The invention provides for methods and catheter apparatus for passing one or more guidewires (via the use of one or more telescoping guidewire lumens) through a chronic total occlusion of a vasculature. The catheter apparatus may include: a catheter shaft having a distal end; one or more telescoping guidewire lumen catheters passing longitudinally through the shaft, wherein the one or more guidewire lumen catheters are capable of telescoping beyond the distal end of the catheter shaft; an expansible distal portion of the shaft; and a retractable sheath covering at least a portion of the expansible distal portion of the shaft, wherein retracting the retractable sheath from the expansible distal portion of the shaft directly activates the expansible distal portion of the shaft causing expansion of the expansible distal portion of the shaft.

A chronic total occlusion in a coronary artery, peripheral artery, vein, dialysis fistula, or other types of vasculature represents a challenge for percutaneous treatment. Percutaneous treatments are generally preferred revascularization options as compared to bypass surgery. Continuing improvements in equipment specifically developed for chronic total occlusions have allowed success rates to improve. Although the success rates for these types of procedures have improved, the procedures for percutaneous treatments still suffer from several drawbacks. Patients without a successful percutaneous treatment may need to undergo bypass surgery or experience continuing symptoms from the occlusions.
A major obstacle within a chronic total occlusion may often be encountered while attempting to advance a guidewire across the chronic total occlusion in a vasculature. A maximum resistance may be met at the most proximal point of the lesion, i.e. the firm, fibrous cap. While being advanced, a guidewire may tend to deflect away from the fibrous cap towards the adventitial layer, often entering a false lumen. This off-axis displacement of the guidewire often may result in a procedural failure.
Successful passage of the guidewire may also be obstructed by randomly located calcified regions of atherosclerotic plaque within the mass of the lesion. Microchannels within the obstruction may be desirable targets for the tip of the guidewire. However, these soft spots within the lesion are difficult to identify angiographically and are dispersed randomly within the matrix of the lesion.
Coronary arteries and other vasculatures tend to be non-linear conduits, often coursing over the surface of the epicardium and other tissues. The success of current technology is limited by this type of geometry. In current systems, a guidewire or currently available catheter is advanced down a vasculature to the level of the obstruction. At the point of the obstruction, the guidewire advancement may tend to proceed along the outer, greater curvature of the vasculature. Even a guidewire centered within the vasculature at the proximal edge of the chronic total occlusion may tend to proceed toward the outer, greater curvature of a vasculature.
As a result, only a minor portion of the surface area of the obstruction may be encountered with sufficient force to allow passage of the guidewire. On many occasions, the angle of encounter and/or the force applied to the fibrous cap may not be sufficient for crossing the fibrous cap with the guidewire. If the tip of the guidewire is curved prior to placement through the support catheter, direct longitudinal force may be compromised as the wire is advanced off axis. If a rapid exchange catheter system is used as catheter support, the guidewire may buckle within the guide-catheter resulting in suboptimal longitudinal guidewire force.
At times, a single lumen angioplasty balloon may be inflated just proximal to the chronic total occlusion in an attempt to center the guidewire in the vessel lumen and provide additional support for the guidewire. Atherosclerotic lesions tend to be asymmetric with an eccentric true lumen. Therefore, attempts to limit the guidewire to the central axis of the vessel lumen may result in lower rates of procedural success.
Generally, needs exist for improved apparatus and methods for treating vasculatures. More specifically, needs exist for improved apparatus and methods for efficiently and effectively passing a guidewire through a chronic total occlusion in a vasculature.

Catheter apparatus with telescoping lumen catheters and its use in methods for treating vasculatures


An apparatus and a method which enable effective removal of flicker are provided. Under an illumination environment such as a fluorescent lamp with luminance variation, flicker that occurs in images shot with an X-Y address scanning type imaging device such as a CMOS is effectively removed or reduced. The integral value of the row-by-row signal intensity of an image to be corrected from which to remove flicker is calculated, and this integral value is used to detect flicker components contained in individual rows of an image frame. The detected flicker components represent data according to the actual flicker waveform of the illumination, and a correction process is executed using flicker correction coefficients formed by an anti-phase pattern of the flicker components. Effective flicker removal becomes possible through this process.

When an image is shot with a camera including an X-Y address scanning type imaging device such as a complementary metal oxides semiconductor (CMOS) imaging device under illumination of a fluorescent lamp, luminance non-uniformity or color non-uniformity in the form of stripes occurs in the picture signal. This phenomenon is called flicker. This results from the fact that a fluorescent lamp connected to a commercial power supply (AC) basically repeats flashing at a cycle twice the power supply frequency, and the operating principle of an imaging device.
Referring to FIG. 1, a description will be given of the principle of how flicker occurs in images shot with a CMOS image sensor. FIG. 1 shows the following pieces of data.
(a) Luminance variation of a fluorescent lamp
(b) Schematic diagram of the imaging (exposure) sequence of a CMOS image sensor
(c) Readout timing of CMOS images
(d) Conceptual illustration of output images
In FIG. 1, time (t) elapses from left to right.
It is assumed that the fluorescent lamp is operating in the 50 Hz commercial power supply region. In this case, the fluorescent lamp repeats flashing at a frequency of 100 Hz, which is twice the power supply frequency (50 Hz). The arcuate curves shown in (a) indicate luminance variation of the fluorescent lamp. Luminance variation is produced at 100 Hz, that is, in cycles of 1/100 seconds.
Under such an illumination environment, images are shot with a CMOS image sensor having a rolling shutter at a frame rate of 60 frames per second. The exposure process is performed sequentially from the top row (ROW) toward the bottom row (ROW) in each shot frame with the elapse of time.
In the schematic diagram of imaging of the CMOS image sensor shown in (b), the dotted diagonal lines are lines indicating reset timing of the image sensor, and solid diagonal lines are lines indicating readout timing. Exposure is started after the reset indicated by the dotted lines, and the period until the readout timing indicated by the solid lines is the exposure time. Exposure is performed from the scan line at the top of a frame toward the scan line at the bottom by the rolling shutter.
The region bounded by two adjacent solid diagonal lines indicates one frame of the image sensor. Within the exposure time sandwiched by each dotted line and solid line, luminance variation corresponding to luminance variation of illumination occurs. That is, since the exposure timing differs for each of rows that make up an image frame, due to the influence of the light source with luminance variation, non-uniformity in the form of horizontal stripes, or so-called flicker occurs as indicated by the (d) output images in FIG. 1.
The (d) output images in FIG. 1 indicate four consecutively shot images, frame #1 to frame #4, which are image frames #1 to #4 that make up moving images shot at a frame rate of 60 frames per second (60 fps).
A top portion p, a middle portion q, and a bottom portion r are shown in frame #3. These are shown for explicitly indicating positions corresponding to exposure times p, q, and r in the schematic diagram of imaging of the CMOS image sensor shown in (b).
The top portion p of frame #3 is the row portion subjected to exposure in a period during which the luminance of the fluorescent lamp is bright.
The middle portion q of frame #3 is the row portion subjected to exposure in a period during which the luminance of the fluorescent lamp changes from a dark period to a bright period.
The bottom portion r of frame #3 is the row portion subjected to exposure in a period during which the luminance of the fluorescent lamp is dark.
Stripe patterns based on luminance non-uniformity or color non-uniformity occurs because the fluorescent lamp luminance in the exposure period of each row (Row) is not consistent as described above.
It should be noted that a typical imaging device has such a configuration that, for example, one of RGB frequencies of light is selectively inputted for each of pixels that make up the imaging device. As this RGB arrangement, for example, the Bayer arrangement is known. For example, when imaging is performed with a color image sensor having the Bayer arrangement or the like, due to the decay characteristic of the phosphor of the fluorescent lamp, the degree of influence of flicker differs for each color signal (color channel), and color non-uniformity occurs due to the difference in amplitude and phase.
For example, PTL 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-174537) exists as related art disclosing a technology for preventing or suppressing such flicker. PTL 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-174537) discloses a process that controls the exposure time of the imaging device through setting of the electronic shutter or the like, thereby adjusting the exposure time of each row of a single shot image to reduce the difference in brightness between rows. However, there is a problem in that this technique places a constraint on the exposure time of the imaging device, making it impossible to set the electronic shutter in an arbitrary manner in accordance with the shooting environment, resulting in a decrease in the degree of freedom of shooting.
Also, to avoid the above-mentioned problem, PTL 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-347939) proposes a configuration that performs a correction process on an image signal obtained by a shooting process to thereby suppress the influence of fluorescent lamp flicker within the picture signal.
In this PTL 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-347939), the lighting waveform (flicker waveform) of a fluorescent lamp is approximately modeled by a sine wave, and then a correction process is performed by changing the correction gain used at the time of a correction process on an image signal shot with a camera, in accordance with the approximation model. Through this correction process, the image signal is corrected in accordance with the lighting waveform (flicker waveform) of the fluorescent lamp, thereby realizing a configuration that suppresses the difference in brightness between rows in the shot image.
However, the actual luminance variation of a fluorescent lamp does not necessarily match the sine wave as the approximation model used in PTL 2. FIG. 2 is a comparison diagram between the sinusoidal approximation model and an example of the actual luminance variation of a fluorescent lamp. For example, under such a condition that ripple is present in a commercial power supply, as shown in FIG. 2, the actual lighting waveform (solid line) of the fluorescent lamp and the model waveform (dotted line) exhibit different luminance variations.
The luminance variation of a typical fluorescent lamp does not coincide with the sinusoidal approximation model. In many cases, complex luminance variation is produced as indicated by the solid line shown in FIG. 2.
The process in PTL 2 described above does not take this divergence between the sinusoidal approximation model and reality into consideration, and thus there is a problem in that even when a flicker correction process using the model waveform is performed, the influence of flicker based on the real luminance variation of the fluorescent lamp remains in the image obtained as a result of the correction process.
The influence of flicker based on the real luminance variation of the fluorescent lamp becomes more pronounced as the exposure time becomes shorter. As the exposure becomes shorter, the interval between the solid and dotted diagonal lines shown in FIG. 1(b) becomes smaller, with a result that the influence of flicker based on the actual luminance variation of the fluorescent lamp becomes stronger.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show variation of a flicker waveform due to the difference in exposure time of an imaging device (image sensor). It should be noted that herein, a flicker waveform is a waveform indicating luminance non-uniformity of each row which appears in the shot image.
Both FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show the waveforms of flicker within the picture signal when shooting at 60 frames/second (60 fps) with a CMOS image sensor having a roller shutter. The flicker waveforms of frames #1 to #4 that are four consecutive frames are shown.
In each graph, the horizontal reading represents the row number in the image sensor, and the vertical axis represents the normalized luminance (flicker luminance) of each row. It should be noted that the normalized luminance represents information comparing relative luminance on a row-by-row basis which is generated while excluding the influence of the luminance of a subject.
FIG. 3 shows the flicker waveforms of frames #1 to #4 in the case when the exposure time of the image sensor is long at 1/60 [sec].
FIG. 4 shows the flicker waveforms of frames #1 to #4 in the case when the exposure time of the image sensor is short at 1/500 [sec].
In the case of the long exposure time of 1/60 [sec] shown in FIG. 3, the flicker waveform appearing in each of image frames #1 to #4 exhibits a gentle curve. This is a line close to the since wave as the model waveform described above with reference to FIG. 2.
On the other hand, in the case of the short exposure time of 1/500 [sec] shown in FIG. 4, unlike the curve close to the sine wave shown in FIG. 3, the flicker waveform appearing in each of image frames #1 to #4 is a line close to the actual waveform described above with reference to FIG. 2.
In this way, as the exposure time of the CMOS image sensor becomes shorter, the distribution of luminance non-uniformity/color non-uniformity in the form of horizontal stripes due to fluorescent lamp flicker which appears in the picture signal becomes closer to the actual flicker waveform.
In the case of high frame rate imaging which is becoming commonplace in recent years, and high speed shutter imaging in wide dynamic range imaging, shooting is executed with short exposure time. In such a shooting process, the divergence between the model waveform and the actual flicker waveform becomes apparent on the picture as well. Therefore, with the signal processing method using a model waveform described in PTL 2 mentioned above, it is not possible to perform effective correction that suppresses occurrence of flicker.

