Portable storage units are equipped with human readable electronic displays that contain information pertaining to the content and state of the storage units. The information displayed changes as the contents of the storage unit change. Such electronic labels can contain a variety of useful information. Some information would be static, such as owner identification, while other information will be dynamic such as the amount of free space. Still other information will be browseable such as the directory structure, file contents, storage unit total capacity, storage unit available space, storage unit directory structure, storage unit file names. storage unit file contents and device reliability statistics.

As more and more information is stored as digital data, the amount of storage capacity increases accordingly. While much data is stored "online", so as to be immediately accessible, there is also much that is stored "offline". This often includes information which has been backed-up or which has been archived. Much of this offline storage is done on passive media, such as "floppy" disks, Compact Disks (CD-ROM), tape or writable Digital Versatile Disks (DVD).
However there is also a trend to storing much information on "removable" devices—such as hard disks and "flash drives" which can be easily attached and detached to computers (the "host") via USB, FireWire, PCMCIA, Ethernet, or other means. This allows storage which is usually offline to be actively placed online quickly. Removable hard drives typically provide more aggregate storage than is presently available on CDs, or even DVDs.
Flash drives are typically smaller, but their convenience and small size makes them well suited for many applications. They are especially well suited for transporting information between work and home. Some flash drives are coupled with music players such as MP3 players, allowing stored music to be easily taken everywhere in addition to providing file portability. The most common implementation of current flash drives is with the use of the USB interface where the device connects directly to a USB port and no cable is required.
Another form of removable media that is in wide use today is flash media. Typical uses of solid state flash media include removable storage of images from digital cameras and removable music storage in portable music players. For example, a digital camera owner that possesses multiple CompactFlash modules for her/his digital camera frequently has trouble determining which media is available for use and which contain valuable pictures. Flash media is commonly accessed through external USB-attached flash media readers or via media readers integrated directly into personal computers, cameras, music players and printers.
Removable storage can be accessed, possibly modified, and then taken offline. Having such removable storage affords several benefits. It behaves like standard storage while it is online, but has the additional advantages of being stored offline (when it is not required) to reduce the chance of damage from network security breaches and can be sequestered securely to mitigate information loss from fire, theft or other physical threats. Another major benefit of removable storage is its portability. Removable storage can be loaded at work, taken home and updated by an office worker "burning the midnight oil" in the evening and brought back to work the next morning.
Increasing use of removable storage by individuals and corporations leads to "inventory" problems, especially in managing substantial numbers of such removable media; such problems as distinguishing units from one another; determining the ownership of a found device, determining which of several units has the most available capacity, or which has sufficient capacity to store a specific amount of new data.
While there are certainly disciplines to implement such management, existing solutions require manual action on the part of the user. For example the user could label each removable device. The label could include the information such as the contents of the media, its owner, and the last time it was changed. Such an approach requires discipline on the part of the user, many of whom lack the motivation and/or presence of mind to maintain such a system.
A significant feature of the exemplary embodiments of this invention is to provide a convenient and innovative way to facilitate such management, to improve its accuracy by reducing human error in labeling removable devices, and to provide, as part of an automatically generated human-readable label, useful dynamic information regarding the contents and available capacity of the removable storage device. The exemplary embodiments advantageously simplify management of storage resources by eliminating the need for manual labeling.
The illustrative embodiments of the present invention include storage units equipped with human readable electronic displays that contain information pertaining to the content of the storage units. The information displayed changes as the contents of the storage unit changes.
These electronic labels can contain a wide variety of useful information. Some information will be static, such as owner identification, while other information will be dynamic such as the amount of free space. Still other information will be browseable such as the directory structure and even file contents. The following is a partial list of contemplated content in accordance with one or more illustrative embodiments:                Storage unit total capacity        Storage unit available space        Storage unit directory structure        Storage unit file names        Storage unit file contents        Device reliability statistics                    Hours of use            Error rate            Total number of errors            Device internal temperature            Device fragmentation state                        Owner contact information                    Company            Department            Name            Address            Phone            Email address                        Security status of content—could be useful for controlling what can be taken from a secured area. Software would be included which would control access using this information.        Instructions for return of found property.


According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a first memory chip, a second memory chip, and a control chip. The first chip includes a first inductor configured to transmit/receive a signal, and a memory cell. The second chip is disposed on the first chip and includes a second inductor configured to transmit/receive a signal, and a memory cell. The control chip includes a control circuit configured to control the first and second chips, and a third inductor configured to transmit/receive a signal to/from the first and second inductors. The outer peripheries of the first and second inductors are included in a closed space produced by extending the outer periphery of the third inductor in a direction perpendicular to a plane that includes the third inductor. The inductance of the third inductor is greater than at least one of the inductances of the first and second inductors.

Recently, high-density mounting has been required for nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices as a result of a size reduction in portable electronic equipment. Accordingly, three-dimensional stack mounting in which semiconductor chips are stacked is drawing attention.
In such a three-dimensional memory device, signals are traditionally sent/received between chips by wire bonding. However, there is fear that a required number of wire bondings may not be permitted when a great number of chips need to be stacked in one package. Moreover, it is known that reflection of signals between wiring lines resulting from an inductor component of wires decreases the performance of an LSI.
To address this issue, there has been suggested a technique for forming a through-via that penetrates a substrate in a semiconductor chip, and a technique for forming a communication inductor element in a semiconductor chip.
However, a complicated manufacturing process is required for forming the through-via, so that there are problems of increased manufacturing costs and of the difficulty of improving quality. Another problem is that the area of the semiconductor chip increases if the inductor element is formed in the semiconductor chip.


A boiler steam amount measuring method for continuously measuring a temporal change in an amount of steam from a steam boiler, includes: first measuring a differential pressure between a pressure at a first detection position that is a predetermined position in a can body of the steam boiler or a steam outflow path, and a pressure at a second detection position in the steam outflow path separated from the first detection position toward a downstream side; first calculating a pressure loss coefficient based on the differential pressure measured by flowing a predetermined flow rate of steam or fluid instead of steam into the steam outflow path, and the predetermined flow rate; and second calculating continuously the amount of steam based on the differential pressure measured in the first measuring and the pressure loss coefficient calculated in the first calculating, and outputting the calculated amount of steam as a measurement value.

There are conventionally known simplified steam amount measuring methods for measuring the amount of steam without using a steam flow meter. A first conventional method is directed for calculating the amount of steam by use of a direct fuel flow signal by a fuel flow meter. A second conventional method is directed for measuring an exhaust gas flow velocity in a flue based on a difference between a total pressure and a static pressure by a pitot tube, calculating a fuel flow rate, and estimating the amount of steam by use of an indirectly-calculated fuel flow signal. Both the first and second conventional methods are the methods for estimating the amount of steam based on the amount of input/output heat into/from a boiler.
The conventional methods for calculating the amount of steam based on the amount of input/output heat into/from a boiler as the first and second conventional methods have the following problem. That is, a temporally-changing velocity is different between a steam amount estimation based on the amount of input/output heat into/from a boiler and an actual steam amount measurement, and thus the ever-changing amount of steam cannot be measured without a response delay. For example, if a variation in intermittently supplied water, intermittent blow or supplied water temperature in a boiler occurs during a measurement, a temporal change in the amount of steam cannot be precisely measured (because a delay due to transmitted heat, accumulated heat or radiated heat is present).
The first and second conventional steam amount estimating methods have the problem that when a fuel property value such as the amount of generated heat, which is important data for estimating the amount of steam based on the amount of input/output heat into/from a boiler, changes, the estimated amount of steam changes. Particularly, in coal burning overseas, although it depends on the kind of coal, the amount of water has a large effect on outdoor crushed coal immediately before actual use, and thus the fuel property value changes. Therefore, the amount of generated heat and the amount of theoretical exhaust gas change and thus the estimated amount of steam changes.

Boiler steam amount measuring method, boiler load analyzing method, boiler steam amount measuring apparatus, and boiler load analyzing apparatus


An air/oil separator for use in a gas turbine engine includes a centrifugal separation stage in fluid communication with a downstream electrostatic separation stage. The centrifugal separation stage rotationally drives an electric generator to power the electrostatic separation stage.

