An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image bearing members, a developing unit, an intermediate transfer belt, a secondary transfer body, and a registration roller. A linear speed difference between the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer body is variably set based on a basis weight of a recording medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to conveying of a recording medium in an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a photocopier, a facsimile device, or a printing machine, toner images are formed on photoreceptors used as image bearing members to be electrostatically transferred to a recording medium such as a paper, an overhead projector (OHP) sheet, or a tracing paper and the transferred toner images are fixed and then a copied output is obtained.
The copied output can include a single color image or a full color image. As one of structures to form the image of the colors, a tandem type is known in which even when a full color image is output, the same level of output speed can be achieved as that of when a monochrome image is output.
In the tandem type image forming apparatus, each of image forming units corresponds to one of colors and includes the photoreceptor and a part of a device that performs an image forming process for the photoreceptor. The image forming units are arranged side by side. Images are sequentially transferred to a belt rotating around the image forming units or sequentially transferred to a recording medium such as a sheet fed by another belt and overlapped. Thus, a color image is obtained.
In the tandem type image forming apparatus, either of an intermediate transfer system and a direct transfer system can be used. In the intermediate transfer system, images formed on the photoreceptors are sequentially temporarily transferred to an intermediate transfer belt used as an intermediate transfer body by a primary transfer device, and then the images on the intermediate transfer belt are secondarily transferred to the recording medium, such as the sheet or the transfer paper, at one time by a secondary transfer device. On the other hand, in the direct transfer system, images formed on the photoreceptors are sequentially and directly transferred by a transfer device to the recording medium, such as the transfer paper, fed by a feeding belt.
In the tandem type image forming apparatus, a transfer roller is arranged on an inner side of the intermediate transfer belt or the feeding belt as a transfer bias applying unit that applies a transfer bias when the images are transferred. The transfer roller applies the transfer bias to the belt in a state where the transfer roller contacts with the inner side of the belt.
In the primary transfer, the images of each color are sequentially transferred to the intermediate transfer belt in an overlapping manner to obtain a multi-color image, and the multi-color toner image is transferred to the transfer paper at one time in the secondary transfer.
The recording medium (hereinafter, "transfer paper") fed to a secondary transfer position where the secondary transfer is performed is held to be fed at a position of a transfer nip portion, a position of a registration roller, and a position of a feeding roller respectively. The transfer nip portion is formed with a secondary transfer roller and a backup roller that presses the intermediate transfer belt toward the secondary transfer roller. The registration roller sets a registration timing of the transfer paper fed to the transfer nip portion. The feeding roller is provided in a transfer path of the transfer paper fed from a paper feeding device.
When the transfer paper is fed to the transfer nip portion, the orientation of the transfer paper that is to enter into the transfer nip portion can be controlled by an entrance guide member and the like. A related technology has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-229748 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-156802.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-229748 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-156802, there is a problem that toner scattering occurs due to a phenomenon called "premature transfer" in which an electric discharge occurs before the transfer paper arrives at the nip portion in an entrance of the transfer nip portion. Toner scattering refers to a phenomenon that transfer toners borne on the intermediate transfer belt are scattered to be unexpectedly transferred to the transfer paper due to an occurrence of a premature transfer electric discharge between the transfer paper and the intermediate transfer belt at the location upstream from the transfer nip portion when the transfer paper makes an improper angle with respect to the intermediate transfer belt.
Especially, when a rear end portion of the transfer paper passes through the entrance guide member and the transfer paper returns to its original shape by the flexural rigidity determined by its thickness, the rear end portion comes into contact with the transfer belt unstably and in a vibrating manner. This can create a disorder of the toner images.
To prevent this problem, the entrance guide member needs to be arranged such that a contact between the transfer belt and the transfer paper does not occur. An end portion of the entrance guide member near the transfer nip is frequently arranged closer to the transfer nip portion.
However, if this configuration is adopted, at the instant when the rear end portion of the transfer paper comes loose from the entrance guide member after the direction of the transfer paper is controlled by the entrance guide member and the transfer paper returns to its original shape and moves toward the intermediate transfer belt due to the thickness of the transfer paper that determines its flexural rigidity, the transfer paper can hit the intermediate transfer belt. When the transfer paper hits the intermediate transfer belt, the impact is large and it may cause the disorder of the images to become large.


The invention relates to an integrated circuit having a transistor suitable for integrated injection logic (I.sup.2 L) with a single collector output region and having at least one base contact disposed between the collector output region (C.sub.60, C'.sub.60) and the injector (IN.sub.6), the surface of the collector output region being several times larger than that of a logic gate of the I.sup.2 L multi-collector type. The base (B.sub.60) has at least two rows of interconnected contacts: a first row (CB.sub.60, CB.sub.61, CB.sub.62) constituting the base contact disposed between the collector and the injector, and at least a second row (CB.sub.63, CB.sub.64, CB.sub.65) situated at the perimeter of the collector (C.sub.60,C'.sub.60), which can consist of one or several parts. The injector (IN.sub.6) may also have a row of interconnected contacts (CIN.sub.1, CIN.sub.2, CIN.sub.3).

The invention relates to an integrated circuit comprising a multi-collector I.sup.2 L gate and a transistor for internal injection logic (I.sup.2 L) with a single collector output region and at least one base contact arranged between the collector output region and an injector, the surface area of the collector output region being several times larger than that of a collector of a logic multi-collector I.sup.2 L gate.
Transistors of the above type capable of operating with a comparatively high output current are frequently used, especially for being mounted in cascade arrangement at the output of a logic I.sup.2 L gate so that it constitutes an interface circuit with other elements.
In such transistors of high current level, the voltage drop in the base is larger than in a logic I.sup.2 L gate, which results in that the output current is considerably smaller than could be expected from the ratio between the surface area of the single collector output of the transistor and that of a collector of the logic gate.
Prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,512,075 and 4,322,882 disclose I.sup.2 L transistors, in which the base resistance is reduced due to the presence of a base contact extending throughout the surface of the base. However it has been found that such a provision has the disadvantage of increasing the phenomena of recombination in the base and of resulting in a reduction of the gain, which is particularly unfavourable in the case of transistors operating at a high current and hence having larger dimensions. Also see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,075,039 and 4,546,539.

Integrated circuit with high output current I.sup.2 L transistor


A heat exchange system for transferring heat energy to control the temperature of a building comprising: a first heat exchanger having a first and second inlet and a first and second outlet wherein waste water flows through said first inlet of said first heat exchanger and out said first outlet while a water supply flows through said second inlet through said first heat exchanger and out said second outlet so as to transfer heat energy between said waste water and said water supply; and a second heat exchanger having a first and second inlet and a first and second outlet wherein domestic water flows through said first inlet, through said second heat exchanger and out said first outlet while said water supply from said second outlet of said first heat exchanger flows through said second inlet, through said second heat exchanger and out said second outlet so as to further transfer heat energy between said domestic water and said water supply from said second outlet of said second heat exchanger and control the temperature of said building.