Image processing apparatus, signal processing method and computer-readable medium for image flicker correction


An apparatus and system that provides for the wireless receiving, storing and analysis of digital data as part of an RFID enabled motor vehicle license plate in wireless communication with a mobile interrogator for obtaining data such as license plate number and optionally, a VIN. When combined with additional RFID tags, information such as wireless driver license data retrieval, VIN, and other user defined information such as data relating to insurance policy information, addresses, registration information, driving records, driving restrictions and the like may be accessed. Data is wirelessly passed upon receipt of a valid request signal from a law enforcement vehicle, through a law enforcement portal to centralized databases in order analyze and verify the same. The invention also provides for non-law enforcement information such as parking and repossession information, which would be similarly processed for parking and repossession agents, but through separate non-law enforcement databases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless data transfer systems and analysis thereof, more particularly, to a motor vehicle license plate with integral wireless tracking and data dissemination device and associated portal, for interacting with same and for transmission of data for analysis at a centralized location.
2. Description of the Related Art
Terrorists, criminals, and others who are hiding from the law can travel about easily in motor vehicles as passenger given the anonymity of motor vehicles, they can often move freely with little danger of being caught. Even in cases where pulled over for a minor travel violation, they are often released without the law enforcement officer even knowing their true identity. Law enforcement current processes involve a manual system where an officer needs to gather information and uses a manual call to a dispatch center in order to either verify the information being provided, or to input information from his on-board computer in the squad car. Due to lack of time and manual process many of these checks are not performed. Additionally; new driver licenses called Enhanced Driver Licenses are being issued by states which incorporate RFID technology that has yet to be effectively harnessed by law enforcement when addressing some of the above inadequacies as it pertains to drivers and passengers.
Although not necessarily law enforcement in nature, a similar dynamic arises with parking meters and parking lots and in actions involving repossessions and vehicle towing enforcement activities, where the vehicles of violators can be overlooked or incorrect vehicles can be subject to violation or delinquency actions. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which license plate registrations, driver's license information, vehicle status and the like can be queried, accessed and verified without the time-consuming effort and error-prone processes afforded by current methods. While no known approaches exist for addressing the challenges of parking enforcement and repossession actions, several limited approaches have been proposed to address some of difficulties of verifying license plate numbers, such as U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0285743 to Weber, WIPO Pat. Pub. No. WO 2008/020771 to Roberts, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,096,102 to Parker Sr. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,089,340 to Cochran et al., each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties, but none of these approaches can automatically assist law enforcement and non-law enforcement in verifying license plate veracity, Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs), driver license/state ID validity and driver (occupant) identity, and/or insurance validity. Moreover, none of these systems provide: for accessing the new Enhanced Driver Licenses (EDLs) in a contactless fashion, and furthermore, none of the known systems provide for analysis of all such data received to be automatically processed through a secure law enforcement portal that can access secure law enforcement databases such as NCIC, NLETS and CJIS, as well as any applicable private (non-law enforcement) databases to obtain insurance verification as well as parking and/or financial databases for private enforcement actions. Additionally, no known approach exists for provision of the above in a secure way such that the relevant law enforcement data is accessible only to law enforcement, and that any private enforcement data contained therein is accessible, only by authorized personnel, such as for example, parking and/or repossession agents.
Consequently, there exists a need for new capabilities and enhancements for existing products in the electronic tracking and database transmission and analysis industry.

RFID based system and method for vehicle and driver verification


The present invention provides various whey protein compositions as nutritional formulations suitable for use as ready-to-use liquid compositions that are shelf-stable and contains high level of intact whey protein content. The present invention further provides the methods of making such compositions.