Gas turbine engine oil systems require a separator for separating air and oil from the air/oil mixture produced during engine operation. These mixtures vary from oil emulsified with air, to air contaminated by droplets of oil. For example, the compressed air streams used in gas turbine engines to pressurize labyrinth seals for the engine main bearings in order to avoid excessive loss of lubricating oil, invariably become contaminated with oil in the form of particles suspended in the air. Loss of contaminated air from the labyrinth seals in the compressor disadvantageously causes fouling of the engine parts and produces noxious and unpleasant contaminates in air drawn from the compressor for cabin pressurization. Engine oil tanks, auxiliary gearboxes, and the oil system in general contain a pressure above the ambient pressure and need to vent to the atmosphere. The increased loss of lubricating oil from the engine oil tank further disadvantageously necessitates larger capacity oil tanks, thereby adding to the overall weight of the engine, which is particularly a problem relating to aircraft engines. Centrifugal separators have been extensively used in the aircraft industry in attempts to remove the majority of oil mixture from compressed air streams. However, efforts have been continuously made in the aircraft industry to improve the efficiency of air/oil separators in gas turbine engine oil systems.
Additionally, industry trends are moving away from mechanically/gearbox driven, to electrically driven accessories, so the availability of an appropriate shaft/drive to operate a conventional centrifugal separator will be reduced or possibly eliminated in the future.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved air/oil separator for use in gas turbine engines.

Self-contained electrostatic air/oil separator for aircraft engine


A contour shape measurement method that can more accurately align an article to be measured to a predetermined position to enable high-precision evaluation even in a state where a probe measurement axis and a table rotation axis do not match with sufficient precision is provided. A spatial position of the table rotation axis relative to the probe measurement axis is obtained as a rotation axis vector. Alignment data obtained in at least two directions is coordinate-transformed around the rotation axis vector, to constitute synthesized alignment data. The article is aligned based on the synthesized alignment data. Since three-dimensional data of a surface to be measured of the article can be calculated, the article can be directly aligned to the probe measurement axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contour shape measurement method for precisely measuring a shape of an optical element or a mold for manufacturing an optical element.
2. Description of the Related Art
A probe-type shape measurement device is widely used to measure a shape of a surface to be measured of an article to be measured such as an optical element or a mold. An example of the probe-type shape measurement device is a shape measurement device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. H08-29153. This shape measurement device measures the shape of the surface, by performing a scan with a probe along the shape of the surface and simultaneously obtaining oscillation information of the probe in chronological order. A line scanned with the probe on the surface is referred to as "scan line". With such a structure, the shape of the surface along the scan line is obtained as measured data.
Typically, a line intended to be measured on the surface is set according to the design shape of the surface. As an example, the line intended to be measured is a line suitable for evaluation by a performance evaluation tool such as an optical simulator. As another example, the line intended to be measured is a line suitable for a processing method by a processing machine to modify the optical element. Desired measured data is obtained by matching the scan line to the line intended to be measured. The measured data is then compared with the design shape of the line intended to be measured. The shape of the surface can be evaluated in this way.
As is clear from the above description, even in the case where the surface with the same shape is measured, the obtained measured data is different when the scan line is different. If the measured data and the design shape of the line intended to be measured are compared for evaluation in a state where the scan line does not match the line intended to be measured, the shape of the surface cannot be correctly recognized. That is, even when the surface is accurately shaped according to the design shape, the shape of the surface is incorrectly recognized as being different from the design shape. This is a measurement error. Such a measurement error needs to be reduced for high-precision measurement.
To precisely measure the shape of the surface using a contour shape measurement device in which the scan axis of the probe is uniaxial, the scan line needs to be matched to the line intended to be measured with sufficient precision. A necessary condition for this is to place the article at a predetermined position on the device. An operation of adjusting the article to the predetermined position on the device is referred to as "alignment".
The reference for aligning the article on the device can be mainly classified into the following two: one is the surface formed on the outside of the article; and the other is the surface to be measured of the article. In the case where how the shape of the surface to be measured is different from the design shape is intended to be evaluated, the surface to be measured is more desirably used as the reference.
As the method of aligning with respect to the surface to be measured, there is a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S62-272186. In this method, the article is placed on a rotation table and aligned to the rotation of the rotation table.
An article having an axisymmetric aspherical surface is used here as an example. The design shape of the axisymmetric aspherical surface is typically represented by a polynomial expression indicating the height direction with respect to the radial direction from the center to the periphery. Accordingly, to compare the measured data with the design shape represented by the polynomial expression, it is desirable that the line intended to be measured passes through the center of the surface to be measured and is in the radial direction, as in the form of expression of the design shape.
When processing an optical element having an axisymmetric aspherical surface, a method of processing the optical element by moving a processing tool in the radial direction according to a command while rotating the optical element around its center axis is used. The command in this case is the polynomial expression of the design shape or a polynomial expression generated by adding a correction amount to the design shape. The correction amount is usually generated from the measured data. It is therefore desirable that the line intended to be measured passes through the center of the surface to be measured and is in the radial direction, as in the processing method.
Here, the axis for scanning with the probe in the shape measurement device is referred to as "probe scan axis". When scanning with the probe along the probe scan axis, the probe oscillates according to the shape of the surface to be measured. Regarding this oscillating axis, an axis that intersects with the probe scan axis and is in the direction along the probe is specifically referred to as "probe measurement axis". Moreover, an axis of symmetry of the axisymmetric aspherical surface in the article is referred to as "article center axis". If the article is aligned so that the article center axis matches the probe measurement axis, the scan can be performed with the probe passing through the center of the surface to be measured in the radial direction.
In the conventional technique, the article is aligned to the rotation of the rotation table. That is, the article is aligned so that the article center axis matches the rotation axis (table rotation axis) of the rotation table. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S62-272186 describes that the probe measurement axis and the table rotation axis are substantially parallel. Hence, the article center axis indirectly matches the probe measurement axis.
However, under circumstances where higher precision is increasingly required of alignment as the precision of shape measurement increases, it has become difficult to regard the probe measurement axis and the table rotation axis as being substantially parallel. In the case of performing shape measurement with high precision, an axial misalignment between the probe measurement axis and the table rotation axis is not negligible. Even when the article is aligned using the conventional technique, it is difficult to ensure that the article center axis matches the probe measurement axis. In a state where the article center axis and the probe measurement axis do not match with sufficient precision, the scan line and the line intended to be measured do not match, and so high-precision measurement is impossible.
The present invention has an object of providing a contour shape measurement method that can more accurately align an article to be measured at a predetermined position to enable high-precision measurement even in a state where a probe measurement axis and a table rotation axis do not match with sufficient precision.


Computer-implemented methods and computer program products wherein a user's reviewing of select text in a synchronized news story, article, or electronic book generates a changed presentation of associated multimedia content, including photographs, videos, and computerized graphics. User's reviewing of select text is detected automatically or managed manually, with select embodiments integrating touch-screen controls. This process of changing multimedia continues with the user's reviewing of additional select text segments. Select multimedia is modified instead of completely replaced as the user advances to an additional select text segment, leading to uniquely flowing presentations. Multimedia is visually modified through zooming, panning, resizing, highlighting, and/or other approaches. Select embodiments include similarly modified holographic imagery, advertisements, securities charts, and shifted text. In select embodiments, the user's reading speed adjusts visual modifications.

