A system and method (a “utility”) is provided for improving the accuracy of a content matching analysis that identifies a composition of an item of protectable content of a user. The item of protectable content may include a portion of source code or object code, individual or bundled source code or object code files, binary code files, directory structures and/or trees, open source software projects or packages, and/or proprietary software applications or packages. The utility involves storing a number of items of comparison content on a storage structure, receiving an item of user content at a computer-based content exchange, and comparing the item of user content to the items of comparison content to determine, from among the items of comparison content, one or more potential matches that each include a matched portion that is similar to a portion of the item of user content. The utility further includes selecting a noise reduction technique from a number of noise reduction techniques available to the content exchange and applying the noise reduction technique to eliminate noise and/or false positives (e.g., one or more redundant matches and/or erroneously identified matches) from the potential matches.

Many organizational users of protectable content (e.g., open source software code, proprietary software code, freeware) are concerned with identifying the composition of the protectable content included in their code libraries as well as the license provisions associated with that protectable content. Understanding the components of a user's protectable content helps the user determine whether the user's protectable content and/or particular usages of that protectable content are in compliance with all applicable software license provisions and/or the user's associated use policies. For example, a user may seek to identify whether a snippet or portion of open source code has inadvertently or intentionally been introduced into an item of protectable content within the user's code library and whether the introduced code renders the user's protectable content noncompliant with applicable license provisions and/or the user's protectable content use policies.
To determine the composition of an item of protectable content, some have proposed a partially automated discovery process that involves analyzing the item of protectable content for snippets or segments of code that are similar to or that "match" snippets or segments of code contained within known open source or proprietary content that has been assembled within a library of existing content for comparison ("comparison content"). After a comparison between the user's protectable content and the comparison content is complete, the user receives a list of match results that identifies all or substantially all of the items of comparison content that were found to contain snippets of code that match snippets of code from the user's item of protectable content. This process is generally known as deep discovery, deep dive, deep source scanning, or content matching (hereinafter "deep discovery" or "content matching").
While content matching is useful in determining the composition of a user's protectable content, current deep discovery techniques exhibit several deficiencies, including unacceptable levels of noise in the match results. More specifically, the nature of the open source software concept encourages software developers to access and make use of existing open source software code when developing new open source software code. As a result, items of protectable content (e.g., portions or snippets of code, code files, directory structures and/or trees, open source software projects and packages, and proprietary software applications) often exist as part of a complex network of interdependencies and interrelationships. Conventional content matching analysis methods lack the ability to differentiate between an original source of a snippet of code and various other items of comparison content that contain the snippet of code but that are merely related to the original source, and are therefore duplicative or redundant. As a result, conventional content matching analysis techniques generally produce match results that include "false positives," or that identify inaccurate or erroneous, redundant, and/or unnecessary matches from among the items of comparison content. The user must then review the match results to determine which of the match results represent original sources of the copied snippets, which are incorrectly identified, and which are correctly identified but are redundant and/or duplicative. This manual process of elimination is time consuming and generally requires extensive knowledge of the interrelationships between the various items of comparison content identified in the match results.
Other deficiencies in current content matching analysis methods include inefficiencies in the process of performing content matching analysis, including unreasonably lengthy analysis times, an inability to customize and/or optimize deep discovery analyses, difficulty identifying all matches, especially when interchangeable and/or nonfunctional elements have been removed or altered for the purpose of the content matching analysis, and difficulty securing or protecting the confidentiality of the user's protectable content during the course of a content matching analysis.

Analyzing content using abstractable interchangeable elements


A process for preparing 2-chloroterephthaloyl chloride which comprises reacting terephthaloyl chloride with chlorine in the presence of an anhydrous ring chlorination catalyst. When the reaction mixture contains the desired amount of the monochloro product, the mixture is cooled to room temperature and the 2-chloroterephthaloyl chloride is isolated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the direct preparation of 2-chloroterephthaloyl chloride by the controlled chlorination of terephthaloyl chloride in the absence of a solvent, using ferric chloride as a catalyst.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The literature generally teaches several ways of producing 2-chloroterephthaloyl chloride. For example, French patent 810,595 issued Mar. 24, 1937 discloses the conversion of chloroterephthalic acid to chloroterephthaloyl chloride using the reagent thionylchloride. U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,216 issued Dec. 29, 1981 discloses the phosgenation of an aromatic acid such as chloroterephthalic acid to chloroterephthaloyl chloride. The starting compounds for these methods, chloroterephthalic acid, and it's precursor chloro-p-xylene are not available in commercial quantities and limit the utility of these methods for some applications.
The direct chlorination of terephthaloyl chloride in a solution of chlorosulfonic acid containing sulfur trioxide and an iodine catalyst is taught in the preparation of 2,3,5,6-tetrachloroterephthaloyl chloride. The monochloro component of that process is only formed in very minor amounts. See example 1, table 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,652 issued Sept. 3, 1974 on the application of Knobloch.
The monochlorination of benzoyl chloride is described in the Journal of Chemical Society, Vol. 121, p.2510 (1922). In that process, a steady stream of thoroughly dried chlorine is bubbled through benzoyl chloride with a small quantity of anhydrous ferric chloride. Benzoyl chloride has only one functional acid chloride group and as such is readily converted to the monochloride. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 70, p. 3518(1948), isophthaloyl chloride was monochlorinated with ferric chloride catalyst at 95.degree. to 100.degree. C. and terephthaloyl chloride was chlorinated to the tetrachloro product. With isophthaloyl chloride, the first chlorine is substituted meta to both the acid chloride groups and the effect is to deactivate the ring further, thus high monochlorination is possible.
French patent 1,267,055 teaches ferric chloride as a chlorination catalyst in the preparation of dimethyl 2,3,5,6-tetrachloroterephthalate.

Preparation of 2-chloroterephthaloyl chloride


An improved method for singulation of electronic substrates into dice uses a laser to first form cuts in the substrate and then chamfers the edges of the cuts by altering the laser parameters. The chamfers increase die break strength by reducing the residual damage and removes debris caused by the initial laser cut without requiring additional process steps, additional equipment or consumable supplies.

