In a socket to test semiconductor die, a recessed socket contact that avoids pinching the die contacts is diclosed. The socket contacts allow for smaller socket holes and, allow denser contact spacing. A variety of embodiments are presented that are suitable for use depending on the spacing between the conducters. For more closely spaced conductors, the body of the socket contact comprises a head, a spring coupled to the head, and a shaft coupled to the spring. No outer shell is needed for the spring, as the nonconductive sides of the socket hole serve that function. For conductors spaced further apart, the body of the socket contact comprises a metal shaft having an aperture. Compression causes the shaft to close around the slit, thereby decreasing the amount of lateral buckling. For even more densly spaced contacts, semiconductor fabrication techniques are used to construct a dense array of contacts.

The present invention relates generally to devices and methods for providing electrical connection between two electronic components. More specifically, the present invention relates to a socket contact configured to establish electrical communication between a semiconductor die and a test device as well as methods for forming the socket contact.
Testing a semiconductor die often involves establishing an electrical connection between testing equipment and the circuitry of a die. Testing may be performed on an unpackaged die that has been singulated from a semiconductor wafer, on a section of dice that are still part of the wafer, or on all of the dies on a wafer. Moreover, a bare die that has undergone packaging steps may also be tested. One example of such a die is a xe2x80x9cflip chip,xe2x80x9d wherein conductive material, such as solder balls, is attached directly to the bond pads or electrical traces formed in the surface of the die; the die is then xe2x80x9cflipped,xe2x80x9d or mounted face down, so that the solder balls may connect with contact members of another device. Another example is a xe2x80x9cchip scale package,xe2x80x9d which includes a die along with one or more package elements, such as encapsulating material in the form of thin protective coatings formed of glass or other materials bonded to the face and back side of the die; in addition, solder balls may be attached to electrical traces in the surface of the die or directly to the die""s bond pads through openings in the encapsulating material. A Ball Grid Array (BGA) serves as yet another example that involves even more packaging: the die is wire bonded to the top of a substrate and encapsulated, and solder balls are bonded to electrical traces at the bottom of the substrate that lead to the wire bonds.
The device to be tested will hereinafter be referred to as an integrated circuit chip, or IC chip, regardless of the singulation or packaging state of the die that forms all or part of the IC chip. One method of testing the IC chip involves placing the chip into a socket, which comprises a body with holes that span through the body. These holes house contacts that are aligned with electrical contact points of the IC chip. For purposes of explanation only, it will be assumed that the contact points of the IC chip are solder balls. Often, the socket includes a lid that, when closed, pushes the solder balls of the IC chip against the heads of the socket""s contacts. Once the IC chip has been inserted, the socket is then plugged into a printed circuit board (PCB). This insertion often involves a biasing force in the opposite direction of the lid""s pushing force. To ensure electrical communication between the IC chip and the PCB without the risk of breaking the socket contacts, the socket contacts are configured to be resilient to the compression resulting from these forces. One such configuration for doing so involves the use of xe2x80x9cpogo pinxe2x80x9d contacts. A pogo pin can comprise an electrically conductive inner shaft, an electrically conductive outer shell concentric to the inner shaft and defining the head of the contact, and an electrically conductive spring between the inner shaft and outer shell. When the pogo pin undergoes compression, the inner shaft is pushed into the outer shell despite the spring""s bias. Ideally, signals received at the head of the outer shell will conduct through the spring to the inner shaft and onward to devices that may be connected to the inner shaft. However, such a design allows for unneeded electrical communication along the entire surface of the outer shell.
As an alternate configuration, buckle beams may be used. Buckle beams are essentially a thin, somewhat rigid length of conductive material that will buckle in response to compression from the IC chip and the PCB being pushed toward each other. The problem with buckle beams is that the holes housing the beams must be wide enough to accommodate the horizontal motion of the beams as they buckle. The buckling space required limits the density of beams per unit area that can be achieved. In addition, buckle beams tend to rotate during buckling. Thus, in certain aspects, pogo pins and buckle beams run contrary to the need in the art for electrical contacts that require minimal space and material.
Returning to the testing process, the PCB with the connected socket is placed in a chamber, wherein the IC chips are tested while subjected to an elevated temperature. Such testing is referred to as burn-in testing. The socket""s contacts provide electrical communication between the IC chip and signals sent through the PCB from the test equipment. Once the test is complete, the chip is removed from the socket. IC chips which do not pass the testing are discarded, and chips that pass may undergo further testing and ultimately be used as components in electronic devices.
Further testing and use of these chips, however, depends upon the ability of the solder balls to continue to function after their interaction with the socket""s contacts. Prior art socket contacts have heads that are configured through their flexibility to actively exert a force against the chip""s solder balls, wherein the force is generally transverse to the biasing force that pushes the chip into the socket. The effect of this transverse force is to pinch the solder balls, thereby severely damaging them and making further communication with the chip difficult. Such socket contacts include the aptly named xe2x80x9cpinch contactxe2x80x9d found in the Series 655 OTBGA Burn-in/Test Socket sold by Wells Electronics. Another series 655 OTBGA Socket by Wells uses a Y-shaped contact. The Y-shaped contact is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,050, by Sato et al., indicating that the head of the Y-shaped contact is flexible, which allows it to xe2x80x9csnuglyxe2x80x9d accommodate a hemispherical conductor of an IC package. (Sato at col. 4, In. 25-30.) Thus, the Y-shaped contact continues the tradition of applying a pinching action to the electrical contacts of a device.
Still other examples of contact heads are illustrated by references from Interconnect Devices, Inc. (IDI). Among the examples are plunger probe tips having crown-shaped heads, whose sharp prongs tend to gouge the surface of the chip""s contact, be it a solder ball or flat pad. In addition, IDI discloses a concave tip that might accommodate hemispherical chip contacts such as solder balls, but may provide insufficient electrical communication for other contacts, such as those configured as flat pads.
Thus, in addition to the needs in the art discussed above concerning the body of an electrical connector, there is also a need in the art for an electrical connector having a head that reduces the damage to the electrical contacts of IC chips during connection and is configured to accommodate more than one type and size of chip contact. More specifically, there is a need in the art for a socket contact that minimizes the damage to various IC chip contacts during IC chip testing.
Accordingly, the current invention provides electrical contacts as well as methods for forming them. One preferred embodiment comprises a contact as part of a socket used for testing semiconductor dice, wherein the contact has a head that defines a recess, and the head is coupled to an elongated conductive body configured to fit within a socket. More specifically, the head comprises a portion defining the perimeter of the head, with other portions of the head lower than the perimeter. In one exemplary embodiment, this head takes the form of a planar ring with a sidewall sloping downward from the ring toward the central axis running the length of the contact. This sidewall transitions to a generally planar section that is parallel to, yet lower than, the perimeter ring. Various preferred embodiments address varying degrees of transition and planarity of the portions of the contact head.
Other preferred embodiments address the body of an electrical contact, including one embodiment comprising a head, a shaft, and a spring coupling the head to the shaft. In a more specific embodiment, the spring""s coils define circles of differing circumferences. Another exemplary preferred embodiment comprises a metallic tube for the contact body, wherein the tube defines at least one slit. Yet other preferred exemplary embodiments address silicon contacts and methods for forming them. Specifically, semiconductor fabrication techniques are used to define an array of silicon contacts, and the contacts are singulated while maintaining their alignment within the array.
Still other preferred embodiments include the recessed contact head as described above in combination with the contact bodies just described. These embodiments include methods and devices wherein the head is formed separately from the body and attached thereto, as well as methods and devices wherein the head is integral to the body.


A roller clamp assembly for adjusting the fluid flow rate in a connector tube of an infusion set is provided. The roller clamp assembly includes a housing to receive the connector tube, a plate slideably engaged with the housing and configured to rapidly compress the connector tube to provide a coarse fluid flow adjustment, and a roller wheel moveable engaged with the housing and configured to provide a gradual fluid flow adjustment. The plate may be a slide plate received by grooves in an exterior wall of the housing and that moves orthogonally to the connector tube, or the plate may be a shim plate that moves along an interior wall of the housing in parallel to the connector tube. Infusion sets and methods of adjusting fluid flow rates are also provided.

Flow controllers in the form of roller clamps are used in the medical field for intravenous (IV) applications. Typical roller clamps control a flow rate through an IV tube by clamping the tube in between a roller wheel and a housing. This approach, for one, provides a limited range of flow rate control because the roller wheel is essentially too sensitive in that a small movement of the roller wheel or dimension change causes a large change in flow rate of the fluid through the tube. Thus, the relatively course flow rate change provided by a typical roller clamp makes it difficult to provide precise flow control.
Also, typical roller clamps have flow rate drifting issues based on slippage of the roller wheel, such as when fluid pressure in the tube causes the roller wheel to roll back from the adjusted position. Further, typical roller clamps are sized for a specific IV set tube dimension, which requires having different sized roller clamps for use with various IV set tube dimensions.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a precision roller wheel assembly that works with multiple IV tube sizes, provides quick course flow rate adjustments and fine flow rate adjustments, and eliminates or minimizes roller wheel slippage.


