A pointing device includes a light source, an aperture member, and a detector. The light source provides incident light for illuminating an obverse surface of a plate at a predetermined incident angle. The plate has the obverse surface and a reverse surface and is transparent to the wavelength of the incident light. The aperture member has an opening through which speckle light from the obverse surface and speckle light from the reverse surface pass. The speckle light results from the incident light. The detector detects the intensity of the speckle light passing through the opening. In order that the speckle light from the obverse surface and the speckle light from the reverse surface overlap each other at the detector, the opening has a longitudinal dimension in a direction in which the incident angle is formed.

Currently, non-mechanical (i.e., optical) mice and pointing devices are commercially available. One example is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3771081. In this technology, an operation surface is illuminated with light at a low incident angle, specifically, 70° to 85°, and the microscopic textures of the surface are detected based on their highlights and shades. In general, an LED (light emitting diode) is often used for the light; a laser diode, particularly, a VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser), may also be used to improve the ability to recognize the microscopic textures.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-50349 discloses a pointing device that includes an optical motion-detecting circuit. This optical motion-detecting circuit determines the amount of movement by illuminating a surface with infrared light and determining a correlation between images based on light reflected from the surface. This motion detecting circuit (included in the pointing device) detects motion in a predetermined direction by correlating a reference frame, which is a digitized output of reflection light obtained by a light detector, and a sample frame, which is the next digitized output obtained after the reference frame.
In addition, for example, a motion detecting device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-246921 has been incorporated into a commercially available pointing device. This device includes a navigation sensor and a light source, such as a laser diode, for producing coherent light. The sensor detects reflection light resulting from light emitted from the light source to determine the amount of movement of a pointing device (e.g., a mouse).
The pointing device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-50349 and 2004-246921, however, may not operate accurately or may malfunction when used on a glass surface. This is because a glass surface is generally very smooth and the pointing device disclosed in these publications cannot detect microscopic textures, which are necessary for the pointing device to successfully perform detection. In addition, the surface roughness of the glass surface is about several nanometers, which is very small compared to the wavelength of incident light and is even very small compared to one pixel of the light detector, which also makes it difficult to detect the microscopic textures.
The signal intensity of the aforementioned reflection light will be briefly described next. In general, in order to detect the intensity of light reflected from a plate surface having a certain surface roughness as a light/dark pattern, it is required that the size of the light/dark pattern be larger than the light wavelength and be substantially the same as the size of one pixel used for detection.
Additionally, since the surface roughness of glass is about several nanometers, which is very small, it is difficult to perform high-sensitivity detection of the amount of change in the intensity of reflection light from such a surface.
With a mirror, the intensity of reflection light is equal to the intensity of incident light. With glass or the like, however, the intensity of reflection light varies depending on the reflection coefficient of its surface (the reflection coefficient depends on the polarization direction and incident angle of light). The average intensity IR of the reflection light is given by:IR=R·IIN  (Expression 1)
where R indicates the reflection coefficient and IIN indicates the intensity of the incident light.
In general, the average intensity Id of speckle light emitted from the surface is given by:Id≈(4πσ/λ)2·IR  (Expression 2)
There are demands for a pointing device, such as an optical mouse, that can be used on a smooth plate, such as a glass plate.

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An insert (510) comprising a core (532) and one or more extensions (530) extending from the core. The insert is adapted to be inserted into a cavity of a hollow tube-shaped member (512). The hollow member can be a motorcycle handlebar or footrest. The insert can be made of metal or a polymer and can be an extrusion product.

A user of any item having a hollow tube shaped portion (e.g., a transportation vehicle, lawn care device, sporting equipment or the like) may experience repetitive vibrations or shock impact in their hands and/or feet while using the item. The repetitive vibrations may lead to use to the user's discomfort including hand or foot pain or numbness, requiring the user to stop using the item for a period of time. There have been a variety of mechanisms designed around the damping of vibrations and shock absorption in transportation vehicles. But there remains a need to improve vibration damping and/or shock absorption in a variety of tube shaped items as users are still experiencing discomfort.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0081677 discloses vibration dampening in a handle by using a relatively soft tube inserted into the interior hollow of the handle. A hard inner core is then placed within the soft tube to provide for vibration dampening.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0257978 discloses a motorcycle handlebar having grip assemblies with a hollow chamber. The hollow chamber is then filled with loose particles, such as lead balls to provide vibration damping. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0123805 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0123804 disclose handlebar grip portions having a filler material, such as non-elastomeric particles including glass beads, to help provide shock absorption.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,342,489 discloses a handlebar vibration damping assembly including a weight and spring. Once the assembly is secured within a handlebar, the weight is able to vibrate and oscillate at different frequencies, thereby damping vibrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,302 discloses a vehicle clamp which can be used as a motorcycle clamp with a vibration dampening insert. The clamp includes mounts for the motorcycle's handlebars and an opening for receiving the steering shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,669,251 discloses an impact and/or vibration absorbent material. The material can be used for articles of clothing, such as gloves, which a user may wear while operating a motorcycle. The material minimizes the effects of impact and/or vibration forces transmitted to the user through the handlebars.
Thus, there remains a need for an article which can be inserted into hollow tube-shaped cavities (including handlebars and/or footrests) to provide vibration damping and/or shock absorption. There remains a need for an insert which may be used with a tube-shaped cavity with minimal modification (such as with an after-market product). There remains a need for an insert which is flexible to conform to the contours of the hollow tube shaped cavity. There also remains a need for an insert which can be produced in a cost-efficient manner and is easily customizable.


A solar panel has n rows of solar cells in a regular grid array. The cells constituting each row are wired in parallel, the rows are wired in series and an equalizing network of n-1 capacitors are connected in electrical series. In a first configuration, a network of switches connects a first capacitor across the first row, and a second capacitor across the second row, and so on until the n-1th capacitor is connected across the cells of the n-1th row. In a second configuration, the switch network connects the first capacitor across the second row, and the second capacitor across the third row, and so on until the n-1th capacitor is connected across the nth row. This causes the voltage across each row to be substantially equal to the voltage across every other row. Since equal voltage is a hallmark of parallel connection, this voltage equalized series connection is referred to as a virtual parallel connection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has to do with and relates to the general field of photovoltaic solar cells and solar panels, and more particularly to the electrical interconnection of arrayed solar cells within solar panels in which individual solar cells may be from time to time shaded or physically obscured in order to produce electrical power from sunlight.
The present invention particularly concerns the electrical connection of solar cells arrayed in a solar panel so that the electrical power output of the solar panel may be more substantially maintained notwithstanding that individual solar cells may be from time to time shaded, and produce less current and less power while so obscured.
2. Background of the Invention
Photovoltaic arrays of solar cells, principally made from silicon, are increasingly used as a low maintenance source of clean energy, emitting zero pollution of any kind. This source produces electrical energy, a thermodynamically "high" energy form, and is inexhaustibly renewable.
Photovoltaic arrays presently in common use typically involve electrical series connection of low voltage solar cells. In this electrical series connection, if one cell is obscured by shadow or physical matter such as avian defecation, it will produce a lower current than an unblocked cell. The entire series string can only produce current in the amount that is available from the obscured or shaded cell. The present invention greatly ameliorates this problem.

Parallel and virtual parallel interconnection of solar cells in solar panels


A turbine-type compressor useful in a gas laser apparatus for flowing gas along a flow path of the laser includes a sealing arrangement about a drive shaft of the compressor for preventing undesirable substances from moving to the compressor impeller along the drive shaft of the compressor and contaminating the laser gas compressed thereby. The sealing arrangement includes a first seal, preferably a vacuum pressure seal, for sealing about the shaft at least during rotation of the shaft, and a second seal comprising a resilient bladder which is selectively expanded and contracted to move into and out of sealing contact with the drive shaft, respectively, for, on one hand, sealing against the shaft when the drive shaft is stationary during pumping down of the laser and, on the other hand, withdrawing the bladder from the shaft when the shaft is rotating. The sealing arrangement is reliable and relatively low cost and uses less gas than a prior art sealing arrangement.