Electronic devices are typically manufactured by producing multiple copies of the same device on a substrate or workpiece. In particular, semiconductor devices are manufactured on substrates referred to as wafers, which are thin disks of materials such as silicon, gallium arsenide or sapphire or other materials which are capable of supporting the various processes that create semiconductor devices. These devices at some point in the manufacturing process need to be separated into individual devices for subsequent packaging and use. This separation into individual devices is referred to as "singulation". Singulation can be performed mechanically, using diamond-coated saw blades, chemically, by masking and etching, photonically by directing laser energy at the wafer or substrate, or combinations of these methods. Singulation can be accomplished by cutting completely through the wafer or substrate, or by making a partial cut or cuts into one or more surfaces of the wafer or substrate and then mechanically cleaving the wafer or substrate in to individual dice. Cutting completely through the wafer or substrate is commonly referred to as "dicing" and cutting partially through the wafer or substrate in preparation for subsequent cleaving is commonly called "scribing". In general, devices are rectangular in shape and are laid out on a grid pattern on the wafer or substrate, allowing the devices to be separated by making a series of cuts either fully through the substrate (dicing) or partially through the substrate (scribing) between the devices in first in one direction 16 and then in a direction at 90 degrees to the first direction 14, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, singulation of devices on substrates generally proceeds by forming a series of cuts in one direction, for example the X direction between each row of devices then forming a series of cuts in the perpendicular Y direction between each column of devices thereby separating each device from the other devices on the wafer.
Issues related to device singulation include real estate, device damage, cost, complexity and system throughput. Real estate refers to the fact that in order to permit singulation without damage to devices, room must be left between the devices to allow room for cuts to be made without having to cut through active devices. The area between the active devices is known as a "street". Streets 14, 16 are shown in FIG. 1 between active devices 12 on a wafer 10. Since the cost of processing a wafer or substrate is generally fixed, more devices per substrate yields greater profits for the manufacturer. This places a premium on making the streets as narrow as possible to squeeze as many active devices as possible onto the wafer or substrate. Factors working against narrow streets include the size of the kerf and the width of the damaged area next to the cut. While lasers typically can cut a narrower kerf than mechanical saws or chemical etch, lasers also typically create a heat affected zone (HAZ) next to the kerf due to the heat generated by the intense amount of energy required to cut the wafer or substrate. This HAZ should not be allowed to overlap the active device area or it may either cause part failures immediately or limit the useful life of the part. The HAZ also can cause device failure from cracks or chips in the HAZ propagating from the HAZ to the active device area of the device as the device is used.
Another problem related to laser singulation of wafers or substrates is the re-deposit of material removed from the kerf. The laser typically removes material from the substrate or wafer to form the kerf by both ablation and thermal means. The laser beam may be energetic enough to ablate material it impinges near the center of the beam, meaning that the material is ionized and forms a plasma cloud as it exits the kerf. Nearer the periphery of the beam or directly adjacent to the beam the material of the substrate may not receive enough energy to ablate the material but rather vaporizes or melts and boils the material. In this case the material is ejected from the kerf as it vaporizes or boils. As the material is ejected from the kerf and moves away from the laser beam it cools and re-solidifies as debris near the edges of the kerf. If this debris reaches active circuit areas of the device it can cause undesirable electronic malfunctions and therefore must be removed prior to packaging the device.
One means for predicting the reliability of semiconductor die which have been diced or scribed from a wafer is to test die break strength. In this test, a semiconductor die is subjected to bending to the point of failure. Variations is die break strength can predict semiconductor component failures, therefore, wafer dicing or scribing methods that improve die break strength also improve component reliability. Things that are known to reduce die break strength include chips or cracks along the edge of a cut caused by mechanical or laser cutting. In addition, debris re-deposited along the edge of the cut from materials vaporized or liquefied by the laser can cause damage to the circuit and reduce reliability.
In particular, laser parameters that provide desired cutting speed and kerf size and shape also cause a HAZ at the top edge of the cut and also tend to create debris from material removed the kerf which is re-deposited at the edge of the cut. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a silicon wafer that has been cut with a laser showing the heat affected zone and debris caused by redeposit of material from the kerf. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a cut wafer 20, having a top surface 22 and a bottom surface 24 and die attach film (DAF) 26. One side of the kerf 28 is shown. Also shown are re-deposited debris 30 and the HAZ 32. The HAZ can cause a reduction in die break strength and the re-deposited debris can cause device failure. An exemplary laser processing device for performing this singulation is the ESI Cignis Laser Singulation machine, manufactured by Electro Scientific Industries, Inc., Portland Oreg., 97229. This machine uses a picosecond laser to singulate silicon and other substrate materials.
Another issue with laser singulation of substrates or wafers is improving system throughput. In particular, laser parameters which provide higher cutting speed also create more HAZ and re-deposited debris, which is undesirable. It is also noted that laser parameters which provide high cutting speed also create a debris cloud at the cutting site. This debris cloud is comprised of plasma created by the laser pulses and gaseous, liquid and solid debris created by the laser pulses and ejected from the workpiece. It is known that the debris cloud created by laser pulses can absorb energy from subsequent laser pulses. FIG. 3 is a graph showing depth of cut vs. number of pulses for an exemplary laser substrate cutting process. This shows that cutting a silicon workpiece with a 4 Watt Nd:YVO4 laser with 10 nanosecond pulses aimed at a single point at a repetition rate of 5 KHz. As can be seen in FIG. 3, in this example cutting saturates at about 10 pulses. This saturation is believed to be caused by the debris cloud created by the first laser pulses. A debris cloud created in this manner not only blocks laser radiation from reaching the workpiece and prevents material removal it also absorbs laser energy heating the plasma further. As the plasma absorbs energy it heats up and due to its proximity to the workpiece transfers some of that heat energy to portions of the workpiece including sidewalls of the feature being machined. In addition vaporous, liquid or solid material in the cloud may be ejected from the cloud and deposited on the workpiece. This transferred energy and material causes cracking, deterioration of the feature sidewall and increased debris. In addition, if more energetic pulses or more pulses are directed to the workpiece in an effort to transmit more energy through the debris cloud to the workpiece and thereby continue to machine material, more energy is coupled into the debris cloud making the cracking, deterioration and debris problems worse. Even ultra fast processes which use short duration pulses in the picosecond or femtosecond range to ablate material before the material has time to transfer heat to adjacent regions cannot avoid coupling energy into the debris cloud. This energy causes consequent damage to the workpiece depending upon the material and the laser parameters used.
Issues related to dicing or scribing wafers or substrates have been the subject of previous work. U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,102 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DICING WAFERS, AND SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES INCORPORATING THE PRODUCTS THEREOF, inventors Donald W. Brouillette, Robert F. Cook, Thomas G. Ference, Wayne J. Howell, Eric G. Liniger, and Ronald L. Mendelson, Aug. 7, 2001, describes cutting wafers with chamfered edges with a saw blade prior to laser cutting from both the front and backside to improve die break strength. In this case the chamfered cuts are produced instead of straight cuts with either a laser or a saw. U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,114 METHODS RELATING TO SINGULATING SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS AND WAFER SCALE ASSEMBLIES, inventor Salman Akram, Oct. 31, 2006, tries to solve the problem of die break strength by scribing trenches next to the laser cut and coating the trenches with protective material. US patent publication No. 2006/0249480, LASER MACHINING USING AN ACTIVE ASSIST GAS, inventor Adrian Boyle, Nov. 9, 2006, discloses using an assist gas to etch away the damaged portion of the edges of the cuts to improve die break strength. WIPO patent publication No. 2008/064863 LASER MACHINING, inventors Kali Dunne and Fallon O'Briain, Jun. 5, 2008 discusses using particular patterns of laser pulse spacing along the path being cut with multiple passes to avoid the debris cloud.
What these references have in common is a desire to improve die quality following dicing or scribing by attempting to overcome problems with die break strength and debris caused by laser cutting. These methods either require that cutting be done from both the top and the bottom of a wafer, be accomplished by a combination of laser and mechanical sawing, or require additional processing steps and equipment such as chemical etching, or require multiple passes by the laser. What is needed then is an efficient way to dice wafers with a laser that does not require additional processing steps, passes or equipment and provides a wafer with improved die break strength and reduced debris by avoiding the debris plume caused by laser machining.

Method and apparatus for laser singulation of brittle materials


An inverse mask image generating printer and printer module are provided. In one aspect, an inverse mask image generating module has an input adapted to receive the image data for an image to be printed said image data having color data for a first set of colors used in a first color model; an inverse mask image processor generating an inverse mask image using color data for one of the first set of colors; and an output providing the inverse mask image for use by a print engine. The inverse mask image is generated based upon the color data for a selected one of the first set of colors so that the inverse mask image can be generated without first determining color separation toner images that define amounts of color toner to be applied to form the elements of the image.

In an electrophotographic modular printing machine of known type, for example, the NexPress 2100 printer manufactured by NexPress Solutions, Inc., of Rochester, N.Y., color toner images are made sequentially in a plurality of color imaging modules arranged in tandem, and the toner images are successively electrostatically transferred in registration to a surface that is moved past the imaging modules. This transfer can be made to receiver member that is moved past the imaging modules or to an intermediate transfer member that receives all of the toner images to be used in an image and then transfers these to a receiver member that is moved through a transfer nip. After all of the toner images have been transferred to the receiver member, the receiver member is fused.
As is known, when the color toners are deposited one upon the other, the respective color toners form toner stacks that will create particular colors at particular locations of the image formed on the receiver member after fusing. The height of a respective color toner stack is the sum of the toner contributions of each color of toner applied at a particular location. FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary section of a receiver member 2 having a plurality of color toner stacks 4A-4N before a fusing operation. As can be seen from FIG. 1, color toner stacks 4A-4N provide a range of color toner stack heights before fusing, with the toner stack heights varying based upon the amount of a particular color toner applied thereto.
FIG. 2 shows the section of FIG. 1 after fusing. As can be seen in FIG. 2, color toner stacks 4A-4N typically flatten to form a toner mass 6 because of the pressure and heat applied during fusing. However, relief differences remain on upper surface 8 of toner mass 6 between, for example, an area 10 that corresponds to high density color image elements shown in FIG. 1 as having higher toner stack heights e.g. toner stack 4D and an area 12 that corresponds to lower density color image elements shown in FIG. 1 as having a lower toner stack height e.g. toner stack 4E in FIG. 1. These variations are particularly noticeable in that they disrupt the extent to which surface 8 of a toner printed image reflects light in a specular manner. The capability of a printed image to reflect incident light in a specular fashion is typically referred to as gloss.
In a fused toner image, several factors impact gloss. The primary factors indicate the refractive index of the fused toner and the surface roughness of the fused toner. It will be appreciated that more uniform gloss can therefore be provided on an image by forming a toner image with an upper most surface having less surface roughness.
Electrostatographic printers having a three, four, or more color (multicolor) capability are known to also provide an additional toner depositing assembly for depositing clear toner. U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,783, issued on Aug. 10, 1993, in the name of Yee S. Ng, et al., describes a process where gloss of a printed image is improved by applying gloss improving clear toner image to the color toner stacks forming the image. The gloss producing clear toner image varies inversely according to the expected stack heights provided by the other images providing ultimately an even height toner image. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,621, issued on Mar. 21, 2006 in the name of Yee S. Ng, describes the formation of a toner image wherein back-transfer artifacts are reduced or eliminated without the need or expense of providing uniform coverage of clear toner to the print wherein a five color tandem printer is used to print fewer than five colors. The fifth station may be used during the one pass through the printer apparatus, as a clear toner station, to deposit relatively less clear toner in relatively higher colored areas and relatively more clear toner in areas having relatively lower amounts of colored toner.
Such gloss improving clear toner images are also known in the art and referred to as inverse mask toner images. As is noted in the '783 patent, inverse mask toner images can be recorded, for example, on top of the color toner stacks or beneath the color toner stacks.
Methods for determining the inverse mask, however, have remained computationally intense in that, in general, an amount of clear toner to be laid down is calculated for each pixel location in the toner image formed by the multi-layer toner image. See for example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,236,734, entitled Method and Apparatus for Electrostatographic Printing With Enhanced Color Gamut, issued to Ng. on Jun. 26, 2007. As is described therein, incoming image data to be printed is input to a Raster Image Processor and converted to printer dependent color separation image data in each of the four-color images printed by the printer apparatus. The clear toner image generator, which also may be a part of the RIP, creates a clear toner "image" from the four color separation images previously created assuming that glossing is to be done and an inverse mask is to be established for printing of the clear toner.
It is further noted in the '734 patent, that, as a convenience in calculation, rather than determining pigmented toner coverage at any pixel area in accordance with the sum of the four color contributions at that pixel location, one may select the maximum pixel percent contribution by a color separation at that pixel location as the percentage of pigmented toner coverage present at that location for use in determining the amount of clear toner overcoat to be applied in the inverse mask. The use of the single color that is maximum at that location in conjunction with the particular selected inverse mask curve's roll off starting at the mid-tone helps ensure that total toner coverage of the four colors plus clear toner at the pixel location is below 320%, and this is basically true for the entire color gamut. As a further convenience in calculation, in lieu of making such calculation for the inverse mask using a pixel by pixel calculation, one may group local areas of say 4.times.4 pixels or 16 pixels to determine the amount of clear toner in the inverse mask calculation for this small area formed by a group of pixels.
Accordingly, using such techniques, the process of determining an inverse mask is performed after a raster imaging process performs color separation on the supplied image.
Further, to the extent that an image data is submitted for printing in a format that is not readily processed by conventional raster image processors, it may further be necessary to convert digital image data supplied for printing into a format that is preferred by the Raster Image Processor. For example, it may necessary to convert submitted image data that is organized according to one color model into image data that is organized according to a different model. In such situations, it can be necessary to first convert the submitted image data into a data format that can be readily processed by the Raster Image Processor. Accordingly, in such a situation, two conversion steps can be required before the inverse mask image can be generated.
In most applications such conversions can be executed in a timely, technically, commercially, and economically feasible manner.
However, in some circumstances, for example, where images are being printed that incorporate variable data that can change from print to print, there can be very little time available to process the image data before it is used for printing. In such circumstances, it can be beneficial to have a printer and method that enable the creation of a gloss improving inverse mask without requiring generation of a toner image for each color non-masking toner layer.
Accordingly, what are needed are new printers and methods for determining an inverse mask toner image.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Inverse mask generating printer and printer module