Heat exchangers are commonly used devices for transferring thermal energy from one medium to another. For example a. heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat between two or more fluids. In other words, heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contact
In todays' world there is a desire to operate in a green eco-friendly energy environment as well as improving the thermal efficiency and thermal recovery of waste energy.
For example EP1970660 relates to an arrangement for reclaiming heat energy from wastewater and associated with a sewer line, having an intermediate storage connected to the sewer line by means of at least one inlet and having a heat exchanger associated with the intermediate storage, the arrangement further comprising a pump device associated with the intermediate storage for transporting wastewater into the heat exchanger, and the arrangement comprising a discharge connected to the sewer line and through which the wastewater can flow back into the sewer line after passing through the heat exchanger, the inlet comprising a filter device having a cleaning device, the cleaning device comprising a conveyor screw.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,443 relates to apparatus for removing material from a liquid flowing through a channel including a sieve grate, a screw conveyor and a detaching device. The sieve grate has an inflow side, an inner side and an outer side. The sieve grate is designed to be cylindrical and to be rotatably driven. The sieve grate is arranged at an inclined orientation to be partially submerged in the liquid. The sieve grate at the inflow side includes an open face. The sieve grate at the inner side includes a plurality of guide plates. The sieve grate includes a shaping carrier element. The sieve grate includes a mesh fabric, the mesh fabric being designed and arranged to form a separation surface for the material. The screw conveyor includes a housing. The screw conveyor includes a driven conveying screw. The screw conveyor is coaxially arranged with respect to the sieve grate. The screw conveyor in the region of the sieve grate includes a feeding hopper for the material, the feeding hopper having a bottom side and including a majority of openings located in the region of the bottom side. The detaching device is arranged at the outer side of the sieve grate and above the feeding hopper in a stationary way. The detaching device is designed and arranged to detach material which adheres to the separation surface from inside of the sieve grate.
The apparatus, system and method shown in EP1970660 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,443 are known in the industry as Huber (trademark) Solution or System from sewers or waste water where a heat exchange system is provided for heating or cooling with waste water from for example a sewer. The Huber System recovers heat energy from a sewer in their Thermwin (trademark) system, and or Rowin (trademark) System.
In addition an auger or conveyor screw can be used in the Huber System. Other prior art arrangements and methods are shown in the following prior art
U.S. Pat. No. 8,499,471 relates to a drying apparatus configured to dry a feed material, the feed material having a first density, the drying apparatus comprising: a feed material inlet; the feed material inlet configured to supply a feed material to be dried to the drying apparatus and produce dried feed material; a bed coupled to the feed material inlet and having a dried feed material outlet, the bed comprising fluidized bed media, the fluidized bed media comprising a different material from the feed material and having a second density, the second density being different than the first density; a heat source coupled to the bed; and a fluid source coupled to the bed, the fluid source configured to supply a fluid to agitate the fluidized bed material and the feed; wherein the fluidized bed media dries the feed material and density differences between the first density and the second density cause the dried feed material to be selectively removed from the bed through the dried feed material outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,603,336 shows a method for transferring heat includes flowing a wastewater through a tank and flowing a fluid through a heat exchanger having an outer surface. The method further includes aerating the wastewater to produce a convective flow, contacting the outer surface of the heat exchanger with the convective flow to exchange heat, and cleaning the outer surface of the heat exchanger with the convective flow. A system for transferring heat includes a tank, a heat exchanger with an outer surface disposed in the tank, and a fluid flowing through the heat exchanger. Wastewater located in the tank flows over the outer surface of the heat exchanger, and a diffusion pipe disposed in the tank provides air into the tank to produce a convective flow in the wastewater
Yet another arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,719,704 which teaches integrated systems and methods for onsite wastewater treatment in which a portion of onsite energy demands may be driven by energy harvested from the wastewater. Thermal energy of wastewater may be transferred from an onsite wastewater treatment system to an onsite heat pump to recover thermal energy, at least a portion of which may then be delivered to an onsite energy demand.
Moreover US20150047579 relates to a heat recovery system arranged to heat water includes at least one heat exchanger (9) arranged to heat water by heat exchange with waste heat. A storage reservoir (11) is arranged to store water heated by the heat exchanger (9). The heat exchanger (9) is switchable between a first mode of operation in which water is circulated by a pump (12) in a circuit that includes the storage reservoir (11) and the heat exchanger (9), and a second mode of operation in which water is circulated by the pump (12) in a circuit that by-passes the heat exchanger (9). Heated water of at least a desired minimum temperature can be supplied to at least one outlet during both the first and second modes of operation.
Finally US20180328633 shows a supplemental heat transfer apparatus for a structure comprising: a pressure sewer system associated with said structure and having a wastewater conduit for removal of wastewater from said structure; and a geothermal system, constructed and arranged in cooperation with said structure, having at least one geothermal loop for circulating a heat transfer fluid, said wastewater conduit and said geothermal loop being arranged in proximity to each other to effect heat transfer between said wastewater conduit and said geothermal loop.
It is an object of this invention to provide apparatus, systems and methods that are an improvement over the prior art and in particular to provide improvements to the thermal efficiency and thermal recovery of waste energy, including the Huber System.
It is another object of this invention to provide improved domestic feed water supplementary cooling system.

Feed water supplementary thermal exchange apparatus, system and method


A stable operation performance of a shift operation apparatus is ensured by allowing the shift lever to be stably recognized using a specific shift stage even in the case where the shift lever has stopped ambiguously between the two neighboring shift stages, and to exactly recognize by judging more exactly which one of the other shift stages, such as + stage and N stage, has been selected even in the case where sensor errors of a sensor for sensing whether the M stage or a manual mode has been selected occur.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a shift state recognizing method for a shift manipulation apparatus, and more particularly, to a technology for recognizing a shift manipulation state more stably in a shift manipulation apparatus configured to select the shift stages depending on the locations of shift levers.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a shift manipulation apparatus to which the present invention is applied wherein a driver may select P, R, N, D stages and M, +, − as a manual mode by moving a shift lever 500.
In the conventional shift manipulation apparatus as described above, a principle of recognizing of a shift stage selected by users is conceptually shown in FIG. 2. That is, P-R-N-D stages, as shown in FIG. 2, are arranged sequentially in the respective valleys of route provided with a plurality of bending, and when a shift lever stops in a valley where any shift stage is positioned while moving along with the bending, the shift stage positioned in the valley is recognized as being selected by user.
Here, the route provided with a plurality of bending conceptually represents an operation of detent structure which is constituted for the shift lever to be exactly stopped at a specific shift stage while moving substantially between the respective shift stages.
That is, when stopping the shift lever, in order for the shift lever to be more exactly positioned in a specific location where the respective shift stages are allotted, an operation of detent structure which is configured to form a moderation feeling using elastic members, etc. is conceptually illustrated with a curved line in FIG. 2.
However, during an operation to select any one shift stage by moving the shift lever, it cannot rule out a case that the shift lever sometimes stops on the peak between valleys. That is caused by the frictional force or mechanical structure of detent device and therefore, when such a phenomenon occurs, a controller for realizing a driver's intention to shift gears by recognizing the operation state of the shift manipulation apparatus is placed in a difficult situation in judging the driver's exact intention of shift gears.
That is, in case where the shift lever stops on the peak located between the R and N stages of FIG. 2 while moving, the controller is in an ambiguous situation in determining which shift lever the driver has selected.
Meanwhile, in the shift manipulation apparatus as mentioned above, the movement of the shift lever along the P-R-N-D section is detected by a rotary sensor interlocked with the shift lever, and whether to select the M stage is detected by a magnet sensor provided separately and thus, when a value of the rotary sensor moves + stage or − stage while a magnetic flux strength is in a predetermined level or more, a controller recognizes that the driver has selected + stage or − stage on the manual mode.
However, in the shift manipulation apparatus as configured above, under the circumstances of being unable to detect that the driver has selected the M stage for various reasons such as that the magnetic sensor is damaged or deviated from its regular course, etc., the sensing locations of the + stage and N stage are very closely located with each other considering the values sensed from the rotary sensor, and thus it becomes difficult to distinguish whether the shift lever has selected + stage or N stage by a controller alone.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Shift manipulation state recognizing method for shift manipulation apparatus


This invention relates to a composition comprising a tramadol material and acetaminophen, and its use. As used herein tramadol refers to various forms of tramadol. The compositions are pharmacologically useful in treating pain and tussive conditions. The compositions are also subject to less opioid side-effects such as abuse liability, tolerance, constipation and respiratory depression. Furthermore, where the components of the compositions are within certain ratios the pharmacological effects of the compositions are superadditive (synergistic).

