A surgical instrument for holding a suturing needle comprises an operating section, an insert section having an insert-section distal end extension at a distal end of an insert section body, a clamping portion, a rotatable holder portion, a receiving member having a first contact surface, and a transmitting member having a second contact surface. The insert section body has an inner bore along a first axis in a longitudinal direction. The insert-section distal end extension has a rotation-allowing groove on an inner peripheral surface of an inner bore provided along a second axis at a predetermined angle with respect to the first axis. The rotatable holder portion is allowed to be passively rotatable about the second axis under an external force applied to the suturing needle when a gap is formed between the transmitting member and the receiving member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surgical instrument used for operating a needle, etc. when cardiovascular tracts, urinary tracts, and tissues in body cavities are sutured.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent surgery, a suturing operation has been performed to suture tissues while operating, e.g., a curved needle with a thread. In a surgical instrument for use in the suturing operation, a treatment portion is provided, for example, at the distal end of an insert section. When an anastomosis opening is sutured, a surgeon finely operates the needle by using the treatment portion of the surgical instrument to progress the suturing stitch by stitch with close attention. For that reason, the suturing operation in surgery has been a factor that prolongs the surgery time.
Particularly, in surgery to be performed within a limited space, e.g., in surgery using an endoscope, the insert section is generally inserted into a body cavity through a trocar or the like. Therefore, a lot of training is required until a surgeon has become able to operate the needle by using the treatment portion provided at the distal end of the insert section in a fine manner as intended.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,877 discloses a surgical instrument for holding a needle, e.g., a suturing needle, used in anastomosing or suturing cardiovascular tracts and urinary tracts. The disclosed surgical instrument has a treatment portion of the so-called pincers structure and holds a needle by pinching it.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,575 discloses a needle carrier aiming at improved convenience in use. When suturing blood vessels, organs, etc., the disclosed needle carrier enables a curved needle to be inserted by actively moving the needle following the curvature of the needle while the curved needle is grasped.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,578 discloses a grasping forceps used in a body cavity for various applications, such as spreading tissues and handling threads.
The surgical instrument, the needle carrier, and the grasping forceps are each inserted into the body cavity through a trocar or the like. When the suturing operation is performed by using the needle carrier and the grasping forceps, the surgeon generally operates the needle carrier by one hand and operates the grasping forceps by the other hand.
In the suturing operation, the surgeon holds the proximal end of a needle by the needle carrier and places a needle tip at a predetermined position in an organ. Then, the surgeon actively moves the needle such that the needle is inserted in place. The tip of the needle inserted from the predetermined position in the organ passes through the organ and is projected out of the organ surface again. The surgeon holds the needle tip projected out of the organ by the needle carrier or the grasping forceps and then draws the needle out of the organ by making an operation at hand. One stitch of suturing is thus completed.
When drawing out the needle by the needle carrier, the surgeon temporarily releases the proximal end of the needle from the held state. Thereafter, the surgeon moves the needle carrier from the proximal end to the tip of the needle and draws out the needle by holding the needle tip with the needle carrier.
On the other hand, when drawing out the needle by using the grasping forceps, the surgeon first inserts the needle while operating the needle carrier by one hand. Then, the surgeon grasps the needle tip and draws out the needle while operating the grasping forceps by the other hand. By thus inserting the needle with the needle carrier and drawing out the needle with the grasping forceps, the needle can be more smoothly drawn out and the suturing operation can be finished in a shorter time than the case of inserting and drawing out the needle with only the needle carrier.
When the needle inserted in, e.g., a luminal tissue is drawn out, the needle requires to be moved following the curved shape of the needle so as to avoid the tissue from being damaged. In the surgery using an endoscope, however, a region in which the treatment portion is allowed to move is limited. Let us now look at a manual operation of drawing out a suturing needle 33 in the form of a curved needle inserted in a first luminal organ 31 and a second luminal organ 32 as shown in FIG. 1, for example, by using a grasping forceps 34.
First, the surgeon introduces the grasping forceps 34 into a body cavity through a trocar 36 stuck in a patient body wall 35. In this state, the grasping forceps 34 is restricted in its movable region other than the direction in which it is advanced and retracted with respect to the trocar 36. Numeral 37 denotes a portion which has been sutured, 38 denotes a suturing thread, and 39 denotes an opening to be sutured.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the surgeon grasps a needle tip 33a by the grasping forceps 34 introduced through the trocar 36. From that state, the surgeon may try to draw out the suturing needle 33, for example, by moving the grasping forceps 34 to pull it outward of the patient body wall 35 as indicated by an arrow A. However, when the needle is drawn out in such a manner, a tensile force is applied from the suturing needle 33 to the luminal organ 32 as indicated by an arrow B in FIG. 3, thus resulting in a risk that the suturing needle 33 cannot be easily drawn out.


Not only the cracking of granular reduced iron materials is reduced, but also reduced iron materials are fed uniformly onto a furnace floor regardless of a width of the furnace floor. A feeding system for reduced iron material includes a plurality of material feeding equipments 4 provided in a furnace width direction of a mobile furnace floor type reduction melting furnace, wherein each of the material feeding equipments 4 is constructed by a hopper 10 configured to receive reduced iron materials and discharge the materials from a discharge port 10a, a trough 14 configured to connect the discharge port 10a and a material charging portion of the mobile furnace floor type reduction melting furnace configured to receive the reduced iron materials discharged from the discharge port 10a, an exit portion provided on an exit side of the trough 14, and a vibration applying unit configured to cause the trough to vibrate along a furnace floor moving direction.

FIG. 12 shows a configuration of the conventional reduced iron material feeding equipment that feeds granular reduced iron materials, each of which contains a carbonaceous reducing agent and an iron oxide as main components, to the mobile furnace floor furnace.
In FIG. 12, the granular reduced iron materials that are dried by a drier (called "pellets" hereinafter) are conveyed to a reduced iron material feeding equipment 51 by a belt conveyor 50.
The reduced iron material feeding equipment 51 is constructed mainly by a material reception hopper 52, a cylinder member 53 arranged under the material reception hopper 52, and a plurality of electric cylinders 55 provided onto a furnace main body ceiling 54 to move the cylinder member 53 vertically.
Each of the electric cylinders 55 move the cylinder member 53 up and down to adjust a clearance T between a lower end of the cylinder member 53 and the furnace floor 56, so that the pellets P are fed onto a furnace floor 56 while controlling an amount of supply.
Here, a slide gate 52a for opening/closing the exhaust port is provided to the lower portion of the material reception hopper 52, and a leveling unit 57 is arranged on the downstream side of the cylinder member 53 in the furnace floor traveling direction (see Patent Reference 1, for example).
Also, in the reduced iron material feeding equipment for use in a rotary furnace floor shown in FIG. 13A, one slit 62 is opened in a furnace lid of a furnace main body 60 to extend over a width of a rotary furnace floor 61. The slit 62 is formed to face on the material charging port provided just under this slit 62.
In FIG. 13A, 63 denotes each of burners that are provided in plural on the side wall of the furnace main body 60, and 64 denotes a screw that discharges the reduction produced metals to the outside of the furnace main body 60.
The pellets are fed from a trough 65 of a vibrating conveyor onto the rotary furnace floor 61 through the slit 62 and the material charging port.
Also, as shown in an enlarged view of the trough in FIG. 13B, a plurality of partitions 65a to 65d for guiding the pellets separately are provided to the trough 65 obliquely to a trough side wall 65e, and the trough is constructed such that an amount of pellets being fed onto the rotary furnace floor 61 is reduced gradually from an outer peripheral portion to an inner peripheral portion of the rotary furnace floor 61 (see Patent Reference 2, for example).

Feeding system for reduced iron material


There is provided an acid having a fluorine-containing carbanion structure or a salt having a fluorine-containing carbanion structure, which is represented by the following general formula (1).