Nutritional supplements or beverages have been developed to assist people who do not take in sufficient nutrients for nutritional complete diet. Nutritional supplements are provided to people who are ill due to an illness, convalescing from surgery or anti-cancer therapy, anorexic, and elderly. They are also beneficial and useful to serious athletes and proactive health seekers. Various forms of nutritional supplements are commercially available and the protein sources for these supplements are either as caseinates and soy protein isolates or a combination of casein and whey protein sources.
The level of the protein source in the commercial liquid formulation products, as reviewed, are attributed to casein in form of Ca-, Na- or K-caseinate or from milk protein concentrate (MPC). Nutritional supplements that are based on other proteins such as whey protein are also available. In fact, some shelf-stable liquid formulations based on intact whey protein are commercially-available, e.g., Novartis' Resource® and Clinutren Fruit®.
To provide an ideal nutritional supplement that offers as many beneficial and health benefits to sick, convalescing and anorexic patients or elderly people treatment, it is important to use a superior and at the same time, good quality protein that has the highest biological value (BV-100%). The Food and Agricultural Organization/World Health Organization proposed a superior mean to identify protein quality, called "protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS)," which indicates how well a particular protein provides the required essential amino acids. When assessed, egg and milk proteins (whey protein and casein) appear to be the best quality proteins, as indicated by their net protein utilization (NPU; nitrogen retained in body/nitrogen consumed), biological value (BV; nitrogen retained in body/nitrogen absorbed by gut); and protein efficiency ratio (PER; weight gain/nitrogen consumed). Among the milk proteins, however, whey has the highest scores and proves to be of superior quality, as illustrated hereinbelow. See Castellanos, D. et al., Nutr. Clin. Practice, 21:485-504 (2006).
Protein Quality Comparison ChartProtein DigestibilityProteinCorrected AminoEffi-Bio-AminoAcidciencylogicalProteinReferenceAcid Score(AA) Ratio ValueDigestibilityProteins(PDCAAS)iScore(PER)ii(BV)% (PD)Whey Protein1.01.143.210499ConcentrateWhole Egg1.01.213.810098Casein1.01.192.97799Soy Protein0.991.042.27495ConcentrateBeef0.920.942.98098Wheat gluten0.250.470.345491iProtein Quality Evaluation, Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Consultation 1991iiReference Manual for U.S. Whey Products, 2nd Edition, U.S. Dairy Export Council, 1999
The pronounced heat lability of whey protein in sterilizing heat treatments poses as a problem, which is not experienced when casein is used as a protein source. Heat treatment by way of sterilization or pasteurization is required for bacterial safety during non-refrigerated storage. However, high temperatures required for sterilization lead to denaturation of whey proteins followed by aggregation and gelling. As a result, liquid, shelf-stable formulations with native whey proteins are scarce or contain relatively low amounts of whey proteins that are typically lower than 8%.
In consideration of the high nutritional protein quality of whey protein, the use of this protein source in enteral nutritional formulation appears to be very desirable. Due to heat-induced gelling or sedimentation, however, it has not been possible so far to incorporate into such formulation a markedly higher concentration of whey protein than what is present in commercial milk protein concentrates (in milk protein concentrate, whey proteins constitute about 20% of the total protein).
A known solution to this stability problem is the partial hydrolysis of whey protein by proteases, prior to the introduction of the material into a composition that is subjected to sterilizing heat treatments.
An example of a commercial enteral formula containing 40 g/l of partially-hydrolyzed whey protein is PEPTAMEN®, the protein of which has been partially-hydrolysed by trypsin and thereby rendered stable to sterilizing heat treatment. It is also possible to combine whey protein hydrolysates with casein hydrolysates or caseinates to make up the protein basis of a formula. An example of such an approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,217 (describing an enteral formula containing protein hydrolysates) or in U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,905 (describing a pediatric patient's formula containing 12% of the calories in form of hydrolysed whey protein).
The use of partially-hydrolysed (whey) protein may be a possible approach; however, an inherent disadvantage of such use is the bitter taste resulting from the incorporation of partially hydrolysed protein into such formulations. While bitter taste is not a significant problem in a tube feeding mode, it becomes a serious problem in a formula intended for oral consumption.
To produce a bland tasting whey protein-based enteral formulation with long non-refrigerated shelf life, approaches other than hydrolysis must be found to stabilize the protein or else the formula will not be palatable.
Two recent developments seem to go in this direction, but they do not achieve the goal of sterility and long shelf life which exploits the known acid stability of whey protein. EP 0 486 425 describes the production of a whey protein-based formula (at least 60% whey protein) having a pH between 3.5 and 3.9 and a whey protein content of about 3.88% (9.81 g in 237 ml). The low pH of the formula was obtained by the addition of citric and phosphoric acid. The formula received a pasteurizing heat treatment: at 95.6° C. for 4.3 seconds. In International Patent Publication No. WO 99/56563 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,475,539), a low pH (pH 3.0-4.6) enteral formula is described, wherein a highly methoxylated pectin (0.6-1.25%) is used as a protein stabilizer. The amount of whey protein concentrate employed in the acid beverage formula, as described ranges from 0.70 g/100 g to 0.75 g/100 g. Whey proteins added to the acid beverage formula can be in form of whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolates or partially hydrolysed whey protein. A particular variant of this formula contains intact whey protein as a protein source; the final pH of the formula is 4.0-4.35 and the heat treatment applied to the formula is 102-104° C. for 18 seconds.
Based on the above discussion, there is a need to produce a commercially-sterile, shelf-stable whey liquid composition, either in form of an acid or a neutral liquid formulation, wherein all or major portion of the protein content, i.e., ranging from above 60% to 100%, is composed of intact (unhydrolysed) whey protein. In addition, there is also a need to produce a shelf-stable, oral and drinkable liquid whey protein products that possess appealing organoleptic properties (good texture and sensorial taste, e.g., smooth and creamy with a pleasant taste without sandiness and bitter mouth taste). Furthermore, there is a long-felt need to produce a commercially-sterile, shelf-stable whey liquid composition that contains a superior and good quality "fast" protein such as whey that can provide numerous health benefits to the patients in need of such treatment.
The methods and means of accomplishing each of the above needs, as well as others, will become apparent from the detailed description.


A battery charge indicator is disclosed which is permanently incorporated into a battery to indicate the state of charge. The indicator includes a compressible chamber such as a blister which is adapted to be installed in a battery as an assembly. The blister chamber is filled with a viscous gel and is exposed to the expandable cathode of the battery. As the battery discharges, the cathode expands thus causing the gel within the chamber to be extruded out through an outlet into a viewing channel in an overlying disk. The amount of gel flowing into the viewing channel is proportional to the amount of expansion of the cathode and, thus, indicates the amount of discharge and, conversely, the remaining life of the battery. A battery charge indicator is also disclosed in which the expansion of the cathode is adapted to apply localized pressure to a disk. The localized pressure applied to the disk causes stretching of the material of the disk, which causes a visual indication of the state of charge of the battery.

In order to measure the state of charge of primary batteries, it is usually necessary to measure the current or voltage of the battery under test. The testing of current and voltage is usually performed with external test equipment, such as voltmeters and battery testers. The cost of the associated test equipment or testers varies widely. There are digital multimeters which will measure both voltage and current as well as devices which utilize simple resistor calibrated galvometers. There is also heat sensing material which changes color when the material is heated up by an electrical conductor which is placed across the battery terminals. In all cases of the measurement of a primary battery, it has been necessary to place the battery either in or near the tester and then to initiate the test. In some tester devices, the placing of the battery in the tester itself causes electrical contact to be made with the battery which initiates the test. In other cases, external leads from the tester are connected to the battery terminals to initiate the test. In some cases, the state of charge reading is monitored continuously by the test device, but in most cases it is done briefly in order to provide a quick sampling of the state of charge of the battery.
The principal problem with all of these methods is that an external tester of some kind must be used to measure the state of charge of primary batteries. The battery alone will not render any state of charge information to the user.
In accordance with the disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 760,200, filed Sep. 16, 1991, in the names of William Bohmer and Clark F. Bow, William Bohmer being the sole applicant herein, there is provided a battery charge indicator which is comprised of a first means to define a compressible chamber for containing a viscous gel and having an outlet therefrom as well as a second means to define a viewing channel of predetermined shape in communication with the outlet of the chamber in order to receive a flow of gel therefrom in an amount corresponding to a predetermined compression of the chamber. The battery charge indicator is incorporated into the battery, such as an alkaline battery, including a housing having an internally contained chemical cathode and anode for generating an electrical current with the cathode expanding in an amount proportional to the total current generated. The battery charge indicator is incorporated in the alkaline battery in such a manner that the compressible chamber is exposed to the cathode for compression thereby in response to an expansion of the cathode.
The cooperation between the battery charge indicator and the alkaline battery is such that when there is an electrical discharge from the battery, the internal components of the battery expand accumulatively as the battery discharges, thereby producing a force which can be used to operate the built-in battery charge indicator in order to indicate the enclosed expansion which is inversely proportional to the remaining electrical charge in the battery. Thus this battery charge indicator operates mechanically to amplify the expansion of the cathode in order to render a continuous sensitive visual state of charge indication. This battery charge indicator is typically installed at one end of the battery as a permanent part of the finished product. Further, this battery charge indicator is constructed in order to produce a visual indication of the state of charge in an analog manner.
In one construction of this battery charge indicator of application Ser. No. 760,200, the means for defining a compressible chamber is formed by a cap having a flexible section and a disk disposed on the cap in order to define the compressible chamber therebetween. In this construction, an outlet is disposed centrally of the disk in order to permit a viscous gel to be expelled from the chamber proportionally in response to the compression of the chamber caused by the expansion of the cathode of the battery. In this construction, the means defining the viewing channel may be in the form of a second disk which is mounted over the disk which forms the compressible chamber. Further, this second disk may have the viewing channel formed therein, for example, in the shape of a radially disposed section which extends from the outlet of the compressible chamber and a circular section which extends from an outer end of the radially disposed section. The viewing channel may also terminate in a reservoir located at one end of the circular section of the channel.
A cover is also disposed over the viewing channel of the battery charge indicator, which for example, may be a positive cover for the battery. In addition, the cover has a plurality of spaced apart apertures overlying the viewing channel in order to permit viewing thereof. Thus, as the gel is extruded into the viewing channel in response to the compression of the compressible chamber, the extent of the gel within the channel can be viewed. As the extent of extrusion provides an indication of the remaining charge in the battery, a simple visual indication of the remaining life of the battery is provided.
In another construction of the battery charge indicator of application Ser. No. 760,200, the compressible chamber for the gel is formed by a closed flexible end of the battery housing and a disk which is disposed over the closed flexible end of the housing. This disk is provided with an outlet into a viewing channel within an overlying second disk which is held over the end of the battery housing, for example, by means of a positive cover having apertures for viewing of the channel.
In still another construction of the battery charge indicator of application Ser. No. 760,200, the compressible chamber of the battery charge indicator may be in the form of a flexible tube of elongated shape which is disposed within the battery housing by being passed through an opening in a closed end of the housing. This tube is also provided with an outlet at one end for the gel as well as an overlying disk having a viewing channel therein for receiving the gel extruded from the flexible tube. In order to enable viewing of the gel within the viewing channels of the various embodiments, the disk in which the channel is formed may be made of transparent or translucent material.
In a further construction of the battery charge indicator of application Ser. No. 760,200, the alkaline battery is constructed of a housing having a closed end wall and a deformable wall against which the cathode expands when electrical current is being generated. In addition, a piston assembly is disposed in contact with the deformable end wall for movement therewith while a means is provided for measuring the amount of movement of the piston assembly in order to provide a visual indication of the remaining amount of the expected expansion of the cathode. The piston assembly may be constructed to include a guide pin which is disposed in contact and which extends longitudinally from the deformable end wall of the housing and an annular disk mounted on the pin for movement therewith. In this case, the means for measuring the movement of the piston assembly includes a reflector having a central bore slidably receiving the disk, a lens for viewing a reflection of a side face of the disk from the reflector, and a cover having at least one aperture overlying the lens for viewing the reflection. The disk is provided with a flat peripheral wall which is provided with an indicia to provide a visual reflected image corresponding to the remaining amount of expected expansion of the cathode, that is, the remaining amount of charge. The indicia may be in the form of a band of color or multiple bands of different color.
In use, as the battery discharges, the deformable and of the battery will expand outwardly thus causing the piston assembly to move outwardly of the housing. By means of the lens and reflector, the peripheral wall of the disk of the piston assembly can come into view with the band of color on the wall providing a measure of the amount of movement of the piston and, thus, the remaining amount of charge.