1. Field
This application relates to the electronic presentation of news, advertising, and informational content, where the written content is integrated and synchronized in a distinct manner with other forms of multimedia content.
2. Prior Art
Readers of news stories and other informational content have benefited from technological advancements in the presentation of articles in print and especially in the presentation of articles via computer-implemented methods and computer program products.
In print, and for news content in particular, the inverted pyramid structure of journalism has remained the mainstay since the 19th century. In fact, one of the first inverted pyramid stories was purportedly an Associated Press story drafted in 1865 to report the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Although often considered outdated, the inverted pyramid remains the principal format for stories published by such dominant news organizations as The Associated Press and Reuters. In simple terms, the inverted pyramid structure requires expressing first the key issue of a news story or other informational article, followed by supplementary information of lesser significance and lesser interest so that inverted pyramid stories often conclude anticlimactically by describing detailed minutiae or background information. Most often, the inverted pyramid story is published alone or with an accompanying static photograph.
At the same time, the intermittent use of "alternative story formats" in print journalism in recent decades has served to enhance the appeal of news content in newspapers and magazines by incorporating visuals that aide a user's comprehension and enjoyment of a given story. News content based on the "alternative story format" innovation often incorporates charts, graphs, colorful designs, bulleted points, and other similar features.
Electronically, the presentation of news and other informational content has changed far more dramatically and quickly. Internet aggregators such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's Bing, as well as online publishers such as WashingtonPost.com and TheWallStreetJournal.com, are now able to present hyperlinked titles of news stories and informational articles that users can click-on or otherwise select to review an entire news story or other piece of content in an electronic display. Some aggregators, such as Yahoo, have leads that pop-up when the user's cursor hovers over a particular story's headline, helping the user to determine whether to skip that story or click on the hyperlink to review the content in depth. Similarly, publishers and aggregators have integrated multimedia content into their electronic presentations of news and other content, whereby digital photographs, video, and audio are mixed with the written content and whereby users can click to review a slideshow of digitized photos related to any given piece of content, whether it's news related or a "how to" informational article.
The current leading online newspaper for interactive innovations is likely The New York Times. Their online newspaper offers several cutting-edge, interactive news presentations and The Times has won multiple awards for their interactive efforts. Their interactive news presentations, however, are heavily focused on graphics, rather than on written articles that incorporate multimedia in the manners described in this patent application featuring "synchronized news stories" and "synchronized informational articles."
Furthermore, the digital age has led to a blurring of the boundaries between newspapers, television, and other media. In recent decades, broadcast, cable, and satellite television had merely allowed the user to watch broadcasts with simple text overlays that serve to clarify the images portrayed in the video presentations. More recently, however, the Internet has led to a commingling of content in new ways. Video, graphics, and text are able to be integrated so that, for example, a user can read a CNN article on the Internet, then click on a nearby, related video clip, and then click again to review an audio segment that further expands that same written article.
Yet, no other news articles or informational articles have been found that combine written content with other forms of media in the manner described in the embodiments contained within this patent application. The closest electronic news concept uncovered in published media pertains to displays of photographic slide shows on CNN and other news websites; in those examples, the reader clicks the next arrow to see a new photo and to read the accompanying captions. But the "synchronized articles" embodiments taught herein are not primarily about displaying small, isolated captions of text—most of the embodiments contained herein focus on uniquely matching visual and other media to the main text of a given news story or similar news content.
On a different note, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals other prior art innovations that have been created to further innovate the electronic creation and display of content.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,610,358 (2009), Benschoter teaches how to present electronic media content, primarily video content, that is retrieved from a database. Benschoter's method, assigned to Time-Warner Cable, seeks to separate news content into headlines, summaries, and full text or video, allowing the user to incrementally determine whether to move forward with reviewing a particular news story or other content. It is not intended to focus on synchronizing written content with other forms of multimedia in the manner taught herein.
A patent application by Stuckman (2007/0198655) helps users to navigate in a linear manner from one website to another website. Stuckman's approach differs in that it's not focused on news stories, news commentaries, or other articles, but rather on creating a way for users to move quickly from one website to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,193 issued to Covington is titled "Interactive Multimedia Annotation Method and Apparatus." Covington allows a reader of a text story to view or bypass multimedia by manually selecting a highlighted link. In Covington's patent, the reader has to decide to select each text link separately in order to show the next photo, video, etc., rather than having these multimedia elements, or a majority of these elements, stream automatically as the user reviews a particular article. Covington's purpose is to allow the "annotating [of] a text document" by authors in a quick manner and to then give readers the ability to choose or bypass accessing various presentations of multimedia. The multimedia selected then appears in pop-up windows overlaying the text. In addition, this Covington patent has extra steps along with other elements that make it different from the embodiments taught herein.
A patent application by Freeman (2004/0175095) synchronizes images and audio narratives to a written text. This audio-oriented concept is meant for full-length books on-tape, which differs from the embodiments described herein.
A patent application by Allen (2004/0078814) intends to provide a customized ticker for televisions. This intriguing multimedia application by Paul G. Allen, a founder of Microsoft, allows the user to customize ticker data within a television broadcast, utilizing multiple displays to present tickers while continuing to watch a sports broadcast, for example.
A patent application by Jewsbury of Microsoft Corporation (2007/0006079) focuses on identifying a "state change in a structured representation of a declarative markup language document" to trigger the playing of a component of an interactive multimedia presentation.
A patent application by Saiga (2004/0080541) seems to enable electronic books to incorporate a timed presentation of information.
A patent application by Saccocci (2009/0191531) seems confusing, but appears to want to combine a printed book or periodical with stimulation coming from an audio-visual product (such as a stereo or a TV or a computer). Saccocci's key approach is to have the reader hold the physical book in hand and then present sound effects or visual effects as the reader reads a page from that traditional book.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,248, Iggulden seeks to augment a printed book with computerized multimedia content. The physical book contains printed visual cues, and the reader may manually access "indicia" on a computer corresponding with those visual cues to play supplementary audio or other multimedia content.
A patent application by Cohen (2003/0059758) similarly seeks to integrate a printed book with "associated interactive electronic data," with the book likewise containing "indicia" to help the user access corresponding electronic data.
A patent application by Harshman (2006/0286528) focuses on an "interactive multimedia reading method." As with Iggulden and Cohen, Harshman seeks to have the user read a printed book, text, or manual. Coding buried within the printed text then allows the user the option to access related movie or other video segments "on demand." Harshman's patent application's legal claims section seem to focus almost entirely on readers of conventional, printed books; in this regard, electronically reproduced documents are mentioned once in the entire application, and is excluded from the claims. Most importantly, as with Covington, Harshman requires the reader to decide to select each particular text link to show the next video segment, rather than having these multimedia elements, or a majority of these elements, stream automatically as the user reviews the book. With Harshman, the reader has to choose each time to "actuate a code or icon and the like" to access each particular video "on demand" segment. In another part of his application, Harshman discusses "pointing and clicking" to access each video on demand. The reason for this approach is that Harshman is offering the user of a book the opportunity to further augment their reading of a book with video segments whenever the reader feels a need. Additionally, although Harshman claims a broad variety of printed and written material, his patent application does not refer to "news" or "news stories." Next, while Harshman indicates that the printed materials can be "financial reports . . . charts, and graphs," he never suggests that the multimedia materials can be charts or photographs or graphics; his teaching focuses solely on movies or videos. In contrast, multimedia depictions of stock charts, financial pie charts, and similar graphics are essential to the original embodiments described herein that pertain to financial news content. In turn, the incorporation of photographs and graphics is a key feature of other embodiments depicted herein.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,170, Harris teaches a "Method and Apparatus for Providing Interactive Media Presentation." Harris combines presenting interactive and non-interactive photos, videos, and other media to a user over a computer in combination with a stored "user profile." Harris's patent claims seem unclear, but it appears that this patent is intended to prompt the user to watch a non-interactive video and to then make interactive selections based on the information presented in that non-interactive video. The user's choices are then coupled with information stored in their "user profile," which then jointly leads to the presentation of follow-up information. It should be noted that Harris's visually-oriented media patent is not focused on news content; instead, it's mostly related to shopping. Nor is Harris's patent related to articles that have a text orientation; as such, Harris does not intend to change the graphics in his presentation as the user reads or scrolls down a block of text, as is taught in the "synchronized news stories" and "synchronized informational articles" patent application herein. Moreover, whereas Harris's patent is completely dependent upon user profiles, implementing user profiles is an element of only certain embodiments described herein.
Relating to scrolled content, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,069, Krause teaches a helpful method of scrolling text at variable speeds by attending to the user's eye or head movements.
In turn, a patent application by Lin-Hendel (2008/0109750) teaches an automatic scrolling method via the use of a highly-flexible electronic scrolling tool.
3. Additional Prior Art Uncovered in Academia
Additional research has been uncovered pertaining to unique news presentations and hypermedia theories propounded by advanced academic researchers in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.
In the September 1997 edition of Journalism and Mass Communications, Professor Eric Fredin published a monograph entitled, "Rethinking the News Story for the Internet: Hyperstory Prototypes and a Model of the User." At the time of authorship, Fredin was an associate professor in the school of journalism at Ohio State University. In his monograph, Fredin proposed several concepts for creating non-linear news stories. Yet Fredin's focus was to have a "main story" presented sequentially, while displaying "related files" in a separate window. A different set of related files corresponds to individual portions of the displayed main news story. Differing from the embodiments described herein, Fredin's goal was to allow a reader to see headlines of other news stories that relate to specific portions of a given "main story," and to also allow each of those related stories to become the new "main story" with its own set of related headlines. Fredin's goal was to allow readers to shift from one news story to another news story in a fluid manner, rather than to completely transform the inner workings of a news story or other informational articles.
In 1999 Assistant Professor Robert Huesca of Trinity University and Professor Brenda Dervin of Ohio State University presented an intriguing and helpful paper at the "Media in Transition Conference" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The paper was entitled, "Hypertext and Journalism: Audiences Respond to Competing News Narratives." The paper was based on a previous experiment in which these researchers had "selected existing news stories and redesigned them ourselves using basic principles of hypertext." Huesca and Dervin took traditional news stories from the Los Angeles Times and configured them for presentation so that the "redesigned versions contained no new material; rather, they were simply broken into thematic parts that had to be activated by clicking on links running along the left side of the computer screen . . . Aside from slight changes in transitional phrases, the hypertext content was identical to the original article; only the form was altered—from a unified, linear story versus a non-sequential narrative with reader controlled links." Huesca and Dervin's experiment focused on non-linear presentations of news content. Their method differed widely from the embodiments described in this patent application, in large part because the professors' methods do not offer stories which progress linearly through the precise synchronizing of written content with other forms of media.
Similar to the research presented by Huesca and Dervin at MIT, Wilson Lowrey published an interesting research paper in the Spring 2004 edition of the Newspaper Research Journal. The research paper was entitled, "More Control, but not Clarity in Non-Linear Web Stories." Lowrey also discussed and compared a similar approach in another paper, "The Applicability of Cognitive Flexibility Theory to the Production of Hypermedia News Stories." This latter research paper was presented by Lowrey in New Orleans on May 27, 2004 at an annual conference hosted by the International Communication Association. Lowrey is an associate professor of journalism in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama. In "More Control, but not Clarity in Non-Linear Web Stories," Lowrey describes the creation of a non-linear news story where "the non-linear story was segmented into four different topics and was overlaid with a navigational scheme. Links to each of the four topics were available in a vertical frame on the left side of each page." Like Huesca and Dervin, Lowrey appears to permit the user to skip from one news story portion to another portion in any sequence desired. Also like Huesca and Dervin, Lowrey's methods do not offer stories which progress linearly based on the "synchronized news stories" computer-implemented methods and computer program products taught herein.
In a 2008 edition of New Media and Society, Mark Tremayne, Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, published an article about an unusual hypertext prototype he developed. The article was entitled: "Manipulating Interactivity with Thematically Hyperlinked News Texts: a media learning experiment." Tremayne stated his prototype is not "a purely non-linear one" as is taught herein; instead he focused on a "hierarchical hypertext" that contained multiple layers of portions which could only be accessed via a specific manner. Tremayne's prototype is also distinct from that described herein.
Finally, João Canavilhas of Universidade da Beira Interior in Portugal presented a helpful research piece at the International Symposium of Online Journalism in 2008 at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium is sponsored in part by the Knight Center for Journalism and UNESCO. Canavilhas's article is entitled "Hypertext Newswriting Effects on Satisfaction, Comprehension and Attitudes." Canavilhas's prototype for a non-linear news story includes the initial presentation of a news story title coupled with its lead. Contained within this lead are links the user may select to navigate to other portions of the news story. Canavilhas's method of navigation and presentation differs from the embodiments described herein. As just one example, Canavilhas embeds his hyperlinks in various places of the lead itself (to encourage non-linear reading) rather than in the main text or in another manner that lends itself to a linear presentation of the news story. Also, and as with the other prior art examples, Canavilhas's approach doesn't allow the reader to synchronize written content with other forms of media in the streaming method and product taught herein.
A surprisingly large volume of additional research has been undertaken on this subject, and the Association for Computerized Machinery has even formed a special interest group dedicated to the research of "hypertext, hypermedia, and the web." This special interest group sponsors annual conferences where university professors from across the globe publish and discuss academic research on advanced methods of presenting news content. Yet, despite the sizable volume of research and experiments undertaken, the inventor has not encountered models that specify the embodiments detailed in this application's appended claims.