It is known from assignee's own U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,111 to employ a turbine-type compressor in a fast axial flow gas laser for circulating the laser gas in a closed loop through the laser tube at speeds approaching the speed of sound in the laser gas. The impeller of the turbine-type compressor is rotatably supported on a drive shaft of the compressor. Lubricated bearings rotatably support the drive shaft. To avoid contamination of the laser gas with lubricant from the bearings and atmospheric gas, a fluid seal is provided about the compressor drive shaft between the impeller and the bearings to prevent lubricant and atmospheric gas from moving to the impeller along the drive shaft.
The known sealing arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,111 comprises a tungsten carbide mating ring which is sealingly attached to the drive shaft at a location between the bearings and the impeller for rotation with the shaft. A pair of annular, spaced, stationary carbon members with low friction sliding faces are positioned on respective sides of the mating ring and are yieldably biased against the mating ring by springs. The faces of the mating ring adjacent the stationary carbon members each have a spiral groove formed therein. The grooves extend from a location radially outward of the opposed faces of the stationary members to a location between opposed contacting faces of the ring and members.
When a sealing gas is supplied to the seal, rotation of the compressor drive shaft and mating ring thereon causes the spiral grooves in the ring faces to pump the sealing gas between the ring and stationary members which moves the members away from the ring by a small distance. The sealing gas, which may be the same gas used as the laser gas, is supplied to the fluid seal at a pressure slightly higher than atmospheric pressure so that during rotation of the drive shaft the sealing gas flows through the small gap between the opposed faces of the mating ring and stationary members and along the drive shaft to act as a seal against migration of bearing lubricant and atmospheric gas in the direction of the impeller. Sealing gas moving in the direction of the laser is permitted to enter the laser as make-up gas.
In addition to the aforementioned dynamic seal, this known fluid seal also provides a static seal, e.g. when the compressor shaft is not rotating, such as during pumping down of the gas pressure in the laser. The static seal is achieved by means of the faces of the mating ring closely contacting the opposed faces of the stationary carbon members with these components being sealed by O-rings with the shaft and seal housing, respectively. This known fluid seal, which seals during both dynamic and static conditions of the compressor drive shaft, is relatively costly and can present a problem in reliability under certain conditions such as impure gases and fluid and particles. There is a need for an improved sealing arrangement and method for preventing undesirable substances from moving to the impeller of a compressor along a drive shaft of the compressor which overcome these drawbacks of the prior art.

Sealing method and arrangement for turbine compressor and laser employing same


In one aspect there is provided a method for reporting measurements from a wireless device to a network node in a wireless communication network. In some embodiments, the method includes: obtaining at least one measurement configuration for performing at least one measurement; obtaining an uplink (UL) transmission configuration; performing at least one measurement to obtain at least one measurement result; and reporting the at least one measurement result to the network node by applying the obtained UL transmission configuration. The UL transmission configuration comprises at least one parameter associated with a repetition level of an uplink signal to be used by the wireless device for reporting at least one measurement result to the network node, the repetition level of the uplink signal being at least partially dependent on a type of measurement and/or event for which the at least one measurement is performed.

I. Machine Type Communication (MTC) Devices
A mobile wireless communication system must support a diverse set of use cases and a diverse set of deployment scenarios. One use case or deployment scenario that is expected to become more common in an increasingly interconnected world is machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (or aka machine type communication (MTC)), which refers to establishment of communication between machines and/or between machines and humans. M2M communication may comprise of exchange of data, signaling, measurement data, configuration information etc. The size of M2M devices may vary from that of a wallet to that of a base station. The M2M devices are quite often used for applications like sensing environmental conditions (e.g. temperature reading), metering or measurement (e.g. electricity usage etc.), fault finding or error detection etc. In these applications the M2M devices are active very seldom but over a consecutive duration depending upon the type of service e.g. about 200 ms once every 2 seconds, about 500 ms every 60 minutes etc. The M2M device may also do measurement on other frequencies or other RATs.
An M2M or MTC device is typically expected to be of low cost and low complexity. A low complexity wireless device envisaged for M2M operation may implement one or more low cost features like, smaller downlink and uplink maximum transport block size (e.g. 1000 bits) and/or reduced downlink channel bandwidth of 1.4 MHz for data channel (e.g. PDSCH). A low cost device may also include a half-duplex (HD-FDD) communication link capability and/or one or more of the following additional features: a single receiver (1 Rx), a smaller downlink and/or an uplink maximum transport block size (e.g. 1000 bits) and reduced downlink channel bandwidth of 1.4 MHz for a data channel. A low cost device or UE may also be termed as a low complexity device or UE.
The path loss between an M2M device and the base station can be very large in some scenarios such as when the M2M device is used as a sensor or metering device located in a remote location such as in the basement of the building. In such scenarios the reception of a signal from a base station or other transmission point is very challenging. For example, the path loss can be worse than 20 dB compared to normal operation. In order to cope with such challenges the coverage in uplink and/or in downlink has to be substantially enhanced with respect to the normal coverage (i.e., legacy coverage). This is realized by employing one or a plurality of advanced techniques in the UE and/or in the radio network node for enhancing the coverage. Some non-limiting examples of such advanced techniques include (but are not limited to) transmit power boosting, repetition of transmitted signal, applying additional redundancy to the transmitted signal, use of advanced/enhanced receiver etc. In general, when employing such coverage enhancing techniques the M2M device is regarded to be operating in a "coverage enhancement mode". Moreover, a low complexity UE (e.g. UE with 1 Rx) may be capable of supporting a coverage enhancement mode of operation.
II. Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT)
The Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IOT) is a radio access scheme for cellular internet of things (IOT), based to a great extent on a non-backward-compatible variant of E-UTRA, that addresses improved indoor coverage, support for massive number of low throughput devices, low delay sensitivity, ultra-low device cost, low device power consumption and (optimized) network architecture.
The NB-IOT carrier bandwidth (Bw2) is 200 KHz. Examples of operating bandwidth (Bw1) of LTE are 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz. 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz etc.
NB-IoT supports 3 different deployment scenarios:
A first deployment scenario is "stand-alone operation" utilizing for example the spectrum currently being used by GERAN systems as a replacement of one or more GSM carriers. In principle it operates on any carrier frequency which is neither within the carrier of another system not within the guard band of another system's operating carrier. The other system can be another NB-IOT operation or any other RAT, such as LTE.
A second deployment scenario is "guard band operation" utilizing the unused resource blocks within a LTE carrier's guard-band. The term guard band may also interchangeably be called as guard bandwidth. As an example in case of LTE bandwidth of 20 MHz (i.e. Bw1=20 MHz or 100 RBs), the guard band operation of NB-IOT can be placed anywhere outside the central 18 MHz but within 20 MHz LTE BW.
A third deployment scenario is "in-band operation" utilizing resource blocks within a normal LTE carrier. The in-band operation may also interchangeably be called in-bandwidth operation. More generally the operation of one RAT within the bandwidth of another RAT is also called as in-band operation. As an example, in a LTE bandwidth of 50 RBs (i.e. Bw1=10 MHz or 50 RBs), NB-IOT operation over one resource block (RB) within the 50 RBs is called in-band operation.
In NB-IOT the downlink transmission is based on OFDM with 15 kHz subcarrier spacing and same symbol and cyclic prefix durations as for legacy LTE for all the scenarios: standalone, guard-band, and in-band. For UL transmission, both multi-tone transmissions based with a 15 kHz subcarrier spacing on SC-FDMA, and single tone transmission, with either 3.75 kHz or 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, is supported.
Downlink transmission is based on OFDM with 15 kHz sub-carrier spacing. Uplink transmission is based on SC-FDMA, supporting single tone or multi-tone (3, 6 or 12 tones) transmissions.
III. Cell Search
In an FDD configuration of LTE, downlink (DL) subframe #0 and subframe #5 carry synchronization signals (i.e. both PSS and SSS). In TDD configurations the two pairs of synchronization signals per radio frame are carried by subframes 0 and 1, and 5 and 6, respectively. For brevity and to simplify discussion, cell search is described herein with reference to only an FDD configuration. There are however no significant differences regarding cell search in FDD and TDD systems, hence the description can easily be adapted to TDD scenarios.
In order to identify an unknown cell (e.g., a new neighbor cell) a wireless device acquires the timing of that cell and eventually the physical cell ID (PCI). Subsequently the wireless device also measures RSRP and/or RSRQ of the newly identified cell in order to use by itself (in case of wireless device-controlled mobility in idle mode) and/or report the measurement to the network node. In total there are 504 PCIs.
Therefore, the UE searches or identifies a cell (i.e. acquires the PCI of the cell) by correlating the received PSS/SSS signals in DL subframe #0 and/or in DL subframe #5 with one or more of the pre-defined PSS/SSS sequences. The use of subframe #0 and/or in DL subframe #5 for PCI acquisition depends upon the wireless device implementation. The wireless device regularly attempts to identify neighbor cells on at least the serving carrier frequenc(ies). But it may also search cells on non-serving carrier(s) when configured by the network node to do so. In order to minimize wireless device power consumption, typically the wireless device searches in one of the DL subframes that carries synchronization signals, i.e., #0 or #5. In order to further save its battery power the wireless device searches for newly detectable neighbor cells on the intra-frequency carrier once every 40 ms in non-DRX or in a short DRX cycle (e.g. up to 40 ms). In longer DRX cycles the wireless device typically searches for newly detectable neighbor cells once every DRX cycle. During each search attempt the wireless device typically stores a snapshot of radio samples of 5-6 ms and post processes those samples by correlating the stored signals with the known PSS/SSS sequences. The reason for acquiring 5-6 ms of radio samples is that in case the neighbor cell(s) are not synchronous to the serving cell, the wireless device does not know where exactly to find the synchronization signal, but knows that there will be one such signal transmitted every 5 ms. In non-DRX the wireless device is able to identify an intra-frequency cell (including RSRS/RSRQ measurements) within 800 ms (i.e. 20 attempts in total including 15 and 5 samples, respectively, for cell identification (PCI acquisition) and RSRP/RSRQ measurement).
The current search requirements for eMTC/feMTC depend on the coverage mode which includes CEModeA and CEModeB or normal coverage and enhanced coverage. The coverage modes and the different coverage areas for eMTC/feMTC/Nb-IOT are described in the detailed description section below. In CONNECTED state, the eMTC/feMTC UE may need gaps in order to perform the cell search procedure since the wireless device channel bandwidth can be limited and it can be anywhere within the system bandwidth. But the PSS/SSS are always transmitted on the central 6 PRBs. The gaps are used by the wireless device to retune to the central PRBs to read and acquire the PCI of the cell. Hence, the cell identification delays are much longer than what is typically required for LTE wireless devices. In addition, the delays depend also on the gap pattern ID.
The intra-frequency category M1 CEModeA cell identification delay and measurement delay are specified in Table 18.104.22.168.1.1-1 from 3GPP TS 36.133 v13.6.0, which specifies the following requirements on cell identification delay and measurement delay for an FDD intrafrequency cell:
Cell identification delayMeasurement delayGap(Tidentify_intra_UE (Tmeasure_intra_UEpattern IDcat M1)cat M1)01.44 seconds480 ms12.88 seconds960 ms
The corresponding intra-frequency category M1 CEModeB requirements depends on the Ês/iot of an already identified cell and a neighbouring cell which is being detected as follows:
SCH Ês/IotofalreadyNeigh-identified ouringcellcellincludingSCHCell identificationMeasurementservingÊs/lot:delaydelaycell: Q1Q2(Tidentify_intra_UE cat M1)(Tmeasure_intra_UE cat M1)−15 ≤ −15 ≤ As defined in tableAs defined in tableQ1 < −6Q2 < 220.127.116.11.1.1-184.108.40.206.1.1-1−6−15 ≤ Q2 ≥ Requirements inRequirements inQ1 < −6−6clause 8.13.2 of TSclause 8.13.2 of TS36.133 apply36.133 applyQ1 ≥- 6Q2 ≥ Requirements inRequirements in−6clause 8.13.2 of TSclause 8.13.2 of36.133 apply36.133 apply
Table 18.104.22.168.1.1-1 from 3GPP TS 36.133 v13.6.0, referenced by the table above, specifies the following requirements on cell identification delay and measurement delay for FDD intrafrequency cell:
GapCell identification Measurement patterndelaydelayID(Tidentify_intra_UE cat M1)(Tmeasure_intra_UE cat M1)0320.8 s 800 ms1321.6 s1600 ms
For NB-IOT, also known as UE category NB1, the release 13 cell identification requirements are defined in IDLE state. Similar to category M1, these requirements also depend on the coverage mode. The requirements are more relaxed for the enhanced coverage compared to normal coverage and it also depends on the Es/Iot of the already detect cell. However, since the NB-IOT cell search is performed in IDLE state gaps are not needed. For shortest DRX cycle length, the detection delay is specified as 51 seconds in normal coverage and the measurement period as 1.28 seconds. However, corresponding requirements in enhanced coverage is up to 532 seconds while the measurement period remains the same as in normal coverage. The exact requirements can be found in Table 184.108.40.206-1 in TS 36.133 v13.6.0 for normal coverage and Table 126.96.36.199-3 in 36.133 v13.6.0 for enhanced coverage.
IV. Wireless Device Measurements
Radio measurements done by a wireless device are typically performed on a serving cell as well as on neighbour cells over some known reference symbols or pilot sequences. The measurements are done on cells on an intra-frequency carrier, inter-frequency carrier(s) as well as on inter-RAT carriers(s) (depending upon the UE capability whether it supports that RAT). To enable inter-frequency and inter-RAT measurements for the wireless device requiring gaps, the network configures the measurement gaps.
The measurements are done for various purposes. Some example measurement purposes are: mobility, positioning, self-organizing network (SON), minimization of drive tests (MDT), operation and maintenance (O&M), network planning and optimization etc. Examples of measurements in an LTE network are Cell identification (also called PCI acquisition), Reference Symbol Received Power (RSRP), Reference Symbol Received Quality (RSRQ), SNR, BLER, NRSRP, NRSRQ, S-RSRP, RS-SINR, CSI-RSRP, acquisition of system information (SI), cell global ID (CGI) acquisition. Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), UE RX-TX time difference measurement, RTT, TOA, TDOA, AOA, Radio Link Monitoring (RLM), which consists of Out of Synchronization (out of sync) detection and In Synchronization (in-sync) detection etc. CSI measurements performed by the wireless device are used for scheduling, link adaptation etc. by network. Examples of CSI measurements or CSI reports are CQI, PMI, RI etc. They may be performed on reference signals like CRS, CSI-RS or DMRS.
The measurements may be unidirectional (e.g., DL or UL) or bidirectional (e.g., having UL and DL components such as Rx-Tx, RTT, etc).
The DL subframe #0 and subframe #5 carry synchronization signals (i.e. both PSS and SSS). In order to identify an unknown cell (e.g. new neighbor cell) the wireless device acquires the timing of that cell and eventually the physical cell ID (PCI). This is called cell search or cell identification or even cell detection. Subsequently the wireless device also measures RSRP and/or RSRQ of the newly identified cell in order to use itself and/or report the measurement to the network node. In total there are 504 PCIs. The cell search is also a type of measurement.
The measurements are done in all RRC states, i.e. in RRC idle and RRC connected states.
Any of the above measurements performed by the wireless device can be reported by the wireless device to another node e.g., network node, another wireless device etc.

