A video scrambling system scrambles adjacent sequentially odd and even video information lines of a video frame by simultaneously storing in a memory a pair of such adjacent lines; and forming a pair of scrambled video information lines by retrieving from the memory a segment of one of the stored video information lines followed by a segment of the other stored video information line, and by shifting the phase of one of the retrieved segments of the scrambled video information line in relation to the other retrieved segment of said scrambled video information line by an odd multiple of one-half the phase of the chrominance information cycle. This phase shift causes the phase relationship of all segments with respect to the color reference signal to be the same; and as a result there is no differential hue shift in the descrambled signal. In a complementary descrambling system, the two retrieved segments of each descrambled video information line are retrieved consecutively without an intervening phase shift. Security of the scrambled signal against unauthorized descrambling is enhanced by delaying the provision of an encryption keystream to a control unit that sets the cutpoint between the segments in accordance with said keystream, and further using the keystream to set the amount of said delay.

The present invention generally pertains to video signal processing and is particularly directed to improved video signal scrambling and descrambling systems.
One technique for scrambling video signals is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,693 to Shutterly. In accordance with the technique described therein, video information is scrambled by storing a video information line in a memory and then forming a scrambled video information line by retrieving the video information from the memory in a sequence different from the sequence within the line in which the information was stored. The segment at the beginning position of the stored video information line is retrieved at the last position of the scrambled video information line and the segment at the last position of the stored video information line is retrieved at the beginning position of the scrambled video information line. The respective lengths of the retrieved segments are varied from one line to the next in response to a randomly generated coded control signal.
A technique for more thoroughly scrambling video signals is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,702 to Heller and Paik. In accordance with the technique described therein, video information is scrambled by storing a group of video information lines in a memory and then forming a group of scrambled video information lines by retrieving the video information from the memory in a sequence different from the sequence within the group of lines in which the information was stored so as to interchange segments between different video information lines. A scrambled video information line includes segments retrieved from different stored video information lines within each stored group. The segment at the beginning position of one stored video information line is retrieved at the last position of one scrambled video information line and the segment at the last position of another stored video information line is retrieved at the beginning position of the one scrambled video information line. The respective lengths of the retrieved segments are varied from one group of line to the next group in response to a randomly generated encryption keystream. Each group of stored video information lines does not include adjacent video information lines within a video frame, however, since within a video frame, the phase of the chrominance information cycle (as defined by the color subcarrier frequency) of the sequentially odd video information lines is 180 degrees out of phase with the chrominance information cycle of the adjacent sequentially even video information lines; whereby as a result of this out-of-phase relationship, the effect of chrominance leakage varies between the scrambled segments and upon descrambling causes a differential hue shift across a descrambled line or from line to line.
Chrominance leakage is the leakage of a 3.58 MHz local color subcarrier reference signal into the chrominance information. With respect to the sync tips of each video information line, the local color subcarrier reference signal has a different phase relationship between adjacent sequentially odd and even lines of a video frame. Therefore, the phase relationship of the color subcarrier reference signal to the chrominance information is different for the segments of a scrambled video information line respectively derived from different adjacent video information lines; and combining segments from different adjacent lines into a single line causes a hue shift between the different segments when the scrambled signal is descrambled to reconstruct the video signal.
Because of this chrominance leakage phenomenon, each group of stored video information lines within which segments are interchanged in accordance with the more thorough scrambling technique described in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,702 includes only sequentially odd video information lines or only sequentially even video information lines, thereby making it necessary to provide sufficient memory capacity for simultaneously storing both a group of odd video information lines and a group of even video information lines.

Video scrambling and descrambling by varying sequence of segments in adjacent video information lines


A cryogenic rectification system employing a phase separator, which may include one or more trays, in conjunction with a double column air separation plant, wherein some shelf liquid is subcooled and phase separated to produce crude neon vapor, and the remaining liquid is used to reflux the lower pressure column of the double column plant.

Neon is a valuable inert gas found in low concentrations of about 18 parts per million (ppm) in air. Neon is useful as a filling gas in lamps and luminous sign tubes. In addition, neon is used in airplane beacons because neon light can penetrate fog where other lights cannot. Systems which can improve the recovery of neon would be highly desirable.

Cryogenic rectification system for neon production


A machine for piercing a taphole for a shaft furnace in the so called "lost rod" method is presented. After the taphole is blocked with a taphole clay but before the taphole clay has fully hardened, a piercing rod is driven into the taphole clay by this machine so that at the desired time the taphole can be opened by extracting the piercing rod by this same machine. This piercing machine comprises a mounting, a first carriage which can be displaced along the mounting, a drive mechanism for this first carriage, guide mechanism to guide the piercing rod and finger mechanism capable of exerting axial thrust upon the piercing rod. The guide means define a guide channel for the piercing rod, which guide mechanism also has a longitudinal opening that gives access to the inside of the guide mechanism, the guide channel being perpendicular to the axis of the longitudinal opening. A finger that has the ability to exert an axial thrust on one end of the piercing rod penetrates through the longitudinal opening inside the guide channel.

This invention relates generally to a machine for piercing a taphole for a shaft furnace. More particularly, this invention relates to a machine used for piercing a taphole for a shaft furnace related to the so-called "lost rod" method used for piercing a taphole for a shaft furnace used in the production of steel. The lost rod method comprises blocking the taphole with taphole clay. Before the taphole clay has fully hardened, a metal rod is driven into and through this clay to a desired depth into the shaft furnace. At the appropriate time, the metal rod is extracted to open the taphole using a piercing rod machine. In accordance with this invention, such a piercing rod machine comprises a mounting which can be oriented in front of the shaft furnace wall in a working position in the extension of the axis of the taphole, a carriage which can be displaced along the mounting and a drive means to drive the carriage along the mounting.
The prior art teaches how to use conventional piercing machines, designed for working with a drill bit, for piercing tapholes with the lost rod method. These machines include a chuck fitted with a coupling means for the rod along with a powerful two-directional pneumatic hammer for supplying the force necessary for inserting and extracting the piercing rod.
A powerful pneumatic hammer of the type used on these piercing machines has its problems. The hammer exerts considerable stresses and vibrations on the equipment and, particularly, on the coupling means connecting the piercing rod to the working member resulting in rapid wear of the coupling means. In addition, the pneumatic hammer is extremely noisy and often does not conform to the ever-stricter standards aimed at reducing the noise level in the industrial environment. These disadvantages of the pneumatic hammer make it desirable to eliminate the percussion (or noise level) of the hammer during insertion and extraction of the piercing rod.
The prior art teaches a method for extracting the piercing rod using a powerful drive means coupled firmly to the free end of the piercing rod. This method uses a forceful recoil movement to withdraw the piercing rod from the taphole without producing vibrations and is completely silent. This extraction method has been tried on various machines and produces entirely satisfactory results. The drive means on these machines are either jacks or hydraulic motors and use special clamps as means for coupling the drive means to the piercing rod.
Unfortunately, such a silent "forceful" solution is not available for the operation of inserting the piercing rod into the hardening taphole clay. In fact, given the dimensions of the piercing rod (a normal piercing rod has a length of 4 m and a diameter of 4 cm) a powerful axial thrust risks (1) causing the rod to buckle and (2) that the piercing rod may be permanently blocked in a position in which the rod is partially driven into the rapidly hardening clay.
A proposed method to resolve the aforementioned problems during the "forceful" insertion operation was used comprising intermediate guides fastened on the mounting and circumferentialy encircling the piercing rod at several points and to put these guides successively, in step with the advancement of the clamp toward the front of the mounting, in a position which does not hinder the forward travel of the clamp. Slidable guides were installed on the mounting. These guides are thrust forward by the forward travel of the clamp into a position at the front of the mounting. However, this solution had certain problems. For one thing, these sliding intermediate guides constitute very vulnerable elements. Considering the rough working conditions to which a piercing machine is subjected, the guides risk becoming blocked in their guide rails and, thus, constitute an obstacle to the forward travel of the clamp. In addition, the arrangement of a parked position at the front of the mounting for these intermediate guides not only constitutes an obstruction problem at the front of the mounting, but also subjects these intermediate guides to the splashes coming from the jet of molten metal from the taphole. Also, practical experience has shown that the buckling of the piercing rod between two successive supports is not totally precluded. A piercing machine which makes it possible to drive a piercing rod into the semi-hardened taphole clay using a powerful force to the free end of the piercing rod without buckling as well as resolving the other problems discussed is required.

Machine for piercing a taphole for a shaft furnace


Disclosed is a method for mobile station hard handoff from a source base station to a target base station of a Flex Duplex call in a CDMA wireless communication network that includes a step of establishing Flex Duplex capabilities of the mobile station. A next step includes sending the Flex Duplex capabilities of the mobile station to the target base station. A next step includes configuring the mobile station and the target base station for the handoff of the call using the Flex Duplex capabilities.

