According to one embodiment a packaging method is provided in which a tube is supplied in a forward movement direction. The method includes a folding step in which the tube is acted on in a manner that is transverse to the forward movement direction, folding part of the tube in a folding direction, and a sealing and cutting step after which a tube closed at one end and a package closed and separated from the tube are obtained. During the folding step the tube is held transversely, and a tear is generated in the folding direction between the acted on and held parts of the tube. The tube is sealed on both sides of the tear and cut at the height of the tear. Packaging machines for carrying out the method are also disclosed. Suitable.

Some packages in which products are packaged are generated from films, said films being formed into a tubular shape, acting on the formed tube of film material as appropriate for generating the package. When the film is formed into a tubular shape, longitudinal sealing of the longitudinal ends of the film is further required to thereby close the tube longitudinally. Subsequently, or simultaneously, seals and transverse cuts are made in the tube to obtain packages closed at both ends. The product to be packaged is first introduced in the tube. Two closures are usually obtained in each sealing and transverse cutting operation: a first closure for the tube on one side of the cut, which will be a first closed end of a package generated after it; and a second closure on the other side of the cut. The second closure closes the other end of a package closed by the first closure in the preceding operation.
Some packages, such as DOYPACK® pouches or flat bottom packages, for example, comprise at least one fold and require additional operations with respect to those discussed in the preceding paragraph for generating the folds.
Patent document US20160272349A1 discloses a vertical packaging machine for packaging products in which the package is generated from a continuous film. The film is formed into a tubular shape and sealed longitudinally for generating a tube of film material. The tube is driven in a vertical forward movement direction, and two reinforcements are generated on each side of the tube during said driving. To that end, the machine comprises actuation means on each side of the tube folding said tube inwardly from opposite sides thereof as said tube moves in the forward movement direction, a longitudinal reinforcement being generated on each side of each fold. With the reinforcements already made, cutting and transverse sealing with respect to the forward movement direction are made in the tube in a given manner and by means of a K-shaped tool further making an additional fold in the area of the tube being cut and sealed, said additional fold being used to reinforce the bottom of the resulting package. A piece of film is previously removed from each side of the tube, and said piece is disposed of to make the subsequent operation of the K-shaped tool easier.

ULMA Packaging Technological Center, S. Coop.


The present invention relates to a tool for precision machining, for exam for the grinding of thermal-engine valve seats. The tool according to the invention comprises a housing (2), a sleeve (3) equipped with a spherical orientation plug (3a) mounted inside the housing, a one-piece machining shaft (6) mounted freely in terms of rotational and translation motion in the sleeve, and a means for adjusting the height of the shaft (6), comprising a means for fixing said shaft in terms of rotation to a bush (17) movable in terms of translational motion relative to the sleeve.

The present invention relates to a tool for precision machining By precision machining is meant any working of a metal part with a cutting tool, whether boring, milling, tapping, grinding, or any other type of metal-working with removal of a chip, or whether an abrasive tool with removal of metal particles are concerned.
The present invention is presented, described and defined by reference to the grinding of valve seats of thermal engines, but it must be understood that its interpretation and scope are not intended to be limited to this sector of use, since, as indicated by the term "precision machining", the invention applies to other types of metal-working.

SERDI - Societe d'Etudes de Realisation et de Diffusion Industrielles


A method, computer program product, and data processing system for sharing memory protection tables and address translation tables among multiple Host Channel Adapters are disclosed. The protection and address translation tables for a shared memory region are written in memory of the host. The Host Channel Adapters are registered with the memory region so that each adapter stores an address pointer to the tables. In this way, the tables need not be duplicated for each adapter.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to memory access in computer systems, and more specifically, how to efficiently provide shared access from multiple host channel adapters (HCA) to particular areas of memory.
2. Description of Related Art
In a System Area Network (SAN), the hardware provides a message passing mechanism which can be used for Input/Output devices (I/O) and interprocess communications between general computing nodes (IPC). Consumers access SAN message passing hardware by posting send/receive messages to send/receive work queues on a SAN channel adapter (CA). The send/receive work queues (WQ) are assigned to a consumer as a queue pair (QP). The messages can be sent over five different transport types: Reliable Connected (RC), Reliable datagram (RD), Unreliable Connected (UC), Unreliable Datagram (UD), and Raw Datagram (RawD). Consumers retrieve the results of these messages from a completion queue (CQ) through SAN send and receive work completions (WC). The source channel adapter takes care of segmenting outbound messages and sending them to the destination. The destination channel adapter takes care of reassembling inbound messages and placing them in the memory space designated by the destination""s consumer. Two channel adapter types are present, a host channel adapter (HCA) and a target channel adapter (TCA). The host channel adapter is used by general purpose computing nodes to access the SAN fabric. Consumers use SAN verbs to access host channel adapter functions. The software that interprets verbs and directly accesses the channel adapter is known as the channel interface (CI).
A Memory Region is an area of memory that is contiguous in the virtual address space and for which the translated physical addresses and access rights have been registered with the HCA. Memory Registration is used to pin a Memory Region and make it accessible by the HCA. The HCA""s software is provided with the Memory Region""s protection domain (used to associate the memory region to a QP), access rights (local write, remote write, remote read), length, and virtual address. The HCA software translates the virtual address and length to the set of physical pages mapped to the virtual region. The HCA software then makes all of this information available to the HCA. This process requires considerable overhead, including kernel intervention, in order to set up the access rights, pinning or unpinning of memory, and setting up the address translation tables.
Unfortunately memory protection and address translation tables cannot be shared between CAs. Hence, nodes which support mulitple CAs will often have needlessly redundant entries in the memory protection and address translation tables, thus wasting valuable memory resources. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a mechanism to allow sharing of these memory tables between channel adapters.
The present invention provides a method, computer program product, and data processing system for sharing memory protection tables and address translation tables among multiple Host Channel Adapters.
This invention utilizes a xe2x80x9cRegister Shared Memory Regionxe2x80x9d verb (command). When a particular memory region is to be shared among multiple HCAs, the consumer issues a xe2x80x9cRegister Shared Memory Regionxe2x80x9d verb to HCA software specifying the HCA, virtual address, length, protection domain, and access control parameters for each instance of this verb. The consumer further identifies the particular Memory Region that is to be shared. The HCA software returns to the consumer an xe2x80x9cR_Keyxe2x80x9d value that must be associated with all queue pairs of each HCA that will access this shared memory region. The HCA software also keeps track of the HCAs that have been given access to the shared Memory Region so that it can determine when it is safe to deregister the Memory Region. Additionally, in response to the xe2x80x9cRegister Shared Memory Regionxe2x80x9d verb, the HCA software creates and manages an xe2x80x9cHCA Access Listxe2x80x9d for each shared Memory Region. The HCA Access List identifies the HCAs that are granted access to the particular shared Memory Region.
The invention also employs a set of hardware registers within the HCA that point to the location of the memory protection and address translation tables in system memory. When the HCA software registers a memory region, it loads these hardware registers with the system memory location of the protection and address translation tables. Each HCA includes a hardware register containing the HCA""s xe2x80x9cHCA Identifier (HCA ID).xe2x80x9d HCA software loads a unique value into this register prior to the HCA accessing any portion of either a shared or non-shared Memory Region.
When the HCA accesses a virtual address, via an RDMA (remote direct memory access) operation for instance, the HCA fetches the protection and address translation data from the tables located in system memory. The HCA checks the values of the protection domain for the memory region to ensure it matches the protection domain value of the queue pair so that it may access the memory region in question. The HCA further checks the HCA Access List for an instance of its HCA ID to determine whether this particular HCA has been granted access to this shared Memory Region.
Since the protection tables and address translation tables are located within the system memory of the host and thus are accessible by all HCAs attached to that host, sharing of the memory region can be accomplished without duplication of the protection and address translation tables.
When the consumer requests that a memory region be de-registered (via the xe2x80x9cDeregister Memory Regionxe2x80x9d verb), it supplies the HCA software with the particular memory region that is being de-registered as well as the HCA from which it is being deregistered. The HCA software will invalidate the hardware registers that contain the system memory location of the protection and address translation tables associated with the shared memory region. The HCA software will further note that this particular HCA is no longer registered with the shared Memory Region, and will remove the HCA ID of this particular HCA from the HCA Access List associated with this Memory Region. The HCA software will not modify the system memory locations that contain the protection tables and address translation tables unless it determines that there are no HCAs currently using these facilities.

Sharing memory tables between host channel adapters

International Business Machines Corporation


Certain embodiments of the present invention disclose an implantable electrotherapy device comprising a housing in which are arranged an activity sensor, an impedance or conductivity measuring unit and an evaluation unit, wherein the evaluation unit is connected to the impedance or conductivity measuring unit and to the activity sensor and is adapted to evaluate the impedance or conductivity signal produced by the impedance or conductivity measuring unit and the respectively time-associated activity level signal and for producing and outputting a contractility signal, in such a way that the contractility signal is derived from the impedance or conductivity signal and the activity level signal and reflects the respective contractile state of a heart associated with an activity level signal value.