Computer-implemented methods and computer program products for integrating and synchronizing multimedia content, including content displayed via interactive televisions, smartphones, electronic book readers, holographic imagery projectors, and other computerized devices


A method and system relate to data storage, and more particularly, to an intelligent storage service catalog. A method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having programming instructions. The programming instructions are operable to receive at least one definition of storage requirements for an organization for at least one data type and establish at least one data storage allocation rule based on the at least one data type. Additionally, the programming instructions are operable to receive a request for storage for the at least one data type and allocate data storage based on the request for storage and the at least one data storage allocation rule.

Data proliferation refers to the unprecedented amount of data, for example, structured and unstructured data, that, e.g., business and government continue to generate at an unprecedented rate. Additionally, data proliferation refers to the usability problems that result from attempting to store and manage that data. While originally pertaining to problems associated with paper documentation, data proliferation has become a major problem in primary and secondary data storage on computers.
While digital storage has become cheaper, the associated costs, from, for example, raw power to maintenance and from metadata to search engines, have not kept up with the proliferation of data. Although the power required to maintain a unit of data has fallen, the cost of facilities that house the digital storage has tended to rise.
Data proliferation may be problematic for several reasons. For example, data proliferation may cause difficulty when trying to find and retrieve information. An organization's employees can spend more than one hour per week to find, for example, hard-copy documents, which increases costs to manage and store such documents. In networks of primary and secondary data storage, problems finding electronic data are analogous to problems finding hard copy data. Additionally, for example, data proliferation may cause data loss and legal liability when data is disorganized, not properly replicated and/or cannot be found in a timely manner. Moreover, data proliferation may increase manpower requirements to manage, for example, increasingly chaotic data storage resources. Furthermore, data proliferation may cause slower networks and application performance due to excess traffic as users search and search again for the material they need. Data proliferation may also cause high cost in terms of the energy resources required to operate storage hardware.
Data centers, e.g., shared data centers, may be used for data storage, amongst other purposes. For example, an organization may obtain data storage from, e.g., a data storage service provider. In obtaining such data storage, an organization must determine an amount of storage necessary to meet their data storage requirements. However, such a determination of necessary storage information may be difficult and/or expensive to perform. As a result, an organization may obtain more storage than necessary for their actual storage requirements, which increases expenditures and reduces efficiencies.
Moreover, a more efficient approach to data storage management is needed. That is, for example, with the demands of line of business (LOB) owners for faster provisioning, application owners designing their own solutions, the desire for information technology (IT) to be more energy efficient, storage growth that continues despite efforts to optimize storage, the desire for visibility to storage cost and usage ownership, a desire to control IT costs and/or business requesting storage multi-years in advance, e.g., due to slow cycle of past procurement, the current approaches to data storage provisioning and management are insufficient.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described herein above.

System and method for an intelligent storage service catalog

International Business Machines Corporation


The process of our invention heats a plurality of partially finished products extruded in an extrusion unit or changed in a transforming unit as a preparation for introduction into subsequent transformation or processing units. In extruding and/or transforming or heating the heat applied to at least one partially finished product length group is transferred during intermediate transport of the partially finished product length group and/or during storage by heat transfer with other partially finished product length groups. The heat transfer is caused by radiation, convention and/or direct contact. An apparatus for performing the process according to our invention comprising a thermal insulating chamber provided with an air flow and air feed devices and if necessary an auxiliary heating unit is also provided.

A variety of operating processes and devices are known in which semifinished products, which are transported in the direction of their longitudinal axis or transverse to it, are guided to a storage area and, corresponding to the requirements of the subsequent processes, can be brought to a heated furnace in which they are heated to a subsequent process temperature and then are fed to the appropriate processing site.
The continuous casting heat of the semifinished product coming from an continuous casting device can be utilized in a further process. A path upstream of the subsequent process can be provided in such manner that the partially finished product is not cooled to the storage temperature but is fed to the heating oven of the rolling unit or heating device arranged upstream of the rolling unit.
When the semifinished product (e.g. slabs to be further rolled, or billets or blooms) of the continuous casting unit is taken away continuously at a fixed rate, the rate at which the rough-shaped articles are available may not be suited for the further processing speed and the further processing time of the finishing deformation operation and further processing stations and, buffer storage are usually associated with the heating furnace and can be provided between it and the continuous casting device, with which the different capacities based on the differences in the initial and subsequent processing speeds are matched (German Open Patent Application 27 23 626).
It is also known to use, in a sense, the continuous casting heat of the semifinished product by transferring such heat to the already cooled and even not semifinished product by providing them together in one and the same heating furnace. This shortens the heating time to a desired subsequent processing temperature or permits the heated semifinished product to remain in the furnace for a shorter time than the cold product.
This interdependence between the continuous casting device and the subsequent processing unit makes it difficult to adjust the components of the total unit, such as the deforming (e.g. primary rolling) device, after-heating unit, and buffer storage with respect to one another.
In practical operation, frequently cold products from storage areas are introduced to the heat-transferring furnace so that the semifinished product fed to the subsequent rolling unit cannot be removed from the furnace in requisite numbers.
The processing of semifinished products having a variety of dimensions requires an expensive program plan and control of the steel plant, the continuous casting device and the subsequent processing device. Even where computer control is available to establish such programs the entire unit is not very flexible when products of different dimensions should be produced in fewer or larger numbers of pieces. An additional disadvantage is that the individual components of the entire unit are not driven independently of each other but must be driven jointly so that in part increased empty run times are unavoidable. Also the storage requires an increased organizational expense.
Attempts, for example with high quality steel rolling with conventional rolling programs using known working processes, using the previously described approach with heat transfer between hot and cold semifinished products allows a more or less direct pass through of the semifinished product to make up only 20 to 30% of the total output of the finishing rolls.
Besides these difficulties and disadvantages which accompany the use of the known working processes, it is frequently necessary that the semifinished product be inspected and, if necessary, cleaned in the subsequent processing in a still heated state instead of in a cooled condition on its path or in the storage areas.

