The present invention includes an umbrella which converts to at least two separate canopy configurations. The umbrella has a closed position, from which it can be opened and latched into at least one middle position. Such a middle position can be used as a car window shade to shade the car from sun entering the front windshield. Alternatively, the middle position can be a partially opened position latched in place for use as an umbrella in restricted places such as a seat in an open air stadium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an umbrella; more particularly, the present invention relates to an umbrella having a canopy which can be converted to and latched at different shapes.
2. Description of Related Art
Umbrellas are recognized articles of manufacture. The term umbrella itself is well defined. The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language, 1989 edition, Lexicon Publications, Inc., New York, defines "umbrella" to include, "a portable device which, when opened, is used to keep rain off a person or to protect him from the sun, . . . It consists of a circular canopy of cotton, silk etc. stretched across collapsible steel etc. ribs radiating from a center pole, the end of the pole forming a handle . . . ". The Random House, College Dictionary, Revised Edition 1975, Random House, Inc., 1975, defines "umbrella" as, "1. a light, small, portable, usually circular cover for protection from rain or sun, consisting of a fabric held on a collapsible frame of thin ribs radiating from the top of a carrying stick or handle.".
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,260 is directed to an umbrella which converts into a golfing backstop. Initially, the umbrella is in a collapsed position. The umbrella then opens directly to the conventional, fully first open position for protection against the weather elements.
In this position the edges of the canopy extend downward toward the umbrella handle (concave toward the handle). The umbrella further may be opened into an over extended position. In this over extended position the canopy is inverted from the first open position and it extends upwardly from the umbrella handle. The surface assumes a concave configuration (away from the handle).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,375 discloses a protective shield for vehicle windshields and windows. This is constructed to be capable of being placed on the outside of the window to prevent accumulation of ice, snow, sleet, mud and the like on the windshields of automobile, trucks, airplane and the like when they are not in use. The shield can be made in various flexible sections which collapse around a common point in the center.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,090 discloses a fan-type automobile window shade. U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,239 discloses yet another design for a vehicle sun screen.
Both umbrellas and vehicle sun shades have become commonplace and are typically stored in automobiles. It would be desirable and convenient if one article could perform the function of both umbrella and a car window sun shade. While the two articles are often kept in an automobile, they are not used at the same time. When it is sunny there is no need for the umbrella and when it is raining there is no need for the sun screen.


A method of driving a heating unit for a fuel cell reformer, a reformer applied with the method for driving the heating unit, and/or a fuel cell system including the reformer. The method includes: supplying an oxidant to the heating unit and absorbing the oxidant by a fuel oxidizing catalyst of the heating unit; supplying a fuel at an excessive amount to the heating unit and absorbing the fuel by the fuel oxidizing catalyst of the heating unit; and supplying the fuel and the oxidant to the heating unit at a stoichiometric ratio of the fuel to the oxidant ranging from 1:1 to 2:1, wherein the heating unit generates heat through an oxidizing catalyst reaction between the fuel and the oxidant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of driving a heating unit for a fuel cell reformer, a reformer applied with the method for driving the heating unit, and/or a fuel cell system including the reformer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell system (or fuel cell) is a power generation system for producing electrical energy using a hydrocarbon-based fuel.
Representative exemplary fuel cell systems include a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system and a direct oxidation fuel cell (DOFC) system.
The PEMFC system has power characteristics that are superior to those of conventional fuel cells, and has a low operating temperature and fast start and response characteristics. Because of this, the PEMFC system can be applied to a wide range of applications, such as portable electrical power sources for automobiles, distributed power sources for houses and public buildings, and small electrical power sources for electronic devices.
The PEMFC system is composed of a fuel cell stack for forming a fuel cell body (hereinafter referred to as a "stack" for convenience), a reformer that reforms the fuel to generate hydrogen gas and supplies the hydrogen gas to the stack, and an oxidant supplier for supplying an oxidant gas to the stack. The stack generates electrical energy through an electrochemical reaction of a reformed gas supplied from the reformer and an oxidant gas supplied from the oxidant supplier.
The reformer includes a burner (or a heating source) for generating heat energy through a catalytic oxidizing reaction of the fuel, and a reforming reaction part for generating a reformed gas from the fuel through a reforming reaction of the fuel by using the heat energy from the burner. In a conventional reformer, an oxidizing catalyst is required to be preheated at a high temperature since oxidization of a fuel gas by the oxidizing catalyst occurs at a high temperature in the burner of the reformer. Therefore, high heat efficiency is required in the above described fuel cell system.