A method includes: communicating input output (I/O) operations between a first storage controller and a storage drive, wherein the storage drive includes a first port and a second port, further wherein the first controller accesses the second port of the storage drive via a second storage controller; measuring bandwidth utilization on a first channel of a plurality of channels between the first storage controller and the storage drive; and in response to measuring the bandwidth utilization, changing a routing scheme for the I/O operations with respect to either the first port or the second port or both.

Some conventional storage systems include storage controllers arranged in a high availability (HA) pair to protect against failure of one of the controllers. An additional protection against failure and data loss is the use of mirroring operations. In one example mirroring operation, a first storage controller in the high availability pair performs a write operation to a first virtual volume and then sends a mirroring write operation to its high availability partner. The high availability partner then performs the mirroring write operation to a second virtual volume. The virtual volumes are implemented on physical storage drives.
In the example mirroring operation above, mirroring write operations compete with storage drive operations from the perspective of a given storage controller. Specifically, taking the first storage controller for example, it is responsible for performing read and write operations on behalf of hosts. The first storage controller is also responsible for performing mirroring for the write operations associated with its partner controller. The first storage controller has a finite number of channels to its storage drives and partner controller and a finite number of ports available in its storage drives and partner controller. In this way, storage drive read and write operations and mirroring operations compete for bandwidth on those finite number of channels. Also, when storage drive read and write operations are communicated on channels used by mirroring operations, in addition to bandwidth constraints, the storage drive operations may cause delay in completing the mirroring operations. Therefore, a given HA arrangement may be limited in the number of operations it can perform within a given period of time.
Accordingly, the potential remains for improvements that, for example, result in a storage system that may direct communications for read and write operations to more efficiently use available channels and storage drive ports.

Dynamic routing of input/output requests in array systems


A quick-release structure for a frame rod of a tent includes an upper rod, a middle rod, a lower rod, an upper joint, a lower joint and a quick-release assembly. The upper joint includes a first joint head and a second upper joint head. The first upper joint head is connected to the upper rod, and the second upper joint head is connected to the middle rod. The first upper joint head includes an eccentric cam. The lower joint includes a first lower joint head and second lower joint heads. The first lower joint head is connected to the middle rod, and the second lower joint head is connected to the lower rod. The quick-release assembly includes a pipe, a pulley, a pulley seat, an upper pin, an upper spring, a lower pin and a lower spring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tent, and more particularly to a quick-release structure for a frame rod of a tent.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A large-sized tent comprises a canopy and a support frame to support the canopy. The support frame comprises a plurality of poles pivotally connected to and a top connection member. In order to collapse the tent conveniently and to reduce the size to of tent after collapsed, each pole comprises a small pipe, a large pipe and a positioning structure. The large pipe is fitted on the small pipe with the positioning structure to position the large pipe and the small pipe after they are expanded. Alternatively, the pole comprises a plurality of rods which are pivotally connected with each other. A connection member is provided at the joint of two adjacent rods. The is connection member comprises a fixing structure to fix the two rods when they are expanded. No matter what pole is adopted, each joint must be operated separately when the tent is collapsed or expanded. This is very inconvenient. Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention has devoted himself based on his many years of practical experiences to solve this problem.

Quick-release structure for frame rod of tent


If a flash detector determines that a video signal generated by an imager is affected by a flash when an electronic shutter is used, the imager generates the video signal representing a preceding unit image determined to be affected by the flash, and then a video signal representing a succeeding unit image that is consecutively exposed from the previous unit image for the same exposure period as the preceding exposure period, by setting a next time of a read signal to be earlier than a preceding time. A flash corrector uses the video signal representing the preceding unit image determined to be affected by the flash, and the video signal representing the succeeding unit image following the preceding unit image to generate a video signal in which a bright portion having a band shape affected by the flash is corrected.

The present disclosure relates to imaging apparatuses such as digital cameras and video cameras (camcorders) for capturing consecutive images.
Many complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) type imaging elements use a rolling shutter technique for allowing exposure to sequentially start for each horizontal line (hereinafter referred to as "line"), and sequentially reading video signals of respective lines to form a frame. In the imaging element using the rolling shutter technique, the starting time and ending time of the exposure period differ for each line. Therefore, if an external flash etc. is used during a period that is shorter than one frame period, a band portion with a high intensity may appear on output video of the imaging element.
International Patent Publication No. WO 2010/100866 discloses a technique for correcting a white band due to a flash by averaging video signals of two consecutive frames affected by the flash.

Imaging apparatus that can reduce an adverse effect due to an external flash when an electronic shutter is used

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD


A peristaltic pump includes a rotor and a track assembly. The track assembly is spaced from the rotor to receive n tubes therebetween, where n=2m with m a positive integer ≥2. The tubes are manifolded to one another at a discharge port. One of the rotor and the track includes an occlusion surface for each of the n tubes. The occlusion surfaces are located at n different angular positions. The angular offset between the occlusion surfaces offsets pulsation associated with each tube so as to reduce overall pulsation at the discharge port.

In a peristaltic pump, the pumped fluid contacts only the bore of a tube, thereby eliminating the risk of the pump contaminating the fluid. Peristaltic pumps are therefore often used to pump sterilized fluids, and thus find applications particularly in the biopharmaceutical industry.
In a peristaltic pump, a compressible tube is squeezed between a roller and a track on an arc of a circle, creating a seal at the point of contact. As the roller advances along the tube, the seal also advances. After the roller has passed, the tube returns to its original shape, creating a partial vacuum which is filled by fluid drawn from the suction port.
Before the roller reaches the end of the track, a second roller compresses the tube at the start of the track, isolating a packet of fluid between the compression points. As the first roller leaves the track, the second continues to advance, expelling the packet of fluid through the pump's discharge port. At the same time, a new partial vacuum is created behind the second roller into which more fluid is drawn from the suction port.
The fluid discharged by peristaltic pumps exhibits a characteristic pulsation in pressure generated by the pumping method. Some applications are sensitive to pulsating fluid flow. and so steps may be taken to reduce the pulsation. For example, the pulsation amplitude may be reduced using two channels which are out of phase from one another and are manifolded to one another on the discharge side of the pump. This may be achieved using a rotor with two offset sections or a pair of offset tracks. This is known to deliver a net reduced pulse amplitude and increased pulse frequency but only at a system pressure of up to 2 bar. With system pressures of 2-4 bar, the pulse amplitude grows significantly, and is very difficult to control to less than 0.5 bar without additional system pulsation damping devices.
It is therefore desired to provide a peristaltic pump which exhibits reduced pulsation characteristics.


A method and apparatus for efficient memory allocation and system management interrupt (SMI) handling is herein described. Upon waking a second processor in a multiple processor system, one may use a single SMI to initialize each processor, may use the location of a single default SMI handler as a wake-up vector to the second processor, and may patch an instruction pointer to a non-aligned address during the handling of the SMI with the second processor to forgo the traditional extra aligned memory allocation. In addition, one may use unified handler code to handle software generated SMIs on both the first and second processors and may use exit SMM directly after handling a hardware SMI to save execution time.

Computer systems are becoming increasingly pervasive in our society including everything from small handheld electronic devices, such as personal digital data assistants and cellular phones, to application-specific electronic components, such as set-top boxes and other consumer electronics, to full mobile, desktop, and server systems. However, as systems become smaller in size and in price, the need for efficient memory allocation and system management becomes more important.
Server systems have been traditionally characterized by a significant amount of conventional memory and multiple physical processors in the same system (a multiprocessor system), wherein a physical processor refers to a single processor die or single package. The significant amount of memory available to a server system has lead to extremely inefficient allocation of memory space and wasted execution time.
Typically, in a multi-processor system, upon boot every processor arbitrates for wake-up, which may include allocating memory and relocating the processor's base address (SMBase). In the process of initializing each processor, a system management interrupt (SMI) is generated, which is handled with a default SMI handler for each processor. Usually, the processors arbitrate with a race to the flag scheme, wherein the first processor to begin handling the SMI is able to begin initialization. Initialization typically includes allocation of a separate and distinct 4 kB aligned memory space for each processor, which forces one to allocate more memory than needed for system management.
Furthermore, when a system management interrupt (SMI) occurs, whether during boot or regular operation, each processor in a multiprocessor system runs a separate and distinct SMI handler to service/handle the SMI. There are two types of SMIs. The first type is an asynchronous interrupt that may be generated by the system hardware, such as when a battery is low. An asynchronous interrupt may be handled separately by any processor, since knowledge of another processor's save state area is not needed to service the request. The second type of interrupt, a synchronous SMI, that is software generated, should be handled by every processor. Typically, a software generated SMI occurs when the operating system (OS) wants a processor to enter system management mode (SMM). SMM is an environment for executing software routines/handlers that does not interfere with the OS or application programs.
In current multiprocessor systems, each processor enters SMM and then one-by-one executes a distinct SMI handler to check their registers to find out which processor generated the SMI. This requires a separate SMI handler be executed for each processor, which introduces resource contention issues, thus making updates to the SMI handler code difficult.
However, these inefficient methods of initialization and handling are not limited to multiprocessor server systems, but exist in other systems, such as mobile multiprocessor systems. Hyper-Threading Technology (HT) is a technology from Intel.RTM. Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. that enables execution of threads in parallel using a single physical processor. HT incorporates two logical processors on one physical processor (the same die). A logical processor is an independent processor visible to the operating system (OS), capable of executing code and maintaining a unique architectural state from other processor in a system. HT is achieved by having multiple architectural states that share one set of execution resources.
Therefore, HT enables one to implement a multi(logical)processor system in a mobile platform. As shown above, inefficient memory allocation, processor initialization, and SMI handling exist in traditional multiprocessor systems, such as server systems. Furthermore, as multiprocessor systems begin to infiltrate the mobile realm, where resources such as memory are limited, the need for optimizations of the aforementioned inefficiencies becomes even more important.