Measurement reporting under extended coverage


A panoramic system can receive content (e.g., live video) recorded in a landscape orientation and use a portrait dynamic crop window to display a portrait area of the received content. The panoramic system can further display the content in a landscape dynamic crop window that has a moveable user interface control that can pan the portrait crop window as the content plays in one or both of the dynamic crop windows.

There are different types of recording approaches, including recording in landscape mode or portrait mode. Content recorded in one mode often plays poorly on a device configured for the other mode. For example, viewing widescreen video on a smartphone phone held upright (i.e., in portrait mode) can cause the widescreen video to be shrunken so that it fits the screen. Likewise, viewing vertical video on a widescreen player often causes the vertical video to be displayed in the middle of the widescreen viewing area with large swaths of space left unused, which results in a poor user viewing experience.


A facility for conducting a real-time conversation in which the selected one of a number of participants utilizes a silent mode is described. Remark spoken by participants other than the selected one are transformed into text and displayed for the selected participant. Remarks entered textually by the selected participant are transformed into speech and played audibly for participants other than the selected one.

A variety of approaches exist to conducting two-wavy voice communication between people who are in different places, including, for example, public-switched telephone network calls (in some cases involving cellular or other wireless communications on behalf of at least some of the participants), voice over IP calls, push-to-talk connections among predetermined participants provided by wireless carriers, etc. All of these modalities are capable of facilitating real-time voice communication between two or more participants, during which all the participants can hear any speech uttered by any of the participants.

Selectable silent mode for real-time audio communication system


A method for obtaining a composite material part from a preform of layers of fibers pre-impregnated with resin stacked on top of one another on a tool, the preform being delimited by a lower surface, an upper surface, and a peripheral flank. The method includes attaching to the tool, after the last layer has been laid, a peripheral part comprising a wing adapted to cover the peripheral edge of the upper surface, so as to create, in the periphery of the preform, a peripheral cavity adjacent to the flank of the preform and, before the polymerization phase, to withdraw the gas present in the peripheral cavity so as to tension filaments of the preform by exerting a traction force at the ends of the filaments.