Electrotherapy devices which can ascertain the contractility of a heart afford the possibility of adapting a therapy to be delivered by the electrotherapy device to the respective contractility state of the heart of the patient.
Contractility describes an inotropic state of the heart. It influences the force and the speed of a myocardiac contraction. Contractility is controlled by three mechanisms:                direct control by the autonomous nervous system (ANS),        the so-called Starling mechanism, and        the so-called Bowditch effect (force-frequency coupling).
The main mechanism, control of circulatory regulation by the autonomous nervous system, increases contractility and heart rate when there is an increased metabolic demand, for example in the case of bodily or physical effort, in order to ensure a suitable blood supply.
In the case of patients with chronic heart failure (HF), myocardiac contractility decreases to a low level and interventricular synchronization is worsened. That is accompanied by a low ejection fraction (EF), as well as a low quality of life and a high mortality rate. HF occurs frequently in the population. HF patients are treated with various drugs which influence the inotropic state, for example betablockers, in order to stabilize the heart rate, but also with positive inotropic drugs, for example glycosides, in order to increase contractility. In more recent times HF patients are treated with resynchronization therapy devices, for example 3-chamber cardiac pacemakers or defibrillators. The aim of such pacemaker therapy is to synchronize the two ventricles of a heart by biventricular stimulation in order to improve the temporal performance of the chambers of the heart and thus heart efficiency (cardiac resynchronization therapy or CRT).
Contractility is therefore an important parameter to be observed, in particular for HF patients. Such observation is important in order                to observe the state of the patient and an alleviation or progress in the disease,        to establish and observe resynchronisation therapy of the heart (cardiac resynchronisation therapy or CRT), and        to observe drug treatment.
Information about contractility can also be used to optimize cardiac pacemaker therapy or a therapy implemented by means of an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD).
Although the contractility is a parameter of great importance, it is difficult to measure in clinical practice. It is usual for contractility to be determined on the basis of a maximum ventricular pressure gradient dp/dtmax in the right ventricle or in the left ventricle. A left-ventricular ejection fraction can also be determined by means of electrocardiography. An investigation of the right ventricle by means of electrocardiography is very difficult for anatomical reasons, although the information about the right ventricle is highly important for a complete investigation. Both procedures, pressure measurement and electrocardiography, are time-consuming and expensive. Ventricular pressure measurement requires an invasive intervention. It requires a pressure catheter in one or both ventricles and can only be implemented during an electrophysiological study or implantation of a cardiac pacemaker or cardioverter/defibrillator.
Implants with which the contractility of a heart can be ascertained are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,674,518 and 5,417,717. In those cases measurement of the change in the heart chamber volume is effected by means of the pressure gradient dP/dt and by means of impedance plethysmography.
European patent application No 1 062 974 describes a cardiac pacemaker of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification. The aim is for the control method described therein for an electrotherapy device and the electrotherapy device disclosed therewith to be further developed to expand the range of use of the electrotherapy device.


An example embodiment of an electrical-energy meter comprises a transformer for producing an electrical output proportional to an electrical current in a conductor of electrical energy, a circuit board electrically coupled to the transformer for facilitating the calculation and displaying of a cumulative amount of electrical energy passing through the conductor of electrical energy, a first optical transmitter, a second optical transmitter, and an optical receiver. The first and second optical transmitters and the optical receiver are coupled to the circuit board. The first optical transmitter and the receiver facilitate optical communications between the electrical-energy meter and a first type of external device. The second optical transmitter and the receiver facilitate optical communications between the electrical-energy meter and a second type of external device.

The reading of electrical-energy meters has historically been accomplished with human meter readers who visit a customer's premises and manually document relevant information from the meter. Such readings have usually been limited to information regarding the electrical consumption of the customer. Over time, manual meter reading has been enhanced or eliminated through the use of meter reading systems. In one example of a meter reading system, a probe is held in proximity to and communicates with the meter. The communication between the probe and the meter is two way and involves an exchange of information beyond just the electrical consumption of the consumer. Today, for example, diagnostic information can be communicated by the meter reading system.
Information between an electrical-energy meter and a probe or other external device may be exchanged by two-way, optically isolated communications. In such cases, the electrical-energy meter will have an optical port with an optical transmitter and an optical receiver that communicate with the external device through a respective optical receiver and optical transmitter of the external device.
Various styles of optical ports have been developed for electrical-energy meters. One style was developed in North America in conformity with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Another style was developed in Europe in conformity with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
The ANSI optical port and the IEC optical port differ in a few significant ways. First, the transmitter and receiver on an ANSI optical port are positioned in an opposite manner from the transmitter and receiver on an IEC optical port. In particular, when facing an ANSI optical port on an electrical-energy meter, the transmit channel is on the right and the receive channel is on the left. When facing an IEC optical port, by contrast, the transmit channel is on the left and the receive channel is on the right. A second significant way in which ANSI and IEC optical ports differ is the mechanical interface between the electrical-energy meter and the external device. For example, though not required under IEC, an IEC optical port commonly may have a number of small posts that are used to help align and hold a probe of the external device in place for the communication exchange. A typical ANSI optical port does not have such posts. An ANSI optical port, however, has a "D" shape and protrudes from the face of the meter whereas an IEC optical port is generally flush with the cover of the meter.
Electrical-energy meter manufacturers have produced meter designs corresponding to the industry standard prevalent to the particular geographical area. This has led to the production and distribution of external devices configured to correspond to the electrical-energy meters. For example, in North America, external devices are configured to correspond to ANSI electrical-energy meters. In Europe, external devices are configured to correspond to IEC electrical-energy meters.
As manufacturers desire to increase market share while selling a single electric-energy meter design throughout the world, there is a need to provide a single electrical-energy meter design such that the meter is able to communicate with external devices constructed in accordance with various industry standards, such as ANSI and IEC.

Electrical-energy meter adaptable for optical communication with various external devices


A power amplifier circuit includes an amplifier unit disposed on a die of a semiconductor device. The amplifier unit includes an amplifier transistor. The power amplifier circuit further includes a detector transistor disposed on the die of the semiconductor device, a variable attenuator that compensates for a gain of the amplifier unit, a bias level setting holding unit that holds a bias level setting value, which is set based on at least a detection value of the detector transistor, and a bias generation unit that generates a bias value of the variable attenuator based on the bias level setting value.

The present disclosure relates to a power amplifier circuit, a semiconductor device, and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device. Techniques for compensating for temperature characteristics of a transistor in a power amplifier are disclosed (e.g., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0187331).
Semiconductor devices constituting power amplifier circuits and including, as semiconductor materials, compound semiconductor materials, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) or Si-based materials, such as silicon germanium (SiGe) have been recently under development. Power amplifier circuits designed using such semiconductor devices may not satisfy required performance, such as gain characteristics, if process variation in transistors is large.

Power amplifier circuit, semiconductor device, and method for manufacturing semiconductor device


A technique for protecting a cryptographic key. A user has an identifier and an associated password. The first cryptographic key is designed to decrypt a piece of encrypted data. The user device generates a second cryptographic key by applying a key derivation algorithm to at least the password, then encrypts the first cryptographic key by applying an encryption algorithm parameterized by the second cryptographic key. The user device then provides the encryption of the first cryptographic key to a management device for storage. A response associated with a question is obtained from the user. The user device calculates a result of an application of a function to at least one response associated with a question, then provides a value dependent on the result to a management device for storage. The value then enables the user device to determine the password when it has the response to the corresponding question.