Optimization of SMI handling and initialization


A mobile slurry apparatus for creating a slurry from oil sand ore has a frame and a slurry box supported by the frame. Water is mixed with the ore to form a slurry that is retained in the slurry box. The frame base has a first set of spaced apart support points for supporting the frame in a stationary mode, and a second set of spaced apart support points for supporting the frame in a moving mode. The second set of spaced apart support points is closer together than the first set of support points and defines a lifting region disposed beneath a center of gravity of the slurry apparatus in a moving mode when the slurry box is empty. Thus, a single moving device can be positioned beneath the second set of support points for lifting and moving the slurry apparatus.

The Northern Alberta Tar Sands are considered to be one of the world's largest remaining repositories of oil. The tar sands are typically composed of about 70 to about 90 percent by weight mineral solids, including sand, silt and clay, about 1 to about 10 percent by weight water, and a bitumen or oil film, that comprises from trace amounts up to as much as 21 percent by weight.
Unlike conventional oil reserves, the bitumen is extremely viscous and difficult to separate from the water and mineral mixture in which it is found. Generally speaking, the process of separating bitumen from the tar sands comprises five broad stages. Initially in the first stage, the oil sand is excavated from its location and passed through a crusher, or "sizer," to break down or comminute the ore into conveyable pieces. The crushed ore is then typically combined with hot process water to aid in liberating the oil. The combined comminuted tar sand and hot water is typically referred to as a "slurry." Other agents, such as chemical aids (for example including caustic, surfactant, pH adjuster, dispersant) may be added to the slurry.
The slurry is passed through a slurry box in which the slurry is allowed to mix and dwell for a period, primarily to ensure a proper suction head and a constant flow of slurry to a slurry pump. The slurry output from the slurry box is pumped through a hydrotransport conduit and preferably transported an appropriate distance to condition the slurry, and is typically passed through an extraction facility for separating the bitumen froth from the slurry. Typically the mineral matter is separated from the slurry using specific gravity separation, such as PSV's (Primary Separation Vessels) and hydrocyclones. After the slurry has been processed to remove the optimal amount of bitumen, the remaining material (commonly referred to as tailings) is typically routed into a tailings deposition site.
It has been recognized that, since the bitumen comprises a relatively small percentage by weight of the ore initially extracted, separation of the mineral content from the ore as soon as possible after excavation would lead to the most efficient and cost effective mining process.
Over the years, a variety of processes have been used to process and transport the ore from the excavation site. Initially, oil sand excavation and transport were completely mechanical via trucks or conveyor belts from the mine face to a large facility for crushing and conditioning the tar sand. As described in Canadian Patent No. 2,029,795, it was determined that it was preferable to crush the ore at a slurry preparation facility located at an intermediate site and combine the ore with hot process water to create a slurry in which could be hydraulically transported by a pipe. This "hydro-transport" process served the dual purpose of efficiently transporting the slurry from a site near the mine face to a more permanent facility and allowing time for the slurry to be sufficiently conditioned on route. Provided the hydro-transport was over a large enough distance that the dwell time in the pipe was sufficiently long, the slurry would arrive at the separation facility already conditioned. Thus, the previously required separate conditioning step could be omitted from the process.
While hydro-transport solved some of the difficulties with transporting the ore from the mine site face to the separation facility, it did not address the fact that in open pit mining the mine site face moves as ore is excavated, increasing the distance to the slurry facility. Solutions to date have typically relied on constructing longer conveyor belts to transport the ore, or use additional trucks, to move the ore from the mine face to the slurry facility at the intermediate site.
Prior art slurry facilities are stationed in a fixed location. There thus exists a need to increase the efficiency of excavation and transport processes to reduce operating costs.
It would accordingly be advantageous to provide an apparatus for creating a slurry that is mobile and can be advanced as the distance from the slurry facility to the mine face increases.

Method and apparatus for creating a slurry


A system for interconnecting at least two die each die having a plurality of conducting layers and dielectric layers disposed upon a substrate which may include active and passive elements. In one embodiment there is at least one interconnect coupling at least one conducting layer on a side of one die to at least one conducting layer on a side of the other die. Another interconnect embodiment is a slug having conducting and dielectric layers disposed between two or more die to interconnect between the die. Other interconnect techniques include direct coupling such as rod, ball, dual balls, bar, cylinder, bump, slug, and carbon nanotube, as well as indirect coupling such as inductive coupling, capacitive coupling, and wireless communications. The die may have features to facilitate placement of the interconnects such as dogleg cuts, grooves, notches, enlarged contact pads, tapered side edges and stepped vias.