In recent years, the trend toward micro-scale pattern rule has been increasing with the trend toward large-scale integration and high-speed of LSI. The trend toward a shorter wavelength of the exposure light source lies behind it. For example, it has become possible to mass-produce DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) of 64M-bit (processing dimension is 0.25 μm or less) by the wavelength shortening from mercury lamp i-line (365 nm) to KrF excimer laser (248 nm). Furthermore, in order to realize the production of DRAM's having integration degrees of 256M and 1 G or greater, a lithography using ArF excimer laser (193 nm) has been studied on a full scale, and a 65 nm node device has been studied by a combination with a high NA lens (NA≧0.9). Although the use of F2 laser having a wavelength of 157 nm had been named as a candidate for the production of the next 45 nm node devices, the application was postponed by many problems represented by cost increase of scanner, change of optical system, low etching resistance of resist, and the like. As an alternative to F2 lithography, proposed was ArF immersion lithography. Now, its introduction is beginning. Furthermore, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is regarded as being promising in a design rule of 45 nm or less.
As a resist suitable for such exposure wavelength, "chemically amplified resist material" attracts much attention. This contains a radiosensitive acid generator (hereinafter referred to as "photoacid generator"), which generates an acid by radiation irradiation (hereinafter, referred to as "exposure"), and is a pattern-forming material that forms a pattern by making a difference in solubility between the exposed portion and the unexposed portion through a reaction using the acid generated by the exposure as a catalyst.
Various studies have also been conducted with respect to a photoacid generator used for such chemically amplified resist material. In case that a photoacid generator that generates an alkane or arenesulfonic acid, as used for chemically amplified resist materials, for which a conventional KrF excimer laser light is used as the light source, is used as a component of the above ArF chemically amplified resist materials, it is known that acid strength for severing an acid-labile group of the resin is not sufficient, resulting in no possibility of resolution at all, or it is known to be not suitable for device production due to low sensitivity.
Therefore, as a photoacid generator of ArF chemically amplified resist materials, one that generates a perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid, which is high in acid strength, is generally used. Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or its derivatives are, however, known as PFOS by its initials, and stability (undegradability) and hydrophobicity resulting from C—F bond, and ecological concentration and accumulation resulting from oleophilicity have become problems. Furthermore, a perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid having a carbon number of 5 or greater or its derivatives are also beginning to pose the above problems.
To deal with problems related to such PFOS, there is conducted by each company the development of a photoacid generator having a structure getting rid of PFOS skeleton, while maintaining level of acidity.
In Patent Publication 1, it is shown that a compound having an imide or methide acid is effective as an initiator, curing agent or catalyst, since it has a solubility in organic solvents and improves catalytic activity. After that, there have been disclosed many examples in which such compound having an imide or methide acid is used as a photoacid generator of chemically amplified resist materials (Patent Publication 2, Patent Publication 3, Patent Publication 4, Patent Publication 5, and Patent Publication 6). Furthermore, there is a report in Patent Publication 7 that a salt having a fluorine-containing carbanion that is analogous to methide anion (a carb anion having a carbon number of 1) acts as a photoacid generator. Furthermore, in Patent Publication 8, there is disclosed a method in which a polymerization is conducted by using a polymerizable cation, a photoacid generator itself is immobilized in a resist resin, and an imide or methide acid is used as the anion.    Patent Publication 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication 11-501909    Patent Publication 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2002-268223    Patent Publication 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2004-85657    Patent Publication 4: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2005-173464    Patent Publication 5: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2007-86166    Patent Publication 6: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2007-241121    Patent Publication 7: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2007-219411    Patent Publication 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2007-316600

Salt having fluorine-containing carbanion structure, derivative thereof, photoacid generator, resist material using the photoacid generator, and pattern forming method

Abstract: By using a photoacid generator for chemically amplified resist materials that generates this acid, it is possible to provide a photoacid generator which has a high sensitivity to the ArF excimer laser light or the like, of which acid (photo generated acid) to be generated has a sufficiently high acidity, and which has a high dissolution in resist solvent and a superior compatibility with resin, and a resist material containing such a photoacid generator.


An electronic device may have a glass housing structures. The glass housing structures may be used to cover a display and other internal electronic device components. The glass housing structure may have multiple glass pieces that are joined using a glass fusing process. A peripheral glass member may be fused along the edge of a planar glass member to enhance the thickness of the edge. A rounded edge feature may be formed by machining the thickened edge. Raised fused glass features may surround openings in the planar glass member. Multiple planar glass members may be fused together to form a five-sided box in which electronic components may be mounted. Raised support structure ribs may be formed by fusing glass structures to a planar glass member. Opaque masking material and colored glass may be used to create portions of the glass housing structures that hide internal device components from view.

This relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, to glass structures for electronic devices.
Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, handheld computers, and portable music players often include housings with glass members. For example, a device with a display may have a glass cover that serves as a protective layer. In some devices, a rear housing surface may be formed from a layer of glass.
To ensure satisfactory robustness, it is generally desirable to form device housing structures such as cover glass layers and housing surfaces from structures that are sufficiently strong to prevent damage during accidental impact events. For example, it is generally desirable to form portable devices that are subject to drop events from structures that are able to withstand the forces involved in a typical drop event without incurring excessive damage.
Glass strength and device aesthetics can sometimes be enhanced by using sufficiently thick glass layers. However, the size and weight of a device should not be excessive. If care is not taken, modifications that are made to ensure that a device has glass structures that are sufficiently strong, will make the device heavy and bulky.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved glass structures for electronic devices.


A demodulator for OQPSK signals modulated with two unique words resolves eight possible cominbations of phase ambiguity which may product data error by first processing received I.sub.R and Q.sub.R data in an integrated carrier loop/symbol synchronizer using a digital Costas loop with matched filters for correcting four of eight possible phase lock errors, and then the remaining four using a phase ambiguity resolver which detects the unique words to not only reverse the received I.sub.R and Q.sub.R data channels, but to also invert (complement) the I.sub.R and/or Q.sub.R data, or to at least complement the I.sub.R and Q.sub.R data for systems using nontransparent codes that do not have rotation direction ambiguity.