The present invention relates to a method for obtaining a composite material part incorporating a tensioning step of the filaments, as well as a tool for implementation of the method.
A composite material part is constituted of fibers embedded in a resin matrix. The invention more particularly relates to the manufacturing of a composite material part from a preform of pre-impregnated fibers subjected to a polymerization cycle during which the fiber preform is compressed and subjected to a rise in temperature.
For certain material composite parts, the preform is obtained by stacking, on a convex tool, layers of pre-impregnated fibers on top of one another, the fibers being placed according to orientations, predetermined as a function of the mechanical characteristics which are sought. According to a mode of operation, each layer is constituted of juxtaposed fiber strips, the fibers being oriented along one direction for each strip. Generally, the fibers are constituted of several filaments and the thickness of the strip can vary as a function of the weight per unit area, and more particularly the number of filaments per fiber.
When the laying surface of the strips is developable and/or presents a non-pronounced radius of curvature, the strip is in contact with the laying surface over its entire width and entire length. In this case, the filaments of the strips all have almost the same tension.
This is very different when the laying surface is not developable. This is particularly the case of the composite material walls having a dual curvature as the nose fuselage of an aircraft or parts having variable thicknesses such as a longeron of an aircraft wing which has a section, variable over its entire length.
In the case of a non-developable surface, there is a difference of length between a first trajectory imposed by the surface on the filaments located in the area of the edges of the strip and a second trajectory imposed by the surface on the filaments located in the area of the other edge of the strip. Insofar as the filaments of the strip are quasi-inextensible, the filaments arranged near one of the edges will be tensioned whereas the filaments arranged in the area of the other edge will be compressed and will thus undulate.
There is also non-uniformity of the tensions of the filaments when strips having a high weight per unit area, and thus a great thickness, are laid over a small radius of curvature on the order of 10 to 30 mm, for example. Indeed, the filaments arranged in the area of the inner radius are compressed and tend to undulate.
The non-uniformity of the tensions of the filaments trapped in the resin matrix after polymerization causes a decrease of the mechanical characteristics of the part being manufactured. Indeed, the progressive mechanical loading of such a part causes a traction force to be exerted only on the filaments tensioned at first, then by increasing the load on the filaments somewhat less tensioned, and so forth, until the filaments the least tensioned, the most tensioned reaching their resistance limit to traction and being ready to break.
There are solutions to limit the risks of undulation, but none is entirely satisfactory.
A first solution includes laying the strips with much control, avoiding any play and overlapping of the strips. Indeed, the compressed filaments have a tendency to slacken in the overlapping and play zones, creating undulations therein. In the absence of such zones, even the compressed filaments tend to keep their positions. Even if this solution makes it possible to limit the risks of undulation, it does not solve the problem of non-uniformity of the tensions of the filaments and causes a significant decrease in productivity.
In the case of a non-developable surface, another solution includes deviating from the rule of orientation of the fibers imposed by the research department by favoring laying trajectories that are closer to the geodesic trajectories imposed by the laying surface. This solution causes the mechanical characteristics of the part to be reduced. In addition, it does not overcome the undulation risks in the case of a laying in the area of a strongly pronounced radius of curvature.
In the case of a non-developable surface, another solution includes reducing the width of the strip so as to limit the length difference between the trajectory followed by the filaments laid in the area of a first edge of the strip and the trajectory followed by the filaments laid in the area of the other edge of the strip. This solution is not satisfactory as it causes the number of strips to be increased, and thus the productivity to be significantly lowered. According to another limitation, it does not solve the problems related to laying a strip in the area of a very pronounced radius of curvature.
In the case of a very pronounced radius of curvature, a solution includes limiting the thickness of the strip (low weight per unit area). This solution is not satisfactory as it causes the number of layers to be laid to be increased and thus reduces productivity significantly. In addition, it does not solve the problems related to laying a strip on a non-developable surface.
Consequently, the methods of the prior art do not provide optimum results in terms of quality and productivity.
Therefore, the present invention aims at overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.

Method for obtaining a composite material part incorporating a tensioning step of the filaments and tool for its implementation


An electronic entity includes contact communication elements (4) and remote communication elements (6). Members (2, K) are also provided to authorize an exchange of certain data at least via the remote communication elements based on the prior reception of an instruction via the contact communication elements. A terminal for communication with such an electronic entity as well as methods for controlling and for customizing the electronic entity are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an electronic entity with contact communication means and remote communication means, a communication terminal with such an electronic entity, and methods of controlling and personalizing that electronic entity.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic entity, such as a microcircuit card, for example, which generally includes electronic circuits adapted to store information, has means for communication with the outside world, in order in particular to exchange information held by the electronic entity with external devices, of the reader or terminal type.
Among the communication means commonly used, a distinction is made between contact communication means, for which physical contact between the electronic entity and the terminal is a necessary condition for setting up communication, and remote communication means, thanks to which communication between the electronic entity and a reader is possible without physical contact between these two elements, generally with a range of the order of a few centimeters.
Moreover, certain electronic entities combine communication means of the aforementioned two types, in which case the "contact" and "contactless" modes of operation can be organized in accordance with the required functions of the device for each of the communication modes, as described for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,495 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,713.
Although the use of contactless communication means is known for its practicality (because no accurate positioning of the electronic entity is necessary for the exchange of information), it nevertheless has the drawback of a risk of unintentional exchange of information, for example through setting up communication not wanted by the user on passing near a reader. This problem is particularly serious if the electronic entity holds confidential information, as in the case of an electronic passport, for example.
Attempts have therefore already been made in the art to apply measures to avoid this unwanted exchange of data, sometimes known as "antiskimming" measures.
In this line of thinking, it is proposed in patent application WO 99/16019 to place a switch on the upper face of a microcircuit card to make the reception of data by the card possible only after activation of the switch. However adding such a switch to the electronic entity gives rise to problems of production and reliability, (for example in the case of repetitive flexing of the electronic entity as defined by the ISO standard 7816), and increases its fabrication cost.
This is probably why it is proposed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,029 to use a switch of the capacitive type, better adapted to the general composition of electronic entities carrying information, in particular in the case of microcircuit cards. Although this solution reduces the problems that have just been referred to, it does not succeed in avoiding them completely.
Moreover, the solutions that have just been outlined lack flexibility and in particular rule out envisaging limiting access to the contactless communication mode, for example by means of a password.

Electronic entity with contact and remote communication means


An electrical interconnection device comprising a body of elastic insulating material through which extends at least one duct and at least one conducting element inserted into the duct to establish therein an electrical contact with another conducting element whereas a bearing shoulder formed between a rod and a head of the conducting element is applied against the body in the vicinity of the duct and prevents the full penetration of the conducting element into the duct, the device being usable in particular in electronic mountings.

The present invention relates to an electrical interconnection device.
This type of device is intended to provide contacts between different electrical components or conductors. It may for example be a part of an electronic mounting or be integrated into a connector.
These devices usually comprise a rigid insulating support in which are mounted conducting elements providing the desired contact. One is seeking two properties to guarantee the safety of the contact: the pressure and the attendance. The pressure is bound to the bearing force between the contact surfaces and the attendance is the capability of the contact to maintain itself during some displacement of the conducting elements.
To obtain these two properties the conducting elements of the device are in general mounted with elasticity with respect to the rigid insulating support. A first possibility consists in interposing elastic members such as springs between the conducting elements and the support. These elastic members increase the number of parts hence the cost of the device. They may moreover give rise to mounting problems when the device is of small size. Another possibility consists in imparting elastic properties to the conducting elements themselves. But these elastic properties are difficult to provide in a reliable manner when the conducting elements are of small size. Furthermore these elastic properties are impairing themselves after several connections and disconnections of the components. The object of the present invention is to remove the inconveniences hereabove and to simplify the structure of the known interconnection devices.


A turbine brush seal protection device includes an annular substrate having an outer periphery and defining a slot open at the outer periphery. The slot is for receiving a portion of an annular brush seal of a gas turbine subassembly during installation of a gas turbine and such that the annular substrate at least partially covers the annular brush seal of the gas turbine subassembly. The annular substrate at the outer periphery and within the slot thereof is removably mounted to a stationary portion of the gas turbine subassembly. A turbine brush seal protection method includes the steps of providing the annular substrate, placing the annular substrate over a portion of an annular brush seal of a gas turbine subassembly such that the seal portion is inside the slot of the annular substrate during installation of a gas turbine and the annular substrate at least partially covers the annular brush seal of the gas turbine subassembly, mounting the annular substrate at the outer periphery and within the slot thereof to a stationary portion of the gas turbine subassembly, and removing the annular substrate from the stationary portion of the gas turbine subassembly before completion of installation of the gas turbine subassembly.

The present invention generally relates to turbine subassemblies and, more particularly, is concerned with a turbine brush seal protection device and method.
A gas turbine subassembly has a stator, a rotor and a brush seal of annular configuration attached to the stator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,829 to Wolfe et al., which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses such a gas turbine subassembly.
The brush seal is generally installed before the rotor at an intermediate stage in the turbine assembling process. The brush seal surrounds the rotor after installation of the rotor. Typically, bristles of the brush seal are exposed while workers perform a variety of operations including heavy lifting in close proximity to the brush seal bristles. It is not uncommon for workers to walk inside the turbine casing and, possibly, to walk on the brush seal during installation of various turbine components. Damage to the bristles of the brush seal has been observed in turbine installations.
Though brush seals often have a coating of wax on the bristles, this does not provide adequate protection of the bristles during turbine installation. Currently, there is no known means for adequately protecting the bristles of brush seals during turbine installation. Consequently, a need exists for an innovation which will provide a solution to the aforementioned problem in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.

Turbine brush seal protection device and method


Threshold-based zero-crossing detection is provided. A power phase threshold detector detects when absolute value of a voltage level of the electrical power rises above a non-zero voltage threshold and outputs a zero-crossing signal to a controller to indicate occurrence of the zero-crossing. Delaying the zero-crossing signal to the point when the absolute value of the voltage level of the electrical power rises above the non-zero voltage threshold ensures completion of the zero-crossing of the power phase prior to signaling the controller. The controller provides signals to a switching circuit for controlling switching of electrical power to a load based on the zero-crossing indications.

In an electrical load dimmer, a technique known as zero-crossing detection is conventionally employed, wherein the dimmer is synchronized with one or more phases of an input line voltage to enable the dimmer to properly fire a load-controlling switch, such as a TRIAC, at specific Ftimes with respect to the input line phase. More specifically, a zero-crossing is detected by detecting a change in voltage polarity of the input line voltage. In other words, zero-crossing is detected when the input line voltage changes polarity at the zero volt level, which triggers a signal in the microprocessor that the voltage level has crossed zero volts.
In prior art designs, zero-crossings of an input line phase are detected by detecting a change in the polarity of the voltage across an input line terminal and an output load terminal (that is, in two-wire devices without a neutral connection), or across the input line terminal and return neutral or ground wire terminal (in three-wire devices with a neutral connection or two-wire devices using a ground leakage path).