Integrated Circuit (IC) packages, chips (sometimes call die), and other devices have evolved into very dense packaged structures. Semiconductor miniaturization has resulted in the development of very large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) devices with millions of active and passive components. These devices are typically encapsulated in a protective package providing a large number of pin-outs for mounting or interconnection to external circuitry through a carrier substrate such as a printed circuit board or other higher-level packaging.
The semiconductor industry is well over 60 billion dollars a year market. Improved fabrication technologies have lowered cost while increasing functional power thereby revolutionizing the electric marketplace. The ability to put more and more functionality and higher performance is general made possible by repeatedly shrinking feature sizes. However, as the more and more functionality and performance characteristics are included in these chips, the limits of current technologies and methodologies are approached. There are a number of issues and trends that are becoming readily apparent. For example, package temperature issues are exacerbated by a number of factors including static power and lowered junction temperatures due to smaller feature sizes and lowered thresholds. Also, hot spots within the chips are exacerbated by the active elements being buried so deeply beneath the conducting layers and contacts.
In the formation of integrated circuits, a number of active and passive semiconductor devices are formed on each of many die on a wafer, such as silicon. The fabrication technology for integrated circuits has vastly improved yields such that large arrays of electronic circuits on many die are produced on a single semiconductor wafer. In typical die, two or more silicide layers and up to eight metallization layers, each separated by a dielectric layer are currently used to interconnect among the active and passive elements to form the individual circuits and to interconnect among those circuits to form the die. They are also used to provide bonding pads at the top of the die. For example, Texas Instruments has a 65 nm process that uses eleven (11) copper conducting layers plus two polysilicide layers for a total of twenty-seven (27) conducting and dielectric layers.
Typical interface schemes for integrated circuit packaging include Pin Grid Array (PGA) Ball Grid Array (BGA), and Land Grid Array (LGA). PGA packages use a two-dimensional array of pins directly connected by soldering or inserted into through-hole pads in a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). BGA packages have a two-dimensional array of conductive pads, such as balls, bumps or pillars, and are mounted by soldering the pads on the package to corresponding surface pads on the mount side of the PCB. LGA packages have an array of metal stubs and are mounted to the PCB in a clamp with a compressible interposer material placed between the package and the PCB.
For illustrative purposes, the description herein will focus somewhat on the most common package the BGA. The BGA bond pads of the semiconductor die are sometimes connected to the printed circuit board via conductors, either by direct contact in a flip-chip orientation through conductive balls, bumps or pillars or, by intermediate connector elements comprising wire bonds, or TAB (flexible circuit) connections. More commonly they are connected inside a package which in turn is soldered to the PCB. In addition, as ball sizes shrink, they are less tolerant of the already worsening planarity problems.
One of the well-known problems with having the connection balls on the active surface of the die is the planarity required of the die. The problem is compounded as the number of mask levels increase to accommodate the latest demand for processors and memory. The further layers exacerbate the planarity problem and make the die connection more difficult. Another problem associated with the dense packaging is that the fanin/fanout of a given ball is limited to either a single fanin or a single fanout. One of many deleterious effects of this property is that only one element can be placed on a bus unless another delay stage is introduced. Typically, many three state elements are "hung" on a bus, and only one such element is active at any one time. The third state, the high impedance state, of the inactive elements ensures that they neither charge nor discharge the bus.
With respect to the formation of BOA structures, these structures typically require the die to be flipped upside down hence the name "flip chip". A problem with flipping the chip upside down is that all possibilities of monitoring chip behavior in-situ are eliminated. Integrated circuit (IC) dies typically connect to the substrate within the IC package using either wire bond or Flip-Chip technology. Flip-Chip bonding is normally used for high pin count IC dies, and the pins on the Flip-Chip die are called bump pads. As with the package array technologies, there is a matching pattern of pads on the package substrate. Interconnect on the package substrate is typically used to connect the pads on the substrate (connected directly to the IC die) to the pins, pads, or stubs on the surface of the package that gets inserted, soldered, or pressed to the PCB.
A further problem with using the current flip chip techniques arises from a combination of bringing the interconnects to the top of the die in combination with the large number of layers. The connection to/from the underlying layers must be brought to the top of the die for connection to a connection ball. Current chips have six to eight metallization layers plus two polysilicon layers, and each of these conducting layers is separated from adjacent conducting layers by a dielectric layer. Thus, a signal on the lowest conducting layer may have to go through as many as nine conducting layers and ten dielectric layers, including one on the top surface, in order to reach the top surface and be connected to an interconnect ball.
In order to traverse from each conduction layer through the intervening dielectric layer to connect to an adjacent conduction layer generally requires a stepped via w minimize and avoid step coverage problems. A stepped via is a hole whose cross-section is larger on one end than on the other. It has a contact on both conducting layers, and a short piece of interconnect to route to a via to go to the next upper or lower conduction layer. This process is repeated for each such signal line for each conducting layer until the top is reached. Both the vias and the contacts are considerably larger than the width of the line; thus a considerable area is utilized just for the interconnects to the balls on the top surface of the chip.
It is well-known that as the capacity and speed of many integrated circuit devices, such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) have increased, the number of inputs and outputs (I/Os) to/from each die has increased, requiring more numerous and complex external connections thereto and, in some instances, requiring undesirably long traces to place the bond pads serving as I/Os for the typical die in communication with the traces of the carrier substrate.
A related problem with the current techniques is the interconnectivity between dies. Signals that travel to other dies must traverse not just upwards in one die, but may also travel further upwards if the second die is on top of the first die. The signals may also traverse downward into a second die to reach the desired point on a given conduction layer in the second die. Thus, for example, the signal may traverse upwards through many conduction and dielectric layers to reach the top die surface and go through a ball, a bonding pad, or other connection structure on the first die. After a connection to a second die, the signal would then be similarly routed downwards from the top surface of, the second die to the desired layer in the second die. Thus, for example, a given signal could traverse about thirty-eight (fifty-four in the case of the 65 nm process of Texas Instruments) conduction and dielectric layers and their associated vias plus two conduction balls, bonding pads, or other connection structure. And, each of the contact layers adds resistance that, in combination with the total length traversed by the signals, may impact signal quality, speed, noise margin, bus skew, slack and setup/hold times, rise and fall times, potential spike generation and signal cancellation and makes timing convergence and other design and verification aspects difficult and sometimes limits upper clock frequencies.
Thus, such a tortured path impacts both speed and signal integrity. It is well known that interconnect delays are often much greater than gate delays below feature sizes of roughly 0.5 to 0.35 micron. Traversing substantial numbers of interconnect layers on two or more die considerably exacerbates the problems of timing convergence, layout, and architecture. Attempts to minimize these problems typically place restrictions on the layers regarding the manner in which signals can travel among these layers. These restrictions increase the already difficult layout and hinder designer creativity. They also sometimes force restrictions on the architecture of the chip.
Long path lengths also add significantly to the capacitance seen by the source and slow the signal down. Moreover, as line widths continually decrease, 22 nanometers currently in development, the number of "squares" and hence the resistance of the line in a given length of line increases by about the same factor as the decrease in line widths. This then increases the resistance seen by the driving source, again by about the same factor as the decrease of the line widths, all else being the same.
Furthermore, the increased line resistance adds to often already strained power usage and dissipation while making it more difficult to make bus signal elements and slave clock signals track their respective functions.
In addition, as higher speed IC assemblies operate at lower operational signal voltages, noise problems also become problematic. Mutual inductance results from an interaction between magnetic fields created by signal currents flowing to and from a packaged IC die through leads or traces, while self inductance results from the interaction of the foregoing fields with magnetic fields created by oppositely-directed currents flowing to and from ground. Signal propagation delays, switching noise, and crosstalk between signal conductors resulting from mutual and self inductance of the conductive paths contribute to signal degradation.
While lead inductance in IC packages has not traditionally been troublesome, the increasing signal frequencies of state-of-the-art electronic systems have substantially increased the practical significance of package lead or trace inductance. For example, at such faster signal frequencies, performance of IC die using extended leads or traces for external electrical connection is slower than desirable because the inductance associated with the elongated conductive paths required slows changes in signal currents through the leads or traces, prolonging signal propagation. In addition, digital signals propagating along the leads or traces are spreading out causing the signal components and signals themselves to disperse. While mild dispersion merely widens the digital signals without detrimental effect, severe dispersion can make the digital signals unrecognizable. In addition, reflection signals propagating along the leads or traces as a result of impedance mismatches between the lead fingers and associated IC die or between the leads or traces and external circuitry, may distort normal signals propagating concurrently with the reflection signals. And, magnetic fields created by signal currents propagating through the lead or trace-associated inductance can induce currents in adjacent leads or traces, causing crosstalk noise.
Therefore, the state of the art die and package configurations described herein are having difficulties in keeping up with the trend towards faster devices at lower power. Noise problems are exacerbated by use of a large number of laterally adjacent traces of substantial and varying lengths extending from centralized die location to the horizontally-spaced, offset locations of vias extending to solder balls or other conductive elements for securing and electrically connecting the package to a carrier substrate.
There are various constraints that limit the number of signal traces that can be fabricated on a package. Industry standards impose specific requirements as to the spacing between solder balls, thereby restricting the spacing between the vias that electrically connect the signal traces to the solder bumps. The spacing restriction limits the number of signal traces that can fit between the vias which, in turn, limits the number of signal traces that can be used to carry signals to and from the die. Current fabrication technology imposes minimum pitch requirements for signal traces to attain satisfactory yields and to ensure mechanical and electrical reliability. The limitation on the maximum number of usable signal traces limits the maximum number of solder bumps, thereby placing a ceiling on the number of signals that a particular package can provide.
There are several levels of interconnections that make up an encapsulated integrated circuit. First, there are the internal interconnections of the circuit making up an individual die. Then there is the interconnection between the various dies themselves, especially if more than one die is in a package. There is also a connection layer between the dies and the package that allows external access.
With respect to the package connection, wire bonds are typically used to electrically connect the input/output (I/O) pads of the die to traces or pads on the package. If the die is on the side of the circuit board inside the package opposite the solder bumps, conductive vias are formed through the circuit to conduct signals from the solder bumps to the pads or traces. To enable routing in highly dense integrated circuit packages, there are many techniques known to those skilled in the art such as micro-vias, blind vias, buried vias, staggered vias.
A further problem with higher density and more complex circuit design relates to the verification at all the various steps along the process. As the number of layers and the die size increase, the resources to validate the different steps including the design rules of the layouts of the different layers increase exponentially.
In addition, the static power is greater due to leakage through the thin oxides required for the higher density circuits. There is also an increase in the number of conduction and concomitant dielectric layers which must be traversed to reach various parts of a given die and to interact with other dies. This increase gives rise to increased problems with layer to layer registration, step coverage with its potential failure modes, contact integrity, and validation problems. Because of aspect ratios, stepped vias must generally be used in most cases at the smaller feature sizes. However, using the stepped vias adds an additional mask layer for each such stepped via. Planarity also becomes more difficult with the denser circuits.
As noted herein, the existing packaging fail to address several criteria required for high density, high speed and low power packaging, namely: interconnections with non-planar die resulting from many layers on the die; limitations on the fanin/fanout; inability to monitor flip-chip packaging signals; and, very long signal travel paths resulting in signal reflection, degraded signal integrity, propagation delays, switching noise, crosstalk and dispersion. Therefore, what is needed is a mechanically and electrically desirable packaging scheme to accommodate high density high speed, low power packaging. Such a system should interconnect die without having to travel excessive paths and allow in-situ monitoring of critical signals. Ideally the system should be easily implemented without affecting the current and expected fabrication methods and machinery;

High speed, high density, low power die interconnect system

GULA CONSULTING LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY


A thermal transfer printer which can use both an ink sheet provided with a positioning mark to indicate the top position of a set of three color ink patches necessary for producing one image, and an ink sheet provided with no such positioning mark, without the need of switching the operation mode. The thermal transfer printer has an optical sensor which can equally detect color change between 3rd and 1st color patches for the ink sheet provided with no positioning mark and color change between a positioning mark and 1st color patch for the ink sheet provided with the positioning mark. There is also disclosed an ink sheet cassette for use in the thermal transfer printer, the ink sheet cassette accommodating the ink sheet in which a positioning mark is coated with the same color(s) of ink as those for printing and information about the color sequence of the ink coated patches for printing is also recorded in the coated pattern of the positioning mark.