U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,589 discloses a class of analgesic cycloalkanol-substituted phenol esters having a basic amine group in the cycloalkyl ring. The compound (1RS, 2RS)-[(dimethylamino)-methyl]-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)cyclohexanol, commonly known as tramadol, is specifically disclosed therein. A series of articles pertaining to the pharmacology, toxicology and clinical studies of tramadol are found in Arzneim. Forsch, (Drug Res.), 28(I), 114 (1978). Driessen et al., Arch. Pharmacol., 341, R104 (1990) disclose that tramadol produces its analgesic effect through a mechanism that is neither fully opioid-like nor non-opioid-like. The Abstracts of the VI th World Congress on Pain, Apr. 1-6 (1990), disclose that tramadol hydrochloride is an orally active pure agonist opioid analgesic. However, clinical experience indicates that tramadol lacks many of the typical side effects of opioid agonists, e.g., respiratory depression (W. Vogel et al., Arzneim. Forsch. (Drug Res.), 28(I), 183 (1978)), constipation (I. Arend et al., Arzneim. Forsch, (Drug Res.), 28(I), 199 (1978)), tolerance (L. Flohe et, al., Arzneim. Forsch, (Drug Res.), 28(I), 213 (1978)), and abuse liability ( T. Yanagita, Arzneim. Forsch, (Drug Res.), 28(I), 158 (1978)). When given at a dose of 50 mg by rapid i.v. injection, tramadol may produce certain side effects unique to tramadol including hot flushes and sweating. Despite these side effects, tramadol's combination of non-opioid and opioid activity makes tramadol a very unique drug. Tramadol is currently being marketed by Grunenthal GMBH as an analgesic.
Opioids have for many years been used as analgesics to treat severe pain. They, however, produce undesirable side effects and as a result cannot be given repeatedly or at high doses. The side effect problems are well documented in the literature. See, for example, J. Jaffe and W. Martin in chapter 15, "The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics", editors L. Goodman and A. Gilman, 5th Edition, 245 (1975) wherein it is disclosed that morphine and its congeners, e.g., codeine, hydrocodone and oxycodone, are opioid agonist analgesics that exhibit side effects such as respiratory depression, constipation, tolerance and abuse liability.
As alternatives to using opioids, non-opioids such as acetaminophen (APAP) and aspirin are used as analgesics. APAP, like aspirin, is not subject to the tolerance, addiction and toxicity of the opioid analgesics. However, APAP and aspirin are only useful in relieving pain of moderate intensity, whereas the opioid analgesics are useful in relieving more intense pain; See Woodbury, D. and Fingl, E. in "The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics", 5th Ed.; Goodman, L. and Gilman, A., Chapter 15, pages 325 (1975).
To reduce the side effect problems of opioids, opioids have been combined with other drugs including non-opioid analgesic agents, which lowers the amount of opioid needed to produce an equivalent degree of analgesia. It has been claimed that some of these combination products also have the advantage of producing a synergistic analgesic effect. For example, A. Takemori, Annals New York Acad. Sci., 281, 262 (1976) discloses that compositions including combinations of opioid analgesics with drugs other than analgesics exhibit a variety of effects, i.e., subadditive (inhibitory), additive or superadditive. R. Taber et al., J. Pharm. Expt. Thera., 169(1), 29 (1969) disclose that the combination of morphine and methadone, another opioid analgesic, exhibits an additive effect. U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,400 discloses that the combination of dihydrocodeine, an opioid analgesic, and ibuprofen, a non-opioid analgesic, provides superadditive effects when the components are within certain ratios. A. Pircio et al., Arch. Int. Pharmacodyn., 235, 116 (1978) report superadditive analgesia with a 1:125 mixture of butorphanol, another opioid analgesic, and acetaminophen (APAP), a non-opioid analgesic, whereas a 1:10 mixture did not show any statistically significant superadditive analgesia.
Combinations of non-opioid analgesics have also been prepared to avoid the side effects associated with opioids, and the combinations are noted to have the benefit of requiring less of each ingredient and in producing superadditive effects. G. Stacher et. al., Int. J. Clin. Pharmacol. Biopharmacy, 17, 250 (1979) report that the combination of non-opioid analgesics, i.e., tolmetin and APAP, allows for a marked reduction in the amount of tolmetin required to produce analgesia. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,629 discloses that an orally administered composition of APAP and zomepirac, a non-opioid analgesic, in a particular weight ratio range produces a superadditive relief of pain in mammals. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,788 discloses that 5-aroyl-1-(lower)alkylpyrrole-2-acetic acid derivatives, non-opioid analgesics, when combined with APAP or aspirin exhibit superadditive antiarthritic activity. However, there have been warnings against the daily consumption of non-opioid analgesic mixtures and of the consumption of a single non-opioid analgesic in large amounts or over long periods (see, D. Woodbury and E. Fingl at page 349).
The prior art, however, does not disclose that tramadol an `atypical` opioid analgesic, can or should be combined with another analgesic to lessen the side effects of each or to yield a composition comprising a tramadol material and another analgesic that exhibits superadditive analgesia.

Composition comprising a tramadol material and acetaminophen and its use


A thermite composition includes at least one composite particle having a convoluted lamellar structure having alternating metal oxide layers including a metal oxide and metal layers including a metal capable of reducing the metal oxide. The metal oxide layers and metal layers both have an average thickness of between 10 nm and 1 μm. Molar proportions of the metal oxide and metal is within 30% of being stoichiometric for a thermite reaction.

Thermite is a type of pyrotechnic composition of a metal and a metal oxide which produces a highly exothermic reaction, known as a thermite reaction. Thermite reactions have been of interest since the introduction of the Goldschmidt reaction, patented in 1895, between aluminum and iron oxide for the welding of railroad tracks. Other thermite reactions, such as between aluminum and copper oxide illustrated in the equation below, are of interest as propellants and explosives in aerospace, military, and civil applications. Explosives from inorganic reagents, though similar in the energy released per unit weight from conventional organic explosives, have the potential to release 3 to 5 times the energy per unit volume more than organic explosives.2Al+3CuO→Al2O3+3Cu  Equation 1:
The reagents for thermite reactions are both solid materials which do not readily permit their mixing in a manner where a self propagating reaction is readily and consistently achieved. The use of such reagents as reactive powders was developed in the early 1960s, spawning what is known as Self-Propagating, High-Temperature Synthesis (SHS) where a wave of chemical reaction propagates from an ignition site over the bulk of the reactive mixture by layer-by-layer heat transfer. SHS reactions often require substantial preheating to self-propagate. Controlling the rate and manner in which their energy is released in these reactions is often difficult. Where very fine powders, whose mixtures are also referred to as metastable intermolecular composites, are used, thermite reactions are often defined as superthermite reactions as the nature of the small particles overcome some of the difficulties in achieving a readily initiated self-propagating reaction. Performance properties of such energetic materials are strongly dependent on particle size distribution, surface area of the constituents, and void volume within the mixtures. The general approach to improving such reactions between solid materials has been to increase the amount and nature of the interface between the solid reactants.
Drawing techniques have been used to achieve a large interface area between the two solid reactants. In these applications a relatively large metal rod is periodically drilled and filled with the metal oxide and drawn until the final material is in the form of a thin wire. This technique is known to have limitations with respect to the homogeneity of the mixture.
One approach to increasing the interface between solid reactants has been to been to use thin films of the materials in a laminate type. Success with this approach has required that films are prepared that have individual layer thickness in the range of microns to as small as angstroms. Such thicknesses have required methods such as vapor deposition. Unfortunately, vapor deposition techniques are generally impractical for the formation of large quantities of such materials due to the nature and expense of the process.
To accommodate techniques common for the fabrication of propellants and explosives, the use of powders has generally been chosen. In these applications homogeneous mixing is essential at the desired stoichiometry, which is not always achieved, as the mixing of two powders can be very inconsistent. With larger sized particles, such as 1 or more μm in diameter, the amount of effective interface can be lower than desired and the initiation and propagation of reactions can suffer. Further complicating this approach is that commercially available nanoparticles, of significantly less than 1 μm in diameter, generally do not provide the quality of interface that is necessary as virtually all of these metal particles appropriate for thermite reactions form an oxide layer on their surface upon exposure to air. In the case of aluminum, the most commonly used metal for such systems, the oxide layers can be very thick relative to the diameter of the particles, and in the worst case can be almost exclusively aluminum oxide. This problem has led to the investigation of co-milling the metal with the metal oxide to give a homogeneous nanoparticulate mixture.
The milling of such mixtures has the advantage that it can begin with larger particles where the metals have a relatively small, generally insignificant, amount of oxide layer. However, co-milling processes tend to initiate the thermite reaction and do not permit the isolation in a manner that yields consistently viable thermite mixtures.

Thermite compositions from low temperature impact milling

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


The present disclosure provides a system and method for a mobile device to run an application that requires one or more permissions. The mobile device may comprise a screen and a processor. The one or more permissions may be displayed graphically on the screen prior to the application being installed by the processor.

Mobile communications have changed the way people communicate and mobile devices have been transformed from a luxury item to an essential part of everyday life. As the number of mobile devices continues to increase, significant efforts exist with regard to making such devices more secure and more user-friendly. User interfaces exist that allow a user to read permissions for a given application. However, current user interfaces may be presented in such a way that the user is unable to comprehend the grant of permissions. Therefore, any information about the permissions is ignored.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present disclosure as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Grouping and ranking of application permissions


Example authentication methods, devices, and systems are provided, where those example can be used to verify validity of access location information of a next generation-residential gateway (NG-RG) in a fixed-mobile convergence architecture. One example method includes a network device receiving first link information that is used to represent an access location of a residential gateway, and the network device obtaining second link information of the residential gateway. When the first link information matches partial or all information of the second link information, or when the first link information matches partial or all information of one link information of the second link information, the network device verifies validity of the access location of the residential gateway.

In a fixed-mobile convergence (namely, convergence of a fixed network and a mobile network) network architecture jointly defined by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) and the fixed network forum, a next generation-residential gateway (NG-RG) as a residential gateway can access a 5th generation (5G) mobile core network by using a wireline 5G access network (W-5GAN) device and a 5G access gateway function (5G-AGF) network element. In a process of accessing the 5G mobile core network by the NG-RG, the NG-RG verifies validity of a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) by using a 5G-authentication and key agreement (5G-AKA) authentication algorithm or an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) authentication algorithm (for example, an EAP-AKA authentication algorithm or an improved EAP-AKA (EAP-AKA′) authentication algorithm). In addition, considering that an access location of an NG-RG in a fixed network generally needs to be fixed, currently, validity of access location information of the NG-RG needs to be verified while validity of a USIM is verified.
However, currently, there is no related solution for how to verify validity of access location information of an NG-RG in the foregoing fixed-mobile convergence architecture.

Authentication method, device, and system


A windage tray apparatus is provided and is configured to be mountable within a crankcase at least partially defined by an engine block of an internal combustion engine. The crankcase has a first bay and a non-adjacent second bay. The internal combustion engine has a crankshaft rotatably supported within the crankcase. The windage tray includes a tray member and a passage at least partially defined by said tray member and in communication with the first bay and the non-adjacent second bay. The passage is operable to allow gas transfer between the first bay and the non-adjacent second bay to reduce the motoring friction of the internal combustion engine. An internal combustion engine incorporating the disclosed windage tray apparatus is also provided.