Process for heating a semifinished product produced by continuous casting or deformation


An identification apparatus includes a classification unit that determines two or more classes into which input biometric data is classified out of a plurality of classes based on features of the input biometric data, where a plurality of items of registered biometric data have been classified into at least one of the plurality of classes, a calculation unit that calculates similarity between the input biometric data and each item of the registered biometric data registered in each of the two or more classes into which the input biometric data is classified, and an identification unit that identifies data on a user who has entered the input biometric data among the registered biometric data registered in any of the two or more classes into which the input biometric data is classified, based on the similarity to the input biometric data.

Examples of security on information processing devices such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) include personal authentication based on biometric information (biometrics). When a fingerprint is used in biometric personal authentication, the fingerprint is collected from a finger of a user as image information using a capacitive fingerprint sensor or optical fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint of the user is collected as image information about a pattern made up of, for example, ridges which can touch a touch surface of the fingerprint sensor and valleys which does not touch the touch surface. Feature information is extracted from biometric data on a collected fingerprint image. Then, by matching the extracted feature information against pre-registered feature information, it is determined whether or not the user is really who he/she claims to be, i.e., personal authentication is performed. Examples of feature information on a fingerprint image as biometric data include positional information on ridge bifurcations or ridge endings of ridges. Incidentally, the biometric data is data, such as a fingerprint image, collected from a living body of the user. The feature information is information about features of the user's living body and is extracted from the biometric data.
Also, methods for matching entered biometric data or feature information against registered biometric data or feature information include a method known as 1:N matching. The 1:N matching is a method for identifying biometric data or feature information of a matching user out of multiple items of pre-registered biometric data or feature information when biometric data of a user is entered, and does not involve identifier input or other similar processes for identifying the user. The 1:N matching involves a complicated process when the entered biometric data or feature information is matched against all the registered biometric data or feature information. Therefore, matching is sometimes done after narrowing down the biometric data or feature information which can be match candidates. For example, there is a technique which, using classification into classes, narrows down match candidates to biometric data or feature information registered in classes into which entered biometric data or feature information is classified based on similarity of biometric data.

Identification apparatus, identification method, and program


A positioning device includes a computer including a stored design file, such as a CAD file, for positioning a selected portion of the design on a workpiece. In a first embodiment, a base unit houses an extensible cable including a free end for placement by a user at a design point on the workpiece. A turn carriage freely rotates about a turn axis to follow cable movement. In output mode, the user is directed to move the cable free end toward the portion of the design and a cable tensioning motor adjusts the tension in the cable sufficiently to indicate when cable free end is at a distance to the portion of the design. Other embodiments include: a turn carriage servoed motor for rotating the turn carriage to follow the cable; and a pitch carriage and servoed motor for rotating the pitch carriage for following the cable.

Conventional devices for placing a design, such as a CAD that is retained in a computer, on a workpiece include laser output devices. The design to be positioned my be a single point or multiple spaced points, such as placement of a bore hole or holes, a continuous curve, such as drawing a line, or a three dimensional surface.
However, laser output devices are extremely expensive, are very sensitive to shocks and dust, and have limited accuracy on many surfaces. Therefore, there are many applications where they are not suitable for use.
Additionally, laser devices must typically be positioned at a known location and orientation relative to the work piece in order to position the design on the workpiece. This typically requires the laser device to be used in a fixture with the workpiece. However, there are many applications, particularly one-time applications, in which it is highly desirable position the design without the use of a fixture.

Positioning device with extensible cord and method


A folding knife having a handle including a first side and a second side spaced apart to define a cavity; a blade including a cutting surface and a tang; and a holding mechanism including a piston adapted to be manually moved and having a first stop element of a first dimension and a first opposing element of a second dimension greater than the first dimension, at least a second stop element fixed on the tang, and at least a second opposing element also fixed on the tang, the first opposing element being adapted to be moved to a hold position when the blade is in one of the closed and open positions, in which the first opposing element seats against the second opposing element, the first stop element substantially engages the second stop element, and the blade is held in the one position.

Pocket knives are commonly used by sportsmen, craftsmen and others who desire a compact, portable blade or tool. Folding knives commonly include a handle with two sides spaced apart to define a cavity, and a blade. The blade includes a cutting surface and a tang pivotally attached to the handle. The blade pivots with respect to the handle between an open position, where the cutting surface extends outwardly from the handle, and a closed position, where the cutting surface is disposed within the cavity of the handle.
Many folding knives also include a device that holds, maintains, or locks the blade in the open position and/or the closed position. One type of knife locking mechanism is a "liner lock," which utilizes a leaf spring positioned within the cavity of the knife handle and which engages the heel end of the knife blade. The blade is typically released by the user by applying finger pressure to the leaf spring, thus releasing the leaf spring from the knife blade. Another commonly used folding knife locking mechanism is a "back lock," which utilizes a locking bar positioned along an upper edge of the knife handle. When finger pressure is applied to the locking bar, a tang interconnected to the locking bar is withdrawn from a cut-out "anvil" portion which is positioned proximate the heel-end of the blade. When the tang is released, the knife blade is allowed to rotate between a first extended position of use and a second closed position wherein at least a portion of the knife blade is stored within a cavity in the knife handle.
Examples of folding knives, including folding knives with locking mechanisms, may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,454,665; 1,743,022; 4,040,081; 4,173,068; 4,404,748; 4,451,982; 4,502,221; 4,719,700; 4,805,303; 4,811,486; 4,837,932; 4,893,409; 4,974,323; 4,979,301; 5,044,079; 5,060,379; 5,095,624; 5,111,581; 5,293,690; 5,325,588; 5,331,741; 5,425,175; 5,502,895; 5,515,610; 5,537,750; 5,546,662; 5,596,808; 5,615,484; 5,685,079; 5,689,885; 5,692,304; 5,737,841; 5,755,035; 5,802,722; 5,822,866; 5,826,340; 5,887,347; 5,964,036; 6,079,106; 6,154,965; 6,338,431; 6,378,214; 6,427,335; 6,438,848; 6,490,797; 6,591,504; 6,751,868; D348,599, and D373,296, the entire disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.


A shutter for a print head of a print cartridge is provided. The shutter includes a cover movably attachable to the print cartridge. The cover is movable between a closed position to cover the print head and an open position to expose the print head. An arm is pivotally attachable to the print cartridge and is movably attached to the cover. A biasing device for biasing the cover in the closed position is attached to the arm and is attachable to the print cartridge.