It is common to protect a user's data by way of a cryptographic encryption system. Such a system provides one or more cryptographic keys with which it is possible to encrypt an item of data in order to protect it, and then to decrypt the ciphertext in order to recover it in plaintext. In a secret key cryptography system, the key used to encrypt the item of data is the same as the key used to decrypt it. It is understood that this single key is extremely sensitive and should be protected. In a public key cryptography system, the key used to encrypt the item of data is public and known to all, whereas the key used for decryption, called a private key, is sensitive and should also be protected.
A decryption key, whether this be a secret key of a symmetric encryption system or a private key of an asymmetric encryption system, is usually several hundred bits. It is therefore complicated for a user to memorize it. However, due to its sensitivity, it is common to secure access to this decryption key.
One known example of securing access to a decryption key is based on using an identifier, or login, and a password that are specific to a user and easily able to be memorized by said user. It is thus known to deterministically generate and regenerate a cryptographic key, such as the decryption key mentioned above, by applying a key derivation algorithm, for example PBKDF2 ("Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2") to the user's login and password. The user thus only has to memorize his login and his password in order to regenerate his decryption key and access his data in plaintext on demand.
In a second known example, the user's decryption key is encrypted by way of a cryptographic algorithm and a second cryptographic key. In one particular embodiment, the encrypted decryption key thus obtained is stored on a remote server. Securing access to the user's decryption key then amounts to protecting access to this second cryptographic key, which may be achieved for example using the method described above, that is to say by way of a login and a password that are known to the user.
If a sensitive item of data such as a decryption key is protected through knowledge of a login and a password, then it is necessary to be able to manage cases in which the user wishes to change his password, or simply manage the loss of the password by the user while still ensuring the continuity of the decryption key intended for securely accessing the user's sensitive data previously stored in ciphertext.
In a case in which the login and the password are used to generate an initial decryption key, used to decrypt the user's sensitive data that are encrypted by way of an associated initial encryption key, then changing the password causes the generation of a new decryption key, different from the initial decryption key. This new decryption key is therefore not suitable for decrypting the data previously encrypted and intended to be decrypted by way of the initial decryption key. In order to avoid this situation, it is common to entrust the initial decryption key to a third party, from which said key may be recovered in order to access sensitive data encrypted by way of the initial encryption key. In the same way, losing the password requires a third party to provide the lost password or the initial decryption key. This mechanism, implemented involving a third party, is better known under the name key escrow. However, this third party has all of the information allowing it to access the user's sensitive data. Total confidentiality of the user's data is therefore not guaranteed.
If a second cryptographic key is used to protect the decryption key and this other key is protected by way of a login and a password, forgetting or losing the password does not allow the other key to be recovered, unless it is encrypted by way of an item of data also known to a third party. However, in this case as well, complete confidentiality of the user's sensitive data is not guaranteed.
Thus, changing or losing a password used to protect access to a cryptographic key ultimately requires a third party to have knowledge of the cryptographic key and/or of the password and therefore potentially to have access to the user's sensitive data.

Technique for protecting a cryptographic key by means of a user password


Imaging methods and systems are provided for indicating at least one preferred output form for an area within a digital image. In accordance with the method, a selection area is determined within the digital image and a preferred output image form is determined for rendering an image comprising the selected area of the digital image, with the determination being based upon an image resolution of the digital image, the determined selection area and an output resolution associated with each output form. The preferred output image form is indicated.

Digital images are becoming an increasingly popular form of infoimaging. One reason for this popularity is the ease with which users can manipulate, edit, alter and enhance such digital images. For example, users often use manual digital imaging and editing tools, such as the crop and zoom tools provided in the Kodak Picture CD software sold by Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A., to improve the appearance of digital images. These image editing tools allow a user to limit the image content of an image to emphasize important elements in the image. This is known in the art as cropping an image. The cropped image incorporates less image data than the original image. It will be appreciated however, that a digital image, once captured, has a fixed amount of image data associated therewith. When such a digital image is cropped, some of this data is discarded.
Accordingly, when cropped and non-cropped images are rendered for example in a photographic print of the same image quality, the non-cropped images will appear to be larger than the cropped images. Many consumers find the appearance of such images unsatisfying and also elect to re-enlarge the selected portions of cropped images so that they have the appear to have been captured at an image size that is consistent with non-cropped images. Because this re-enlargement simulates what would have happened had the photographer zoomed her camera in toward the subject using a telephoto lens, most digital imaging algorithms provide an automatic "zoom and crop" function which allows a user to designate a selection area in a digital image and that automatically adjusts the selection area to match the area of a non-cropped image.
Accordingly, when the enlargement portion of the process occurs on an image with a reduced amount of data, the image that results from the zoom and crop processing has a reduced image resolution as compared to images that have not been subject to the same process. Where only small portions of the original image are cropped, this reduction in resolution is not always significant. However, as the cropping becomes more aggressive with greater amounts of data being discarded, the effective image resolution of the processed image can degrade noticeably. This effect can reduce consumer satisfaction with the zoom and crop processed image.
Often, zoom and crop functions are performed using image processing systems such as cameras, personal computers, kiosks, personal digital assistants, network centric systems, other devices. These devices commonly have a display for presenting a digital image and a user interface to permit a user to designate a selection area within an image for use in forming a zoom and crop processed image. The digital image data contained the selection area is processed using a zoom and crop algorithm to form a zoom and crop processed image and an evaluation image representing the zoom and crop processed image is formed for presentation on the display. Users often rely upon the appearance of the evaluation image as presented in the display in order to determine whether the zoom and crop processed image represented by the evaluation image has a preferred appearance. Where the evaluation image has an acceptable appearance, users will often elect to store the zoom and cropped processed image, or use a printer or like device to render the zoom and cropped processed image on a film fabric or paper.
However, the limited display resolution of conventional electronic displays and, in particular, small sized displays of the type commonly used in conjunction with digital cameras can mask the loss of resolution in a zoom and crop processed image. Accordingly, users can designate a selection area that comprises only a fraction of the original image without realizing that such aggressive use of the zoom and crop algorithm can reach a point where so much of the data comprising the originally captured digital image has been discarded that the zoom and crop processed image does not have a minimum amount of data necessary to permit the zoom and crop processed image to have a preferred appearance when presented on a high resolution display or rendered by printers or other image forming devices that have relatively high levels of image resolution.
In some cases, this problem can be addressed by the use of image processing algorithms that the attempt to increase the effective resolution him of a low resolution images him by interpolating data from the low resolution image to create a high resolution image. One example of such an algorithm can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,248 entitled "Computerized Method for Improving Data Resolution" filed by Atkins et al. on May 25, 1999. However, it will be appreciated that such interpolation techniques can introduce unanticipated artifacts in an image which themselves can reduce the acceptability of the image.
Some image processing algorithms, printers, kiosks, and commercial image rendering establishments examine each digital image submitted for high resolution display or rendering to determine whether the image has adequate image resolution to permit a print formed therefrom to have a preferred appearance. For example, OFOTO, Inc. of Emeryville, Calif., is an online photography service that provides top-quality silver halide prints for digital and film camera users. Ofoto's Web site, www.ofoto.com, gives photographers a new and easier way to store and share digital images on line. Once online, these images can be easily edited, cropped, or enhanced with borders and special effects, by using Ofoto's free online tools. Ofoto provides a print image resolution warning when a user submits a digital image for printing that does not meet minimum resolution requirements for a selected type of printed output. While the approach of providing such a warning usefully alerts users that an image submitted for printing does not have sufficient image resolution, it is not always convenient for the user to adjust the image at the time that the warning is received.
Alternatively, zoom and crop image editing algorithms are known that require a user to designate a size that they anticipate that a rendered output image will have and that provide predefined selection area templates that a user can move about an image in order to make a selection area designation. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,738 entitled "Pre-Processing Image Editing" filed by Petruchick et al. on Apr. 8, 1997 describes a film camera including an electronic display and a driver for presenting movable markers to frame and edit an electronically displayed image. Electronic manipulation of the markers provides for zooming and cropping the image as well as changing the image formation and horizontal and vertical orientation. The camera includes an input for selecting a print format from a predetermine set of print formats each having a predetermined size and aspect ratio. Once that a print format is selected, having a predetermined aspect ratio, cropping is limited to selections that are consistent with that aspect ratio and the standard widths for photographic paper. Further, after a print size and aspect ratio selection is made, markers are formed in the display of the digital image that conform to the size and aspect ratio selected. These markers can be maneuvered within the evaluation image to designate the selected area.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,397, entitled "Digital Image Processing With Indication to User of Hardcopy Output Image Quality" filed by Cloutier et al. on Feb. 13, 1998 describes a digital image processor that establishes a boundary level of acceptable hardcopy print quality level based on selected image print size and printing magnification and provides a warning to a user prior to generation of the hardcopy print that alerts the user when the determine print image quality will be unsatisfactory. This system receives inputs including digital image data representative of an image to be reproduced in hardcopy at a user-selected size, hardcopy image quality information being representative of acceptable and unacceptable levels of hardcopy image quality produced with said hardcopy image reproduction and information representative of the desired magnification and user selected size of the hardcopy image to be output and indicates whether this combination will generate images having an acceptable appearance. The '397 patent provides a warning to a user when the user selects a combination that may not yield acceptable results prior to submitting the image for hard copy image formation. While useful and commercially valuable, this approach requires a user to designate a selection area within the image and indicate a desired output before providing the warning.
However, there viable approaches are needed for helping a user to make selection area designations for zoom and crop processing of an image, without requiring the user to decide in advance what hardcopy outputs or other forms of output use that the user may make of the image. In particular, what is needed is an image processing algorithm that allows a user to make flexible selection area designations for use in zoom and crop processing and yet provides real-time feedback from which a user can appreciate the potential impact of such selections on the use of a zoom and crop processed image based upon a selected area.