Battery charge indicator apparatus and the method of operation thereof


A controller controls a hybrid vehicle that has an internal combustion engine and an electric motor that assists the engine. In fuel cut control during vehicle deceleration, the controller sets a return engine speed at a value that inevitably stalls the engine. However, the motor executes power assist-control so that engine speed is maintained, engine stall does not occur, and the engine speed smoothly converges at an idle speed. Thus, the engine speed is set at a lower value, so that fuel cut is executed for as long as possible.

The invention relates to a controller of a hybrid vehicle, which can execute fuel cut during vehicle deceleration for as long as possible and which smoothly switches the engine to an idle-driving state.
A vehicle is equipped with a fuel-cut controller in which fuel supply to an engine is interrupted when a condition for fuel cut execution is met during deceleration of the vehicle, and in which the fuel supply to the engine is returned by lifting the fuel cut when the engine speed drops to a predetermined return engine speed, reducing the unburned gas and fuel consumption during deceleration.
Some motor vehicles are of a type commonly called a hybrid vehicle having an internal combustion engine driven by combustion of fuel and an electric motor (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cmotorxe2x80x9d) driven by electric energy, the motor being directly connected to the engine and also having a power-generating function. The hybrid vehicle is equipped with: an engine; a motor directly connected to an output shaft of the engine; an engine controller for controlling the operating state of the engine; and an assistive motor controller to control operating states of the motor. The engine and motor controllers detect the operating states of the engine and the motor respectively, which are controlled in association with one another. Such a control system attains a high level of required performance (such as fuel efficiency, lower values of detrimental components in exhaust gases, and power performance). The motor controller is connected to the battery which supplies the motor with electric power and is charged by electric power from the motor.
Such a controller of a hybrid vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-23604 which controls the motor to be driven to assist the engine for prevention of engine stall when engine speed is equal to or less than a predetermined value and the amount of change in engine speed is decreasing during vehicle driving.
However, in a conventional fuel cut control, as shown in FIG. 7, fuel supply to the engine is interrupted (cut) by starting a fuel cut control when a throttle opening is small and an idle switch is turned on in the decelerating state (see time X1). Then the fuel supply is cut for a predetermined period (M1) until engine speed drops, with engine remaining braking, to an engine speed for return (see time X2). Then the fuel supply is restarted by stopping the fuel cut control when the engine speed drops to the return engine speed. This return engine speed is usually set at a value ranging from 1300 to 1500 rpm. After engine speed drops to the return engine speed shown at time X2, the vehicle is decelerating while consuming fuel. Then after a predetermined time (M2) when the clutch is disengaged or the transmission is in a neutral position shown at time X3, engine speed converges at an idle engine speed.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, fuel supply to the engine is prevented (cut) by executing a fuel cut control when the throttle opening is less and an idle switch is turned on in the decelerating state (see time Y1). Also, when the engine is in a free state by clutch disengagement (see time Y2) after a predetermined time period (M3) during engine braking, then the engine speed drops to less than the return engine speed, so that the fuel supply is restarted by stopping the fuel cut control. Then after a predetermined time period (M4), when engine speed is gradually decreased (time Y3), engine speed converges at an idle engine speed.
However, the return engine speed needs to be set at a certain value such that fuel supply restarts at an early stage after fuel cut is executed, which otherwise brings engine stall even if fuel supply is restarted. On this account, the return engine speed needs to be set at a comparatively high speed having rather much margin (value), resulting in less fuel consumption improvement.
In addition, the above prevention arrangement intends to assist the engine before engine stall for some reason, which thus cannot continue fuel cut during vehicle deceleration for as long as possible.
In order to obviate or at least minimize the above use of fuel during vehicle deceleration, the present invention provides a control system for a hybrid vehicle having an internal combustion engine, a motor, and a battery. The motor is connected to the output shaft of the engine and has driving and power generating functions. The battery is connected to the motor. The control system includes: a deceleration detector to detect deceleration of the vehicle, a fuel cut control device for executing fuel cut control, means for stopping fuel supply to the engine when a fuel cut executing condition is met while the vehicle is decelerating, and restarting the fuel supply to the engine by canceling the fuel cut control when engine speed drops to a predetermined return engine speed. An assist controller drives the motor to execute assist control when engine speed drops to less than the return engine speed.
In the fuel cut control device during vehicle deceleration of the present invention, at engine side, a return engine speed is set to a speed in which the engine inevitably stalls, which is the engine speed set as low as possible, so that fuel cut is executed as long as possible to improve fuel consumption. Also at motor side, assist-control is executed such that engine speed is maintained so that engine stall does not occur, so that the engine speed converges at an idle speed smoothly without any detectable uncomfortable feeling.