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for recording an image on printing paper by the use of an ink sheet, and more particularly to a thermal transfer printer adapted to initialize a set of color patches (or position 1st color ink) at start-up of printing, and an ink sheet cassette for use in the printer.
To date, there is known a thermal transfer printer designed to print a color image on printing paper by the use of an ink sheet on which different colors of ink are coated on respective predetermined areas. This type thermal transfer printer utilizes a sequential color plane printing method in which an ink sheet coated with ink corresponding to one picture for each of complementary colors to primary colors of light, i.e., yellow (Ye), magenta (Mg) and cyan (Cy), is used to sequentially print those three colors of ink on printing paper. This sequential color plate printing method requires one to initialize a set of color patches immediately before start-up of printing. One of the conventional initializing methods is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-143674 (1984). According to this conventional method, a bar code is provided in a spacing between one ink color and the other ink color on an ink sheet, and color discriminating means for sensing the color represented by the color code is employed to sense the ink color on the ink sheet and then position 1st color ink. Incidentally, the bar code is formed using black ink. The color discriminating means comprises an infrared sensor.
When manufacturing ink sheets, however, the above-mentioned prior art employs four colors of ink, i.e., yellow, magenta and cyan, as well as black for the bar code (positioning mark). Accordingly, there are needed four types of printing drums for manufacturing an ink sheet, resulting in a problem that the printing cost of the ink sheet is increased.
The foregoing prior art includes another problem in that an ink sheet comprising only three colors of ink cannot be used in thermal transfer printers designed for an ink sheet comprising four colors, because the former ink sheet has no positioning mark.

Thermal transfer printer capable of using and detecting a plurality of multicolor ribbons


A reversible adjustable wrench comprises a handle, which has a fixed jaw and a guiding groove at an end thereof. The fixed jaw has a gap and two cover pieces secured at lateral sides of the fixed jaw to form a chamber having an opening. The chamber has a guiding face therein, which has a stop portion at an end thereof closing to the tip end of the fixed jaw. A movable jaw has an end thereof slidable received in the guiding groove of the handle. An adjusting worm is pivoted at the handle for driving the movable jaw moving toward and away from the fixed jaw. A roller is received in the chamber of the fixed jaw, which has a part thereof exposed out of the chamber via the opening and is against the guiding face at opposite side, and two elastic members are received in recesses on the interior side of the cover pieces having an end thereof being against the fixed jaw and the other end thereof being against the roller for providing the roller a force substantially orientating to the tip end of the fixed jaw, whereby the roller will be stopped by the stop portion and only be driven to move along the guiding face.

The present invention relates to a wrench, and more particularly to a roller type reversible adjustable wrench.
In prior art, when using an adjustable wrench to turn a nut (or a bolt), it has to disengage the nut after turning an angle. And then, turns the adjustable wrench reversibly and engages the adjustable wrench to the nut again for driving the nut to turn. User has to repeat the procedures described above to turn tight or to turn loose the nut.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional reversible adjustable wrench 90, which is capable of turning a nut without having to disengage and reengage the nut. The adjustable wrench 90 disposes two round channels 911 and 921 at the fixed jaw 91 and the movable jaw 92 respectively. Two racket rods 93 and 94, which have teeth faces 931 and 941 on outer ends thereof, are slidable received in the round channels 911 and 921 respectively. Two elastic members 95 and 96 are disposed at the fixed jaw 91 and the movable jaw 92 respectively for pushing the racket rods 93 and 94 respectively.
In use, user drives the movable jaw 92 moving toward the fixed jaw 91 to make the teeth faces 931 and 941 of the fixed jaw 91 and the movable jaw 92 holding a nut N. After that, user can turn the adjustable wrench 90 clockwise to drive the nut N to turn. On the contrary, when user turns the adjustable wrench 90 counterclockwise, the nut N will drive the racket rods 93 and 94 sliding into the round channels 911 and 921, such that the adjustable wrench 90 can turn backward but without driving the nut N to turn. Thus, the adjustable wrench 90 can turn a nut or a bolt without having to disengage and reengage the nut or the bolt repeatedly.
Hereunder are the disadvantages of the conventional reversible adjustable wrench 90 as described above:
1. The adjustable wrench 90 defines the teeth faces 931 and 941 of the racket rods 93 and 94 to hold the edges of the nut N. It will easy to damage the nut N when turning.
2. The adjustable wrench 90 is to turn the nuts in a range of different dimensions. There will be nuts of specific dimensions cannot be held by the teeth faces 931 and 941 stably.
3. If user drives the movable jaw 92 too close to the fixed jaw 91, the racket rods 93 and 94 will be pushed into the round channels 911 and 921 to cause the fixed jaw 91 and the movable jaw 92 will be against the nut N directly. Thus, the adjustable wrench 90 will loose the capability of repeated turning the nut.
4. The reversible adjustable wrench 90 is to hold the nut N by the teeth faces 931 and 941 of the racket rods 93 and 94 respectively, the nut N is suspended and not parallel to the fixed jaw 91 and the movable jaw 92. But the normal adjustable wrench is to hold the nut by fixed jaw and the movable jaw directly, where the nut is supported by the handle and is parallel to the fixed jaw and the movable jaw. The reversible adjustable wrench 90 had an operating mode different from conventional adjustable wrench that will make user can not get used to it rapidly.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a reversible adjustable wrench, which has the capability of reversible turning a nut or a bolt but without the drawbacks as described above.
According to the objective of the present invention, a reversible adjustable wrench comprises a handle, which has a fixed jaw and a guiding groove at an end thereof. The fixed jaw has a chamber, which has an opening at a side of the fixed jaw. The chamber has a guiding face therein, which has a stop portion at an end thereof closing to the tip end of the fixed jaw. A movable jaw has an end thereof slidable received in the guiding groove of the handle. An adjusting worm is pivoted at the handle for driving the movable jaw moving toward and away from the fixed jaw. A roller is received in the chamber of the fixed jaw, which has a part thereof exposed out of the chamber via the opening and is against the guiding face at opposite side, and at least one elastic member is disposed between the fixed jaw and the roller for providing the roller a force substantially orientating to the tip end of the fixed jaw, whereby the roller will be stopped by the stop portion and only be driven to move along the guiding face.

Roller type reversible adjustable wrench

No. 22, Alley 28, Lane 360, Chung Shan Rd., She Kou Village, Shen Kang Hsiang


A closure for a storage compartment of a motor vehicle including an electromagnet having an armature wherein the armature can by moved by excitation of the electromagnet, and wherein a movement of the armature can be transmitted to a locking element which, due to a restoring force of a spring, is in a locked position for the storage compartment when the electromagnet is not energized, a means for generating an electric current for exciting the electromagnet, and means for measuring the electric current flow used for exciting the electromagnet, wherein the means for generating the current are designed to control the electric current such that, after turning on the current after measuring when a maximum current is reached and subsequent dropping below said maximum current, the current is reduced to a predetermined minimum value, wherein the minimum value is such that the armature is held in its position against the spring force acting on the armature.

Storage compartments for a motor vehicle are known from prior art. Typically, these storage compartments comprise a cover, which can be locked and unlocked by means of a closure. A glove compartment is one such example for a storage compartment. The closure of the glove compartment known from prior art typically comprises a pin mounted to the glove compartment, which is pushed into a recess at the glove compartment by means of a restoring spring, so that the glove compartment is locked by the pin when the cover is closed. The pin is further connected to a handle mounted to the outside of the cover by means of, for example, a mechanical connecting rod. Thus, by pulling the handle the pin can be pulled from the recess, which unlocks the glove compartment.
Glove compartments that can be unlocked by means of an electric motor, which powers a worm gear, are also known from prior art. The worm gear shortens or lengthens a cable pull or a Bowden cable, which in turn moves locking elements, such as for example bolts, via a rod system in such a way that the glove compartment is unlocked. The disadvantage is that the electric motor must be accommodated inside the glove compartment enclosure. Since the electric motor is relatively big, it limits the options to design glove compartment boxes. When in operation the electric motor also causes acoustic noises, which are clearly perceptible for passengers inside the vehicle. The frequencies of these acoustic noises range between 1 and 3 kHz, making them not only clearly perceptible, but also extremely annoying and disruptive.
DE 196 17 403 A1 discloses a closure for a glove compartment cover of a vehicle. The closure comprises an electromagnet, into the longitudinal bore of which an armature engages. The latter is attached to a locking element, which—via the effect of a pressure spring—engages into a receiving bore when the glove compartment cover is in locked position. When the electromagnet, or the coil of the electromagnet, is excited, the armature is pulled into the longitudinal bore of the electromagnet, pulling the locking element from the receiving bore, thus unlocking the glove compartment. The problem of this process is that the movement of the armature or of the associated locking element causes clearly audible noises in the form of tick-tacking perceivable by a passenger when the armature moves from the locking element's locked position into the unlocked position, as well as in opposite direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,716 discloses a glove compartment unlocking device with minimized noise based on optimizing an actuator control. The actuator in this connection serves to actuate a lock for a door-locking system of a motor vehicle.
KR 10 2001 03 7915 discloses a glove compartment comprising a locking and unlocking unit for opening and closing the glove compartment. DE 103 26 416 A1 discloses a locking device and a locking method for a movable element, particularly a flap or a drawer.
DE 196 17 403 A1 discloses a glove compartment cover of a motor vehicle, wherein an electromagnet is inserted into the dashboard, into the longitudinal bore of which a guiding section engages. The latter is attached to a locking pin, which—caused by the effect of a pressure spring—engages into a receiving bore when the glove compartment cover is in locked position. When the electromagnet is excited, the guiding section is pulled into the longitudinal bore of the electromagnet, so that the locking pin is located outside of the cross-segment of the glove compartment cover, making it possible to pivot the locking pin into the open position.
EP 0 499 419 A2 discloses that the current consumption characteristics of the electromagnet can be used to ascertain as to whether or not a movement of the electromagnet's armature took place.
DE 35 08 338 A1 discloses a device for electrically operating a garage door. The objective of the invention—as disclosed in document 3—is to create a device for electrically operating a garage door, wherein this device is to work in the most economical manner possible. For this purpose a higher feeding current is initially supplied to the electromagnetic locks for the unlocking process to retract the locking pins, and then a lower holding current.