The inherent problem associated with coherent QPSK systems is that of phase ambiguity at the receiver. This is due to the inability of the carrier recovery circuit to distinguish the reference phase from the other phase (or phases) of the received carrier. For QPSK system, there are eight possibilities of errors caused by the recovered carrier being at the wrong phase and also caused by phase rotation direction ambiguity (i.e., caused by the phase of the two channels being reversed) in the transmission medium.
For uncoded systems, the phase ambiguity problem can be resolved by using the differential encoding-decoding technique. However, that technique causes the decoded output to contain highly correlated errors (double-error phenomenon) since errors almost always occur in pairs. An alternate method of resolving the phase ambiguity problem in the coherent QPSK systems is to make use of the sync markers already existing in the framed data transmission.
For coded systems, the resolution of phase ambiguity becomes more involved. For example, with the conventional differential coding method implemented inside a forward error correcting (FEC) encoder and decoder pair, a burst or double error can occur, and the use of sync markers can result in the reduction of transmission efficiency.
For general discussion, phase ambiguity resolution techniques may be classified into two categories: differential coding technique, and nondifferential coding technique. For an uncoded QPSK system, a nondifferential coding technique known is a "unique-word detection" technique. For a coded system, there are two known techniques, a "threshold decoder" and "unique-word detection" technique. The following outlines these techniques.
A. Uncoded QPSK Systems PA0 B. Coded QPSK Systems PA0 (a) Type 1 error: I.sub.R =I.sub.T inverted, or I.sub.R =Q.sub.T inverted PA0 (b) Type 2 error: Q.sub.R =Q.sub.T inverted, or Q.sub.R =I.sub.T inverted PA0 (c) Type 3 error: I.sub.R and Q.sub.R channels are switched (reversed), e.g., I.sub.R =Q.sub.T or I.sub.R =Q.sub.T inverted, or Q.sub.R =I.sub.T or Q.sub.R =I.sub.T inverted.
1. Differential Coding PA1 2. Unique Word Detection PA1 1. Differential Coding PA1 2. Nondifferential Coding
a. Differential Inside Forward-Error-Correcting (FEC) with Encoder and Decoder Pair (codec) PA2 b. Differential Outside Forward-Error-Correcting (FEC) with Encoder and Decoder Pair (codec) PA2 a. Threshold Decoder PA2 b. Unique Word Detection
The differential coding technique for uncoded QPSK systems is well known and reported in literature. (W. J. Weber, "Differential Encoding for Multiple Amplitude and Phase Shift Keying Systems," IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. COM-26, No. 3, March 1978.) The differential encoder can be readily paired with a differential decoder at a receiver. The receiver resolves the phase ambiguities based on the difference between the detected symbol phases. Since the difference is independent of the locked-in phase, the four-phase ambiguity associated with each case (normal or reverse sense) disappears at the output of the decoder differential. This technique is very simple to implement and can be performed in the modem independently on any data acquisition equipments, but due to the "burst error" associated with this technique (one erroneously detected phase will cause two consecutive false symbols), the detection performance of the transmitted sync markers can be degraded seriously.
The unique-word detection technique was patented by C. J. Wolejsza and E. R. Cacciamani, "Phase-Ambiguity Resolution in a Four-Phase PSK Communications System," U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,507. It utilizes two unique words (sync words) separately modulated onto the two quadrature I and Q channels at the transmitter. Since there are eight possible combinations of two possible cases (as shown in the following table), each combination uniquely defines one phase ambiguity condition.
TABLE I ______________________________________ THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE TRANSMITTED AND RECEIVED DATA Received Data Without Received Data With Phase Rotation Phase Rotation Carrier Direction Ambiguity Direction Ambiguity Phase Error (Normal Sense) (Reverse Sense) (Degree) I.sub.R Q.sub.R I.sub.R Q.sub.R ______________________________________ 0 I.sub.T Q.sub.T Q.sub.T I.sub.T 90 -Q.sub.T I.sub.T I.sub.T -Q.sub.T 180 -I.sub.T -Q.sub.T -Q.sub.T -I.sub.T 270 Q.sub.T -I.sub.T -I.sub.T Q.sub.T ______________________________________ Note: The negative sign indicates the complement of the data
Thus, each error appearing in the two data channels of the QPSK demodulator is uniquely defined by a particular phase error. The unique-word detection technique is used to correct the errors at the outputs of the channels by monitoring and detecting the true or compliment form of the two unique words. For example, if the two unique words detected are in their complement form, then the received data should be inverted (complemented).
It should be noted that this unique-word detection technique does not identify the phase error of the recovered coherent carrier which caused the errors, but corrects the errors caused by the phase errors without phase rotation at 90.degree., 180.degree. and 270.degree. phase error. The sync markers already existing in the framed data transmission can be used as the unique words for resolving the phase ambiguity. This unique-word detection technique also has the advantage of not excluding the use of forward-error-correcting (FEC) techniques. However, it is more complex than the differential encoding-decoding technique and requires a careful selection of a suitable pattern for the unique words in order to achieve a low probability of false detection. Another disadvantage is that it may increase the number of noninformation bits in the total data stream thereby increasing the bandwidth necessary to transmit a given amount of information.
As shown in the outline above, the differential coding technique for coded QPSK systems can be classified into two categories: (a) phase ambiguity resolution by differential coding inside forward-error-correcting (FEC) with encoder and decoder pair (codec); and (b) phase ambiguity resolution by differential coding outside FEC codec.
The scheme for differential coding inside an FEC codec has a serious degradation in the bit error rate due to the burst error. (G. G. Forney and E. K. Bower, "A High-Speed Sequential Decoder: Prototype Design and Test," IEEE Transactions on Communication Technology, Vol. COM-19, No. 5, October 1971.) This is because one erroneously detected phase will cause two consecutive false symbols (a burst error) even if the next phase is received correctly. This burst error can cause a bit error rate degradation of 3 dB.
The adverse effect of the "burst error" in differential coding inside the FEC codec can be eliminated by using the well known technique of interleaving symbols. (Y. Tsuji, "Phase Ambiguity Resolution in a 4-Phase PSK Modulation System with Forward-Error-Correcting Convolutional Codes," COMSAT Technical Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, Fall 1976.) This is because the even and odd symbols are encoded independently so that the effect of burst error is changed to random error in the data, thus avoiding degradation. However, it should be noted that without symbol interleaving, the use of the differential coding inside the FEC codec does not require synchronization time to eliminate the phase ambiguity for the error decoder. This technique can be used in either a burst signal mode or a continuous signal mode. With symbol interleaving, this differential coding inside an FEC codec does not degrade the capability of the FEC codec with simplified hardware.
When differential coding is used an FEC codec, the bit error rate degradation due to "burst error" can be avoided. This is because the error correcting decoder does not encounter the double-error phenomenon, and only the bit error rate of the error-correcting decoder is of concern. Note that this decoder output bit error rate is an improved bit error rate due to error correcting action. Doubling the decoder output error rate results in a smaller bit signal-to-noise ratio loss than doubling the input error rate because the curve of bit error rate versus bit signal-to-noise ratio is steeper for the decoder output.
It is important to note that phase ambiguity resolution by differential coding external to error-control coding is to be used together with the synchronizer circuit of the FEC decoder. However, the resolution performance depends on the synchronizer circuit of the FEC decoder. This technique is not suitable for application to burst mode operations due to the relatively long time necessary for resolving the phase ambiguity.
For systems using nontransparent codes that do not have phase rotation direction ambiguity, there is no need for differential encoding because the synchronizer itself can resolve the phase ambiguity. For systems that have both phase rotation direction ambiguity (reverse sense) and recovered carrier phase ambiguity (normal sense), differential coding is always required regardless of the type of codes used (transparent or nontransparent).
As noted in the outline above, there are two nondifferential coding techniques for phase ambiguity resolution, namely a threshold decoder technique and a unique-word detection technique. The threshold decoder technique makes up of a synchronizer circuit that is inserted between the output of the QPSK demodulator and the input of a threshold decoder of a type which can correct a predetermined number of bit errors in a coded stream. (A. S. Dohne and E. R. Cacciamani, "Phase Ambiguity Resolution System Using Convolutional Coding-Threshold Decoding," U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,647, Apr. 23, 1974.) This particular synchronizer performs both phase ambiguity resolution and node synchronization without using unique code words. This synchronizer includes a memory counter which has all possible combinations of errors caused by the phase ambiguity. This memory counter is controlled by correction pulses which are generated int he synchronizer by an error rate detector.
When the number of correction bits during a frame exceeds the number which would normally occur if the system were operating correctly without phase ambiguity and without incorrect node synchronization, the synchronizer assumes that there is a problem caused either by phase ambiguity or node synchronization. Each time this occurs, the error rate decoder generates correction pulses.
The correction pulses are used to advance the memory counter through its states. It will eventually reach the state which makes all needed corrections since all possible combinations of errors are stored in the memory counter. When all errors are corrected, there will no longer be errors in the bit stream applied to the threshold decoder, the search pulses will then no longer be generated, and the memory counter will remain in the state which provides all needed corrections.
The threshold decoder technique improves communications efficiency, i.e., requires less bandwidth to transmit a given amount of information. But since the synchronizer has to search for the correct state out of all possible combinations of errors caused either by the phase ambiguity or node synchronization, this technique may require a relatively long time for phase ambiguity resolution.
The unique-word detection technique has been described above in connection with an uncoded QPSK system and can be modified for use with a coded QPSK system. At the transmitter, the unique words are inserted in a message preamble after the data has been encoded, and at the receiver, the unique words are detected before the FEC decoder. This implementation will allow the system to correct the errors caused by the phase ambiguity as described in connection with an uncoded QPSK system.
In summary, one particularly well-known technique for resolving the phase ambiguity of QPSK systems utilizes two unique words that are separately modulated onto the quadrature channels at the transmitter. This technique proposes that errors associated with eight possible phase ambiguity conditions can be corrected by detecting the true or complement of two unique words that are separately modulated onto the two quadrature channels at the transmitter. Since there are eight possible phase ambiguity conditions, correction of all errors by this technique requires a rather complicated circuit to resolve the phase ambiguity. Another technique described by E. Cacciamani, et al., in IEEE Transactions on Communication Technology, Vol. COM-19, No. 6, December 1971, titled "Phase-Ambiguity Resolution in a Four-Phase PSK Communications System," proposed to resolve the eight possible phase ambiguity conditions for offset QPSK systems, herein referred to as OQPSK. However, that scheme requires that proper timing between the two unique words can be known precisely.
Although the problem of phase ambiguity can be resolved by the techniques mentioned above in QPSK modulation systems, when unique-word detection techniques are used, the demodulator and the unique-word detector in a OQPSK receiver needs to be designed to achieve better performance while minimizing the complexity of the receiver.

Phase ambiguity resolution for offset QPSK modulation systems

The United States of America as represented by the Administer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for checking the usage state of a document of value. The document of value is illuminated with illumination light and with the help of an image sensor there is detected the light intensity of the light reflected from the document of value in order to take an image of the document of value. Of the taken image there is chosen an image detail in which there is imaged an opaque, reflective section of the document of value. The chosen image detail is examined for signs of creases which are possibly present in the opaque, reflective section of the document of value. The results of the examination for creases are used to evaluate the usage state of the document of value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for checking documents of value, in particular for checking the usage state of documents of value.
2. Related Art
With the passing of time that documents of value, such as e.g. bank notes, are in circulation or in use, the usage state thereof deteriorates. The usage state may diminish to the unserviceability of the documents of value. In order to recognize a poor usage state in time, documents of value are therefore regularly checked by machine for their usage state and if their usage state is judged to be too poor are automatically sorted out. The check of the usage state is usually carried out e.g. in cash deposit and/or dispensing machines for bank notes or also in bank note sorting machines, whereby the authenticity and the denomination of the bank notes is also checked.
For checking the usage state of a document of value, in particular the fitness of the document of value, the document of value is usually examined for the presence of tears or dog-ears. Additionally, there can also be checked the soiling of the document of value, whereby e.g. certain areas of the document of value are checked for the presence of stains. In certain areas of the document of value the checking for stains is difficult, e.g. when the stains are superimposed on a dark or a patterned, colored background of the document of value. Moreover, it is known to check documents of value for their limpness, e.g. with the help of ultrasonic measurements.
Starting out from the stated prior art, the invention is based on the object of providing a further method which can be used for checking the usage state of documents of value.

Method and apparatus for checking the usage state of documents of value


An immunoassay for screening a sample to detect the presence of β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is disclosed. Antibodies specific for BMAA are disclosed. Antibodies that bind to BMAA on immunoblots are disclosed. Immunoassays and kits to detect the presence of BMAA in a sample by contacting the sample with an antibody that binds to BMAA, and detecting the antibody bound to the sample, are disclosed. Immunoassays and kits for screening for the presence of BMAA in a subject by analyzing a tissue sample obtained from the subject to detect the present of BMAA in the tissue sample, where the presence of BMAA in the tissue sample indicates exposure of the subject to an environmental source of BMAA, are disclosed. Immunoassays and kits for detecting an environmental source of BMAA, by screening an environmental sample to detect the presence of BMAA in the sample, wherein the presence of a detectable amount of BMAA in the sample indicates the sample is an environmental source of BMAA, are disclosed.