Claus sulfur recovery plants that include one or more single-stage or multi-stage compact tubular Claus catalytic reactor-heat exchanger units are disclosed. In some instances, these new or improved Claus plants additionally include one or more compact heat exchanger containing cooling tubes that are filled with a heat transfer enhancement medium. The new compact tubular Claus catalytic reactor-heat exchanger units and HTEM-containing heat exchangers are also disclosed. A process for recovering sulfur from a hydrogen sulfide-containing gas stream, employing the new tubular Claus catalytic reactor-heat exchanger unit, and in some instances a HTEM-containing heat exchanger, are also disclosed.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for recovering elemental sulfur from hydrogen sulfide-containing gas streams, and more particularly to such methods and apparatus that increase the sulfur recovery capacity of new or existing Claus plants and reduce the size and complexity of such plants.
2. Description of Related Art
Large quantities of H2S-containing gases are commonly produced in the petrochemical industry by amine treating units and sour water stripping units. Claus sulfur recovery plants ("Claus plants") are in widespread use to convert this environmentally hazardous H2S to useful elemental sulfur by oxidation according to the overall or net equationH2S+½O2→1/xSx+H2O  (1)wherein x=2, 6 or 8, depending on the particular conditions of temperature and pressure. The net production of elemental sulfur is usually accomplished as a series of process steps carried out according to a conventional plant flow scheme. First, a free flame combustion step takes place by burning ⅓ of the H2S in a free flame combustion chamber or burner according to the equationH2S+ 3/2O2→SO2+H2O  (2).Oxygen for the combustion stage is usually supplied by air from an air compressor or blower. The combustion stage is followed by the "Claus" stage, in which the "Claus reaction" takes place according to the equation2H2S+SO23/xSx+2H2O  (3)wherein x=2, 6 or 8, depending on the particular conditions of temperature and pressure. The Claus reaction initially takes place in the reaction furnace immediately following the burner, and while the gases are at near-flame temperatures. After the gases exit the reaction furnace they are cooled in a heat exchanger, usually with boiling water circulating in the heat exchanger and being converted to medium to high-pressure steam. After cooling, the gases are cooled further in another heat exchanger (sulfur condenser), in which boiling water is circulated to make low pressure steam. At this stage in the process about 50-70% of the incoming H2S will typically have been converted to elemental sulfur. The actual amount depends on such factors as inlet H2S concentration, flame temperature, residence time in the reaction furnace following the burner, and the presence and amount of other chemicals such as other combustibles or carbon dioxide. Condensed liquid sulfur product is usually recovered at this point in the process.
A 70% level of conversion is insufficient by today's standards to allow the effluent from the Claus furnace to be emitted to the atmosphere or to make tail gas treatment economical at this point. An increase in the overall level of conversion is usually achieved by removing one of the reaction products from the mixture (e.g., by condensing and removing liquid elemental sulfur), and then allowing the remaining gases to continue reacting until equilibrium is reached (Equation 3). After the reaction furnace, the reacted gases are cooled in a heat exchanger against boiling water. The gases can be cooled to allow condensation of sulfur in this heat exchanger, or, more typically, the cooled gases from the heat exchanger are further cooled in a separate heat exchanger/sulfur condenser to facilitate condensation of the sulfur formed in the first reaction stage.
In modified Claus plants, further recovery of sulfur is accomplished by taking the gases from the first condenser, reheating, and then passing the gases over a high surface area Claus catalyst in a packed bed reactor. The Claus reaction (Equation 3) takes place on the catalyst up to the equilibrium limit of the reaction. Some well-known Claus catalysts are bauxite, alumina and titania The Claus catalytic reactors are normally operated in the gas phase to prevent condensed sulfur from plugging the pores of the catalyst. To enhance recovery of sulfur via the Claus reaction, the elemental sulfur is conventionally removed by condensation in a sulfur condenser which follows the catalytic reactor. Similar reheat, reaction and condensation steps are commonly repeated two to three times in order to maximize sulfur yield of the plant. Because of the equilibrium restraints inherent in the Claus reaction (Equation 3), adding more catalytic Claus reactors becomes ineffective beyond a total of three or four units, so other measures must be taken in order to further increase sulfur recovery beyond about 98 vol. % of the initial H2S and to complete the recovery of the remaining sulfur before the effluent is released to the atmosphere.
The addition of equipment needed to improve recovery almost invariably decreases the capacity of the plant by adding resistance to flow from additional friction. Thus the addition of each catalytic Claus reactor, heater, condenser and tail gas treatment unit is accompanied by a reduction in operating pressure. Moreover, as demand for sulfur recovery capacity grows in an existing facility, the flows of O2-containing gas and H2S-containing gas into the Claus plant will increase. This increase in flow causes an increase in pressure drop through the system approximated by the relationshipDP2/DP1=(Q2/Q1)2  (4)
where DP is pressure drop, Q is volumetric flow rate, 1 is the initial flow condition, and 2 is the new flow condition. In any given system, at a certain flow rate of H2S-containing gas the pressure drop due to friction from flow will exceed the available pressure drop through the unit. At that point, the unit is capacity constrained. Conventional Claus plants operate at low pressure, usually 20-30 psia at the front of the plant. In almost every case, a conventional sulfur recovery plant with a burner, reaction furnace, single catalytic Claus reactor, and single tail gas treatment unit is limited to 5 to 15 psi of available pressure drop. Many existing Claus plants suffer from a severe constraint in capacity.
Cost efficient ways to meet the ever increasing need for greater sulfur recovery capacity are sought. U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,974 (Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems, Inc.) describes some proposed solutions that are intended to decrease the size and increase the capacity of Claus installations. Some approaches involve combusting the tail gas to oxidize the residual sulfur species to sulfur dioxide, and then recovering and recycling the resulting concentrated stream of sulfur dioxide to a point upstream of the Claus unit. Another approach includes contacting an acid gas feed stream and sulfur dioxide with a Claus conversion catalyst in a single Claus catalytic reaction zone to form elemental sulfur and water. A drawback of the latter approach is that the SO2 feed must provided in addition to the H2S feed. This is usually done by burning sulfur or H2S, which necessitates a reaction furnace and possibly a waste heat boiler. Another downside of directly contacting a Claus conversion catalyst with the acid gas feed stream is that serious negative consequences can result when the H2S stream contains certain additional components. In the case of hydrocarbon and ammonia contaminants, for example, incomplete destruction of ammonia and incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon typically occur, leading to ammonia salt plugging, and sooting (coke deposition).
Another avenue for expanding sulfur recovery plant capacity is to increase the available pressure drop for the above-described increased friction losses that can occur due to greater flow. This is accomplished by raising the air blower discharge pressure, increasing the operating pressure of the source that provides the H2S-containing gas (e.g., amine regenerator or sour water stripper), or increasing the pressure holding capacity of the sulfur liquid seal devices. The difficulty of replacing underground sulfur sealing devices and the poor operation of feed-producing units at higher pressure usually limits the gains that can be realized from this latter approach.
Still another way to increase plant capacity is to reduce the overall flow of fluid by using molecular oxygen instead of air in the combustion stage. Elimination of the nitrogen component of air reduces the total flow per unit volume of H2S-containing gas and allows more H2S to be processed for the same pressure drop limitation. The economic appeal of oxygen enrichment is limited by the cost of the oxygen, the temperatures attained in an O2-enriched flame, and by the cost of the special equipment needed to handle high concentrations of oxygen.
Efforts to redesign the system for low pressure drop have generally met with little success, since each piece of equipment must be designed for low pressure drop and the total number of pieces of equipment in a Claus Plant, there is only a small amount of pressure drop available for the entire plant. The design of the heat exchanger that follows the reaction furnace is a major factor in the plant's overall performance. Key parameters in the design of waste heat exchangers have been previously discussed by W. P. Knight ("Evaluate waste heat steam generators," Hydrocarbon Processing, July 1978, Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Tex., pp. 126-130). Because the gases in the process are corrosive to carbon steel under typical conditions, the tube walls must be kept close to the temperature of the boiling water on the shell side of the exchanger to prevent rapid corrosion and loss of containment on the tube side. Thus, a favorable heat transfer coefficient is necessary. A low heat transfer coefficient prompts an increase in the heat exchange areas in the design, usually by lengthening the tubes of the heat exchanger, with an associated increase in pressure drop due to the increased friction from the longer tubes. One concern when using longer tubes is that elemental sulfur can form tenacious deposits that can plug equipment, if allowed to solidify within the system. While greater shell diameters and an increased number of tubes could be used to overcome the pressure drop restriction, those remedies tend to greatly increase the cost of heat exchanger construction compared to merely lengthening the existing number of tubes. The larger diameters and limits on tube mass velocities generally lead to undesirably low heat transfer coefficients. These and other considerations have tended to lead heat exchanger designers toward larger diameter tubes than is customary in most petrochemical plant heat exchanger services, for instance.
There are also design concerns with respect to the sulfur condensers, including such factors as velocity of the sulfur bearing gas stream, fogging, heat transfer, tube selection, mechanical design, and arrangement (W. P. Knight, "Improve sulfur condensers," Hydrocarbon Processing, May 1978, Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Tex., vol. 57 (No. 5) pp. 239-241; Laurance Reid, Gas Conditioning Conference Fundamentals—Sulfur Recovery, 2003, Norman, O K, p. 80-81.) The paradigm of present day sulfur condenser design generally includes: (1) controlling the overall heat transfer coefficient between 8 and 18 BTU/hr/ft2/° F.; (2) controlling the mass velocity in the tube below 6.1 lbm/ft2/sec and greater than about 2 lbm/ft2/sec; (3) sloping the tubes toward the outlet at approximately ⅛ inch drop per foot of length; and (4) avoiding vertical or absolutely horizontal tubes. Following those guidelines will deter loss of elemental sulfur from the condenser, by mechanisms of entrainment and fogging, to subsequent reaction stages, and thereby improves the overall efficiency of a Claus unit. The efficiency of any sulfur condenser is inherently limited by the properties of elemental sulfur. In order for sulfur to condense from the vapor phase to the liquid phase, the sulfur in the vapor phase must be in equilibrium with sulfur in the liquid phase.
Designing a higher-capacity Claus plant is also complicated by the size and number of Claus catalytic reaction units that are customarily used today, each including a sulfur condenser with coolant system, reheater, and Claus conversion catalyst. Typical Claus catalyst beds are designed and industry data shows they are typically operated in a range of gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of about 1000 h−1 to about 1500 h−1. The GHSV is usually represented at standard cubic feet/hour of incoming gases to the reactor divided by the cubic feet of catalyst in the reactor. The nominal design GHSV of a Claus catalytic reactor can make the catalyst volume requirements quite large. To reduce the frictional pressure loss through such a large bed, the catalyst bed is usually designed with large cross-sectional area and short catalyst depth, compared to other fixed bed catalytic reaction systems.
It is also important in the design of a Claus sulfur recovery plant to remove heat from the process gases after each reaction step. The design of the waste heat exchanger or boiler following the burner/furnace (thermal) zone and the subsequent sulfur condensers of a conventional sulfur recovery plant is a major factor in the overall performance of a sulfur plant. A generally accepted design principle for waste heat boilers is to control the heat flux through the tube wall below about 30,000 BTU/hr/ft2. This recommended level prevents overheating the tube by keeping the outside of the tube wall wetted with water. Combining the design elements of multiple reheat, reaction and condensation stages with the GHSV requirements for a typical Claus reactor leads to very large, expensive units.
There remains a pressing need for improvement of existing Claus sulfur recovery plants, and for new, higher-capacity, compact installations, in order to meet the increasing burden of handling greater volumes of more concentrated acid gas streams. At the same time, there is also a necessity to limit construction costs and operating expenses of new and existing Claus sulfur recovery plants. There is also a need for more productive sulfur recovery processes that can meet the ever more stringent standards for release of residual sulfur compounds into the environment.

Increased capacity sulfur recovery plant and process for recovering elemental sulfur


A mask and an assembly utilizable in the production of a multiplicity of capacitors on selected regions of a semiconductor wafer includes a shaped, thin sheet of material having spaced-apart holes made therein and at least one recess formed adjacent each of at least two opposite edges thereof, the recess being configured to be engaged by a substantially matching portion of a clamp releasably affixing the mask onto the wafer.

The present invention relates to a dot mask, an assembly and a method for facilitating equipment quality control for semiconductor wafer production. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with the provision of means and a method for forming MOS capacitors on semiconductor wafers during their production, without interrupting the manufacturing process thereof.
Metal dot masks are used in the semiconductor industry to form round metal dots over an oxide to produce MOS capacitors. MOS capacitors produced in this way are for the purpose of measuring capacitance vs. voltage (CV) and capacitance vs. time (CT) parameters. The data obtained from these measurements are indicative monitors for the quality of the semiconductor production equipment, i.e., contamination in furnaces or wet stations.
From the reliability point of view of manufactured IC and similar devices, each fabrication area should run CV and CT measurements on a weekly basis. At present, the method for carrying out such measurements is to attach a hollowed mask to the wafer and to manually place the assembled mask and wafer in the sputtering chamber.
Since the modern sputtering tools use load lock chambers and different additional sputtering chambers on the way to the AlSi target chamber, it became difficult to manually insert the mask and the wafer in the desired chamber. This difficulty lead to the need to use additional metal sputtering equipment in the fabrications, only for CV/CT monitor wafers.
It is therefore a broad object of the present invention to overcome the above-described difficulties in the measurement of CV and CT parameters during the manufacture of semiconductor wafers and to provide means whereby the mask can be temporarily affixed to the wafer while moving through the sputtering chambers.