Mobile Assisted Handoff uses the fixed-duplexer spacing of paired forward and reverse communication channels, as is known for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication systems. A recent proposal (3GPP2 A.S0014-D v2.0 verification and validation version) uses a "Flex Duplex" capability where the paired forward and reverse CDMA communication channels are assigned in a non-fixed (i.e., flexible) duplexer spacing. With flexible duplexer spacing, any reverse CDMA channel from a band class can be coupled with any forward CDMA channel from that band class, or with a forward CDMA channel from another band class, subject to the capabilities of the mobile station (indicated by session attributes to the communication network). This also allows using a reverse CDMA channel from a paired spectrum with forward CDMA channels from both the paired spectrum as well as unpaired spectrum providing network operators with additional flexibility in spectrum allocation.
Unfortunately, CDMA-to-CDMA handoff time when using Flex Duplex is longer than necessary because the target base station is not informed of the forward and reverse channel assignment that is in use prior to the handoff. As a result, time is wasted sending target capabilities to the source base station that are not likely to be used during a handoff. In addition, time is wasted informing the source base station of a target base station's capability that, in some cases, has no chance for success. For example, the target base station could have determined, after receiving the handoff request message, that it does not support the handoff configuration of the currently in-use call and could have immediately rejected the handoff request. In addition, the CDMA-to-CDMA handoff success probability is lower than necessary.
Also, the time for the radio to synchronize may be reduced by assigning the currently in-use Flex Duplex Channel (FDC) for the handoff instead of picking a different set of channels for handoff. The time savings is due to avoiding the need to retune the radio channel and to avoiding the need to re-acquire synchronization. Also, by retaining the in-use Flex Duplex Channel during handoff, a known radio propagation condition is retained for the handoff procedure which would result in an improved handoff success rate.
One solution currently proposed in a cellular base station standard (to be published as 3GPP2 A.S0014-D v2.0) is for the target base station, during a handoff, to report its ability to support Flex Duplex. Specifically, Flex Duplex information is added to a Handoff Request Acknowledge message and to a Handoff Command message. The target base station, using the Handoff Request Acknowledge message, informs the source base station of the Flex Duplex capability of the target base station. The Flex Duplex capability is a list of forward and reverse channel pairs that the target base station supports. However, this solution does not address the Flex Duplex capabilities of the mobile station. In addition, this solution does not inform the target base station about the Flex Duplex capabilities presently in use for the communication to be handed off.

Mobile station handoff with flex duplex channel assignment in a wireless communication network


The present invention relates to an electrode assembly and a secondary battery with the same, more particularly to the electrode assembly which includes an anode plate, a cathode plate, and a separator disposed between the anode plate and the cathode plate, wherein the separator includes a ceramic separator including a ceramic filler which is formed by mixing two groups of particles of the same material, but with a different diameter. The particles with the comparatively smaller diameter are disposed between the particles with the comparatively greater diameter.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an electrode assembly and a secondary disposing a ceramic separator between a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate, and a secondary battery with the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As opposed to a primary battery, a secondary battery is rechargeable, and thus, is reusable. Secondary batteries are generally used as the main power source of portable devices for communication, information processing, and audio/video applications. Currently, interest in secondary batteries is increasing and improved secondary batteries are rapidly being developed. For example, secondary batteries that are super-light, have a high energy density, are environment-friendly, have a high output voltage, have a low electric discharge rate, and have a longer lifespan, are being developed.
Secondary batteries are classified into Ni-MH batteries, Li-ion batteries, and the like, based on electrode active materials. Li-ion batteries may be classified based on the type of electrolyte, for example, a liquid electrolyte, a solid electrolyte, or a gel-type electrolyte. Secondary batteries are classified into various types, such as, a can type, a pouch type, and the like, based on the shape of a can within which the electrode assembly is accommodated.
The weight-to-energy density of a Li-ion battery is much greater than that of a primary battery, and thus, can be manufactured as a super-light battery. The average voltage of each cell of a Li-ion battery is about 3.6V, and each cell is three times more compact, in comparison with the average voltage of about 1.2V, of other secondary batteries, such as Ni—Cd batteries and Ni-MH batteries. Lithium ion batteries have an electric discharge rate of less than 5% a month, at a temperature of about 20° C., which is about one third of the electric discharge rate of a Ni—Cd battery or a Ni-MH battery. A lithium ion battery does not use heavy metals, such as, cadmium (Cd), or mercury (Hg), and thus, is environment-friendly. A lithium ion battery can be recharged more than one thousand times in a normal state. Accordingly, research into secondary batteries is being rapidly performed, based on the above-described advantages.
A conventional second battery forms a bare cell by disposing an electrode assembly, which is formed of a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate, and a separator, within a can formed of either aluminum or aluminum alloy. An opening formed in the can is sealed with a cap assembly. Electrolyte is injected into the can, via the opening. When the can is formed of either aluminum or an aluminum alloy, the battery can be light, due to the lightness of aluminum. When the battery is used for a long time under a high voltage, the battery does not rust.
The sealed bare cell is connected to safety devices, such as, a positive temperature coefficient device (PTC), a thermal fuse, a protective circuit module (PCM), and/or other battery accessories. In this state, the bare cell is contained within a separate hard package, or is contained within a molding formed using a hot melt resin.
The separator of the electrode assembly is disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, in order to prevent a short-circuit therebetween. However, when the separator does not have a sufficient permeability and/or wettability with respect to the electrolyte, the separator restricts the movement of lithium ions between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and thereby results in degraded electrical properties.
The separator prevents overheating of the secondary battery, by acting as a safety device. However, when the temperature of the battery suddenly increases due to, for example, thermal transmission from outside, and the like, the temperature of the secondary battery may increase, even though minute through-holes of the separator are closed. Consequently, the separator may be damaged.
A second battery generally has a high capacity. Accordingly, when large amount of current flows in the secondary battery in a comparatively short time, the temperature of the secondary battery is not decreased by stopping the current flow, even though the minute holes of the separator are closed. On the contrary, due to the generated heat, the separator may become fused. Consequently, an internal short-circuit may occur, due to damage to the separator.
There is a need to prevent the internal short-circuit between electrodes, even at a high temperature. Accordingly, the separator is a ceramic separator with a porous film. In this instance, the ceramic separator is formed by combining particles of a ceramic filler with a heat-resistant binder.
In the conventional art, the ceramic separator generally uses alumina (Al2O3) particles having the same average particle size to form the ceramic filler. Since the alumina (Al2O3) particles have the same particle diameter, a pore compaction between the particles is reduced, and an insulating property of the ceramic separator is also reduced, as the thickness thereof increases.

Electrode assembly and secondary battery with the same


Printing systems and methods are described for multicolored thermal printing simultaneously using a plurality of thermal printing technologies to achieve multicolored output. In one configuration, a dual thermal technology thermal printer includes a single thermal media ribbon printing subsystem using a multi-temperature thermal print head capable of producing grayscale or varying intensity marking on a multi-intensity direct contact thermal media such as a grayscale media.