The non-protein amino acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is produced by diverse taxa of cyanobacteria (Cox et al. (2005) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 5074-5078) and has been shown to have neuroexcitatory and neurotoxic effects when administered in vivo and in vitro under various experimental conditions. Because BMAA can be found in flour made from cycad seeds, BMAA has been considered a candidate neurotoxin associated with a unique neurological disease identified decades ago among the Chamorro people of Guam, known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam (ALS-PDC) because of the combination of symptoms having clinical similarity to features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinsonism, and dementias, where occurrence of the disease has been linked with a diet that includes BMAA-containing cycad flour. (inter alia, Spencer et al. (1987) Science 237:517-522; Kisby et al. (1992) Neurodegeneration 1:73-82). Biomagnification of BMAA in food chains has been demonstrated, e.g. in Guam, where BMAA produced by cyanobacterial symbionts in cycad roots is taken up by the cycad host and accumulated in structures such as the seed sarcotesta and seed gametophyte that are eaten by flying foxes (bats) or people that further accumulate BMAA in their tissues, with a dramatic biomagnification seen when flying foxes (bats) with high accumulated levels of BMAA are eaten by people. (inter alia, Bannack et al. (2003) Neurology 61387-389; Cox et al. (2002) Neurology 58: 956-959; Cox et al. (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:13380-13383).
Recently, BMAA has since been detected in tissues of subjects who have not eaten cycads or flying foxes, where some subjects with detectable levels of BMAA had clinical diagnoses (based on symptoms) or confirmed diagnoses (e.g., based on autopsy of brain tissue) of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, ALS, and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), while other subjects with detectable levels of BMAA were asymptomatic for neurological disorders. (Cox et al. (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:13380-1338; Murch et al. (2004) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101: 12228-12231; Murch et al. (2004) Acta Neurol Scand 110:267-269; U.S. Pat. No. 7,256,002; US Publication No. 20070254315; US Publication No. 20070292893)
Chromatographic methods for analyzing tissue samples and environmental samples for neurotoxic amino acids such as BMAA, by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or HPLC-mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS) analysis of tissue samples and/or environmental samples is disclosed (Cox et al. (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:13380-1338; Murch et al. (2004) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101: 12228-12231; Murch et al. (2004) Acta Neurol Scand 110:267-269; U.S. Pat. No. 7,256,002; US Publication No. 20070254315)

Immunoassay for detection of neurotoxic amino acid associated with neurological disorders


A method and technique for utilizing user feedback of product installation includes initiating, on a client computing system by a user, an install module of a product to install an instance of the product on the client computing system according to a default installation process. The install module interfaces with a server system and retrieves feedback data collected by the server system in connection with prior installations of the product. The install module creates a modified installation sequence for the product on the client computing system from the default installation process based on the retrieved feedback data and then installs the instance of the product on the client computing system according to the modified installation process.

When a product is installed on a data processing system (e.g., a software and/or hardware product), the product generally includes a routine executed for installing the product. During product installation on the data processing system, a user may be presented by the routine with various options and/or prompts associated with the installation, such as acceptance of license terms, where to install certain data and/or files, whether a default/standard or custom installation path is desired, etc. Sometimes, if a step in the installation process does not complete as expected or results in a manner slightly different than documented, the user may attempt to retrieve assistance from a product support helpdesk or third party website, such as a message board.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dynamic product installation based on user feedback

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for fusion splicing optical fibers includes a base member, an arc region, a clamp member, and a biasing arrangement for urging the clamp member along second and third axes as the clamp member is advanced or retracted along a first axis. The clamp member includes three fingers, each imposing a different biasing force to accommodate different sized fibers. The biasing force of the fingers may be selectively altered. A transformer bobbin includes a series of large and small grooves separated by dielectric ridges to maximize the creepage distance. Once an arc is established between opposed electrodes, constant power is provided during splicing.

This invention relates to a fusion apparatus, and more particularly to a fusion apparatus for joining or splicing optical fibers in axially aligned end-to-end relationship.
Known fusion splicers fall into three general categories varying in complexity and, accordingly, widely varying in expense. The first general type of alignment mechanism for a fusion splicer is known as a V-groove apparatus. In the V-groove apparatus, first and second optical fibers are aligned on the basis of the outer diameter of the respective fibers. That is, the presumption with this alignment mechanism is that the core of a fiber is centralized relative to the outer diameter. Therefore, alignment of the outer diameters of the fibers theoretically will align the cores in an effort to maximize transmissibility through the completed splice.
A second general category of apparatus for aligning optical fibers is referred to as a "local launch and detect system". Apparatus of this general type bend the light fiber at an area removed from the splice region so that a beam of light can be effectively transmitted through a sidewall of the optical fiber into the core region, transmitted through the proposed splice connection, exit through a sidewall of the second optical fiber at a second bend area, and monitored by suitable sensing means. Typically, a microprocessor is used to control precision movement of the optical fiber(s) along the X and Y axes in order to maximize the intensity of the light passing through the proposed splice region from the first fiber to the second fiber. Although deemed to be more accurate than the V-groove apparatus since the light passing through the splice region is monitored, this apparatus accordingly increases dramatically in cost due to its complexity. The overall unit is also much larger in order to accommodate the local launch and detect system.
The third general category of fusion splicers operates on the principle of "profile alignment". Rather than bending the optical fibers at an area remote from the splice region as in the local launch and detect system, the profile alignment system illuminates the ends of the respective fibers and maximizes alignment of the cores based on the reflected profiles. Again, although this apparatus is more accurate than the V-groove apparatus, it has a corresponding downside related to the complexity and increased cost of such a unit.
In each of the above types of apparatus, it is necessary to securely clamp the optical fibers during alignment and subsequent fusion procedures. Typically, spring biased clamping members exert a predetermined clamping force on a fiber. Even though many of the fusion apparatus are extremely complex as described above, the prior art has failed to adequately resolve the problem of accommodating various sizes of optical fibers. For example, the glass portion of these fibers has a diameter approximating 125 microns where the glass portion, or bare fiber as it is sometimes called, comprises a glass core and surrounding glass cladding. A multimode fiber has a core of approximately 60 microns and a single mode fiber has a core of approximately 8 microns. A plastic layer surrounds the glass portion and can vary widely in thickness. Therefore, the clamping members must be able to accommodate a range of diameters approximating 125 to 900 microns.
Portable fusion splicers employ a DC or AC voltage source that is effectively stepped-up to higher voltages through use of a transformer. Since extremely large voltages are required to establish an arc between the electrodes, the overall size of the fusion unit increases to accommodate the enlarged transformer necessary to raise the voltages to these levels.
The subject invention is deemed to overcome the noted problems of the prior art and others while providing a self-contained, effective fusion splicer apparatus that is substantially reduced in size without the high costs associated with more complex units. On the other hand, the subject invention represents a vast improvement over the most basic fusion splicer units.


The disclosure provides a FDSOI semiconductor structure and methods to fabricate it. The structure includes source and drain regions and gates respectively in an NMOS area and a PMOS area, a first oxide film layer formed on sidewalls of the source and drain contact holes, a metal layer deposited to fill the source and drain contact holes, a second oxide film layer formed on sidewalls of the gate contact holes, a metal layer deposited to fill the gate contact holes. Further the method includes growing an oxide film layer on the sidewalls of the contact holes between completing the contact etching process and filling the contact holes with the metal layer, followed by removing with etching the oxide film layer from the gates. Sizes of contact holes can be adjusted thereby.

With continuous development of integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing technology, critical dimensions of IC devices are continuously reduced, improving integration level, working speed and the power consumption of IC devices. Among the critical dimensions, contact/vias sizes on IC devices have become ever smaller. Smaller contact dimensions require advanced photolithography machines. The traditional contact holes of devices are usually obtained through exposure, development and etching, and the dimensions of the contact holes are directly defined by patterning. Therefore, it is necessary for a photolithography machine to have advanced functions to meet the requirements of smaller contact holes. As a result, the traditional photolithography machines have process retractions when contact holes are formed at technical nodes of 22 nm and less; and advanced photolithography machines are getting ever more expensive, which has become a bottleneck of process development. This is more severely challenging in the technology of fully depleted Silicon on Insulator, or FDSOI, a planar process technology that delivers the benefits of reduced silicon geometries while simplifying the manufacturing process.
Therefore, a reliable contact patterning method is needed to solve the above problems.

Method for improving size of contact holes of FDSOI device

SHANGHAI HUALI INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CORPORATION


A resilient tire that supports a load without internal air pressure includes a ground contacting tread portion and sidewall portions extending radially inward from said tread portion and anchored in bead portions adapted to remain secure to a wheel during rolling of the tire. A reinforced annular band is disposed radially inward of the tread portion. The band comprises an elastomeric shear layer, at least a first membrane adhered to the radially inward extent of the elastomeric shear layer and at least a second membrane adhered to the radially outward extent of the elastomeric shear layer. Each of said membranes has a longitudinal tensile modulus sufficiently greater than the shear modulus of said shear layer so that when under load the ground contacting portion of the tire deforms to a flat contact region through shear strain in the shear layer while maintaining constant the length of the membranes.