An oil pan is typically disposed beneath an engine block and crankshaft of an internal combustion engine, and is configured to receive oil that drains or is otherwise exhausted from the engine block, valvetrain, crankshaft, and/or main bearings that support the crankshaft. The oil collects in a sump of the oil pan and is then pumped from a sump pick-up location into a lubrication system associated with the internal combustion engine.
The rotation of the crankshaft and the reciprocal motion of pistons will cause gases to move within the crankcase, the volume within which the crankshaft is housed, causing turbulence. These turbulent gases may be referred to as "windage." During operation of the internal combustion engine, some oil that would otherwise drain into the oil pan may instead become entrained in the gases. Accordingly, some vehicle engines include an oil deflector, also referred to as a "windage tray" to separate the crankshaft from the oil pan in order to reduce or eliminate the effects of crankshaft rotation on oil stored or collected in the oil pan. The oil deflector operates to remove oil from the gasses and prevent the entrainment of oil by the gases, which allows the oil to drain back to the sump and be recirculated through the engine's lubrication system. Additionally, the operating efficiency of the internal combustion engine may be reduced due to the inefficient transfer of gases within the crankcase as a result of the pumping action associated with the reciprocal motion of pistons within the internal combustion engine. This gas transfer characteristic is referred to as "bay-to-bay breathing". The transfer of gases between volumes or bays of the crankcase is often impeded by structural obstructions such as bulkheads, main bearing caps, etc.


A modular system and method is provided that enables the consumer to design/build his or her own bird feeder based on interchangeable modular components that include multiple bases of different styles, multiple nutrient reservoirs of different styles, and one or more additional components, each having different styles. The system and method provides an on-line store that allows consumers to view the various styles for each component and to select their own base, reservoir, etc. Once the desired components have been selected on-line, a bill of materials listing the components is printed at a manufacturing facility where the selected components are pulled from a common inventory, assembled into a custom feeder and shipped to the consumer.

Consumers have different tastes and preferences as to what makes a feeder most attractive, both to themselves when viewing the birds at the feeder and to hummingbirds who must be drawn to the feeder by its appearance. In many cases, hummingbird feeders have red components as red is known to be attractive to hummingbirds. However, different feeding port enhancements may be used that include artificial flowers of various colors, shapes and textures that simulate the flowers from which hummingbirds would naturally feed. As a result, the traditional hummingbird feeder market has evolved from a few basic models into a choice of a large number of different feeders. A similar complexity has developed in the market for seed bird feeders as these feeders may also be designed in a number of different ways. Thus, in response to evolving consumer tastes and demands and competitive pressures within the bird feeder market, bird feeder manufacturers are compelled to continuously create new feeder designs in order to provide a wide selection for the consumer.
Whenever the design of a bird feeder is changed, new parts must be created and different tooling must be produced for each of the new feeder parts. The new parts must then be manufactured and inventoried. In addition, different packaging designs are needed to accommodate the different feeder styles. As a result, the manufacturer faces higher costs for labor, material, handling and inventory, and the retailer must manage and organize a large number of different feeders for display and sale.
In addition, the variety of feeder designs presents the consumer with differently shaped liquid/seed reservoirs and differently configured bases and feed ports. In some cases, the consumer may prefer the base design of one feeder while liking the reservoir shape that is incorporated within another feeder. This leaves the consumer with the need to choose between two features that are both desired but which are not available in the same feeder.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method of producing and marketing a variety of different bird feeder designs having different appearances and styles by variously combining interchangeable components drawn from a shared set of parts so as to best fulfill the consumer's desires while also reducing manufacturing and retailing burdens that result from multiple independent feeder designs.

System and method for constructing and marketing a modular bird feeder


The invention provides methods for identifying modulators of ion channels without the use of recombinant cell lines over-expressing the ion channel proteins or the use of detection labels.

Ion channels make up one of the largest classes of therapeutic targets in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, especially in the areas of cardiac, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal health. The therapeutic targeting of proteins involved in regulating the flux of ions into and out of a cell have dramatic effects on patient health. Testing compounds for their ability to modulate ion channel targets can be difficult and time consuming. The patch-clamp assay is an extremely sensitive assay for the biological action of ion channel modulators. The patch-clamp method, however, is complicated and has a low throughput of test compounds.
Other methods of assaying ion channel activity require recombinant expression of the ion channel or portions of the ion channel in a cell and/or the use of fluorescent or radioactive labels. These approaches, while useful, limit access to drugs that target only a small portion of the channel functions. Furthermore, the recombinant ion channels may not function as they do in a native cell.
The methods of the current invention allow efficient high through put, label-free screening of parental (non-recombinant) cell lines without manipulation of the cells for specific response to test compounds that may be useful as drugs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for determining ion channel modulating properties of a test reagent


Aspects of the invention can provide a fingerprint sensor for searching for a detection condition in a short period of time in order to read information of ridges and valleys of a fingerprint as changes in capacitance. The fingerprint sensor of the invention can include a plurality of capacitance detection circuits that output a detection signal having ridge/valley information of a fingerprint based on capacitance formed between the sensor and a fingertip surface, a fingerprint detection part in which the plurality of capacitance detection circuits are arranged to intersect with one another in a row direction and a column direction, a plurality of scanning lines, a scanning line driver for driving the scanning line, a plurality of data lines, a data line driver for driving the data line, and search device for searching for a detection condition of ridge/valley information by changing detection conditions of the ridge/valley information in a state that the plurality of capacitance detection circuits arranged along any one of the plurality of scanning lines are being selected.

Aspects of the invention can relate to a capacitance detection technique for reading the surface composition of an inspecting object, such as a fingerprint, having minute ridges and valleys as changes in capacitance.
With a related art fingerprint sensor, a detection circuit for reading out information of ridges and valleys of a fingerprint is formed on a single-crystalline silicon substrate. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 11-118415, 2000-346608, 2001-56204, and 2001-133213. However, since a fingerprint sensor needs to have a size of around 20 mm×20 mm as required for its use, the fingerprint sensor formed on a single-crystalline silicon becomes costly. To solve this problem, a fingerprint sensor using a thin film metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) device has been proposed. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-254706. By using a thin film MIS device, a fingerprint sensor can also be formed on a glass substrate or a plastic substrate.

Capacitance detection device, fingerprint sensor, biometric authentication device, and method for searching capacitance detection condition


Methods and apparatus for effectively identifying the occlusion of objects, such as persons, having a high degree of freedom. In an example embodiment, after initialization, an image is input, and an image region is extracted from image data. The distance is employed that is obtained when the shape of a two-dimensional histogram in the color space is transformed into the feature space. A graph is formed by using the regions between the frames. A confidence factor is provided and image features are provided as weights to the edges that connect the nodes. Processing is performed and the confidence factor is examined. A connection judged less possible to be a path is removed. When there is only one available connection for the occlusion point, this connection is selected.