There are two main competing thermal printing technologies used with media such as labels. Thermal ribbon transfer uses heat to transfer a wax based ink to a media producing relatively durable output. Direct thermal printers utilize a chemically coated paper that is marked by a chemical reaction in response to print head heat and that was widely used in previous generation facsimile machines and that has a relatively short output shelf life. Designers of thermal printing applications such as point of sale (POS) receipt applications and barcode printing applications typically consider the various advantages and disadvantages of each technology and select the appropriate technology for an application.
In the first technology, thermal ribbon transfer printers typically utilize a fixed width thermal print head. A rubber drive roller called a platen feeds a thermal transfer media stock passed the print head and a thin thermal transfer ribbon or foil is sandwiched between the print head and the media. The ribbon is typically a polyester film coated on the label side with a wax, wax-resin or pure resin ink. The ribbon is fed past the print head using a spooling mechanism having a source and uptake spool. Since the wax is designed to transfer at a single temperature, there has previously been no application for a multiple heat level thermal print head for use with thermal ribbon transfer printers. Multicolor thermal ribbon transfer printers are sometimes used for color label applications and have complicated media paths such as the CB-416-T3 Color Barcode Printer available from Toshiba TEC America of Atlanta, Ga. Similarly, a color thermal transfer printing process known as OPAL has been described by the Polaroid Corporation of Waltham, Mass.
In the second technology, direct thermal printers typically utilize a fixed width thermal print head. A rubber drive roller called a platen feeds a heat responsive direct thermal media stock passed the print head and the resistive heat elements are driven by the printer controller and element drivers to create the printed image. The media is typically a paper roll that is impregnated with a solid-state mixture of a dye and a suitable matrix. In a common POS receipt application, a monochromatic black media is utilized.
Certain dual color direct thermal printing systems have been developed that utilize relatively expensive dual color thermal media stock. For example, the TM-T88IV two-color direct thermal receipt printer is available from Epson America, Inc. of Long Beach, Calif. In such a system, the direct thermal media includes two different leuco dye reactions that occur at different temperatures. Accordingly, the printer will activate one temperature to print a fist color such as black and another temperature to print the second color such as blue. The colors available to such systems are limited by the availability of leuco dye chemistries for use in such media. Furthermore, the dual color direct thermal media may cost three times as much as a comparable roll of monochrome media. Conversely, thermal ribbon is available is virtually any color. There are also grayscale direct thermal systems available that are typically used in medical applications such as the Mitsubishi P-93W grayscale thermal printer Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc. of Irvine, Calif. Such systems utilize grayscale thermal media such as the Kanzaki KPT-1270 available from Kanzaki Specialty Papers of Springfield, Mass. that includes a leuco dye that is responsive to a range of heats to produce a range of gray scale intensities.
There are certain thermal printers that have been designed to alternatively operate in a direct thermal printing mode or a thermal ribbon transfer mode. For example, the CITIZEN CLP4081 thermal printer available from Citizen Systems Europe UK of Berkshire, United Kingdom can be configured to work in either a thermal transfer mode or a direct thermal transfer mode. It is of course possible that someone might have used direct thermal media stock in a thermal ribbon transfer printer instead of the typical thermal transfer stock. For example, the B700 thermal ribbon transfer postage meter available from Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford, Conn. utilizes a red thermal ribbon that transfers at about approximately in the range of 75 degrees Celsius. Such a printer might also mark a direct thermal media if it activates at the same temperature. However, the thermal transfer printer is a single heat monochromatic wax transfer technology. Even if the direct thermal media placed in that printer were to be activated at the temperature used by the thermal transfer printer, there would be no variance of the heat used to vary the color contribution of the direct thermal media.
Accordingly, there is a need for a multicolored thermal printer using relatively inexpensive thermal media. Additionally, there is a need to provide multicolored thermal printer using a single one-color thermal transfer ribbon.

Multicolored thermal printer, ribbon and media


A box closure device having a first piece, a second piece, and a hub separating the first piece and second piece is provided. The first piece can have one or more engagement portions. The second piece can extend in both directions relative to the hub and is spaced from the first piece a selected amount allowing for box flaps to fit between the top piece and bottom piece. The second piece can have a blade to assist in positioning the closure device between the interior ends of two flaps. The second piece can also have a glide. In use, the user or a machine can engage the engagement portion(s) and twist the closure device so that the bottom piece is no longer aligned with a gap between the flaps thereby locking the flaps in a closed position. Lobes can be located on the ends of the second piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a box closure device, and in particular to a box closure device that can be twisted to lock box flaps in a closed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several methods of closing or sealing a box exist.
In one method, the corners of successive flaps are tucked under one another. While this may be a simple solution, it does not offer an effective seal and is subject to the limits of the box flap stiffness and integrity which can degrade over time and in particular when a corner is bent.
In another method, tape is used to seal the box. While this can be an effective sealing method, the tape is only a single-use product and its removal can lead to damage to the box.
In a further method, a device can be used to fasten or close the box. Several such devices exist.
None of the known devices have the unique advantages of the present invention. Thus, there exists a need for a box closure device with improved characteristics that solves these and other problems.


A radio frequency system has a first and a second antenna terminal, a radio frequency transceiver coupled to the antenna terminals, a rectifier connected to the antenna terminals at its input side and a voltage limiter. The voltage limiter comprises a first and a second input terminal connected to the antenna terminals, and a first and a second diode element connected between the first respectively the second input terminal and a bias terminal. A regulation transistor is connected between the bias terminal and the reference potential terminal. A voltage controller has a reference input for receiving a reference signal, a feedback input connected to the bias terminal and a control output for providing a control potential to a control terminal of the regulation transistor on the basis of the reference signal and a signal at the bias terminal.

In many radio frequency applications, a voltage at antenna terminals of a radio frequency system is used and processed. For example, in RFID systems, in particular RFID transponders, the voltage at the antenna terminals is generated by inductive coupling of an RFID reader. However, to process the voltage at the antenna terminals, usually some limits regarding voltage, in particular overvoltage, have to be obeyed in order to avoid damage of connected circuits. To this end, such systems usually comprise an overvoltage limiter that shorts the antenna terminals if a predetermined voltage limit is exceeded.
However, shorting of the antenna terminals can lead to negative influence on the signal form of the signal present at the antenna terminals, which may also comprise information to be received or transmitted.

Radio frequency system and method for limiting a voltage


A low profile weight sensor for a weight sensing system for monitoring article input and removal from article storage apparatus comprises a plate or I-shaped bar support member having first and second sections, an integrally formed linkage system for connecting the first and second sections such that the sections are substantially coplanar in an unloaded state, and are relatively displaceable with respect to each other in response to a weight load applied to one of the sections; and a magnetic transducer mounted on surfaces extending in the thickness direction of the plate/bar member for producing an electrical output signal responsive to relative displacement of the first and second sections. In a multiple weight sensor embodiment, a planar support member has a plurality of such weight sensing portions, and each weight sensing portion is isolated by a continuous slot such that all of the second sections of the weight sensing portions are connected together to a common framework by a single, relatively narrow, tongue section associated with each weight sensing portion. Mounting of the magnetic transducer is facilitated by the use of an adhesive which is relatively viscous during a setting time; and by a pair of bracket mounting guide members configured to prevent tilting of a magnetic field sensor mounted thereon, while permitting longitudinal displacement thereof; and to permit transverse displacement of magnetic field generating elements mounted thereon in the thickness direction of the support member.

A fundamental requirement of product displays used in a retail environment is that they present the product in an aesthetically pleasing and readily accessible manner in order to promote product sales. However, in order to minimize loss of revenue due to shoplifting, product displays should also provide some means of indicating when products have been removed from the display for the purpose of theft rather than for purchase.
Approaches to the problem of shoplifting from product displays include placing the product behind transparent barriers with apertures that are large enough for the human hand but too small to remove a product displayed in the rack. When a consumer chooses a product, he or she is required to request the aid of a salesperson to unlock the transparent barrier and allow removal of the product. The barrier may present an unacceptable aesthetic impression of the product which will result in lost sales. Also, requiring a customer to request assistance in choosing a product will also result in lost sales.
Often, transparent barriers are provided on product displays which allow stacked products to be removed one at a time from the bottom of the stack. The products are removable only through a slot or the like in the transparent barrier aligned with the bottom of the stack of products. Requiring products to be removed only one at a time clearly discourages multiple product purchases.
Other approaches display products on a rack with the products being captured by a slidable retainer or the like. If the slidable retainer is moved without proper authorization, an electrical circuit is interrupted and an alarm is sounded. Once again, this type of display requires intervention of a salesperson in order to deactivate the alarm system for legitimate product removal.
The improved product display rack which is the subject of the aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 07/245,947 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,015) avoids the above-described problems. The product rack invention of the '947 application is particularly adapted for implementation in large-size product racks which contain large numbers of the same product, such as, for example free-standing cigarette carton display racks. However, a need remains for an anti-theft system suitable for smallscale product racks such as counter-top product displays and the like. It is especially important, for example, that such an anti-theft system have a minimal height profile, and be otherwise physically configured so as not to detract from the attractiveness and utility of the product display. Other types of smallscale article storage systems, such as, for example, cash register cash drawers, have severe restrictions on the space that can be occupied by a system for monitoring input and removal of articles from the storage system.
It is also common for counter-top product displays, as well as other small-scale article storage systems, such as cash register cash drawers and the like, to hold a number of different products of varying sizes and weights. It is thus necessary for an anti-theft system, or an article input and removal monitoring system for such a product rack or article storage system to be able to detect input/removal of a variety of products with different characteristics.
In addition, small-scale product racks and other article storage systems come in a wide variety of sizes, configurations and capacities, and the same rack/storage system can be used for a wide range of products in many diverse environments. It is thus important that the anti-theft/monitoring system be compatible with, and readily adapted to many different applications, and that the system be readily calibrated by the product rack/storage system user for the user's specific use.
Further, anti-theft/monitoring systems for small-scale product displays and other article storage systems should be inexpensive while still providing high resolution with short term repeatability. Such systems should also be modular in construction to permit economical fabrication in various sizes and shapes. Such systems should also be durable and protected against damage due to physical overloading.


A detection scheme for time-of-flight mass spectrometers is described that extends the dynamic range of spectrometers that use counting techniques while avoiding the problems of crosstalk. It is well known that a multiple anode detector capable of detecting different fractions of the incoming particles may be used to increase the dynamic range of a TOFMS system. However, crosstalk between the anodes limits the amount by which the dynamic range may be increased. The present invention overcomes limitations imposed by crosstalk by using either a secondary amplification stage or by using different primary amplification stages.

