A semiconductor device has a configuration wherein a resistor that restricts overvoltage is inserted between an input terminal and the drain of JFETs, and the resistor is disposed on the JFETs. Also, the resistor is formed contiguously and integrally with a spiral form high breakdown voltage high resistance element that configures a resistive voltage divider circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a switching power supply control IC, and a switching power supply device in which the switching power supply control IC is mounted.
2. Related Art
A switching power supply control IC (hereafter referred to as a "control IC") is a dedicated IC for controlling an individual high breakdown voltage switching transistor. The IC forms its own power supply in an operating state by causing a high breakdown voltage switching transistor to operate, but a supply of starting current from a starting circuit is necessary when starting up. Normally, the starting circuit is integrated on the same semiconductor substrate as the control IC, because of which a reduction in part quantity and a simplification of the power supply system is realized.
The starting current is a rectified input alternating current signal of 100 to 240V AC, and in order to supply the starting current to the starting circuit, a normally-on element upstream of the starting circuit needs a breakdown voltage of 450V or more. As the normally-on element is monolithically integrated with the switching power supply control IC, the normally-on element is realized as a lateral high breakdown voltage junction field effect transistor (lateral high breakdown voltage JFET). The design specifications of a switching power supply device are determined in accordance with the current drive capability of the element.
FIG. 22 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of an existing switching power supply device 700. As shown in FIG. 22, the switching power supply device 700 incorporates an unshown resistor (hereafter referred to as a brown-out resistor) for detecting a drop in AC input voltage inside a starting circuit 41 of a control IC 31. See Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2008-153636 (also referred to herein as "PTL 1"). Although a resistor 91 is omitted in PTL 1, it is shown in FIG. 22. The resistor 91 is an overvoltage control resistor that reduces overvoltage before the voltage is input into a VH terminal 32, so that no overvoltage such as an ESD surge or lightning surge is applied to the VH terminal 32.
FIG. 23 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of the starting circuit 41 mounted in the switching power supply device of FIG. 22. As shown in FIG. 23, the starting circuit 41 includes a VH terminal (high voltage input terminal) 61, a BO terminal (brown-out input terminal) 62, an on/off terminal (on/off signal input terminal) 63, and a VCC terminal (power supply voltage terminal) 64. The VH terminal 61 and VCC terminal 64 are connected respectively to the VH terminal 32 and a VCC terminal 35 of the control IC 31. The on/off terminal 63 is connected to an undervoltage lockout circuit 42.
Also, the starting circuit 41 includes a starting element 65. The starting element 65 includes two high breakdown voltage JFETs 81 and 82 and a series resistor circuit formed of two resistors 73 and 74. The BO terminal 62 is connected to an intermediate node of the series resistor circuit formed of the resistors 73 and 74. The series resistor circuit formed of the resistors 73 and 74 is connected to the VH terminal 61.
Also, the BO terminal 62 is connected to a non-inversion input terminal (+terminal) of a BO comparator 44. That is, voltage that is voltage input into the VH terminal 61 and divided by the resistors 73 and 74 is input into the non-inversion input terminal of the BO comparator 44.
The two JFETs 81 and 82 are normally-on junction field effect transistors, and the gate terminals thereof are grounded. Also, the drain terminals of the two JFETs 81 and 82 are both connected to the VH terminal 61. The source terminal of the first JFET 81 is connected to the source terminal of a first PMOS transistor 67 and the source terminal of a second PMOS transistor 69.
The gate terminal of the first PMOS transistor 67 is connected to both the gate terminal and drain terminal of the second PMOS transistor 69. The drain terminal of the second PMOS transistor 69 is connected to a load 70. A first NMOS transistor 68 is connected between the drain terminal of the first PMOS transistor 67 and the VCC terminal 64.
The gate terminal of the first NMOS transistor 68 is connected via a resistor 66 to the source terminal of the second JFET 82. Also, the gate terminal of the first NMOS transistor 68 is connected to the drain terminal of a second NMOS transistor 71. The gate terminal of the second NMOS transistor 71 is connected to the on/off terminal 63. The source terminal of the second NMOS transistor 71 is grounded. Also, the gate terminal of the second NMOS transistor 71 is grounded via a resistor 72.
The starting circuit 41 with this kind of configuration is such that the current flowing through the second PMOS transistor 69 is determined by the voltage-current characteristics of the second PMOS transistor 69 and the impedance of the load 70. The second PMOS transistor 69 and first PMOS transistor 67 are current mirror-connected. Further, while the W/L value of the second PMOS transistor 69 is 1, the W/L value of the first PMOS transistor 67 is 100. W and L are the channel width and channel length respectively. Consequently, current 100 times larger than that of the second PMOS transistor 69 flows through the first PMOS transistor 67. W and L are the channel width and channel length respectively.
The first NMOS transistor 68 functions as a switch that switches between an on-state and an off-state based on an on/off signal supplied via the on/off terminal 63 from the undervoltage lockout circuit 42. When the on/off signal is in a Low state, the second NMOS transistor 71 switches to an off-state, and a high voltage is input into the gate terminal of the first NMOS transistor 68, because of which the switch switches to an on-state. Owing to the switch switching to an on-state, current is supplied from the starting circuit 41 to the VCC terminal 35 of the control IC 31 when starting up the power supply.
Meanwhile, when the on/off signal is in a High state, the second NMOS transistor 71 switches to an on-state, and the gate voltage of the first NMOS transistor 68 becomes zero, because of which the switch switches to an off-state. Consequently, the current path between the VH terminal 61 and VCC terminal 64 is interrupted, because of which the supply of current from the starting circuit 41 to the VCC terminal 35 is stopped.
In order to clearly show the characteristics of a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device is shown in FIG. 24 with metal wiring, an interlayer dielectric, and a LOCOS oxide film omitted. The semiconductor device configures the starting element 65. Also, hatching indicating a cross-section is omitted from FIG. 25 in order to facilitate viewing of the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 24 and FIG. 25, a p-type well region that forms a gate region 102 is selectively formed in a surface layer of a p-type substrate 101. The gate region 102 forms a channel region in which a channel is formed. Also, a low concentration n-type well region that forms a drift region 103 is selectively formed in a surface layer of the p-type substrate 101 so as to penetrate by a predetermined distance into one portion of the gate region 102. Furthermore, a high concentration n-type well region that forms a source region 104 is selectively formed in, for example, eight places in a surface layer of the p-type substrate 101 into which the drift region 103 penetrates.
A high concentration n-type well region that forms a drain region 105 is selectively formed in a place in a surface layer of the p-type substrate 101 distanced from the source region 104, opposing the source region 104. The source region 104 is formed on the circumference of a circle at regular intervals from the drain region 105.
A gate polysilicon electrode 107 is formed as a control electrode so as to straddle the gate region 102 and drift region 103 in a place in which the drift region 103 comes into contact with the gate region 102. An interlayer dielectric 109 is provided on a LOCOS oxide film 108, the gate polysilicon electrode 107, the gate region 102, the source region 104, and the drain region 105.
A high breakdown voltage high resistance element 121 is embedded in the interlayer dielectric 109 in a region between the drain region 105 and the gate region 102 or source region 104. Metal wiring that forms gate electrode wiring 106, metal wiring that forms drain electrode wiring 110, metal wiring that forms first source electrode wiring 112, metal wiring that forms second source electrode wiring 113, metal wiring that forms first resistor connection wiring 122, and metal wiring that forms second resistor connection wiring 123, are formed on the interlayer dielectric 109.
The gate electrode wiring 106 is electrically connected to the gate region 102 and gate polysilicon electrode 107 via a gate contact portion 114 and polysilicon contact portion 115 that penetrate the interlayer dielectric 109.
The drain electrode wiring 110 is electrically connected to the drain region 105 via a drain contact portion 116 that penetrates the interlayer dielectric 109. As the drain region 105 is a drain region common to the first JFET 81 and second JFET 82, the drain electrode wiring 110 is connected to the VH terminal 61 of the starting circuit 41.
The first source electrode wiring 112 is electrically connected to seven source regions 104. The second source electrode wiring 113 is electrically connected to the other source region 104.
Also, it is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2006-121808 (also referred to herein as "PTL 2") that when the switching power supply IC is installed in a product (switching power supply), a protective circuit including a thyristor or the like is connected to the exterior of the switching power supply control IC in order to protect the switching power supply control IC from overvoltage, such as lightning surge voltage, applied from the AC input line.
Also, in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. JP-A-2003-39160 and JP-A-2004-23894 (also referred to herein as "PTL 3" and "PTL 4", respectively), again in order to protect the IC from overvoltage, it is described that a circuit controlling switching operation is incorporated by providing a voltage monitoring function inside the switching power supply control IC.
In PTL 1, however, the resistor 91, which has an overvoltage restricting effect, is attached to the exterior of the control IC 31 so that overvoltage such as ESD surge or lightning surge is not directly applied to the VH terminal. Therefore, assembly time is required when fabricating the switching power supply device, and the quantity of parts increases. Furthermore, the device size increases.
Also, in PTL 2 to 4, it is necessary to exercise extreme care with regard to the assembly environment of the switching power supply device, or alternatively, as heretofore described, to reduce overvoltage by adding an external protective part having a resistance component, such as an external resistor or thyristor, so that overvoltage such as electrostatic discharge (ESD) is not applied to the input terminal of the starting element. In either case, an external part is necessary, because of which the cost and mounting area of the switching power supply device increase.
Also, when a voltage monitoring function is provided inside the control IC 31, as shown in PTL 4, the circuit controlling switching operation is such that the control function comes into effect under conditions wherein switching operation is established, because of which resistance to static electricity is inadequate at a stage before installation in a power supply system. In the same way, the restricting function does not combat overvoltage generated at a stage such as a standby state before switching operation is established.