The present invention relates generally to shutters for print heads.
Many imaging devices used to print labels on objects, such as cartons, boxes, or the like employ a stationary inkjet print cartridge having a print head. Printing is accomplished by moving the object past the print head so that the print head deposits an image on the object by spraying ink through a number of nozzles in the print head onto the object. However, when the print head is not being used, many inks dry out, clogging the nozzles. For imaging devices, such as desktop printers, having movable print heads that move over a stationary printable medium during printing, the print cartridge and thus the print head is moved to a location where the print head is covered to prevent the ink from drying out and clogging the nozzles when the imaging device is not in use. However, by design stationary print heads cannot be moved to a location for covering the print head.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for preventing inks from drying out and clogging the nozzles of the print heads of stationary print cartridges.
One embodiment of the present invention provides a shutter for a print head of a print cartridge. The shutter includes a cover movably attachable to the print cartridge. The cover is movable between a closed position to cover the print head and an open position to expose the print head. An arm is pivotally attachable to the print cartridge and is movably attached to the cover. A biasing device for biasing the cover in the closed position is attached to the arm and is attachable to the print cartridge.
In another embodiment, a print cartridge is provided. The print cartridge includes a body and a print head. A cover is movably attached to the body. The cover is movable within a plane substantially parallel to the print head between a closed position to cover the print head and an open position to expose the print head. An arm is pivotally attached to the body and is movably attached to the cover for moving the cover between the closed and open positions. A biasing device is attached to the arm and the body for biasing the cover in the closed position.
Further embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatus of varying scope.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An epitaxially grown channel layer is provided on a well structure after ion implantation steps and heat treatment steps are performed to establish a required dopant profile in the well structure. The channel layer may be undoped or slightly doped, as required, so that the finally obtained dopant concentration in the channel layer is significantly reduced compared to a conventional device to thereby provide a retrograde dopant profile in a channel region of a field effect transistor. Additionally, a barrier diffusion layer may be provided between the well structure and the channel layer to reduce up-diffusion during any heat treatments carried out after the formation of the channel layer. The final dopant profile in the channel region may be adjusted by the thickness of the channel layer, the thickness and the composition of the diffusion barrier layer and any additional implantation steps to introduce dopant atoms in the channel layer.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present invention relates to the field of manufacturing integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device, such as a field effect transistor, having an improved retrograde dopant profile in a channel region of the transistor element, and a method of manufacturing such a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Field effect transistors, such as MOS transistors, represent one of the most frequently used circuit elements in modern integrated circuits. Typically, a huge number of field effect transistors is simultaneously formed on an appropriate substrate and are connected to provide the required functionality of the circuit. Generally, a field effect transistor comprises two highly doped semiconductor regions, commonly silicon regions, that are also referred to as drain and source regions, and which are embedded in a lightly and inversely doped semiconductor region, the so-called N-well or P-well, depending on the type of transistor to be formed. The drain and source regions are spaced apart with a channel region interposed, wherein a conductive channel forms between the drain and source regions in the channel region upon application of an appropriate voltage to a gate electrode that is usually formed over the channel region and is separated therefrom by a gate insulation layer, often provided as a gate oxide layer.
As feature sizes of the individual semiconductor elements are steadily decreasing, for example, the distance between the source and drain regions (also referred to as the channel length) represents a critical dimension in this respect, device performance increases. However, these changes present new challenges to be overcome by process engineers so as to develop new processes and techniques compatible with the decreased feature sizes that do not partially offset the improvements obtained by decreasing the feature sizes. For instance, reducing the channel length generally requires the reduction of the thickness of the gate insulation layer so that the formation of the conductive channel remains sufficiently controllable by the applied gate voltage. Forming a gate insulation layer of a few nanometers in thickness, as is typical for sophisticated MOS transistors, therefore requires an advanced process technology to minimize any lattice damage in the semiconductor region underlying the gate insulation layer so as to allow formation of a high quality gate insulation layer, such as an oxide layer, for guaranteeing a high degree of reliability of the device over the whole operating life. Moreover, only a relatively intact semiconductor region allows the formation of a gate insulation layer having a relatively smooth interface with the semiconductor material so that scattering events of charge carriers are minimized.
A reduction of the channel length in modern devices leads to an improved conductivity. However, in some cases, it may be desirable to further improve the conductivity by enhancing carrier mobility in the channel region without excessively decreasing the channel length. Accordingly, in modern devices, a so-called retrograde channel doping profile is contemplated. As is well known, dopant atoms in the semiconductor lattice may represent scattering centers for charge carriers moving under the influence of an electrical field prevailing in the semiconductor region. Therefore, in modern devices, the retrograde channel dopant profile may be used, that is, the concentration of dopants increases from the gate insulation layer to the areas located deeper down the channel region, so that charge carriers forming the conductive channel essentially in the vicinity of the gate insulation layer encounter a relatively low concentration of scattering centers so that the overall conductivity in the channel is enhanced. A retrograde channel dopant profile, however, is very difficult to obtain as will be detailed in the following by referring to FIGS. 1a-1c and FIGS. 2a-2b.
FIG. 1a shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a semiconductor element 100 at an early manufacturing stage. The semiconductor element 100 is illustrated in this example as a complementary MOS transistor pair, wherein a semiconductor region 101, such as a silicon region, a shallow trench isolation 102, for example comprising silicon dioxide, is formed to separate an N-well structure 120 and a P-well structure 110. In the N-well structure 120, implanted, i.e., doped, portions are indicated by 121, 122, 123 and 124, and correspondingly, in the P-well structure 110, implanted portions 111, 112, 113 and 114 are illustrated. The implantation portions 111, 121 located lowest in the N-well structure 120 and the P-well structure 110 are also referred to as buried implants. The implanted portions 112, 122 are commonly known as fill implants, whereas the implanted portions 113, 123 are usually referred to as punch-through implants. The implanted portions 114, 124 are also called VT implants, wherein VT indicates the threshold voltage of the transistor elements to be formed.
A typical process flow for forming the semiconductor device 100 shown in FIG. 1a may comprise the following steps. First, the shallow trench isolation 102 is formed by photolithography, etching and deposition techniques that are well known in the art. Thereafter, the P-well structure 110 and the N-well structure 120 are defined by sequentially performed ion implantation processes, wherein, prior to the actual implantation process, a sacrificial layer, such as an oxide layer (not shown), may be deposited over the semiconductor region 101 to more precisely control the implantation process. For defining the N-well structure 120, typically phosphorous or arsenic ions are used, whereas for defining the P-well structure 110, typically boron ions are employed. During implantation, the dose and the energy of the respective implantation process is controlled so as to locate the peak concentration of the corresponding ion species in the respective implantation portions 121 to 124 and 111 to 114. It should be noted that due to the nature of the implantation process, the boundaries of the implantation portions for defining the P-well structure 110 and the N-well structure 120 are not sharp boundaries as shown in FIG. 1a but, instead, have gradual transitions.
FIG. 2a is a graph, in which the dopant concentration of the N-well structure 120 and the P-well structure 110 is depicted with respect to the depth in the respective well structures. In particular, it is evident from FIG. 2a that the VT implantation (114, 124), indicated by the same reference number as the respective implantation portions, leads to a dopant concentration that significantly decreases at the vicinity of the surface of the semiconductor device 100. That is, the dopant concentration immediately after the implantation process exhibits a desired retrograde dopant profile in the N-well structure 120 and the P-well structure 110 near the surface of the semiconductor device 100, where, after completion of the device, a channel will form during operation of the device.
After defining the P-well structure 110 and the N-well structure 120 by ion implantation, the semiconductor device 100 has to be subjected to a heat treatment so as to activate the implanted ions, that is, to locate the majority of the ions at lattice sites, and to cure any lattice damage caused by the ion bombardment. Unfortunately, during this heat treatment, an inevitable diffusion takes place and the boundaries between the respective implantation portions will smear out more intensively so that the vertical dopant profile within the P-well structure 110 and the N-well structure 120 will become more indefinite.
FIG. 2b shows a corresponding graph with a typical dopant profile with respect to the depth of the respective well structure. Due to the up-diffusion of the dopant atoms during the heat treatment, the initially retrograde profile in the vicinity of the surface of the semiconductor device 100, as indicated by reference number 200, may have become substantially uniformly distributed.
FIG. 1b schematically shows the semiconductor device 100 in an advanced manufacturing stage. In FIG. 1b, the semiconductor device 100 comprises within the P-well structure 110 heavily N-doped source and drain regions 131, including lightly doped extensions 132. In the N-well structure 120, similarly, heavily P-doped source and drain regions 141, including lightly doped extensions 142, are provided. A gate insulation layer 135, for example, a gate oxide layer, is provided on the entire surface of the semiconductor device 100 to separate a gate electrode 134 from a corresponding channel region 136 and a gate electrode 144 from the corresponding channel region 146. Spacer elements 133 are provided at the sidewalls of the gate electrode 134 and respective spacer elements 143 are located at the sidewalls of the gate electrode 144. Thus, the semiconductor device 100 includes an N-channel transistor 130 and a P-channel transistor 140.
Typically, the N-channel transistor 130 and the P-channel transistor 140 are formed by the following processes. After the heat treatment, the gate insulation layer 135 is formed, wherein the gate insulation layer may be deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), or, if an oxide layer is used, a rapid thermal furnace process or a conventional furnace oxidation process may be used. Since, commonly, elevated temperatures are involved in fabricating the gate insulation layer 135, this process also contributes to a further diffusion of the dopants within the P-well structure 110 and the N-well structure 120. Thereafter, polysilicon is deposited and patterned by sophisticated photolithography techniques to form the gate electrodes 134 and 144. With a first implantation, the extensions 132 and 142 are defined, and, subsequently, the spacer elements 133, 143 are formed and serve as an implantation mask during a subsequent implantation process for defining the source and drain regions 131, 141. Since a further heat treatment is necessary to activate the dopants within the regions 131, 132 and 141, 142 and to cure any crystal damage caused by the preceding implantation steps, the initial dopant concentration, as shown in FIG. 2a, will be even more strongly affected so that, after the plurality of heat treatments, the actual dopant concentration will be represented by the graph shown in FIG. 2b. In particular, it is thus very difficult to obtain or to maintain a retrograde dopant profile in the channel regions 136 and 146, which would be desirable to achieve an improved carrier mobility therein.
According to the difficulties involved in obtaining or maintaining a retrograde dopant profile in the channel region of a field effect transistor caused by the conventional process flow, there is a strong need for an improved method for forming semiconductor devices exhibiting a retrograde dopant profile.

Semiconductor device having a retrograde dopant profile in a channel region


High compression ratio, homogeneous charge compression ignition engines. In one aspect the engine is dual mode utilizing spark ignition at high load levels including the addition of hydrogen or a hydrogen/carbon monoxide mixture. In another aspect, the engine operates on a high cetane fuel with the addition of hydrogen or a hydrogen/carbon monoxide mixture at low-to-mid-load levels.