Method of driving heating unit for reformer, and reformer and fuel cell system including the same


A first value of a first data element (311) in a first set of data elements (310) is obtained, the first set of data elements being based on a first time sample of a signal. A second value of a second data element (321) in a second set of data elements (320) is obtained, the second set of data elements being based on a second, later time sample of the signal. A measure of similarity is derived between the first value and the second value. Based on the derived measure, a quantisation parameter useable in performing quantisation on data based on the first time sample of the signal is determined. Output data is generated using the quantisation parameter.

Compression and decompression of signals is a consideration in many known systems. Many types of signal, for example video, audio or volumetric signals, may be compressed and encoded for transmission, for example over a data communications network. When such a signal is decoded, it may be desired to increase a level of quality of the signal and/or recover as much of the information contained in the original signal as possible.
Some known systems exploit scalable encoding techniques. Scalable encoding involves encoding a signal along with information to allow the reconstruction of the signal at one or more different levels of quality, for example depending on the capabilities of the decoder and the available bandwidth. The amount of information used to perform such a reconstruction may vary, for example depending on the desired level of quality of the reconstructed signal and/or the nature of the data that is used in the reconstruction. Relatively large amounts of information may therefore be stored and/or transmitted, particularly as the usage of higher quality, higher definition video becomes more widespread.

Obtaining a target representation of a time sample of a signal


A magnetically steerable catheter system and method of using the system is provided. The system comprises an outer elongated, flexible member having a proximal and distal end, an inner elongated, flexible, member having a proximal end and a distal end, the inner member slidably disposed within the outer member. The system further comprises an electromagnet disposed on the distal end of one of the outer member and inner member, and a magnetically attractive element disposed on the distal end of another of the outer member and inner member. The magnetically attractive element is configured for magnetically interacting with the electromagnet to deflect the distal end of the inner member.

Catheter/guidewire combinations are used in conventional methods to access internal anatomical structures via the vasculature of a patient. Many peripheral and cardiac procedures are routinely performed, including angiography, angioplasty, and stent placement. In many procedures the ability to properly access the target anatomical structure is hampered or even prevented by tortuous or tight vessels. In fact, tortuous anatomy presents the single greatest challenge to the skilled clinician. Difficult turns and angled vessels often make for difficult passage. Inability to access the correct location may ultimately result in treatment failure, increased patient risk, and/or increased time in performing the medical procedure.
A number of companies have developed, or are developing, systems designed to magnetically manipulate and steer catheters (and other medical devices) inside the human body. In particular, a strong magnetic field is applied to the distal end of a catheter, which carries one or more magnetic elements (either permanent or electromagnetic magnets, or magnetic material, such as ferrous material), so that the resulting magnetic force moves the distal end of the catheter. The magnitude and direction of the magnetic force is determined by several factors: (a) the strength of the magnetic field; (b) the orientation (direction and polarity) of the magnetic field; and (c) the characteristics of the magnetic element(s) in the catheter. By controlling the strength and orientation of the magnetic field (e.g., using gimbaled sets of electromagnets), the catheter can be steered within the body, and/or made to apply contact force to the tissue within the body. While magnetic navigation systems have been generally successful in steering catheters through the vasculature of a patient, they are costly, as well as large and cumbersome.
Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a steerable catheter capable of being more efficiently guided through the vasculature of a patient.

Magnetically steerable catheter assembly


A system can include a network analysis platform for a two-level grid-based anomaly area identification and solution nomination in a radio access network. The network analysis platform can map key performance indicators for user sessions in the network to a grid that overlays a geographic area. The grid can be based on a military grid reference system. A machine-learning model can take a vector of key performance indicator samples as input and identify a problem for the grid. The network analysis platform can nominate cells to attempt to remediate based on ranking poor performing bins in the grid and determining the cells that contribute most to the problem in each bin. For a nominated cell, the network analysis platform can perform remediation actions to solve a coverage problem, throughput problem, or both. The problem can be solved for the grid while preventing conflicts between individual cells.