Threshold-based zero-crossing detection in an electrical dimmer


The present invention provides a new recursive FIR filter scheme which supports a variable order short-term predictor, and uses a pipeline stall based on the radix-2 algorithm and an autocorrelation processing time for reducing the complexity of MPEG-4 ALS hardware implementation.

Users of multimedia products get more demanding on high-quality audio service, and a lossless audio coding technique has been standardized as MPEG-4 ALS for accommodating the demand of the market.
MPEG-4 ALS consists of two main parts such as forward linear prediction and entropy coding.
In forward linear prediction, the optimal predictor coefficients are usually estimated for each block by the autocorrelation method.
The autocorrelation method may use the Levinson-Durbin algorithm. The autocorrelation method has additionally the advantage of providing a simple means that iteratively adapts the order of the predictor. Such Linear Prediction Coefficients (LPCs) are used for short-term predictors, and generally implemented with an FIR filter.
However, MPEG-4 ALS supports the LPCs order up to 1023 with the bit resolution of 32-bit Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), and the wide range of the filter order highly increases the complexity of short-term predictors. Particularly, the short-term predictors are most complicated in implementing the MPEG-4 ALS encoder.
The processing time of short-term predictors depends on the calculation time of linear prediction filter coefficients, and various architectures have been proposed in order to provide high-speed and area-efficient implementations for the FIR filter based short-term predictor.
However, such architectures do not consider the timing problem and area efficiency in pipeline scheme that have not been perfectly matched in coefficient calculation time of MPEG-4 ALS.


Systems and methods consistent with the present invention may be used as part of determining whether to chargeback a purchase transaction amount to a merchant. To this end, the system may heuristically analyze purchase transaction data to determine which transactions to analyze for chargeback processing. For instance, the system may identify purchase transactions that are likely to qualify for a chargeback. For the identified purchase transactions, the system may then determine an expected value for each transaction in terms of received revenue from chargeback processing and the costs for performing a chargeback. Using the expected values for this transaction data, the system may then prioritize which purchase transactions to review for chargeback to a respective merchant.

Credit issuing businesses and other financial institutions often have difficulty with the non-payment of debt, such as credit card debt. In some cases, a financial institution does not receive payment because the customer is unable to afford payment. In other cases, a customer may intentionally not pay because the customer believes a purchase transaction that was made using the customer's account was fraudulent. In either case, the non-payment of debt may cost a financial institution millions of dollars a year in revenue.
Instead of seeking recovery of the debt from the consumer, the financial institution may be able to recover a payment for a purchase transaction from a merchant associated with that transaction. Requiring the merchant to pay for the purchase transaction may stem from certain obligations the merchant may be under in accepting a customer's financial account device (e.g., a credit card) as payment for the transaction. For instance, when accepting a customer's credit card as payment, the merchant is typically obligated to verify the customer's signature, confirm the account is not expired, and obtain authorization from the financial institution that issued the credit card. Such obligations are typically part of an agreement the merchant may have with a credit card organization, such as MasterCard™ or Visa™, and/or the financial institution that issued the credit card. If the merchant does not comply with these obligations and the customer does not pay, then the merchant may be responsible for paying the transaction amount—even though the financial institution (e.g., the credit card issuer) already paid the merchant on behalf of the customer for the purchase transaction. The act of recovering payment from the merchant is referred to as a "chargeback." That is, the financial institution charges back the merchant for the amount of the purchase transaction. Further, in some cases, the chargeback may be done via the merchant's bank (e.g., the financial may charge the merchant's bank for the purchase transaction and the bank will then recover payment from the merchant).
Most financial institutions will thus attempt to chargeback the merchant in appropriate circumstances. However, determining whether a purchase transaction can be charged back to merchant is typically time consuming. A problem may thus occur when the cost of determining whether the transaction can be charged back exceeds the amount of any payment recovered. Indeed, a financial institution may spend substantial time determining whether a particular transaction can be charged back, only to learn that it cannot. Accordingly, a financial institution may incur substantial costs in processing transactions for chargeback or even incur a loss if the money spent processing such transactions exceeds any payments actually charged back to merchants.
Currently, financial institutions do not consider the cost of performing a merchant chargeback analysis, or the probability that an particular transaction will actually be charged back, when determining whether to chargeback a transaction. For example, a financial institution may simply analyze all accounts to determine whether any unpaid transactions on those accounts may be charged back to a merchant. The financial institution may thus review each transaction to determine whether the merchant followed the procedures it was obligated to perform (e.g., obtaining the customer's signature) in completing the purchase transaction. This way of processing transactions for chargeback is thus costly and inefficient. Indeed, this process typically results in charging back only about 35% of all transactions reviewed. The financial institution has thus reviewed nearly every account, even though only a low percentage of transactions are actually charged back. Accordingly, the financial institution does not effectively reduce its expenses, and thus maximize its profits, in appropriately charging back merchants for purchase transactions.
In view of the foregoing, there is presently a need for an improved system and method for managing purchase transaction data as part of determining whether to chargeback a particular transaction to a merchant. Specifically, there is a need to target only those purchase transactions that are likely to be charged back to a merchant, thereby reducing costs and maximizing profits of the financial institution.

Systems and methods for processing transaction data to perform a merchant chargeback


A piston pump for the hydraulic energy supply in a motor vehicle, comprising a piston that is movably arranged in a stepped bore of an accommodating member that is provided with a closure, the piston carries a seat for an elastic sealing element which accommodates the sealing element with axial play, and with radial elastic preload for the purpose of sealing between piston and cylinder. The seat for the sealing element has a structure which generates forces pointing radially towards a piston axis and expanding the sealing element in a radial direction, and that the structure produces an elastic deformation of the sealing element for an increased and dosed sealing contact pressure between piston and cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piston pump which is used for supplying a hydraulic energy in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern piston pumps for use in driving dynamics control systems for motor vehicles suffer from the problem that new functions require from the pump to have an extended useful life and to operate against high system pressure at an increasing rate. In this case, the system pressure can principally prevail both on the suction side and the pressure side of the piston pump. This problem is encountered, for example, in the case of an electrohydraulic parking brake in which it is desired to trigger the parking brake function by a pressure pulse of the pump.
Circumstances and marginal conditions of this type place very high demands on the components of the pump such as the sealing elements employed in particular. Their resistance to wear and slot extrusion is of special interest.
In the case of slot extrusion, a back of a sealing element on the low-pressure side is urged into a slot as a consequence of the prevailing difference in pressure. To avoid this effect, the sealing element is required to exhibit a certain ability of bridging the slot or a certain shearing resistance. If the shearing resistance is not sufficient, the back of the seal will move into the slot, where it is destroyed. This process is still supported by the fact that the accommodating bore for the piston expands at least slightly when exposed to the internal pressure and compresses again abruptly when relieved from load. The quasi elastic breathing process has as an effect that the sealing material disposed in the slot is unable to re-deform in time, in particular at low temperatures. So-called extrusion tabs can develop at the sealing element which will extend with continuous time of application. In the final stage, the seal will fail because no sufficient sealing function is safeguarded due to changed distributions of radial stress in the sealing element. The major influences for the slot extrusion are the slot 'S' that must be sealed radially, the system pressure 'P', the radial profile width of the sealing element 'T', the nominal diameter 'd' and the working temperature 'T' as well as the elasticity of the sealing element 'E'. The extrusion behavior can be influenced by the conception of all mentioned variables. However, mainly the physical material properties of the seal are of decisive importance under thermal load.
Thermoplastic elastomers such as EPDM, thermoplasts such as PTFE as well as materials belonging to the group of the thermoplastic urethanes are used for sealing elements in many cases. The physical properties of the materials will change with rising temperature to the disadvantage of extrusion safety. Usually, TPU materials (thermoplastic polyurethanes) can withstand temperatures up to 100° C. EPDM and PTFE will withstand up to roughly 120° C. In these cases the system pressure is limited so that a combination of maximum temperature at maximum pressure should be avoided. Alternatively, the slide slot 'S' should be reduced for such cases, what has considerable consequences related to works economy in the series manufacture.
According to the abstract of JP 2000-110737, a piston is furnished with an annular groove into which a ring seal is embedded that is dynamically sealing at a cylinder wall. To constructively enhance the resistance to extrusion, the document discloses to provide an annular slot at the seal's back between a piston and a piston accommodation in a greatly expanded fashion as well as with a wedge-like tapering profile. The intention of this procedure is to provide the sealing element with an expanded space for deformation into which the sealing element may enter and also exit again elastically.
Potential shearing damage at the sealing element is avoided in the prior art measure by tolerating a reduced support of the sealing element within the groove. This can have as a result a reduced sealing effect and also a reduced guiding function. The reason is that an expansion of the sealing element into the wedge-shaped slot causes a reduction of the contact pressure between cylinder and sealing element.


