction zones


A resonator device including an induction coil, a conductive member positioned adjacent the induction coil, and a dielectric layer between at least a portion of the induction coil and the conductive member to form a capacitor structure. In one embodiment, the conductive member can be a stent. In an alterative embodiment, the conductive member can be a conductive film. In an additional embodiment, the dielectric layer can have a dielectric constant that changes in a predetermined fashion between at least a portion of the induction coil and the conductive member to allow for a uniform current distribution in the resonator device. The dielectric layer can also include a flexible elongate body.

Stents and other metallic implants can cause artifacts in magnetic resonance (MR) images due in part to distortions in the magnetic field. Distortions in the magnetic field are often caused by the shape of the stent that acts to partially shield a radio frequency (RF) field generated during the MR procedure. This shielding of the RF field is known as the Faraday Effect and is caused by structures, such as stents, that have a "Faraday Cage" configuration.
Generally, a Faraday Cage configuration prevents an RF field from penetrating to the interior of such a structure. Because stents are not ideal but only partial Faraday cages, a small percentage of the RF field still is able to penetrate to the interior, however not enough to give a reasonable visibility in the stent interior.
One approach to achieving the reasonable visibility would be to raise the energy of the RF field to such high levels that enough energy remains after passing through the partial stent shield for visualization. Unfortunately, taking this approach will cause the tissue of the body to be heated to unacceptable levels.


Provided is a method by a user equipment (UE) for providing a sponsoring service in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: determining at least one UE to be provided with the sponsoring service, accessing to a server providing the sponsoring service, and registering to the server providing the sponsoring service; and transmitting a request of the sponsoring service comprising identification information of the at least one UE, to the server providing the sponsoring service.

Generally, wireless communication systems have been developed to provide a voice service while guaranteeing user's mobility. The wireless communication systems have expanded their service providing areas by offering a data service as well as a voice service, now evolving to provide high-speed transmission in the data service. To line with this, users have demanded higher-speed data services, and the wireless communication systems are short of resources to meet these demands. Therefore, a need exists for an enhanced wireless communication system capable of satisfying user demands.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method and apparatus for providing sponsoring service between user equipments


A system and method for correcting a defect in an image, such as a ghost defect or a reload defect, by compensating for the defect. A defect model is created with a source target function that represents a source level with respect to a target level. A test output image is created on which the test data is measured. State data representing a state of the imaging device, previously printed images or the current image are inputted to a controller. An image correction factor is outputted from the controller based on the test image measurement data, the state data, the previously printed images, and the current image to the image path actuator. A corrected image is created based on the image correction factor.