A secure Virtual Network Computing (VNC) connection between a server and a client is authenticated using a series of message exchanges. A server receives a request from a client to establish a VNC connection. If the request indicates that the client supports an encryption scheme, the server provides a first set of mechanisms for a subsequent authentication process. If the request indicates that the client does not support the encryption scheme, the server provides the client a second set of mechanisms for the subsequent authentication process. The second set contains fewer mechanisms than the first set. The client chooses an authentication mechanism from the first set or the second set provided by the server. The server and the client then perform the subsequent authentication process, using the authentication mechanism chosen by the client, with a series of message exchanges.

Virtual Network Computing (VNC) can be used in a graphical desktop sharing system that allows a client computer to remotely use the processing capabilities of a server computer. For example, the client can transmit keyboard and mouse events to the server, and the server can send screen updates back to the client. Thus, the client can be used as a control console, which sends commands to the server and watches the computing results of the server at a local display screen. The client and the server interact using a communication protocol (e.g., the Remote Frame Buffer (RFB) protocol) over a VNC connection.
VNC is not a secure protocol. Conventional VNC does not have built-in security mechanisms, such as data encryption. Therefore, data streams transmitted on a VNC connection over an untrusted network are subject to snooping by an intermediate agent performing packet capture.

Authentication of a secure virtual network computing (VNC) connection


An electric machine (212) comprises a turbomachine rotor (203) having a hub (302) and an axis of rotation (A-A) about which the turbomachine rotor is arranged to rotate. The turbomachine rotor includes a plurality of blades (301). Each blade has a root (303) attached to the hub, a tip (304) remote from the hub, a leading edge (305) and a trailing edge (306), a pressure side and a suction side (307). A stator (502) is located circumferentially around the turbomachine rotor. Each blade further comprises a rotor element at the tip comprising a permanent magnet having a first pole (401) and a second pole (402), the first pole being located adjacent the suction side of the blade and the second pole being located adjacent the pressure side such that a magnetic flux path extends perpendicularly through the blade tip.

With reference to FIG. 1, a prior art three-shaft turbofan engine is generally indicated at 101, having a principal and rotational axis A-A. The engine 101 comprises, in axial flow series, an air intake 102, a propulsive fan 103, an intermediate pressure compressor 104, a high-pressure compressor 105, a combustor 106, a high-pressure turbine 107, an intermediate pressure turbine 108, a low-pressure turbine 109 and an exhaust nozzle 110. A nacelle 111 generally surrounds the engine 101 and defines both the intake 102 and the exhaust nozzle 110.
The engine 101 works in a conventional manner so that air entering the intake 102 is accelerated by the fan 103 to produce two air flows: a first air flow which passes through a bypass duct 22 to provide propulsive thrust, and a second air flow into the intermediate pressure compressor 104. The intermediate pressure compressor 104 compresses the air flow directed into it before delivering that air to the high-pressure compressor 105 where further compression takes place.
The compressed air exhausted from the high-pressure compressor 105 is directed into the combustor 106 where it is mixed with fuel and the mixture combusted. The resultant hot combustion products then expand through, and thereby drive the high-pressure, intermediate-pressure, and low-turbines 107, 108, 109 before being exhausted through the nozzle 20 to provide additional propulsive thrust. The high—107, intermediate—108 and low—109 pressure turbines drive, respectively, the high-pressure compressor 105, intermediate-pressure compressor 104 and fan 103, each by suitable interconnecting shaft.
In order to start the engine 101, the high-pressure spool is typically put into rotation by an external power source. Such a power source may be an electric machine operated as an electric motor, or an air turbine starter.
Once sufficient mass flow is generated by the high-pressure compressor 105, fuel may be injected and ignited and combustion started in a process known as light-off. The exhaust from the combustor 106 then drives the turbines 107, 108, 109, and the external power source can be switched off.
Typically, the function of a gas turbine engine is not only to provide an aircraft with thrust, but also to provide the aircraft with electrical power. To this end an electrical generator is often coupled to the gas turbine engine. The generator converts a fraction of the mechanical power generated by the gas turbine engine into electricity for use by the aircraft.
Such starter-generators are not usually situated within the engine core of the gas turbine engine. Rather, the starter-generator typically forms part of the accessory gearbox which is connected to the engine via a radial driveshaft. Such an arrangement introduces additional weight and length to the engine design.
United States Patent Publication No 2009/0115295 describes an electricity generator comprising permanent magnets fastened to the end of blades a fan of a gas turbine engine, and a stator located within the fan casing. Such a generator is stated as being not suitable for use as an electric motor for starting the gas turbine engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,514,810 describes a gas turbine engine including an aft turbine downstream of the low-pressure turbine. A generator is disposed aft of the aft turbine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,603,864 describes an electromagnetic machine having rotor poles on the tips of fan blades and stator elements placed circumferentially around the fan. The electric machine has a transverse flux configuration, in which the stator elements each comprise a generally C-shaped core. The C-shaped cores are located around the fan blade tips such that when a core is adjacent a blade tip a magnetic flux path passes through the C-shaped core, across an air gap between the core and the bad tip, and transversely through the rotor pole located on the blade tip, so forming a closed loop.


A segmented piston rod for an injection device includes multiple segments joined together via a hinge located on one side of each segment. The piston rod can be bent in one direction by articulating subsequent hinges while an axial force can be transmitted by the segmented piston rod to the stopper when the subsequent hinges are closed and the segments abut each other opposite to the one side of the hinge. The segmented piston rod is secured against rotation relative to the housing around the longitudinal axis of the segmented piston rod. The segmented piston rod has a last element which abuts the stopper in the reservoir and a first segment which is opposite to the last segment. The first segment is includes an internal thread matching an external thread of a drive sleeve and rotation of the drive sleeve advances the piston rod towards the stopper of the reservoir.