The present invention is directed toward particle recording in multiple anode time-of-flight mass spectrometers using a counting acquisition technique.
Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (xe2x80x9cTOFMSxe2x80x9d) is a commonly performed technique for qualitative and quantitative chemical and biological analysis. Time-of-flight mass spectrometers permit the acquisition of wide-range mass spectra at high speeds because all masses are recorded simultaneously. As shown in FIG. 1, most time-of-flight mass spectrometers operate in a cyclic extraction mode and include primary beam optics 7 and time-of-flight section 3. In each cycle, ion source 1 produces a stream of ions 4, and a certain number of particles 5 (up to several thousand in each extraction cycle) travel through extraction entrance slit 26 and are extracted in extraction chamber 20 using pulse generator 61 and high voltage pulser 62. The particles then traverse flight section 33 (containing ion accelerator 32 and ion reflector 34) towards a detector, which in FIG. 1 consists of micro-channel plate (xe2x80x9cMCPxe2x80x9d) 41, anode 44, preamplifier 58, constant fraction discriminator (xe2x80x9cCFDxe2x80x9d) 59, time-to-digital converter (xe2x80x9cTDCxe2x80x9d) 60, and computer (xe2x80x9cPCxe2x80x9d) 70. Each particle""s time-of-flight is recorded so that information about its mass may be obtained. Thus, in each extraction cycle a complete time spectrum is recorded and added to a historam. The repetition rate of this extraction cycle is commonly in the range of 10 Hz to 100 kHz.
If several particles of one species are extracted in one cycle, then these particles will arrive at the detector within a very short time period (possibly as short as 1 nanosecond). When using an analog detection scheme (such as a transient recorder in which the flux of charge generated by the incoming ions is recorded as a function of time), this near simultaneous arrival of particles does not cause a problem because analog schemes create a signal that is, on average, proportional to the number of particles arriving within a certain sampling interval. However, when a counting detection scheme is used (such as a time-to-digital converter in which individual particles are detected and their arrival times are recorded), the electronics may not be able to distinguish particles of the same species when those particles arrive too closely grouped in time. (A single signal is produced when a particle impinges upon the counting electronics. The signal produced by the detector is a superposition of the single signals that occur within a sampling interval.) Further, most time-to-digital converters have dead times (typically 20 nanoseconds) that effectively prevent the detection of more than one particle per species during one extraction cycle.
For example, when analyzing an air sample with twelve particles per cycle, there will be approximately ten nitrogen molecules (80% N2 in air with mass of 28 amu) per cycle. In a time-of-flight mass spectrometer having good resolving power, these ten N2 particles will hit the detector within two nanoseconds. Even a fast TDC with a half nanosecond bin width will not be able to detect all of these particles. Thus, the detection system will become saturated at this intense peak. FIG. 2 shows these ten particles 6 impinging upon a detector consisting of electron multiplier 41 (with MCP upper bias voltage (75) and MCP lower bias voltage (76) as indicated), single anode 44, preamplifier 58, CFD 59, TDC 60, and PC 70. (MCP 41 in FIG. 2 consists of two chevron mounted multichannel plates. As would be apparent to one of skill in the art, circuitry would also be included to complete the electrical connection between the upper and lower plates. This additional circuitry is not shown in the figures.) TDC 60 will register only the first of these ten particles. The remaining nine particles will not be registered. Because only the first particle is registered, peaks for the abundant species (N2 and O2) will be artificially small and will be recorded too early, resulting in an artificially sharpened peak whose centroid is shifted to an earlier and incorrect time of flight. These two undesirable effectsxe2x80x94incorrect intensity and artificially shortened time of flightxe2x80x94are referred to as anode/TDC saturation effects. These anode/TDC saturation effects are therefore different from the electron multiplier gain reduction (sometimes called multiplier saturation) that occurs when too many ions impinge the electron multiplier so that the electron multiplier is no longer able to generate an electron flux that is proportional to the flux of the incoming ions.
In an attempt to overcome anode/TDC saturation effects, some detectors use multiple anodes, each of which is recorded by an individual TDC channel. (An anode is the part of a particle detector that receives the electrons from the electron multiplier.) FIG. 3 shows such a detector with a single electron multiplier 41 and four anodes 45 of equal size. Each of the four anodes is connected to a separate preamplifier 58 and CFD 59. Each of the four CFDs is connected to TDC 60 and PC 70. This configuration permits the identification of intensities that are four times larger than those obtainable with a single anode detector. However, even with four anodes, the detection of the ten N2 particles 6 leads to saturation since on average there will still be more than one particle arrival per anode. In principle, anode/TDC saturation could be avoided entirely by adding even more anodes. However, this solution is complex and expensive since each additional anode requires its own TDC channel.
Instead of using multiple anodes that each receive the same fraction of the incoming ions, one may use multiple anodes in which each anode receives a different fraction of the incoming ions. (The anode fraction is the fraction of the total number of ions that is detected by a specific anode.) By appropriately reducing this fraction, anode/TDC saturation effects can be reduced. See, for example, PCT Application WO 99/67801A2, which is incorporated herein by reference. One way to provide anodes that receive different fractions of the incoming ions is to provide electron multiplier 41 followed by anodes of different physical sizes as shown in FIG. 4, in which large anode 46 is located adjacent to small anode 47. As before, each anode is connected to a separate preamplifier 58 and CFD 59, and the CFDs are connected to TDC 60 and PC 70. In the example of FIG. 4, two unequal sized anodes are provided having a size ratio of approximately 1:9. As a result, the small anode detects only one N2 particle per cycle, which is just on the edge of saturation. Less abundant particles such as Ar (1% abundance in air and thus 0.12 particles per cycle) are detected with-out saturation on the large anode. Thus, with two anodes of unequal size it is possible to increase the dynamic range by a factor of approximately ten or more. A multi-anode detector with equal sized anodes would require ten anodes to obtain the same improvement.
In theory, the dynamic range of the unequal anode detector can be further reduced by further decreasing the size of the small anode fraction or by including additional anodes with even lower fractions. However, this theoretical increase in dynamic range is prevented by the presence of crosstalk from the larger anodes to the smaller anodes. In typical multi-anode detectors, the crosstalk from one anode to an adjacent anode ranges approximately from 1% to 10% when a single ion hits the detector. Thus, if 10 particles are detected simultaneously on a large fraction anode, the crosstalk to an adjacent small fraction anode may range from 10% to 100%. In such cases the small anode would almost always falsely indicate a single particle signal.
Bateman et al. (PCT Application WO 99/38190) disclose the dual stage detector shown in FIG. 5 where anode 47, in the form of a grid or a wire, is placed between MCP electron multipliers 41 and 50. However, instead of distributing different fractions of the incoming ion events (i.e., incoming particles 6) among different anodes, the detector of FIG. 5 distributes the secondary electrons of each ion event. They consider anode 47 to be the anode on which saturation effects are impeded. If anode 47 is a 10% grid, then anodes 47 and 46 each receive the same number of ion signals. The ion signals on anode 46, however, are larger (on average) because of the additional amplification provided by MCP 50. This type of additional amplification is useful in an analog acquisition scheme or in a combined analog/TDC acquisition system, in which the same principle has been used with dynode multipliers. However, in a pure TDC (or counting) acquisition system, increasing the dynamic range with two anodes of equal signal rates, but unequal signal sizes, is quite difficult.