Closure for a storage compartment of a motor vehicle


An electrical overstress responsive composite is formed on an electrically insulative substrate, has a pair of electrodes associated with the substrate and defining a gap between the electrodes and over the interposed portion of the substrate, a pattern of closely spaced electrically conductive elements span said gap and are affixed to said substrate, and a dielectric resin overlies said conductive elements and also spans said gap. The dielectric resin may include conductive and/or semiconductive fine particles. The composite presents a high resistance to a low voltage applied across said electrodes and a low resistance to a high voltage applied across said electrodes.

The present invention relates to the protection of electrical and electronic circuits from high energy electrical overstress pulses or surges that might be injurious or destructive to the circuits, and render them non-functional, either permanently or temporarily. Suitable non-linear compositions and formulations of materials are known which can be connected to, or incorporated as part of an electrical circuit, and are characterized by high electrical resistance when exposed to low or normal operating voltages, but essentially instantaneously switch to low electrical resistance in response to an excessive or overstress voltage pulse, thereby shunting the excessive voltage or overstress pulse to ground. Structural arrangements are also known to facilitate the incorporation of such compositions into components of the circuit to be protected. The present invention relates particularly to a composite of composition and structure which combine to provide the overstress responsive environment.
The composite utilized in practicing the present invention is designed to respond substantially instantaneously to the leading edge of an overstress voltage pulse to change its electrical characteristics, and by shunting the pulse to ground, to thereby reduce the transmitted voltage of the pulse to a much lower value, and to clamp the voltage at that lower value for the duration of the pulse. This composite is also capable of substantially instantaneous recovery to its original high resistance value on termination of the overstress pulse, and of repeated responses to repetitive overstress pulses. For example, those composite can be designed to provide an ohmic resistance in the megohm range in the presence of low applied voltages in the range of 10 to more than 100 volts. However, upon the application of a sudden overstress pulse of, for example, 15,000 volts, this composite essentially instantaneously drops in resistance and switches to a low impedance shunt state that can reduce the overstress pulse to a value in the range of about a hundred volts, or less, and clamps the voltage at that low value for the duration of the pulse. In the present description, the high resistance state is called the "off-state", and the low resistance condition under overstress is called the "on-state".
Overstress responsive compositions and structures to facilitate the use of those compositions are known in the art. In general, those compositions constitute a mixture of finely divided electrically conductive and semiconductive particles supported in fixed spaced relation to each other in an electrically insulative resin binder or matrix. The most effective overstress composition is of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,333 to Hyatt. In general, said composite comprises a distribution of different sized particles of conductive and semiconductive materials ranging from submicron to tens or a few hundreds of microns, with angstrom sized spacer particles, which are densely packed and bound with an insulative resin matrix. Other electrical overstress compositions are described and illustrated in other prior art patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,273,704 to R. O. Grisdale discloses a granular material having a non-linear voltage-current characteristic. This patent discloses a mixture of conductive and semiconductive granules that are coated with a thin insulative film (such as metal oxides), and are compressed and bonded together in a matrix to provide stable, intimate and permanent contact between the granules.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,834 to K. M. Mar et al. provides an electronic circuit protective device in the form of a thin film non-linear resistor, comprising conductive particles surrounded by a dielectric material, and coated onto a semiconductor substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,505 to C. V. Bocciarelli discloses a non-linear precision voltage regulating element comprised of conductive particles having insulative oxide coatings thereon that are bound in a matrix. The particles are irregular in shape, and are point contiguous, i.e. the particles make point contact with each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,991 to Hyatt et al. discloses an electrical overstress protection material, comprised of a mixture of conductive and semiconductive particles, all of whose surfaces are coated with an insulative oxide film, and which are bound together in an insulative matrix, wherein the coated particles are in contact, preferably point contact, with each other.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/666,026 to Stephenson and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a structural arrangement for the inclusion of these non-linear materials into electrical circuits.
Additional patents illustrative of the prior art in respect to this general type of non-linear resistor are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,150,167 to Hutchins et al., 2,206,792 to Stalhana, 3,864,658 to Pitha et al., and 4,977,357 and 5,068,634 to Shrier.
As illustrated in the foregoing prior art, the overstress responsive compositions are usually positioned as a bulk material between a pair of contraposed electrodes, one of which is a signal electrode and the other is a ground electrode or a ground plane. The present invention, likewise functions to place a non-linear overstress responsive composite in a gap between a signal electrode and a ground electrode or ground plane. However, in the present invention, the composite is a hybrid of structural elements and composition. The key feature of the present invention resides in the use of a matrix or pattern of closely spaced electrically conductive metallic elements fixed on an electrically insulating substrate. These elements can conveniently be applied through screen printing, etching, vapor deposition, and the like, in a manner similar to the production of printed circuits. Preferably, the metallic elements are closely spaced and occur in a regular pattern, such as a uniform dot matrix, or a succession of closely spaced parallel lines or bars. For example, the spacing between the metallic elements may be from about 0.5 to about 200 microns depending on other factors to be described subsequently.
In addition to the pattern of closely spaced conductive elements, a coating composition is applied over the pattern covering and spanning the gap between the electrodes. The coating includes an insulative or dielectric resin whose dielectric strength is usually adjusted by the fill-ratio of insulative particles in a size range preferably of about 0.01 to about 50 microns. This coating may also include fine particulates of conductive and/or semiconductive materials. The resin (including any insulative fill particulate) may be present in an amount of from about 15 to 100% by volume of the coating. The conductive powder particles may range from 0 to about 60% by volume of the coating and have a particle size between about 0.01 and about 100 microns. The semiconductive powder particles may also range from 0 to about 60% by volume of the coating with particle sizes ranging between about 0.01 and about 50 microns. In such a composite of metallic elements and an overlying resin coating, with or without a particulate inclusion, the metallic elements function in a manner similar to conductive particles distributed in the resin matrix. However, in the present invention, these conductive metallic elements are arranged in a precisely controlled pattern, spatial distribution and spacing between conductive elements. The spacing of these elements can vary depending on the particulate inclusion in the resin, and the overstress electrical response properties desired for the composite.
The dielectric resin of the coating composition may preferably be a dielectric epoxy, silicone, or other resin, filled with insulative or pigment fillers, having suitable resistive or dielectric, mechanical and processing properties for the specific environment or application and production of the invention. It is preferred that the resin resistivity be from about 10.sup.12 to about 10.sup.15 ohms-meter. One suitable resin for the practice of the present invention is a silicone rubber marketed by General Electric Company as RTV-12, cured by heating.
If a conductive powder or particulate is to be included in the resin coating, it may be selected from a wide range of materials such as powders of carbon black, graphite, copper, aluminum, molybdenum, silver, gold, zinc, brass, cadmium, bronze, iron, tin, beryllium, lead, nickel, stainless steel, tantalum, titanium, tungsten and zirconium, the silicides of titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, chromium, molybdenum, iron and cobalt, and the borides, nitrides, aluminides and phosphides of the preceding elements which have resistivities of less than a few hundred ohm-cm. Preferably these conductive particles should be free of insulative or high resistance surface oxides, or the like.
If a semiconductor powder is to be included in the resin coating, it may be selected from a wide range of materials, such as silicon carbide, zinc oxide, bismuth oxide, other oxides such as oxides of calcium, niobium, vanadium, iron and titanium, the carbides of beryllium, boron and vanadium, the sulfides of lead, cadmium, zinc, and silver, indium antimonide, silicon, selenium, lead telluride, boron, tellurium, and germanium.
The invention is adaptable for application to various circuit components, interface connection devices, electronics packaging and may also be applied to a printed circuit. In the ensuing specific embodiments of the invention, it is illustrated as applied to a printed circuit and to a connector. While these applications are particularly useful modes for the invention, it is understood that they are presented simply for purposes of illustration, and the invention obviously is not limited thereto.
It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide for the shunting to ground selectively high voltage overstress pulses or surges.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for the shunting to ground of high voltage overstress pulses or surges, by means of a composite interposed between a signal line and ground.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for such a composite which presents a very high resistance to ground in response to a normal or low voltage on the signal line, and a low resistance to ground in response to a high overstress voltage pulse on said signal line.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide for such a composite which includes an array of conductive elements located between an electrode associated with said signal line and an electrode connected to ground, and arranged in a predetermined and fixed pattern on an electrically insulating substrate, and further includes an electrically insulating resin coating overlying said elements and substrate.
And another object of the present invention is to provide such a composite wherein said electrically insulating resin coating includes conductive and/or semiconductive powder particles distributed therein.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the illustrative specific embodiments of the invention provided in the following description, had in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to like or corresponding parts.