Medical delivery devices in general or patch devices have different functionalities combined in one system. For example the patient first sets a dose which is subsequently delivered by a delivery mechanism. Prior to delivery it is required to insert a needle or cannula in a patient which is either done manually, or using a needle insertion and/or retraction system. After the delivery—especially for reusable devices, the drive mechanism needs to be reset. The different functionalities are required at different times during the injection procedure and therefore coupling systems are needed that couple and decouple the functionalities from another. Such a coupling can be a permanent coupling between two parts which are engaged and biased with respect to each other but transmit substantial forces or torques in one rotation direction only. An example is a one-way ratchet system which transmits rotation from one part to another in one rotation direction only. In the opposite rotation direction the two parts ratchet versus each other producing audible clicks, for example delivery clicks. A disadvantage of such a one way ratchet is that the ratchet system requires a certain torque to ratchet the system, e.g. at the cost of the efficiency of the device. As an alternative, for cases where the ratcheting and efficiency losses are not desired, axial shifts are required to open or close such a ratchet system such that the unidirectional coupling of the ratchet system is closed when the two parts are intended to rotate both in one direction and the coupling is open or decoupled so that the two parts can rotate with respect to each other. For axially shifting the two parts together, a gearing or threading engagement can be used as described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,107,999, where a piston rod is linearly advanced, and the front end of the piston rod is coupled to the stopper or plunger of a reservoir. The piston rod has an internal threading which matches an outside threading of a drive sleeve. Rotation of the drive sleeve linearly advances the piston rod which is prevented from rotation due to a form-fit engagement to the housing. With this arrangement, axial movement without rotational movements are allowed. The stopper or plunger in U.S. Pat. No. 9,107,999 is threadedly engaged with the front end of the piston rod, and since rotation of the piston rod is prevented, the reservoir with the plunger needs to be screwed manually onto the front end of the non-rotating piston rod. An aspect of the present device is therefore to provide a coupling mechanism which couples and decouples, preferably a ratchet system, but which also allows for relative rotation between the two parts in the decoupled state.
Medical delivery devices such as patch pumps, patch injectors or bolus injectors that are adhered to the skin of the patient have a needle insertion mechanism for insertion of a needle or a soft cannula into the skin of the patient for subcutaneous delivery of a medicament. Additionally, such a mechanism can be equipped with a needle retraction feature, to retract the needle, the soft cannula or steel cannula into the device before re being removed from the patient's skin. Such needle insertion mechanism either inserts first a steel needle together with a soft-cannula surrounding the steel needle and the needle is retracted prior to delivery of the medication through the soft cannula such as described in WO0240083 A2. Alternatively, a steel cannula is inserted in the tissue which is also used for subsequent delivery as shown in WO05002649 A1.
The insertion of the needle requires a linear stroke, for example of a holder that is attached to the needle or the cannula. The insertion is preferably done perpendicular to the skin of the patient and consequently the stroke length required for inserting the cannula occupies space in this perpendicular direction and locally increases the dimensions, e.g. thickness of the device as presented in WO13140395 A1. The increased dimensions for the linear stroke of the cannula insertion reduces the usability and wearing comfort of the device for the patient. In order to reduce the space required for the needle insertion mechanism, several solutions have been provided. In WO2011012465 A1, the needle holder is driven by a part that axially slides in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the patient or to the bottom surface of the injection device. The sliding part has a guiding means, for example a groove or notch oriented oblique to the bottom surface of the device and the needle holder is keyed both to the groove of the sliding part and to a linear guide present in the housing or a part attached to the housing. The linear guide is oriented perpendicular to the bottom surface and ensures vertical insertion of the needle. Horizontal movement of the sliding part thus drives the needle holder through the guiding means from a needle retracted to a needle inserted position. A further horizontal movement of the sliding part ensures that a second part of the guiding curve retracts the needle from the inserted to the retracted position. The fact that both insertion and retraction are driven by the sliding part implies that the horizontal movement occupies space which enlarges the lateral dimensions of the device.
Another space saving arrangement for a needle insertion and retraction mechanism is presented in DE102004059491 where a lancet device is presented having a rotating part with a sinusoidal guide curve applied the outside surface of the rotating part. The guide curve drives the needle from the top of the sinus to the bottom as the rotating part rotates over a first angle and therewith inserting the needle into a patient. Rotation of the part over an additional angle drives the needle from the minimum of the sinus back to the maximum and thereby accomplishes retraction of the needle. In WO15032747 A1, a needle insertion and retraction mechanism is presented based on a rotating drum having a sinusoidal shaped guiding curve designed as groove on the outside surface of the drum. It is therefore an aspect of the device presented here to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art insertion and retraction mechanisms.
The medication delivery device or patch device or patch pump delivers medication from a reservoir that is connected via a fluid path to the cannula for subcutaneous delivery to the patient. Medication is preferably delivered by advancement of a stopper or plunger present in the reservoir. The plunger is advanced by a drive mechanism advancing a piston rod. The piston rod can be made as still and linear piston rod, which is described in WO10029054 A1 for a skin attachable patch device, but the linear piston rod enlarges the lateral dimensions of the device leading to discomfort for the patient. Several solutions have been provided for a space efficient design of the piston rod using curved or bendable piston rods. Such curved piston rods are either made from a helical spring as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,219 or as a segmented piston rod, with separate elements that are connected to each other via a hinge as shown in WO04056411 A3. Both In U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,219 and WO04056411 A3 the piston rod is driven from outside by a nut element which rotates to advance the segments of the piston rod. On the inside of the nut there is a threading engaging an external thread on the outside of the segments of the piston rod. Once the segments are axially aligned and abut each other, an axial force can be transmitted by the stacked segments to the plunger of the reservoir. The last segment abuts the plunger to expel medication from the device and needs to be guided into the reservoir to ensure correct and plane abutment of the plunger and to prevent blockage of the piston rod in the reservoir. Therefore, the nut element driving the segmented piston rod is located close to the opening of the reservoir as in WO07038059 A3 which requires that the drive train is arranged close to the reservoir. As an alternative, the first segment, which is furthest away from the reservoir is driven by a nut element as presented in WO9509021 A1, however this requires a stable configuration of the last segments) entering the cartridge. In WO 0183008 A1 the Innolet device, this is solved by stiffening the hinge between the last two segments or by lengthening the length of the last segment as in WO04056411 A3. The disadvantage of lengthening the non-flexible part of the flexible piston rod is that more space is required to bring the piston rod into the position for expelling medication from the device. A longer, rigid portion of the piston sticks out of the open end of the reservoir before the piston rod can be flexed for connection to the drive mechanism. It is therefore an aspect of the present device to provide an alternative, more space saving configuration of a piston rod that is driven by the first segment and enables a reliable entrance of the last segment into the reservoir.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an alternative, more space saving configuration of a piston rod that is driven by the first segment and enables a reliable entrance of the last segment into the reservoir.

Segmented piston rod for a medication delivery device


Collapsible structures are disclosed having a central panel, a first support panel disengageably connected to the left side of the central panel, and a second support panel disengageably connected to the right side of the central panel. Each of the central panel and support panels includes a foldable frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, and a fabric material substantially covering the frame member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to collapsible structures, and in particular, to collapsible play structures which may be provided in a variety of shapes and sizes. The collapsible structures may be twisted and folded to reduce the overall size of the structures to facilitate convenient storage and use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Two important considerations for all toys or play things targeted for children and adults are convenience and variety. Relating to convenience, a toy must be easily transportable so that the user can move it around the home, or even to other places outside of the home. A toy must also be easily stored since an adult or child is likely to have many other toys or objects that compete for precious storage space in the home. As for variety, a toy must offer enough variety in play so that the child or adult will be able to enjoy it for a long period of time without getting bored.
Larger toys often pose a greater problem with regards to convenience. The larger toys tend to be bulky, which makes it difficult to move them around the home, and sometimes makes it prohibitive to move them outside the house to other locations. Bulky toys also take up much storage space. For these reasons, many executive toys targeted for adults are made in small sizes.
Collapsible play structures have recently become popular with both adults and children. Examples of such structures are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,812 (Norman), U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,794 (Zheng) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,385 (Zheng). These structures may be twisted and folded to reduce the overall size of the structures to facilitate convenient storage and use. As such, these structures are being enjoyed by many people in many different applications.
For example, these structures have been provided in many different shapes and sizes for children""s play inside and outside the house. Smaller versions of these structures have been used as infant nurseries. Even smaller versions of these structures have been used as dollhouses and action figure play houses by toddlers and children.
As another example, these structures have been made into tents or outdoor structures that can be used by adults and children for camping or other outdoor purposes. These structures have also been popular as beach cabanas.
Even animals can enjoy these structures. Some of these structures have been made into shelters that can be used by pets, both inside and outside the house.
The wide-ranging uses for these collapsible structures can be attributed to the performace, convenience and variety that these structures provide. When fully expanded, these structures are stable and can be used as a true shelter without the fear of collapse. These structures are easily twisted and folded into a compact configuration to allow the user to conveniently store the structure. The light-weight nature of the materials used to make these structures makes it convenient for them to be moved from one location to another. These structures also provide much variety in use and enjoyment. For example, a child can use a structure both indoors and outdoors for different play purposes, and can use the same structure for camping.
However, these collapsible structures have been primarily used to shelter individuals, animals, and objects, and to allow individuals or animals to crawl therethrough. Thus, there is still a need for collapsible structures that provide an increased variety of play and entertainment value, and yet are simple in construction and can be conveniently deployed, collapsed, and stored.
The present invention provides collapsible structures that include arcade-styled games for the fun and entertainment of both adults and children. These collapsible structures can be easily and quickly disassembled, folded and collapsed into a compact configuration. As a result, the collapsible structures according to the present invention are convenient to assemble, to use, to move around, and to disassemble and store, thereby making them ideal for use at home, at the office as an executive toy, and at many other locations.
In order to accomplish the objects of the present invention, the collapsible structure according to the present invention has a central panel, a first support panel disengageably connected to the left side of the central panel, and a second support panel disengageably connected to the right side of the central panel. Each of the central panel and support panels includes a foldable frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, and a fabric material substantially covering the frame member.
In one embodiment according to the present invention, the bottom surfaces of the central panel and support panels rest on the surface when the structure is in an upright position, with the central panel disposed at right angles to and between the support panels.
In another embodiment according to the present invention, the structure further includes a first base panel, and a second base panel. Each of the base panels includes a foldable frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, and a fabric material substantially covering the frame member. The top sides of the base panels are hingedly connected to the bottom side of the central panel. The first support panel is disengageably connected to the left side of the first base panel and the right side of the second base panel, and the second support panel is disengageably connected to the right side of the first base panel and the left side of the second base panel. When the structure is in an upright position, the base panels are disposed at an angle with respect to each other, the bottom sides of the base panels are resting on the surface, and the central panel is disposed at right angles to and between the support panels.
The collapsible structures according to the present invention may be provided with one or more entertainment features. For example, a first basket may be connected to the central panel. In addition, a first opening may be provided in the central panel, with a first tube coupling the first basket and the first opening. A second basket may be connected to the central panel opposite to the first basket, and a second opening provided in the central panel and spaced apart from the first opening, with a second tube coupling the second basket and the second opening. Another feature may include a flotation device coupled to the base panels.
In yet another embodiment according to the present invention, the structure includes a first collection panel having a foldable frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, and with a fabric material substantially covering the frame member. An inner side of the first collection panel is hingedly connected to the bottom side of the central panel and the top sides of the base panels. In addition, the first support panel is disengageably connected to the left side of the first collection panel, and the second support panel is disengageably connected to the right side of the first collection panel.
In a further embodiment according to the present invention, the structure has a central panel, a base panel having a front side hingedly connected to a bottom side of the central panel, a first support panel coupled to the left side of the central panel and the left side of the base panel, and a second support panel coupled to the right side of the central panel and the right side of the base panel. Each of the central panel, the base panel and the support panels includes a foldable frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, and a fabric material substantially covering the frame member.
The structures in accordance with the present invention may be collapsed and stored by folding the base panels (where applicable), the collection panel(s) (where applicable), and the central panel on top of each other about the hinged connection to have the base panels and central panel overlaying each other, and then twisting and folding the base panels, collection panel(s) and central panel to form a plurality of concentric rings and layers of panels to substantially reduce the size of the panels in the folded orientation. The support panels may be stacked on top of the folded panels and twisted and collapsed together, or the support panels may be twisted and collapsed separately.


