The present invention relates to an electrochemical biosensor strip comprising a base which has a front side and a back side, an electrode system on the front side of said base, a code-recognition element on one end of the back side of said base, a cover which is located on said electrode system, and a reaction area which is in touch with said electrode system for a reaction to take place. By forms of said code-recognition element provided in the present invention, a biosensing device will automatically choose a specific set of calibration code corresponding to a particular batch of the electrochemical biosensor strip while coupling to the strip. Hence, the present invention eliminates the calibration step carried out by users and simplifies the measuring procedure, avoiding the inaccurate results due to the omission or improper operation of the calibration step by users. The present invention further relates to a method for identifying a corresponding biosensing device by using a ratio of lengths of each length-changeable area of the strip.

1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to an electrochemical biosensor strip, and in particular, to an electrochemical biosensor strip including a code-recognition element on one end of a back side of a base for avoiding calibration steps by users. The present invention further relates to a method for identifying a corresponding biosensing device, in particular to a method for identifying a corresponding biosensing device by using a ratio of lengths of each length-changeable area of the strip.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the improvement of science and technology, many test processes operated in hospital in the past may now be operated at home. In market, many disposable biosensor strips are suitable for nonprofessionals to use and can be operated by users at home without pollution issue. The accurate data can be measured when the biosensor strip cooperated with an appropriate meter.
Taking blood glucose detecting technology as an example, the glucose meter becomes one of common POCT, point of care test, health-care devices in both home-care and hospital-care field.
Nowadays, most glucose meters on market are created based on the theory of Amperometric-electrochemistry. After blood glucose reacts with an enzyme at the electrochemical biosensor strip, electrons release during the forward reaction, and therefore the change of the current flow occurs. Then, by using the glucose meter, the change of the current flow is converted into a value of the blood glucose concentration.
Conventional electrochemical biosensor strip has a base, an electrode system, a reaction area and a cover. The electrode system is laid on the base and comprises an anode electrode and a cathode electrode independently and separately electrically disconnecting with each other. An insulating layer is laid down onto one portion of the electrode system, and therefore one portion of the electrode system is exposed. One end of the exposed portion of the anode and cathode electrode respectively forms a working electrode and a reference electrode, while the other end of the exposed portion of the anode and cathode electrode electrically connect with a meter. The reaction area, which is made depending on different design, is laid onto the working electrode and the reference electrode, and the cover is laid onto the reaction area.
After a sample received into the strip, the sample reacts with a material of the reaction area to produce an electrical signal which is then transferred from the working electrode and the reference electrode to the anode electrode and the cathode electrode of the other end. The coupled meter receives the electrical signal and calculates the signal to convert into an analyte concentration and shows on a display.
However, due to conventional electrochemical biosensor strips have been made by batch production, the variables during batch production will cause the variety of the strips from batch to batch, such as the volume of the working electrodes and the reference electrodes, the quantity of the enzyme and so on. All of above reasons will cause inaccurate results. To avoid this problem, producers set a specific set of calibration code corresponding to the strips per batch to confirm the consistency of the analyzing value before they sell the meters and the strips. The function of calibration in glucose meters is to confirm that the result will not be affected due to different batch of strips.
Main code-calibration methods have been used on market, such as chip-setting method, strip-number comparing method and so on. Take chip-setting method for example. A provided chip must be used to calibrate the code in the glucose meter before the strip inserting to. However, patients often forget to use the chip to calibrate the code, and then cause an inaccurate result. Such method is similar to the disclosure in U.S. application No. 2003204313. The strip-number comparing method described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,514,040 discloses a biosensing meter which not only stores sets of calibration code therein but also receives a code card to store new parameter or downloads new parameter from an internet. One set of the calibration code matched to the batch of the strips must be selected out before users doing the measuring process.
As described above, no matter what kind of code-calibration methods used in glucose meter, all of above must be needed extra calibration steps carried out by users. These cause the complexity during the measuring procedure. Once users do not do the calibration steps correctly, they won't get the accurate results.
Therefore, how to simplify code-calibration steps before measurement and still maintain the accurate results becomes an issue to the producers.
Besides, to ensure that users can use the electrochemical biosensor strips correctly, different strips are usually specific to their own corresponding biosensing device respectively. In other word, biosensing device can carry out the measuring process only when the specific strip insert into the corresponding biosensing device.
Producers in designing electrochemical biosensor strips need to produce varieties of electrochemical biosensor strips due to different purposes, analytes, costumers, or users to meet the market's need, and therefore, kinds of strips and biosensing devices are produced on market. The variety and the complexity of strips and devices are increasing. Hence, how to identify a biosensing device corresponding to a specific electrochemical biosensor strip effectively and simply also becomes an issue for producers and users.

Electrochemical biosensor strip and method for identifying a corresponding biosensing device by said strip


A soft plastic fishing lure containing particulate microencapsulated liquid fish attractant. Characteristically the soft plastic component of the fishing lure is the major component and is a heavily plasticized vinyl plastisol. Incorporated (blended) with this vinyl plastisol is a minor component containing particulate discrete microencapsulated particles (individual microcapsules), each having a spherical cell wall of a water-soluble gradually dissolving natural or synthetic coacervated polymer and an internal phase of liquid fish attractant, and agglomerates of such individual microcapsules associated in a tacky, viscous, continuous, substantially water-soluble polymeric binder. The predominant portion of individual microcapsules range in particle size from about five microns to about 100 microns, and whose mean individual particle size ranges from about thirty to about seventy microns.

A wide variety of fishing lures are available to the fisherman. Basically fishing lures are of two types: The hard fishing lures, such as those constructed of wood, metal or hard plastic materials; and the soft lures, viz., those lures constructed of soft plastic materials which are readily moldable and can be tailor-made for fishing by insertion of a variety of hooks therein.
In addition to the use of this wide variety of fishing lures, various coating materials are available to provide a fish attractant scent in addition to the visual appeal presented by each individual fishing lure. The lure with such a fish attractant material coated thereon is then an odor-bearing lure.
There have been provided a variety of fish attractant coating compositions intended to be applied to both hard and soft fishing lures to enhance the strikeability of the lure by fish. Most of these fish attractant coating compositions have disadvantages attendant to their use. For example, some of the compositions are oily compositions which, when applied to a lure which is subsequently put into the water, quickly float off the lure to limit the duration of olfactory attractiveness of the lure to the fish. Unfortunately, the fisherman is basically using the lure to rapidly distribute chum in and above the area where the lure is cast. Such oily fish attractants, not being retained on the lure, quickly rise to the surface of the water and float away in the current present where the fisherman is fishing.
Some other lures coated with releasable active materials are wax-based and therefore do not allow for easy dissemination of the active fish attractant to the interface of the water with the lure.
Other odoriferous fish attractants are solids which cannot be readily applied onto the lures. Such solid odoriferous materials are characteristically cast or sprinkled on the water in the area where the fishing lures are cast. This, too, unfortunately results in merely providing chum on the surface of the water in an area where the hooks and the lure is located far below.
Other lures are of the type wherein the fish attractant material is distributed throughout a matrix of water-soluble polymer material, for example by being molded therein, to allow for release of such fish attractant into the water upon dissolution of the polymer matrix thereby resulting in leeching out of the fish attractant. Many of these lures take too long to permit the fish attractant material to be leeched out and delivered for practical use in attracting the fish.
Conversely, in other fish attractant-containing matrix lures, release of the active scent material is too fast, resulting in too early a presentation of the fish attractant material.
These and other shortcomings are by and large eliminated in accordance with the present invention which offers a combination of readily, quickly released liquid fish attractant scent and more gradually released microencapsulated liquid fish attractant scent in the same coating composition which is not oily and which when dried on the lure results in a dried film having sufficient durability to per, nit its use for as long as several hours of fishing. The dried film is retained on the lure when the lure is cast into the water and therefore results in a gradual presentation of the fish attractant material over a more extended period of time at the very location where the lure presents itself to the fish, viz., at the very location where the lure is located within the water as it is being retrieved by the fisherman.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,643 issued to V. T. D'Orazio, et al is directed to a water-soluble polymer fishing lure coating having an odoriferous fish-attractant material dispersed therein. A composition for application on the fishing lures to provide olfactory stimulation of fish includes a volatile organic solvent, a polymeric material dissolved in the solvent and capable of forming a water-soluble coating, and a fish attractant material dispersed in the solution. A method for imparting an olfactory stimulus to a fishing lure includes applying said composition onto the lure, preferably by spraying, dipping or brushing, and then exposing the lure to air for volatilization of the organic solvent and deposition of the coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,638 issued to D. J. Vobejda is directed to an artificial hollow body fishing lure which provides a means for containing a liquid scent and dispensing that scent in metered amounts as the lure is drawn through the water. The lure contains a propeller at its rear end which turns as the lure is pulled through the water. Turning of the propeller conveys the liquid scent contained within the hollow lure and disperses it into the water to attract fish to the lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,018 issued to W. E. S. Cart is directed to an artificial bait comprised of a tough, semi-rigid, flexible water-insoluble matrix material formed of hydrophilic macromolecular substances containing therein a fish attractant. The Carr baits are designed for placing on a hook and fishing in the same manner as is done with non-live natural baits.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,114 issued to F. Witteman, et al is directed to a composition for use as a fishing lure by attachment to a fishing hook. This composition contains a quantity of minute, buoyant, hollow microspheres, e.g., hollow glass microspheres, which are dispersed in a normally non-buoyant fishing bait material to produce sufficient buoyancy to cause the fish lure composition with hook to float. Suitable disclosed normally non-buoyant fishing bait materials are Velveeta cheese, American cheese, hamburger, and mashed salmon eggs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,519 issued to E. S. Combs is directed to a fish bait made of comminuted organic tissue particles dispersed in a solidified polyacrylamide gel. When stored out of contact with water, the gel tightly compacts around the tissue particles and allegedly prevents biological degradation of the tissue. When immersed in water the gel swells to allow bacterial action to take place in the tissue. The tissue odor is released through the surrounding gel in the same manner as from tissue alone, and the gel is disclosed as protecting the tissue from decomposition.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,575 issued to T. Morita is directed to a fishing lure or plug device which contains self-chumming means for attracting fish to the lure for biting thereon. The lure is shaped like a bait fish or any usual shape of fish lure, spoon or the like, and has hooks attached to it, an eyelet means for attachment to a leader line to the fisherman or his reel. The lure body has a chamber formed therein for receiving a liquid container in the form of a vial or capsule containing a liquid such as fish oil, cod liver oil, or other fish-derived oil which is attractive to the fish being sought, the chamber being open at one or both ends with a retaining spring to retain the oil capsule therein, so that by puncturing the vial or capsule, the oil is dribbled out and entrained with the water to attract the fish.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,305 issued to J. O. Bridges is directed to a fishing lure having a fish-attractant body which is formed of a water-soluble polymer having a slow dissolution rate. The polymer contains a fish scent attractant which can be encapsulated, viz., trapped, within the polymer, e.g., fish or blood meal can be included in the polymer so that it will be slowly dispensed into the water as the polymer dissolves. The preferred polymer is polyvinyl alcohol having a pre-selected degree of hydrolysis of its ester groups to achieve the desired water-solubility rate, and optionally plasticized with glycerol. The attractant can be a sheet which has a plurality of parallel and co-extensive slits to provide parallel strips that depend from an unslit portion thereby permitting the sheet material to be wrapped about a lure body and secured in place so that the parallel strips extend rearly from the body, permitting them to undulate in the water as the lure is pulled through the water, simulating the swimming movements of a small fish. [Note FIG. 3]. Other embodiments include solid form lures shaped from polyvinyl alcohol which is gelled with a soluble borate.
It should be readily apparent from the foregoing that none of these patents discloses or suggests the soft and very soft plastic fishing lures containing a minor portion of particulate micro-encapsulated liquid fish attractant particles suspended or dispersed in a continuous, substantially water-soluble, polymeric binder blended with a major portion of a heavily plasticized vinyl plastisol to form fishing lures, preferably by molding. The lures of this invention achieve a combination of quick release of any fish attractant incorporated in said water-soluble polymeric binder, and gradual release of the fish attractant contained in said micro-capsules thereby offering a longer lasting presentation of the fish attractant at the exact location in the water where the lure is presented to the fish.