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is a new engine combustion concept that offers a means to increase the efficiency of gasoline and diesel fueled engines. For gasoline engines, the use of HCCI combustion rather than spark ignition combustion can enable well-mixed, very lean fuel-air mixtures to be burned rapidly inside the engine cylinder at high engine compression ratio. These conditions give high engine efficiency and exceptionally low NOx,CO, and particulate emissions. However, it is extremely difficult in a practical engine concept to make gasoline HCCI combustion work satisfactorily at all loads, and in particular, at high engine loads. Load is used to denote relative torque: the ratio of actual torque to maximum torque at a given engine speed. Low load is up to about one-third maximum torque; high load is above about two-thirds maximum torque. Practical gasoline engine concepts that use the HCCI combustion mode utilize it between low- and mid-load levels, and return to the normal spark-ignition combustion mode at high loads. Such combined engine concepts thus have a severe knock problem to overcome in the high-load spark-ignition engine operating mode if the high compression ratio (up to about 15:1) desirable for the HCCI mode is used. If the compression ratio is reduced to normal values (around 10:1) to avoid this knock problem, much of the part-load HCCI efficiency benefit is lost. In addition, the onset of knock at high loads also limits the use of pressure boosting such as through turbocharging and supercharging to increase engine power density and decrease engine size.
HCCI engines can also operate on diesel fuel. High cetane diesel fuels provide the desired diesel-like performance at high loads. At low and mid-load levels, however, since the high cetane fuel is readily ignited, there is not enough time for fuel-air mixing following injection during the compression stroke to produce the desired homogeneous charge. Too rapid auto ignition at low- and mid-load levels degrades engine operation in the HCCI combustion mode. It is therefore desirable to enhance autoignition resistance at low-to mid-load levels.
Co-owned pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/460,574, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of hydrogen, and hydrogen and carbon monoxide mixtures to enhance knock resistance to improve the performance of spark-ignition gasoline engines. The enhanced knock resistance is a manifestation of the increased resistance to autoignition, the self-ignition of a fuel air mixture under sufficient temperature and pressure. In particular, the pending application demonstrated that modest amounts of hydrogen addition to a gasoline vapor/air mixture within an engine cylinder can raise the fuel's octane number by ten or more numbers. When carbon monoxide is mixed with the hydrogen, with roughly equal energy content in each of these added gases, the impact can be approximately doubled (for the same hydrogen energy content). The present invention builds on the use of hydrogen and/or hydrogen and carbon monoxide mixtures to improve performance in homogeneous charge compression ignition engines.

High compression ratio, high power density homogeneous charge compression ignition engines using hydrogen and carbon monoxide to enhance auto-ignition resistance


A composition for controlling nematodes contains plant essential oil, and more particularly, geraniol. The composition is derived from natural substances and is thus environmentally friendly, and exhibits superior nematocidal effects without causing phytotoxicity, and thus can be efficiently used as a nematicide.

The first plant-parasitic nematodes to be discovered in the world, in 1743, were nematodes harming wheat. Since the discovery of seed-gall nematodes for the first time in Korea in 1919, root-knot nematodes, which severely damage various flowers and fruits and vegetables, were discovered in 1977. Currently, research into controlling root-knot nematodes is ongoing.
Nematodes are present in all soils, and some may be seen with the naked eye, but in the case of plant-parasitic nematodes, most may only be observed using a microscope. Nematodes have a thin thread-like shape without nodes, and live while moving like a snake in the absence of water. Plant-parasitic nematodes are parasitic on all parts of the plants, such as flower buds, leaves, stems, roots, and the like. In particular, it has been reported that nematodes occurring in the roots have a very strong effect on crop growth.
Root-knot nematodes take about 5-7 weeks for the life cycle of egg—first larval stage—second larval stage—third larval stage—fourth larval stage—adult—spawning. Therefore, when adult root-knot nematodes are discovered in farmhouses, actual damage thereof often progresses rapidly, and thus becomes extremely serious.
Currently, nematodes found in Korea cause great damage to melons, strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, and the like, which are mainly cultivated continuously.
The correlation of nematodes with other plant pathogens (virus, late blight) is very high. The reason for this is that nematodes have a lancet, corresponding to the mouth, which damages the root mucosa, and damage to the root mucosa often leads to secondary infections such as plant viral diseases, bacterial diseases and the like. The fact that nematodes mediate viruses was discovered when it turned out that viral diseases are transmitted to vines by Xiphinema. Actually, root-knot nematodes also exacerbate damage caused by various fungi, such as Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Pythium, Phytophthora, etc. Therefore, nematodes account for about 15-40% of all crop damage in the United States, and in the real world, damage caused by secondary fungi during cultivation is caused in a complex manner, so actually 60 to 70% of crop damage is often caused by nematodes.
Known methods of controlling such nematodes include fallowing, immersion, crop rotation, increased use of organic fertilizer, cultivation of plant against nematodes, biological control, physical control, chemical control, and the like. Most of these methods are difficult to apply in practice on farms, or in the case of chemical control methods, there is a problem in that ecosystem destruction is caused by soil pollution attributed to residual toxicity, that is, non-selective toxicity.
With regard to biological control methods, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2007-0065938 discloses a composition for controlling root-knot nematodes containing eugenol isolated and purified from cloves, and Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2009-0002561 discloses a composition for controlling plant-pathogenic root-knot nematodes containing eugenol, thymol, carvacrol or t-anethole as an active ingredient, but it is necessary to develop nematicides having stronger nematocidal effects.
Meanwhile, geraniol is a representative monoterpene alcohol that is widely distributed in plant essential oil, and has citrus and flower scents and is mainly used as a synthetic fragrance. It is known that geraniol is able to serve as a medicament for the treatment of diseases, as disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 1995-0013512.
In addition, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2009-0011029 discloses a nematocidal composition containing Cymbopogon martini (palmarosa) oil. Here, it is disclosed that the components of Cymbopogon martini (palmarosa) oil include geraniol.
However, in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2009-0011029, only experimental results on a synergistic effect accomplished by using 93% canola oil, 2% palmarosa oil, and 5% polysorbate 20 are presented, and thus it is not known whether geraniol has substantial nematocidal activity, and if it has a nematocidal effect, it is not known whether phytotoxic side effects occur.
Therefore, the present inventors have made great efforts to develop naturally derived nematicides, and have ascertained that, when geraniol is used alone or in combination with other plant extracts, it has nematocidal activity on plant-pathogenic nematodes, and moreover, has optimal nematocidal activity without causing phytotoxicity at a concentration of 100 to 3000 ppm, thus culminating in the present invention.

Composition containing geraniol for control of plant-parasitic nematodes


A singulating conveyor for aligning a mass of conveyed articles into a single file. The conveyor includes a first centering conveying zone in which one or more roller-top conveyor mats direct conveyed articles sidewise toward a side or the center of the zone. The rollers on which the articles ride rotate about axes oblique to the conveying direction to provide a sidewise component of motion to the articles. The articles are received downstream in a second separation zone, in which the articles are sped up in the conveying direction to separate them into a single file. The conveyor mats can be realized as endless conveyor belts in motion or as stationary mats overlying a moving belt contacting and rotating the rollers.