A method of producing a layout for a mask for use in semiconductor production includes a two-stage, iterative optimization of the position of scatter bars in relation to main structures being carried out. In a first stage, following first production of scatter bars and carrying out an OPC, scatter bars are again generated based on the corrected main structures. A renewed OPC is then carried out, followed by the renewed formation of scatter bars. This is repeated until the layout has been optimized sufficiently. Then, in the second stage, defocused exposure of the layout is simulated and, if required, further adaptation of the scatter bars is carried out. The first and second iterative stages can also be employed independently of each other. The common factor in the iterations is that the scatter bar positions are varied with each iteration and is therefore optimized.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to producing fine structures on substrates in lithographic methods for producing structures of microelectronic components by using projection exposure. The invention also relates to a computer program for executing a method for optimizing and a method for producing a layout for a mask.
The wavelengths used in projection exposure are nowadays greater than the smallest dimensions of the structures to be produced on the substrate. Therefore, diffraction effects play a major part in imaging the structures. Diffraction effects flatten the intensity gradient at the edge of a structure because of light being scattered during the exposure of closely adjacent structures.
The unsharpness (i.e. fuzziness) of edges that are produced thereby and the resulting size distortion depend in principle on the relative proximity of the structures on the substrate, the optical wavelength, and the numerical aperture of the exposure device. Thus, given the same exposure (that is to say the same wavelength and numerical aperture), two structures that actually have the same dimensions exhibit different dimensions following exposure, depending on how closely these structures lie to other parts of the exposed layout. The phase and coherence of the light also has an influence. This change in the size relationships as a function of the relative proximity of the structures is called the xe2x80x9cproximity effectxe2x80x9d.
In order to reduce the proximity effect, it is known to carry out an optical proximity correction (OPC) of the structure before creating the mask. An OPC is conducted to ensure that the finished structures on the substrate actually have the sizes envisaged in the layout. The sizes are not obvious because, during the production of a microelectronic component, size changes may occur (for example as a result of the proximity effect mentioned). These are compensated by the OPC.
In that case, the OPC can be conducted by using a simulation program (simulation-based OPC) or a rule-based software system (rule-based OPC).
In order to improve the sharpness of the image in lithography, U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,770 issued to Chen et al. additionally discloses the practice of applying thin lines between the structures on the mask. These lines are so thin that they are not themselves imaged on the substrate by exposure. These scatter bars, as they are known, influence the intensity gradients at the edges of the structures, so that differences between closely packed parts of the structure and further spaced parts of the structures are compensated for. In this case, the scatter bars are disposed at predeterminable intervals parallel to parts of the structure. When placing the scatter bars, an intended ideal distance from the main structures is maintained when compatible with the layout.
The size reduction in semiconductor production has in the meantime progressed so far that structure sizes are smaller than the wavelength of the light used in the lithographic step. The smaller the structure sizes, the more important it is to modify the layouts by using OPC before mask production to account for diffraction effects during the optical imaging.
When the two methods are combined (OPC and scatter bars), however, the following difficulty arises because of their mutual effect: simulation-based OPC has to be carried out while accounting for the lithographic influence of the scatter bars, for which reason the latter has to be generated in the original layout before the correction. Because the dimensions of the main structures are changed by the OPC, deviations in the distances between main structures and scatter bars from the desired ideal distance occur simultaneously. If the scatter bars move too closely to the main structures, then their optical influence becomes so high that the exposure and fabrication tolerances lead to uncontrollable results; on the other hand, if they move too far away, then their positive influence on the process window is lost.
These problems have hitherto been solved by the distance of the scatter bars from the main structures in the original layout (before the correction) having been chosen to be so large that, with the maximum permissible broadening of the main structures as a result of OPC, a necessary minimum distance of the scatter bars from the corrected main structures was guaranteed. As a result, an undesirably large distance from the main structures was produced for the majority of these scatter bars. This forfeits some of the positive influence on the process window.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method for optimizing and a method for producing a layout for a mask, preferably for use in semiconductor production, and a computer program therefor, that overcome the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and that reduce the problems in the prior art.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method of optimizing a layout for a mask for use in semiconductor production. The layout has main structures and scatter bars. The method includes the following steps. The first step is (a) defining one or more of the main structures. The next step is (b) defining one or more of the scatter bars in accordance with predetermined rules. The next step is (c) carrying out an OPC on the main structures while accounting for the scatter bars. The next step is (d) comparing the corrected main structures with the main structures before step (c). The next step is (e) repeating steps (b) to (e) based on the corrected main structures, depending on the comparison in step (d). In the following text, the above-described method will be designated xe2x80x9cIteration Axe2x80x9d.
The scatter bars can consequently be iteratively matched optimally to the main structures corrected by using OPC by using the method of the invention.
In particular, the comparison in step (d) can be a comparison of the layers of the main structures, and the definition of the scatter bars in step (b) can be carried out on the basis of the position of the main structures and, when step (b) is repeated, on the basis of a mean value along the edges of the main structures before and after the preceding OPC. As a result, it is possible to avoid, for example, a situation where the scatter bars running along the edges of the corrected main structures are divided into excessively small portions. For instance, in the case of only slight fluctuations in the width of a corrected structure, it is expedient to calculate a mean value relative to which the position of a scatter bar can then be defined.
In general, the iteration should be terminated when the maximum or mean distance of the main structures between two successive iteration steps lies below a predefinable threshold value.
In one refinement of the invention, steps (b) to (e) are repeated if the largest change in a parameter as a result of OPC lies above a predetermined threshold value. By suitably defining the threshold value, the level of optimization of the method to the requirements in semiconductor production can be adapted individually. In this case, the parameter is advantageously a distance between two main structures. An alternative or additional termination criterion can be defined by the OPC grid, that is to say the iteration is terminated as soon as the variation between two successive iteration steps lies below the resolution of the OPC grid.
In another refinement, steps (b) to (e) are repeated only when the main structures do not remain unchanged by the OPC. In this refinement, a higher number of iterations is generally necessary, but this results in a higher level of optimization.
Depending on the refinement, when step (b) is repeated, the position and/or the dimensions of one or more of the scatter bars may be changed. Likewise, during the OPC, the position and/or the dimensions of one or more of the main structures may be changed.
In summary, the iteratively generated scatter bars possess the ideal spacing from the main structures. As a result, the positive influence comes to bear fully on the process window, otherwise than in the case of known methods. At the same time, the danger of falling below the necessary minimum distance of the scatter bars from the main structures is ruled out.
The method can be employed generally for the production of scatter bars, irrespective of its specific software implementation or the OPC and with only slightly widened rules.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a method of producing a layout for a mask for use in semiconductor production, the layout having main structures and scatter bars, having the following steps:
(axe2x80x2) or (f) simulating a defocused exposure of the mask for imaging at least one of the main structures;
(bxe2x80x2) or (g) comparing the main structures obtained in step (axe2x80x2) or (f) with reference main structures; and
(cxe2x80x2) or (h) varying at least one of the scatter bars and repeating steps (axe2x80x2) or (f) to (cxe2x80x2) or (h) based on the comparison in step (bxe2x80x2) or (g).
In the following text, the above-described method will be designated xe2x80x9cIteration Bxe2x80x9d.
As a result of Iteration B, according to the invention, the scatter bars are consequently optimized with regard to possible defocusing of the light during lithography. Such defocusing can occur, for example, on account of irregularities on the surface of wafers, as a result of which the distance between wafer surface and light source varies.
In particular, Iteration B permits refinement of the structures created by Iteration A: the corrections explained in conjunction with Iteration A are carried out under xe2x80x9cbest focusxe2x80x9d conditions, as they are known: that is, under the assumption that the light used to expose the mask is focused optimally onto the wafer lying underneath. The ideal distance of scatter bars from the main structures is distinguished by the fact that the lithographic imaging of the main structures remains as stable as possible even in the event of defocusing: that is, approximately independent of the focusing over a certain area. Iteration B is based on the finding that this ideal state is not constant for all situations but depends on the structure width and the position of other adjacent structures.
Therefore, Iteration B can optimize the distances obtained by Iteration A and determined for the ideal state (best possible focusing) further for possible defocusing during the actual semiconductor production. This means that, through Iteration B, optimization is achieved irrespective of the ideal focusing. Iteration B can therefore advantageously follow Iteration A directly.
In step (axe2x80x2) or (f), a simulation of a defocused exposure of the mask at the edge of the process window is advantageously carried out. The edge of the process window designates that area which a predefined tolerance of the structure width because of defocusing is just still maintained. Therefore, defocusing at the edge of the process window also comes to bear to the greatest extent.
Step (axe2x80x2) or (f) is additionally advantageously repeated with different defocusings. In step (bxe2x80x2) or (g), each of the main structures obtained with different defocusings are compared with the reference main structures. In this way, optimization of the scatter bars for different defocusings can be achieved, which results in a greater tolerance with respect to wafer irregularities during semiconductor production.
Steps (axe2x80x2) or (f) to (cxe2x80x2) or (h) are advantageously repeated when the greatest change in the parameter of the main structures with respect to the reference main structures lies above a predetermined threshold value. By defining the threshold value, the tolerance of the layout with respect to focusing fluctuations during production can be controlled.
The reference main structures are preferably formed by the initial main structures in the layout configuration. Alternatively, the reference main structures can also be formed by xe2x80x9ctargetsxe2x80x9d on the wafer.
The optimization of the scatter bars is preferably averaged for the various simulated defocusings, so that the most far-reaching independence of the focusing actually established during the production results.
The parameter is preferably a distance between a main structure and a reference main structure, and the comparison in step (bxe2x80x2) or (g) is a comparison of the edges of the main structures.
In one refinement, during variation of the scatter bars in step (cxe2x80x2) or (h), a displacement of one or more of the scatter bars by an amount proportional to the difference between the simulated width of one or more of the main structures and one or more predetermined threshold values is carried out. As a result, the number of iteration steps necessary for the optimization can be reduced.
During variation of at least one of the scatter bars in step (cxe2x80x2) or (h), the position and/or the dimensions of the at least one scatter bar can be varied.
As already mentioned above, an Iteration A is preferably followed by an Iteration B. Iteration A can then be carried out, followed by a further Iteration B. With each iteration, the layout is optimized further and therefore an enlargement of the usable process window is achieved. Further subsequent Iterations A and B are possible. Termination conditions that correspond to sufficient optimization of the layout preferably are defined for this purpose.
According to the invention, a computer program is additionally created to execute the method steps described above on a computer. The possibility of optimizing a semiconductor layout by computer simulation is therefore provided.
In summary, it should be noted that the common factor in both iterations is that the position of the scatter bars is varied and therefore optimized with each iteration step, specifically on the basis of a comparison of corrected (Iteration A) or simulated (Iteration B) main structures with reference structures (for example the main structures before correction in the case of Iteration A, or initial structures in the case of Iteration B).
Moreover, according to the invention, a method is provided for producing a semiconductor layout having at least one main structure and at least one scatter bar. The method has the following steps. The first step is (a) defining the position and/or dimensions of the main structure. The next step is (b) defining the position and/or dimensions of the scatter bar relative to those of the main structure. The next step is (c) carrying out an OPC of the main structure, taking account of the scatter bar. The next step is (d) comparing the position and/or dimensions of the main structures before and after step (c). The next step is (e) repeating steps (b) to (e) based on the corrected main structure, if the position and/or dimensions of the main structure before step (c) differ from those after step (c) by more than one or more predetermined values. The next step is (axe2x80x2) or (f) simulating a defocused image of the main structure by exposing the layout. The next step is (bxe2x80x2) or (g) comparing the position and/or dimensions of the simulated defocused image of the main structure with one or more predetermined values. The next step is (cxe2x80x2) or (h) varying the length and/or dimensions of the scatter bar and repeating steps (axe2x80x2) or (f) to (cxe2x80x2) or (h) if this deviation in the position and/or dimensions of the simulated defocused image of the main structure from the predetermined values is greater than a likewise predetermined further value.
In this method, Iterations A and B are combined for the most far-reaching optimization.
As indicated further above, the predetermined values can depend on the original structures in the layout configuration or else on targets for the wafer.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a computer program for executing the above-described methods on a computer.
Other features that are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method for optimizing and method for producing a layout for a mask, preferably for use in semiconductor production, and computer program therefor, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