Masks for applying dots on semiconductor wafers


A transmission signal sending and receiving method using the steps of setting the reference channel and data channels in each cycle of the AC voltage wave for transmission in the sending and receiving means, superposing the reference transmission signal onto the reference channel and the modulated data transmission signals onto the data channels in the sending means, receiving the reference transmission signal and data transmission signals by being separated from the AC voltage wave for transmission in the receiving means, and monitoring data transmission signals by comparing the level and phase of the reference transmission signal received by the reference channel with those of the data transmission signals received in the data channels, and thereby comparing the reference transmission signal with the data transmission signals received in each cycle of the AC voltage wave for transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved method for transmitting and receiving signals having data such as electrical power metering information over power lines. The invention uses a transmission signal such as either a phase modulated, frequency modulated or amplitude modulated signal that is is superimposed onto the transmission AC voltage wave, transmitted over a low voltage power distribution line and a leased line.
2. The Prior Art
The conventional transmission system using a power distribution line as shown in FIG. 5, has superimposed, as shown in FIG. 5, only the data transmission signals D.sub.o .about.D.sub.n for every several cycles to several tens of cycles of the commercial frequency voltage 1 (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-12291). In the former case, since the level and phase of data transmission signals D.sub.o .about.D.sub.n change due to the load fluctuation of the power distribution lines, these signals are not stable when finally received. Therefore, in the latter case, the data transmission signals D.sub.o .about.D.sub.n are monitored by comparing the reference transmission signal R received in the receiving side with the following data transmission signals D.sub.o .about.D.sub.n, but it has been difficult to ensure highly reliable communication due to the change in level and phase of data transmission signals D.sub.o .about.D.sub.n in every cycle of commercial frequency voltage 1.

Method for transmitting and receiving signals over transmission power lines


The present invention is provided with a transmission line element having a ground wiring and a power supply wiring formed interposing an insulating film, on the power supply wiring on a semiconductor chip, lead or printed-circuit board, such that the capacitance per unit length of the transmission line element is boosted to set the characteristic impedance of the transmission line element for the high frequency range to an optimum value. In this way, the power supply wiring inclusive of the transmission line element can have a satisfactory decoupling performance.

In a digital circuit, high frequency noises generated incidentally to switching operations of a semiconductor element cause electromagnetic interferences. This high frequency noise mainly includes high-order harmonics of the fundamental clock frequency. For example, a part of the high frequency noises generated in an element in an LSI (Large Scale Integration) that makes a switching operation (hereinafter referred to as a switching element) propagates through the power supply wiring in the LSI and further leaks through the package of interest into the power supply wirings etc. of the printed-circuit board having the LSI mounted on.
The high frequency noises, which propagate through the power supply wirings, couple with the package and signal wirings on the printed-circuit board, etc. in the LSI through electromagnetic induction in the propagation paths. This electromagnetic coupling causes the high frequency noises to superimpose on the signals carried through signal wirings to yield distortions of the signal voltages. Furthermore, in the case where the surge impedance of the power supply wiring viewed from the switching element is high, the creation of the high frequency noise brings about the creation of an electromagnetic wave, which is emitted from the signal cable and devices.
It is advantageous to arrange decoupling circuits adaptive to the frequencies of the generated high frequency noises in most effective positions in order to relieve the above problems.
In the conventional decoupling circuit as described, for example, in JP H10-270643, a capacitor equivalent to a lumped constant has been arranged between a power supply wiring and a ground potential wiring, because the sizes of the elements that constitute the circuit, such as a transistor, a resistor, a capacitor, etc., are small as compared with the signal wavelength corresponding to the operation frequency of the subject circuit.
Concerning other conventional decoupling circuits, JP 2001-168223 describes a technology of increasing the decoupling capacitance between ground and power supply rings; and JP H06-216309 describes a technology of providing a decoupling capacitor on a lead frame of the semiconductor device. For reference, the above technologies relate to decoupling capacitors inserted between a power supply wiring and a ground potential wiring provided on the same plane and fundamentally differ in the construction from the decoupling circuits of the present invention described later in that a power supply wiring and a ground potential wiring are formed in different layers.
In the circuitry in which a capacitor is employed as a decoupling circuit, it is necessary to take into account the inductance component included in series with the connection terminal for the noises in a high frequency range. In other words, a capacitor includes both capacitance and inductance components representing a capacitive characteristic at the frequency lower than the series resonance frequency of the capacitance and inductance and an inductive characteristic at the frequency higher than the series resonance frequency. Accordingly, when using a capacitor as a decoupling circuit, the decoupling circuit becomes more inductive as the frequency becomes higher, resulting in degradation of the decoupling performance.
As a countermeasure to address such an issue, there is a method in which many capacitors are arranged in a distributed configuration near the package, or in the printed-circuit board in the LSI. Even if this method is employed, however, the inductance of the terminals and transmission lines for connecting the capacitors and power supply wiring has an unnegligible magnitude. For this reason, it has been difficult to operate the capacitors as a decoupling circuit for a frequency range of several hundreds MHz or higher.
The operations of recent digital circuits have been sped up to have the operation frequencies as high as several GHz. Consequently, it is imperative that a decoupling circuit has an impedance kept at a low value in the frequency range higher than hundreds MHz, or preferably several tens GHz, in order to suppress an electromagnetic interference and improve a signal quality. For this end, it is necessary to develop a circuit element or an element structure differing from the conventional capacitor in order to be capable of retaining low impedance in a high frequency range.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device and a semiconductor circuit provided with a decoupling circuit capable of retaining a low impedance up to the frequency higher than several hundreds MHz, and preferably several tens GHz.

Semiconductor device, semiconductor circuit and method for producing semiconductor device


A method and apparatus for increasing response to low intensity radiation in a radiation detector includes a housing surrounding a chamber, a window adjoining the chamber, and a slot formed in one side of the chamber for admitting a circuit board into the chamber. The board supports an array of elongated detector elements on a surface thereof, an electrically conductive plate within the chamber and substantially parallel with the array of detector elements, sealant means in the slot surrounding the circuit board for providing a gas impervious seal, an ionizable gas contained in the chamber under high pressure, and a collimator mounted in a collimator support and positioned outside the chamber for directing ionizing radiation through the window for detection. The method comprises reducing the window thickness to a value below that required to withstand gas pressure in the chamber without distortion, and also comprises clamping the collimator support to the housing and against the window such that a major portion of the window abuts the collimator support and is externally supported thereby.

An X-ray detector of the type for which the present invention is particularly adapted is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,394,578 and 4,570,071. These detectors generally comprise a housing surrounding a chamber with a radiation window aligned on one side of the chamber and a slot formed in another side of the chamber for admitting a circuit board into the chamber. The circuit board supports an array of elongated charge detector elements on one surface. An electrically conductive plate is positioned within the chamber and arranged substantially parallel with the array of detector elements. The slot is sealed about the detector board so that the chamber is gas impervious. An ionizable gas is contained in the chamber under very high pressure to provide ions when excited by radiation entering through the window. A collimator is positioned outside the chamber and oriented to pass a thin beam of radiation through the window into the chamber. The detector measures the amount of received radiation by monitoring the charge transferred between the electrically conductive plate and the detector elements from ions created in the gas as it is excited by the radiation.
Radiation detectors of the type described above are used in various applications. Commonly, such detectors are used in X-ray inspection techniques for factory applications. An example of the use of such a detector could be in the X-ray inspection of turbine blades for aircraft engines. The effectiveness of such X-ray inspection systems is directly dependent upon the efficiency of the detector. One of the features of such detectors which affects its efficiency is the need to provide a relatively thick X-ray radiation transmissive window in order to support the high pressure gas contained within the chamber. For example, the gas within the radiation chamber may be at a pressure of about 1100 pounds per square inch. Typically, the radiation window is formed by milling a portion out of an aluminum block to form one side of the pressure chamber. This block is then attached to another block in which a similar concavity has been milled so that when the two blocks are placed together, a pressure chamber having an approximately oval shape in cross-section is formed. The support block is normally formed of steel or other suitably strong material since it does not have to pass radiation and can be made sufficiently massive to withstand the pressure within the chamber without deformation. The block containing the window is, however, generally formed of aluminum in order to provide minimal attenuation of the radiation passing through the window. Deformation of the aluminum portion in a direction perpendicular to the direction of radiation entering the chamber can be accommodated by bolting the aluminum portion to the steel portion. However, in order to prevent the window from being deformed in a line parallel to the direction of radiation, it is necessary to leave sufficient thickness of aluminum in that window area to support the high pressure within the chamber. Typically, a minimum window thickness is approximately 1/8 of an inch. In applications where it is necessary to inspect low density materials, the attenuation ratio between the detector window and the part to be inspected becomes critical.

Reduced thickness radiation window for an ionization detector


A DC/DC converter for converting an input DC voltage between input lines into an output DC voltage between output lines includes: an AC current forward path connected via switching electric components to at least one of the output lines and at least one of the output lines; an AC current backflow path connected via same electric connections to at least one of the input lines and at least one of the output lines; and an auxiliary converter for compensating a sum of currents flowing via all forward and backflow paths, the auxiliary converter connecting one end of an compensation current path via two pulsed switches alternately to two lines at one side, the other end of the compensation path being connected to at least one line at the other side of the converter. The input lines are galvanically separated from the output lines by capacitances in all current paths.