This invention relates to power-driven conveyors and, more particularly, to singulating conveyors including conveyor mats with article-supporting rollers for aligning a mass of conveyed articles into a single file.
Conventional singulating conveyors, or unscramblers, comprise a series of power-driven rollers arranged at an angle relative to a conveying direction. The rollers impart a component of force to conveyed articles transverse to the conveying direction. This transverse component of force pushes the articles toward one side of the conveyor as the flow of articles proceeds in the conveying direction. In some roller singulators, the articles are justified against a side wall; in other roller singulators, the articles are pushed to the center between two side-by-side beds of oppositely directed rollers. Rollers farther downstream rotate at higher speeds to separate articles from each other. But one of the problems with roller conveyors is that these all-metal conveyors can be noisy, especially as their bearings wear. Frequent maintenance, such as lubricating and tightening, and repair are a way of life with roller conveyors.
Conveyor belts, or chains, are used in unscramblers. In a conventional unscrambler, parallel side-by-side conveyor belts run at the same or progressively increasing speeds from belt to belt. A bar mounted at an angle to span the side-by-side belts deflects products and guides them along the bar toward a narrow single-file conveyor belt. But these belt conveyors are useful only for upstanding articles of known shape. Thin articles, such as mail envelopes or small packages, can wedge between the deflection bar and damage themselves or the conveyor. That""s why powered roller conveyors are used instead to singulate articles in the package-handling industry.
As these shortcomings of conventional roller singulators and belt unscramblers suggest, there is a need for a singulating conveyor that is less noisy than roller conveyors, yet capable of handling thin conveyed articles such as envelopes and small packages of various sizes.
These needs and others are satisfied by a singulating conveyor embodying features of the invention. One version of conveyor includes a first conveyor mat that extends in a lengthwise direction from a first end to a second end, in a widthwise direction from a first side to a second side, and in thickness from a top surface to a bottom surface. The first conveyor mat has a plurality of cavities opening onto its top and bottom surfaces. A roller is disposed in each cavity. Salient portions of each roller extend from the cavity past the top and bottom surfaces. Each roller is arranged to rotate about an axis oriented between the lengthwise and widthwise directions of the mat. A roller bearing surface disposed along the bottom surface of the first conveyor mat contacts the rollers. Relative motion between the rollers and the roller bearing surface causes the rollers to rotate and provide a sidewise component of motion to articles conveyed atop the rollers along the top surface of the first conveyor mat. A second conveyor mat adjacent to the first conveyor mat is arranged to receive articles from the first conveyor mat and to convey the articles at an increased speed in the lengthwise direction. Thus, the articles are aligned on the first conveyor mat and separated in the lengthwise direction along the conveyor carryway.
Another version of a conveyor suitable for singulating articles in a conveying direction comprises a first conveying zone and a second conveying zone downstream of the first conveying zone. A first conveyor mat in the first zone has rollers for supporting conveyed articles. The rollers are arranged to rotate about axes oblique to the conveying direction to provide a sideward component of motion transverse to the conveying direction. A second conveyor mat in the second conveying zone provides a component of motion in the conveying direction to the articles received from the first conveying zone. The component of motion in the conveying direction is greater in the second zone than in the first zone.
Yet another version of conveyor includes a centering belt and a separation belt. The centering belt has a central axis in the conveying direction that divides the belt into a left portion and a right portion. Rollers in the left portion are arranged to rotate about axes forming first acute angles with the central axis measured counterclockwise from the central axis. Rollers in the right portion are arranged to rotate about axes forming second acute angles with the central axis measured clockwise from the central axis. The separation belt is arranged downstream of the centering belt and operates at a speed sufficient to convey articles in the conveying direction faster than the articles proceed on the centering belt.
Still another version of conveyor includes a centering belt and a separation belt. The centering belt has rollers arranged to rotate about oblique axes as the belt travels in the conveying direction to direct conveyed articles toward a central axis of the belt. The separation belt, which is downstream of the centering belt, is operated at a speed sufficient to speed up the articles received from the centering belt and to separate them in the conveying direction.
In another version of singulator, the conveyor has first and second roller-top belts. The first roller-top belt lies on a first side of a conveyor centerline, and the second roller-top conveyor belt lies on the opposite second side of the centerline. Rollers in the first roller-top belt are arranged to rotate about axes parallel to a first oblique axis relative to the conveying direction. Rollers in the second roller-top belt are arranged to rotate about axes parallel to a second oblique axis. The roller arrangement is such that the rollers direct conveyed articles toward the centerline. A separation belt arrangement, downstream of the roller-top belts, is operated at a speed sufficient to speed up the conveyed articles to separate them in the conveying direction.
In one or more of these described versions, the conveyor mats may be stationary with a moving belt underneath to contact the rollers and rotate them. In other versions, the conveyor mats are conveyor belts driven in the direction of belt travel.


A method using a programmed data processor to operate a cable television system wherein a subscriber can select video information to be displayed on a common channel of the television monitors of all subscribers. The subscriber accesses the data processor by use of a touch tone telephone and selects video information to be broadcast by inputting a digital code using his touch tone telephone. The data processor processes the signal generated, retrieves the video information from memory and places it on queue to be broadcast.

The present invention relates generally to a method of displaying subscriber selected video information on a television monitor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method including a programmed data processor of operating a cable television system wherein the video information broadcast is selected by a cable television subscriber using a telephone keypad. The data processor controls the retrieval of the information from its storage location and broadcasts the video selection to all subscribers.
There presently are systems that allow a subscriber to view selected video information on cable television. In a first such system a transmitting station utilizes a coder unit to scramble the video and audio signal so that a conventional television cannot receive the signals clearly. A decoder is provided for each subscriber to unscramble the coded signal. The use of the decoder is recorded for billing purposes. This system allows the subscriber to view video information chosen by the cable company. However, the subscriber cannot view video information chosen by the subscriber.
In a second system the subscriber is furnished with a list of video information that may be chosen. This video information is supplied through a free channel. The subscriber actuates a control at his home which searches for the free channel through a cable. When that channel is found the subscriber actuates a selector control which transmits through the free channel to the cable station a signal corresponding to the video information selected. The station then automatically selects the required film and starts the broadcast of the video information. This type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,677 to Fannoy.
In a third system such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,924 to Freeman a private coaxial distribution network allows a transmitting station to simultaneously transmit a plurality of unscrambled subscription television program signals to a plurality of subscribers on a plurality of television channels. The signals are related in time and content to each other and each is transmitted at a different frequency which corresponds to a different television reception channel, with regular or free television programming being simultaneously provided at one or more further different television reception channel frequency. Each subscriber is provided a switch by which he can choose to view free television, listen to music or view pay television.
In a fourth system a control unit is provided at the subscriber's home. The subscriber is provided with a list of video information that may be chosen. The subscriber actuates the control or command terminal unit to select the video information. This command terminal unit is a micro-processor with a key pad coupled to the telephone system and a cable. The cable system sends this video information in time compressed form to only the subscriber that requested it. The video information is converted to real time before it is broadcast at the subscriber's home. This type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,516 to Abraham and U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,512 to Abraham.
In a fifth system a telephone at the subscriber's home is utilized instead of the control unit to select video information for viewing. The subscriber dials the cable television company and enters a digital code corresponding to the selected video information. The video information is sent via cable in time compressed form and broadcast to the subscriber requesting it. This type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,806 to Abraham.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,522 to Lambert a sixth system is disclosed. A subscriber enters a digital code on a telephone corresponding to the selected video information. In this system there are a plurality of channels. There is a minicomputer at the cable station that responds to viewer selection signals provided on the telephone line. The channel, and the start and stop times for the selected program, are displayed on the television monitor of all subscribers. The program is then broadcast so that any subscriber interested can view it. Each selected program is typically assigned for broadcast in the order that it is received.
These systems however do not allow a subscriber to select and view video information that will be broadcast to all subscribers on one common channel using only a conventional television and a Touch Tone keypad. The systems described above involve complex electronic equipment that increases the overall cost and down time of the system.


A fluorescent compound, suitable for use in an active layer of an organic light-emitting device and exhibiting both good luminescence and excellent thermal stability, which has the structure

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bipolar emitting fluorescent bis-coumarin compounds suitable for use in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The invention further relates to a method of making such bis-coumarin compounds and to OLEDs employing such bis-coumarin compounds in an active layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coumarins are a class of well-known fluorescent compounds. They are widely used as laser dyes which can be incorporated into a variety of OLED structures and materials. Many commercially available coumarins typically contain an alkyl-substituted amino group on the phenyl ring. Although these coumarins have good photoluminescent yield, they have poor thermal stability, in that they exhibit thermal degradation even at temperatures below 400xc2x0 C.
Certain bis-coumarin compounds per se are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,967, for example, describes a class of pigments comprising two coumarin groups linked via a biphenyl or substituted biphenyl diamine bridge; the hetero-ring serves as the attachment site for each of the coumarin groups. These bis-coumarins are not described as thermally stable and likewise are not disclosed as light-emitting materials for use in OLEDs.
Triarylamines are well-known organic hole transport materials used in OLEDs, especially N,Nxe2x80x2-diphenyl-N,Nxe2x80x2-di-m-tolyl-1,1xe2x80x2-biphenyl-4,4xe2x80x2-diamine (TPD), N,Nxe2x80x2-di-1-naphthyl-N,Nxe2x80x2-diphenyl-1,1xe2x80x2-biphenyl-4,4xe2x80x2-diamine (NPD), and their analogs.
The use of coumarins and triarylamines in OLEDs is known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,126,214, 5,693,428, 5,763,110, 6,020,078 and 6,172,264 each discloses the possible use of a conventional coumarin as an emitting material, as well as the use of a triarylamine as a hole transport material, in a given OLED. However, as indicated above, commercially available coumarins typically suffer from thermal instability. As a result, OLEDs incorporating such commercially available coumarins will exhibit reduced quantum and power efficiencies, as well as reduced life-times.
It is an object of the present invention to provide fluorescent emitting materials suitable for use in OLEDs and exhibiting excellent thermal stability and good photoluminescence.
Accordingly, in one aspect the invention is a fluorescent compound having a structure
wherein R is substituted or unsubstituted alkyl; wherein Ar2 is optionally present; and wherein Ar1, Ar2, and Ar3 are independently each a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group.
In further aspects the present invention is an organic light emitting device comprising a transparent electrode; a cathode; and an active layer containing a fluorescent compound having the structure
In a related aspect, the invention is a method of making a fluorescent compound having a structure
comprising the step of reacting an arylamino-substituted coumarin and a halo-substituted aryl in the presence of a catalytic metal.

Fluorescent bis-coumarins for organic light-emitting devices