Bateman et al. also suggest using different threshold levels on discriminators 59 to achieve different count rates on the two anodes. This suggestion, however, makes the detection characteristics largely dependent on the pulse height distribution of the MCPs. Also, the same technique could be applied with a single gain detector. Further, placing the small anode between the MCP and the large anode results in extensive crosstalk from the large anode to the small anode.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk and increasing dynamic range in multiple anode detectors. That is, an object of the present invention is to reduce crosstalk from anodes receiving a larger fraction of the incoming ions to those anodes that receive a smaller fraction of the incoming ions, thereby reducing the occurrence of false signals on the small fraction anode. A further object of the present invention is to provide a minimum variance procedure for combiningxe2x80x94either in real time or off linexe2x80x94the counts from the separate anodes. A further object of the present invention is to provide a detector and associated electronics that will combine the signals from any mixture of small and large anodes to achieve a real time correction of ion peak intensity and centroid shift. A further objective of the present invention is to extend the dynamic range of a multi-anode detector by providing multiple electron multiplier stages where the electron multiplier gain reduction that occurs after the first stage is minimized in subsequent stages.
An ion detector in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer for detecting a first ion arrival signal and a second ion arrival signal is disclosed comprising a first electron multiplier with a first gain for producing a first group of electrons in response to the first ion arrival signal and for producing a second group of electrons in response to the second ion arrival signal. (Note that xe2x80x9cfirstxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9csecondxe2x80x9d are not temporal designations. In particular, the first ion arrival signal and the second ion arrival signal may occur simultaneously or in any temporal order.) Also disclosed is a first anode for receiving the first group of electrons but for not receiving the second group of electrons, thereby producing a first output signal in response to the first ion arrival signal. In addition, a second electron multiplier with a second gain greater than the first gain is disclosed for producing a third group of electrons in response to the second group of electrons but not in response to the first group of electrons. In addition, a second anode is disclosed for receiving the third group of electrons, thereby producing a second output signal in response to the second ion arrival signal. Finally, detection circuitry is disclosed that is connected to the first anode and the second anode for providing time-of-arrival information for the first ion arrival signal and the second ion arrival signal based on the first output signal and the second output signal.
An additional embodiment is disclosed in which the second electron multiplier is a micro-channel plate. In a further embodiment, the second electron multiplier is a channel electron multiplier. In yet another embodiment, the second electron multiplier is a photo multiplier. In an additional embodiment, the first electron multiplier comprises a micro-channel plate and an amplifier. In a further embodiment, a scintillator is positioned between the micro-channel plate and the amplifier.
In another embodiment, the detection circuitry comprises a first preamplifier receiving the first output signal from the first anode to produce a first amplified output signal, a second preamplifier receiving the second output signal from the second anode to produce a second amplified output signal, a first discriminator receiving the first amplified output signal to produce a first time-of-arrival signal, a second discriminator receiving the second amplified output signal to produce a second time-of-arrival signal, and a time to digital converter receiving the first time-of-arrival signal and the second time-of-arrival signal. In one embodiment, the first and second discriminators are constant fraction discriminators. In another embodiment, the first and second discriminators are level crossing discriminators.
In one embodiment a crosstalk shield is positioned between the first anode and the second anode. In another embodiment, an electrode is positioned to attenuate the ion arrival signals received by the second anode. In a further embodiment, detection circuitry is connected to the electrode for providing time-of-arrival information based on the ion arrival signals received by the electrode.
Also disclosed is a method for determining the times of arrival of a first ion arrival signal and a second ion arrival signal in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, comprising the steps of providing a first electron multiplier with a first gain, producing from the first electron multiplier a first group of electrons in response to the first ion arrival signal, producing from the first electron multiplier a second group of electrons in response to the second ion arrival signal, providing a first anode, directing the first group of electrons so that the first group is received by the first anode, thereby producing a first output signal in response to the first ion arrival signal, directing the second group of electrons so that the second group is not received by the first anode, providing a second electron multiplier with a second gain greater than the first gain, producing from the second electron multiplier a third group of electrons in response to the second group of electrons but not in response to the first group of electrons, providing a second anode, directing the third group of electrons so that the third group is received by the second anode, thereby producing a second output signal in response to the second ion arrival signal, and calculating the times of arrival of the first ion arrival signal and the second ion arrival signal based on the first output signal and the second output signal.
Also disclosed is a method for combining TDC data collected from a plurality of anodes in an unequal anode detector comprising the steps of recording a histogram for each anode from the plurality of anodes, determining the effective number of TOF extractions seen by each anode from the plurality of anodes, determining the recorded number of counts on each anode from the plurality of anodes, estimating the number of impinging ions detected by each anode from the plurality of anodes, and correcting the recorded histogram for each anode from the plurality of anodes by substituting the estimate, and combining the corrected histograms into a weighted linear combination of minimal total variance. In an additional embodiment, the combining step comprises determining the fraction of incoming ions received by each anode from the plurality of anodes, and determining weights so that the weights sum to unity and so that the weighted combination has minimum variance.
Also disclosed is a method for estimating a global statistic by combining local statistics based on TDC data collected from a plurality of anodes in an unequal anode detector, comprising the steps of recording a histogram for each anode of the plurality of anodes, correcting each histogram for dead time effects by estimating the total number of particles impinging upon each anode of the plurality of anodes, thereby producing a plurality of corrected histograms, evaluating a local statistic for each corrected histogram, and combining the local statistics into a weighted linear combination to produce a global statistic with minimum total variance. In one embodiment, the local statistics are peak areas. In another embodiment, the local statistics are centroid positions. In a further embodiment, the local statistics are positions of peak maxima.
Also disclosed is a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, comprising an ion source producing a stream of ions, an extraction chamber receiving a portion of the stream of ions from the ion source, a flight section receiving the portion of ions from the extraction chamber and accelerating the portion of ions to produce a first accelerated stream of ions and a second accelerated stream of ions spatially separated from the first accelerated stream of ions, a detector receiving the first accelerated stream of ions and the second accelerated stream of ions from the flight section. The detector comprises a first electron multiplier with a first gain for producing a first group of electrons in response to the first accelerated stream of ions and for producing a second group of electrons in response to the second accelerated stream of ions, a first anode for receiving the first group of electrons and for not receiving the second group of electrons, thereby producing a first output signal in response to the first accelerated stream of ions, a second electron multiplier with a second gain greater than the first gain for producing a third group of electrons in response to the second group of electrons but not in response to the first group of electrons, a second anode for receiving the third group of electrons, thereby producing a second output signal in response to the second accelerated stream of ions, and detection circuitry connected to the first anode and the second anode for providing time-of-arrival information for the first accelerated stream of ions and the second accelerated stream of ions based on the first output signal and the second output signal. Also included is a data acquisition system for receiving the time-of-arrival information for the first accelerated stream of ions and the second accelerated stream of ions and for combining the time-of-arrival information into a weighted linear combination of minimum total variance.