Semiconductor device, switching power supply control IC, and switching power supply device


The present invention provides an efficient process for culturing viruses in the presence of an endonuclease and for producing vaccines, typically from live attenuated viruses, under conditions to reduce the presence of host cell DNA and eliminate the need for a post-harvest DNA digestion step.

The use of cell culture technology for the production of vaccines is critical for the large scale production of many vaccines based on replication-competent viruses (e.g., live attenuated viruses and inactivated viruses) in use today. Many attempts have therefore been undertaken in the art to utilize standard tissue culture technology with established mammalian cell lines, such as MDCK (Madin-Darby Canine Kidney) or Vero (African Green Monkey Kidney) cells, for virus production.
With the use of cell culture, a particular concern for regulatory agencies is the presence of contaminants such as host cell DNA (HcDNA). The criteria for safety, efficacy, and potency of vaccines for testing and/or use in humans is governed by Title 21 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) guidelines include specifications for acceptable levels of residual HcDNA which are defined to be <10 ng/dose with a median size of <200 bp. See, e.g., FDA Briefing Document, Vaccines and Related Biological Products, Advisory Committee Meeting, Sep. 19, 2012. While defined specifications are not provided for host cell RNA (HcRNA), it is desirable to manufacture a drug substance where this residual is as low as practically attainable. The reduction or removal of HcDNA/HcRNA during downstream processing is often facilitated by a dedicated enzymatic nucleic acid digestion step and/or purification steps (e.g., chromatography) to decrease the amount of nucleic acids and/or their size.
In a typical exemplification, a live virus vaccine or viral vector is produced by infection of mammalian host cells grown in a bioreactor vessel. Following cell separation, filtered culture medium containing the crude vaccine product is incubated with an endonuclease, such as Benzonase® for a defined period of time to allow digestion of HcDNA/HcRNA after which the nucleic acid fragments are removed by one of various unit operations including diafiltration, chromatography, centrifugation, etc. See, e.g., Li et al., 2014, Biologicals 42(5):271-6; Puig et al., 2014, Methods Mol Biol. 1089:197-210; Langfield et al., 2011, Methods Mol Biol. 737:345-66; and Caballero et al., 2009, Anim Biotechnol. 20(4):177-85; Lee et al., 2004, Biotechnol Bioeng. 85(1):103-13; and U.S. Pat. No. 9,012,198.
European Patent Application Publication EP 0870508A1 discloses a method to produce a viral antigen vaccine by infecting an animal cell line with virus, propagating virus in the cell culture in a fermenter, adding a nuclease to the cell culture shortly before the end of virus propagation to digest nucleic acid material released from the lysing host cells into the medium, harvesting the virus and obtaining viral antigens thereof by extraction in order to make the viral antigen vaccine.
European Patent No. EP 1358319B1 discloses a method to produce a live attenuated influenza vaccine in a single step procedure involving additional of an endonuclease, such as Benzonase®, and a protease to the virus-infected cell suspension culture in Roux bottles or roller bottles that does not require any chromatographic or other purification steps of the virus suspension harvested from the cell culture supernatant by centrifugation, particularly no protein separation or purification steps.

Addition of nucleases directly to cell culture to facilitate digestion and clearance of host cell nucleic acids


A sheet separating mechanism is provided to solve the problem that a sheet processed by heating step is easy to stick with surface of the heating roller. The sheet separating mechanism according to the present invention applies combination of contactless separating structure and contact-type separating structure to reduce the cost and manufacture process of contact part. Besides, the sheet separating mechanism can decrease the probability of the heating roller damaged by the contact-type separating structure, so as to increase the usage life of the heating roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a sheet separating mechanism, more particularly, to a sheet separating mechanism capable of separating the sheet stuck with the heating roller to prevent the sheet from being involved into the production apparatus, resulting in failure of the production apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Toner heating technology is a technology of melting coatings, such as toner or printing ink, to attach on the surface of a media by high temperature and high pressure, and can be applied on printing process of business machine and the transferring process for cloth pattern. However, the printed media frequently becomes curl or is stuck with the heating or pressurizing device during heating and pressurization, so subsequent processes will be affected or jam happens in the channel of the production apparatus. This problem makes inconvenience in use of printer.
What is need is a sheet separating mechanism capable of improving defects of prior art and promoting industrial applicability.


Apparatus for orienting a pair of framed eyeglasses relative to an electronic scanner whereby the scanner then generated digital data defining the geometry of the frame. This data is entered into a computer to cause it to control a milling machine which shapes a blank to form a filter lens for an accessory that clips onto the frame and has a matching geometry.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the control by a computer of a milling machine which shapes a blank to form a filter lens for a clip-on accessory to be hitched onto the frame of a pair of eyeglasses whereby the geometry of the filter lens matches the geometry of the half-section of the frame onto which it is clipped.
More particularly, the invention resides in apparatus adapted to orient these eyeglasses with respect to an electronic scanner so that it generates digital data defining the geometry of a half-section of the frame of the eyeglasses, the data being entered into a computer so that it can control the milling machine which impart a matching geometry to the filter lens
2. Status of Prior Art
In our copending application whose entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, entitled xe2x80x9cComputer Controlled Milling Machine for Producing Lenses for Clip-On Accessoryxe2x80x9d (SN 136509.7) there is disclosed a milling machine for shaping blanks to create filter lenses for a clip-on accessory having a pair of filter lenses which register with a pair of optical lenses in prescription eyeglasses when the accessory is hitched onto the frame of the eyeglasses. The frame of the eyeglasses is composed of two like half-sections having a predetermined geometry, an optical lens being mounted in each half-section. The filter lenses in the accessory which are joined by a bridge piece have a geometry matching that of the corresponding half-sections of the fame whereby the appearance of the clip-on accessory is fully compatible with that of the eyeglasses.
In this milling machine, the blank to be milled is supported on a rotary worktable and is engaged by a drilling bit that is shifted along X and Y coordinates to cut the blank to form a filter lens having the desired geometry. In the milling machine, the rotary motion of the worktable on which the blank is supported and the movements of the drill bit which act to shape the blank are computer-controlled to impart the desired geometry to the blank.
The blank workpiece on the worktable is engaged by the bit of a drill bit unit mounted on an elevator. The elevator which acts to move the drill bit up and down along a vertical axis, rides on a carriage movable along a horizontal track back and forth to shift the drill bit along a horizontal axis.
The rotary worktable, the elevator and the carriage are driven by respective stepping motors whose incremental advances are controlled by a computer. Digitally stored in the database of the computer is data regarding the geometry of the half-sections of the eyeglass frame on which the accessory is to be hitched. The computer acts to precisely position the drill bit with respect to the blank as it is being rotated, so as to impart thereto the desired geometry.
In order to instruct the computer how to control the milling machine to impart to the filter lens being shaped, a geometry which matches the geometry of the half-section of the eyeglasses frame onto which this lens is to be clipped, the computer must be supplied with digital data that defines this geometry. To this end, the half-sections of the frame of the eyeglasses are scanned by an electronic scanner which generates digital data regarding the frame geometry and supplies this data to the database.
The concern of the present invention is with the physical orientation of the pair of eyeglasses being scanned relative to the scanner so that the digital data generated by the scanner can be processed in the computer to define with a reasonable degree of accuracy the geometry of the frame of the eyeglasses.
In view of the foregoing, the main object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which facilitates scanning by a scanner of a pair of eyeglasses so as to translate the geometry of the frame of these glasses into digital data, the apparatus serving to properly orient the eyeglasses with respect to the scanner.
More particularly, an object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for orienting the glasses with respect to the scanner, which apparatus is constituted by an anchor, a pedestal and a fixture, the anchor being bonded to the window of a scanner unit, the pedestal being attached adhesively to a lens of the eyeglasses and being socketed in the anchor so that a lens of the eyeglasses is seen by the scanner, the fixture facilitating attachment of the pedestal to this lens.
A significant advantage of an apparatus in accordance with the invention is that it is not necessary that the eyeglasses whose geometry is to be copied be precisely oriented with respect to the optical axis of the scanner. Should the orientation be off center, the resultant digital data will not accurately reflect the frame geometry. However, by means of appropriate software associated with the computer into which the digital data from the scanner is entered, the data can be corrected to compensate for this deviation.
Briefly stated, an apparatus in accordance with the invention, when used to orient a pair of eyeglasses with respect to an electronic scanner unit having a window and a scanner optically trained on the window, includes an anchor that is bonded to the window at a site in line with the optical axis of the scanner.
Also provided are a pedestal and a fixture to facilitate adhesively attaching the pedestal to a lens of the eyeglasses. The pedestal, when attached to the lens, is then socketed in the anchor so that the half-section of the frame in which this lens is mounted can then be viewed and scanned by the scanner.
The scanner viewing the anchored eyeglasses generates digital data which defines the geometry of the half-section of the frame of the eyeglasses in which the attached lens is mounted. This data is entered into a computer controlling a milling machine which shapes a blank to form a filter lens for a clip-on accessory whose geometry matches that of the frame half-section.