A method for optimizing production from a gas lift well includes the steps of: obtaining a statistical model of production behavior of a gas lift well, the production behavior including known patterns of at least one production characteristic and corresponding operating parameters; operating the gas lift well at initial operating parameters; obtaining a real time value of the production characteristic from the gas lift well at the initial operating parameters; comparing the real time value of the production characteristic to the model to determine whether a known pattern is detected; and if a known pattern is detected, adjusting the operating parameters to the corresponding operating parameters. An apparatus is also provided.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for improving production from an oil well, more specifically, for improving production from a gas lift oil well.
As is well known in the art, gas lift techniques are employed in oil wells which have difficulty in producing satisfactory levels of fluids based on natural formation pressure. Typically, such wells have formation pressure which is not sufficient to drive fluids at an acceptable volume to the surface.
The gas lift technique involves injecting gas into the casing of an oil well through one or more valves, typically located at varying heights along the well. Depending upon the technique being used, the gas may be injected substantially continuously into the column of fluid in the well, thereby lightening this column of fluid so as to enhance the volume of production which can be accomplished with natural formation pressure. Alternatively, gas can be injected intermittently in a repeated or cyclical process so as to produce successive slugs of fluid at the well head.
Although gas lift techniques provide excellent results for certain types of oil wells, each well is different in terms of downhole or formation pressure, downhole or formation temperature, depth to the producing formation, geothermal gradient experienced along the vertical height of the well, and numerous other factors. Thus, determining the optimal operating parameters for a gas lift technique is a time consuming trial and error process which may require extensive supervision and nevertheless provide less than ideal production.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,885 to Sanderford is drawn to a method for optimizing production in a continuous or intermittent gas lift well which, through trial and error, increases and/or decreases the volume of gas injected while monitoring the temperature of fluids produced at the surface. According to this method, gas injection is increased and/or decreased as desired so as to provide a maximum possible fluid temperature at the surface. For intermittent production, a similar method is disclosed where the volume of production is monitored per gas injection cycle in an attempt to determine the gas injection volume which will provide maximum possible fluid temperature at the surface. In both cases, a continuous trial and error method is used changing gas injection volumes and waiting to see the effect of such change at the surface. Thus, Sanderford '885 is a trial and error method, and possesses the expected disadvantages for such a method.
In light of the foregoing, it is evident that the need remains for an advantageous method and apparatus for enhancing production from a gas lift well.
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a method for optimizing production from a gas lift well.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for optimizing production from a gas lift well.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus which is readily adaptive to the widely varying conditions experienced at different gas lift wells.
It is another object of the present to provide a method and apparatus which learns well behavior for the specific conditions of a particular well and which controls gas injection and production from the well based upon pattern recognition and past well behavior so as to significantly reduce and/or completely avoid the need for extended or continuous trial and error operation.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.

Method and apparatus for optimizing production from a gas lift well


A prefetch buffer adapted to be installed between a cache memory and a main memory in a computer system having a CPU. The prefetch buffer includes a buffer storage having at least one entry for storing prefetched data and an address tag, which is to be used for searching the data, as a pair; a data searcher for searching, from the data stored in the buffer storage, for data having an address requested by the CPU; and an address estimator for determining an address of data to be prefetched next from the main memory, based on the address requested by the CPU and also on a history of the addresses of data prefetched in the past from the main memory; and an address generator for generating an address of data to be prefetched from the main memory. With this arrangement, it is possible to improve the hit ratio of the prefetch buffer regardless of the direction in which the access address varies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a data prefetch buffer for a computer system, and to an information processing system to which the data prefetch buffer is applied.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computer systems, and workstations in particular, the performance has recently being improved remarkably by the development of high-performance RISC processors. Generally a RISC processor includes a small-capacity cache memory which enables high-speed access, and a low-speed large-capacity main memory. When the amount of data to be processed is small and when no cache errors occur, it is possible to bring out the performance of a RISC processor to it's full extent. However, when the amount of data to be processed is large so that when many cache errors occur, the RISC processor does not execute its program until it has read data from a main memory, so this waiting time reduces the performance. Assuming that the access time of its main memory is the same, every high-speed processor must wait for the same time. Therefore, in the case where many cache errors occur, despite all attempts to improve the performance of the processor, it is impossible to improve the overall processing performance.
It is common knowledge that a prefetch buffer may be used to solve the foregoing problem. This prior art is exemplified by a paper entitled "Improving Direct-Mapped Cache Performance by the Addition of a Small Fully-Associative Cache and Prefetch Buffers" (The 17th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture Conference Proceedings, May 1990, pages 364-373) of Norman P. Jouppi. According to this prior concept, when a cache error occurs, data to be fetched from the main memory is read in advance in a small-capacity buffer to eliminate any overhead due to accessing to the main memory.
Other prior art publications concerning the concept of using a prefetch buffer are, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications (KOKAI) Nos. SHO 53-134334, SHO 63-75934 and HEI 2-87229, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,994.
With this prior prefetch buffer, since instructions of a program are generally executed in the order of address, data to be prefetched are usually limited to data having an address immediately subsequent to data requested from the processor. Prefetching for special cases such as branching and looping processes has also been proposed.
However, if the request address value varies continuously in the backward direction, or if the request addresses are discontinuous, the hit ratio of the prefetch buffer will be deteriorated, and so the performance will be lowered.