An inverter for feeding electric energy from a DC generator into an AC power grid is known from EP 2 023 475 A1. Here, the DC/DC converter supplies at least two bipolar output DC voltages that are additively superimposed between the input lines of the inverter with regard to an earthed center point. Particularly, there are resonant circuits which are each branched and comprise two partial resonance capacitances. Each of these two partial resonance capacitances is connected to two rectifier diodes at its output, and it is thus alternately electrically conductively connected to the two lines of one division of a divided DC voltage link. An inverter bridge of the inverter is connected to the divided DC voltage link. In this way, the known inverter comprises a basic converter ratio for the DC input voltage present between the input lines of the entire inverter as compared to a DC link voltage present between the input lines of the actual inverter bridge of 1:n, wherein n is the total number of the partial resonance capacitances towards which the resonant circuits are branched. In other words, n corresponds to the number of divisions of the divided DC link out of which the inverter bridge is fed. This basic converter ratio for the input DC voltage will prove to be disadvantageous when the known inverter is to be used for feeding electric energy from a photovoltaic module into an AC power grid, if the DC voltage provided by the photovoltaic module is already higher or at least as high as the peak voltage of the AC power grid. Some photovoltaic panels presently used provide such a high DC voltage that the peak voltage of an AC power grid to be fed is already exceeded by a multiple.
Not all embodiments of the inverter known from EP 2 023 475 A1 comprise a galvanic separation between the input lines of the inverter which are the input lines of its DC/DC converter, and the input lines of its inverter bridge which are the output lines of its DC/DC converter. In some embodiments, both the center point of the divided DC voltage link and one of the input lines of the DC/DC converter are grounded, resulting in a grounding extending beyond the DC voltage link.
In the embodiments of the inverter known from EP 2 023 475 A1 which comprise a galvanic separation, the center point of the divided voltage link is connected to the input lines of the inverter bridge via capacitances, and it is connected to an intermediate point between the input lines of the inverter which is—also via capacitances—connected to these input lines of the inverter. Via this additional connection, a passive AC current backflow path is provided which—due to its pure capacitive connection to the input lines of the inverter—does not remove the galvanic separation between the input lines of the entire inverter and the input lines of its inverter bridge.
In the embodiments of the inverter known from EP 2 023 475 A1 in which the input lines of the entire inverter are galvanically separated from the input lines of its inverter bridge and thus from the output lines of the entire inverter, a reference potential for the input DC voltage may be freely selected. There is, however, the danger that the current sum of the currents flowing via the resonant circuits and the passive AC current backflow path is not balanced to zero and that thus undesired, quite high compensation currents may flow via ground.
For example, common mode currents via the DC/DC converter unavoidably occur if, in a DC/DC converter whose output side is capacitively decoupled from its input side, the input side has a fixed potential with reference to ground due to grounding one of its input lines, whereas the potential of its output side with reference to ground periodically changes due to being connected to an inverter bridge which feeds into an AC power grid having a defined potential with reference to ground.
A variant of a so-called Single-Ended Primary Inductance Converter (SEPIC) with galvanic separation due to an additional capacitance in an AC current backflow path is known from EP 0 696 841 A1. Here, there also is the danger that the current sum of the currents flowing via the AC current forward path and the passive AC current backflow path are not balanced to zero and thus undesired compensation currents have to flow via earth.
There still is a need for a DC/DC converter in which compensation currents via ground can be principally avoided.

DC/DC converter with auxiliary converter for earth current compensation


A whole house fresh air system with a wireless interface is disclosed. An example embodiment includes: a damper installed in a structure; a collector box coupled to an intake side of the damper; a disburser box coupled to an output side of the damper; a plurality of intake vents mounted to the structure, the plurality of intake vents having access to fresh air outside of the structure, the plurality of intake vents being coupled to the collector box via a plurality of intake ducts routed through an interior of the structure; and a plurality of output vents installed within the structure, the plurality of output vents having access to air inside of the structure, the plurality of output vents being coupled to the disburser box via a plurality of output ducts routed through an interior of the structure.

Heating and cooling the space in residential and commercial buildings accounts for a primary share of building energy consumption. Existing buildings use either an air conditioning system or a whole house fan for cooling and ventilating residential and commercial building structures. Traditional air conditioning systems function by altering the temperature and humidity of the air and then pumping the treated air throughout the structure. The thermostat powers on the air conditioner until the structure reaches a set point temperature. While effective at conditioning the air, such traditional air conditioning systems are costly to run and not energy efficient. Additionally, when the outside ambient air temperature is lower than the internal air temperature, outside ambient air could instead be used to effectively cool the structure, reducing the need to run a costly air conditioning system. Further, air conditioning systems merely circulate air located within a building, and do not bring any outside air, so any harmful environmental elements (e.g. dust, disease, chemicals, etc.) remain within the building.
In response to such problems, some structures instead use whole house fans to force air through the structure. Whole house fans consist of one or more exhaust fans, typically placed in the attic or an upper floor, and function by creating a negative pressure inside of the structure to draw cooler air in from the outside. The cooler outside air is forced up through the ceiling into the attic where the air is exhausted out through a vent. Louvered shutters are often placed over the vent to prevent cooled or heated air from escaping when the fan is not in use. Whole house systems move large amounts of air and allow for the entire structure air volume to be recycled with multiple air exchanges per hour, removing latent heat within the structure. Traditional whole house fans are installed on the attic floor such that they directly contact the ceiling of the structure. As such, the large capacity whole house fans, necessary to create sufficient negative pressure to draw the cooler air inside in the structure, can create undesirable noise and vibrations that penetrate the occupied space of the building. Advantageously, these systems require less energy than air conditioning systems and can reduce the need for air conditioning and therefore reduce structure energy consumption while still providing a comfortable space. However, such whole house fans require open windows or doors to serve as intake air vents. Thus, the user is required to manually control the air flow. The opened windows or doors, however, can allow in dust, pollen, and other pollutants from the exterior incoming air. The opened windows or doors can also create security problems for the owner. Thus, a better whole house fan system is needed that does not require open windows or doors.

Whole house fresh air system with a wireless interface


An integrated flattening, cutting, and collecting assembly includes a frame, a conveyor seat, and a processing rack. The processing rack is provided with a flattening cylinder and cutting cylinders, a flattening block cooperating with a steel sheet being conveyed by the conveyor seat, a cutting lift seat disposed beneath the cutting cylinders, the cutting lift seat being provided with a cutter and cutting pressing blocks, and wherein the distance between the two cutting pressing blocks is smaller than the length of the flattening block. In addition, the lower end of the cutter is disposed beneath the lower ends of the cutting pressing blocks, and this distance is the same as the thickness of the steel sheet being conveyed. The cutting pressing blocks can press and hold the steel sheet during cutting, while not affecting the cutting of the cutter, whereby the accuracy of the steel sheet cutting is greatly improved.

Steel sheet is a kind of commonly used raw material for machining. In some applications, steel sheet needs to be cut, mostly mechanically cut. Most of the existing sheet cutting machines are relatively simple, a lifting cylinder is used to control the cutter to cut steel sheets apart. Due to the flatness difference of steel sheets, the cutting position can be inaccurate, resulting in low cutting accuracy. Moreover, during cutting, steel sheets may move to a certain extent, which affects accuracy of the cutting again, and the qualified product needs machining after cutting.

Integrated flattening, cutting, and collecting assembly capable of integrity maintenance


A composition comprising a phenylthioethylacrylate, a multifunctional (meth)acrylate, a curing agent, wherein the phenylthioethylacrylate comprises less than about 400 parts per million tin and less than about 2 percent by weight of the corresponding phenylthioethanol. The composition may further comprise at least one unsaturated acid.

This invention relates to a curable acrylate coating composition. More particularly the invention relates to a curable acrylate coating composition, method of making said composition and articles made using said composition.
Prior art brightness-enhancing films typically comprise a high refractive index coating on polyester film. Brightness enhancing films based on polyester do not have as high a luminance as those based on polycarbonate—probably due to inherent haziness of polyester. Further, these brightness enhancing films for optical displays must pass a battery of tests to ensure long-term performance. In one of the tests, thermal aging for 1000 hours at 85° C., brightness enhancing films comprising coating formulations containing phenylthioethylacrylate on polycarbonate film develop an unacceptable amount of haze and loss of luminance.
Hence, there exists a need to provide coating compositions which retain their optical brightness, i.e., do not develop excessive haze, particularly in applications where the brightness of the article is an important consideration.

Curable acrylate compositions, methods of making the compositions and articles made therefrom


The present invention includes a method and apparatus for attenuating flexible circuit resonance. The apparatus includes a flexible circuit assembly. The flexible circuit assembly has a flexible circuit having a flexible cable with first and second sides. The flexible circuit assembly also includes a circuit support. The circuit support includes a base having top and bottom surfaces. The bottom surface is attached to the first side of the flexible cable. The circuit support also includes a support wall extending substantially perpendicularly relative to the top surface of the base. The support wall has a first face, which is substantially oriented towards the top surface of the base. The first side of the flexible cable is attached to the first face and also faces a second face of the support wall to thereby reverse a direction in which the flexible cable faces.