This application relates generally to systems and methods for compensating for image defects in imaging systems, particularly photoreceptor ghosting image defects in xerographic imaging systems.
Photoreceptor ghosting is a problem that plagues many xerographic printing systems. Generally, ghosting is caused by charges trapped in a photoreceptor during an imaging cycle that occurs prior to a present imaging cycle. Typically, the charges trapped in the photoreceptor are holes. Also typically, this problem occurs during exposure or transfer. Erase can also play an important role. Typically, the trapped charges (holes) are released during a subsequent imaging cycle. This release of charges (holes) trapped in the photoreceptor during a prior imaging cycle creates a ghost of the previous image on a subsequent image.
Thus, a ghost defect has a functional relationship to the image captured by the photoreceptor during a previous imaging cycle. A ghost defect is also dependent on a state of the photoreceptor. An example of a state of the photoreceptor that affects a ghost defect is the age of the photoreceptor. A new photoreceptor and an old photoreceptor will not typically evidence an identical ghost defect given the same prior image.
Several variables affecting the configurations of a xerographic printing device also affect the appearance of a ghost defect. For example, the charging level of the device, the exposure level of the device, the transfer set points of the device, and so on, all have an impact on the appearance of a ghost defect in an image created by the device.
A ghost defect typically occurs at a spatial distance from the original image giving rise to the ghost defect equal to the circumference of the photoreceptor. This spatial distance corresponds to the rotation of the photoreceptor. When the photoreceptor rotates exactly one rotation, any residual charge of the previous image on the photoreceptor results in a ghost defect on the current image created by the photoreceptor.
Although the degradation of a ghost defect in the photoreceptor charge is fairly rapid, such defects can exist in an image produced some multiple of revolutions of the photoreceptor other than one. In other words, a ghost defect could appear at a spatial distance equivalent to twice the circumference of the photoreceptor from the image giving rise to the ghost. The typical spatial distance of one revolution of the photoreceptor or one times the circumference of the photoreceptor is also referred to at times as the ghost distance.
Ghost defects are unwanted imperfections in an image created by the device. Thus, ghost defects can be extremely objectionable to the user of a xerographic system. It is believed that ghosting defects are a critical problem for both belt photoreceptors and drum photoreceptors. There is not any known method or system for eliminating or controlling ghost defects that is able to eliminate or control ghost defects in a robust manner.
There are two forms of a ghost defect. A negative ghost defect exists where the ghost image is lighter than the surrounding image. A positive ghost defect exists where the ghost image is darker than the surrounding image.
It is believed that a root cause of ghost defects is associated with defects in the structure of a photoreceptor. Nevertheless, the appearance of a ghost defect is often triggered by an interaction between the photoreceptor and the xerographic imaging process.
In some instances, regions where charges are trapped on the photoreceptor and then released in creating a ghost image are charged higher (more positive) with respect to the normal surrounding regions. In exposure induced ghosting, the trapped charges are created in an image-wise fashion. In transfer induced ghost defects, the trapped charges are created in an anti-image-wise fashion. Thus, the result of the release of the trapped charges is either a positive or a negative ghost of the previous image. The ghost image is typically observed in halftone areas where the difference in the charge between the trapped charges and the surrounding normal region is evidenced as either a growth or attrition of the halftone dots.
When there is an attrition of the halftone dots, the halftone dots are smaller than the halftone dots in the surrounding image region. This corresponds to a negative ghost image. When the difference in the charge results in a growth of the halftone dots, the halftone dots in the area of the ghost defect are larger than the halftone dots in the surrounding normal image region. This corresponds to a positive ghost image.
It is believed to be likely that certain photoreceptors are predisposed to exhibiting ghost defects. However, despite this predisposition in certain photoreceptors, the presence or absence of ghost defects in images created by a given photoreceptor may evidence themselves and then disappear periodically over the life of the photoreceptor.

Image-based compensation and control of photoreceptor ghosting defect


A water treatment system including a reverse osmosis module and a control valve controlling communication between a water source and the module. A feedwater biased storage tank stores permeate and its pressurization by feedwater is controlled by a feedwater control valve. Flow of signal pressure to a signal pressure chamber of the feedwater control valve is restricted to reduce the rate at which a fluid generated force is applied. A check valve in parallel with the restriction allows relatively unrestricted flow out of the signal chamber when signal pressure is terminated. A tank pressurization control valve controls the operation of the feedwater control valve and controls the pressurization of a feedwater biasing chamber in the storage tank. Per-meate is stored in an accumulator for flushing the reverse osmosis module when the storage tank reaches a predetermined limit. Cleaning substances or additives can be introduced into the system.

On demand drinking water systems are known. In one type of system a reverse osmosis unit is used to treat and subsequently dispense relatively small quantities of treated water. In many currently available systems, the time it takes to fill a glass with the treated water can be unacceptably long. Consumers desire water treatment systems that dispense treated water quickly and which do not rely on external power for their operation.
Reverse osmosis-based water treatment systems that do not require external power are known. An example of such a system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,650,586 and 6,764,595 which are both owned by the assignee of the present application and which are hereby incorporated by reference. The systems disclosed in these two patents have proven successful. However, consumers desire systems capable of producing and/or dispensing treated water at larger flow rates.