Prefetch buffer and information processing system using the same

313 Izumigamoriryo, 20-1, Mizukicho 2-chome


A seat base having protruding members fixed to the underside thereof that are positioned within mating recesses formed in the fenderdeck of a vehicle. The base is clamped to the fenderdeck by a pair of screws. The screws and mating features defined between the seat base and fenderdeck secure the base to the vehicle to prevent shifting of the seat during operation. If the screws become loosened during operation, the protruding members will engage side walls of the recesses to prevent the base from shifting fore and aft suddenly and unexpectedly, and to alert the operator that the screws have become loosened.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to mechanisms for adjustably securing a seat to a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional seats have been attached to vehicles such as lawn tractors in a variety of ways. Various devices have been provided having many mechanical parts that allow the operator to adjust the seat fore and aft. Tracks are provided for guiding the seat back and forth. To adjust the seat, the operator engages a lever which releases the seat from a locked position. The operator can then shift the seat fore and aft along the track. To again lock the seat in a fixed position, the operator then releases the lever, which causes a member to be engaged within an opening in a plate fixed to the vehicle. The plate has several openings such that the seat can be locked into a variety of different positions. These lever mechanisms have many parts, which increases the cost required to make and assemble the mechanism.
A more inexpensive type of mechanism for securing a seat to a vehicle provides a seat having bolts received within slots formed in members fixed to the vehicle. The bolts are positioned within slots, such that when the bolts are loosened the operator can slide the seat to the position that he desires. He then re-tightens the bolts to frictionally secure the seat in place. Many such conventional mechanisms provide painted metal parts that rub against each other as the seat is shifted fore and aft, thereby scratching the paint when the seat is adjusted. In an attempt to reduce such scratching, washers have been provided between the parts that rub against each other. It is known to provide mechanisms of this type with four bolts instead of two to more adequately secure the seat against pivoting about a vertical axis, as well as against shifting fore and aft. Some conventional mechanisms provide bolts that require the use of tools to tighten the bolts, while others provide bolts that can be tightened by hand.
During operation, the bolts used in this type of mechanism can become loosened. When loosened, the seat can rapidly shift forwardly or rearwardly during operation before the operator notices that the bolts are loose. Many such mechanisms provide slots that are inclined downwardly toward the front such that as a shorter operator adjusts the seat forwardly to reach the controls he will also be lowering the seat. Similarly, taller operators will shift the seat rearwardly and upwardly in the slots. When the bolts become loosened in these inclined slots, bumpy terrain and the weight of the operator may cause the seat to suddenly shift forwardly and downwardly within the slots. Such a sudden shifting of the seat upon which the operator is sitting may cause his hands or feet that are manipulating the controls to suddenly jerk. Sudden motion of the seat base may prevent the operator from performing vehicle operations requiring delicate or precise control.
It would be desirable to provide a mechanism for securing a seat to a vehicle to prevent fore and aft shifting of the seat, and also prevent pivoting of the seat about a vertical axis. It would be desirable for such a mechanism to be simple and comprised of few parts, while being inexpensive to manufacture and assemble. The mechanism should be capable of being manufactured by injecting plastic into a mold. A mechanism made of plastic material would be desirable, since plastic parts will not scratch painted metal parts as much as a mechanism made of metal will. Such a mechanism should allow the operator to adjust the seat fore and aft to the particular position he finds most comfortable. It would be desirable for such a mechanism to be adjustable without the use of tools. Also, it would be desirable for such a mechanism to allow the operator to sense when the seat is becoming unsecured during operation. The operator could then tighten the seat before it shifts suddenly.


A method of fabricating a solar cell involves electroplating a Group IIB-VIA material as a first or sub-layer over a junction partner layer, and then forming a second layer, also of a Group IIB-VIA material over the sub-layer. Both the sub-layer and the second layer comprise Te. The electroplating is performed at relatively low temperatures, as for example, below 100° C. Forming the sub-layer by low temperature electroplating produces a small grained compact film that protects the interface between the sub-layer and the junction partner during the formation of the second layer. The second layer may be formed by physical vapor deposition or ink deposition. A solar cell has a first layer of a stoichiometric Group IIB-VIA material formed on a CdS film, and a second layer of a Group IIB-V1A material. Both the first and second layers contain Te. The first layer may comprise CdTe with a grain size small than 0.5 microns and the second layer may comprise CdTe with a grin size in the range of 1-5 microns.

Solar cells and modules are photovoltaic (PV) devices that convert sunlight energy into electrical power. The most common solar cell material is silicon (Si). However, lower cost PV cells may be fabricated using thin film growth techniques that can deposit solar-cell-quality polycrystalline compound absorber materials on large area substrates using low-cost methods.
Group IIB-VIA compound semiconductors comprising some of the Group IIB (Cd, Zn, Hg) and Group VIA (O, S, Se, Te, Po) materials of the periodic table are excellent absorber materials for thin film solar cell structures. Especially CdTe has proved to be a material that can be used in manufacturing high efficiency solar panels at a cost below $1/W.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show the two different device structures employed in CdTe based solar cells. FIG. 1A is a "super-strate" structure, wherein the light enters the device through a transparent sheet that it is fabricated on. FIG. 1B depicts a "sub-strate" structure, wherein the light enters the device through a transparent conductive layer deposited over the CdTe absorber which is grown over a substrate.
In fabricating the "super-strate" structure 10 of FIG. 1A, a transparent conductive layer (TCL) 12 is first deposited on a transparent sheet 11. Then a junction partner layer 13 is deposited over the TCL 12. A CdTe absorber film 14 is formed on the junction partner layer 13. Then an ohmic contact layer 15 is deposited on the CdTe absorber film 14, completing the solar cell. As shown by arrows 18 in FIG. 1A, light enters this device through the transparent sheet 11. In the "super-strate" structure 10 of FIG. 1A, the transparent sheet 11 may be glass or a high temperature material (e.g. high temperature polymer such as polyimide) that has high optical transmission (such as higher than 80%) in the visible spectra of the sun light. The TCL 12 is usually a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer comprising any one of tin-oxide, cadmium-tin-oxide, zinc-tin-oxide, indium-tin-oxide, and zinc-oxide which may be doped to increase their conductivity. Multi layers of these TCO materials as well as their alloys or mixtures may also be utilized in the TCL 12. The junction partner layer 13 is typically a CdS layer. The ohmic contact 15 is made of a highly conductive metal such as C, Mo, Ni, Cr, their nitrides or a doped transparent conductive oxide. The rectifying junction, which is the hearth of this device, is located near the interface 19 between the CdTe absorber film 14 and the junction partner layer 13.
In the "sub-strate" structure 17 of FIG. 1B, the ohmic contact layer 15 is first deposited on a sheet substrate 16, and then the CdTe absorber film 14 is formed on the ohmic contact layer 15. This is followed by the deposition of the junction partner layer 13 and the transparent conductive layer (TCL) 12 over the CdTe absorber film 14. As shown by arrows 18 in FIG. 1B, light enters this device through the TCL 12. There may also be finger patterns (not shown) on the TCL 12 to lower the series resistance of the solar cell. The sheet substrate 16 does not have to be transparent in this case. Therefore, the sheet substrate 16 may comprise a sheet or foil of metal, glass or polymeric material.
The CdTe absorber film 14 of FIGS. 1A and 1B may be formed using a variety of methods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,483 granted to B. M. Basol et al., describes the fabrication of a CdS/CdTe solar cell wherein the thin CdTe film is obtained by a cathodic compound electrodeposition technique at low electrolyte temperatures, and then the as-deposited n-type CdTe film is type-converted to p-type through a high temperature annealing step to form the rectifying junction with the underlying CdS layer. The compound electrodeposition or electroplating technique typically uses acidic aqueous electrolytes and forms high quality rectifying junctions after the type-conversion step yielding high quality solar cells and modules with conversion efficiencies exceeding 10% (D. Cunningham et al, "CdTe PV module manufacturing at BP solar", Progress in Photovoltaics, vol. 10, p. 159 (2002)).
An alternative approach to CdTe formation is physical vapor deposition (PVD), which may be a close-spaced-sublimation method or a vapor transport method. In this technique CdTe granules are vaporized at high temperatures (>600° C.) in a source, and the vapors obtained this way are directed towards a surface of a base, where they condense and form a CdTe layer. The base is typically kept at elevated temperatures of over 500° C. during this process and the surface of the base on which the CdTe layer is deposited comprises a junction partner layer such as a CdS layer. The deposition rate is very high in these methods reaching and even exceeding the level of 1 micron/minute. However, these high temperature methods use large amount of electricity and efficient solar cell fabrication requires use of a thicker CdTe layer (typically a thickness of larger than 3 microns) compared to the electrodeposition technique. In fact, the highest efficiency solar cell, which was fabricated using a PVD method, had a CdTe thickness of larger than 5 microns.
In yet another approach, which is called the "two-stage" approach, a CdTe layer may be formed by first depositing a precursor layer on a base, and then by annealing or reacting this precursor layer to form a crystallized CdTe compound layer, which is polycrystalline in nature. For example, screen printing or ink deposition techniques may be used to deposit pastes or inks, comprising Cd and Te nano-particles or CdTe nano-particles, on CdS coated substrates in the form of a precursor layer. This precursor layer is porous and since it is not a well fused CdTe compound film with good grain structure, it cannot be used for making a solar cell in its as-deposited form. In the second stage of the process, the precursor layer is heated up to elevated temperatures to promote a reaction between the Cd and Te particle species or to promote sintering and grain growth between the CdTe particles within the precursor layer. Cadmium chloride (CdCl2) is often used as a sintering agent to enhance grain growth during or after this annealing or sintering step. As a further example of prior art two-stage techniques, U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,615 discloses a method involving electrodeposition of a Te layer on the surface of a CdS film, followed by electrodeposition of a Cd layer on the Te layer surface during the first stage of the process. During the second stage, the two layers are heated up and reacted to obtain CdTe and form a CdTe/CdS rectifying junction.
FIG. 2 depicts the first general step of an exemplary prior art "two-stage" process wherein a granular precursor layer 20 comprising particles is deposited on the junction partner layer 13 such as a CdS layer to form a stack 21. As reviewed above, the prior art precursor layers may contain one of; i) a mixture of Cd and Te nano-particles, ii) CdTe nano-particles, and, iii) a Te/Cd stack comprising a Te layer and a Cd layer. During the second stage of the process, the stack 21 is heated up to a temperature of 400-600° C. to convert the granular precursor layer 20 into a fused polycrystalline CdTe layer. As the CdTe layer forms, it also forms the rectifying junction with the junction partner layer 13 at the interface 19 shown in FIG. 1A. One problem faced in two-stage approaches is the fact that the surface of the junction partner layer 13 is exposed to various impurities and fluxing agents (such as CdCl2) present in the granular precursor layer 20 during the second stage of the process as the CdTe compound is formed at high temperature. This deteriorates the quality of the interface 19 by the time the p-type CdTe layer is fully formed and the rectifying junction is established between the CdTe layer and the junction partner layer 13 near the interface 19. A low quality interface 19 lowers the electronic and structural quality of the rectifying junction and therefore, lowers the efficiency of the solar cells, especially lowering their voltage and fill factor values.
As the above review demonstrates, there is a need to develop low cost methods for processing CdTe based solar cells with high quality rectifying junctions. Described embodiments provide an inexpensive method for the formation of thin Group IIB-VIA compound absorbers, and provide methods of processing solar cells using these compound absorber layers.