Methods and systems are provided for presenting a plurality of shared calendars in a single electronic display frame or window where each of the plurality of shared calendars is displayed in a common view mode relative to other displayed shared calendars. Users may select one or more shared calendars to be displayed in the same display frame or window as their own calendar. Upon selection of a shared calendar to be displayed alongside a first calendar, an aggregate view object is called to control and coordinate all shared calendars selected for display in the common window or frame. The aggregate view object determines the view data object, including view mode (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly) and other calendar display settings of the first or active calendar displayed in the common view of shared calendars.

Since the advent of the computer and software age, software developers have attempted to provide helpful functionality to software users that provide useful information in a contextu nature. One useful application is the electronic calendaring application where users may enter and view appointments and other scheduling data in an electronic calendar viewable on their computer display. Electronic calendars allow users to view calendar information in a variety of different modes such as hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and the like, or portions of days, weeks, or months.
One useful aspect of electronic calendaring systems is the ability of users to share calendaring information across a distributed computing environment with other electronic calendar users. That is, one user may give permission to a number of other users to view his or her personal or business electronic calendar data. Accordingly, the first user may select a desired calendar of a friend or colleague and display the selected calendar using the first user's calendar application. Often, a user may wish to compare her calendar data to another user's calendar data to determine whether the second user is available for a meeting at a desired date and time period. In order to compare calendars, users must toggle between two or more calendars, or users may open two calendar windows on the same display. Unfortunately, because the second or other calendar may be presented in a different mode, for example, daily, weekly, monthly, etc., the first user has a difficult or unfriendly user experience at best.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for presenting multiple shared calendars in a single common display window or frame where the multiple shared calendars are presented in common views and display modes. There is further a need for a method and system for allowing quick and efficient addition and removal of shared calendars from the multiple calendar view. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.


Implants, devices and methods for maintaining, correcting and/or fusing joint deformities are disclosed. The implant including a first member, a second member, and a coupling member with a first end and a second end, wherein the first end engages the first member and the second end engages the second member. Methods of using the implants for maintaining, correcting and/or fusing joint deformities are also disclosed.

Hammertoe is a foot deformity which may occur due to an imbalance in the muscles, tendons or ligaments of the toe. Currently available implants to correct the deformity rely on external compression during implantation. The compression applied during implantation is not maintained long-term resulting in a decrease in the loads across the joint after implantation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the above-described drawbacks and/or disadvantages of the currently used procedures. For example, in view of the deficiencies of the current implants, it would be desirable to develop implants, devices, and/or systems which maintain compression on the joint after implantation of the implant.

Implants and methods of use and assembly


A process for recovering benzene, the process including: feeding hydrogen and a hydrocarbon fraction comprising benzene, components lighter than benzene, components heavier than benzene, and diolefins to a catalytic distillation reactor system comprising at least one reaction zone comprising a hydrogenation catalyst; concurrently in the catalytic distillation reactor system: contacting the diolefins and hydrogen in the presence of the hydrogenation catalyst to selectively hydrogenate at least a portion of the diolefins; and fractionating the hydrocarbon fraction to form a fraction comprising benzene and other C6 hydrocarbons, and a heavies fraction comprising C7+ hydrocarbons; recovering the heavies fraction from the first catalytic distillation reactor system as a bottoms fraction; and withdrawing the fraction comprising benzene and other C6 hydrocarbons from the catalytic distillation reactor system as a benzene concentrate fraction.

1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to a process for the separation and purification of benzene in a hydrocarbon stream. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to the selective hydrogenation of diolefins in a hydrocarbon stream, allowing for improved purification and separation of benzene.
2. Background
One common process long used by the refinery industry to upgrade raw naphtha to high octane gasoline is catalytic reforming. In catalytic reforming, the raw naphtha having a boiling range from about 46 to 177° C. (115° F.-350° F.) is passed over an alumina supported noble metal catalyst at elevated temperatures (about 493° C.-565° C. (920° F.-1050° F.)) and moderate pressure (about 2 bar to 39 bar (about 15-550 psig)). The catalyst "reforms" the molecular structures of the hydrocarbons contained in the raw naphtha by removing hydrogen and rearranging the structure of the molecules so as to improve the octane number of the naphtha.
Because of the multiplicity of the compounds in the raw naphtha, the actual reactions which occur in catalytic reforming are numerous. Many of the resulting products are aryl or aromatic compounds, all of which exhibit high octane numbers. The aryl compounds produced depend upon the starting materials which in a refinery are controlled by the boiling range of the naphtha used and the crude oil source. The "reformed" product from a catalytic reforming process is commonly called reformate and is often separated into two fractions by conventional distillations—a light reformate having a boiling range of about 46° C.-121° C. (about 115° F.-250° F.) and a heavy reformate having a boiling range of about 121° C.-177° C. (about 250° F.-350° F.). The aryl compounds in each fraction are thus dependent upon their boiling points. The lower boiling or lighter aryl compounds, e.g., benzene, toluene and xylenes, are contained in the light reformate and higher boiling aryl compounds are contained in the heavy reformate. In other circumstances, the light reformate may contain only the benzene, or only benzene and toluene, depending upon any downstream processing of the stream.
The demand for cleaner and safer transportation fuels is becoming greater every year. Two major sources of gasoline feedstock, including reforming and catalytic cracking, present both a problem meeting strict environmental regulations and impose certain health risks. For example, light reformate typically contains unacceptably high levels of benzene, a known carcinogen and an environmental contaminant. As such, refiners in the U.S and in other countries are required to remove benzene from reformate streams and other gasoline fractions. Refiners may also desire to remove benzene in order to produce the benzene as a product, due to the fact that benzene is valuable for use in chemical processing. For example, benzene is used as an industrial solvent and is also a precursor in the production of pharmaceuticals, plastics, synthetic rubber, and dyes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,670 discloses a process for the hydrogenation of aromatics in a petroleum stream. However, like solvent extraction, the process is not selective to one aromatic compound. U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,602 discloses the hydrogenation of aromatics in a hydrocarbon stream utilizing a distillation column reactor wherein the placement of the catalyst bed and operation of the distillation column controls which aromatic is retained in the catalyst bed for hydrogenation.
The separation and purification of benzene is complicated by the presence of contaminants, such as diolefins. Olefins having more than one double bond (diolefins) have fewer uses than compounds such as ethylene or butane. The removal of diolefins is of value prior to the recovery of benzene since these compounds have been found to be detrimental in most processing, storage, and use of the benzene streams. Various options for the removal of diolefins from such streams may include extraction, hydrogenation, and alkylation. Diolefin hydrogenation may be conducted by contacting diolefins with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst to convert the diolefins to olefins and paraffins. However, non-selective hydrogenation results in a reduced octane rating and thus diminishes the overall value of the fuel. Thus, selective hydrogenation of diolefins in a benzene-containing reformate is valuable in retaining a high octane rating while reducing diolefin concentrations.
After catalytic reforming of the raw naphtha, benzene may be separated from the lighter aryl compounds by extraction with any number of solvents and separated from other aromatics in the light reformate by distillation, typically using an aromatics extraction unit (AXU). Aromatics extraction is a very old process and typically separates a catalytic reformate or a coke oven light oil, via liquid-liquid extraction or extractive distillation or both, into aromatics and non-aromatics.
It is also conventional, in many catalytic reforming systems, to use a guard bed to provide clay treating of the hydrocarbon feed or the light reformate. A guard bed provides hot or cold clay treating using a fixed-bed, vapor-phase process to polymerize selectively unsaturated gum-forming constituents (i.e., diolefins). A guard bed may be used before or within an AXU and removes trace amounts, typically 10 to 5000 wt ppm, of diolefins present. These diolefins, if not removed, may cause the extracted benzene to fail acid wash color tests, e.g., ASTM D-848. Additionally, diolefins fed to an extraction unit may cause the loss of extraction solvent into the extract product (i.e., benzene), as is well known by those skilled in the aromatics extraction art. For nitrogen-containing extraction solvents, this may make the product benzene off-spec on nitrogen and may place additional load on the clay treaters to remove the lost solvent. However, clay treatment is not without its problems, including the raw material and disposal costs associated with the clay.
Accordingly, there is still a significant need in the art for economical methods to recover benzene from a reformate stream.

Use of catalytic distillation for benzene separation and purification


A golf club having a novel golf club grip assembly is described. The grip assembly includes an elongated forearm stabilizer blade mounted directly on the upper end of the golf club shaft and extending upwardly in line with the golf club shaft. A connector rod formed integrally with the stabilizer blade extends from the golf club shaft end of the stabilizer blade and is inserted into the upper end of the golf club shaft. In use, the stabilizer blade is pressed against the inside of the forearm of the golf player to provide a steady and accurate pendulum effect when swinging the club to hit a golf ball. In a second embodiment, the stabilizer blade is fabricated separately and is slipped over an elongated rod having an exposed end which is inserted into the upper end of the golf club shaft.