Soft plastic fishing lures containing microencapsulated liquid fish attractant


Methods of forming a channel region between isolation regions of an integrated circuit substrate are disclosed. In particular, a mask can be formed on an isolation region that extends onto a portion of the substrate adjacent to the isolation region to provide a shielded portion of the substrate adjacent to the isolation region and an exposed portion of the substrate spaced apart from the isolation region having the shielded portion therebetween. A channel region can be formed in the exposed portion of the substrate. Related integrated circuits are also discussed.

This application claims priority to Korean Application No. 2000-35707, filed Jun. 27, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to methods of forming integrated circuits and to integrated circuits in general, and more particularly, to methods of forming integrated circuit memory devices using ion implantation and to integrated circuits formed using same.
In dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), data can be recorded by storing charge in a capacitor of a memory cell. To keep data recorded in DRAMs, the data may need to be refreshed periodically. Data retention time is one of the characteristics used to determine the performance of DRAMs. One of the factors that influences data retention time is junction leakage current. Junction leakage current can be produced by an electric field at a pn junction boundary or by substrate defects in a depletion region. Decreasing the junction leakage current may increase data retention time and thereby improve the performance of DRAMs.
As the integration density of DRAMs increases, the size of a transistor included therein may decrease. Decreasing the size of a transistor may decrease the length of a channel region, thereby causing short channel effects such as a decrease in the threshold voltage VT of the transistor. A doping concentration can be increased gradually during channel ion-implantation to compensate for a decrease in VT and thereby adjust VT to a proper level.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional channel ion-implantation used to adjust VT. A p-type dopant can be ion-implanted into an entire p-type integrated circuit substrate 10, including a isolation region 12, to form a doping region 20 without using an ion-implantation mask. Thereafter, a gate electrode 24 and an n-type source/drain region 26 can be formed.
When the channel ion-implantation is performed throughout the entire substrate 10, as shown in FIG. 1, the source/drain region 26 can be influenced by the doping region 20 formed by the channel ion-implantation. In this case, when the doping concentration is increased during the channel ion-implantation to prevent a short channel effect, substrate defects may occur between the isolation region 12 and the source/drain region 26 or in a depletion region.
Since the dopant implanted during the channel ion-implantation may have a polarity that is opposite a dopant that is ion-implanted into the source/drain region, an electric field at the pn junction boundary may be increased, thereby increasing junction leakage current. Consequently, data retention time may be decreased. Moreover, channel ion-implantation performed at a high concentration may increase junction capacitance. As a result, when charge stored in the capacitors of memory cells is read, the information may be affected by noise, so that a sensing margin is decreased.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional views that illustrate conventional channel ion-implantation to adjust VT. A doping region 50 can be formed by implanting a p-type dopant 46 into only a region where a gate electrode 54 will be formed on an integrated circuit substrate 40, using a reverse gate pattern 44, formed of a photoresist film, as an ion-implantation mask. Thereafter, the gate electrode 54 can be formed on the doping region 50.
According to some conventional methods described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B, as the integration density of devices increases, it may become difficult to form the reverse gate pattern 44 used as a channel ion-implantation mask. In addition, when conventional methods are applied to the manufacturing of devices having a small pitch between gate electrodes 54, various problems can be caused by the misalignment of the mask or by variation in the critical dimension in a channel ion-implantation step or a gate electrode-patterning step followed by the channel ion-implantation step. For example, when the reverse gate pattern 44 is misaligned, the doping region 50 formed at the edge of an isolation region 42 may be affected by the junction leakage current. Accordingly, the operation of a device may be adversely affected.
In other conventional methods, channel ion-implantation can be performed using a reverse gate pattern as shown in FIG. 2A, and then a gate electrode may be formed to be self-aligned to the reverse gate pattern. However, in this method it may be difficult to form the structure of a gate electrode having multiple layers. In addition, processes of forming self-aligned contacts, such as a landing pad self-aligned with respect to a gate electrode may be impracticable.
Embodiments of methods according to the present invention may allow a channel region to be formed between isolation regions of an integrated circuit substrate. Pursuant to these embodiments, a mask can be formed on an isolation region that extends onto a portion of the substrate adjacent to the isolation region to provide a shielded portion of the substrate adjacent to the isolation region and an exposed portion of the substrate spaced apart from the isolation region having the shielded portion therebetween. A channel region can be formed in the exposed portion of the substrate.
In some embodiments according to the present invention, a first level of ions can be implanted in the shielded region adjacent to the isolation region. A second level of ions can be implanted in the channel region spaced apart from the isolation region, wherein the second level is greater than the first level.
In some embodiments according to the present invention, boron ions are implanted in the exposed region and then boron difluoride ions are implanted in the exposed region. In some embodiments according to the present invention, a gate electrode can be formed on the channel region and a contact can be formed on the shielded region. Source and drain regions can be formed in the channel region self aligned to the gate electrode.

Methods of forming integrated circuits using masks to provide ion implantation shielding to portions of a substrate adjacent to an isolation region therein


A system and a method for investigating rock formations includes generating, by a first acoustic source, a first acoustic signal comprising a first plurality of pulses, each pulse including a first modulated signal at a central frequency; and generating, by a second acoustic source, a second acoustic signal comprising a second plurality of pulses. A receiver arranged within the borehole receives a detected signal including a signal being generated by a non-linear mixing process from the first-and-second acoustic signal in a non-linear mixing zone within the intersection volume. The method also includes-processing the received signal to extract the signal generated by the non-linear mixing process over noise or over signals generated by a linear interaction process, or both.