Apparatus for orienting eyeglasses for scanning by electronic scanner


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for supporting estimation of inter-satellite link acquisition times in a satellite constellation. The method includes computing or generating an indication of a statistical model based on observations for prior link acquisition times. The method further includes communicating an indication such as a statistical model for link acquisition times or related parameters through a communication network, or a combination thereof. The indication may be communicated using one or more transmission techniques or protocols, such as flooding, a link state protocol or gossip protocol. Based on the disseminated indication, future link acquisition times can be predicted by satellites in the satellite constellation. Embodiments of the invention use a statistical-based computation approach, such as regression modelling or random variable modelling, to estimate link acquisition times or associated estimation parameters. The estimates or associated estimation parameters may then be disseminated through the constellation.

Low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations are being developed to provide, among other things, Internet routing services. A LEO constellation can be thought of as a group of satellites distributed in space so that they can be organized into a mesh network. Free space optical (i.e. laser) links can be used to provide inter-satellite links (ISLs). A LEO constellation with both ISLs and terrestrial links can be used to provide high-bandwidth network. Other types of ISLs, such as radio frequency (RF) or microwave-based links are also possible. One of the technical issues with ISLs in polar orbit LEO constellations is that inter-satellite links periodically experience signal loss due to the relative motion of the satellites in the constellation. This occurs for example when satellite orbits cross (e.g. at or near the poles), and the east-west links are swapped. Other examples occur at the seam of a polar orbit constellation and in the east-west links for constellations with orbits tilted away from the poles (e.g. Walker Delta constellations). The seam refers for example to a boundary such that, on one side of the boundary are satellites in one of two counter-rotating hemispheres or spheres, and on the other side of the boundary are satellites in the other one of the two counter-rotating hemispheres or spheres. Communication links between satellites in different ones of the two counter-rotating hemispheres or spheres cross the seam.
Reacquiring an inter-satellite link after a loss of connectivity can be a time-consuming process. In the current literature, current optical link acquisition time (e.g. spatial acquisition time) is estimated to range from 10 to 60 seconds. Most of this time is due to the need for spatial acquisition operations, in which communication lasers on adjacent satellites are aimed correctly at respective receivers.
Because link acquisition times are relatively long in the context of the life of the link in many situations, link outages are impactful to network operations. Therefore, there is a need to for a method and apparatus for estimating link acquisition times and disseminating related information through the network, so that the impact of link outages can be mitigated.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.

Method and apparatus for supporting estimation of link acquisition time in satellite-based networks


A refrigerator, includes a cabinet having a refrigerating compartment therein; a door pivotably coupled with the cabinet to open or close the refrigerating compartment; and an auxiliary door-opening device. The auxiliary door-opening device includes: a swing arm, a servo driver which is disposed on the cabinet, has an output shaft coupled with the swing arm, and is configured to drive the swing arm to swing between a first predetermined position in which the swing arm pushes the door to separate from the cabinet and a second predetermined position in which the door is closed onto the cabinet; and a controller configured to actuate the servo driver when receiving a door-opening instruction, so that the servo driver drives the swing arm to move to the first predetermined position and then to return to the second predetermined position.

With the refrigerator, especially a large refrigerator, in the related art, after the door is closed, the door is not easy to open. This may be mainly caused by the flowing factors. The door of the large refrigerator is large in dimension and heavy. After the refrigeration, the temperature inside the cabinet is low, and the pressure inside the cabinet is decreased, while there is no change in the atmospheric pressure outside of the refrigerator, such that the door is difficult to open. In addition, the magnetic strip of the door of the refrigerator has a large dimension, and accordingly the suction force of the door seal is large.


The object of the present invention is to provide an industrial and economical process for preparing (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal of the following formula (4):

(E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal is known as a useful intermediate for preparing (E2)-cis-6,7-epoxy-2-nonenal which is an aggregation pheromone of red-necked longhorn beetle (scientific name: Aromia bungii) known as a pest against Rosaceae trees such as cherry, Japanese apricot, peach, and plum (Non-Patent Literature 1 mentioned below). There is a need to establish an industrial and economical process for preparing the aforesaid intermediate, (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal, in order to develop a new technology for preventing red-necked longhorn beetle, using an aggregation pheromone of the red-necked longhorn beetle.
The following processes have been reported to prepare (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal: a process comprising ethylating and diethoxymethylating the two alkyne-ends, respectively, of 1,5-hexadiyne as a starting material, followed by partial hydrogenation (Non-Patent Literature 1, as mentioned below); a process starting with 4-pyranoxybutanal where a Wittig reaction is carried out twice (Non-Patent Literature 2, as mentioned below); a process of reacting (1,3-dioxolan-2-ylmethyl)triphenylphosphonium bromide with a base, followed by a Wittig reaction with Z-4-heptanal (Non-Patent Literature 3, as mentioned below); and a process of subjecting Z, Z, Z-1, 4, 7-cyclononatriene to ozonolysis (Non-Patent Literature 4, as mentioned below).

Process for preparing (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal

Abstract: The present invention provides a process for preparing (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal (4), comprising at least steps of:                subjecting (Z3,Z6)-3,6-nonadien-1-ol of the following formula (1):

Abstract: to oxidation with a sulfoxide compound of the following formula (2):CH3(R1)S═O  (2)                in which R1 represents a monovalent hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms,        in the presence of a sulfur trioxide complex and an amine compound of the following formula (3):N(R2)(R3)(R4)  (3)        in which R2, R3, and R4 each independently represent a monovalent hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, or R3 and R4 may be bonded to each other to form a divalent hydrocarbon group having from 3 to 12 carbon atoms, R3-R4,        to form the aforesaid (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal (4).