Method for optimizing and method for producing a layout for a mask, preferably for use in semiconductor production, and computer program therefor


An electro-mechanical transducer includes a plurality of independent elements. Each of the plurality of independent elements includes one of a substrate and a foundation film, a first electrode of oxide disposed on the one of the substrate and the foundation film, an electro-mechanical transducer film disposed on the first electrode, a second electrode of oxide disposed on the electro-mechanical transducer film, and a third electrode of metal formed on the first electrode as a common electrode conductive to the first electrode and common to at least two of the plurality of independent elements.

1. Field of the Disclosure
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electro-mechanical transducer usable as a piezoelectric actuator of an inkjet recording head, a liquid ejection head including the electro-mechanical transducer, and a liquid ejection apparatus including the liquid ejection head.
2. Description of the Background
Image forming apparatuses are used as printers, facsimile machines, copiers, plotters, or multi-functional peripherals having two or more of the foregoing capabilities. As one type of image forming apparatus employing a liquid-ejection recording method, an inkjet recording apparatus is known that uses a recording head formed with a liquid ejection head (liquid-droplet ejection head) for ejecting droplets of ink.
For example, such a liquid-ejection head (inkjet recording head) of the inkjet recording apparatus may have a configuration like that illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the liquid-ejection head includes a nozzle 102 through which ink droplets are ejected, a pressure chamber 101 (also referred to as, for example, a pressure chamber, ink channel, pressurization liquid chamber, or liquid chamber) connected to the nozzle 102, an electro-mechanical transducer 109, such as a piezoelectric element that pressurizes ink within the pressure chamber 101 (or an electro-thermal conversion element such as a heater), a diaphragm foundation member 105 that forms a wall surface of an ink channel, and an energy generator formed with electrodes facing the diaphragm 105. The energy generator generates energy to compress the ink in the pressure chamber 101, thereby ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle 102. In FIG. 1, a voltage is applied to a lower electrode 106 and an upper electrode 108 of the electro-mechanical transducer 109 to vibrate the electro-mechanical transducer 109, thereby generating the above-mentioned energy. The liquid ejection head further includes a nozzle plate 103, a pressure-chamber substrate (Si substrate) 104, and an electro-mechanical transducer film 107.
Two types of inkjet recording heads are in practical use: an inkjet recording head using a vertical-vibration-type piezoelectric actuator that extends and contracts in an axial direction of an electro-mechanical transducer, and an inkjet recording head using a flexural-vibration-type piezoelectric actuator.
For an inkjet recording head using a flexural-vibration-type piezoelectric actuator, for example, a piezoelectric material layer is uniformly formed over a whole surface of a diaphragm by coating and the piezoelectric material layer is cut into a shape corresponding to a pressure chamber by lithography to form a piezoelectric element, so that pressure chambers are separated from each other.
The piezoelectric element used in the flexural-vibration-type piezoelectric actuator includes, for example, a lower electrode serving as a common electrode common to multiple elements, a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) film (piezoelectric layer) on the lower electrode, an upper electrode serving as an independent electrode formed on the PZT film, an interlayer insulation film formed on the upper electrode that insulates the lower electrode from the upper electrode, and a wire electrically connected to the upper electrode via a contact hole formed in the interlayer insulation film (for example, as in JP-3365485-B and JP-4218309-B.
However, the lower electrode serving as the common electrode described in an exemplary embodiment of the above-mentioned patent documents is a metal electrode containing, for example, Pt. Such an electrode may deteriorate due to dispersion of lead (Pb) contained in PZT, which may degrade fatigue resistance. Further, the desired cohesion of the metal electrode with the piezoelectric layer may not be obtained, causing reduced reliability.
Alternatively, to reduce initial flexure of a diaphragm constituting an inkjet recording head, JP-3019845-B proposes a piezoelectric element (including a lower electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and an upper electrode) that is formed via a diaphragm and in which at least one layer used together the piezoelectric layer is a compression film having compression stress, in which the compression film is a metal oxide film to prevent dispersion of lead.
However, in a case in which the lower electrode is a metal oxide film, the lower electrode is commonly provided for a plurality of piezoelectric elements. Consequently, when the plurality of piezoelectric elements is simultaneously driven to eject a large number of ink droplets at a time, the resulting voltage drop can destabilize the degree of displacement of the independent piezoelectric elements, thus degrading ink ejection characteristics. Further, in a case in which the lower electrode is an oxide electrode, the specific resistance value of the oxide electrode is approximately 101 to 103 times greater than that of the metal electrode, which may easily cause the above-described degraded ejection characteristics.

Electro-mechanical transducer, method of making the transducer, liquid ejection head including the transducer, and liquid ejection apparatus including the head


A method for operating a controller, including: executing a first task-program in a first time pattern of first time-slots, performing a second task-program in a second time pattern of second time-slots, ascertaining a status variable, indicating whether a result of the first task-program is released, ascertaining the result of the first task-program in an instantaneous first time-slot and transmitted in this slot to a memory area assigned to the second task-program, the second task-program ascertains a second result as a function of the status variable value and the result of the first task-program, the status variable value is transmitted in the instantaneous time-slot to a status memory area assigned to the second task-program, the result of the first task-program and the status variables values are ascertained and transmitted after the beginning of execution of the first task-program and before another execution of the first task-program.

A method is discussed in DE 10 2009 026 995 A1 for operating a bus system, in particular, a CAN bus. Multiple stations are connectable to the bus system. A transmitted message includes an identifier, one particular identifier (for example, IDENT2) invariably being allowed to be used by only one single station. Each of the stations compares the identifier of a transmitted message with the identifiers (for example, IDENT2) used by that station itself. In the event of a match, an error message is generated.
A method for operating a controller is discussed in DE 2014 216 381 A1, the controller including at least one execution unit configured to execute task programs, a first task program and a second task program being executed at least temporarily, the first task program sending a notification to a first execution unit, which the second task program executes, the notification signaling to the second task program and/or to the execution unit executing the second task program that the first task program is ready to receive data from the second task program.