Acoustic interrogation of subsurface features tends to be limited by the size and power of practical sources, and in practice, the output of down hole acoustic transducers is limited by the power transmission capabilities of the wireline cable. High frequency signals have a relatively short penetration distance, while low frequency signals generally require large sources, clamped to the borehole wall, to maximize energy transfer to the formation and minimize unwanted signals within the well bore. Currently, acoustic borehole tools are designed with acoustic sources in the borehole to detect returning acoustic waves that are propagating along the borehole walls or scattered by inhomogeneities of linear properties of rock formations surrounding the borehole. U.S. Pat. No. 7,301,852 to Leggett, III et al. discloses a Logging While Drilling tool, designed to detect rock formation boundaries. The tool uses two acoustic source arrays emitting two acoustic waves from a borehole that generate a third wave by non-linear mixing in the rock formation surrounding the borehole at the location of intersection of the acoustic waves. The third wave continues forward and interacts linearly with heterogeneities in the subsurface properties. The third wave is scattered by the heterogeneities in the subsurface properties, and the scattered signal is detected by sensors in the logging tool. U.S. Pat. No. 7,301,852 does not discuss detecting the third wave directly but rather the signal that is scattered by the heterogeneities in the rock formation. U.S. Pat. No. 7,301,852 merely uses the resultant scattered wave to detect rock formation boundaries.
Attempts have been made to characterize the non-linear properties of a formation in the area of oil and gas prospecting from boreholes, but each has its own limitations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,882 to D'Angelo et al. discloses an acoustic tool designed to record with pressure receivers non-linear waves generated by non-linear mixing of two waves. The non-linear waves propagate along the borehole wall with limited penetration into the surrounding rock formation and refract back into the well bore fluid. The indication of non-linearity is utilized to provide an indication of the relative consolidation of the formation surrounding the borehole. U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,882 does not discuss measuring non-linear characteristics of a rock formation away from the borehole. U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,536 by Khan discloses a method to estimate the degree of non-linearity of earth formations from spectral analysis of seismic signals transmitted into the earth formations from a first borehole and received in a second borehole. The method in U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,536 determines from the spectral analysis the presence of a frequency at a receiver located at the second borehole representing a sum or a difference of two selected frequencies of the transmitted seismic signals generated by two sources located at the first borehole. U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,536 does not discuss measuring non-linear characteristics of a rock formation in a remote region of a borehole where the receiver and the sources are located in one borehole.
In light of these prior attempts, there is a need for a system and method for characterizing non-linear properties in a remote region from a borehole.

System and method for investigating sub-surface features of a rock formation with acoustic sources generating coded signals


A supersonic, direct-current arcjet is designed for expansion into low pressure, the arcjet operates as mixtures of hydrogen and argon to convert molecular hydrogen to atomic hydrogen and direct the atomic hydrogen to a substrate surface. A hydrocarbon (methane or acetylene) is introduced in the arcjet plume where it is converted to hydrocarbon precursors and is directed to the substrate surface where it combines with the atomic hydrogen to produce a diamond film.

Diamond research activities have increased dramatically in recent years, an outcome fueled primarily by diamonds' superior mechanical, thermal, and optical properties. It is known to have the highest thermal conductivity while being an excellent electrical insulator. Furthermore, it is an extremely hard material, has excellent corrosion resistance, and transmits optically over a broad wavelength range..sup.1,2 These properties lead to many potential applications for diamond coatings as well as free standing films..sup.3 Research in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond has led to the development and use of many different synthesis techniques, ranging from hot filament and microwave activation.sup.1,2 (generally at low pressures) to arc.sup.4,5 and flame.sup.6,7 excitation (generally near atmospheric pressure). High quality diamond in thin film form to free standing samples of several millimeter thickness are now commercially available.
Despite the progress that has been observed in the manufacture of engineered diamond, little is known about the chemistry controlling nucleation and growth. Identification of the growth precursors and mechanisms for carbon incorporation into the growing diamond surface is now the subject of intense experimental and theoretical research. Detailed mechanisms based on both methyl .sup.8,9 (CH.sub.3) and actylene .sup.10 (C.sub.2 H.sub.2) as precursors have been proposed recently. As most synthesis strategies rely on the production of copious amounts of atomic hydrogen, it is now generally believed that atomic hydrogen plays an important role in growth kinetics by preventing surface reconstruction of the growing diamond film (i.e. stabilizing sp.sup.3 hybridized surface carbon bonds), and by producing active sites through abstraction of surface hydrogen..sup.2,11 These active sites are now available to react with possible growth precursors.
DC arcjets have proven to be of great potential in diamond synthesis,.sup.12-18 for they deliver the highest linear growth rates at nearly 1 mm per hour while still retaining excellent quality..sup.12

Method and apparatus for growing diamond films

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A thermal head and a thermal printer are disclosed. The head includes a substrate, heat generating members, an edge portion, and first and second reinforcing members. The substrate includes: first and second surfaces opposing to each other; and an end face connecting the first and second surfaces. The heat generating members are parallel to the end face and located on the substrate. The edge portion is located on the substrate, crosses an array direction of the heating generating members, and includes first, second and third edge portions on the first main surface, the second main surface and the first end face, respectively. The first reinforcing member is located on the first, second and third edge portions. The second reinforcing member is located on the first edge portion, and separated from the first reinforcing member.

Various types of thermal heads have been proposed as printing devices such as facsimile machines, video printers, and card printers. These thermal heads each include a plurality of heat generating members on a substrate and also include a first electrode and a second electrode that supply a voltage to each of the plurality heat generating members; a protective layer is provided so as to cover the heat generating members, first electrode, and second electrode (see PTL 1, for example).

Thermal head and thermal printer provided with same


A method is taught to extract more information about the motion of an acoustic wave emitter moving relative to a line array of hydrophones that are part of a sonar system by determining the variation in Doppler shift across the entire line array of hydrophones together with the a range measurement of the emitter to calculate the emitter's velocity.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to active sonar systems, and more specifically to a novel method of processing the Doppler shift from a line array of acoustic sensors to determine the speed of an acoustic wave emitter moving parallel to the line array.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Certain sonar applications utilize the properties of Doppler effects to analyze the data obtained from acoustic wave receivers. The Doppler effect or Doppler shift expresses the apparent change in the frequency and wavelength of an acoustic wave perceived by an acoustic receiver that is moving relative to the source of the acoustic wave. This relative motion can be caused by the movement of the emitter, the receiver or both the emitter and the receiver. For example, a receiver having velocity νr relative to a source having velocity νs introduces a Doppler shift as follows:
      f    d    =      f                                c          +                      v            r                                    c          -                      v            s                              .
The Doppler shift can be derived for a plane wave from a stationary source having a pressure field of the form p(x,t)=P0ei(ωt-kx). A stationary receiver at x=0 measures the field p(x,0)=P0eiωt, while a receiver moving according to x=−νt, i.e., opposite to the propagation direction of the plane wave, measures the field p(x,t)=P0ei(ω+ων/c)t=P0eiωt(1+ν/c).
The Doppler effect produces a frequency shift when an object emitting acoustic waves is moving relative to an acoustic receiver such as a hydrophone. In the context of a sonar system, the Doppler effect is typically used only to determine the speed of the emitter along the line connecting the emitter and the receiver. When a line array of multiple receivers is used, however, there is the potential for extracting more information about the velocity of the emitter.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A method and device for configuring a PDCCH time domain monitoring position are provided. The method includes: receiving PDCCH search space configuration signaling, wherein the PDCCH search space configuration signaling includes a PDCCH monitoring periodicity, a PDCCH monitoring offset, and indication signaling for indicating the starting position of a first symbol in which a PDCCH is located; and determining a time domain position for monitoring the PDCCH according to the PDCCH search space configuration signaling.