A cow magnet to be ingested by a ruminant animal comprises a stack of cylindrical permanent magnets having intermediate disk-like spacers of a soft magnetic material where the stack is held together by first and second plastic end cap members with integrally formed tubular sleeves adapted to fit into central bores formed through the cylindrical magnets and spacers with a predetermined friction fit. A pin formed from high carbon steel is then inserted down the center of the tubular sleeves to cause them to expand and tightly engage the side walls defining the central bore formed through the stacked arrangement of magnets and spacers.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to permanent magnets designed to be deposited in a stomach of a ruminant animal, such as a dairy cow, for attracting, collecting and holding sharp ferrous metal objects which may be ingested by the animal during grazing to prevent hardware disease and inhibit sharp objects from passing through the digestive system of the animal. More particularly, the invention pertains to an improved construction of such a permanent magnet device that enhances the magnetic force of attraction of the assembly for a given size and which is better capable of withstanding the harsh environment in which the magnet is used.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is known that when certain ruminant animals are grazing, they will frequently pick up and ingest with their feed bits of metal, such as barb wire, baling wire, nuts and bolts, nails and other metal fragments present in a pasture, stall or feed lot. If such sharp metal objects are allowed to pass through the animal's digestive tract, series injury, hardware disease and even death to the animal can result. It has been the practice for some time now to place one or more permanent magnets in the animal's stomach so that as ferrous metal objects are later ingested by the animal, they will be attracted to the magnet and will adhere thereto rather than passing through the animal's digestive system. In a recent agricultural study, it was found that through consistent installing of cow magnets in diary cows, a 90-98% success rate was achieved in the prevention of hardware disease.
In the Fujisawa Pat. No. 4,283,698, there is described a magnetic device comprising a plurality of cylindrical ceramic magnet segments of cylindrical shape which are arranged in a stacked relationship with one another with adjacent magnetic poles of like polarity adjacent one another and with disks of a soft magnetic steel material interposed therebetween. A longitudinal bore passes through each of the stacked members whereby a first post having a hemispherically-shaped end cap can be inserted through the stack to mate with a second hemispherically-shaped end with the two being joined by a screw-type fastener. A problem has existed with the product made in accordance with the Fujisawa patent. Examination of cow magnets removed from the stomachs of the animals, following slaughter, has revealed that the individual magnetic cylinders and spacers have become detached from one another due to breakage of the plastic center post or failure of the screw threads used to hold the end cap to the mating post.


A monitoring component of a database server collects a subset of a query workload along with related statistics. A remote index tuning component uses the workload subset and related statistics to determine a physical design that minimizes the cost of executing queries in the workload subset while ensuring that queries omitted from the subset do not degrade in performance.

Computer database systems manage the storage and retrieval of data in a database. Databases include a set of tables of data along with information about relations between the tables. Tables represent relations over the data. Each table includes a set of data records stored in one or more data fields. The data records of a table are often referred to as rows, and the data fields across the data records in a table are referred to as columns.
A database server processes data manipulation statements or queries, for example, to retrieve, insert, delete, and update data in a database. Queries are defined by a query language supported by the database system. Users can write queries and run them against a database, for example, to retrieve desired information from the database. In general, to retrieve requested information, a database server can retrieve an appropriate table from storage, load it into memory, and search row by row for the desired information. However, as databases have grown very large in size, searching for data in this manner can be very time consuming and inefficient.
In order to make this type of search more efficient, indexes can be built on the database. An index is a subset of a table that typically contains fewer columns than the table itself. Indexes are sometimes created prior to a user query being made. Some indexes are arranged in a tree like structure which makes finding information even faster. If an index exists that contains the data that the user desires, it is much easier for the database server to just search the index to provide the information than it is to search through the entire table.
Another way to improve the performance of a query is to use a materialized view, also referred to as an indexed view. A materialized view represents a particular view of the data (e.g., the results of a query) that has been materialized, and it may be used to answer different queries. A materialized view has some characteristics that a traditional index does not have. Materialized views can be defined over multiple tables and can have selections and groupings made over multiple columns. As with traditional indexes, materialized views incur an overhead each time the tables referenced in the materialized view are updated. The use of indexes and materialized views can provide a dramatic performance improvement when retrieving, inserting, deleting, and updating data in a database.
The configuration or physical design of a database includes a set of indexes, materialized views, and indexes on materialized views used in the execution of a workload against the database. A workload is a set of queries and updates that are run against a given database. Given a workload of multiple queries, determining which indexes and materialized views to include in a physical design is very complicated and time consuming. Since there is overhead associated with generating, maintaining and storing the indexes and materialized views, this must be offset against the benefit obtained by using them.
Current commercial database systems typically offer two separate tools to assist database administrators with the task of choosing the physical design of a database. There are tools sometimes referred to as tuning components that, when given a query workload (i.e. a set of database queries and the individual queries' frequencies), suggest a physical design that optimizes the performance of the workload. In cases where the workload executing against the system is not known to the administrator, there exist additional database monitoring tools that observe the queries executed against the database system and log the corresponding query statements. Despite the existence of these tools, automating the tuning loop for database physical design has yet to be achieved.
A significant problem in automating the tuning loop for database physical design involves the collection of the query workload that is currently executing on the system. Conventional database servers monitor query workload and other database activity through two types of tools; an event polling tool, and an event logging tool. A polling tool pushes out a snapshot of all activities occurring in the database at a given moment, and then it aborts. Drawbacks with this tool are that polling the server too infrequently will cause the monitoring application to miss valuable information, while polling more frequently can impose significant CPU overhead on the server. Event logging tools allow an administrator to specify events for which the database can publish notifications and additional related information. Although logging tools capture all the specified events, significant overhead can be incurred by the database server. Commercial servers often execute a thousand or more queries per minute, so potentially large numbers of events may need to be written out of the server to a file or table, or sent over a network.
Thus, capturing query statement text and events associated with a query (e.g., query statement begin and end, lock acquire and release, user login and logout, etc.) can introduce significant performance degradation, since logging this information to stable storage requires significant overhead. In addition, existing tuning tools are designed for relatively small workloads and they do not scale up to workloads containing millions of queries collected by monitoring busy database servers over longer periods, even when techniques such as workload compression are employed.
Both of these scalability-issues can be addressed by using only a subset of the workload (which may be selected, for example, by sampling). However, the physical design resulting from tuning a subset of the workload may lead to significant degradation of the queries that have been omitted from the collected subset.
Accordingly, a need exists for a way to collect a subset of a query workload and tune a database physical design using the subset while not degrading the performance of those queries not included in the workload subset.


A capacitor forming method includes forming an electrically conductive support material over a substrate, forming an opening through at least the support material to the substrate, and, after forming the opening, forming a capacitor structure contacting the substrate and the support material in the opening. The support material contains at least 25 at % carbon. Another capacitor forming method includes forming a support material over a substrate, forming an opening through at least the support material to the substrate, and, after forming the opening, forming a capacitor structure contacting the substrate and the support material in the opening. The support material contains at least 20 at % carbon. The support material has a thickness and the opening has an aspect ratio 20:1 or greater within the thickness of the support material.

Often, openings are formed in support materials so that microelectronic structures may be formed in and their structure supported by the support material. For example, a capacitor container for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell may be etched into a dielectric, such as silicon dioxide, most commonly formed as a doped silicate glass. Use of silicon dioxide dielectric can yield several disadvantages from a patterning standpoint. Dry etch of silicon dioxide has a large physical component, that is, it is more like physical sputtering than like a chemical etch. Its sputtering nature creates difficulty in obtaining a straight profile since the etch exhibits a very small lateral component, leading to a tapered profile.
Accordingly, what the art needs are methods addressing the problems of using silicon dioxide as support material for microelectronic structures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method of forming multiple different width dimension features simultaneously. The method includes forming multiple sidewall spacers of different widths formed from different combinations of conformal layers on different mandrels, removing the mandrels, and simultaneously transferring the pattern of the different sidewall spacers into an underlying layer.