Method of fabricating solar cells with electrodeposited compound interface layers


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having drift and body regions. The drift region includes upper and lower drift regions. An active area includes a plurality of spicular trenches extending through the body region and into the drift region. Each spicular trench in the active area has a lower end which together define a lower end of the upper drift region extending towards a first side and a lower drift region extending from the lower end of the upper drift region towards a second side. The edge termination area includes spicular termination trenches extending at least into the upper drift region. A surface doping region arranged in the upper drift region in the edge termination area extends to the first side, is spaced apart from the lower end of the upper drift region, and has a net doping concentration lower than that of the upper drift region.

Semiconductor devices such as MOSFET using field electrodes for charge compensation have become very popular during the last decade as they offer a significant improvement of the area-specific resistance. The devices typically use a stripe design where the field electrodes and the mesa regions containing the gate electrodes are formed in the shape of long stripes which run parallel to each other.
More recent concepts employ a cell design having a hole-like deep trench, also referred to as spicular trench, containing the so-called field-plate in the centre of a given transistor cell. The deep trench containing the field-plate is surrounded by a separate gate trench. This cell design, also referred to as needle trench design due to the central deep field-plate shaped as oblong electrode, offers a larger cross-sectional area for the mesa region around the spicular trench than the stripe design. A larger cross-sectional area for the mesa is believed to further reduce the overall on-state resistance RON of the semiconductor device.
For illustrating purposes, reference is made to FIGS. 11A and 11B which show schematics of unit cells of the stripe design in FIG. 11A and of the needle trench design in FIG. 11B. Assume that the unit cell has dimensions defined by a in length and width direction. We further assume that the width of the trench is a−w with w being the width of the mesa region. A trench for the field plate in the stripe design assumes an area equal to a·(a−w). Different thereto, the spicular trench only assumes an area of (a−w)2 which means that the area left for the mesa region is larger in the needle trench design than in the stripe design. A larger cross-sectional area of the mesa results in a lower on-state resistance RON.
As with semiconductor devices of the stripe design, semiconductor devices having transistor cells of the needle trench design include a so-called edge termination region which surrounds an active region of the semiconductor device. The active region of a semiconductor device includes the active transistor cells which carry the electric current through the semiconductor device and which can be controlled by applying a gate voltage. The edge termination region is provided to maintain and improve the blocking capabilities of the semiconductor device when operated in blocking mode or off-state.
A breakdown of the semiconductor device may particularly happen at the outer rim of the semiconductor substrate of the semiconductor device due to crystal defects and a locally increased electrical field. The edge termination region is provided to control the relief of the electric field so that the occurrence of high electric fields at the outer rim or other regions susceptible to electrical breakdown can be avoided.
In view of the above, there is need for further improvement.

Semiconductor device having a reduced surface doping in an edge termination area, and method for manufacturing thereof


A radiopaque diagnostic kit, tool and method for helping a practitioner define an optimal anatomical location of a patient to perform diagnostic and interventional procedures.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to radiology imaging tools, and more particularly to a diagnostic kit, radiopaque grid tool and method for performing diagnostic and interventional procedures within a body cavity.
2. Background of Prior Art
The negative effect of improper radiopaque imaging is well known in the prior art. Therefore there is a need for a new and improved radiopaque kit, tool and method for helping to define an optimal intraosseous location for performing diagnostic and interventional procedures within a body cavity.

Diagnostic kit, device, and method of using same


A method and apparatus for enforcing design for manufacturability rules on a circuit layout is provided. A tool receives a first set of design rules, to be applied to the circuit layout, which must be followed. The tool also receives a second set of design rules, to be to the circuit layout, which may be followed. The first set of design rules may be supplied by an employer or followed by a design team, and the second set of design rules may correspond to a set of design for manufacturability (DFM) rules. The tool applies the first set of design rules and the second set of design rules to the circuit layout to generate a revised circuit layout. The revised circuit layout conforms to each of the first set of design rules, and conforms to as many design rules in the second set of design rules as possible.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Design for Manufacturability (DFM) is an approach for optimizing the design of a product to increase the likelihood that the product may be manufactured without any errors or defects. For example, the design of a product may be adjusted by applying DFM considerations to provide certain margins of error in the design so that if an error does occur during the manufacturing process, the product is still operable.
A trend in circuit design is to design each subsequent generation of a circuit to have smaller dimensions than the prior generation. As the dimensions of a circuit layout become smaller, DFM considerations become more important, as the likelihood of an error or defect being introduced in the manufacturing process increases.
Today, a circuit designer is responsible for implementing DFM considerations in the design of a circuit to account for the practical limitations of the manufacturing process. Typically, a circuit designer follows a set of design rules (the "mandatory design rules") when designing a circuit layout. For example, the mandatory design rules may be provided by the circuit designer's employer or design team.
In addition to following the mandatory design rules, a designer is free to implement any DFM considerations on a circuit layout in any manner he or she chooses. As a result, different people may choose to apply DFM rules against a circuit layout in different ways. Thus, if the decision to apply DFM rules to a circuit layout is left to the individual circuit designer, DFM rules may be applied inconsistently across circuit layouts, which may result in (a) DFM rules being applied when they need not be applied and/or (b) DFM rules not being applied when they should be applied.

Systematic approach for applying recommended rules on a circuit layout


Disclosed herein is an organic light-emitting display device having a first flexible substrate; a second flexible substrate; a plurality of organic light-emitting pixels on the first flexible substrate and between the first flexible substrate and the second flexible substrate; an encapsulation unit covering the pixels; and an adhesive layer on the encapsulation unit. The Young's modulus of the adhesive layer is equal to or larger than a value so that the first flexible substrate is not deformed by bending stress when it is rolled up.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a flexible organic light-emitting display device having a structure showing minimal deformation against bending stress.
Description of the Related Art
As the era of information technology has truly begun, the field of display devices has rapidly advanced. In accordance with this, research is ongoing into various display devices which are thinner, lighter and consume less power. Such display devices include a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, a plasma display panel (PDP) device, a field emission display (FED) device, an electro-wetting display (EWD) device, quantum dot displays, and an organic light-emitting display (OLED) device, etc.
Among others, an organic light-emitting display (OLED) device is capable of producing light and thus does not require an additional light source, as in a liquid crystal display (LCD) device. Therefore, an organic light-emitting display device can be made lighter and thinner than an LCD device. Further, an organic light-emitting display device has advantages in that it is driven with low voltage to consume less power, and in that it has shorter response time, wider viewing angle and higher contrast ratio (CR). For these reasons, an organic light-emitting display device is currently under development as the next generation display device. Despite such advantages, organic light-emitting display devices are less reliable than other display devices since organic light-emitting materials are especially vulnerable to moisture and oxygen.
An organic light-emitting display device includes an organic light-emitting element including an anode, an organic emission layer and a cathode. The organic emission layer emits light by combining holes from the anode and electrons from the cathode. The organic emission layer is very vulnerable to moisture and oxygen and thus an encapsulation structure is required.
A flexible organic light-emitting display device has been regarded as the next generation display device. Such flexible organic light-emitting display device is fabricated by forming a display area and various conductive lines on a flexible substrate made of plastic or the like so that it can display images even if it is bent like paper.
Applications of such flexible organic light-emitting display devices become wider, including computer monitors and televisions as well as personal portable devices. Accordingly, research is on-going into flexible organic light-emitting display devices having a larger display area with reduced volume and weight.