In the design standards of fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) mobile communication systems, a PDCCH monitoring occasion is notified by a base station to user equipment (UE) through radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The RRC signaling includes a periodicity, an offset, and a bitmap indication. The periodicity K is in units of slot, and a value range of the periodicity K is {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20}. The offset O has a value in units of slot, and the value range is 0 to K−1. The bitmap has a length of 14, wherein each bit corresponds to one symbol in a slot in which the PDCCH monitoring occasion is located. If a bit is 1, it represents that a symbol corresponding to the bit is a first symbol for PDCCH monitoring. The slot in which the PDCCH monitoring occasion is located meets the following condition:(nf·Nslotframe,μ+ns,fμ−O)mod K=0,
where nf is a radio frame number, Nslotframe, μ is a quantity of slots included in one radio frame, ns, fμ is a number of a slot in one radio frame, and the value of u falls within {0, 1, 2, 3} and is associated with a subcarrier spacing.
For a Type0-PDCCH (a PDCCH used for carrying remaining minimum system information (RMSI) scheduling signaling), a monitoring occasion is determined from a synchronization signal block (SSB) number and master information block (MIB) signaling transmitted by a base station. For example, corresponding to the SSB and control resource set (CORESET) multiplexing pattern 1, UE monitors Type0-PDCCH over an n0 th slot in a radio frame with a number of SFNC and an immediate following slot, where SFNC and n0 meet the following conditions:n0=(O·2μ+└i·M┘)mod Nslotframe,μ,SFNC mod 2=0 if └(O·2μ+└i·M┘)/Nslotframe,μ┘ mod 2=0,SFNC mod 2=1 if └(O·2μ+└i·M┘)/Nslotframe,μ┘ mod 2=1,where i is an SSB number, and M and O are determined according to MIB signaling. Further, the position of a first symbol for the Type0-PDCCH in the slots for Type0-PDCCH monitoring is also determined from MIB signaling.
For the SSB and CORESET multiplexing patterns 2 and 3, a Type0-PDCCH monitoring periodicity of UE is the same as the SSB periodicity. The slots for Type0-PDCCH monitoring and the position of the first symbol in the slots for Type0-PDCCH monitoring are determined according to a predefined table. Generally, the slots for Type0-PDCCH monitoring are a slot in which an ith SSB is located or the aforementioned n0 th slot in a radio frame with a number of SFNC and an immediate following slot.
For the SSB and CORESET multiplexing pattern 1, a periodicity of Type0-PDCCH slots is two radio frames, that is, 20 ms. For the SSB and CORESET multiplexing patterns 2 and 3, the periodicity of Type0-PDCCH slots is the SSB periodicity, that is, {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ms.
In RMSI (also referred to as system information block 1 (SIB1)) signaling, the base station may configure, through RRC signaling, a PDCCH search space (including a time domain monitoring position) for UE to monitor RMSI scheduling signaling. In the foregoing description, a maximum PDCCH monitoring periodicity configured through the RRC signaling is 20 slots, while a maximum Type0-PDCCH monitoring periodicity is 160 ms, which corresponds to 160*2u slots. In addition, the slots for Type0-PDCCH monitoring may be two consecutive slots, while only one slot can be configured through the RRC signaling.
Therefore, RRC signaling cannot accurately and completely describe a Type0-PDCCH time domain monitoring occasion.

Method and device for configuring physical downlink control channel time domain monitoring position

China Mobile Communication Co., Ltd Research Institute

China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd.


In a gaming system, a part of a bet is accumulated in a progressive bonus counter in a case of executing a slot game in each of slot machines. Then, in a case where an accumulated count value of the progressive bonus counter has reached a predetermined value, an event game which the plurality of slot machines participate in is executed, and a progressive bonus corresponding to a part or entirety of the accumulated count value is provided to a player who has won the event game. Moreover, in a case where the accumulated count value of the progressive bonus counter has reached the predetermined value when the slot game is being executed only in one slot machine, a mystery bonus is generated. Accordingly, a profit can be returned to players who execute the slot game.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming system that includes a plurality of gaming terminals and executes an event game for competing for acquisition of a progressive bonus at the respective gaming terminals when a count value of a progressive bonus counter, which is accumulated by executing games at the respective gaming terminals, has reached a predetermined value.
2. Description of the Related Art
As gaming machines such as slot machines, there are known those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,459, U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,697, US Patent Published Application No. 2003/0069073, European Patent Published Application No. 1192975, U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,483, U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,730, U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,088, U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,981, U.S. Pat. No. 6234896, U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,016, U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,820, U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,482, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,731, U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,957, U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,048, U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,402, U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,013, U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,709, European Patent Published Application No. 0631798, German Patent Published Application No. 4137010, UK Patent Published Application No. 2326830, German Patent Published Application No. 3712841, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,638, U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,980, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,909, U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,303, U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,409, U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,533, U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,817, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,704, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,707, U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,728, European Patent Published Application No. 1302914, U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,459, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,700, International Publication No. 03/083795, German Patent Published Application No. 3242890, European Patent Published Application No. 0840264, German Patent Published Application No. 10049444, International Publication No. 04/095383, European Patent Published Application No. 1544811, U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963, European Patent Published Application No. 1477947, and European Patent Published Application No. 1351180.
In a facility where the gaming machines as described above are placed, a player makes a bet by coins and credits to the gaming machine, and thereby can play a game provided by the gaming machine concerned.
For example, every time when the player makes the bet to a slot machine as an example of the gaming machine and presses a START switch, the slot machine executes a slot game in which a plurality of symbols arranged on a display are rearranged. Then, in the case where a combination of the symbols rearranged on the display has become a predetermined winning combination, the slot machine provides an award corresponding to this winning combination.
Moreover, the slot machine also provides a jackpot (progressive bonus). Specifically, the slot machine reserves, as a bet for the jackpot, a part of the bet such as the coins and the credits, which is made to the slot machine. Then, the slot machine decides whether or not to provide a bet for the jackpot at predetermined timing, and in the case of having decided to provide the bet, provides the entirety or a part of the reserved bet for the jackpot to the player.
However, the conventional gaming machine as described above only provides the bet for the jackpot when the jackpot is won, and it is desired that a gaming system provided with a new entertainment factor appears.

Gaming system for competing for prize of progressive bonus at plural terminals


A musical score extracting unit specifies areas of each of measures and the measure number of each measure on a musical score based on positions of musical-score composing elements such as part lines, staffs and bar lines. A music-data dividing unit divides music-data file based on time information in the music-data file to generate plural unit music-data files containing pitch information and time information for one measure. The music-data dividing unit specifies measures where repeat marks are placed based on sorts and positions of the repeat marks and positions of the part lines, staffs and bar lines on the musical score, thereby removing unit music-data file to repeat as instructed by the repeat marks from the plural music-data files to obtain a final unit music-data files associated with the respective measure numbers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a musical-score information generating apparatus, a musical-tone generation controlling apparatus, a musical-score information generating method, and a musical-tone generation controlling method, which control reproduction of a musical piece based on music data, with use of musical-score information that associates musical-score data of a musical score with music data relating to the performance of the musical piece based on the musical score.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electronic musical instruments and music reproducing apparatuses, a technology has been proposed, which displays a musical score of a musical piece on the display screen of a displaying device and generates musical tones corresponding to musical notes indicated on the displayed musical score, thereby giving a performance of the musical piece.
For example, Japanese Patent Gazette No. 3077269 discloses an apparatus, which compares musical score data with performance data generated based on a key of a keyboard pressed by a player, thereby detecting a position on the musical score where the player is playing, and displays the detected position on the musical score.
Further, Japanese Patent No. Hei 10-240117 A discloses an apparatus, which uses MIDI data file, musical-score image data file containing musical-score image data representing a musical score in each of measures, and exercise supporting data containing a controlling code for each of the measures. The controlling code includes a code indicating an appropriate page of the musical score, a corresponding part of MIDI data, and appropriate musical-score image data. In the apparatus, the page of the measure to be learned or practiced is confirmed based on the controlling code, and the musical score containing the measures on the page is displayed.
In general, the musical score contains various repeat symbols or repeat marks and the same measure(s) is repeatedly played for plural times. Meanwhile, music data for giving a performance of a musical piece, such as SMF (Standard Midi File) storing MIDI data, is composed of note-on events, note-off events and time information, wherein the note-on event corresponds to generation of a musical tone, the note-off event corresponds to cease generation of a musical tone, and the time information corresponds to a time duration between the events. But a repetition of the measure (s) is not contained in the music data. Therefore, since musical notes on the musical score do not always correspond to the events in the music data, when a position (for example, a measure) is designated on the musical score, sometimes a music piece cannot be performed smoothly.
Further, since the repeat symbol or the repeat mark is more complex in figure, when compared with other elements composing the musical score, such as a staff and bar lines, a possibility of correctly recognizing the repeat mark in the image data will become low. Therefore, sometimes it is difficult to specify plural repeat marks and their positions on the image of the musical score as the composing elements of the musical score.
The present invention has an object to provide an apparatus and a method, which generate musical score information containing musical score data of a musical score and music data for giving a performance of music based on the musical score, both data being properly associated with each other, and specify repeat marks and their positions on the image of the musical score, and read music data of each of the measures based on the specified repeat marks, thereby reproducing the music properly and giving a performance of the music from the position desired by a user.

Musical-score information generating apparatus, music-tone generation controlling apparatus, musical-score information generating method, and music-tone generation controlling method


A fishing rod enables viewing of pole bending activity in daylight and at nighttime. The rod has a light-transmitting pole for supporting a fishing line and having a handle end and a tip end. A collimated beam producing unit is located towards the handle end aligned to transmit a collimated beam into the interior of the pole in a direction towards the tip end. A reflector at the tip end reflects light back towards the handle end after exiting the tip end.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing rods and, in particular, to lighted fishing rods for fishing either in daylight or in the dark.
2. Background of the Art
It is known that many species of fish are more active at dawn or dusk or at night or other times when lighting conditions are poor. Thus, fishing is frequently better during these periods and many people prefer to fish at these times. Because of the darkness, however, it is more difficult to see the end of the rod. This makes it harder, if not impossible, to observe the movement of the end of the rod when a fish is attempting to take the bait.
Various forms of lighted or illuminated fishing rods have been heretofore proposed for solving this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,508 (Schmidt et al.) describes the use of a removable flashlight unit in the handle of a fishing rod for illuminating the ends of fiber optic cables running up the hollow interior of the fishing pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,410 (Cota et al.) describes a light bulb located in an outer section of a fishing pole and connected to a mercury switch located at the tip of the pole for detecting jerking movement of the end of the pole. When the mercury switch detects movement, the light bulb is turned on to light up the outer section of the pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,433 (Sparks) describes a light bulb in the handle of a fishing pole for illuminating optical fibers extending up the hollow interior of the pole. The light bulb is connected in circuit with a sensor switch located at the tip end of the pole so that the light bulb is turned on when a fish strikes at the bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,286 describes a fishing rod having a hollow pole for supporting a fishing line, the pole having a handle end and a tip end. A hollow handle is affixed to the handle end of the pole. A laser beam producing unit is located within the handle structure and aligned to transmit a laser beam into the hollow interior of the pole in the direction of the tip end of the pole.