Multi-anode detector with increased dynamic range for time-of-flight mass spectrometers with counting data acquisition


An optical system of a microlithographic exposure apparatus comprises at least one optical element (L1 to L16, 15, 16, 24) having a locally varying birefringence direction distribution that is caused by stress-induced birefringence and is at least substantially rotationally symmetrical. At least one birefringent correcting element (K1, K2; K′) is made of a crystal having a location independent birefringence direction distribution that is at least substantially rotationally symmetrical. The crystal has a crystal lattice orientation that is oriented such that its birefringence direction distribution is at least substantially perpendicular to the locally varying birefringence direction distribution of the at least one optical element (L1 to L16, 15, 16, 24).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure system having at least one refractive optical element having stress-induced birefringence.
2. Description of Related Art
Birefringent optical materials have the property that the refractive index is anisotropic. As a result, the refractive index is dependent on the polarization of a transiting light beam and its orientation relative to the material. Because of this, a birefringent material usually splits a beam of unpolarized light into two beams having orthogonal linear polarization directions.
There may be different causes for birefringence in optical materials. Crystals belonging to the hexagonal, tetragonal or trigonal crystal systems have their atoms arranged so that light propagating in some general direction will encounter an asymmetric structure. A direction about which the atoms are arranged symmetrically is usually referred to as optic axis or as birefringence axis. In order to avoid any confusion with the optical axis denoting an axis of symmetry of a lens system, the term birefringence axis will be used hereinafter. Uniaxial crystals such as MgF2 or crystalline SiO2 have only one birefringence axis. However, also cubic crystals such as CaF2 may be birefringent, at least for a certain wavelength range. In this case the birefringence is usually referred to as intrinsic.
Apart from that, there are also non-crystalline materials which may be optically birefringent. In these cases the birefringence is caused by disturbances of the molecular order in the short-range. Such disturbances may be a result of external mechanical forces, of electrical fields or of magnetic fields. The material often loses its birefringent property when the causes of these disturbances are no longer present. If, for example, a lens mount exerts mechanical forces on a lens which produce stress-induced birefringence, this birefringence will disappear as soon as the lens mount is removed.
In the case of permanent stresses, irreversible stress-induced birefringence may be observed. This situation often occurs in blanks of quartz glass that are used for the manufacture of lenses and other refractive optical elements. The irreversible stress-induced birefringence in these blanks is usually a result of the manufacturing process. The magnitude and orientation of the birefringence then often is at least approximately rotationally symmetrical with respect to an axis of symmetry of the blank. The magnitude of the birefringence generally increases with growing distance from this axis.
In many optical systems, the stress-induced birefringence in the refractive optical elements may, although being significant, be neglected. However, if very severe demands are posed on the imaging properties of the optical system, the effects of stress-induced birefringence cannot be ignored. Examples of such optical systems are the subsystems of microlithographic projection exposure apparatuses, namely the illumination system and the projection lens. Such apparatuses are used to lithographically define the structures of highly integrated electrical circuits and other microstructured components. For this purpose, a reticle is provided containing minute structures to be imaged. These structures are illuminated by the illumination system and imaged—generally to a reduced size—by means of the projection lens on a light-sensitive layer which is deposited to a substrate, e.g. a silicon wafer. If significant birefringence occurs in the projection lens, this leads to an intolerable decrease of the contrast in the image plane of the projection lens unless suitable countermeasures are taken.
By contrast, significant birefringence in the illumination systems makes it difficult to illuminate the reticle with projection light having a defined state of polarization.
The only countermeasure against irreversible stress-induced birefringence known to date is to use blanks whose irreversible stress-induced birefringence is as small as possible. However, such blanks are expensive and often not easily available.
The problem of birefringence has also acquired a particular significance in the case of projection lenses which are designed for shorter wavelengths, e.g. 157 nm. Because of the low transparency of conventional lens materials to deep UV light, calcium fluoride (CaF2) is envisaged as a material because this crystal is still transparent even at very short UV wavelengths. However, as has now been discovered, this material is intrinsically birefringent at such short wavelengths.
In order to reduce the adverse effects of intrinsic birefringence, it has been proposed to select the crystal orientations of a plurality of optical elements made from calcium fluoride in such a way that birefringence direction distributions are obtained that are at least approximately rotationally symmetrical. In certain cases it is even possible to obtain at least a partial mutual compensation of the birefringence (or, to be more precise, of the retardances caused by the intrinsic birefringence) inherent to the individual optical elements. Arrangements of this kind are described in, for example, document WO 02/093209 A2.
However, in the general case it is not possible to achieve a complete compensation of intrinsic birefringence even if the crystal orientations are optimally selected. This is due to the fact that a complete compensation of retardances caused by intrinsic birefringence requires not only a suitable combination of the birefringence distributions, but also matching geometrical path lengths and angles of incidence of the light propagating through the crystals. To avoid any undesired residual retardances, WO 02/099500 A2 proposes an additional correcting element having a defined and carefully determined stress-induced birefringence. This stress-induced birefringence is determined such that retardances caused by intrinsic birefringence in the rest of the system are at least partially compensated for.
WO 03/046634 A1 discloses a method for compensating the birefringence caused by intrinsically birefringent crystals. One of the measures described therein is to cause a stress-induced and rotationally symmetrical birefringence in a non-crystalline material by carefully controlling the temperature during the manufacturing process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The recording medium of this invention is recorded with a plurality of digital data and a plurality of reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of the plurality of digital data, wherein the plurality of reproduction path information includes first reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of all of the plurality of digital data recorded on the recording medium and second reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of at least one of the plurality of digital data recorded on the recording medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium on which digital data having audio information and video information is recorded in a rewritable state, and a recording apparatus and a reproduction apparatus for such a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As recording media on which digital data is recorded in a rewritable state, mini discs (MD) are conventionally known. An MD has a recording capacity of 140 MB. An MD carries digital audio data recorded in a compressed state, so that audio information lasting about 75 minutes can be recorded on the MD. Many of users who have bought a music CD wish to record music information consisting of ten or more pieces recorded on the CD on an MD. This style of listening to music information recorded on an MD has been widely spreading.
With the recent progress of the optical disc technology, a rewritable recording medium having a large capacity, such as a DVD-RAM (digital versatile disc random access memory), has been developed. A DVD-RAM has a recording capacity of 4.7 GB, which is 30 times or more as large as that of an MD. While an MD can only carry music information consisting of ten or so pieces, a DVD-RAM can carry music information consisting of a hundred or more pieces.
Due to recent wide-spread Internet technology, music distribution by so-called electronic commerce (EC) is gaining popularity, where users retrieve favorite music data from a home page by downloading via their personal computers and settle the account by a settling means such as a credit card. By combining such a music distribution via Internet (hereinafter, referred to as an electronic music distribution) with the DVD-RAM, an environment in which users can easily record a huge amount of music data on one recording medium has been gradually realized.
However, the conventional recording media have the following problems.
An MD has only one information unit which defines the reproduction order of music data recorded on the MD (i.e., a table of contents (TOC)). Such a TOC is used to define the reproduction order of all music data recorded on the MD. Therefore, it is not possible to define the reproduction order of only specific music data among all the music data recorded on the MD.
Some reproduction apparatuses used for reproducing information from an MD have a program reproduction function capable of reproducing only selected specific music data in a predetermined order. Such an order of music data programmed using the program reproduction function is held in the reproduction apparatus only temporarily, and is deleted when the disc is replaced with another one. Therefore, the user must program the reproduction order of music data and the like whenever the disc is reproduced.
Since a large number of music data are recorded on a large-capacity recording medium such as a DVD-RAM, the user finds difficulty in identifying the respective music data recorded on the recording medium. For example, it is considerably troublesome for the user to select a plurality of music data from a recording medium carrying a hundred or so music data and define the reproduction order of the selected plurality of music data.
The recording medium of this invention is recorded with a plurality of digital data and a plurality of reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of the plurality of digital data, wherein the plurality of reproduction path information includes first reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of all of the plurality of digital data recorded on the recording medium and second reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of at least one of the plurality of digital data recorded on the recording medium.
Alternatively, the recording medium of this invention is a recording medium for recording a plurality of digital data and reproduction path information defining a reproduction order of a plurality of digital data, wherein at least one of the plurality of digital data is digital data which has not been recorded on the recording medium, and the reproduction path information includes flag information indicating whether or not each of the plurality of digital data has been recorded on the recording medium.
In one embodiment of the invention, the reproduction path information includes address information indicating a location from where the digital data will be obtained.
According to another aspect of the invention, a recording apparatus for recording information on the recording medium according to the present invention is provided. The recording apparatus includes: a generator for generating the plurality of reproduction path information; a recorder for recording the plurality of digital data and the plurality of reproduction path information on the recording medium; and an editing section for editing at least the reproduction order defined by the second reproduction path information.
Alternatively, the recording apparatus of this invention for recording information on the recording medium according to the present invention includes: a controller for controlling obtaining the reproduction path information; and a recorder for recording the reproduction path information on the recording medium.
In one embodiment of the invention, when the flag information indicates that the digital data has not been recorded on the recording medium, the controller controls obtaining the digital data from outside the recording apparatus in accordance with the address information.
In another embodiment of the invention, the recording apparatus further includes an editing section for editing the reproduction path information.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a reproduction apparatus for reproducing information from the recording medium according to the present invention is provided. The reproduction apparatus includes: a retrieval section for retrieving selected reproduction path information among the plurality of reproduction path information recorded on the recording medium; and a reproduction section for reproducing at least one digital data of the plurality of digital data in accordance with the selected reproduction path information.
Alternatively, the reproduction apparatus of this invention for reproducing information from the recording medium according to the present invention includes: a retrieval section for retrieving the reproduction path information recorded on the recording medium; a controller for determining whether or not the digital data has been recorded on the recording medium based on the flag information in the reproduction path information; and a reproduction section for reproducing the digital data when the digital data has been recorded on the recording medium, or skipping reproduction of the digital data when the digital data has not been recorded on the recording medium.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a program storage medium for storing a program which makes a computer record information on the recording medium according to the present invention is provided. The program storage medium includes the steps of: generating the plurality of reproduction path information; recording the plurality of digital data and the plurality of reproduction path information on the recording medium; and editing at least the reproduction order defined by the second reproduction path information.
Alternatively, the program storage medium for storing a program which makes a computer record information on the recording medium according to the present invention includes the steps of: controlling obtaining the reproduction path information; recording the reproduction path information on the recording medium; and obtaining the digital data from outside the recording apparatus in accordance with the address information when the flag information indicates that the digital data has not been recorded on the recording medium.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of (1) providing a recording medium which allows the user to specify music data to be reproduced among a large number of music data recorded on the recording medium and to specify the reproduction order of the selected music data quite easily, and (2) providing a recording apparatus and a reproduction apparatus for such a recording medium.

Recording medium, recording apparatus and reproduction apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The wireless power receiver includes at least one wire of a sound-producing device. The at least one wire configured for both conveying sound signals or securing at least part of the sound-producing device to a user, and receiving power waves. The wireless power receiver also includes power harvesting circuitry coupled with the at least one wire and a power source of an electronic device, like a battery. The power harvesting circuitry is configured to isolate the received power waves from the conveyed sound signals, convert the received power waves to usable energy, and provide the usable energy to the power source of the electronic device.