As the density and performance of integrated circuits increase, there is a corresponding decrease in the dimensions of integrated circuit structures. Sidewall image transfer techniques have been used to define integrated circuit structures of such small dimensions that are not easily or impossible to obtain using conventional photolithographic techniques. However, current sidewall image transfer techniques can only provide only one critical dimension at critical pitch in a given fabrication level. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to eliminate the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

Method of simultaneously forming multiple structures having different critical dimensions using sidewall transfer

International Business Machines Corporation


A system for removing halocarbon gas components from waste anesthetic gases using the resource of cold oxygen from liquid oxygen which is stored cryogenically at a healthcare facility. The oxygen is warmed while cooling of waste anesthetic gases from anesthetizing locations of a healthcare facility. Two heat exchangers/condensers are provided. In the first, the waste gas is cooled to about 0xc2x0 C. thereby condensing any water vapor in the waste gas. In the second, the waste gas is further cooled to about xe2x88x92150xc2x0 C. thereby condensing and liquefying the halocarbon gas components, which are removed to a tank for recycling and/or destruction. The remainder of the waste gases (e.g., nitrogen, oxygen and nitrous oxide) are vented to the atmosphere. The warmed oxygen is piped to the healthcare facility for its normal uses after it has been warmed by the waste anesthetic gases in the two heat exchangers/condensers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns treatment of waste anesthetic gas. In particular the invention pertains to the removal of halocarbons from waste anesthetic gas of a healthcare facility before the gas is discharged to atmosphere in order to decrease atmospheric pollution.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Anesthesia machines in surgical facilities (both hospital and outpatient) emit significant quantities of waste gases. Currently these gases are xe2x80x9cscavengedxe2x80x9d and diluted with air in a system of dedicated pipes. However, they are then vented to the atmosphere outside the building. The average composition of the waste gases is estimated to be:
The halocarbons (primarily halogenated methyl ethyl ethers) represent an increasingly significant source of environmental concern, because other halocarbon emission has recently been reduced by legislative and other initiatives. These compounds (similar to refrigerants Freon-12(copyright) and others) can contribute to ozone depletion and, to a lesser extent, environmental warming. Currently no regulation of these emissions exists, although it is anticipated that regulation of them will occur in the near future.
Several techniques have been employed to treat waste anesthetic gases. U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,303 describes treating laughing gas with a catalyst. Adsorption of anesthetic gases by charcoal granules is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,363. Destruction of anesthetic gases by heating in the presence of a catalyst is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,504.
Identification of Objects of the Invention
A primary object of the invention is to provide a system and method for removing volatile halocarbons of waste anesthetic gases from a surgical facility before such gases are vented to the atmosphere.
Another object of the invention is to provide an economical system and method for substantially preventing atmospheric venting of volatile halocarbons of waste anesthetic gas while eliminating the need of prior art catalysts, charcoal granules and heating techniques.
The objects identified above, as well as other advantages and features are embodied in a system and method which uses condensation (xe2x80x9ccold trapxe2x80x9d) technology such that the temperature of the halocarbons is lowered to a point where the vapor pressure of the halocarbons is negligible. In other words, the halocarbon gas is liquefied through refrigeration. The source of refrigeration is liquid oxygen at a surgical facility, which must be warmed for ordinary use at a surgical facility, such as a hospital or outpatient clinic. The waste anesthetic gas is passed first through a first set of condensing coils where water vapor in the gas is condensed by virtue of the cold oxygen flowing through the condensing coils. The remainder of the gas from the first set of condensing coils is passed to a second set of coils (with cold oxygen gas flowing through them) where the gas temperature is lowered to about xe2x88x92150xc2x0 C. at which point the halocarbons are liquefied. The remainder of the anesthetic gas is vented to atmosphere.

System for removal of halocarbon gas from waste anesthetic gases


Cosmetological or dermatological compositions for skin care, principally comprising a mixture comprising:. (A) an extract of Silybum marianum fruits rich in Silymarine referred to as "Absolute Hawthorn", PA0 (B) one or more essential polyunsaturated fatty acids containing 18-22 atoms of carbon having only:. either in the free form (1), PA1 or in the form of salts of an alkaline metal or ammonium (2), PA1 or in the form of triglycerides (3), PA1 or in the form of a mixture constituted by two of the three forms (1), (2), and (3), or by the three forms (1), (2), and (3).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to novel cosmetic or dermatological compositions including an extract of Silybum marianum fruits which are rich in Silymarine associated with essential fatty acids
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
The extract of Silybum marianum called "Absolute Hawthorn" is a substance which blocks the formation of free radicals. A free radical is an atom or molecule which has transitionally acquired an unassociated electron This unpaired electron has a reverse spin, and confers a very high reactivity to the radical, i.e., a great capacity to react with surrounding molecules which will in turn become free radicals.
This mechanism makes it possible to explain the very high toxicity of these "excited molecules". It is thus that the free radicals will attack key elements of the cell such as the nucleus, proteins and more particularly the membrane.
Yet, the essential fatty acids are the components of the phospholipide membranes and are particularly vulnerable to the free radicals, at their double bonds.
It should be remembered that these carbon-carbon double bonds assure the membrane structure and solidity. The intervention of the free radicals will introduce breaks, angulation modifications which render the membrane less solid, less fluid and less capable of assuring the regulation of the ionic movements.
These membrane alterations will disturb the metabolism of the cell. Less well protected, less well oxygenated, and more poorly nourished, the cell will slowly lose its ability to multiply, will sclerose and then die. It is thus that the free radicals and the processes of peroxydation which they cause, play a significant role in the aging of the cells and then the skin.
It is thus particularly desirable to combine in a cosmetic or dermatological composition "the Absolute Hawthorn", a particularly effective trap of free radicals, which acts in a preventive manner, with the essential fatty acids which have a repairing role.

Cosmetic and dermatological compositions including an extract of Silybum marianum rich in silymarine associated with essential fatty acids


A relatively simple hydraulically operated disc brake mechanism for drive systems which store reactive torque by reason of being under torsion is disclosed. Certain drive systems such as the drive strings for deep well submersible pumps store considerable reactive torque due to torsional stresses. Such torque must be controllably released if drive power is interrupted. The disc brake mechanism includes a housing that defines a reservoir for lubricating oil for the bearings of a shaft that drives a bi-directional hydraulic pump. When the shaft turns in an operating direction, the pump pumps the lubricating oil in a closed circuit through a filter and back to the reservoir. If normal operation is interrupted and the reactive torque in the system is released, the bi-directional pump forces oil through a control manifold to a disc brake caliper which brakes a disc rotor attached to the shaft. The faster the shaft turns as it releases reactive torque, the more braking force applied. As reactive torque is released, pump speed drops and brake force is correspondingly reduced until all reactive torque is released from the drive string permitting safe handling and soft restart of the drive string. The advantage is much improved safety and a self-regulating brake mechanism that handles power interruptions without manual intervention.