A carrier and a dummy toner are stored in a developing unit of a process cartridge in a brand new status. A plurality of process cartridges corresponding to a plurality of color toners is used in common. The color toners are respectively supplied to the developing unit from toner supply units after the process cartridges in the brand new status are installed in installation sections in a main unit of an image forming apparatus.

1.) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electrographic method, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, or a multifunction product thereof, which forms an image of multiple colors, such as a color image, a process cartridge and a developing unit installed therein, and an image forming method.
2.) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a color image forming apparatus such as a color copier, process cartridges (or developing unit) corresponding to toners of multiple colors (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black) are detachably installed in an image forming apparatus main unit. These process cartridges (or developing unit) are appropriately replaced by a new one, as the process cartridge mechanically wears out.
Specifically, in a developing unit in a new process cartridge, for example, (1) a two-component developer including a carrier and a toner of any one color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, or (2) a one-component developer including a toner of any one color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black is stored beforehand in a space completely isolated by a sealing member.
After the sealing member in the developing unit in the new process cartridge is taken away, four process cartridges are respectively installed in the respective installation sections in the image forming apparatus main unit. Thereafter, when a photosensitive drum (an image carrier) in the process cartridge deteriorates, or the one-component developer in the cartridge has been consumed, to reach the end of the service life, with the operation of the image forming apparatus, the existing process cartridge installed in the image forming apparatus main unit is taken out by an operator such as a user or a maintenance person. A new process cartridge is then installed newly in the apparatus main unit.
In the image forming apparatus in which the process cartridges (or developing unit) are detachably installed, it is necessary that the respective process cartridges are installed precisely in the corresponding installation section. That is, an installation error such that a process cartridge of a certain color is installed in an installation section of a different color should not be made by the operator.
For this purpose, in the image forming apparatus, such a technique is mainly used that a shape difference is provided in the four process cartridges and the installation sections in the apparatus main unit respectively corresponding to the four process cartridges, to ensure the incompatibility (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-84534).
The sealing member installed in the developing unit in the process cartridge is for preventing the toner stored in the developing unit from scattering from the process cartridge (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-231759).

Image forming apparatus, process cartridge, developing unit, and image forming method


In a semiconductor laser device (10) having different facet reflectivities, an electrode disposed on a stripe ridge (107a) is divided into four electrode parts (1), (2), (3), and (4), and a larger injection current is injected to an electrode part that is closer to a light emission facet side. Further, a carrier density distribution in an active layer that is opposed to the stripe ridge can be matched to a light intensity distribution in the active layer, thereby preventing degradation in high output characteristic due to destabilization of a transverse mode and reduction in gain which are caused by spatial hole burning.

With developments in optical communication and optical storage devices, demand for semiconductor lasers to be used therefor is growing, and a blue-violet semiconductor laser comprising a III-V group nitride-base semiconductor material such as gallium nitride (AlxGayIn1-x-yN; 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1) is actively developed as a key device for realizing a super high density recording on an optical disc. Particularly, increase in output power of the blue-violet semiconductor laser enables high-speed writing in an optical disc, and further, it is a technique indispensable for exploration of a new technical field such as application as a light source to a laser display which can represent bright colors using laser light of a narrow spectrum width.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional semiconductor laser having a current constriction structure.
The semiconductor laser 100 shown in FIG. 10 includes a semiconductor layer laminated body 110 which is obtained by successively depositing, on an upper surface of an n type GaN substrate 101, an n type AlGaN cladding layer 102, an n type GaN lightguide layer 103, an active layer 104 having a multiquantum well structure including InGaN, an undoped GaN cap layer 105, a p type GaN lightguide layer 106, and a p type AlGaN cladding layer 107.
The p type AlGaN cladding layer 107 is a ridge type cladding layer having a mesa-shaped ridge 107a, whose cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the semiconductor laser is a convex trapezoid, and a p type GaN contact layer 108 is disposed on an upper surface of the ridge. Further, an insulating film 111 is deposited on the surfaces of the p type AlGaN cladding layer 107 and the p type GaN contact layer 108, and a p electrode 115 is disposed on the insulating film 111. The p electrode 115 is connected to the p type GaN contact layer 108 through an aperture that is formed in a portion of the insulating film 111 on the p type GaN contact layer 108, along the ridge 107a. An n electrode 116 is disposed on a lower surface of the n type GaN substrate 101.
In the semiconductor laser 100, the ridge 107a, the insulating film 111, the contact layer 108, and the p electrode 115 constitute a stripe structure for injecting current concentratedly into an optical waveguide part of the active layer 104, which is opposite to the ridge 107a. The portion of the active layer 104 opposite to the ridge 107a is an optical waveguide in which laser light is generated and guided, and both end facets perpendicular to the ridge extending direction of the optical waveguide are facets of a resonator.
In the above-described semiconductor laser, when a driving voltage is applied between the p electrode 115 and an n electrode 116, laser driving currents are injected into the active layer 104 from these electrodes. Then, the currents injected into the active layer are concentrated at the optical waveguide part of the active layer 104, which part is opposite to the ridge 107a and constitutes the resonator, and light is generated in the active layer 104. When the injected current exceeds a predetermined threshold value, laser oscillation occurs in the resonator, and laser light is emitted from the resonator facet to the outside.
In order to use the semiconductor laser thus constructed as a light source of a laser display, high output characteristic of 100 mW˜several W is required. On the other hand, a semiconductor laser for a light source of a laser display is not required to have light condensing characteristic up to diffraction limit, which is required of a pickup for an optical disc. Therefore, the semiconductor laser may have a wide-stripe structure having a wide ridge, and a semiconductor laser having high-efficiency and high-output laser characteristic is required. Further, increase in the carrier density in the active layer is required for high output power of the semiconductor laser.
Generally, the stripe width is uniform over the entirety of the resonator. With an increase in the current injected from the electrodes, the carrier density in the active layer increases, and when its value reaches a constant threshold carrier density, laser oscillation occurs. The light output of the laser increases in proportion to the density of carriers which are injected into the active layer, at a current higher than the threshold current. However, when the carrier density inside the active layer is too high, saturation of the light output occurs due to gain saturation caused by spatial hole burning, whereby the high output operation is impeded. In addition, in the wide-stripe laser, although no kink occurs since the transverse mode of the waveguide light is a multimode, the shape of the transverse mode oscillation greatly changes to be unstable due to the spatial gain saturation caused by spatial hole burning. Further, in a light source for a laser display, although the light condensing characteristic up to the diffraction limit is not required as described above, when the transverse mode changes at a low frequency, the brightness of the display changes temporally, resulting in a problem that the brightness, color, and contrast cannot be accurately reproduced.
A measure to prevent the transverse mode from becoming unstable due to spatial hole burning is to narrow the stripe width. That is, as the stripe width becomes narrower, the expansion of the distribution of carriers which are injected into the active layer and the expansion in the transverse direction of the intensity distribution of the light that is induced in the active layer are relatively narrowed, and thereby, occurrence of unstable transverse mode that is caused by the spatial hole burning is prevented.
However, if the stripe width is uniformly narrowed over the entirety of the resonator, the series resistance of the element increases, and the driving voltage of the element undesirably increases. Especially, since reliability of a nitride-base semiconductor laser largely depends on the driving voltage and driving current, increase in the driving voltage must be restricted as much as possible. Further, since the light density in the waveguide increases when the stripe width is narrowed, it becomes difficult to realize high output characteristic of 100 mW or more.
In order to solve these problems, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2000-357842 (Pages 5-7, FIG. 1)) discloses a semiconductor laser having a taper region wherein the width of the stripe decreases from the center of the resonator toward the both end facets of the resonator. This semiconductor laser can provide laser oscillation with a stable transverse mode without excessively increasing the driving voltage for the element, as compared with the conventional laser structure in which the stripe width is uniformly narrowed.
Meanwhile, Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 1862544 (Pages 2-3, FIG. 2)) discloses a semiconductor laser in which an electrode is divided into plural electrodes along an axis direction of a resonator, and voltages applied to the respective electrodes are controlled so that an injection current distribution according to a light intensity distribution of a higher light intensity is obtained in the center of the laser than in the other part of the laser, thereby realizing a semiconductor laser that achieves a stable transverse mode operation and an increased fabrication yield.
Further, Non-Patent Document 1 ("Semiconductor Laser" written and edited by Kenichi Iga, 1st edition, Ohmsha Ltd., Oct. 25, 1994, p. 238) discloses that a method of making the reflectivities at resonator facets asymmetrical is effective for high power output of a semiconductor laser. This method is common in a semiconductor laser used for writing of an optical disc, and the facets constituting the resonator is coated with dielectric films to make the reflectivity at the facets asymmetrical. To be specific, between the facets constituting the resonator, the reflectivity at the front facet from which laser light is emitted is lowered while the reflectivity at the rear facet opposite to the front facet is increased. For example, the reflectivity at the front facet is 10%, and the reflectivity at the rear facet is 90%. The reflectivity of the dielectric multilayer can be controlled according to the refractive index of the dielectric material, the thickness thereof, and the number of layers to be laminated.