This invention relates to golf clubs and to grip assemblies for golf clubs.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,054, there is described a golf club grip assembly for stabilizing and improving the swinging of a golf club. The grip assembly described therein includes a pistol grip body adapted to be fixed to the upper end of a golf club shaft for gripping by the dominant hand of a golf player. Such grip assembly also includes a forearm stabilizer blade affixed to the upper end of the pistol grip body and extending upwardly for engaging the dominant forearm of a golf player gripping the pistol grip body.
The grip assembly described in my earlier patent has been found to provide the desired results. It has been found to greatly improve the swinging of a golf club and to improve the accuracy and consistency of the shots made with the golf club.
Unfortunately, the grip assembly of my earlier patent appears to have a significant limitation. It does not appear to fully conform with the Rules and Regulations of the United States Golf Association concerning the design of golf clubs used in tournament play. Because of this, there is a good possibility that its use would not be allowed in major golf tournaments. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a new and improved golf club which incorporates the improved swinging characteristics described in my earlier patent while, at the same time, being in full compliance with the Rules and Regulations of the United States Golf Association.
In accordance with one feature of the invention, there is provided a golf club comprising a club head for striking a golf ball, a golf club shaft attached to the club head and extending upwardly therefrom and a forearm stabilizer blade attached directly to the upper end of the golf club shaft and extending upwardly in line with the golf club shaft.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, there is provided a golf club grip assembly comprising an elongated forearm stabilizer blade for mounting directly on an upper end of a golf club shaft in line with the golf club shaft and a connector rod formed integrally with the stabilizer blade and extending from the golf club shaft end of the stabilizer blade for insertion into the upper end of the golf club shaft.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further advantages and features thereof, reference is made to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the scope of the invention being pointed out in the appended claims.


Media content relevant to an input video is identified by analyzing video frames in the input video to detect if any of the video frames contain a target product. One or more video frames found to be containing a detected target product is selected and a product thumbnail is generated for each of selected the video frames. At least one product thumbnails is selected and a video product visual index is generated for each of the selected product thumbnail. Relevant media content is then identified for each of the product thumbnails by comparing the video product visual index of each of the selected product thumbnail with a plurality of media content visual index in a media content database. Each media content visual index is associated with one media content in the media content product database.

Advertising plays an important role for providers of video content. For example, in the case of video streaming websites such as YouTube™ and Hulu™, video content is often streamed to at least some of their users free of charge. A large portion of the content providers' revenue is therefore derived from advertising. Even in the case where video content is not provided free of charge, advertising revenue may also help to subsidize the cost of providing and hosting video content thus keeping subscription charges low. Users of video streaming websites often have the option of closing an advertisement being displayed and therefore the ability to display advertising which would interest a viewer is important to video content providers as it impacts their ability to attract advertisers and hence their revenue.
Currently known methods of identifying advertisements for display during video play is based on criterion such as user profile or behaviour, and metadata of a video such as title and genre. However, such methods of matching may not identify advertisements which will be of interest to a user. Similarly, in other situations such as in the educational context, it may also be desirable to identify relevant media content that would be of interest to a viewer.

Method and system for identifying relevant media content


The signal detection circuit of the present invention includes: a comparison section for comparing the absolute value of a voltage of an input differential signal with a threshold voltage corresponding to a first detection level adjustment signal to detect presence/absence of an input signal and outputting a detection signal indicating the detection result; a threshold adjustment control section for generating the first detection level adjustment signal in response to the detection signal and outputting the generated signal; and a detection section for detecting whether or not the level of the detection signal changes repeatedly. During the time of no input of the differential signal, the threshold adjustment control section changes the first detection level adjustment signal so that the threshold voltage monotonically increases or decreases until the detection signal is inverted, to determine the first detection level adjustment signal that makes the threshold voltage appropriate, and outputs the determined signal.

The present invention relates to a device for receiving digital data, and more particularly, to a signal detection circuit for detecting presence/absence of a reception signal.
In serial communications, a signal detection circuit for detecting whether or not a prescribed signal is being input is often used. Such a signal detection circuit determines that an input signal is valid if the absolute value of the voltage of the input signal is equal to or more than a predetermined value and is not valid if the absolute value is less than the predetermined value. In Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Serial AT Attachment (serial ATA), the signal detection circuit is used for a return sequence from an initialize sequence and a power management state. In particular, in Serial ATA, the signal detection circuit is used for detecting an out-of-band (OOB) signal, in addition to detecting the signal state during communications.
The OOB signal is a signal having a fixed-length time period during which a burst signal is transmitted (burst time period) and a non-signal time period repeated alternately, and meaning is given to the lengths of the burst time period and the non-signal time period and the number of times of the repetition. Such an OOB signal is used during initialization and power management.
FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of a conventional signal detection circuit, which is one described in the Serial ATA standards. The signal detection circuit of FIG. 8 detects whether or not the voltage between input signals DRX and NDRX is equal to or more than a predetermined value, and outputs the detection result as a squelch signal SQOUTA.
FIG. 3 shows an example of the squelch signal obtainable in an ideal case. A squelch signal SQOUT in FIG. 3 goes high in correspondence with the burst time period and goes low during the non-signal time period.
A signal detection circuit that outputs a squelch signal required in USB 2.0 Standard is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-198392, for example. This circuit has a merit that the input signal is less dependent on a common mode voltage and the allowable voltage range of the input signal is wide.
For a signal detection circuit required to receive a high-frequency signal and respond at high speed, like a signal detection circuit used in Serial ATA and the like, it is necessary to set the voltage used as the reference during detection (threshold value) appropriately considering the signal detection characteristics in high-frequency environments. If the threshold value is not appropriate, the detection result will be as described below.
FIG. 9A is a graph showing a squelch signal generated when the input signals have noise and the threshold value is low. FIG. 9B is a graph showing a squelch signal generated when the input signals have noise and the threshold voltage is high.
If the threshold value is set excessively low in the signal detection circuit of FIG. 8, noise in the input signals DRX and NDRX will be detected erroneously, resulting in output of the squelch signal SQOUTA as the detection result as shown in FIG. 9A. On the contrary, if the threshold voltage is set excessively high, high-frequency components of the input signals DRX and NDRX will fail to be detected, resulting in failure in detection of an input signal although the input signals DRX and NDRX are input, as shown in FIG. 9B.
As another problem, the signal detection circuit is provided with a comparator and transistors constituting the comparator vary in threshold value. Therefore, a given threshold value, if set for signal detection circuits, is not necessarily appropriate, and the detection result may vary among the signal detection circuits.

Signal detection circuit capable of automatically adjusting threshold value

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Disclosed are a process for preparing an optically active 2-oxoimidazolidine derivative of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 represents hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl group, according to the process described in the specification; and a 3-acyl-2-oxoimidazolidine-4-carboxylin acid ester derivative having (S, R) configuration of the formula: ##STR2## wherein R.sup.2 represents a tert-butyl group or a benzyl group, and R.sup.3 represents a lower alkyl group or an aryl group.

This invention relates to a novel process for preparing optically active 2-oxoimidazolidine derivatives useful as pharmaceutical compounds.
This invention also relates to a novel intermediate of said 2-oxoimidazolidine derivative.
2-Oxoimidazolidine derivatives represented by the formula: ##STR3## wherein R.sup.1 represents hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl group and * represents an asymmetric carbon atom, are pharmaceutical compounds useful as hypotensors having excellent angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity.
The 2-oxoimidazolidine derivatives have three asymmetric carbons within the molecule, and their absolute configurations affect greatly the activity, and it has been known in the art that compounds of (S, S, S) configuration in which the absolute configurations of the three asymmetric carbon atoms are all (S) configurations are most preferred (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58233/1985).
As a process for preparing compounds having such (S, S, S) configuration, in the above-mentioned patent specification, there is disclosed a process which comprises (1) reacting a (4S)-1-methyl-2-oxoimidazolidine-4-carboxylic acid ester with 2-bromopropionic acid chloride to form (4S)-1-methyl-3-(2-bromopropionyl)-2-oxoimidazolidine-4-carboxylic acid ester, (2) reacting this product with a (2S)-2-amino-4-phenylbutyric acid ester, then separating the compound of (S, S, S) configuration from the product, and subsequently (3) eliminating the ester residue.
However, according to the above known method, in the condensation reaction of the step (2), the compound of (S, S, S) configuration and the compound of (S, R, S) configuration are formed, and also diastereo-selectivity is exhibited to give the compound of (S, R, S) configuration as the major product. For this reason, there have been involved drawbacks that separation of the compound of (S, S, S) configuration from the compound of (S, R, S) configuration is required for isolation thereof and also that the isolation yield of the (S, S, S) isomer is low.
Also, in the above known method, even when 2-bromopropionic acid chloride may be replaced with a compound of (S) configuration or (R) configuration, racemization and diasteroselectivity occur in the reaction of the step (2) to produce compounds of (S, S, S) configuration and (S, R, S) configuration, and also give the compound of (S, R, S) configuration as the major product, thus involving the same drawbacks as mentioned above.