Portable electronic devices, such as laptop computers, mobile phones, tablets, and other electronic devices, require frequent charging of a power-storing component (e.g., a battery) to operate. Many electronic devices require charging one or more times per day. Often, charging an electronic device requires manually connecting an electronic device to an outlet or other power source using a wired charging cable. In some cases, a power-storing component, e.g., a battery, is removed from an associated electronic device and inserted into charging equipment to charge. Such charging is inefficient because it often requires users to carry around multiple charging cables and/or other charging devices, and requires users to locate appropriate power sources, e.g., wall outlets, to charge their electronic devices. Additionally, conventional charging techniques potentially deprive a user of the ability to use the device while it is charging, and/or require the user to remain next to a wall outlet or other power source to which their electronic device or other charging equipment is connected.
Building a wireless charging system for consumer devices typically requires adding complicated, and often, expensive antenna components that receive wirelessly delivered power in the consumer devices. Many of these consumer devices are also small, compact, and/or do not contain enough space for added antenna components. As such, it would be desirable to provide a wireless charging system that addresses the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Systems, methods, and devices for utilizing a wire of a sound-producing device as an antenna for receipt of wirelessly delivered power


A method for grounding or electrically biasing an integrated circuit chip without using a conductive die attach material comprises affixing the chips to a substrate using a thermoplastic polyimide adhesive. A metallization layer electrically connects the sides of the chips, which act as grounding surfaces, to a biased or grounded conductive layer on the substrate. The top surfaces of the integrated circuit chips which include the interconnection pads are protected against undesired metallization by a removable protective layer while the metallization layer is applied. Metal electroplated on the metallization layer serves the functions of a heat sink for the chip and a ground plane between chips.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of grounding integrated circuit chips and, more particularly, to a method of using a nonconductive die attach material to affix integrated circuit chips to a substrate and using a conductive layer adhered to the die attach material and dice sides to ground the chips.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the results of using conventional isolation methods in fabricating complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices is creation of parasitic MOS and parasitic bipolar devices that can be rendered conductive, or turned on, by ionizing radiation. Compensation for such parasitic devices must thus be provided in order to avoid spurious operation and consequential circuit failure. Latch-up may occur in some devices as a result of a parasitic silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) being turned on by gamma radiation. Single event upset (SEU) is caused by ionization occurring along the path of a single energetic particle passing through an integrated circuit. If the energetic particle generates the critical charge within the critical volume of a digital device, then logic upset occurs. The critical charge is the minimum amount of charge necessary to change the state of a logic or memory cell. The critical charge can be deposited by direct ionization from cosmic rays, alpha particles or secondary particles from nuclear reactions. Using a conductive die attach material to affix the base of a die to a grounded or biased surface is an effective method of biasing the bulk silicon in CMOS and other latch-up susceptible devices which are used in high intensity radiation environments.
While conductive die attach materials such as solder preforms and silver-containing epoxy resins can be used with little trouble on some dice, very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI), and especially VLSI dice that are tolerant to radiation, i.e., radiation hardened, are so complex and densely integrated that use of a conductive die attach material may pose unacceptable risks. Erroneous placement of conductive material on a VLSI die surface is likely to result in destruction of the die. In single die packages, correct placement of conductive material is not difficult to achieve; however, in multiple die packages, such as high density interconnect (HDI) packages deposition of conductive material at incorrect locations on the VLSI die surfaces is much more likely. HDI packages typically comprise a plurality of dice on a substrate which are interconnected by a metal interconnect pattern positioned on a polymer overlay layer laminated over the tops of the dice. The metal interconnect pattern can be formed by adaptive laser lithography as described in the above-referenced co-pending application Ser. No. 947,461, allowing placement of integrated circuit chips (i.e., dice) closely adjacent one another.
Capillary action of the die attach material, while in its liquid state, tends to draw the chips together during the die attachment procedure and this tendency becomes more pronounced at elevated curing temperatures where viscosity of the die attach material is lower than at room temperatures As the chips thus approach each other, or "swim together", under this capillary action, the conductive die attach material flows up over the tops of the dice by capillary attraction, resulting in short circuits between the conductors present on the sides of most VLSI chips and the pads present on the top surfaces of the respective chips. The shorting results in chip failure and, in general, VLSI chips having this problem are unrepairable.
High atomic number materials such as silver or gold cannot easily be used in mixtures with thermoplastic materials for die attach because the silver or gold flakes mixed with the thermoplastic materials spall in high intensity ionizing radiation environments and cause detachment of the dice. In addition, large dice cannot be attached directly by soldering or brazing since the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between the solder or brazing alloy and both the silicon chip and the ceramic substrate introduces stresses that are so great that breakage may result. Yet silicon substrates are generally too fragile to carry large numbers of dice.

Die attachment method using nonconductive adhesive for use in high density interconnected assemblies


A crib convertible to a bed, the crib having a length greater than a width of the bed, is provided. The crib includes a crib mattress support board, two longitudinal and two transverse side panels removably attachable one to another in a crib configuration. Each of the crib mattress support board and longitudinal side panels includes a main member having a length less than the length of the crib and at least one extension member removable attached thereto. Upon detachment of the respective at least one extension therefrom, the main member of the crib mattress support board is convertible to a headboard of the bed, while the main member of each longitudinal side panel is convertible to bed mattress support of the bed. A kit for forming one of a crib and a bed, and a method of converting a crib to a bed are also provided.

Known in the art are cribs used as sleeping means for infants, generally from birth until an age of two to three years of age. Conventional cribs typically include a mattress support board adapted to receive and support the crib mattress, as well as a headboard, footboard, and longitudinal side panels forming a boundary enclosing the entire periphery of mattress support board for the purpose of protecting and preventing the infant from rolling off, climbing out or otherwise falling out of the crib into the floor. Moreover, cribs are commonly structured such that the mattress support board may be adjustable in height so as to allow the infant to be placed on the mattress or removed therefrom without undue effort by the parent or the person attending the infant, while ensuring that a sufficiently safe distance is maintained between the mattress and the top portion of the crib.
As an infant grows and matures on through his or her childhood, bedding requirements change, and the appropriate bedding furniture changes from a crib to a different and generally larger bed, such as a youth bed or a twin bed. Twin beds are suitable for persons ranging in size from young children to full-sized adults. In North America, crib mattresses typically are about 27 inches wide and about 52 inches long, while twin bed mattresses typically are about 39 inches wide and about 75 inches long. One drawback associated with the child growing is the cost, time, and effort associated with finding, purchasing, and installing the new bed and to remove, store or discard the crib. One method of addressing these issues consisting in providing and designing convertible bed furniture that may be configured to form either a crib or, as the child grows through childhood, a larger bed.
Numerous attempts have been proposed to provide infant's cribs which are convertible to one or more bed configurations including youth beds, twin beds, and full-sized beds. Examples of such convertible bed systems are disclosed in the following patents and patent applications:
 US 2005/002302 A1U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,631;GB 2,245,825 A;U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,551;U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,994;WO 2010/026665 A1;EP 0,356,277 A1;U.S. Pat. No. 7,712,162 B2.U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,993;JP 2102452;DE 198 48 250 A1;
Although existing convertible cribs may be suitable in some applications, there remain various disadvantages associated therewith. One drawback of many of such designs is that they provide convertible cribs that may convert to full-size or double beds, but not to twin beds. However, twin beds are generally more suitable for young children as they occupy less space in what is often a smaller sized bedroom and are more than sufficiently large for use by a child. For example, known in the art are North American standard cribs having an outside length of about 54 inches and an inside length of about 52 inches, which may be convertible into a double or full-sized bed having an outside width of about 54 inches. For such convertible cribs, the two longitudinal side panels, which extend along the lengthwise direction of the crib for connecting the headboard and footboard thereof, are converted into the headboard and footboard of the bed, respectively, the headboard and footboard of the bed each having a width corresponding to the length of the longitudinal side panel. However, child bedrooms are often too small to accommodate a full-sized bed having a 54-inch outside width.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a crib that can be easily and conveniently converted to a bed having a width that is less than a length of the crib, while also alleviating at least some of the drawbacks of the prior art.

Crib convertible to a bed, and kit and method for converting the same


Provided are an oxide semiconductor excellent in transparency, mobility, and weatherability, etc., and a semiconductor device having the oxide semiconductor, a p-type semiconductor being realizable in the oxide semiconductor. The oxide semiconductor consists of a composite oxide, which has a crystal structure including a pyrochlore structure, containing at least one or more kinds of elements selected from Nb and Ta, and containing Sn element, and its holes become charge carriers by the condition that Sn4+/(Sn2++Sn4+) which is a ratio of Sn4+ to a total amount of Sn in the composite oxide is 0.124≤Sn4+/(Sn2++Sn4+)≤0.148.