Semiconductor laser device and laser projector


In a polyurethane gel 1 including a gel layer 2 and a coat layer 3 covering the gel layer 2, the gel layer 2 is produced by allowing at least aliphatic polyisocyanate having an average functionality of more than 2.0 to react with polyol having an average functionality of 3.0 or less, and the coat layer 3 is produced by allowing at least aliphatic diisocyanate and/or alicyclic diisocyanate to react with bifunctional active hydrogen compound.

Conventionally, in the field of vibration isolation-seismic isolation members, shock absorbents, cushion members, and surface protection members, a low hardness polyurethane gel has been used.
Softness is required for such a polyurethane gel, and therefore usually, a plasticizer is added.
However, disadvantages such as contamination on the polyurethane gel surface may be caused from bleeding of the plasticizer.
Thus, Patent Document 1 below has proposed, for example, as a polyurethane gel containing no plasticizer, a super-low hardness thermosetting polyurethane elastomer-forming composition having an Asker C hardness of 50 or less produced by allowing nurate-type polyisocyanate (A) having an average functionality of 2.5 to 3.5 to react with modified polytetramethyleneglycol (B) having a number average molecular weight of 800 to 5000 so that the equivalent ratio of NCO/OH of (A) to (B) is less than 1.0 (e.g. see Patent Document 1 below).
With the super-low hardness thermosetting polyurethane elastomer-forming composition of Patent Document 1, bleeding of the plasticizer is not caused, but surface tackiness (tack properties) is high, and there are disadvantages in handleability.
Thus, Patent Document 2 has proposed covering a core portion made of polyurethane gel with a surface layer. To be specific, Patent Document 2 has proposed a polyurethane elastomer molded article having a core portion produced by allowing 100 parts by weight of polyoxypolypropylenetriol to react with 6 parts by weight of isophoron diisocyanate; and a surface layer having a thickness of about 1 mm produced by allowing 100 parts by weight of polyoxypolypropylenetriol to react with 12 parts by weight of isophoron diisocyanate (e.g. see Patent Document 2 below).

Polyurethane gel and production method thereof


An intelligent power module includes a power circuit board having a plurality of power devices and fixed on a base plate of a case body able to be closed with a lid to form a protective case of the intelligent power module. The intelligent power module also includes a control circuit board suitable to drive the power devices of the power circuit board. The control circuit board is associated with the lid in such a way that the control circuit board is comprised within the case body. The control circuit board and the lid thus realizing an intelligent lid of the intelligent power module.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an intelligent power module (IPM) and a related assembling method.
The disclosure refers, in particular, but not exclusively, to an intelligent power module comprising a control circuit board and a power circuit board as well as a body case closed by a lid in order to package the boards, and the following description is made with reference to this field of application for convenience of explanation only.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, in the technical field of the power modules, intelligent power modules (IPM) combine application-specific insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and diodes, control functions, smart protections and extra optional features.
In recent years, the use of intelligent power modules has rapidly increased, in particular in motor drive applications, thanks to the benefits of greater integration levels. In this field, for instance, an intelligent power module may be connected to a microcontroller in order to convert the microcontroller output into the correct high-power waveform to drive a motor. In particular, intelligent power modules are advanced hybrid power devices designed to integrate high speed and low loss IGBTs with dedicated drive circuitry for AC motor control, usually implemented on a printed circuit board (PCB).
In its more general form, an intelligent power module usually comprises a power portion in the form of a power circuit board, comprising power devices, and a control portion in the form of a control circuit board for the driving and monitoring of the power circuit board, such as a gate driver printed circuit board (PCB) for driving the power devices of the power circuit board. In particular, the gate driver PCB may be located on a direct-bond copper (DBC) substrate.
Naturally, it is desired to electrically connect the control circuit board and the power circuit board by means of bonds that introduce low values of resistance, and withstand—without melting—the passage of high currents, in the range of 150-200 A. This desire is particularly felt in the case of so-called power packages, which are commonly used for packaging integrated circuits that form devices with high current consumption, such as for example power diodes, low-voltage power MOSFETs, or else insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs).
Concerning the electrical connections between the control circuit board and the power circuit board of the intelligent power module, it is well known that they are commonly realized either through wire-bonding or clip-bonding techniques.
By way of example, FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an intelligent power module (IPM) 1 realized according to the prior art.
The intelligent power module 1 comprises:                a power circuit board 2, in turn including power devices, such as switches, globally indicated with 3; the power devices 3 are provided on a substrate, in particular a direct copper bond substrate 4; and        a control circuit board 5, in particular a gate driver PCB, for driving the power circuit board 2, the control circuit board 5 in turn including gate driver components 6 and at least a logic block 7.
In particular, the control circuit board 5 is connected to the power devices 3 by appropriate bonding wires 8. Both the control circuit board 5 and the power circuit board 2 are protected by a protective case or package, formed by:                a base plate 9, to which a radiating heat sink, not shown in the figure, is also normally attached;        a case body 10; and        a lid 11, usually made of an insulating material, the lid closing the case body and thus completing a package of the intelligent power module 1.
The case body 10 comprises leads 12 located at its periphery in dedicated positions of its internal walls. The leads 12 are connected to the control circuit board 5 through bonding wires 13 to enable proper operation of the power circuit board 2 and of the electronic circuits provided therein. The leads 12 have connection terminals which exit from the lid 11 through suitable holes provided at the periphery of the lid 11 itself, enabling the connection of the control circuit board 5 to the outside world.
For the purpose of connection between the power circuit board 2 and the control circuit board 5 and between the control circuit board 5 and the external world, among other techniques, bonding wires or clips bonding may be used.
As regards to the wire bonding technique, it is likewise possible to distinguish between thin-wire bonding and heavy-wire bonding; in either case, the bonding is carried out by means of a wire-like connection element of conductive material, usually having a circular section.
As regards to the clip bonding technique, the bonding is carried out by means of so-called clips, i.e., strips of conductive material (typically, copper), so as to obtain an almost planar connection element of conductive material.
For the assembly of an intelligent power module, the control circuit board may be a generic printed circuit board comprising at least a logic block. In particular, as it is known, the logic block comprises electrical components that are put into the printed circuit board and interconnected to each other using any one of the following different technologies:                the "through holes" technology, in which the printed circuit board is manufactured with plated through holes; these holes are used as references for placing the electrical components which, once installed, may be soldered into position using either manually, wave- or reflow-soldering techniques. In this case, small connectors may be packaged on a tape and reel for surface mount device placement by standard pick and place machines;        the "surface mounted" technology, also known as Surface Mount Device (SMD) technology, in which, before the electrical components are placed on the printed circuit board, solder paste is applied to the pads of the component and/or the board itself; the board is then passed through a solder reflow oven; or        the "press-fit" technology, in which pins of press-fit connectors are pressed into metalized, namely plated, through-holes in the printed circuit board by applying a mechanical force; due to the high radial pressure, the press-fit pins are deformed, when pressed in the holes, resulting in a gas-tight electrical connection between each press-fit pin and the corresponding metalized through-hole.
In their more general form, the press-fit connectors comprise an elastic core acting as a spring and are tin plated for enhancing the electrical contact performance; they may have different shapes. It should be underlined that press-fit pins, due to their elastic and conductive features, may thus ensure good mechanical stability and electrical contact.
By way of example, FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic illustration of a press-fit connector 14 of the known type. More in particular, the press-fit connector 14 comprises a tubular body 15 and a needle 16 having at least one eye 17 so as to act as a spring core, and a metal plating layer 18A, in particular a copper layer, provided outside the needle 16. Another metal plating layer 18B is provided on the walls of a suitable hole 20 in a PCB 19 for receiving the needle 16 of the press-fit connector 14.
It is also well known that, according to the known method of assembling intelligent power modules, the control circuit board is located inside the case body, over the power circuit board, and molded to the case body by an epoxy resin using a molding process.
Due to this architecture, the known intelligent power modules show different problems, mainly tied to the huge number of bonding wires to be suitably placed inside the case body thereof in order to ensure multiple interconnections between the different elements composing the module itself.
Moreover, the use of such bonding wires also involves different disadvantages such as:
(a) the module has a low input/output count due to the limitations of the wire bonding technology,
(b) the module needs to be provided with large bonding pads, that are also at a sufficient distance (pitch) one another,
(c) relatively large quantities of gold are involved in the assembling process,
(d) the assembling process shows a low production rate,
(e) the connection provided by wire bonding has relatively poor electrical performance,
(f) difficulties arise, when variations in bond geometry are needed, and
(g) robustness and reliability problems are brought about by environmental conditions.
In addition, both the wire bonding and the clip bonding involve a very high assembly complexity.
Moreover, according to the prior art solutions, any time the control circuit has to be changed, for instance based on a new desired/required electronic function, a new dedicated intelligent power module has to be fabricated, with an evident impact on the production costs.