The invention relates to a resilient tire capable of supporting a vehicle load by the structural components of the tire without the benefit of internal air pressure.
The pneumatic tire has been the solution of choice for vehicular mobility for over a century. Modem belted, radial carcass pneumatic tires are remarkable products that provide an effective means for supporting applied loads while allowing reasonable vertical and lateral compliance. The pneumatic tire obtains its mechanical attributes largely due to the action of internal air pressure in the tire cavity. Reaction to the inflation pressure provides correct rigidities to the belt and carcass components. Inflation pressure is then one of the most important design parameters for a pneumatic tire. Unfortunately, when inflation pressure is fixed, the designer of a pneumatic tire has limited flexibility to modify the vertical stiffness of the tire.
Good pressure maintenance is required to obtain the best performance from a pneumatic tire. Inflation pressure below that specified can result in a loss of fuel economy. Of primary importance is that a conventional pneumatic tire is capable of very limited use after a complete loss of inflation pressure. Many tire constructions have been proposed for continued mobility of a vehicle after a complete loss of air pressure from the tire. Commercially available runflat tire solutions are pneumatic tires having added sidewall reinforcements or fillers to permit the sidewalls to act in compression as load supporting members during deflated operation. This added reinforcement often results in the disadvantages of higher tire mass and reduced riding comfort. Other attempts to provide runflat capability utilize essentially annular reinforcing bands in the tire crown portion. In these solutions, the rigidity of the tread portion results partly from the inherent properties of the annular reinforcing band and partly from the reaction to inflation pressure. Still other solutions rely on secondary internal support structures attached to the wheel. These supports add mass to the mounted assembly and either increase mounting difficulty or may require the use of multiple piece rims. All of these approaches are hybrids of an otherwise pneumatic tire structure and suffer from design compromises that are optimal for neither the inflated nor deflated states. In addition, these runflat solutions require the use of some means to monitor tire inflation pressure and to inform the vehicle operator if the inflation pressure is outside the recommended limits.
A tire designed to operate without the benefit of inflation pressure eliminates many of the problems and compromises associated with a pneumatic tire. There is only one operating condition, non-inflated. Neither pressure maintenance nor pressure monitoring is required. Structurally supported resilient tires such as solid tires or other elastomeric structures to date have not provided the levels of performance expected from a conventional pneumatic tire. A structurally supported resilient tire solution that delivers pneumatic tire-like performance would be a welcome improvement.
A structurally supported resilient tire in accordance with the invention supports its load solely through the structural properties of its tread, sidewall and bead portions, and without support from internal air pressure. The tread portion of a structurally supported resilient tire, when viewed without the sidewall and bead portions, appears as a reinforced annular band. The reinforced annular band has rigidities to resist bending in both the tire meridian and equatorial planes. A meridian plane passes through the tire with the axis of rotation lying wholly in the meridian plane. The equatorial plane passes perpendicular to the tire axis of rotation and bisects the tire structure.
The contact of an annular band with a flat plane is analogous to a tire contacting a ground surface. The resultant reactions are analogous to the ground contact stresses of a loaded tire. For a stiff annular band comprised of a homogeneous material, the pressure distribution satisfying the equilibrium and bending moment requirements is made up of a pair of concentrated forces located at each end of the contact area, one end of which is shown in FIG. 2A. In this idealization, no shear deformation of the annular band occurs. However, if the annular band comprises a structure which prescribes shear deformation, the resulting pressure distribution is substantially uniform.
A structurally supported resilient tire in accordance with the invention includes a tread portion, sidewall portions extending radially from the tread portion toward a tire axis, and bead portions at radially inner ends of the sidewall portions to anchor the tire to a wheel. The tread, sidewalls, and beads define a hollow, annular space, similar to that in a pneumatic tire. According to the invention, an annular band is disposed radially inward of the tread portion, the annular band comprising an elastomeric shear layer, at least a first membrane adhered to the radially inward extent of said elastomeric shear layer, and at least a second membrane adhered to the radially outward extent of the elastomeric shear layer. Preferably, the membranes comprise superposed layers of essentially inextensible cord reinforcements embedded in an elastomeric coating layer. The membranes have a longitudinal tensile modulus of elasticity sufficiently greater than the shear modulus of elasticity of the elastomeric shear layer such that, under an externally applied load, the ground contacting tread portion deforms from essentially a circular shape to a flat shape while maintaining an essentially constant length of the membranes. Relative displacement of the membranes occurs by shear in the shear layer.
This effect is schematically represented in FIG. 2B. As shown in FIG. 2B, a beneficial result is a more uniform ground contact pressure throughout the length of the contact area compared to other tires not using an annular band having the deformation properties just described. The annular band does not rely on internal inflation pressure to have a transverse stiffness in a tire meridian plane and a longitudinal bending stiffness in the tire equatorial plane sufficiently high to act as a load-supporting member.
According to one aspect of the invention, a transverse radius of the annular band, that is, the radius of curvature in the tire meridian plane, is less than the transverse radius of the outer tread surface to resist longitudinal buckling of the annular band in the contact area.
The structure according to the invention advantageously allows the tire designer to adjust the vertical stiffness of the tire somewhat independently of the contact pressure. In conventional pneumatic tires, by contrast, the ground contact pressure and tire vertical stiffness are strongly coupled.
The tire sidewalls provide the necessary structure to react at the wheel the load supported by the annular band, thus supporting the mass of a vehicle. In a conventional pneumatic tire, load support is provided by differences in tensions of the tire sidewalls, with the minimum sidewall tension being at the center of the contact area and the maximum being at a meridian opposite the contact area. As shown in FIG. 3a, the structurally supported resilient tire of the present invention supports its load by tensioning the sidewall for those meridians outside the contact area. Optimal load support is obtained when the sidewalls have a high effective radial stiffness in tension and a low effective radial stiffness in compression. When these conditions are satisfied, the wheel can be said to hang from the upper portion of the tire. In addition, for optimal load support, the sidewalls have a rectilinear profile and radially oriented reinforcing elements.
The vertical stiffness of the tire of the invention, which is the resistance under load to deformation in the vertical direction, can be affected to a significant degree by the counterdeflection stiffness of the tire. Counterdeflection stiffness is a measure of the resistance of the tire to deformation of the portion not in ground contact. Counterdeflection of the tire allows some vertical displacement of the wheel axis, which effectively decreases the vertical stiffness of the tire. Adjusting the counterdeflection stiffness of the tire adjusts the vertical stiffness of the tire.
When the tire of the invention rotates at high angular velocity, centripetal forces develop in the annular band. These forces result in circumferential stress, which tends to cause the annular band to expand radially outward. Expansion of the annular band is resisted by the high effective radial stiffness of the sidewalls. Since no such centripetal forces develop in the ground contact area, the net result is a vertically upward force, which acts to support a portion of the imposed load, and increases the effective vertical stiffness of the tire. The centripetal forces, and hence, the effective vertical stiffness of the tire, increase as speed increases; thus, the tire deflection is reduced as speed increases. Reduced deflection reduces heat generation in the tire and improves high-speed performance.
The tensions developed in the sidewalls of the tire of the invention when loaded are significantly lower than the sidewall tensions of an inflated and loaded pneumatic tire. Referring to FIG. 1, the bead portions 160 may employ any of several bead structures which allow proper seating on the rim 10 without relying on inflation pressure and which maintain proper seating of the bead portions during use of the tire. An example of a bead construction meeting these requirements is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,781 to Drieux et al and is incorporated by reference herein.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a structurally supported resilient tire comprises a ground contacting tread portion, sidewall portions extending radially inward from the tread portion and anchored in bead portions adapted to remain secure to a wheel during rolling of the tire, and a reinforced annular band disposed radially inward of the tread portion, the band comprising an elastomeric shear layer, at least a first membrane adhered to the radially inward extent of the elastomeric shear layer and at least a second membrane adhered to the radially outward extent of the elastomeric shear layer, and in which the second membrane is undulated having an amplitude of undulation in the radial direction and a wavelength of undulation in the axial direction.
This undulated membrane resists compressive buckling of the annular band in the ground contact area without constraints on the transverse radii of the annular band and outer tread surface. If the tread grooves coincide with the minimum of the undulation, that is, the portion of the membrane concave toward the tread, then these grooves can be deeper than the grooves of conventional tires, thus improving hydroplaning resistance of the tire.
According to another embodiment, a structurally supported resilient tire comprises a ground contacting tread portion, sidewall portions extending radially inward from the tread portion and anchored in bead portions adapted to remain secure to a wheel during rolling of the tire, and a reinforced annular band disposed radially inward of the tread portion, the band comprising an elastomeric shear layer, at least a first membrane adhered to the radially inward extent of the elastomeric shear layer and at least a second membrane adhered to the radially outward extent of the elastomeric shear layer, wherein a ratio of the longitudinal stiffness of the band in the tire equatorial plane to an effective radial stiffness of the sidewall portion in tension is less than 100:1.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, a structurally supported resilient tire comprises a ground contacting tread portion, sidewall portions extending radially inward from the tread portion and anchored in bead portions adapted to remain secure to a wheel during rolling of the tire, and a reinforced annular band disposed radially inward of the tread portion, the band comprising an elastomeric shear layer, at least a first membrane adhered to the radially inward extent of the elastomeric shear layer and at least a second membrane adhered to the radially outward extent of the elastomeric shear layer, wherein the sidewall portions are essentially inextensible in tension and essentially without resistance to compressive buckling, whereby an externally applied load is supported substantially by tensile forces in the sidewall portion in the region of the tire out of contact with the ground and substantially without vertical load support from the sidewall portion in the region in contact with the ground.
According to the invention, a method for making a structurally supported resilient tire with a reinforced annular band having an elastomeric shear layer between longitudinally stiff membranes, comprises the steps of selecting a ground contact pressure and tire radius, multiplying the ground contact pressure by the tire radius to determine a shear layer factor, selecting a shear layer material having a shear modulus of elasticity and with a thickness so that the product of the shear modulus of elasticity times the thickness is equal to the shear layer factor, selecting membranes having a tensile modulus of elasticity at least 100 times the shear modulus of elasticity, and assembling a ground contacting tread portion, the reinforced annular band disposed radially inward of said tread portion, at least a first membrane adhered to the radially inward extent of said elastomeric shear layer and at least a second membrane adhered to the radially outward extent of said elastomeric shear layer, and sidewall portions extending radially inward from said tread portion and anchored in bead portions for securing to a wheel.