Disclosed herein are a power on reset device capable of performing a precise brown out detection (BOD) function and a power on reset method using the same. The power on reset device may include a delay signal generating unit, a reference voltage generating unit, and a reset signal generating comparing a delay signal with a reference voltage to generate a reset signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power on reset (POR) device and a POR method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power on reset (POR) means that a digital register, or the like, is reset after a predetermined time from a point in time at which power starts to be supplied at the time of initial driving of an electronic apparatus to allow a system to be stably operated.
Further, in addition to the initial driving of the electronic device, in the case in which the supply of power becomes unstable due to various reasons, the digital register, or the like, is reset in order to protect the electronic apparatus and prevent a malfunction.
The temporal power down phenomenon as described above is called a brown out phenomenon, and an operation of detecting and coping with the brown out phenomenon is called a brown out detection (BOD).
Meanwhile, according to the related art, a circuit performing the POR and a circuit performing the BOD are generally provided, respectively. Therefore, there is a limitation in satisfying requirements such as miniaturization, slimness, and lightness of the electronic apparatus.
In addition, in the scheme of performing the BOD according to the related art, a reference voltage for detecting a brown out situation has been mainly provided in software and comparison between a power supply voltage and the reference voltage has also been mainly implemented in software. However, in the case of applying the software control scheme as described above, as the power supply voltage is unstable, it is likely that a controlling unit will malfunction, such that there is a limitation in securing stable operation reliability of the electronic apparatus.
In addition, in some case, a threshold voltage of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) has been used as the reference voltage for the BOD. However, since a deviation of the threshold voltage of the MOSFET according to a manufacturing process of the MOSFET or a temperature of an apparatus is large, accuracy in performing the BOD becomes low and a separate temperature compensation circuit for compensating for the low accuracy, or the like, should be included.

Power on reset device and power on reset method


Provided is a removing unit that includes: a first conveying roller, a second conveying roller, a third conveying roller, and a take-up roller. The first conveying roller conveys a stack including first and second base members which are removably stacked with respect to each other. The second conveying roller conveys the second base member from which the first base member has been removed. The third conveying roller conveys the first base member which has been removed from the second base member, along a surface of the first conveying roller. The take-up roller takes up the first base member which has been conveyed by the third conveying roller. The second conveying roller is provided upstream from a first tangent in a conveying direction of the first base member. The third conveying roller is provided to overlap the first tangent or provided downstream from the first tangent, in the conveying direction.

The invention relates to a removing unit that removes, from each other, two base members which are removably stacked with respect to each other, and to a removing method.
A removing unit is used in order to remove, from each other, two base members which are removably stacked with respect to each other. For example, the two base members to be removed from each other by the removing unit may be a seal. The seal includes a seal base member and a removing base member. The seal base member included in the seal has a surface that is provided with an adhesive layer. The removing base member includes a surface that is adjacent to the surface with the adhesive layer and is provided with a release layer.
Consideration has been given in various ways to a configuration of the removing unit. A specific example thereof involves a technique in which a web roll with sheets (including an adhesive sheet and a removing sheet) that have been taken up in a roll shape is used to remove part of the adhesive sheet (an unnecessary sheet) from the removing sheet. This technique uses a blade for folding the unnecessary sheet while removing the unnecessary sheet from the removing sheet. The technique uses a belt member that moves in a returnable manner in accordance with conveying of the sheets in order to reduce a burden such as an operation for adjusting a position of the blade. For example, reference is made to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-183781.


An anchoring system includes a simply-structured device which permits a portion of a catheter or similar medical article to be easily anchored to a patient, desirably without the use of tape or needles and suture. The anchoring system comprises an anchor pad and a retainer mounted upon the anchor pad. The retainer includes a plurality of intersecting channels into which the medical article to be retained is placed. The medical article is secured within the intersecting channels by retaining at least one axially extending member on the medical article.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a medical article anchoring system. In one mode, the present invention involves a catheterization system that interconnects an indwelling catheter with medical tubing and securely anchors the interconnection to a patient's skin.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical treatment of patients commonly involves the use of percutaneously inserted catheters to deliver fluids directly into the bloodstream, a specific organ or an internal location within the patient, or to monitor vital functions of the patient. For instance, short, peripherally-inserted, intra-arteriovenous catheters are commonly used to direct fluids and/or medications directly into the bloodstream of the patient.
The fluid (e.g., parenteral liquid, medication, etc.) typically drains from a container positioned above the patient to feed under gravity or is delivered via an infusion pump. The fluid flows through tubing and thence into the indwelling catheter. The catheter and the fluid tubing are commonly removably attached to each other by a conventional t-connection.
A t-connection generally includes a male connector with a tapered conical portion that is adapted to fit into a correspondingly shaped receptacle of a female connector (i.e., a hub). A spin nut is commonly disposed on the male connector and is rotatable relative to the tapered conical portion. The spin nut includes internal threads that are adapted to engage external threads on the female connector to lock together the connectors. When properly engaged, theconical portion fits tightly within the receptacle to produce a sealed interconnection.
A healthcare provider can experience difficulty at times breaking the seal between the engaged conical portion and the hub of the t-connectors when disconnecting the male connector from the female connector. In order to aid such disconnection, some t-connectors include spin nuts that can slide axially between a distal position, in which the spin nut can freely rotate relative to the coupled connectors, and a proximal position, in which the spin nut and male connector are rotationally locked. The rotational lock is provided to assist in breaking the sealed coupling between the corresponding surfaces of the conical portion and the hub of the interengaged connectors.
The catheterization process often requires relatively frequent disconnection between the catheter and the fluid supply tube, as well as dressing changes. For instance, intravenous catheterization is frequently maintained for several days, depending upon the condition of the patient. The tubing is generally replaced every 48 to 72 hours in order to maintain the sterility of the fluid and the free-flow of the fluid through the tubing. A healthcare provider thus must frequently change the tubing and re-tape the connection. The healthcare provider also must frequently clean the insertion site about the indwelling catheter and change the dressings. Moreover, the tape, which secures the catheter to the skin of the patient, often covers the cannula insertion point. The healthcare provider must remove the tape to inspect the insertion point for inflammation or infection.
The traditional method of intravenous catheter securement—surgical tape and transparent dressings alone—have not always prevented catheter migration and/or dislodgment. Taped intravenous catheters are also easily pulled out during a "routine" dressing change, especially by inexperienced healthcare providers. And if the catheter migrates too far or dislodgment occurs, the healthcare provider must replace the catheter, thus exacerbating the time and expense required to maintain the intravenous feed. Such catheter re-starts also pose the risk of needle stick to the healthcare provider.
Prior securement methods have not served the patient as well. Surgical tape or foam strips are uncomfortable. Many patients also do not rest comfortably and worry about catheter dislodgment when they move, when only tape and a dressing secure the catheter in place.
Several additional drawbacks result from the use of tape to stabilize the catheter. One is contamination. Healthcare providers often tear off small strips of tape and place them on the hand rail on the patient's bed. Clostridium and other bacteria commonly exist on these surfaces and can be transferred to the patient's skin in the proximity of the insertion site.
In addition, tape securement requires the healthcare provider to handle the tape while wearing protective latex gloves. Tearing adhesive tape tends to produce microscopic and/or visible holes in the gloves and thus destroys glove barrier protection.


An additive composition than can be incorporated into asphalt materials to impart thereto multigrade characteristics. The additive is prepared by reacting together at least one saponifiable organic acid, at least one resin acid, at least one unsaturated organic compound, and an alkali metal base to form a reaction product. Water produced during the reaction is removed as the reaction proceeds. The resulting reaction product can be formed into a powder and combined together with asphalt materials to produce multigrade asphalts.