A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which an operable time of the mobile terminal can be increased in a manner of raising CPU power efficiency of the mobile terminal. The present invention includes a plurality of cores,                a multicore adjuster configured to obtain a frequency of an active core of the plurality of cores, determine whether the obtained frequency exceeds a first threshold value for N consecutive times, wherein N is a positive integer, and activate at least one inactive core of the plurality of cores when the obtained frequency exceeds the first threshold value for N consecutive times, and a frequency adjuster configured to determine a workload of the active core, and adjust the obtained frequency of the active core according to the determined workload.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal, controlling method thereof and recording medium thereof. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for implementing a use of the terminal in further consideration of user's convenience.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, terminals can be classified into mobile/portable terminals and stationary terminals. The mobile terminals can be classified into handheld terminals and vehicle mount terminals again according to possibility of user's direct portability.
As functions of the terminal are diversified, the terminal is implemented as a multimedia player provided with composite functions such as photographing of photos or moving pictures, playback of music or moving picture files, game play, broadcast reception and the like for example.
To support and increase of the terminal functions, it may be able to consider the improvement of structural part and/or software part of the terminal.
A basic role of CPU, which is one of the major components of a mobile terminal, is to perform such a work as operation and computation. For instance, if a user inputs a command of '0+1', the CPU receives the command input, performs operation thereon, and then displays a result of '1'. Moreover, the CPU is capable of data processing to display various kinds of data of document, picture, music, video and the like.
Conventionally, in order to raise performance of CPU, a CPU clock rate is normally raised. Recently, CPU performance is normally raised in a manner of increasing the number of CPU cores. Regarding computer CPU, a core is an essential part of a processing circuit built in the CPU. If the CPU includes a prescribed number of cores, the CPU's performance can become similar to performance that can be provided by a prescribed number of CPUs. For instance, since a dual core CPU is able to finish a work supposed to be processed twice by a single core CPU, its processing performance can become higher than that of the single core CPU.
The advent of such a dual core CPU as Pentium D by Intel, Athlon 64 X2 by AMD and the like has led to the beginning of multi-core CPU and a quad core market of CPU having 4 cores is getting popular. Many ongoing efforts are made to research and develop a hexa-core CPU having 6 cores to an octet core CPU having 8 cores. Hence, it is expected that the number of CPU cores will increase.
A multi-core CPU used to be adopted by a fixed-type computing device is expanding its applicable fields. Regarding smart phones, for example, various dual core smart phones including Optimus X2 by LG Electronics, Galaxy 2 by Samsung, Vega Racer by Pantech, iPhone 4s by Apple, Sensation by HTC and the like have been released since January, 2011. And, Quad core smart phones will be released by LG, HTC, Hauwei and the like in MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2012.
However, if the number of CPU cores of a mobile terminal is increases, it may remarkably enhance user's convenience by increasing a processing speed of the mobile terminal but cause a considerable problem unlike a fixed-type terminal. In particular, since a power keeps being supplied to the fixed-type terminal continuously, the fixed-type terminal is continuously usable unless such an accident as blackout and the like. On the contrary, since a mobile terminal is operable with a capacity-limited battery, a remaining power level of the battery needs to be taken into consideration all the time. In particular, regarding the mobile terminal, the more CPU cores are adopted, the larger the power consumption becomes. And, it may eventually cause a problem that an operable time of the mobile terminal is reduced.

Mobile terminal, controlling method thereof and recording medium thereof


An optical encoder comprising a photointerruptor having light-emitting and light-receiving optical fibers and a rotatable pulse scale disposed in an optical path between both of the opposed end faces of the optical fibers so as to shut the optical path intermittently, thereby generating optical pulses in accordance with an angle of rotation of the pulse scale, in which the light-receiving optical fiber has a larger diameter and a greater numerical aperture NA than those of the light-emitting fiber. The light-emitting optical fiber may be replaced with a light-emitting device. Further, a reflector may be interposed in the optical path. Optical pulse signals indicative of an angle of rotation can be detected effectively and it is possible to facilitate the assembling or wiring operation and reduce the production cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an optical rotary encoder adapted to intermittently shut an optical path of a photointerruptor by the rotation of a rotatable pulse scale and generate and detect optical pulse signals in accordance with an angle of rotation of the pulse scale and, more in particular, it relates to an optical rotary encoder which can be suitably used in severe working circumstances giving undesired effects of electromagnetic noises or vibrations or in a restricted space, for example, a rotary encoder used as a crank angle sensor in a car engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known rotary encoders include those comprising a optical device type photointerruptor using a pair of a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device and an optical fiber type photointerruptor using a pair of a light-emitting optical fiber and a light-receiving optical fiber, as means for detecting optical pulse signals.
The optical rotary encoder of the optical device type photointerrupter comprises a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device disposed on both sides of a coded pattern formed on a pulse scale.
Light from the light-emitting device is irradiated to the pulse scale and optical pulse signals are generated when the optical path of the light is shut intermittenty by the coded pattern upon rotation of the pulse scale, and converted by the light-receiving device into electric signals.
However, when such an optical rotary encoder is used, as for example, a car engine, erroneous operation is caused by electromagnetic noises, etc., making it impossible for accurate pulse detection.
The optical rotary encoder using the optical fiber type photointerruptor includes a transmission type in which ends of a light-emitting optical fiber and a light-receiving optical fiber are opposed to each other on both sides of the pulse scale, and a reflection type in which a light-emitting optical fiber and a light-receiving optical fiber are disposed on one identical side of a pulse scale on which a coded pattern is formed.
The optical fiber type photointerruptor is free from erroneous operation caused by the electromagnetic noises, etc. since detected signals are transmitted in the form of optical signals.
However, in order to minimize the loss of optical transmission, a micro-lens such as a rod lens has to be attached to the top end of each optical fiber. Then, accurate alignment is necessary for the optical axes between the optical fiber and the rod lens attached thereto. Such alignment is necessary between the light-emitting and light-receiving optical fibers as well.
Further, the number of additional parts such as rod lenses and the number of assembling steps are increased to require much production cost.
Further, in the transmission type optical rotary encoder, wiring operation for the light-receiving and light-emitting optical fibers disposed on both sides of the pulse scale is troublesome. In addition, since a quartz type optical fiber used for reducing the optical transmission loss can not be bent with an acute angle, it brings about a difficulty in installing the optical fibers in a restricted space.
Meanwhile, in the reflection type optical rotary encoder, the wiring operation for the light transmitting and receiving optical fibers is relatively easy, but it often causes misalignment for the reflected light upon irregular vibrations of a pulse scale making accurate measurement difficult or even impossible.

Optical rotary encoder having large and small numerical aperture fibers


A method of fan-out processing includes providing or obtaining a fused glass laminate sheet or wafer having a core layer and a first clad layer and a second clad layer, the core layer comprising a core glass having a core glass coefficient of thermal expansion αcore, the first clad layer and the second clad layer each comprising a clad glass having a clad glass coefficient of thermal expansion αclad, where αclad>αcore; affixing integrated circuit devices to the second clad layer of the laminate sheet or wafer; forming a fan-out layer on or above the integrated circuit devices; and removing some of the first clad layer to decrease warp of the sheet or wafer with integrated circuit devices and a fan-out layer thereon. A method of producing a laminate sheet or wafer having a selected CTE is also disclosed.

In the recent past, fan-out wafer level packaging (FO-WLP) and fan-out panel level packaging (FO-PLP) have gotten significant attention in the IC packaging technology arena for their high-degree heterogeneous integration capability, small form factor, and total reduced system cost. With significant adoption of TSMC's "InFO" (integrated fan out) FO-WLP solution, fan-out packaging has gone from core fan-out applications such as baseband, power management, and RF transceivers to more advanced high density fan-out applications such as APEs.
Top challenges today with fan-out packaging include (1) in-process warpage and (2) die shift.
To keep the in-process warpage within specification, a carrier with an optimized coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is desirable. The precise CTE desired depends on many factors, including chip design, the layout of the reconstituted wafer/panel, and the RDL/bump process. Availability of glass substrates with CTEs spaced in 0.1 ppm/° C. increments over a wide range are sought by manufacturers.
Corning's laminated fusion drawn glass process potentially provides a capability for glass production with a continuous spectrum of CTEs by changing the core to clad thickness ratio of the fused laminated sheets and/or by varying the composition of the core and/or clad of the sheets. However, it is costly to vary the composition and/or the thickness ratio in small increments, and some ratios and compositions are outside the capabilities of the laminated fusion drawn glass process or machine. A practical and cost-efficient way to make glass carriers with a fine granularity of selectable CTEs is desirable.
Further, even when starting with a carrier substrate having a CTE well matched to the circuits being packaged, there can still be significant warp induced during fan-out processing (defined as the process of manufacturing the fan-out packaging), since the effective CTE of the layers bonded to the carrier (all on one side of the carrier) and the resulting stress in these layers after deposition is constantly changing with each consecutive process, such as bonding, EMC curing, grinding, multiple alternating polymer and copper depositions, bump plating and ball attaching. The desired CTE of the carrier is generally selected such that the warp induced at any point during the whole process can fall into an acceptable range; but warp is not minimized at each step, or several steps, individually.
To reduce the warpage across the whole process, either stiffer or thicker carrier has to be used. However, due to the technology being used or the manufacturing limits, these solutions may not be feasible. For example, due to its high Young's modulus, glass ceramics may seem to be a good replacement of glass, but they usually have relative low CTEs and transparency may also be an issue since laser de-bonding has become the prevalent de-bonding method in die-up fan-out packaging. Currently >70% transparency at visible light is generally required for laser de-bonding. And newer technologies may require some transparency even in the deep UV range. Similarly, thicker glass carriers can certainly reduce warp. However, a thicker glass means more weight and thus more powerful vacuum chuck is needed, and more significantly, higher stress is produced in the semiconductor layers. Accordingly, there is a maximum thickness that manufacturers are willing or able to accept. An alternative method to minimize warp over all or several steps would be desirable.

Low warp fan-out processing method and production of substrates therefor