A demand exists for a technique to be used for defining an object in video, and for extracting and tracking a group of regions. With such a technique, each object could be used to describe a video sequence, and this could be used as a key for the automatic extraction of the definition of the video sequence.
For video content, a person tends to be treated as an important object, and for sports images and applications using a surveillance camera, almost all the objects may be expressed by extracting the region of a person. However, since a person enjoys a high degree of freedom, a fixed template that can effectively extract a region composed of a solid material can not be employed. Thus, region extraction is a difficult operation. Especially when multiple persons are passing each other, the person in front, nearer the camera hides the person behind. Thus, the separation of overlapping objects (called the occlusion state) is not easy.
When the occlusion state is resolved, it is necessary to extract and track regions while the previous state is maintained. However, since it is currently impossible to automate object extraction processing, the trajectories of objects that are automatically extracted must be corrected manually. For this processing, the discovery of an error in the result provided by the automatic process, and the correction of the error must be performed for each of the extracted objects. When ten persons on the average appear in video content, a total of ten corrections are required. And since the person performing the corrections must repeatedly view the same content, the costs involved are huge.
Thus, various object extraction and tracking methods have been proposed and discussed. For example, a method for extracting the image of a person from video content and tracking the image is described in "Pfinder: Real-Time Tracking of the Human Body", C. Wren, A. Azarbayejani, T. Darrell and A. Pentland, IEEE PAMI vol. 19, No. 7, pp. 780-785, July 1997" (document 1). In document 1, a background model is prepared using a Gaussian model, and segmentation is performed by using, as a reference, the Mahalanobis distance between the model and an input image. Further, a tracking method based on the prediction of motion using a Kalman filter is proposed.
A method that improves on the technique described in document 1 is disclosed in "Improved Tracking of Multiple Humans with Trajectory Prediction and Occlusion Modeling", R. Rosales and S. Sclaroff, Proc. CVPR '98" (document 2). According to this method, the motions of two persons are predicted using an extended Kalman filter, and the occlusion state, wherein the objects are overlapped, is identified.
Another technique is disclosed in "An Automatic Video Parser for TV Soccer Games", Y. Gong, C. Chuan and L. T. Sin, Proc. ACCV '95, vol. II, pp. 509-513 (document 3); "Soccer Player Recognition by Pixel Classification in a Hybrid Color Space", N. Vanderbroucke, L. Macaire and J. Postaire, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 3071, pp. 23-33, August 1997 (document 4); "Where are the Ball and Players? Soccer Game Analysis with Color-Based Tracking and Image Mosaick", Y. Seo, S. Choi, H. Kim and K. Hong, Proc. ICIAP '97, pp. 196-203 (document 5); and "CLICK-IT: Interactive Television Highlighter for Sports Action Replay", D. Rees, J. I. Agbinya, N. Stone, F. Chen, S. Seneviratne, M. deBurgh and A. Burch, Proc. ICPR '98, pp. 1484-1487 (document 6). According to this technique, based on histogram backprojection described in "Color Indexing", M. J. Swain and D. H. Ballard, IJCV, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 11-32, 1991 (document 7), a histogram to be tracked is entered in advance, and matching is performed in color space. For the determination of an occlusion, in document 5 the pixels in an occlusion are identified in RGB color space, and in document 4, the pixels are identified in hybrid color space. In document 6, color information is employed for tracking, and the motion prediction method is employed for the determination of an occlusion. As means for also handling information obtained in time space, a method is well known whereby a video sequence is analyzed in the spatio-temporal domain, and the surface of a tracking target. The obtained surface is tubular shaped, and an occlusion is determined based on the continuity along the time axis.
There is a well known technique for employing an interactive process (manual correction process) as a tracking method based on color information. That is, this is a technique whereby a user designates a tracking target, or tracks an object that corresponds to a shape or color (template) that has been entered in advance. For example, the technique for performing template matching based on information concerning the shape (sphere) and the color (white) of a soccer ball is described in "Analysis and Presentation of Soccer Highlights from Digital Video", D. Yow, B. Yeo, M. Yeung and B. Liu, Proc. ACCV '95. Further, the technique whereby a user employs a mouse to designate a player to be tracked in a soccer game is described in "Determining Motion of Non-Rigid Objects by Active Tubes", M. Takahata, M. Imai and S. Tsuji, Proc. ICPR '92, pp. 647-650, September, 1992.
However, the technique in document 1 can not extract the images of multiple persons from a video image and determine an occlusion. While in document 2, the technique for tracking two or more persons is not disclosed. Further, according to the methods in documents 3 to 6, only the information obtained in image space and color space is processed, and since the method that uses time space is based on the optimization process for the energy function, the calculation cost is high.
That is, although it is extremely common for two or more persons to appear and to overlap each other in a video image, the conventional techniques can not determine an occlusion. To improve on the conventional techniques, not only the information obtained in image space and in color space, but also the information obtained in time space must be employed. However, the cost of performing the required calculations is high, and to perform real-time tracking at a low cost is difficult.
Further, since currently it is difficult to perform the completely automated determination and tracking of an occlusion state, an interactive process is indispensable. However, it has been requested that means be found to simplify the interactive process, and to reduce the amount of manual labor and the operating time that is required.

Extraction and tracking of image regions arranged in time series

International Business Machines Corporation


Apparatus for recording a scene using a plurality of lighting setups in rapid sequence to concurrently record a plurality of motion picture clips of the scene, one motion picture clip for each lighting setup, the plurality of clips together exhibiting negligible motion offset. The apparatus includes a plurality of light sources, a controller to define the plurality of lighting setups using the plurality of light sources and to actuate the lighting setups in sequence, a camera to capture a sequence of micro frames showing the scene illuminated by each one of the plurality of lighting setups in sequence during each micro frame, and optionally a processing module to process the sequence of micro frames to generate a motion picture clip of the scene for each of the lighting setups. The duration of the micro frame sequence is short enough to minimize the need for an algorithm for removing motion artifacts.

Lighting Setups
In the film industry, it is common to use different lighting setups to add creative and/or technical value to a motion picture. It can be advantageous to film the same scene under different lighting conditions, and later choose the most desirable lighting effect for the scene.
Furthermore, it can be desirable to have the option of combining different lighting setups in post-production. Traditionally, multiple "takes" are filmed using different lighting setups, and are then edited to restore the continuity of a motion picture scene. This is because, with traditional motion picture film technology, it is not possible to film a motion picture scene using multiple lighting setups in only one "take".
Types of Image Frames
In the following discussion we will use the following terms:
1) "high-speed frame" (micro frame) refers to a high-speed image capture frame using a high-speed camera. For example, a high-speed frame can be acquired every 1/4800th of a second by a high-speed image capture camera set to acquire images at 4800 frames per second.
2) "cinematic frame" (macro frame) refers to a standard cinematographic film frame, as used when acquiring frames at the standard cinematographic film rate of 24 frames per second.
3) "FPS" refers to "frames per second".
Motion Artifacts at Cinematic Speed
As many movie-goers and cinematographers are aware, the standard cinematic frame rate of 24 FPS is slow enough to cause motion artifacts when movement occurs rapidly within a scene during recording. Another standard cinematic frame rate motion artifact recognizable to many movie-goers is "motion blur", i.e., a blurred quality in the moving image as a 24 FPS camera is moved to pan across a panoramic scene. This motion artifact is caused by the apparent motion of the scene created by the camera's movement, in combination with the relatively slow 24 FPS cinematic frame rate.
A 24 FPS cinematic frame rate corresponds to one frame every 1/24th of a second, or 41.6667 milliseconds duration per cinematic frame. Clearly, motion artifacts often occur when the motion is captured at cinematic frame rates having frame durations of 41.6667 milliseconds.
In addition, if there is movement of the subject being filmed during a cinematic frame, the image data captured near the beginning of the cinematic frame of 41.6667 milliseconds will not "line up" with the image data captured near the end of the cinematic frame, thereby causing motion artifacts. Often, this motion artifact will appear as a blurring of the image. Additionally, image data captured only part-way through the cinematic frame of 41.6667 milliseconds may not "line up" with image data captured near the beginning of the cinematic frame. In fact, in the case of rapid subject movement, image data that is captured only a few milliseconds apart may have motion artifacts. In general, the more rapid the motion, the more motion artifacts become visible.
Motion Artifacts at High-Speed
A high-speed camera captures high-speed frames of image data. A typical high-speed camera can operate at 4800 frames per second. A high-speed camera operating at 4800 FPS captures image data every 1/4800th of a second, or every 0.2083 milliseconds.
The use of a high-speed camera operating at 4800 FPS dramatically reduces motion artifacts, since the images are captured so close together in time. However, high-speed cameras generate much more image data than a standard cinematic frame rate camera.
For a high-speed camera operating at 4800 FPS, the ratio of the number of high-speed frames per standard cinematic frame is:4800 FPS/24 FPS=200Therefore in this example, 200 high-speed frames of image data are captured per standard cinematic frame.
Accordingly, much more image data will be captured from a typical high speed camera. Therefore, despite the advantages of using a high speed camera, a serious drawback to such a camera is the amount of memory needed for image data storage when using a high-speed frame rate, versus filming at the standard cinematic frame rate of 24 FPS.
Debevec, U.S. Pat. No. 7,436,403 B2
In an attempt to address the issue of capturing multiple lighting setups in one filming "take", Debevec teaches a lighting apparatus that can be configured to illuminate a subject while the subject is undergoing a motion. The lighting apparatus uses a controller configured to control a plurality of lights at different locations to illuminate the subject from different directions and with different light intensities. Many different illuminations occur within the duration of each cinematic frame. The timings of the different light illuminations are determined by the controller so as to sequentially illuminate the subject with a time-multiplexed series of lighting conditions.
In Debevec, an imaging system, typically a high-speed camera with a constant frame rate, records the subject by continuously recording high-speed image data, captured from a time-multiplexed series of short-duration lighting conditions. This process essentially takes many high speed "snapshots" of the subject over the entire duration of each cinematic frame, and then, after post-processing, a basis set is selected from at least some of the "snapshots", which are combined to form a sequence of cinematic frames of the subject. In post-processing, the high-speed image data captured from the time-multiplexed series of lighting conditions may be de-multiplexed and used to reconstruct and synthesize film footage, also called a film "clip", which can be played back at standard cinematographic film speed.
Debevec teaches a high-speed camera continually acquiring images at a constant frame rate, for example 2160 FPS or 4800 FPS. At 4800 FPS, approximately 200 "high-speed frames" or "snapshots" of different light illuminations are captured during the corresponding time interval of each cinematic frame.
Every cinematic frame is reconstructed from some basis set of the 200 high-speed image data captures. Since the high-speed camera is typically operated at a constant speed, the high-speed image data is captured as a sequence of rapidly recorded high-speed frames, spaced approximately every 0.2083 milliseconds apart, throughout the duration of each cinematic frame.
These high-speed frames are then processed, de-multiplexed, and output to desired "cinematic frames", typically being 1/24th of a second in duration with the desired output cinematic frame rate of 24 FPS.
Therefore, the apparatus of Debevec teaches recording a subject with a high-speed camera, and then, in post processing, de-multiplexing and overlaying multiple high-speed frames to reconstruct each cinematic frame.
However, the apparatus of Debevec has disadvantages. If the high-speed frames are not corrected for movement within the duration of a cinematic frame, after being de-multiplexed and before being superimposed to form a cinematic frame, the resulting cinematic frame can show motion artifacts. These motion artifacts result from a separation distance between a first image of the subject from a first high-speed frame image within a cinematic frame and a later image of the subject from a later high-speed frame image from the cinematic frame, when the first and later high-speed frames are superimposed within the same cinematic frame.
Because the different high-speed frames are captured every 0.2083 milliseconds throughout the duration of each cinematic frame, there are time delays as large as 41.6667−0.2083=41.4583 milliseconds between different high-speed frames within the same cinematic frame. These intra-cinematic frame delays can cause motion artifacts. In this example, there are 200 micro frames captured and used to reconstruct each cinematic frame, the number and types of possible motion artifacts are very large.
Therefore, the apparatus of Debevec must correct for motion artifacts between the different high-speed frame images recorded within the duration of each cinematic frame. After the recorded data is de-multiplexed, complex and burdensome optical flow algorithms are often required to remove these motion artifacts.
The apparatus of Debevec has other disadvantages. A high-speed camera with a constant frame rate must record a burdensomely large quantity of image data, because each cinematic frame requires capturing a large amount of high-speed frame image data. As calculated previously, a high-speed camera typically captures 200 times the amount of image data as captured by a standard cinematic camera of the same resolution and bit depth. The resulting overabundance of image data is costly to store. As a result, the maximum length of time of the recording may be limited to only a few seconds, unless costly image data storage equipment is used. Further, to reduce the image data storage requirements, the quality of the stored images may need to be reduced, providing film footage with lower than ideal resolution and image quality.
In addition, in Debevec the positions of the light source may be constrained to a specific arrangement, such as a surrounding dome shape. In the apparatus of Debevec, the complexity of the lighting setup increases the time, difficulty, and expense of filming.