Process for preparing optically active 2-oxoimidazolidine derivatives


The present application provides for a compound of Formula I,

Oxidative metabolism by cytochrome P450 enzymes is one of the primary mechanisms of drug metabolism. It can be difficult to maintain therapeutically effective blood plasma levels of drugs which are rapidly metabolized by cytochrome P450 enzymes. Accordingly, the blood plasma levels of drugs which are susceptible to cytochrome P450 enzyme degradation can be maintained or enhanced by co-administration of cytochrome P450 inhibitors, thereby improving the pharmacokinetics of the drug.
While certain drugs are known to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes, more and/or improved inhibitors for cytochrome P450 monooxygenase are desirable. Particularly, it would be desirable to have cytochrome P450 monooxygenase inhibitors which do not have appreciable biological activity other than cytochrome P450 inhibition. Such inhibitors can be useful for minimizing undesirable biological activity, e.g., side effects. In addition, it would be desirable to have P450 monooxygenase inhibitors that lack significant or have a reduced level of protease inhibitor activity. Such inhibitors could be useful for enhancing the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs, while minimizing the possibility of eliciting viral resistance, especially against protease inhibitors.

Modulators of pharmacokinetic properties of therapeutics

Abstract: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, solvate, and/or ester thereof, compositions containing such compounds, therapeutic methods that include the administration of such compounds, and therapeutic methods and include the administration of such compounds with at least one additional therapeutic agent.


This invention pertains to a method and apparatus for thermally developing a photosensitive element. The photosensitive element includes a composition layer capable of being partially liquefied upon heating. Heating the layer causes one or more organic compounds in the layer to form a vapor. Oxidation of the vapor forms carbon dioxide and water vapor and reduces the need to manage waste streams containing the organic compounds.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This invention pertains to a method and apparatus for treating a photosensitive element, and particularly to a method and apparatus for thermally treating a photosensitive element.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flexographic printing plates are well known for use in printing surfaces which range from soft and easy to deform to relatively hard, such as packaging materials, e.g., cardboard, plastic films, aluminum foils, etc. Flexographic printing plates can be prepared from photosensitive elements containing photopolymerizable compositions, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,323,637 and 4,427,759. The photopolymerizable compositions generally comprise an elastomeric binder, at least one monomer and a photoinitiator. Photosensitive elements generally have a photopolymerizable layer interposed between a support and a coversheet or multilayer cover element. Upon imagewise exposure to actinic radiation, photopolymerization of the photopolymerizable layer occurs in the exposed areas, thereby curing and rendering insoluble the exposed areas of the layer. Conventionally, the element is treated with a suitable solution, e.g., solvent or aqueous-based washout, to remove the unexposed areas of the photopolymerizable layer leaving a printing relief which can be used for flexographic printing. However, developing systems that treat the element with a solution are time consuming since drying for an extended period (0.5 to 24 hours) is necessary to remove absorbed developer solution.
As an alternative to solution development, a "dry" thermal development process may be used which removes the unexposed areas without the subsequent time-consuming drying step. In a thermal development process, the photosensitive layer, which has been imagewise exposed to actinic radiation, is contacted with an absorbent material at a temperature sufficient to cause the composition in the unexposed portions of the photosensitive layer to soften or melt and flow into an absorbent material. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,023 (Burg et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,103 (Cohen et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,556 (Martens); U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,072 (Martens); U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,859 (Martens); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,697 (Peterson et al.). The exposed portions of the photosensitive layer remain hard, that is do not soften or melt, at the softening temperature for the unexposed portions. The absorbent material collects the softened un-irradiated material and then is separated/removed from the photosensitive layer. The cycle of heating and contacting the photosensitive layer may need to be repeated several times in order to sufficiently remove the flowable composition from the un-irradiated areas and form a relief structure suitable for printing. After such processing, there remains a raised relief structure of irradiated, hardened composition that represents the irradiated image.
Photosensitive compositions may contain one or more components that can vaporize or volatilize when the element is heated to the temperature or temperatures necessary for thermal development to occur. The components that can vaporize or volatilize are generally low molecular weight organic compounds, such as monomer. The vapor can condense within a thermal development processor and drip uncontrolled onto different areas of the processor creating a mess within the processor. The formation of condensate in the processor typically depends on usage, with high volume and large plate size being contributing factors. Thus, the vapor and/or condensate from the vapor that remain inside the processor make it difficult to maintain the cleanliness and operation of the processor, and ultimately can damage the thermal development apparatus. In addition, the photosensitive elements can be damaged by the condensate. Condensate dripping onto an image area of the element causes disturbances in the surface of the element that can render the surface unsuitable for printing.
U.S. Publication No. 2005/0084791 A1 by Hackler et al. (published Apr. 21, 2005) discloses a method and apparatus for controlling the vapor and/or condensate created during thermal treatment of the photosensitive element. The vapor is collected at a heating station at or adjacent to where the photosensitive element is heated. The vapor and any resulting condensate are confined within a collection system until they can be effectively removed from the exhaust air. The vapor and/or condensate from the air are removed by converting the vapor to condensate, collecting the condensate, and then treating the condensate for disposal. The vapor and condensate are removed by a separation unit that condenses vapor into droplets, coalesces condensed droplets for collection, and then separates, i.e., by filtration, any remaining droplets (or condensate) from the air. A coalescing filter cartridge array is also mentioned as suitable for removing vapor and condensate from the air. Collected condensate is then drained from the processor or treated for easy disposal. The exhaust air may not, but usually does, need to be treated further to remove the remaining vapor from the air. An external filter or absorption unit may be connected to the exhaust to remove remaining vapor prior to discharging the air from the collection-treatment system or to the outside environment.
However, it is difficult to completely remove the organic material from the air. After collection and treatment to separate liquid condensate droplets from the air, some organic compounds can still remain in the vapor phase in the exhaust air. Oftentimes the remaining vapor then condenses further downstream in the process and still creates a mess for the customer and can damage the processor or exhaust ductwork. Additionally, even effective collection of the vapor and condensate and removal from exhaust air still creates a waste stream that requires handling for disposal.
Oxidation processes (catalytic or thermal) are used in large waste treatment operations in many industries including some printing operations to remove volatile organic constituents from the exhaust. In the printing industry, the organic components of the exhaust arise largely from solvents in the inks and other treatment steps used in the printing process, particularly associated with printing presses. The organic components from the printing process have to be removed from the exhaust air for regulatory compliance.
So a problem arises with effective removal of vapor and condensate collected during thermal development of photosensitive elements from air. It is desirable to remove the organic material from the air to such an extent that if any organic material remains after treatment that it does not impact air handling downstream from the processor to the exhaust. It is also desirable to remove volatilized organic components from the air to minimize handling of waste.