Certain drive systems are subject to torsional stresses which are stored as reactive torque in a drive train. When drive power to the system is interrupted, the reactive torque is released as back-spin and, if an uncontrolled release of torque occurs, personal injury and/or property damage can result. For example, deep well submersible pumps such as progressing cavity pumps driven by sucker rod strings are commonly used to pump oil from deep wells. The drive string for these submersible pumps usually have a relatively small diameter of 3/4 to 1 1/8 inches. Such drive strings are commonly used in wells that vary from 1,500' to 6,000' in depth, 3,000' being a common average. Progressing cavity pumps include a stator which is attached to a production casing at the bottom of a well and a rotor which is attached to a bottom end of the drive string. Progressing cavity pumps are frequently used to pump viscous crude oil which is often laden with sand or other impurities. As a result, the elongated drive string is subject to considerable torsional force. This torsional force is stored in the elongated drive string as reactive torque. In a 3,000 foot string, as many as several hundreds of revolutions of torsion can be stored in the string if viscous sand laden crude oil is being pumped. When power is interrupted to the drive string, the reactive torque is released. Unless the release of reactive torque is controlled, costly and undesirable damage to equipment and/or personal injury to workmen in the vicinity can result. This is particularly true if an electric motor is used as a power source because such motors offer almost no resistance to reverse rotation.
If drive power is interrupted to the drive string of a progressing cavity pump, the reactive torque is desirably released in a controlled fashion. Brakes which simply prevent the release of the reactive torque in the drive string are unsatisfactory for two reasons. First, it is preferable that in the case of an electric motor drive, the motor restart unattended when power is restored. In order to ensure a successful unattended restart, the motor must start without load. If the reactive torque in the drive string is not released prior to restart, the motor may not be capable of restarting and the motor may be damaged as a result. Second, if pump repair or replacement is required any unreleased torque in the drive string can be extremely dangerous for unaware workmen. Severe personal injury can result from the unintentional release of reactive torque in such drive strifes.
Consequently, braking systems have been invented to controllably release the back-spin due to reactive torque in elongated drive strings. The most common back-spin control equipment now in use is a fluid brake that includes a pump engaged only when reactive torque is released from the drive string. The pump is used to circulate hydraulic fluid or lubricating oil from a reservoir to a bearing case through a restricted orifice. The resistance of the fluid created by the restriction serves to control the release of reactive torque. Nonetheless, this apparatus is subject to several disadvantages which include:
1) Practically all of the stored energy dissipated by the brake is converted into heat in the circulated fluid. The heat tends to break down the fluid, resulting in a loss of lubricating quality which may cause mechanical failure of the pump. The excess heat can also damage seals and the loss of lubricating quality can eventually damage drive bearings and gears used in the assembly. PA1 2) The pumps are typically mounted internally in an oil bath and are therefore difficult to access for repairs and maintenance. PA1 3) Most such brakes are not adjustable to accommodate various load levels so that the same brake capacity is provided regardless of the length of the drive string or the reactive torque stored in the drive string. PA1 4) Generally, pumps of adequate capacity are too large and expensive to be used for this application. As a result, small pumps that are inadequate to withstand the torques encountered are relied upon, often with unsatisfactory results. PA1 a brake disc mounted on the shaft for rotation with the shaft; PA1 a fluid actuated brake mechanism adapted to engage the brake disc and retard rotation of the disc and consequently to retard rotation of the shaft; PA1 a bi-directional pump for pumping fluid from a reservoir, the pump being driven by the shaft; PA1 a control manifold for directing the fluid from the pump back to the reservoir when the shaft turns in a first direction and for directing fluid to the brake mechanism to retard rotation of the shaft when the shaft turns in the opposite direction, PA1 a shaft coupled with the elastic member to be axially rotatable with the elastic member in either direction; PA1 a brake disc mounted on the shaft for rotation with the shaft; PA1 a fluid actuated brake mechanism adapted to engage the brake disc and retard rotation of the brake disc and consequently to retard rotation of the shaft and the elastic member; PA1 a bi-directional pump for pumping fluid from a reservoir, the pump being driven by the shaft; PA1 a control manifold for directing the fluid from the pump back to the reservoir when the elastic member turns in a first direction to induce torsion in the member, and for directing fluid to the brake mechanism when the elastic member stops turning in the first direction and stored reactive torque is released from the elastic member under torsion, PA1 a shaft coupled with the drive string and rotatable therewith; PA1 a reservoir surrounding and rotatably supporting the shaft; PA1 a coupling for connecting the reservoir to a wellhead assembly of the well; PA1 a brake disc affixed to the shaft and rotatable therewith; PA1 a fluid actuated disc caliper that straddles the brake disc for engaging the brake disc and retarding rotation thereof, and consequently for retarding rotation of the shaft and the drive string; PA1 a bi-directional pump for pumping fluid from the reservoir, the pump being driven by a gear attached to the shaft; PA1 a control manifold for directing the fluid from the pump to the reservoir when the drive string is driven in a direction to drive the down hole pump, and for directing fluid to the brake caliper when the drive string is no longer driven and reactive torque is released from the drive string to turn the shaft in an opposite direction.
Other brake systems for controlling reactive torques have been invented. Those brake systems are based on centrifugal braking principles. Examples of such braking systems are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,216,848 which issued to Toyohisa Shiomdaira on Aug. 12, 1980; 4,797,075 which issued to Wallace L. Edwards et al on Jan. 10, 1989 and 4,993,276 which issued to Wallace L. Edwards on Feb. 19, 1991. The brakes disclosed in these patents all include brake shoes which are mounted within a housing and are therefore difficult to access and maintain. Such brakes require frequent maintenance when they are used to stop the reverse rotation of drive strings in a controlled manner. In addition, they are mechanically complicated and include custom-made moving parts which are costly to manufacture and expensive to keep in inventory.


A publishing user identifies a product offered by the user to an online system by providing multiple images of various products viewed at different angles to the online system. The online system applies an identification model to content items obtained from other users to identify one or more of the products in various content items. From a number of content items obtained from other users that include products offered by the publishing user, the online system compute trends. The trends may be for a specific product or products having one or more common attributes. The online system transmits information about the trends to the publishing user or to other users. The trends may also be used to rank recommendations for products to a specific user, where the trends from numbers of content items including products are weighted by the specific user's preferences.

This disclosure relates generally to display of content by an online system, and more specifically to the online system evaluating presentation of products offered by a publishing user in content items obtained by the online system from users for presentation.
Online systems, such as social networking systems, allow users to connect to and to communicate with other users of the online system. Users may create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Online systems allow users to easily communicate and to share content with other online system users by providing content to an online system for presentation to other users.
Additionally, many publishing users of an online system offer products for purchase by other users and distribute content items including the offered products to other users via the online system. For example, a publishing user offers home goods for purchase by other user and distributes content items including images of the home goods to other users to increase awareness of the home goods. To allow online system users to more readily purchase products offered by the purchasing user, the publishing user may provide a product page to the online system identifying multiple products offered for purchase by the publishing user. The product page includes one or more images of various products offered by the publishing user, as well as information about different products offered by the publishing user. Additionally, the product page may include one or more options for a viewing user to select and to purchase products offered by the publishing user via the product page.
Content items the online system obtains from various users may include products offered by the publishing user. These content items may include different combinations of products offered by the publishing user that different users have purchased or otherwise obtained. Presentation of different combinations of products by various users may allow the publishing user to identify combinations of products of interest to users, allowing the publishing user to provide recommendations for combinations of products for various other users or to provide additional content to the online system tailored to display combinations of products similar to those displayed by users. However, the online system may obtain a large number of content items including products offered by the publishing user, making it impractical for the publishing user to identify content items including products offered by the publishing user. Similarly, the publishing user may be unable to view content items provided by certain users, limiting the publishing user's ability to accurately evaluate different combinations of products offered by the publishing user.

Evaluating presentation of products offered by a publishing user based on content items provided to an online system by other users


An optical router integrated in an InP-based substrate bonded to a single thermo-electric cooler for packet-based networks utilizing wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) on silica fibers. Input and output arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) respectively demultiplex and multiplex the WDM signals to and from multiple transmission fibers. Input and output wavelength converters are connected between the input and outputs AWGs and a switching AWG. The output converts may include a tunable laser and interferometer formed in the same substrate. The header information is preferably carried out-of-channel from the WDM data signals, either in the same fiber band or a different one. Photodetectors and laser diodes are formed in the same substrate. Fast RF electronics are formed in GaAs chips and slower electronics formed in a silicon chip are bonded to the InP wafer