Apparatus and method for recording a scene for a plurality of lighting setups using only a portion of each cinematic frame


A system and method is shown that is used to input multilingual text into an electronic device comprising a numerical keypad, or equivalent. The system comprises a language input method editor that accesses a character database. Asian and non-Asian languages can be intermingled within a line of text using the language input method editor and displayed on a text window of the electronic device. Words, or characters, of Asian languages are selected from character databases using a special decimal code of four or more digits and characters of non-Asian languages are selected using a two-digit decimal code. The special decimal code for Asian languages provides a means for alphabetizing all characters of the Asian languages.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention refers to a method of data entry to an electronic device, and in particular to multilingual text input to an electronic device, which has a ten-key keyboard.
2. Description of Related Art
Today there are a plurality of devices and systems that require data entry by means of a keyboard having a relatively few data entry keys relative to multilingual data input, comprising mobile phones, ATM machines, information appliances, personal data assistants, industrial control key pads, remote control, interactive TV, door security control, calculators, electronic dictionaries, personal computers, air condition control pads, medical devices, electronic control panels, and type-writers. In many cases the keys are used to enter multiple characters of the English language, for example, such as with the telephone.
Text entry in Chinese and derivative languages, such as Japanese and Korean, is difficult with a small number of keys on a typical key board and very difficult using a ten key entry system such as found on a mobile phone. The Chinese language was formed centuries ago in ideograms, or characters. These ideograms were formed from pictures of things that the Chinese people knew. A very simple example is the formation of the ideogram for "east" 202 shown in FIG. 1A for the Chinese language. A symbol for the sun 201 is combined with a symbol for a tree 207, such that the sun is rising behind the tree. Starting with what the ancient Chinese people saw, the sun was drawn by the ancient Chinese people as a circle with a dot in the center 200 and was simplified to a box with a line through the center of the box 201. The tree was originally drawn by the ancient Chinese with an outline of the foliage, a trunk and some roots 206. A modern Chinese version of the tree 207 is a cross like structure with curved line on either side of the post of the cross representing the roots of the tree. The horizontal member of the cross represents the branches of the tree. The symbol for "east" 202 shows the sun rising behind the tree. More recently the modern version of "east" 202 has been modified in the simplified Chinese 203, which loses some of the historical significance pertaining to how the symbol originated. Certainly the "sun", the "tree" and "east" can each be represented by a key but there are thousands of Chinese and derivative language ideograms or characters, which makes use of small keypads to create a text communication very difficult.
In FIG. 1B is shown a second example of how the present day Chinese ideograms developed. The ancient Chinese saw a fish and created an ideogram for a fish 210. This ideogram was simplified in modern Chinese by drawing a box with lines crossing through the box to represent the body of the fish. Above the box rests the head, and below the box four lines symbolize the tail. In simplified Chinese the tail is further simplified to a line. In modern Chinese an ideogram for sound, Zhou, 213 is combined with the ideogram for fish to form a modern Chinese character for snapper fish 214. The simplified Chinese version for the snapper fish 215 replaces the lines representing the tail with a single line.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are very simple examples of the difficulties of people trying to communicate using a keypad entry system developed for the English language while trying to use their native language. There are no keys for sun, tree, east, fish, sound and snapper fish. If there were there would still be no keys for other Chinese characters. As short messaging services becomes more widely used as with a mobile phone, a method is needed to allow an easier usage. The mobile phone presents a difficult device for entry of complex characters and symbols. The small form factor of the mobile phone and the limited keypad is also inconvenient for the entry of text using the English language, which has only 26 characters. Multiple strokes of the same key are required to allow the text entry in the English language, and it is even more difficult and inconvenient for languages such as Chinese.
In various computer applications the input methods for a personal data assistant (PDA) can be different from that of a remote control, for instance. For users of the Asian languages the method of data entry from device to device provides more difficulty. An existing input method for the Chinese language comprising Chang-Jie or DaYi is useful in personal computers but is not very useful in devices with small keypad devices such as mobile phones. This creates a need for a platform independent input method for the Asian languages. Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages have been separately computerized, which has made them not compatible with each other on a modern computer platform even though these languages share a common background due to historical reasons, which can allow them to be unified together.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,765,504 B2 (Yen-I Ouyang et al.) is directed to inputting pinyin symbols using keys "2" through "9" on a numeric keypad so that pinyin symbol combinations can be converted into Chinese characters and words. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,676 B2 (Kazuhiro Kiasaichi et al.) a keypad entry of data is directed to the selection of one of a plurality of alphabets distributed to sequentially entered key combinations whereupon character conversion is executed by a dictionary means, wherein the dictionary means stores numeric strings and meaningful characters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,942 (Sreeram Balakrishnan et al.) is directed to a method of text entry by activating keys of a keypad where the keys represent various characters and whereupon a dictionary is searched for character combinations that correspond to the keys that are pressed.
The Chinese language has been developed over four thousand years and contains many pieces of historical value in literature, science and engineering; however the Chinese language has difficulty with computerization. There exists a need to create a good human-computing device interface that can help people easily link the Chinese character set with a computing device. There are some input methods and encoding schemes that attempt to provide an ease of entry for the Asian languages, but these have not been very successful. A method is needed that will not only allow easier entry of Asian languages, also be useful with other languages, such as Greek, Russian, Arabic and benefit users of English and other European languages.

Multilingual input method editor for ten-key keyboards


According to one exemplary embodiment, a method includes planarizing a layer of polysilicon situated over field oxide regions on a substrate to form polysilicon segments, where the polysilicon segments have top surfaces that are substantially planar with top surfaces of the field oxide regions, and where the field oxide regions have a first height and the polysilicon segments have a first thickness. The method further includes removing a hard mask over a peripheral region of the substrate. According to this exemplary embodiment, the method further includes etching the polysilicon segments to cause the polysilicon segments to have a second thickness, which causes the top surfaces of the polysilicon segments to be situated below the top surfaces of the field oxide regions. The polysilicon segments can be etched by using a wet etch process. The polysilicon segments are situated in a core region of the substrate.

Conventional memory array, such a flash memory array, typically includes one or more high-density core regions and a low-density periphery region on a single substrate. Memory transistors in the core have a substantially similar stacked gate structure. The stacked gate structure includes a floating gate comprising a first layer of polysilicon (poly 1) underneath a control gate. The control gate comprises a second layer of polysilicon (poly 2).
Processing steps for fabricating a memory array, such as a flash memory array, include, among other steps, forming a gate oxide layer and isolation regions in core and peripheral regions of a substrate. Poly 1 is deposited over the gate oxide layer and the isolation regions and a chemical mechanical polish ("CMP") process is typically used to planarize the poly 1 in the core region while a hard mask protects the poly 1 in the peripheral region of the substrate. As a result of the CMP process, poly 1 segments are formed between isolation regions such that the top surfaces of the poly 1 segments and the top surfaces of the isolation regions form a planar surface.
In a conventional fabrication process, a CMP "over-polish" process is typically performed to reduce the thickness of the poly 1 segments to a desired final thickness. However, the CMP "over-polish" process causes undesirable core erosion without providing good stopping capability. As a result, an accurate final thickness of poly 1 segments is difficult to achieve by using the CMP "over-polish process. Furthermore, the CMP "over-polish" process causes undesirable non-uniformity in the poly 1 segments, which undesirably affects a subsequent gate etch process.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method of fabricating a memory array, such as a flash memory array, that achieves a desired poly 1 final thickness while avoiding undesirable non-uniformity and core erosion caused by a CMP "over-polish" process.