Method and apparatus for thermal development with vapor treatment


A method of removing ruthenium silicide from a substrate surface which comprises exposing the ruthenium silicide surface to a solution containing chlorine and fluorine containing chemicals. In particular, said solution is designed to react with said ruthenium silicide film such that water-soluble reaction products are formed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to silicon integrated circuit processing and, more particularly, to a process for selectively removing ruthenium silicide from a semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices are typically made up of varying levels of components, each of which are formed from different materials. During the process of fabricating a semiconductor device, the device layers are repeatedly subjected to high temperature processes that can result in diffusion of species between layers. Diffusion of species of atoms or molecules, such as oxygen, for example, can result in degraded performance of different components of the semiconductor device. This problem occurs in a number of different semiconductor devices such as interconnects or capacitors.
A capacitor structure within an integrated circuit typically comprises an insulating dielectric layer sandwiched between a lower and upper conducting electrode. This provides the capacitor structure with a desired capacitance C, that varies proportionally with the dielectric constant, k, of the dielectric layer and the area, A, of the electrodes. However, due to the limitations of known manufacturing methods, the typical dielectric layer often suffers from a substantially large concentration of oxygen vacancy defects. In particular, an oxygen vacancy exists whenever the crystal structure of an oxide dielectric is missing an oxygen atom. Unfortunately, the presence of oxygen vacancies within the dielectric causes the dielectric layer to have a decreased dielectric constant as well as a decreased electrical resistance. Thus, a capacitor structure formed of such a dielectric layer usually provides a decreased capacitance, thereby reducing the charge deposited on the electrodes of the capacitor structure in response to a specific voltage differential applied across the electrodes.
Furthermore, the problems associated with oxygen vacancies within dielectric materials are becoming more apparent as integrated circuits are formed with increasingly smaller circuit elements. For example, high density Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices requiring a large number of capacitor structures demand the electrodes of each capacitor structure to have a relatively small area. Thus, in order to provide a sufficient capacitance in response to the reduced area, A, of the electrodes, dielectric materials having a relatively large dielectric constant, k, otherwise known as high-k dielectric materials, are required. However, known high-k dielectric materials, such as tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5), barium strontium titanate (BST), barium titanate (BT) lead zirconium titanate (PZT), and strontium bismuth tantalate (SBT), require the presence of oxygen atoms throughout their crystal structures. Furthermore, the dielectric constant and the electrical resistance of these high-k materials are especially sensitive to the presence of oxygen vacancies. Thus, these capacitor structures are more likely to be formed with an insufficient capacitance for developing a detectable charge as well as an insufficient resistance for maintaining the detectable charge.
To address the problem of oxygen vacancies in dielectric materials, manufacturers often subject DRAM integrated circuits to re-oxidation anneals. For example, DRAM integrated circuits are usually exposed to an annealing process which heats the integrated circuit in an oxidizing environment subsequent to the deposition of the dielectric material and prior to the deposition of the upper electrode so as to source oxygen atoms to the exposed dielectric material to thereby reduce the concentration of oxygen deficiencies. Disadvantageously, however, during the annealing operation the oxygen is known to diffuse through the dielectric layer and seep into the underlying bottom electrode, thus adversely affecting the electrical properties of the electrode.
In particular, the bottom electrode is typically formed on a silicon based substrate surface and the silicon is known to migrate upwardly from the substrate surface into the bottom electrode. During the annealing operation, silicon that has diffused upwardly into the bottom electrode can react with the oxygen to form silicon dioxide (SiO2). The formation of silicon dioxide in the bottom electrode is undesirable as it has shown to result in open contacts. This problem is especially prevalent in capacitors having bottom electrodes made of platinum, ruthenium oxide, or other metals that are particularly susceptible to silicon permeation.
To address this problem, a barrier layer can be interposed between the bottom electrode and the underlying silicon substrate surface to inhibit silicon from diffusing upwardly into the bottom electrode. In fact, one such method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,628 assigned to Micron Technology which teaches using a ruthenium silicide (RuSix) liner as a silicon diffusion barrier in Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) capacitor modules. As described in the above mentioned U.S. Patent, ruthenium suicide (RuSix) is preferably deposited onto the silicon substrate surface using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method that is well known in the art. However, the CVD process is known to deposit RuSix on the edges and backside of the wafer as well as any other unmasked surfaces such as clamping tools or other equipment used during deposition. As a consequence, the excessive RuSix deposits have to be removed from the substrate surface prior to completion of wafer processing.
Although a number of etchants have been developed for removing ruthenium metal, there is presently no known chemistry that can effectively remove ruthenium silicide in bulk. Since the use of ruthenium silicide as a barrier liner is a relatively novel idea that shows potential for a wide range of applications in semiconductor fabrication, it can be appreciated that an appropriate etchant for removing ruthenium silicide is highly desired. Hence from the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there is a need for an etchant that can effectively remove ruthenium silicide. To this end, this is a particular need for an etching process that is simple, cost effective, and can selectively remove ruthenium silicide in bulk from a substrate surface.
The aforementioned needs are satisfied by the present invention which teaches a method of selectively removing ruthenium silicide (RuSix) from a surface. In one aspect, the present invention comprises a method of using chlorine and fluorine containing chemicals to remove RuSix from a surface. In particular, the method comprises exposing the surface containing ruthenium silicide to a solution containing chlorine and fluorine containing chemicals such that the solution reacts with the ruthenium silicide film to form water-soluble reaction products. Furthermore, subsequent to reacting ruthenium silicide with said solution, the method comprises rinsing the surface to further dissolve and remove reactants and products formed as a result of the interaction between RuSix and the etching solution.
In one embodiment, the surface containing ruthenium silicide is exposed to an aqueous solution containing chlorine- and fluorine-containing chemicals. Furthermore, the same aqueous solution is used to dissolve and remove the reaction products so that the formation and dissolution of soluble products can be performed in the same reaction tank using substantially the same solution. However, in other embodiments, chlorine- and fluorine-containing chemicals may be obtained from a gaseous source and a separate aqueous solution may be used to dissolve and flush the reaction products remaining on the surface. For instance, chlorine gas can be mixed with HF solution and water to form the etchant solution. Alternatively, the etchant solution can be prepared by bubbling Cl2 and HF gas into water.
In another aspect, the present invention comprises a hypochlorite salt based solution that can selectively etch RuSix from a substrate surface. In one embodiment, the solution may comprise approximately 0.6% potassium hypochlorite (KOCl), 0.7% hydrofluoric acid (HF), and 98.7% D.I. water by weight. In another embodiment, the solution comprises KOCl, HF, and water combined in the volume ratio of 3:1:50 respectively. Furthermore, the KOCl and HF used in this embodiment are off-the-shelf aqueous solutions premixed at concentration levels of 11% and 49% respectively.
Advantageously, the ingredients of the solution are relatively inexpensive and commonly available. Furthermore, the solution can be made using conventional laboratory techniques that are simple and convenient to implement.
In yet another aspect, a method of removing ruthenium silicide (RuSix) from a substrate surface is provided wherein the method comprises exposing the RuSix to a hypochlorite salt based solution. In one embodiment, the RuSix is immersed in the hypochlorite salt based solution for approximately 1-10 minutes. Furthermore, the hypochlorite salt based solution comprises potassium hypochlorite, hydrofluoric acid, and D.I. water combined in the volume ratio of 3:1:50 respectively using 11% KOCl and 49% HF aqueous solutions. The solution effectively dissolves the RuSix on the substrate surface and the substrate surface may comprise the back side, edges, or recessed areas on a wafer. Advantageously, the etching process does not require specialized equipment or techniques as the substrates can be batch processed in open tanks that are commonly used in wet chemistry processing. Of course, the same process chemistry can be applied through many wet process tools available to those skilled in the art. These tools include but are not limited to, spray process, spin etch, and brush scrub process technologies.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of selectively removing ruthenium silicide (RuSix) from a substrate surface without substantially affecting other non-RuSix areas that are not masked with photoresist or other coating. In particular, the method uses a hypochlorite salt based solution that is capable of selectively etching RuSix from a surface without adversely affecting other exposed material, such as oxide layers or the like. Furthermore, one or both sides of the substrate surface may be selectively processed. In one embodiment, the edge of the wafer is selectively processed in a spin-etch tool. Advantageously, the solution is formulated to remove RuSix at a much faster rate than it removes other material on the substrate surface, which in most instances effectively obviates the need of masking the substrate surface to protect other material on the substrate from the etchant.
Advantageously, the present invention provides an etchant that can effectively remove ruthenium silicide (RuSix) from a substrate surface while there is presently no other chemicals known in the art that is able to even marginally etch RuSix. In fact, the use of RuSix itself is relatively novel in semiconductor fabrication and its numerous advantages are disclosed in the above mentioned copending application. However, it can be appreciated that these advantages cannot be fully realized without an effective method of removing excess RuSix from the substrate surface. Thus, the present invention fulfills an important need by providing a relatively simple and cost-effective method of removing ruthenium silicide from a substrate surface so that RuSix can be widely used in integrated circuit fabrication. Furthermore, the method can be adapted to selectively remove RuSix from a substrate surface without masking the substrate which further reduces the number of processing steps and the risk of incurring defects.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the aspects of the present invention provide a method of selectively removing ruthenium silicide (RuSix) from a substrate surface. In particular, the invention provides a novel method of etching RuSix by exposing the RuSix to a hypochlorite salt based solution wherein the solution effectively dissolves the RuSix without noticeably affecting other material on the substrate surface. These and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings.


Automation of microscopic pathological diagnosis relies on digital image quality, which, in turn, affects the rates of false positive and negative cellular objects designated as abnormalities. Cytogenetic biodosimetry is a genotoxic assay that detects dicentric chromosomes (DCs) arising from exposure to ionizing radiation. The frequency of DCs is related to radiation dose received, so the inferred radiation dose depends on the accuracy of DC detection. To improve this accuracy, image segmentation methods are used to rank high quality cytogenetic images and eliminate suboptimal metaphase cell data in a sample based on novel quality measures. When sufficient numbers of high quality images are found, the microscope system is directed to terminate metaphase image collection for a sample. The International Atomic Energy Agency recommends at least 500 images be used to estimate radiation dose, however often many more images are collected in order to select the metaphase cells with good morphology for analysis. Improvements in DC recognition increase the accuracy of dose estimates, by reducing false positive (FP) DC detection. A set of chromosome morphology segmentation methods selectively filtered out false DCs, arising primarily from extended prometaphase chromosomes, sister chromatid separation and chromosome fragmentation. This reduced FPs by 55% and was highly specific to the abnormal structures (≥97.7%). Additional procedures were then developed to fully automate image review, resulting in 6 image-level filters that, when combined, selectively remove images with consistently unparsable or incorrectly segmented chromosome morphologies. Overall, these filters can eliminate half of the FPs detected by manual image review. Optimal image selection and FP DCs are minimized by combining multiple feature based segmentation filters and a novel image sorting procedure based on the known distribution of chromosome lengths. Consequently, the average dose estimation error was reduced from 0.4 Gy to <0.2 Gy with minimal manual review required. Automated image selection with these filters reduces the number of images that are required to capture metaphase cells, thus decreasing the number of images and time required for each sample. A microscope system integrates image selection procedures controls with an automated digitally controlled microscope then determines at what point a sufficient number of metaphase cell images have been acquired to accurately determine radiation dose, which then terminates data collection by the microscope. These image filtering approaches constitute a reliable and scalable solution that results in more accurate and rapid radiation dose estimates.