Intelligent power module and related assembling method


A system and method for providing market information are disclosed. In this application, updates are received for a tradeable object at a price level from at least one exchange. To the extent that the updates do not include enough details to compute the number of orders resting at a particular price level in a market, estimation may be used to provide order queue information. As a result, the number of orders which are pending in the market at various price levels may be determined using the techniques described herein. The interface disclosed herein may be used to display the number and/or quantity of the orders in the order queue.

Trading methods have evolved from a manually intensive process to a technology enabled, electronic platform. With the advent of electronic trading, a user or trader can be in virtually direct contact with the market, from practically anywhere in the world, performing near real-time transactions, and without the need to make personal contact with a broker. Electronic trading systems are also convenient for brokers on the floor at an exchange for sending and/or receiving orders electronically.
Electronic trading is generally based on a host exchange, one or more computer networks, and client devices. In general, the host exchange includes one or more centralized computers to form the electronic heart. Its operations typically include order matching, maintaining order books and positions, price information, and managing and updating a database that records such information. The host exchange is also equipped with an external interface that maintains uninterrupted contact to the client devices and possibly other trading-related systems.
In general, market participants or traders link to the host exchange through one or more networks. A network is a group of two or more computers linked together. There are many types of networks such as local area networks and wide area networks. Networks can also be characterized by topology, protocol, and architecture. For example, some market participants may link to the host through a direct connection such as a T1 or ISDN. Some participants may link to the host exchange through a combination of direct connections and other common network components such as high-speed servers, routers, and gateways. The Internet, a well-known collection of networks and gateways, can be used to establish a connection between the client device and the host exchange. There are many different types of networks and combinations of network types known in the art that can link traders to the host exchange.
Regardless of the way in which a connection is established, software running on the client devices allows market participants to log onto one or more exchanges and participate in at least one market. A client device is a computer such as a personal computer, laptop computer, hand-held computer, and so forth that has network access. In general, client devices run software that creates specialized interactive trading screens. Trading screens enable market participants to obtain market quotes, monitor positions, and submit orders to the host.
Generally, when an order is submitted to a host exchange, the host checks the limits of the order, for example price and quantity, and prioritizes the order with other orders of the same price. When buy and sell order prices cross in the market, a trade occurs.
If there is any measurable activity in a market, the matching of orders (similar to the example given directly above) generally occurs throughout the trading day. During which time, each host exchange provides a data feed to the client devices so that the traders can have access to the most current market information. In general, market information includes the inside market and market depth. The inside market is the lowest sell price (best offer or best ask) in the market and the highest buy price (best bid) in the market at a particular point in time. Market depth refers to quantity available at the inside market and can refer to quantity available at other prices away from the inside market. The quantity available at a given price level is usually provided in aggregate sums. In other words, a host exchange usually provides the total buy or the total sell quantity available in the market at a particular price level. Additionally, host exchanges can offer other types of market information such as the last traded price (LTP), the last traded quantity (LTQ), and/or order fill information.
To a trader, it is usually more desirable to have as much information as possible to successfully characterize a market. However, it becomes too bandwidth intensive and impractical to provide all (or most) of the market information necessary to describe a market in such great detail. Therefore, each host exchange carefully limits the amount of information they provide hoping to strike a balance between providing enough information to describe the market, but not too much to cause network downtime and/or anonymity. One way to limit the amount of information is to provide market information for price levels surrounding only the inside market. That is, a host exchange might provide market depth information for a handful of price levels around the inside market, whereas another exchange might provide market depth at only the inside market price levels. Another way to limit the amount of information is to reduce the content in the data feeds to contain only minimalist types of information such as price and quantity. As a result of limiting the amount of information, most data feeds do not provide order queue information, which as used herein is the number of orders at a host exchange waiting to be matched at a particular price level.
However, having access to order queue information can be very useful to a trader. This is especially true when the host exchange distinguishes the orders by time priority (e.g., a FIFO based system that matches orders on a first in, first out basis). To profit in electronic markets traders should have access to data, such as order queue information, which can be used to help them to make desirable trades.

Method and apparatus for providing order queue information

Trading Technologies International, Inc.


A cylindrical secondary battery includes a bottomed cylindrical battery case having an opening, an electrode group, an electrolyte solution, and a sealing member blocking the opening of the battery case. The electrode group includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator. The negative electrode includes a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode mix layer placed on at least one principal surface of the negative electrode current collector. The negative electrode mix layer includes a non-facing region not facing the positive electrode mix layer. The density of the negative electrode mix layer is 1.25 g/cm3 to 1.43 g/cm3, the ratio of the entire length of the non-facing region to the entire length of the negative electrode mix layer is 0.09 or more, and the inside diameter of a hollow section of the electrode group is 2.0 mm or less.

Applications of devices using batteries are increasing. In particular, lithium ion secondary batteries have light weight, high capacity, and high power and therefore are widely used as power supplies for driving notebook personal computers, mobile phones, and other portable electronic devices. In such applications, high-capacity lithium ion secondary batteries having a diameter of about 14 mm to 18 mm and a height of about 40 mm to 65 mm have hitherto been widely used.
In a high-capacity lithium ion secondary battery, a wound electrode group in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are wound with a separator therebetween generally is used (Patent Literature 1). The wound electrode group is generally formed in such a manner that the positive electrode, the negative electrode, and the separator placed therebetween are wound using a core and the core is removed. Removing the core allows a hollow section to be formed in a central section of the electrode group.
Patent Literature 2 describes a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which contains a negative electrode mix with a density of 1.5 g/cc or less and which therefore has enhanced high-load discharge characteristics.
Patent Literature 3 describes a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which the thickness A of a negative electrode mix layer and the thickness B of a positive electrode mix layer are within the range of 80 μm to 250 μm, A/B is set such that 0.4<A/B<1.0, and the sum A+B of the thickness of the negative electrode mix layer and the thickness of the positive electrode mix layer is within the range of 230 μm to 450 μm and which therefore has enhanced low-temperature load characteristics.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


This valve (12) for sensing and purging non-condensible gases in a refrigerant includes a valve body (30) having a lower refrigerant inlet (32), an upper exhaust outlet (36) and a valve passage (44) therebetween controlled by a valve element (54) extending between a spring (72) and a diaphragm (86). A housing (100) containing a "pure" refrigerant charge and a spring (110) are provided at the other side of the diaphragm (86) and the housing (100) is exposed to temperature of the system refrigerant. One side of the diaphragm (86) is subjected to the combined pressure of the spring (72) and the pressure of the system refrigerant at the inlet (32) and the other side of the diaphragm (86) is subjected to the balancing pressure provided by the combined pressure of the refrigerant charge and the spring (110). The valve (12) opens in response to increased pressure of the system refrigerant at the inlet (32) resulting from the presence of non-condensible gases and exhausts the gases to atmosphere.

This invention relates generally to the removal of non-condensible gases from a refrigeration system and particularly to a device for sensing such gases and purging them from a refrigerant purification system.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) have been used since their discovery in 1928 for many purposes. In addition to being used as a refrigerant they are used to make foam insulation and, up until 1978 were the most common and successful gas used as the propellant in aerosol cans. They perform better than all known substitutes but, unfortunately, have a dangerous disadvantage. When they are released into the atmosphere they float upwardly and the chlorine in them destroys the ozone layer that protects the earth against the damaging ultraviolet light rays of the sun.
It is the aim of refrigerant industry to ban CFC's completely within ten years. The most promising substitutes are the Hydrofluorocarbons (HCFC's). In particular, HCFC-22 is viewed as part of a long-term solution but it is clear that much work will be required before this gas can be substituted for the immense number of refrigerant applications using CFC's in the equipment service industry, especially in view of the fact that the HCFC's will require new equipment specifically designed for use with HCFC's.
One of the most damaging of the CFC refrigerants is CFC-12, one which creates less damage is CFC-502. A proposal has been made that a practical solution would be to eliminate CFC-12 as soon as possible and reduce production of CFC-502 by means of effective recycling and other conservation practices. An effective recycling program will provide that existing equipment using CFC's can be maintained for much of its remaining life and will eliminate the need for expensive conversion of existing systems to a new refrigerant.
There are obstacles to recycling and one of the most serious is the presence of non-condensible gases in the system which render the refrigerant undersirable for continued use. Refrigerant contained within a refrigeration system has a characteristic known as its saturation curve which relates a specific temperature to a specific pressure as long as refrigerant is present in both liquid and vapor stages. The presence of non-condensible gases, such as air, within the system offsets the saturation curve due to partial pressure of such gases and detrimentally affects the saturation pressure of the refrigerant.
One of the problems associated with non-condensible gas contamination is that the high pressure side of a refrigeration system operates at a higher than normal pressure increasing the compression ratio, heat of compression and gas discharge temperature causing inefficient compressor operation and even compressor failure. Another problem is that the entrapped non-condensible gas contains oxygen which can reduce hydrocarbons and produce oil breakdown to form acids which can also cause compressor failure.
These, and associated problems not only result in ineffective operation of the refrigeration system but also render the refrigerant less useful for recycling. Accordingly, there is a need for an automatic device which not only senses the presence of non-condensible gases but which purges these gases to atmosphere. Manually operated refrigerant purging systems are known which use a pressure gauge and simple bleed valve. The bleed valve is opened from time to time and if non-condensible gas is present it escapes and the pressure gauge drops. This procedure is followed until the pressure gauge reading stabilizes. This system not only suffers the disadvantage of being manual but is wasteful because it permits the escape of refrigerant when non-condensible gas is not present.
The present invention solves these and other problems in manner not revealed in the known prior art.