Disc drives are common data storage systems. A typical disc drive includes a rigid housing having a base deck that encloses a variety of disc drive components. The components include one or more discs having data surfaces that are coated with a medium for storage of digital information in a plurality of circular, concentric data tracks. The discs are mounted on a spindle motor that causes the discs to spin and the data surfaces of the discs to pass under aerodynamic bearing head sliders. The sliders, supported on suspension arms that move across the disc by an actuator mechanism, carry transducers, which write information to and read information from the data surfaces of the discs.
A flexible circuit assembly electrically connects the read/write elements on the disc head slider and the arm electronics on the actuator mechanism to a printed circuit board (PCB) that interfaces with a host computer. The flexible circuit assembly includes a flexible cable that allows pivotal movement of the actuator mechanism during operation. The flexible cable includes electrical traces supported by a polymeric carrier material.
Resonance in the flexible cable continues to be a common problem in data storage systems. When a data storage system is engaged in a data seeking process, the flexible cable moves together with the actuator mechanism at a connected end. As a result, the motion/vibration/resonance associated with the flexible cable can be large enough to cause functional failure for the system, e.g. the slider is unable to settle out above the commanded track as rapidly as required. As each new generation of data storage system demands more recorded tracks per inch, attenuating or reducing the flex resonance becomes more important. Recently many flexible circuit designs have incorporated dampers adhered to the flexible cable to absorb some of the energy associated with vibration in the flex cable. However, these dampers do not solve the problems related to variation in frequency of vibrations.
Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.

Method and apparatus for attenuating flexible circuit resonance


There is a shredder comprising: a chopped apparatus including an insertion opening for inserting wastes, and an exhaust port for discharging chopped wastes; a waste container which is displaceable between a receivable position where to receive the chopped wastes and a non-receivable position where not to receive the chopped wastes; a claw portion provided with the waste container; a shutter, which opens the exhaust port by moving the waste container to the receivable position, and which closes the exhaust port by moving the waste container to the non-receivable position; a lock member, which is displaceable between a locked position where to close the shutter and an unlocked position where to make the shutter movable; and an operation lever which displaces the lock member to the unlocked position with the claw portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shredder for cutting disused papers, and more particularly to a shredder provided with a shutter, which opens/closes an exhaust port for discharging chopped wastes by interlocking with displacing operation of a waste container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. Sho 64-48146 discloses a conventional shredder. See FIGS. 7 and 8. The conventional shredder includes: a housing 52 comprising an insertion opening 53 where wastes are inserted and an exhaust port 54 where chopped wastes 64 are discharged; a chopping portion 50 comprising a chopping mechanism 56 provided with a pair of rotary cutters 65 and a motor 57 driving the rotary cutters 55; a waste container 51 receiving the chopped wastes 64 discharged from the exhaust port 54 wherein the waste container 51 is displaceable between a position that the wastes 64 are receivable (receivable position) and a poison that the wastes 64 are not receivable (non-receivable position); and a shutter 58 slidably provided along a guide rail 59 formed at the bottom portion of the housing 52. The shutter 58 opens the exhaust port 54 in the receivable position and closes the exhaust port 54 in the non-receivable position.
As shown in FIG. 7, when this shredder is in the receivable position, a side-wall 62a of a cover body 62 where placed at an upper portion of the waste container 51 works against elastic force made by a compression spring 60, whereby the shutter 58 stays in the receivable position. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, when this shredder is in the non-receivable position, the shutter 58 is displaced by the elastic force of the compression spring 60 in the direction that the shutter 58 closes the exhaust port 54.
The shredder hereinabove described is made to open and close the exhaust port of the chopping portion by interlocking with displacing operation of the waste container. Because the exhaust port can be closed with the shutter by displacing the waste container in the non-receivable position, the chopped wastes remaining in the chopping portion can be prevented from falling to the waste container. However, the shutter is simply pressing the compression spring; it is quite easy to manually displace the shutter to open the exhaust port This means that operators may manually press the shutter to take off the wastes hanging down from the rotary cutters and accidentally touch the rotary cutters or high voltage parts.


Embodiments disclose a system/method for constraint-guided hybrid fuzzing. According to one embodiment, a system performs a grey box fuzzing for a program code, where the performing mutates an initial seed input to generate a first set of seed inputs. The system performs a concolic execution for the program code using the first set of seed inputs to generate a second set of seed inputs. The system determines constraint information associated with the second set of seed inputs by analyzing the concolic execution. The system performs one or more modified grey box fuzzing based on the second set of seed inputs bounded to the constraint information. That way the bounded portion of the second set of seed inputs are not mutated by the grey box fuzzing.

Hybrid fuzz testing leverages both fuzz testing (or fuzzing) and concolic execution to improve code coverage over either one of the approaches alone. For example, grey box fuzzing can utilize seeds generated by concolic execution through solving constraints to explore code regions guarded with complex conditionals or checksums. However, existing hybrid fuzzing systems are not able to make optimal use of concolic execution as the solved constraints are still mutated by grey box fuzzing which reducing fuzzing efficiency.
Current hybrid testing methods include Driller: augmenting fuzzing through selective symbolic execution, QSYM: a practical concolic execution engine tailored for hybrid fuzzing; and probabilistic path prioritization for hybrid fuzzing. These coverage-centric hybrids fuzzing methods all suffer from the problems mentioned above.

Constraint guided hybrid fuzzing test system for application programs


The present invention provides a biaxially oriented polyester film made of a polyester containing 0.01 to 5% by weight of crosslinked polymer particles characterized by:. (1) having a particle size distribution ratio (.gamma.) of 1.3 to 3.5, PA1 (2) having an average particle diameter of 0.1 to 2 .mu.m, PA1 (3) having a non-circularity of 3.4 or more, and PA1 (4) having a standard deviation of noncircularity, of at least 0.16.. The polyester film of the present invention has a flat surface having a small number of large protuberances, excellent running property and excellent winding property, and can be produced economically. The film has excellent properties for use as a base for various magnetic recording media.

The present invention relates to a biaxially oriented polyester film. More particularly, the present invention relates to a biaxially oriented polyester film which contains crosslinked polymer particles having a particular particle size distribution ratio, a particular average particle diameter and a particular shape and which has a flat film surface having a small number of large protuberances, excellent running property and excellent winding property.
Biaxially oriented polyester films are in wide use in various applications such as magnetic tape, electric appliances, photographs, metallization, packaging and the like, owing to their excellent properties. Owing particularly to their high strength and elastic modulus, they are in wide use as a base film for a video tape, an audio tape, a computer tape, a floppy disk, etc.
With increasing demands for high-density recording and high quality in these application fields in recent years, a polyester film used as a base film is increasingly required to have flat surface(s) while retaining running property.
In order to improve the running property of a film, inert inorganic particles are added to a polyester to form fine protuberances derived from the particles on the film surface at the time of film formation. Inert inorganic particles usually have a wide particle size distribution and contain coarse particles and must, therefore, be subjected to classification to remove the coarse particles, before the addition to the polyester. This classification, however, incurs increase in production costs, and the cost drastically increases as the classification is made to a higher degree). Moreover, the classification has a limit in narrowing the particle size distribution and it is unable to remove the coarse particles completely.
Hence, researches have been made in recent years on industrial production of particles, particularly crosslinked polymer particles, containing no coarse particles and having uniform particle diameters, and some of such particles are in industrial production. These particles, however, have a relatively large average particle diameter. Production of particles having uniform and smaller particle diameters involves problems to be solved and requires a higher production cost.
The research by the present inventors revealed that in producing a biaxially oriented polyester film of flat surface using the above-mentioned inorganic particles or crosslinked polymer particles, the running property of a film can be increased to a certain degree but the film can not be wound into a film roll in a good form in some cases and that this problem (a film roll in an inferior form) is more serious in using crosslinked polymer particles of uniform particle diameters and is invited by the shifting of film toward left or right in high-speed winding of the film to cause uneven sides of film roll. The reason for the problem is presumed to be that the protuberances on the film surface have relatively uniform heights and this allows air to be trapped between film layers when the film is wound into a film roll. In order to obtain a film roll of good form having even roll sides, it is therefore necessary to minimize the amount of air intake and further to permit easy removal of the trapped air from between film layers.
In order to achieve the easy removal of trapped air from between film layers, it is effective that the protuberances on film surface are allowed to have nonuniform heights by using particles having a relatively wide distribution of particle size. In this respect, the above-mentioned inert inorganic particles are superior to crosslinked polymer particles having uniform particle diameters. The inert inorganic particles, however, contain coarse particles, allowing the protuberances on film surface produced by such coarse particles to have too large heights, and as a result, the flatness of film surface is lost. This brings about reduction in electromagnetic conversion characteristics when the formed film is made into a magnetic tape, or the protuberances produced by the coarse particles cause drop-out. Thus, the increasing demands for high quality polyester film can not be satisfied by use of inert inorganic particles.
The present inventors made an extensive research in order to develop a biaxially oriented polyester film which is free from the drawbacks of conventional inert inorganic particles or crosslinked polymer particles and which has a flat surface having a small number of large protuberances and, in high-speed winding, generates neither wrinkle nor unevenness of film roll sides. As a result, it has been found that such a film can be obtained by allowing a biaxially oriented polyester film to contain an appropriate amount of particles of particular shape obtained by grinding crosslinked polymer particles having a particular particle size distribution ratio and a particular average particle diameter. This finding has led to the present invention.