Hollow polyester undrawn filaments having excellent mechanical quality and uniformity are prepared by a simplified post-coalescence melt spinning process at speeds of e.g. 2-5 km/min by selection of polymer and spinning conditions whereby the void content of the undrawn filaments can be essentially maintained or even increased when drawn cold or hot, with or without post heat-treatment.

Textile designers are very creative. This is necessary because of seasonal factors and because the public taste continually changes, so the industry continually demands new products. Many designers in this industry would like the ability to custom-make their own yarns, so their products would be more unique, and so as to provide more flexibility in designing textiles.
For textile purposes, a "textile" yarn must have certain properties, such as sufficiently high modulus and yield point, and sufficiently low shrinkage, which distinguish these yarns from conventional feed yarns that require further processing before they have the minimum properties for processing into textiles and subsequent use. Generally, hereinafter, we refer to untextured filament yarns as "flat" yarns and undrawn "flat" filament yarns as "feed" or as "draw-feed" filament yarns. Filament yarns which can be used as a "textile" yarn without need for further drawing and/or heat treatment are referred to herein as "direct-use" filament yarns. It will be recognized that, where appropriate, the technology may apply also to polyester filaments in other forms, such as tows, which may then be converted into staple fiber, and used as such in accordance with the balance of properties that is desirable and may be achieved as taught hereinafter.
It is important to recognize that what is important for any particular end-use is the combination of all the properties of the specific yarn (or filament), sometimes in the yarn itself during processing, but also in the eventual fabric or garment of which it is a component. It is easy, for instance, to reduce shrinkage by a processing treatment, but this modification is generally accompanied by other changes, so it is the combination or balance of properties of any filament (or staple fiber) that is important. It is also understood that the filaments may be supplied and/or processed according to the invention in the form of a yarn or as a bundle of filaments that does not necessarily have the coherency of a true "yarn" but for convenience herein a plurality of filaments may often be referred to as a "yarn" or "bundle" without intending specific limitation. Many yarns have had several desirable properties and have been available in large quantities at reasonable cost; but, hitherto, there has been an important limiting factor in the usefulness of most polyester flat yarns to textile designers, because only a limited range of yarns has been available from fiber producers, and the ability of any designer to custom-make his own particular polyester flat yarns has been severely limited in practice. The fiber producer has generally supplied only a rather limited range of polyester yarns because it would be more costly to make a more varied range, e.g. of deniers per filament (dpf), and to stock an inventory of such different yarns.
Conventional flat polyester filament yarns have typically been prepared, for example, by melt-spinning at low or moderate speeds (to make undrawn yarn that is sometimes referred to as LOY and MOY) and then single-end drawing and heating to reduce shrinkage and to increase modulus and yield point. Conventional polyester filaments have combinations of properties that, for certain end-uses, could desirably be improved, as will be indicated hereinafter. Recently, there has been interest in using flat undrawn filament yarns (e.g., LOY, MOY, and most especially POY), which have generally been cheaper than drawn yarns, and incorporating a drawing step in the beaming operation, as disclosed, e.g., by Seaborn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,767. This process is referred to herein as "warp-drawing" but is sometimes called draw-beaming or draw-warping.
As disclosed, e.g., in the parent application (U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,447 referred to hereinabove, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference), it was known that conventional polyester undrawn LOY, MOY, and POY (defined hereinafter) draw by a necking operation; i.e., such conventional undrawn polyester filaments have a natural draw-ratio (NDR) and that drawing such polyester filaments at draw ratios less than this natural draw-ratio (herein referred to as partial-drawing, i.e., drawing to a residual elongation of more than about 30% in the drawn yarns) produces irregular "thick-thin" filaments which are considered inferior for most practical commercial purposes (unless a specialty yarn is required, to give a novelty effect, or special effect). For filament yarns, the need for uniformity is particularly important, more so than for staple fiber. Fabrics from flat yarns show even minor differences in uniformity from partial drawing of conventional undrawn polyester yarns as defects, especially when dyeing these fabrics. Thus, uniformity in flat filament yarns is extremely important.
Undrawn polyester filaments were unique in this respect because nylon filaments and polypropylene filaments did not have this defect. Thus, it has been possible to take several samples of a nylon undrawn yarn, all of which have the same denier per filament, and draw them, using different draw ratios, to obtain correspondingly different deniers in the drawn yarns, as desired, without some being irregular thick-thin filament yarns, like partially drawn polyester filament yarns. POY stands for partially oriented yarn POY, meaning spin-oriented yarn spun at speeds of, e.g., 2.5-3.5 km/min for use as draw feed yarns for draw-texturing as suggested in Petrilie, U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,307 and Piazza & Reese, U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,872. These draw-texturing feed yarns (DTFY) had not been used, e.g., as textile yarns, because of their high shrinkage and low yield point, which is often measurable as a low T.sub.7 (tenacity at 7% elongation) or a low modulus (M). In other words, POY used as DTFY are not textile yarns (sometimes referred to as "hard yarns") that can be used as such in textile processes, but are draw feed yarns (DFY) that are drawn and heated to increase their yield point and reduce their shrinkage so as to make textile yarns. MOY means medium oriented yarns, and are prepared by spinning at somewhat lower speeds than POY, e.g., 1.5-2.5 km/min, and are even less "hard", i.e., they are even less suitable for use as textile yarns without drawing. LOY means low oriented yarns, and are prepared at much lower spinning speeds of the order of 1.5 km/min or much less.
When conventional polyester undrawn POY of high shrinkage are prepared at higher spinning speeds, there is still generally a natural draw-ratio (NDR) at which these yarns prefer to be drawn, i.e., below which the resulting yarns are irregular; although the resulting irregularity becomes less noticeable, e.g., to the naked eye or by photography, as the spinning speed of the precursor feed yarns is increased, the along-end denier variations of the partial drawn yarns are nevertheless greater than are commercially desirable, especially as it is generally desired to dye the resulting fabrics or yarns. Denier variations often mean the filaments have not been uniformly oriented along-end, and variations in orientation affect dye-uniformity. Dyeing uniformity is very sensitive to variations resulting from partial drawing. As reported, for instance, by Bosley, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,098; Lipscomb, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,749; Nakagawa, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,622; Allen, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,295. It has also been reported that such prior art drawing results in along-end spontaneous crimp on shrinkage (Schippers U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,311; col. 10/lines 44-59 and col. 11/lines 24-31). Both of these are undesirable defects for end-uses requiring uniform along-end dyeability. This has severely limited the utility of conventional spin-oriented polyester POY filament yarns, for example, as a practical draw-warping feed yarn.
Thus, previously, even with POY, such as has been used as feed yarn for draw-texturing, it had not been practical to draw-warp the same such POY to two different dpfs that vary from each other by as much as 10% and obtain two satisfactory uniform drawn yarns. Thus, it will be understood that a serious commercial practical defect of prior suggestions for draw-warping most prior undrawn polyester (POY, MOY or LOY) had been the lack of flexibility in that it had not been possible to obtain satisfactory uniform products using draw ratios below the natural draw-ratio for the polyester feed yarn.
So far as is known, it had not previously been suggested, except in the parent application, that a draw process (such as a draw-warping process) be applied to a polyester textile yarn, i.e., one that was itself already a direct-use yarn, such as having shrinkage and tensile properties that made it suitable for direct use in textile processes such as weaving and knitting without first drawing. Indeed, to many skilled practitioners, it might have seemed a contradiction in terms to subject such a yarn to draw-warping, for example, because such a yarn was already a textile yarn, not a feed yarn that needed a drawing operation to impart properties useful in textile processes such as weaving or knitting.
According to the parent application, processes were provided for improving the properties of feed yarns of undrawn polyester filaments (especially undrawn polyester filament feed yarns having the shrinkage behavior of the spin-oriented polyester filaments disclosed by Knox in U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,071, and by Frankfort & Knox in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,134,882 and 4,195,051). Such processes involved drawing with or without heat during the drawing and with or without post heat-treatment, and are most conveniently adapted for operation using a draw-warping machine, some such being sometimes referred to as draw-beaming or warp-drawing operations; but such benefits may be extended to other drawing operations, such as split and coupled single-end drawing (or of small number of ends, typically corresponding to the number of spin packages per winder or spin position of a small unit of winders) and to various draw (and no-draw) texturing processes for providing bulky filament yarns.