Method for controlling poly 1 thickness and uniformity in a memory array fabrication process


A method for preparing a MISFET of a minute size with the channel length of not more than 2 .mu.m between a source and a drain, comprises the steps of forming a mask for exposing a region for forming a well on a planar surface of a semiconductor substrate, and introducing ions at a predetermined energy into the well region by using the mask. The predetermined energy is such as to form a peak of the impurity concentration distribution at a position deeper than the bottom surface of the source and the drain and to maintain the layer of at least a partial layer of the channel at an impurity concentration lower than 10.sup.16 cm.sup.-3 so that a high speed carrier movement in the channel is provided without causing a punch-through phenomenon.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for preparing a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) type field effect transistor (FET). More particularly, it relates to a minute size MIS type FET having a short channel between a source and a drain.
2. Description of the Background Art
Referring to a diagrammatic sectional view of FIG. 4, a punch-through phenomenon in a FET is explained. In this figure, on raising a voltage applied across a drain 10b and a source 10a of a second conductivity type formed on a semiconductor substrate 1 of a first conductivity type, widths of depletion layers 15a and 15b are increased. The widths of the layers 15a and 15b are increased particularly in a deeper region where the effect of the voltage of the gate electrode 8 becomes extinct. If the depletion layer 15b on the drain side and the depletion layer 15a on the source side connect to each other at a region deeper than a channel layer 9, the carriers flow from the source 10a to the drain 10b through the depletion layers, as shown by an arrow. Thus the punch-through phenomenon means the flow of carriers which can not be controlled by the gate electrode 8 and which proceeds from the source 10a towards the drain 10b through a region deeper than the channel layer 9.
The source 10a and the drain 10b usually have a high impurity concentration of approximately 10.sup.20 cm.sup.-3, whereas the substrate 1 has a low impurity concentration of approximately 10.sup.15 cm.sup.-3. Thus the depletion layer spreads wider on the substrate side in the vicinity of each boundary of the source 10a and the drain 10b.
As may be seen from FIG. 4, the punch-through phenomenon is most likely to occur when the channel 9 is of shorter length and the source 10a and the drain 10b are closer to each other. That is, a small size FET with a short channel length is more susceptible to the punch-through phenomenon. A demand exists, however, for a smaller and smaller size FET for raising the degree of integration of semiconductor IC devices. Thus the small size FET having a channel length less than 2 .mu.m is formed within a well formed in a substrate and having an impurity concentration higher than that of the substrate. The high impurity concentration in the well acts to reduce the widths of the depletion layers in the vicinity of the boundaries of the source and the drain to suppress the punch-through phenomenon.
Referring to FIGS. 5A to 5G, an example of the conventional method for producing the small-size FET is explained.
First referring to FIG. 5A, an oxide film 2 is formed by thermal oxidation on a major surface of a silicon substrate 1. A nitride film 3 is formed by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method on the oxide film 2. A first conductivity type impurity layer 11 for forming the well is formed by implanting impurity ions through both the nitride film 3 and the oxide film 2.
Referring to FIG. 5B, impurities in the impurity layer 11 are driven to a depth of 4 to 5 .mu.m by diffusion by a heat treatment at a high temperature of 1180.degree. C. for six hours or more, to form a well 11a having an impurity concentration higher than that of the substrate 1.
Referring to FIG. 5C, the nitride film 3 is patterned using a resist mask 4 to form a nitride pattern 3a to expose partial areas of the oxide layer 2. Impurity ions are implanted through the exposed partial area of the oxide film 2 to form a high concentration impurity region 12 of the first conductivity type.
Referring to FIG. 5D, after removal of the resist mask 4, a field oxide film 2a is formed by thermal oxidation using the nitride film pattern 3a as a mask. The nitride film pattern 3a is then removed simultaneously with the oxide film 2 thereunder . The high concentration impurity region 12a remaining below the field oxide film 2a acts to cut a parasitic channel below the field oxide film 2a.
Referring to FIG. 5E, a channel dope layer 7 of the first conductivity type is formed in the vicinity of the surface of the well 11a by ion implantation at a lower energy. The function of the channel dope layer 7 is to control the threshold voltage of the FET. A gate oxide film 13 is then formed on the surface of the well 11a.
Referring to FIG. 5F, an electrically conductive layer is deposited on the gate oxide film 13 by a CVD or vacuum evaporation method and the conductivity layer is then patterned to form a gate electrode 8.
Referring to FIG. 5G, impurities are introduced by ion implantation using the gate electrode and the field oxide film 2a as a mask to form source and drain regions 10 of a second conductivity type. In this manner, a minute size MISFET is formed within the well 11a.
The impurity concentration distribution in the silicon substrate 1 in the cross-section taken along a line 6A--6A in FIG. 5G is shown in FIG. 6A, wherein the abscissa denotes the depth (.mu.m) from the surface of the substrate 1 and the ordinate the impurity concentration (cm.sup.-3). The concentration peak shown by an arrow 7 near the surface of the substrate 1 represents the impurity concentration in the channel dope layer 7. The region indicated by an arrow 11a represents the impurity concentration distribution in the well 11a. The region indicated by an arrow 1 represents the impurity concentration in the substrate 1 itself.
FIG. 6B is similar to FIG. 6A but shows the impurity concentration in the sectional plane taken along a line 6B--6B in FIG. 5G. A straight vertical line shown by an arrow 2a indicates the bottom surface of the field oxide film 2a. The concentration peak beneath the bottom of the field oxide film 2a, indicated by an arrow 12a, represents an impurity concentration distribution in a channel cut region 12a.
Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown the effect of the impurity concentration on the carrier mobility in the silicon. The abscissa represents the total impurity concentration (cm.sup.-3) and the ordinate the mobility (cm.sup.-2 /v.sec). A curve 7A shows the electron mobility and a curve 7B the hole mobility. As described hereinabove, a well having a high impurity concentration is desirable to prevent the punch-through phenomenon effectively in the small size FET. However, as may be seen from FIG. 6A, if the impurity concentration in the well 11a is increased, the impurity concentration in the channel layer 9 is also increased inevitably. In this case, as may be seen from FIG. 7, the carrier mobility in the channel 9 is lowered, and then the operating speed of the FET is lowered. Particularly, when the total impurity concentration becomes higher than 10.sup.16 cm.sup.-3, the carrier mobility is lowered abruptly.
As described hereinabove, the conventional method for preparing the FET suffers from an inconvenience that the impurity concentration in the well must be increased to reduce the size of the FET and, on the other hand, if the impurity concentration in the well is increased, the operating speed of the FET is lowered.

Method for preparing a high mobility, lightly-doped channel mis-type FET with reduced latch up and punchthrough


An environmental improvement system for placement within a room bounded by a floor and a ceiling is provided herein. In one embodiment, the system comprises a duct system that extends through the open volume of the room from the floor to the ceiling. The duct system comprises a base unit at a first end terminating proximate the floor, a support unit at a second end terminating proximate the ceiling, and a duct connecting the base and support units. The base unit defines a first opening, and the support unit defines a second opening. At least one fan is disposed between the first and second openings and draws air from the room into and through the system and discharges the air from the system. The first and second openings are each adapted to selectively act as an intake opening or as a discharge opening.

This invention relates generally to an energy conservation and environmental improvement system which may be used to circulate, purify, and freshen air.
It is commonly known that warm air rises and cool air sinks. Therefore, a room or space that is being heated may have air that is warmer near the ceiling than near the floor. Conversely, a room being cooled may have cooler air near the floor than near the ceiling. Due to this phenomenon, air thermostat settings may be adjusted seasonally to achieve a comfortable temperature at approximately the head height, or eye-level, of the occupants. Consequently, depending upon the ceiling height of a particular room or space, the extra energy needed to maintain comfort at approximately the eye-level of occupants can potentially add 5-10% or more to heating and cooling costs.
Buildings having large-volume spaces and/or high ceilings frequently also exhibit significant vertical air temperature distributions over multiple different, generally isothermal, strata or layers of air, with higher layers including warmer air and lower layers including cooler air.
Also potentially affecting the environmental quality of air are airborne bacteria, viruses, fungi, dust, and other contaminants. An epidemiology study by Pennsylvania State University showed that 81% of airborne illness may be contracted in buildings having large volume living areas, such as schools, hospitals, shopping malls, bars, restaurants, churches, theaters, box stores and offices.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide an environmental improvement system capable of achieving comfortable eye-level air temperature substantially year-round with reduced cost and improved air quality. It may be further desirable to improve the quality of air by lessoning the contaminant level thereof and/or by providing a fragrance to the air.