A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a power device formed in the semiconductor substrate; a metal bilayer formed over the semiconductor substrate, the metal bilayer including a discontinuous metal layer formed on and in contact with a continuous base metal layer; and one or more contact pads formed in the metal bilayer or in a metallization layer above the metal bilayer. The discontinuous metal layer includes a plurality of metal blocks which are laterally spaced apart from one another and which form a heat sink structure over the power device. The continuous base metal layer is configured to laterally spread heat energy from the power device to the plurality of metal blocks. Methods of producing the semiconductor device are also described.

Some power semiconductor devices such as IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors), power MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors), etc. use ultra-thick (e.g. 20 μm thick or greater) copper metallization to optimize electro-thermal device behavior. Such thick copper metal layers directly on top of a device provide superior heat capacity, enabling a factor (2×) increase in energy-density capability, and corresponding area reduction, during short transient electrical overload events. Furthermore, such thick copper metal layers have very low lateral resistance with correspondingly good current spreading, and high mechanical strength which enables thick-copper-wire bonding.
However, a large mismatch in thermal expansion between copper and silicon induces a severe mismatch-strain in the copper film, which translates into film stress and subsequently wafer- or chip (die) bow, every time a significant temperature change occurs. The bow effect becomes more severe as films grow thicker, since the forces and bending moments exerted by the film are proportional to the product of film-stress and film-thickness.
This problem necessarily occurs during wafer- and chip processing after each process step which involves high (>100° C.) temperatures, but also during field use of the devices where temperature swings of more than 100° C. (and up to 400° C. or more) by electric power dissipation must be addressed.
Both in front-end and back-end production, wafer- and chip bow poses severe constraints, necessitating expensive additional process measures such as glass-carrier processes, specific adaptions of chucks and handling robots to high-bow wafers, engineering support, etc. or even forgoing certain products and layouts having too much copper coverage. Also, cracks in the ILD (interlayer dielectric) and silicon layers underneath edges of thick copper films may occur as a result of film stress.
During switching usage of a power device with a thick copper film, the repetitive cyclic stresses induced in the copper film cause fatigue degradation of the film. Such fatigue degradation eventually induces failure of the device over time, and effectively blocks further area shrinks that would go along with an increase in temperature.
Thus, there is a need for a power metallization layer having high thickness for good electro-thermal performance, and still leading to reduced bow during production and high fatigue robustness in the field.

Semiconductor device power metallization layer with stress-relieving heat sink structure


A system for connecting circuit boards is provided. A plurality of overlapping spaced apart circuit boards have a plurality of conductive pins passing through holes in the circuit boards. A connector includes a flexible sheet insulator and a plurality of conductive surfaces separated and supported by the flexible insulator. At least one of the conductive surfaces has a hole there through and a bent compliant lead extending there from. The hole engages one of the pins, and the complaint lead connects to one of the circuit boards.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to interconnections for multiple-stacked printed circuit boards. More specifically, the present invention relates to a connector with compliant leads for multiple-stacked printed circuit boards.
2. Discussion of Background Information
In the manufacture of printed circuit boards and similar electrical devices, it is desirable to make connections to the device and between devices. One technique for making this connection is to employ pins which are mechanically and sometimes electrically connected to the devices.
In the design of complicated electronic components, it is not uncommon to arrange circuit boards and other like devices in stacked relation with numerous electrical connections being made between the different boards. Typically this is done by providing a first circuit board with pins of either compliant or non-compliant types, moving a second circuit board into position such that the pins projecting from the first circuit board engage corresponding positions in the second circuit board, and then soldering the pins to the second circuit board to lock them in place.
The above prior art design is adequate for standard commercial uses, but is not suitable for certain environments. For example, military and space environments may subject the solder joints to extreme temperatures, pressures (or vacuum) and/or mechanical shock. The solder joints between the pins and the boards may begin to crack and break under the continued stress of such intense military and/or space applications, and therefore do not provide a reliable connection for all environments.

Method and apparatus for compliantly connecting stack of high-density electronic modules in harsh environments

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Inc.


A continuously variable transmission system having a controllable variable speed component and a fluid controlled clutch includes a schedule for providing a desired engine speed in response to the engine throttle angle and engine torque, and a system element for providing an error signal representative of the difference between desired and actual engine speeds. The error signal is developed to provide an output signal representative of a required clutch pressure that allows clutch slippage sufficient to unload the engine and allow it to rapidly reach its desired speed. The clutch is reengaged when the engine speed and the ratio of the variable speed component have reached or approached their required values.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the control of a continuously variable transmission for a vehicle power train and, more particularly, to the control of clutch slippage in the power train of a vehicle in response to an abrupt increase in demanded power.
2. Description of Prior Art
A continuously variable transmission (CVT) control system typically utilizes a pair of adjustable pulleys, each pulley having at least one sheave that is axially fixed and another sheave that is axially movable relative to the first and a flexible belt of metal or elastomeric material that intercouples the pulleys. The inner faces of the sheaves of the pulley are bevelled or chamfered so that as the axially displaceable sheave moves relative to the fixed sheave, the effective pulley diameter may be adjusted.
Each displaceable sheave includes a fluid constraining chamber for receiving fluid to move the sheave and thus change the effective pulley diameter. As fluid is exhausted from the chamber, the pulley diameter changes in the opposite sense. Generally, the effective diameter of one pulley is moved in one direction as the effective diameter of the other pulley is moved in the other. This enables the ratio between the pulleys to be adjusted. The output of the secondary pulley drives the drive train of the vehicle which in the preferred embodiment is connected to the secondary pulley through a clutch. Reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,594 entitled "Variable Pulley Transmission" assigned to the assignee of this application provides further information in relation to CVTs and is incorporated herein by reference.
Swift vehicle acceleration in response to an abrupt increase in demanded power is a highly desirable characteristic in all vehicles, including those incorporating a continuously variable transmission. To achieve swift acceleration, it is necessary to be able to quickly increase the fuel and air content in the combustion chambers of the engine and also to promote the swift increase in engine speed and enable this to be transferred rapidly to the drive train output.
Vehicles with transmissions having a wide ratio spread, such as continuously variable transmissions, tend to be operated at relatively low engine speed and relatively open throttle. Therefore, although fuel and air can be increased in the engine on demand, the amount of increase available is relatively small. As a consequence, immediately after an abrupt increase in demanded power, the actual engine power increase depends mainly on the rate at which the engine speed can be increased. Also, an engine will be forced to operate under high-torque low speed conditions that can cause surging, uneven firing and excessive exhaust emissions.
A typical response to the problem of high-torque and low speed engine output in CVTs is to provide a control system to vary the ratio in the variable speed component as quickly as possible towards a low ratio. During abrupt increases in the demanded power, the rate of rotation of the CVT output shaft is slowed down transferring some kinetic energy from the vehicle mass to rotation of the crankshaft. In some instances, the ratio can be decreased so fast that in response to an increase in demanded power, the vehicle is suddenly decelerated.
Changing the ratio to remove the problems encountered with surge and uneven firing associated with abrupt increases in power demand, requires an auxiliary control system. However, in many transmission control systems it is difficult to achieve an adequate rate of change without imposing unacceptably high parasitic losses under other operating conditions, such as the steady state. As the periods of operation during which abrupt increases in power are demanded are likely to be comparatively short, the use of such an auxiliary control system can result in a parasitic power loss during the majority of the operating cycle.
It is desirable therefore to provide an alternative manner of improving a vehicle's responsiveness during abrupt changes in demanded power for vehicles having continuously variable transmissions so as not to produce initial vehicle retardation and not to precipitate parasitic power loss during other operating conditions.

Clutch control for high-response continuously variable transmission