Continuous hollow filament, yarns, and tows


A wireless communication device wirelessly initiates data calls to access data channels in a wireless network. The wireless communication device wirelessly transfers data requests indicating a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators, and in response, wirelessly receives user data over the data channels. The wireless communication device determines performance data on a per-URL basis indicating if the data requests utilize existing data channels to receive the user data or if the data requests initiate new data calls to obtain new data channels to receive the user data. The wireless communication device processes the performance data to determine data call efficiency metrics on a per-URL basis.

Wireless communication devices, such as smart-phones and tablets, provide mobile Internet access. The typical wireless communication device includes numerous applications that repeatedly retrieve data from the Internet using Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). To access the Internet, the wireless communication device first transfers a data call to a wireless communication network to obtain a data channel through the network to the Internet. The wireless communication device then transfers data requests indicating URLs over the data channel and the Internet to various Internet servers. The Internet servers identify the requested data based on the URLs in the data requests. The Internet servers then transfer the requested data to the wireless communication device over the Internet and the data channel. The wireless communication device typically tracks Radio Frequency (RF) conditions during these transfers.
Multiple applications in the wireless communication device can request data over the same data channel. Eventually, the data channel is terminated or released, so the wireless communication device must initiate another data call the next time that an application requires Internet access. The wireless communication device will usually track the time and amount of data downloaded by each application. The wireless communication device may inhibit specific applications that download too much data or that attempt to download data too frequently.
Overview
A wireless communication device wirelessly initiates data calls to access data channels in a wireless network. The wireless communication device wirelessly transfers data requests indicating a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators, and in response, wirelessly receives user data over the data channels. The wireless communication device determines performance data on a per-URL basis indicating if the data requests utilize existing data channels to receive the user data or if the data requests initiate new data calls to obtain new data channels to receive the user data. The wireless communication device processes the performance data to determine data call efficiency metrics on a per-URL basis.

Wireless communication device that determines per-resource data call efficiency metrics


A trailer for attachment to a hitch of a tow vehicle, the trailer comprising a bed, or some other type of load carrying portion, connected for pivotal movement with respect to the draw bar of the trailer. The bed is movable between a generally horizontal, hauling position and a tilted, dumping position. The bed includes a forward portion adjacent the draw bar and a rearward portion opposite the forward portion. An axle is connected to the bed to which wheels are attached. Blocking members contact the axle as the tow vehicle moves rearwardly, the blocking members being movable between a blocking position, for contacting the ground to substantially block rearward movement of the bed as the trailer is moved rearwardly, and a retracted position, wherein the blocking members are substantially out of contact with the ground. Upon the blocking member being moved to the blocking position and the bed being in the hauling position, and upon the trailer being moved rearwardly, the bed pivots to the dumping position.

The present invention relates to trailer having a bed or box which automatically tilts, or dumps, upon the trailer being moved rearwardly.
Tilting, or dump, trailers are trailers which have a bed or body portion configured for carrying cargo and for tilting in order to offload, or dump the cargo. Dumping trailers are useful in that they offer a cargo-emptying feature without requiring a dedicated vehicle, such as a dump truck. A dump trailer can be used as needed by attaching it to a tow vehicle, such as a conventional truck, tractor, pick-up truck, sport utility vehicle (SUV), automobile, etc. Once the desired cargo has been hauled and dumped using the trailer, the trailer could then be detached from the tow vehicle, and the tow vehicle is then unencumbered and free to be used for other purposes.
In conventional dump trailers, the dumping mechanism is powered by a separate power source, such as a hydraulic or electric lift mechanism. Such mechanism adds weight and expense to the trailer, and also complexity. However, such a power mechanism is oftentimes required due to the weight of the load in the trailer, the load being prohibitively heavy for allowing the trailer to be tilted upwardly and dumped by hand.
Various types of dump trailers have been patented. U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,387, issued Nieto, Jr., discloses eccentric rim members which are mounted in front of trailer wheels, and which rotate in a manner that lifts the trailer into a dumping position as a trailer is pulled forwardly. U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,166 B1, issued to Collier, discloses a utility trailer with selectively deployable chains. Upon deployment of the chains and backing of the trailer, the tires engage the chain, and the trailer moves into a dumping position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,944, issued to Keech; U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,499, issued to Fortin; U.S. Pat. No. 1,894,320, issued to Muchenberger-Wittlinger; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,181, issued to Schantz, all disclose tilting trailers that pivot at the end of a tow bar. In particular, the Keech patent discloses uses of a tilt lock mechanism, and the Fortin patent discloses a sliding hinge for dumping upon rearward movement. The Schantz patent allows for storage of a trailer in a vertical position.
Another desirable feature in a dump trailer is to provide a trailer which does not have to be detached from the tow vehicle in order to perform the dumping operation. Additionally, if such dumping could take place without requiring a separate, powered mechanism, such would be a further advantage.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a tilting, or dumping, trailer which does not require an auxiliary power unit or other power mechanism in order to perform the dumping function.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dumping trailer which may remain attached to a tow vehicle during a dumping operation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a dumping trailer which may be dumped automatically by backing up the tow vehicle, with the trailer attached thereto.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a dumping trailer which, after being moved to the dumping position, may be returned to its normal, cargo-hauling position, by pulling the tow vehicle forward.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a dumping trailer which may be tilted to a vertical position, and beyond vertical, during the dumping operation.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of operating a dumping trailer.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a dumping trailer, wherein the dumping feature may be activated and deactivated by the user from the front-end of the trailer.
Generally, the present invention includes a trailer having a draw bar and coupler for attachment to a hitch of a tow vehicle, the trailer comprising a bed connected to a frame for pivotal movement with respect to the draw bar. The bed or other load carrying structure is movable between a generally horizontal, hauling position and a tilted, dumping position. The bed includes a forward portion adjacent the draw bar and a rearward portion opposite the forward portion. An axle is connected to the frame to which wheels are attached. Blocking members contact the axle as the tow vehicle moves rearwardly, the blocking members being movable between a blocking position, for contacting the ground to substantially block rearward movement of the frame as the trailer is moved rearwardly, and a retracted position, wherein the blocking members are substantially out of contact with the ground. Upon the blocking member being moved to the blocking position and the bed being in the hauling position, and upon the trailer being moved rearwardly, the bed pivots to the dumping position.
More specifically, the present invention includes a method of tilting a trailer and a tilting/dumping trailer having a mechanism wherein the blocking members are preferably stands having rocker portions thereon, the stands being pivotally attached to the trailer behind the trailer""s wheels. The stands are normally maintained in an upward position so as to provide adequate ground clearance for the trailer during use. When it is desired to dump the trailer, the user, from the front-end of the trailer, activates the stands to allow them to pivot downwardly for contact with the ground.
Activation of the stands is accomplished through use of a release mechanism, such as a chain and pin arrangement, or through the use of a linkage, straps, or the like, which preferably allow the stands to be released by the user, as mentioned above, while the user stands at the forward end of the trailer.
Locking mechanisms are provided which engage a forward portion of the trailer, and these locking mechanisms, in a preferred embodiment, are locking spring pushpins. These pushpins are released in order to allow the trailer bed to pivot with respect to the draw bar of the trailer. Once the stands have been lowered to the ground, upon backing up of the vehicle, the stands act as fulcrums about which the bed pivots, and actually cause the wheels of the trailer to be lifted off of the ground during backing. As the wheels are lifted off of the ground, the stands bear the weight of the trailer and its load. This forces the stands downwardly to substantially fix them from sliding with respect to the ground as the trailer is backed up. Upon continued backing of the vehicle, the trailer bed will begin tilting upwardly, and this allows for the contents of the trailer to be dumped.
It should be noted that as the bed tilts, its rear edge contacts the ground, and at this point, the bed itself becomes a ramp for allowing riding mowers, all terrain vehicles, go carts, tractors, etc. to be driven or otherwise loaded onto bed, if desired.
In order to return the trailer cargo bed back down to its normal position, the tow vehicle is moved forward such that the draw bar of the trailer pulls the trailer forward, thereby pivoting the trailer bed to a generally horizontal position. At this point, the wheels of the trailer may move freely, and the stands may be retracted, again, preferably from the front of the trailer, in order to prevent the stands from dragging on the ground during use of the trailer.
The trailer of the present invention includes a draw bar having a unique configuration which allows the trailer to be dumped without requiring it to be unhitched from the tow vehicle. This is allowed by virtue of the geometry of the draw bar, which includes angled portions for allowing the trailer to be moved to the dumping position, and returned to the normal, home, position while still hitched to the tow vehicle.
Accordingly, the trailer of the present invention requires no powered dumping mechanism, auxiliary or otherwise. This eliminates the need for power supply mechanisms, which are generally power take-off (PTO) hydraulic mechanisms, drawing motive power from the tow vehicle, or electric-hydraulic mechanisms, which require use of an electrically-powered hydraulic pump.
Further, typical dump trailers, because of their need for separate power devices for performing the dumping operation, must generally include increased structural support for supporting such dump mechanisms, which in turn adds weight and cost to the trailer. This weight and cost is in addition to that of the powered dumping system itself.
The trailer of the present invention, by eliminating the need for a powered dumping mechanism, can be made to be relatively lightweight and easy to move around by hand, thereby allowing enhanced maneuverability of the trailer in tight areas.
Because the trailer of the present invention requires no additional power source, such as an electrical hook-up or a hydraulic power take-off, to connect to the tow vehicle""s PTO system, the trailer can be used with almost any vehicle having an ordinary trailer hitch.
Moreover, by virtue of the design of the trailer of the present invention, the bed of the trailer is preferably elevated, compared to other trailers, thereby allowing easy access at the rear and sides for loading or off-loading with conventional lift trucks, such as forklifts, making the trailer attractive for use to business owners and, in particular, to the construction industry.