The analysis of microscopy images of cells is the basis of several types of analysis of the effects of damage by ionizing radiation. The gold standard radiation biodosimetry method, the dicentric chromosome assay (DCA), involves measuring the frequency of aberrant dicentric chromosomes in a patient sample. While some aspects of the assay have been successfully automated and streamlined, its overall throughput remains limited by the labour-intensive manual dicentric (DC) scoring step, potentially affecting timely estimation of radiation exposures of multiple affected individuals, for example, in a radiation accident or a mass casualty event (Blakely et al. 2005; Wilkins et al. 2008).
Biodosimetry is a useful tool for assessing the dose received by an individual when no reliable physical dosimetry is available. Traditionally, the dicentric chromosome assay is the method of choice for recent acute exposures to ionizing radiation. This cytogenetic method is based on measuring the frequency of dicentric chromosomes (DCs) in metaphase cells and converting this frequency to dose using in vitro generated calibration curves (Bauchinger et al. 1984; Lloyd et al. 1986; IAEA 2001). Classical, microscope analysis of DCs is robust, allowing the estimation of doses in the range of 0.1 to 5 Gy. For dose estimates in the low end of this range, however, 1000 cells are typically scored (IAEA 2011) making this method time consuming and only feasible for small numbers of exposures. This manual approach lacks adequate throughput for a mass casualty event to estimate the radiation exposures needed to triage for diagnosis and treatment.
Other cytogenetic assays and systems have been described for measuring absorbed radiation. These systems are distinct from the DCA and suffer from several disadvantages. DCs are among the most stable biological markers of radiation exposure and can be detected up to 3 months post exposure. The micronucleus assay, by contrast, can be performed up to 7 days after exposure. The H2AX assay, which measures DNA damage, can be used up to 72 hr after radiation. Also, the DCA can be performed using Giemsa stained chromosomes, which contrasts with other assays requiring fluorescence in situ hybridization to identify chromosomes or elements of chromosomes. The DCA is considerably faster, less expensive, and involves less complex laboratory procedures than other cytogenetic techniques, since fluorescent reagents and wash steps following their application are not required. Fluorescent techniques based on cytogenetic microscopy include identification chromosome rearrangements based on translocations with chromosome painting probes, or to mark chromosomes with centromere and telomere probes. The RABiT system automates fluorescent-based biodosimetry assays which do not depend on metaphase chromosome image analysis (U.S. Pat. No. 7,787,681B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,822,249B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,826,977B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,673B2). The system can either count H2AX protein foci detected by fluorescently labeled antibodies or can use fluorescent probes or stains to identify and count binucleated micronuclei in microscopy images. While these steps are automated, RABiT does not however determine when sufficient numbers of dicentric chromosomes or cells of adequate quality have been identified, nor does it determine the level of exposure in Gy based on a calibration curve. The RABiT microscope system does not automate manage sample acquisition for radiation biodosimetry in the same manner that the instant invention performs these tasks.
In response to the pressing demand to increase throughput in cytogenetic biodosimetry, capture of metaphase images and interpretation of DCs have been partially automated, with a concomitant reduction in the numbers of cell analyzed. Software (eg. MSearch, DCScore [Metasystems]) has automated the scanning of microscope slides to locate metaphase cells and assisted review of DCs for triage biodosimetry (Schunck et al. 2004). This software has also facilitated inter-laboratory collaboration and the assessment of partial-body exposures (Ainsbury et al. 2009). The adoption of triage scoring of 50 carefully selected cells greatly increases the throughput, while maintaining the ability to identify exposures of over 1 Gy (Lloyd et al. 2000), and reducing the time required by more than a factor of 5 (Flegal et al. 2010).
More recently, automated image analysis software that can identify DCs (DCScore™, Metasystems) has been used for biodosimetry (Vaurijoux et al. 2009; Vaurijoux et al. 2015). However, it is still necessary to manually pre-process and supervise DC analyses performed with this software. After cells with abnormal chromosome counts and according to Metasystems, "metaphases where the two chromatids are sticked or with twisted chromosomes, and metaphases where centromeric constrictions are not visible" are removed, the remaining images are analyzed with the software (Gruel et al. 2013). The operator then excludes images with "twisted chromosomes, two aligned chromosomes, and other figures detected as dicentrics by the software." False positive (FP) DCs will alter the estimated dose if these steps are not performed (Gruel et al. 2013). DCScore™ software is therefore considered semi-automated because it requires manual pre- and post-processing review of DCs (Schunck et al. 2004; Vaurijoux et al. 2015), especially at low radiation doses.
The high rate of FPs in raw data is not surprising considering the known variation among chromosome morphologies. The detection of DCs, which are much less frequent than monocentric chromosomes (MCs), is also impacted by differences in sample processing procedures among laboratories (Wilkins et al. 2008).
One challenging issue with automated analysis is the selection of images of adequate quality for accurate identification of the chromosome damage. Selection of images for cytogenetic biodosimetry has traditionally requires a subjective, manual review of images to determine those of sufficient quality to score DCs unequivocally. The decision to manually select or exclude microscope images for DCA has not been based on analyses of quantitative analysis of structural properties in each chromosome, metaphase cell, or the level of contamination with non-chromosomal objects; without attention to this image properties, automated cell image capture approaches make this approach impractical due to the growing size of datasets of many samples consisting of thousands of images. Image quality assessment often estimates new data in relation to reference images (Zhou et al. 2004), complex mathematical models (Nill and Bouzas 1992), or distortions from a training set recognized by machine learning (Narwaria and Lin 2010). Generic methods of assessing image quality are not appropriate in our situation. Features tailored for ranking chromosome images cannot be generalized to entropy measures based on applying frequency filter to intensity distributions. To be useful, quality assurance for evaluation of specific microscopic biological objects in an image may require expert-derived rules to categorize preferred images. When performed manually, the speed of this process can vary significantly between samples, and the accuracy may reflect subjective evaluation between experts or may not be reproducible with the same expert.
Improved methods were sought that uniformly, reproducibly, and automatically evaluate the suitability of metaphase images, since these improves the accuracy of dose estimation. Furthermore, implementation of this automated process provides feedback control of the microscope system that enables samples to complete processing once the system indicates that a sufficient number of high quality metaphase images have been ascertained.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Smart microscope system for radiation biodosimetry


A floor-standing home appliance in the nature of a range including an appliance body and a support assembly for supporting the appliance body on a support surface, the support assembly including a support member extending away from the appliance body, the support member having an engagement member with a predetermined shape at a distal end thereof, and a shoe attached to the distal end of the support member, the shoe having a receiving well with a shape complimentary to the predetermined shape of the engagement member to receive the engagement member in the receiving well.

The present invention relates broadly to floor-standing home appliances and, more particularly, to a home appliance, in the nature of a range, having a two-piece support assembly.
Ranges are generally box-like, floor-standing appliances that include some form of leg support mounted at four corners of the range body. In whatever form, such support should be adjustable so that the height of the range can be varied for appearance and leveling purposes. To that end, some ranges include threaded apertures in the range frame for receiving threaded cylinders that can support the range on a floor and may be rotated in and out of the apertures to adjust the height of the range.
Some ranges are also relatively heavy, weighing more than five hundred (500) pounds. Such weight concentration, on the average of one hundred twenty five (125) pounds per corner, presuming even distribution of weight, can cause difficulties for using threaded cylinders, such as bolts, for support legs. In general, a bolt will be strong enough to support the weight of the range. However, the bolt head presents a small footprint and therefore a high concentration of weight in the form of pressure on the support surface, usually a kitchen floor, which can be damaging to the floor.
Accordingly, feet or shoes have been applied to threaded cylindrical members to make support legs for ranges. Such custom leg structures can be unnecessarily expensive to manufacture and use.
There accordingly exists a need for a support leg assembly that can use a standard bolt and still provide a shoe or foot with a sufficiently large footprint to effectively distribute the weight of a heavy range.