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to switches used in communications networks. In particular, it relates to optical routers.
2. Background Art
The advancement of telecommunications technology over the past two decades has included two significant developments: (1) large, high-capacity networks based on packet switching; and, (2) optical fiber transmission media and in particular silica fiber and the use of wavelength division multiplexing to further increase the fiber bandwidth. Combining the two has presented some difficulties.
There are several types of commercially important packet networks. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) was developed in the telephone industry and is based on ATM cells having a fixed length of 53 bytes. Multiple ATM cells are identified to a virtual communications circuit.
Another type of network assuming greater importance and being implemented in many environments is related to the Internet communications network based on the TCP/IP protocol. The TCP/IP protocol applies to many levels of communications networks, but some of the most challenging applications involve the switched connections between different computer networks. An Internet-type of communications network 10, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, connects multiple terminals 12 through nodes 14 interconnected by bi-directional communications links 16. The terminals 12 can be considered to be ports to other, perhaps different, types of computer networks. The nodes 14 are based on routers which can route sequentially received frames in different directions as the frame propagates through the network 10 from the source terminal 12 to the destination terminal 12. The preferred term for packets is a frame 18, which as illustrated in FIG. 2, is composed for a serial link of a header 20 and an immediately following data payload 22. That is, the header 20 and payload 22 are time multiplexed. The header 20 contains among other items a destination for the frame 18. The data payload 22 is often of variable length, in which case the header 20 includes an indication of the length, but the overall frame is relatively short, on the order of a few hundred bytes. Sometimes a trailer is included to mark the end of the frame.
Although much of the following description is based on the multiply connected fiber network of FIG. 1 and with the routers being based at the nodes 14, the invention can be used with other types of networks, and routers are used in yet other configurations. In one example, the links may be of different forms linking different types of nodes, including satellites, airplanes, and complexly connected systems of multiple computers. In a second type of networks, as illustrated in the network diagram of FIG. 3, an inter-connected ring network 26 includes multiple bi-directional rings 28a, 28b, 28c, each including two counter-propagating optical fibers 30, 32, which provide redundant paths in case the pair of fibers 30, 32 is cut at any one point. That is, the rings 28 are survivable. Terminals 34 are connected to the respective rings 28 through nodes 36. Cross connects 38 link different ones of the rings 28. In a more realistic telephone or data network, a cross connect 38 may link more than two rings at a central communications hub.
Each of the rings 28 is typically controlled fairly tightly. A ring network which uses optical fiber for the transmission medium may employ wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), in which a single fiber conveys multiple optical carriers impressed with different data signals. In a WDM environment, packets between different pairs of terminals 34 on the same ring 28 may be identified and switched according to optical wavelength. However, such tight control becomes difficult for switching signals through the cross connects 38 between different rings 28. A packet switched system typically then requires that the cross connects 38 interrogate the frame header and switch only those frames destined to go outside of the originating ring 28. That is, the inter-ring cross-connects are advantageously based on routers. For a WDM environment, the cross-ring switching also strongly needs translation between WDM wavelengths to allow reuse of wavelengths and prevent undue constraints on routing and timing. It is also possible that the intra-ring nodes 36 are based on routers which extract from the ring 28 only those frames destined for the associated terminal 34. Further, the terminals 34 (or terminals 12 of FIG. 1) may represent an interface to a local network, such as an Ethernet network, in which only some of the packets need to be transferred from the local network onto the ring 28, for possible retransmission to yet other rings. Thus, the terminal 34 may additionally incorporate a router to transfer only selected ones of the packets that it receives from within the local network.
Returning to FIG. 1, the original TCP/IP networks were based on high-speed digital electrical links 16, on which the frames 18 are transmitted in sequential fashion. A router receives a frame 18 on an incoming link 16, determines from the header 20 where the frame 18 should go, and accordingly retransmits the entire frame 18 onto the desired outgoing link 16. Typically, the received frame is stored in a memory, called a buffer, which allows time for the router to determine from lookup tables which outgoing link corresponds to the destination address. The robustness of the Internet derives from the fact that the nodes 14 are nearly autonomous with very little central control and from the further fact that multiple paths usually exist between the source and destination terminals. In such a loosely controlled network, frames arrive at a node 14 at nearly random times with nearly arbitrary destinations. In particular, two or more frames may arrive nearly simultaneously on different incoming links and require switching to the same outgoing link. The buffer allows for temporary storage of frames awaiting retransmission on a busy link.
The data rate for a network based on electrical links is typically determined by the operating frequency of the electronic routers and their associated electronic receivers and transmitters. At present, the maximum data rate for commonly used electronic systems is about 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s) although 40 Gb/s systems are being developed. Further increases will prove difficult. A 10 Gb/s transmission link conveys a 500 byte frame (each byte being 8 bits) in 400 ns. Since packets need to be individually switched, packet switching times should be substantially less than this time in order to not impact transmission capacity.
Optical fiber presents many advantages in communications network including speed, cost, security, and noise immunity. As originally applied to networks, a fiber was used to carry in one of the fiber transmission bands a single optical signal that had been modulated by an electronic data signal. In a point-to-point system, each link of the network included optical receivers and transmitters including electro-optical (E/O converters at the respective nodes interconnected by an optical fiber. Three commonly used transmission bands extend over wavelengths in the neighborhoods of 850 nm, 1310 nm, and 1550 nm. The 1310 nm band is typically interpreted as extending from 1290 to 1330 nm, and the 1550 nm band extends from 1520 to 1580 nm. The 1310 nm band is usually used in local networks because of its low frequency dispersion and hence high data rates while the 1550 nm band is favored in long distance networks because of its lower absorption. The 850 nm band extending from 800 to 900 nm is also available for less extended networks. The wavelengths between the bands are generally not usable because of excessive fiber absorption. Efforts are continuing to expand the widths of these bands. Optical fibers of other compositions have other transmission bands, but non-silica fibers have little commercial importance at this time.
Although the intrinsic transmission bandwidth of silica fiber in any of these bands is vast, often measured in hundreds of terahertz, the system speed is limited by the speed of the electronics associated with the routers and its transmitters and receivers, that is, about 10 Gb/s. However, the network data rates can be significantly increased by the use of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) in which a single fiber conveys multiple optical carriers of different optical wavelengths xcex1-xcexW in one or more of its transmission bands, and each wavelength carrier is impressed with a different data signal. An example of a WDM communication system includes forty or more wavelength channels (Wxe2x89xa740) with wavelength spacings at 1550 nm of about 1 nm or less. Thereby, the fiber transmission capacity is increased by a factor of forty.
The technology for the optical receivers and transmitters is readily available. Multiple semiconductor lasers of different emission wavelengths can be fabricated on one chip to have different emission wavelengths, the outputs of which are modulated according to the different respective data signals. An optical multiplexer combines the multiple optical signals and couples the multi-wavelength signal onto the fiber. At the receiver, the typically passive optical demultiplexer separates the different wavelength components, which respective optical detectors then convert to electrical form at data rates of no more than 10 Gb/s and ready for electronic switching. Optical multiplexers and demultiplexers are available that are essentially insensitive to data rate.
However, an electronically based router applied to the WDM fiber environment with E/O conversion between the fiber and the electronics does not scale well. Assume that K multi-wavelength router input ports are connected to K multi-wavelength router output ports and that there are W WDM wavelengths. For a system with 4 input ports and 32 wavelengths operating at 10 Gb/s, the total aggregate switching capacity needs to be 1.28 terabits per second (Tb/s). In the above design, each node or router requires KW electronically based optical transmitters and KW electronically based optical receivers. Further, a non-blocking electronic switch needs to connect any input port to any output port, for example, as implemented in a Clos switching network having multiple stages of parallel routers. As a result, its power and complexity increase as (KW)2. It has been estimated that an electronic router incorporating the current state of the art in the above 1.28 Tb/s switch would require 54 bays of electronics weighing over 4000 kg and consuming 400 kW of power, including more than 1200 thermoelectric coolers for the very temperature-sensitive optoelectronics.
Electronically based routers suffer the further disadvantage that the optical-to-electronic conversion and complementary electronic-to-optical conversion is based on a particular format, for example, either TCP/IP or ATM with a digital payload. There are applications in which it is desired to have different formats on different channels, for example, different digital format on different channels, or digital payloads on some channels and analog or mixed analog/digital payloads on other channels. Even within a single WDM channel, it is desirable that the format of different packets be freely chosen. While it is conceivable to design an electronic router with this flexibility, it is advantageous that the router be concerned only with the packet routing and not with the format of the payload. Insensitivity to the payload format allows proprietary formats to be used on a public network without knowledge at the router of the payload format. As a result, it is desirable that a router not decode the payload portion of a switched packet.
All-optical WDM communication networks have been proposed in which signals are switched at each of the nodes according to the wavelength of the optical carrier. Such a network is largely passive away from the terminals and can thus be made relatively small and inexpensively. The network is transparent from transmitter to receiver and is thus insensitive to protocol. However, while components are available which can reconfigure the wavelength connections, the reconfiguration typically requires hundreds of milliseconds and thus is clearly incompatible with the very short TCP/IP and ATM frames. Furthermore, the wavelengths need to be allocated for the system as a whole depending upon traffic. Such centralized control runs counter to the autonomous nature of the many nodes of the Internet.
I have described the use of wavelength conversion for WDM networks in xe2x80x9cWavelength conversion technologies for WDM network applications,xe2x80x9d Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 14, no. 5, June 1996, pp. 955-966. However, the article emphasizes transparent networks in which channels are switched according to wavelength and does not explore optical packet switching.
An optical router for wavelength-division multiplex (WDM) signals allows the switching of payloads without their conversion to electrical form. The headers are decoded and processed to determine the optical switching route.
A multi-wavelength optical router may be implemented by input and output array waveguide gratings (AWGs) acting as demultiplexers and multiplexers. The signals from the input AWG have their wavelengths converted to reflect a routing path to the outputs. Output wavelength converters may be used to readjust the wavelengths for transmission over the network.
A preferred embodiment includes a switching AWG positioned between the input and output AWGs. Input wavelength converters are positioned on single-wavelength channels between the input and switching waveguides and the degree of wavelength conversion is set by a control section reading the headers of arriving packets. Output wavelength converters are positioned between the switching AWG and the output AWG to convert the wavelengths for transmission. Multiple input and output AWGs with associated wavelength converters may be connected through a single switching AWG.
The AWGs and waveguides linking the optical element may be formed in a single substrate, for example of InP. Additional opto-electronics may also be included in the same substrate. Alternatively, a few substrates may be formed with the different stages of the router and mounted on a common substrate carrier providing optical coupling between the substrates. In either case, the router may be mounted on a single thermoelectric cooler.
The wavelength converters may be implemented as Mach-Zehnder interferometers with controllable active regions, preferably reversed biased into avalanche, and tunable lasers. Preferably the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and tunable lasers are fabricated in the same substrate as the AWGs and waveguides.
The size of the switching AWG may be reduced by a multiple levels of AWGs of lesser size. Two stages of such multi-level routers reduce contention.
The packet header information is preferably carried out-of-channel on an optical carrier of differing wavelength than any of the carriers of the packet payload. Headers for some or all of the WDM channels may be carried on one signaling carrier by the use of multiple RF subcarriers impressed on the signaling optical carrier. However, two or more signaling carrier wavelengths may be use.
The out-of-channel signaling carrier may be in the same fiber band as the data carriers, for example, the 1550 nm band, or may be in a different fiber band, for, example, the 1310 nm band. A simple demultiplexer such as a multi-mode interference filter can separate out-of-band signaling from the data carriers. The input AWG may be used to separate in-band, out-of-channel signaling from the data carriers.
Out-of-channel signaling may be sent in advance of the corresponding payload to allow time for header reception and processing to immediate switch the payload when it arrives.
Alternatively, the payload may be optically stored or delayed while the header is being processed. Preferably, optical delay elements are interposed on the wavelength-separated optical paths between the input AWGs and the input wavelength converters.
One type of fixed or selective and controllable optical delay is implemented by a waveguide structure including multiple quantum wells and a photonic bandgap arrangement of periodically arranged holes and isolated defects, thereby providing extended optical trapping at the defects by electromagnetically induced transparency. Such a structure may be formed in the same substrate as the rest of the router, but it may be used for other purposes than optical routing.
Photodetectors and laser diodes for the out-of-channel signaling may be formed in the same substrate, for example of InP, as the AWGs. High-speed receiver and transmitter electronics may be formed in separate chips, for example, of GaAs and bonded to the InP substrate. Multiple receiver and transmitter chips may be closely positioned to their respective opto-electronics. Slower control electronics may be formed in a silicon chip that is bonded also to the InP chip. The bonding is preferably performed with flip-side solder bumps that additionally provide electrical contacts, or wire bonding may alternatively be used.