A method for repairing a shorted tunnel device includes the step of applying a stressing signal to the tunnel device. The stressing signal has an amplitude that is greater than an amplitude of a bias signal applied to the device during normal operation. One or more characteristics of the stressing signal are selected so as to substantially optimize a repair of the device. The amplitude and/or the duration of the stressing signal are preferably selected so as to remove a conductive filament shorting the device via a thermal mechanism (e.g., heating).

Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices are employed in a wide variety of applications, such as, for example, as storage cells in a magnetic random access memory (MRAM). As storage density requirements continue to increase, the design of MRAM circuit architectures to meet such requirements becomes significantly more challenging. Furthermore, with greater storage density comes a higher likelihood that one or more memory cells (i.e., bits) in the MRAM will be defective (e.g., shorted). A primary cause of reduced yield in MRAM is attributable to shorted memory cells. Thus, while it would be desirable to achieve one hundred percent yield of working devices, such a yield is generally not attainable in a high-density memory device without significant cost.
Conventionally, MRAM is often designed with a certain amount of built-in redundancy, so that defective memory cells, at final test, can be identified, readdressed and essentially replaced by memory cells residing in a redundancy area of the device. While this approach has had some success at improving yield, the additional chip area required in order to incorporate such redundancy in the MRAM device comes at the price of significantly lower storage density in the device and is therefore undesirable. Moreover, due to the ever-increasing storage capacity of MRAM, the number of defects is becoming so large that the redundancy methodology is no longer a viable solution.
Accordingly, there exists a need for techniques capable of providing enhanced yield in a memory circuit, as well as other circuits employing MTJ devices, that do not suffer from one or more of the problems exhibited by conventional memory architectures and methodologies.

Method and apparatus for repairing a shorted tunnel device


A circuit includes an input stage configured to receive a regulated input signal and generate an input stage output signal in response to the regulated input signal. An isolation stage can be configured to pass the input stage output signal to a buffered output node. The isolation stage receives feedback from the buffered output node to deactivate the buffer input stage if transient voltages are generated at the buffered output node. An output stage can be configured to provide current to the buffered output node in response to the regulated input signal.

A regulated output circuit can be employed when a circuit communicates from a given bus and voltage source and attempts to communicate to a circuit having a different bus and voltage source. For example, a circuit on an "A" bus may utilize voltage levels of 0.9 volts to 5.5 volts. A circuit on bus "B" may operate with a supply in the range of 2.7 volts to 5.5 volts, for example. Since the circuits on bus A and B do not share a common power supply, some form of voltage level translation is necessary in order to communicate information between the respective busses. A regulated output circuit is one component of a translation circuit that enables voltage level translation between busses. A common application for using multiple busses is in a computer where multiple busses need to be isolated from one another in order to preserve parametric conditions on the respective busses (e.g., maintain maximum capacitive load for a given bus).
The typical means for coupling voltage, current, and ultimately information between busses is to regulate a desired voltage level such as a maintaining a voltage near ground (e.g., 0.5 v) on one side of the translation circuit. For example, a translation circuit that receives a voltage input from bus A and outputs voltage and current to bus B will attempt to maintain a low level condition such as 0.5 volts at all times when actively driving bus B. In order to communicate a low level signal (e.g., low logic signal) from bus A to bus B, the translation circuit enables a switch that switches a regulated output circuit to drive bus B to a low voltage level such as 0.5 volts. An error amplifier then receives feedback from the output in order to maintain or regulate the output voltage to the low level on bus B. If a high voltage level (e.g., logic 1) is to be communicated from bus A to bus B, then the translation circuit deactivates the switch operating bus B which is then pulled high by external pull-ups when the bus is not being driven. Thus, communicating from one voltage level to another is basically a sequence of driving the bus to a known low state when communicating one voltage state and releasing the bus to communicate the opposite voltage state. In repeater applications, static offsets are maintained as a valid low-level for every other component on the bus except the repeater. The requirement for bi-directional communication is that the static offset needs to allow for being externally over-driven without also interfering with the B-side bus.
Regulated output stages typically require finite time to recover when the output is forced out of regulation. Feedback from the output dictates that all internal nodes in the regulated output stage are saturated and thus, circuit recovery time is dependent on the slew rate of the amplifier circuit driving the output. This problem can be exacerbated in applications where unidirectional output stages are used to generate a static output low voltage (VOL) offset. The VOL regulation loop saturates when external circuits pull down on the bus, for example. When not actively driving the bus, an external pull-up resistor pulls the bus high as soon as the external pull-down circuit releases the bus. A "glitch" or transient can result on the bus as the VOL regulator slews to regain regulation, however. Some attempts to correct this problem include increasing bias current and reducing capacitive parasitic parameters but practical limitations exist due to desired response times for the regulated output stage. Another technique for reducing transients includes clamping methods applied at the regulated output, however clamping effectiveness is reduced when weaker output pull-down circuits are employed. Also, such clamping methods reduce available headroom for desired noise margins.

Unidirectional output stage with isolated feedback


This invention relates to a protocol implemented in a communication system for exchanging data and control messages between adapters to which are attached different users, and a shared memory subsystem comprising a depository storage, a manager of storage and a microprocessor. Such protocol enables the adapters to be the initiators of the transmission and reception of data by using the control lines that connect the manager of storage to all adapters in the same way as the data bus and the address bus. Moreover, the adapters slice the messages into data bursts to which are associated control words specifying the sizes, the owner and the position of the burst in the message. Consequently, those data bursts may be interleaved when transiting on the data bus without the intervention of the microprocessor for the routing, and they will be stored in or read from the depository storage according to the identification of the user in the control word. Therefore, only the shared memory needs to have a high capacity of storage, whereas the manager of storage and the adapters can operate with a reduced capacity of storage, and the time to send or to access a data burst is much more improved.

Modern computer networks are designed in a highly structured way. To reduce their design complexity, the networks are organized as a series of layers, each one built upon its predecessor.
The OSI reference model has seven layers whose functions are defined according to the international standardized protocols. The first layer which is the physical-layer, is concerned with transmitting raw bits Over a communication channel. Whereas the second layer which is the data link layer, is to take a raw transmission facility and transform it into a line that appears free of transmission errors to the network layer. To accomplish this goal, the data are broken up into frames, each of which is transmitted as many times as necessary to ensure that it has been received correctly. To prevent a fast sender from overrunning a slow receiver, the data link protocol always provides for flow control.
The environment in which the present invention can be implemented is described in detail in EP patent application A 365 731. In such an environment the subject invention deals with a method for defining a reliable and efficient exchange of data at the level of data link layers between two machines physically connected with a coaxial cable (for example the main central control unit comprising a shared memory and an adapter attached to different users). Therefore, the logical protocol has to establish an efficient exchange of data and control flow between the shared memory subsystem and the communication adapters.
The constraints given by the environment are multiple and known by the man skilled in the art. As each communication adapter may house one or several logical users, the flow of data for each user must be easily differentiated on the interface which is between the adapters and a depository storage of the central control unit. Multiple adapters must be able to share the same physical interface which can be named the manager of storage.
The most important constraint is that the adapters must be the initiators of all data exchanges, for the reception as well as for the transmission. This particular type of protocol springs from the notion of slave and master, where all the adapters are considered as masters and the shared memory as a slave.
Besides, in order to avoid the obstruction of the data transmissions, the exchanges of data and control messages must be flow-controlled in both ways from the shared memory to the adapters as well as from the adapters to the shared memory.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide protocols for exchanging messages between communication adapters and shared memory subsystem comprising a depository storage, a manager of storage and a microprocessor according an efficient data link protocol.

Method for exchanging messages between a shared memory and communication adapters using an efficient logical protocol

International Business Machines Corporation