Conventionally, a transparent semiconductor material having high transparency in a visible light region and exhibiting high electrical conductivity is known as an oxide composite, and is widely used for a transparent electrode etc. For example, In2O3, ZnO, and SnO2, and Sn-added In2O3, Al-added ZnO, Ga-added ZnO, Sb-added SnO2, and F-added SnO2, etc. obtained by adding an impurity to these base materials are known as transparent semiconductors, but those are n-type semiconductors in which all electrons become charge carriers. Meanwhile, semiconductors include p-type semiconductors in which holes are used as charge carriers. If the n-type and p-type semiconductors that are transparent in the visible light region are arranged in numbers etc., formation of a pn junction due to them makes it possible to produce diodes, transistors, and solar cells, etc. that are transparent in the visible light region.
Cu2O and NiO, etc. have been already known as p-type semiconductors, but are not transparent because they have light absorption in the visible light region and strong coloring. Since 1990, research and development of transparent p-type semiconductors have been promoted, and some new transparent p-type semiconductors have been reported. For example, reported have been: an oxide composite represented by a chemical formula of ABO2 having a delafossite structure (A=at least one kind of Cu or Ag, B=at least one kind of Al, Ga, In, Sc, Y, Cr, Rh or La); an oxychalcogenide compound represented by a chemical formula of LnCuOCh (Ln=at least one kind of lanthanoid element or Y, Ch=at least one kind of S, Se, or Te); zinc oxide represented by a chemical formula of ZnO; and the like. However, a compound having the delafossite structure has low mobility of holes. Additionally, the oxychalcogenide compound has considerably high mobility and concentration of holes, but it is oxidized in an air atmosphere and deterioration in its characteristics is remarkable. Further, zinc oxide is originally an n-type semiconductor having electrons as charge carriers, thus needing to reduce, to the limit, concentration of structural defects for generating electrons and introduce structural defects that lead to expression of p-type semiconductor characteristics such as nitrogen. Such necessity makes it difficult to generate the n-type structural defects and/or reduce the concentration of the n-type structural defects due to the introduction of the p-type structural defects, which makes it further difficult to produce zinc oxide having the p-type semiconductor characteristics and leads to deterioration in reproducibility. Therefore, it is difficult to realize a transparent p-type semiconductor suitable for electronic devices.
Oxide semiconductors are expected as semiconductor materials resistant to oxidation reactions in the atmosphere containing oxygen. However, it is difficult to realize p-type conductivity with oxides. This is because the oxide has a structure in which electrons at a top of its valence band are localized on oxygen ions. A delafossite compound introduces d-orbital components of metal into a top of its valence band, and an oxychalcogenide compound introduces p-orbital components of a chalcogen element into a top of its valence band, thereby reducing the localization of electrons at each top of the valence bands. Then, if an s-orbit of a metal element having an electron's orbital radius larger than d-orbital and p-orbital radii is introduced into a top of its valence band, the introduction brings expectation of: reduction in the electron's localization at the top of the valence band; and achievement of having high mobility. Additionally, what is expected by an isotropic spherical structure of an s-orbit is to suppress deterioration in mobility with respect to disturbance in crystal structure, the disturbance causing variations in bonding angles or/and bonding distances. Based on such viewpoints, the followings have been reported: p-channel transistors are produced by using tin oxide (SnO) in which s-orbital components of tin are introduced into a top of its valence band (see, for example, International Publication No. WO 2010/010802). Further, a band gap of SnO is 0.7 eV that is smaller energy than that in a visible light region, and so is strongly colored in the visible light region. Consequently, known is that transparency in the visible light region cannot be ensured.
There are the following known documents related to an oxide having a pyrochlore structure.
Reported is that a metallic oxide, which has a pyrochlore structure represented by a composition formula A2B2O7 (A=Sn, B=Nb, Ta), has a structure in which a top of its valence band is composed of 5s components of Sn (see Y. Hosogi, Y. Shimodaira, H. Kato, H. Kobayashi, A. Kudo, Chemistry of Materials 20, 1299 (2008)).
By a study on a structure of a compound described as A2B2O7 (A=Sn, B=Nb, Ta) in a general chemical formula, known has been that: (1) a part of a divalent A site is deficient; and (2) a part of Sn, which is oxidized by a part of a pentavalent B side and becomes tetravalent, is substituted. These two structural defects become Sn2-p (B2-qSnq)O7-p-0.5q if represented. Further, disclosed is that the pyrochlore structure is maintained in a range of p, q=0.1 to 0.48 (see M. A. Subramanian, G. Aravamudan, G. V. Subba Rao, Progress in Solid State Chemistry 15, 55 (1983)).
Sn4+/(Sn2++Sn4+) reported by Mossbauer spectroscopy is 0.116 for Sn2Nb2O7 and 0.120 for Sn2Ta2O7 (see D. J. Stewart, 0. Knop, R. E. Meads and W. G. Parker, Canadian J. Chemistry 51, 1041-1049 (1973)). However, those numerical values correspond to a case of A/B=1 in a stoichiometric composition, that is, A2B2O7 (A=Sn, B=Nb, Ta). Meanwhile, since Sn2+1.52Nb5+1.59Sn4+0.41O6.32 (Sn/Nb=1.21) and Sn2+1.76Ta5+1.56Sn4+0.44O6.54(Sn/Ta=1.41), which deviate from the stoichiometric composition, are respectively Sn4+/(Sn2++Sn4+)=0.212 and Sn4+/(Sn2++Sn4+)=0.20, it is reported that those values are higher than that of Sn4+/(Sn2++Sn4+) obtained at the case of the stoichiometric composition (see T. Birchall, A. W. Sleight, J. Solid State Chemistry 13, 118-130 (1975)). Incidentally, any of the reports about the stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric compositions do not mention that the above values show the p-type conduction.
Further, an oxide of a pyrochlore structure is reported that it has acted as a photocatalyst since an organic substance is decomposed by light irradiation (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-117407 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-344733 and Y. Hosogi, K. Tanabe, H. Kato, H. Kobayashi, A. Kudo, Chemistry Letters 33, 28 (2004)). Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-117407 reports a photocatalyst of an oxide composition composed of Sn2Nb2O7 (oxide semiconductor) and titanium oxide. The photocatalyst in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-117407 is formed of an oxide composition having a junction portion, the junction portion being made by heterogeneous oxide semiconductors in which electrons at a bottom of a conduction band and electrons at a top of a valence band are different in energy level. Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-117407 discloses Ta as an option similarly to Nb. Reported by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-344733 is a photocatalyst having any of a pyrochlore related structure, α-PbO2 related structure, or a rutile related structure, the pyrochlore related structure being represented by ABO4+a (−0.25≤a≤0.5, A ion is Sn element, B ion is one or more kinds of elements selected from Nb and Ta) and having a structure in which an oxygen deficiency position in a pyrochlore type structure is filled with oxygen, the pyrochlore type structure having a structure in which oxygen ion deficiencies exist regularly when viewed from a fluorite structure and cations are regularly arranged. Y. Hosogi, K. Tanabe, H. Kato, H. Kobayashi, A. Kudo, Chemistry Letters 33, 28 (2004) is reported that Sn2Nb2O7 having a pyrochlore structure does not express a photocatalyst while Sn2Ta2O7 having the same pyrochlore structure has weak photocatalytic activity.

P-type oxide semiconductor and semiconductor device having pyrochlore structure

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A support for receiving and supporting stacked tiers of cylindrical roll stock is provided. The support can be either located on the base tier of the rolls, folded between tiers, or placed on the top tier, all to provide a rectangular stacked arrangement of the roll stock that is especially suited for storage or transport. The roll support includes a support body that is preferably formed from a resinous plastic, polymeric material, such as PET that includes a plurality of curved cradles and each curved cradle is sized for receiving a roll of cylindrical stock. A multiple of the support bodies combine to support a multiple of the rolls of cylindrical stock in a tiered array. Each support body can substantially support the weight of each roll of cylindrical stock received within its curved cradles. The weight of the support body is less than the supported weight of the roll of cylindrical stock. Additionally, the support can nest together in storage, with a minimum of increase in the nested stack height, when roll supports are added to the stack.

"Roll stock" is a common term used to describe cylindrical rolls of thin materials, such as plastic films, roofing sheets, light gauge metal, and paper products. These cylindrical rolls are typically shipped and stored on pallets in tiers of the rolls, all horizontally oriented. To stabilize and support these rolls in their tiers, stacking supports are typically employed. Several U.S. patents show stacking supports for receiving stacked rolls of materials.
One such disclosure is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,732 to Bell, which teaches a support and spacing member for roll stock formed from expanded polystyrene foam. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,196 to Butler shows a roll support member that like Bell '732 is formed of expanded polystyrene foam. However, there are problems associated with polystyrene foam when it is used for roll stock supports. Expanded polystyrene is brittle and has a minimum of structural flexibility. Additionally, polystyrene foam cannot nest together for the compact storage of unused supports.
In an apparent attempt to improve upon the inadequacies of polystyrene foam, U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,314 to Moyer teaches a roll support formed of recyclable papier-mache. In many circumstances, papier-mache is inadequate for roll stock supports. Papier-mache disintegrates when it is moist. Therefore, papier-mache cannot be used in humid environments and always must be protected from weather. This protection is especially difficult during transport unless the roll stock with its papier-mache supports are shipped within a container or trailer. A stronger, yet still recyclable material is needed that can form roll supports.
Granted, the Moyer '314 papier-mache roll support has better nesting capabilities than the polystyrene foam roll supports. However, Moyer '314 still fails to adequately nest together for saving space when stacking the supports in storage. Importantly, papier-mache must be fabricated with substantial thickness to support heavy roll stock. Therefore, papier-mache supports cannot stackably nest for compact storage of the unused roll supports. A roll support is needed for heavy roll stock that can nest together in storage, with a minimum increase in the nested stack height when roll supports are added to the stack.