The present invention relates to asphalt cement compositions for use in paving and roofing products and more particularly to powder additive compositions that can be added to asphalt cements to impart multigrade properties thereto.
Asphalt compositions are used in over 90 percent of the pavement surface applications in the United States. Natural asphalts obtained from lakebeds were utilized as early as 1874. Years later, rock asphalt deposits found in several southern and western states were pulverized, placed and rolled to form pavement surfaces. Since the early 1900""s, asphalts produced during the process of refining petroleum have dominated both paving and roofing applications.
Asphalt is a dark brown to black, highly viscous material containing bitumens as the principle constituent and is found in varying proportions in most crude petroleums. The asphaltic residuum from petroleum refining, substantially freed of lighter overhead fractions, is commonly called xe2x80x9casphalt.xe2x80x9d Paving asphalts are classified as asphalt cement, cutback asphalt and asphalt emulsions.
Asphalt cement is an asphalt having properties that are particularly suitable for pavement surface and roofing applications and specialty products. For road construction, asphalt is heated to a free flowing consistency and mixed with an aggregate heated to approximately the same temperature (usually 135xc2x0 C. to 160xc2x0 C.). The resulting mixture is placed on a prepared surface, compacted and cured to produce hot mix asphalt (HMA). In the long history of asphalt paving, the hot mix process of mixing asphalt cement and aggregate has remained the process of choice as offering the most favorable balance of cost and quality.
Asphalt cements used in paving applications today are graded according to stiffness at different temperatures before and after aging. The most common grading system in the United States is based on specifications from the Association of American Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
Superpave (superior performing pavements) refers to pavements that are made by a method of construction developed in the United States through research funded by AASHTO. Grading is based on high and low temperature stiffness of the asphalt binder under Superpave performance graded (PG) binder specification. A PG graded binder PG 64-22 would have a stiffness modulus of at least 1 Kilo Pascal (kPa) at 64xc2x0 C. This asphalt after short term and long term aging would also have a limiting stiffness of less than 300,000 kPa at xe2x88x9222xc2x0 C. over a 2 hour time period. The low temperature stiffness gives equivalent values at xe2x88x9212xc2x0 C. (10xc2x0 C. warmer) over 2 minutes and is the method used by AASHTO. Adding the two temperatures together for a given PG grade gives the temperature range over which the asphalt performs. For PG 64-22 the temperature spread would be 86xc2x0 C. This temperature spread is typical of a high quality unmodified paving asphalt cement. The PG grading system from AASHTO increases and decreases in grade in 6xc2x0 C. increments. To produce a PG 70-22 grade which would be the next high temperature grade in the specification without reducing the low temperature to xe2x88x9216xc2x0 C. is difficult with unmodified asphalt. Only a few asphalts can achieve the 92xc2x0 C. spread without modification. In order to increase spread most asphalt cement manufacturers have resorted to adding modifiers. Modification can be done by a number of methods including addition of polymers or chemicals.
Outside of the United States asphalts are generally graded by other methods such as penetration or viscosity. Penetration involves dropping a needle with 100 grams of mass into the asphalt cement at 25xc2x0 C. A soft asphalt will allow the needle to penetrate more deeply into the asphalt cement. Asphalts used in colder climates use softer grades and in warmer climates harder asphalts are used to avoid rutting of the pavement. Another grading system that is used is grading by viscosity. Asphalts cements are graded at 60xc2x0 C. using viscosity and at 25xc2x0 C. using penetration to characterize the asphalt at two temperatures. Roofing asphalts used in Build Up Roofs (BUR""s) for flat or sloped roofs are graded by penetration and softening point under the ASTM Method D312 international specification. Softening point is the temperature at which the asphalt first begins to soften and is an indication of flow temperature in roofs and some paving specifications. Generally asphalts with softer penetration and higher softening points would be considered as having a broader temperature range analogous to PG grades with broader temperature ranges of 92xc2x0 C. or greater, and again would contain modifiers to improve the temperature range for the asphalt to perform within.
Asphalt cements for paving applications must be selected with care based on the traffic loading, speed, and climate to which the pavement will be exposed. High traffic loading, low traffic speed and wide climate ranges require asphalts that have broad temperature requirements. The asphalt must have sufficient stiffness to resist flowing during excessive hot weather with slow moving trucks. It also must not crack on the coldest days of the year especially after many years of service. Pavements in more moderate climates with little traffic require much less of a temperature range and unmodified asphalts have shown historic performance in such applications.
In roofing asphalt, the roof location (climate) and slope of the roof are important considerations. Again, the asphalt must not soften too much on the hottest day of the year and cause the roof to slide or flow due to the slope of the roof. Minimum softening points have been found to be a good measure to assure against this happening. This is analogous to high temperature stiffness measurements in paving asphalts.
To avoid low temperature cracking in penetration graded asphalt cements, the material is evaluated for penetration at 25xc2x0 C. and 4xc2x0 C. with minimum values to insure that the asphalt does not reach its limiting stiffness of 300,000 kPa used in performance graded paving asphalt testing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,432, assigned to Asphalt Materials, Inc. was developed to produce a xe2x80x9cmultigradexe2x80x9d or gelled asphalt cement having improved properties over conventional asphalt cements, including reduced temperature susceptibility and a lower age hardening rate. These improved properties were achieved using conventional hot-mix asphalt processes in existing hot-mix equipment, standard roofing application equipment and specialty asphalt application equipment.
The term multigrade asphalt was adopted by the assignee of U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,432 to describe a novel gelled asphalt cement having reduced temperature susceptibility and improved age hardening properties as compared to conventional asphalt cement. These improvements were accomplished by saponifying in the liquid asphalt, substantially free of water, at least one saponifiable organic acid and at least one resin acid with an alkali metal base, or by adding the already saponified product to the liquefied asphalt. The resulting gelled asphalt can be utilized in conventional processes in road, roofing and specialty applications.
Conventional asphalt cements have the Theological properties of viscous liquids when used at elevated temperatures in hot-mix processes. The asphalt remains a flowable liquid in accordance with its particular viscosity-temperature relationship, throughout its incorporation with aggregate and its laydown as an asphaltic concrete. In this physical state the asphalt is susceptible to flowing off the aggregate, depending on factors such as temperature, nature and surface area of the aggregate and the size and configuration of voids.
The inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,432 discovered that asphalt could be gelled by a direct saponification reaction requiring only a trace amount of an ionizing liquid to form an ionizing zone within the liquified asphalt where the saponification reaction can begin. Water produced as the reaction proceeds is sufficient to sustain a reaction that permeates the entire mix containing the asphalt and saponification ingredients.
Because of the qualitative advantages of gelled multigrade asphalt prepared according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,432, a paving asphalt grading as a PG 64-22 under Superpave can be upgraded to a PG 70-22. This allows a one grade improvement in high temperature properties without a loss of low temperature characteristics. In effect, asphalt cements manufactured in this manner impart a greater temperature range to the asphalt cement from an 86xc2x0 C. temperature spread to a 92xc2x0 C. spread. Similarly, this process improves the grading range using penetration viscosity and softening point range for paving and roofing asphalts.
Multigrade asphalt cement made by the process as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,432 is a substantially water free material that is capable of being stored at a temperature of 120xc2x0 C. or higher without foaming and is suitable for shipping to end users for mixing with aggregate to produce asphaltic concrete by conventional hot-mix methods. It is also suitable for shipping to end users for conventional roofing and specialty applications.
The manufacture of multigrade asphalt cement is performed at regional facilities using processes such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,432. This multigrade asphalt cement is then transferred to HMA manufacturing facilities at other locations for the mixing with appropriate heated aggregates. The costs associated with the transport of the asphalt cement results in a geographical limitation on the ability to market multigrade asphaltic cement over a wide area due to shipping costs. In addition, the capital costs for the construction of multigrade asphalt cement manufacturing facilities limits the ability to fully utilize this high quality product at many locations around the world.
Heretofore multigrade asphalts have been produced by adding unreacted reactant components to liquid asphalt compositions, and allowing the reactant components to react together within the liquid asphalt composition media. The reaction products of the added reactant components produced in the liquid asphalt media interact with the components of the liquid asphalt composition and effect changes in the high and/or low temperature characteristics of the resulting liquid asphalts. One limitation on such a process is that the necessary liquid asphalt component which serves as the medium in which the added reactant components react, has a significant mass or bulk volume that creates handling difficulties and requires rather large processing equipment.
The present invention is directed to a composition that is the reaction product of certain reactant components that is produced by reacting the reactant components together outside of any asphalt media. The resulting reaction composition (referred to below as a multigrade additive) can subsequently be added to conventional asphalt cement compositions to produce multigrade asphalt cement products as described herebelow.
According to various features, characteristics and embodiments of the present invention which will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds, the present invention provides a multigrade powder additive composition which consists essentially of the reaction product of:
a) at least one saponifiable organic acid;
b) at least one resin acid;
c) at least one unsaturated organic compound; and
d) an alkali metal base,
wherein water is removed during the reaction so that the percentage of water in the final reaction product is from about 0.2 to about 1.5 wt. %.
The present invention further provides a method of making a multigrade powder additive composition which involves:
a) providing at least one saponifiable organic acid;
b) providing at least one resin acid;
c) providing at least one unsaturated organic compound; and
d) providing an alkali metal base,
e) combining the least one saponifiable organic acid, the at least one resin acid, the at least one unsaturated organic compounds, and the alkali metal base together to form a reaction mixture that undergoes a saponifying reaction;
f) removing water from the reaction mixture during the saponifying reaction; and
g) recovering the reaction product.
The present invention also provides a multigrade asphalt which includes:
a) a preformed reaction product of:
i) at least one saponifiable organic acid;
ii) at least one resin acid;
iii) at least one unsaturated organic compound; and
iv) an alkali metal base combined together with
b) an asphalt material.
The present invention further provides a method of making a multigrade asphalt which involves:
a) combining and reacting together:
i) at least one saponifiable organic acid;
ii) at least one resin acid;
iii) at least one unsaturated organic compound; and
iv) an alkali metal base; to form a reaction product; and
b) combining the reaction product with an asphalt material.

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