The Regents of the University of California


A method for manufacturing a plurality of plug-in cards (25) from a card body (6), preferably on a standard sized, ISO 7810, ID1 type, the method comprising the steps of defining said plug-in cards (25) on the card body (6) and making at least one score line (19) on the card body to define the same plurality of similar plug-in support cards (33) each comprising a single plug-in card.

The Subscriber Identity Module or SIM is a familiar component in the world of mobile telephony. Standard SIM cards are essentially small smart-cards: like most smart-cards, they comprise a module—an integrated circuit connected to a contact plate—embedded into a plastic substrate. The standard, ISO 7810, ID-1 card is more or less rectangular, with a width 85.6 mm and a height of 54 mm, whereas the standard, ISO 7810, ID-000 format, used for SIM cards is an irregular shape, though still clearly based on a rectangle, with a width of 25 mm and a height of 15 mm. This, much smaller card, is often referred to as a plug-in card, or a SIM plug. The larger ID-1 format used for smart cards facilitates insertion and removal of the card in and out of a card reader, something that may need to be done thousands of times during the lifetime of a typical smart card. A plug-in card, by contrast, is designed to be small, even if this means it is a little awkward to plug in or remove, because plugging in and removal are relatively infrequent operations. A recent addition to the family of miniature, plug-in cards for mobile telephones, is the so called Mini-UICC card or plug, this format, defined by ETSI, measures 15 mm in width, with a height of 12 mm.
By far the majority of plug-in cards are made by embedding a module into a standard, ID-1 sized, card body, and then punching a break-out slot, with the standard ID-000 card format, or the Mini-UICC format, around the module. The advantage of this approach is that it allows manufacturers to use standard, smart-card machine-tools for manufacturing and handling plug-in cards. And, while the plug-in card remains attached to its ID-1 card, it is easy for both the manufacturer and for the end user to handle. The principal disadvantage of this approach is that the plug-in card only represents a small proportion, about 10%, of the total area of an ID-1 card. Thus, when the plug-in card is broken out of the ID-1 card, 90% of the plastic is waste. The problem of waste is addressed by the European patent No. EP0495216, which describes an ID-1 format card with two break-out microchip cards, without describing the manufacturing procedure. The waste problem is also addressed by European patent, no. EP1073010, which describes an ID-1 format card with four break-out microchip cards, this patent also describes a manufacturing procedure. Both of these approaches reduce waste, but in cases where the two or four plug-in cards are destined for two or four different customers, the fulfilment and packaging process is complicated by the need to break out and handle the plug-in cards separately during the fulfilment and packaging process. What is needed is a way of putting, for example, at least two break-out plug-in cards onto an ID-1 card, that would allow the plug-in cards to be distributed to different customers without the additional cost and inconvenience of handling, and repackaging a 25 mm by 15 mm, or 15 mm by 12 mm component.

Method for manufacturing a plurality of plug-in cards from a card body


A web thickness measuring equipment and a method of measuring a web thickness. A web thickness measuring equipment includes: a roller that is rotatable and configured to wind a web; a detection unit that detects a light amount on an outer circumferential surface of the roller or an external surface of the web wound on the roller, and detects a magnetic field of an internal surface of the web opposite to the external surface; and a processor unit configured to obtain a thickness of the web by generating profile data of the outer circumferential surface of the roller, generating displacement amount data of a target external surface of the web, generating displacement amount data of a target internal surface of the web, and comparing the displacement amount data of the target external surface of the web with the displacement amount data of the target internal surface of the web.

1. Field
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention relate to a web thickness measuring equipment and a method of measuring a web thickness.
2. Description of the Related Art
As development and demand for mobile techniques has recently increased, demand for a rechargeable battery as an energy source is rapidly increasing. Accordingly, research into batteries satisfying various requirements is underway. Particularly, a lithium secondary battery that has high energy density, discharge voltage, and output stability is increasingly demanded.
In general, a secondary battery is manufactured by forming each of a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate (referred to herein as a positive web and a negative web) by coating an active material on a current collector, interposing a separator between the positive and negative webs to form an electrode assembly, mounting the electrode assembly in a prismatic metal can or a pouch-type case formed of an aluminum laminate sheet, and injecting or impregnating a liquid electrolyte into the electrode assembly or using a solid electrolyte.
In the manufacture of secondary batteries, it is important to manufacture as many batteries as possible while maintaining the same quality. Accordingly, it is important to reliably manage a thickness of a web formed with a current collector.
Conventionally, in manufacturing a web of a secondary battery, optical equipment is installed around the web wound on a roll and an image of the web is acquired from the optical equipment, thereby measuring the thickness of the web.
However, in the conventional web thickness measuring equipment, continuous use of a roll may result in deformation of the roll, and an error in measuring the thickness of the web may be generated. In addition, in view of characteristics of the web of the secondary battery, web thickness measurement may not be properly performed due to the pattern formed on the web wound on the roll.

Web thickness measuring equipment and method of measuring thickness of a web


An interference check device is disposed in an apparatus including a plurality of moving bodies, moving devices for moving the plurality of moving bodies, and another moving device for moving at least one of the moving bodies in a same axial line direction as one of the moving devices. The interference check device conducts interference check when at least one of the moving bodies is moved, and includes an absolute movement amount calculating part which synthesizes a movement amount of at least one of the plurality of moving bodies, which is a subject to be checked, in the same axial line direction based on data inputted to one of the moving devices and another moving device, to determine an absolute movement amount in the same axial line direction, and an interference check part associating with the absolute amount calculating part for checking the interference check from the absolute movement amount.

As shown in FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1, an automatic lathe has conventionally been known in which, on a movable front tool rest which is movable in the X1-axial direction which orthogonally crosses the axial line of a first main spindle, a tool rest (cutting-off tool rest) is provided which is movable in the X2-axial direction which is in parallel with a second main spindle and the above-mentioned X1-axial direction. The cutting-off tool rest of this automatic lathe moves in a direction which orthogonally crosses the axial line of the main spindle by two moving means, i.e. the X1 axis and the X2 axis.
On the other hand, in a machine tool provided with a plurality of tool rests, an interference check device which checks interference of tool rests and interference of a tool rest and a stationary structure or the like (see Patent Document 2, for example) is known.

Interference check device, interference check method, and machine tool having the interference check device