A disposable flying insect trap having an entry plate with a plastic bag affixed to the entry plate periphery and including entry plate port openings for receiving the insects. The entry plate is sealed by a lid which is removable for insertion of liquid therewithin. The lid is positionable from its sealed position to a second position spaced from the entry plate surface and defining a gap therebetween to enable the insects to fly into the bag interior, attracted by the bait within the bag. The lid is removable from the entry plate by a hang cord which, when pulled, dislodges the lid from the entry plate surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a disposable flying insect trap requiring no tools, cutting, or special hangers for set up, use and disposal. More specifically, the present invention relates to a disposable flying insect trap having a pre-installed bait packet within a plastic bag that hangs from the periphery of an entry plate. The entry plate includes entry port openings through which flying insects may enter for capture within the plastic bag. A lid is secured to the entry plate in its shipped condition to seal the entry port openings and bag interior to the atmosphere. The lid is removable by the user and connectable to the entry plate in a second, in use, position whereby the lid is displaced from the entry plate surface to enable opening of the entry ports to the surrounding environment. The lid is removable from the entry plate through a pull cord that also acts as a hang cord for the bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disposable flying insect traps are known. Such traps may include a flexible containment bag that includes bait or attractant material within the bag to be mixed with water to attract the flying insects. Such bag may include an upper support member that has an opening for the flying insects to enter the bag. When the flying insects are attracted to enter into the bag interior, they will be trapped therein and will drown in the liquid. The bag may then be discarded after use. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,682,706; 4,899,485; 4,873,787; and 4,551,941. One commercially available disposable fly trap is known as the Rescue! Fly Trap®.
One of the problems with the current traps on the market, such as the Rescue! Fly Trap®, is that the consumer is required to cut open the entry area before filling the trap with water. Thus, separate tools, such as scissors or knives, are needed to prepare the trap before placement at a convenient location. Hence, a need has arisen for a trap requiring minimal effort for the consumer in installation requiring no separate tools, cutting, or special hangers. Such prior art traps also inherently leak and spill when discarded because there is no adequate closure to seal the bag after use. Thus, a need has arisen for a disposable flying insect trap that includes a cost effective resealing structure for sealing the trap after use to prevent leakage or spillage.


Methods and apparatus for sealing perforations in windows, curtain wall and other building fixtures are disclosed. The present invention enables the construction of building exteriors impervious to water leakage through holes in sills and other building exterior components. a molded plastic cap [10] is secured around each exterior hole [20] and fastener [16,18] with an adhesive [22]. The cap prevents water from leaking through the exterior hole into the building interior while allowing sills and exterior sections to move in response to thermal, seismic and other mecahnical changes. By not coming into contact with the fastener [16,18] and hole [20], the seal [10] avoids any possible contamination and chemical degradation from the fastener materials.

The exterior of a building shields the interior from outside environmental agents, from wind, rain and uncomfortable temperatures. A building's exterior may comprise a window that is set within a masonry or steel structure, or a solid wall of windows as in many modern skyscraper buildings. It may instead consist of a "curtain wall" of stone or metal slabs, or it may be any combination of these elements. Typically, these surface components are attached to the exterior of the building with a sill or "sill can", along with other perimeter support fixtures. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a common arrangement. The sill 1, usually but not necessarily a trough extruded out of light weight aluminum, holds the window or curtain wall assembly 2 in place, seating it against the inner structure of the building 7.
The sill 1 possesses a distribution of holes or perforations (center hole 3 and elongated holes 4) through which bolts 5 and nuts 6 fasten the sill and window/curtain wall assembly 2 to the structure of the building 7. Depending on the weight, dimensions and materials used for the exterior building elements, other similar fasteners such as screws or concrete expansion anchors will be used to secure the elements against the building. Many of the holes in a window or curtain wall sill are elongated to allow for normal expansion and contraction of the metal sill and its corresponding exterior section. The fasteners within these elongated holes may freely move forward and backward along the holes, letting the sill and window (or wall) "breathe" with the thermal expansions and contractions of day/night cycles and seasonal changes. The building must also respond elastically to the torsional effects of wind, seismic tremors and normal settling. If sills did not allow such expansion, the exterior building elements would experience enormous undesirable buckling forces, tending to shatter windows and deform walls. Further, the constant strains of repeated expansions could loosen and undo all the support bolts, allowing entire sections of building walls to fall out.
Including such elongated expansion holes into the sills, however, tends to defeat the original purpose of a building exterior: no longer does the sill and window/wall combination hermetically seal the interior from the exterior. Water which collects naturally in the troughs of the sills may slowly leak through the sill holes, damaging the interiors of buildings and possibly weakening their support structures. At a minimum, expensive interior furnishings and wall treatments could be ruined. Even more serious, though, is the possibility of shorting out electrical systems, raising the chance of fires. Further, concrete and steel structures remain sensitive to the erosive effects of water damage: by damaging these support members, long term leakage can render a building completely unsafe and unusable.
Current building practice often makes two efforts at preventing leakage of water into a building and at leading the collected water away from the building interior. The first approach places weep holes 8, by drilling or some other appropriate method, at regular intervals in the exterior portion of each sill to allow trapped water to drain to the exterior of the building. But even with weep holes, a certain amount of water may remain in the sill due to exterior, positive wind pressure. And since in any case drainage takes time, the pool of draining water still has an opportunity to leak through the sill's fastener holes into the building.
Builders attempt to further prevent accumulated water from entering the building by applying some form of a sealant 9, typically a type of silicone adhesive, around the fasteners and holes in each sill can. By physically filling up these gaps in the sill, builders hope to completely prevent leakage. But again, the sill's elongated holes exist to allow normal expansion and contraction of the exterior. Hence, the silicone seals suffer shearing forces from the thermal movement of the window/sill assembly and must be able to take the compressions and extensions repeatedly over a long period of time. But, like most elastically stressed elements, many silicone seals simply cannot perform faithfully forever. They may eventually work loose or rupture, allowing water once again to leak into a building, often weeks or years after construction has finished.
In addition, if the silicone and other plastic seals physically contact the fastener, whether screw, bolt or concrete anchor, the metals and chemicals of the fastener may attack the sealant material. By allowing oxidation and chemical degradation of the sealant, this contact between fastener and sealant can, independent of any thermal stresses, cause failure of the seals and lead to damage of building interiors and structures. Hence, any perforation of a building's exterior, where fixtures such as lighting elements, chimney flues, advertising displays, etc. are attached with fasteners that are then sealed over, remains vulnerable to sealant failure and consequent interior damage.
The building construction industry has faced a great challenge to find ways to seal and protect the interiors of offices and homes from the exterior, harsh elements. A method of sealing building perforations against water leakage and other environmental agents, which withstands harmful expansions and contractions and also chemical degradations, would represent a major technological advance. The ability to cheaply and reliably seal a building's exterior would satisfy a long-felt need within the industry and offer to the contracting industry a versatile, faithful and inexpensive sealing method and device.

Method and apparatus for sealing building exterior perforations


Systems and methods for reducing noise in spectral data. A noise burst level is defined. If a spectral point has an intensity greater than the burst level (a burst point), points neighboring the burst point are examined. If a function of these neighboring points indicates that the burst point is a discrete event, then the abundance level of the burst point is altered.

The present invention relates generally to reducing noise in data, and more particularly to reducing noise in a spectroscopy data, such as spectra obtained from a mass spectrometer.
In a spectrometer, a data signal typically includes a useful signal component and a noise component. The "useful signal" is typically the data of interest. The "noise" can be characterized as any component not part of the signal of interest. One goal of any spectrometer is to be able to differentiate between the "signal" and the "noise" so that the signal can be qualified as "real" and useable. However, this goal can be hard to achieve as the noise can also hide important real signals.
For example, FIG. 1A shows a chromatogram 100 for a typical ion extraction of a particular compound where the signal and the noise are measured. FIG. 1B shows a chromatogram 150 having a magnified view of chromatogram 100. The noise 120 is shown with a bracket and two of the signals 110 are shown with arrows. FIG. 1B shows that the noise levels are an order of magnitude less than these two signals 110; however, the noise levels are still comparable to other useful signals. Also, given the size of the noise, it is possible that signals are hidden within the noise. Thus, if an atomic or molecular ion makes up a small percentage of the fragments of a compound, its existence could be lost and the true make-up of the compound could be lost.
It is clear that a spectrometer performs better if it can better differentiate between signal and noise. One measure of the performance of an instrument is a signal to noise (S/N) ratio, where a larger S/N means better performance. This ratio will improve if the signal is increased or if the noise is decreased. A greater S/N ratio allows better differentiation between signals and the noise, thus allowing a greater sensitivity for detecting ions. Other measures of performance are an improvement in the MDL (Minimum Detection Limit) or LLOD (Lower Level of Detection), where an improvement results in a lower level or limit.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for improving performance of a spectrometer by reducing noise in spectral data.

Systems and methods for removing noise from spectral data