Operating a controller in a motor vehicle according to different time slots


An instrument panel which is supported at a cowl panel at a front-side portion thereof is provided. The cowl panel includes an upper face wall which faces to a windshield from below, a bending portion which is formed at a rear end of the upper face wall and bendable in a vehicle collision, and a rear face wall which extends downward from the bending portion and has a lower portion connecting to a dash panel. The instrument panel includes a first restriction portion to restrict a downward move of the instrument panel by contacting the upper face wall of the cowl member, and a second restriction portion to restrict an upward move of the instrument panel by said rear face wall of the cowl member at a lower portion of the front-side portion thereof.

The present invention relates to an instrument panel support structure of a vehicle, and in particular, relates to an instrument panel support structure of a vehicle which is equipped with restriction portions to respectively restrict a move, in a vertical direction, of a front-side portion of an instrument panel.
Conventionally, an instrument panel of a vehicle is comprised of a large-sized synthetic-resin article which extends over a whole width of a vehicle compartment, and an air-conditioning unit, an audio unit, plural ducts and others are provided inside this instrument panel. The instrument panel is assembled in a separate assembly line which is different from a vehicle assembling line. In a later step after frames of a vehicle body are assembled, this assembled instrument panel is carried into the vehicle compartment through an ingress-and-egress opening where side doors are attached, then moved forward, and fixed to a particular bracket which is provided at a cowl panel supporting a lower edge portion of a windshield (front window). Thus, the instrument panel is assembled to the vehicle body.
Since the synthetic-resin made instrument panel is provided in an engine room via a dash panel and some electric-component units are stored inside the instrument panel, the instrument panel tends to receive the heat influence from inside or outside thereof. Further, the instrument panel has a shape in which the length, in a vehicle width direction, thereof is relatively long, so that a portion of the instrument panel may warp (curve) vertically in the vehicle width direction. Accordingly, some technologies as countermeasures against this improper warp of the instrument panel which may be caused by this thermal expansion have been proposed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-208574 discloses an instrument panel attachment structure which comprises a synthetic-resin made instrument panel, an air box (cowl box) having a closed cross section which extends in a vehicle width direction and is formed by a box-forming portion and a box-forming panel (cowl panel) which extend upward from a dash upper panel, and a projection portion extending rearward from a rear face wall of the air box and a positioning pin, wherein an engagement projection contacting a lower face of the projection portion and a locate bracket into which the positioning pin can be inserted are formed integrally with a front-side portion of the instrument panel. According to the above-described instrument panel attachment structure, the above-described warp in the vehicle width direction of the instrument panel can be prevented properly, without providing any particular bracket for attaching the instrument panel.
The cowl panel supporting a lower edge portion of the windshield constitutes, together with the dash upper panel (may be called as "cowl member"), the cowl box which has a corner portion and extends in the vehicle width direction. This cowl box is required to have an impact-absorption function that the rigidity of a front portion of a vehicle body can be ensured, while the impact acting on a pedestrian falling down onto a bonnet (engine hood) in a vehicle's collision against the pedestrian can be reduced. Therefore, some pedestrian protection structure, in which the cowl box is movable rearward and upward relative to the vehicle body when the impact load acts on the cowl box from the vehicle front, has been proposed in order to increase the impact-absorption performance for the pedestrian.
There has been recently a tendency that a slant angle of the windshield is designed to be large (great) to improve the aerodynamics or designing of the vehicle. Such a vehicle with the large (great) slant angle of the windshield has a concern that a gap between the windshield and the cowl panel is so narrow that it may be difficult to ensure a working space for attaching the instrument panel properly. In particular, in an instrument panel support structure in which the instrument panel is kept at a high level and carried forward, then lowered to the particular bracket provided at the cowl panel, and finally assembled to the vehicle body, there is a concern that the attaching works may deteriorate improperly. Further, it may be required to make the gap between the windshield and the cowl panel narrower in order to ensure the impact-absorption function of the cowl panel from a pedestrian-protection perspective. In this case, the similar concern described above may occur.
Since the engagement projection contacting the lower face of the projection portion and the locate bracket into which the positioning pin can be inserted are formed integrally with the front-side portion of the instrument panel in the instrument panel attachment structure disclosed in the above-described patent publication, the engagement projection and the locate bracket are engaged with the projection portion provided at the cowl panel and the positioning pin when the instrument panel is assembled to the vehicle body. However, according to the above-described instrument panel attachment structure, the cowl box is not movable rearward and upward relative to the vehicle body in the collision of the vehicle against the pedestrian, so that there is a concern that the impact acting on the pedestrian may not be reduced properly.

Instrument panel support structure of vehicle


A dynamic joint support having proximal and distal support sections and means for rigidly connecting each support section to bone and a pair of hinges connecting each support section to each other and pivoting at the joint to cause movement of the support section and its corresponding attached bone through the movements of flexion and extension. The hinge may be driven in its movement by a gear mechanism which may be disengaged by means of a clutch. The dynamic joint support may also include a distraction mechanism for movement of the bones out of contact in the joint, while allowing for an active range of motion at the joint.

Flexion contractures or a tendency for muscles, tendons or scar tissue to shorten in skeletal joints are common after trauma and represent a major challenge in the care of such injuries. For example, a contracture of 30.degree.-40.degree. in the elbow can severely reduce upper extremity function.
Contracture and stiffness of the finger joints due to trauma, burns, or arthritis limits the overall function of the hand. Motion of the proximal interphalangeal joint of the finger is especially important, as this joint accounts for more than 50% of the total active motion of the finger.
Current approaches to the treatment of joint trauma have more aggressively sought to prevent contracture and stiffness through movement. Methods of rigid internal fixation with sufficient stability to allow motion within days after injury rather than closed treatment and immobilization in a cast have been developed. In the treatment of dislocations, protected early motion is now begun as soon as the patient is comfortably able to do so.
However, the currently available techniques for the prevention of contracture are not uniformly successful. Early active motion alone can reduce the severity of contracture, but requires the patient's own strength, compliance and constant effort and proper alignment and tracking of the joint cannot be insured. Passive stretching by a therapist can be done on a very limited basis and is applied slowly, but such therapy risks the formation of heterotopic bone and myositis ossifications. Passive stretching is not generally useful at the PIP joint, as it is painful and not uniformly successful. Dynamic splints may be used, but these require pressure on the sometimes sensitive or injured soft tissues, e.g. of the arm and forearm, and may not be possible, i.e. burn injury, or may reduce patient compliance. Examples of such splinting devices include a turnbuckle orthosis or cast, reverse dynamic sling, polycentric cast brace hinges, or a hinged orthoses with rubber band traction.
Continuous passive motion (CPM) devices have been developed which provide early motion gains, but these devices do not normally allow the joint to come to the extremes of motion which are the areas of greatest need. Further, these devices are not designed to insure accurate tracking or stability of the joint, but instead for example, in the elbow device, move the wrist relative to the shoulder or the humerus. These devices also rely on direct pressure on the soft tissues and skin, and thus are subject to the same limitations as the external splints discussed above.
Flexion-extension hinge distractors are hinged external fixators which are designed to hold the joints such as the elbow in distraction while permitting an active range of motion. These include the Volkov elbow hinge-distractor and the Deland and Walker hinge distractor. These devices require the placement of a pin or wire into or in close proximity to the kinematic axis of the elbow, with the pin acting as the mechanical axis of the device. Because these devices are difficult to align over the axis of rotation, pin tracking problems can occur. Furthermore, the mechanical axis cannot be realigned without reinsertion of the pin. In addition, these systems do not permit passive driving of the joint through a range of motion.
An additional problem associated with the flexion-fixation hinge distractors is the placement of pins in close proximity to the joint. Because of the movement of skin over and relative to underlying bone, movement of the skin in this area with normal flexion and extension of the joint in relation to a stationary pin can cause skin irritation and lead to infection. Such placement of the pins may also interfere with the treatment of a fracture by internal fixation.
Contracture and stiffness of the finger joints after trauma is currently prevented by immediate physical therapy of the involved digit. However, it is often difficult to achieve full active motion of the finger because soft tissue swelling and pain prevent the patient from maximal compliance during the critical first weeks of healing. If motion of the injured PIP joint is not initiated and maximized, scar formation around the joint becomes very strong. Later attempts to gain motion at the joint are then prevented by the strength of the scar tissue and the mechanical disadvantage of the passive splint or exercise program. Bony injury or joint instability often precludes actively or passively moving the digit through an effective range of motion, because motion risks redislocation or displacement of the skeletal elements on either side of the joint, or of the joint itself.
Because of limitations with the currently available methods to prevent or treat joint injuries, patients often require surgical soft tissue release to improve the range of motion. Surgical release of contracture must be followed by many months of intensive therapy and splinting to maintain the gains in motion. Such maintenance is not uniformly successful, as the splinting and traditional therapies applied suffer from the same limitations as discussed above. Moreover, oftentimes the cost of surgery and therapy, as well as the costs in time, lost wages and rehabilitation can be significant.