Radio access networks ("RANs"), such as LTE or 5G networks, require constant monitoring to detect problems with performance and capacity. For example, poor signal strength, poor signal quality, or high traffic demand all can adversely impact user experience.
Normally, problems are identified in a radio access network on a cell basis. For example, an administrator can identify a problem and then attempt to draw a polygon around the problem spots. A troubleshooter can check a serving cell in the problem spot, then adjust parameters of that cell as needed. Parameters can also be adjusted for neighboring cells to attempt to load balance user sessions across the cells. Antennae tilt can also be adjusted for the cells as an attempt to change interference between nearby cells and improve signal strength and quality. Such an approach can also be used to redesign the polygon for the problem area, although the resulting effect is often uncertain.
These existing techniques have several shortcomings. First, the work can be very manual, relying heavily on human trial and error and on the map format for polygon visualization. Second, most existing techniques lack an overall picture of the problem. For example, a coverage problem may result in a recommendation to uptilt an antenna of a cell without acknowledging that the cell is already more overloaded than a neighboring cell. In such a case it may be better to make the neighboring cell the serving cell for the problem location. Similarly, throughput may be increased on a first cell even though a second neighboring cell is underutilized. Third, as the network dynamically changes parameters, conflicts can occur. Parameters can dynamically change back and forth between cells without ever truly satisfying the issue, instead shifting the issue back-and-forth between cells.

Two-level grid-based anomaly area identification and solution nomination for radio access networks


The present invention provides a spray head assembly with a moving spray nozzle that delivers fluid in a substantially uniform spray distribution. The movement of the spray nozzle is a wobbling motion, preferably combined with some rotational motion. The wobbling motion is generated by disposing a wobble inducing member or wobble turbine in the path of the fluid supply. The water flowing over the wobble turbine causes the turbine to wobble. The wobbling turbine then causes the spray housing and nozzle to wobble. The spray pattern produced by the wobbling spray housing changes more or less rapidly so that fluid droplets or streams are directed along arcuate paths rather than at a single point. This type of spray distribution pattern is gentler than many stationary patterns and the unique design of the wobble inducing member does not include complex mechanical parts or significant flow restrictions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling fluid delivery from a spray head having a moving spray nozzle.
2. Background of the Related Art
Showerheads are commercially available in numerous designs and configurations. While many showerheads are designed and sold for their decorative styling, there is a great number of different showerhead mechanisms which are intended to improve or change one or more characteristic of the water spray pattern. Any particular spray pattern may be described by the characteristics of spray width, spray distribution or trajectory, spray velocity, and the like. Furthermore, the spray pattern may be adapted or designed for various purposes, including a more pleasant feeling to the skin, better performance at rinsing, massaging of muscles and conservation of water, just to name a few.
The vast majority of showerheads may be categorized as being either stationary or oscillating and having either fixed or adjustable openings or jets. Stationary showerheads with fixed jets are the simplest of all showerheads, consisting essentially of a water chamber and one or more jets directed to produce a constant pattern. Stationary showerheads with adjustable jets are typically of a similar construction, except that some may allow adjustment of the jet direction, jet opening size and/or the number of jets utilized. For example, a showerhead currently used in typical new residential home construction provides a stationary spray housing having a plurality of spray jets disposed in a circular pattern, wherein the velocity of the spray is adjustable my manually rotating an adjustment ring relative to the spray housing.
These stationary showerheads cause water to flow through its apertures and contact essentially the same points on a user's body in a repetitive fashion. Therefore, the user feels a stream of water continuously on the same area and, particularly at high pressures or flow rates, the user may sense that the water is drilling into the body, thus diminishing the positive effect derived from such a shower head. In order to reduce this undesirable feeling, various attempts have been made to provide oscillating showerheads.
Examples of oscillating showerheads are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,791,584 (Drew et al.), 3,880,357 (Baisch), 4,018,385 (Bruno), 4,944,457 (Brewer), and 5,577,664 (Heitzman). U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,457 (Brewer) discloses an oscillating showerhead that uses an impeller wheel mounted to a gear box assembly which produces an oscillating movement of the nozzle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,664 (Heitzman) discloses a showerhead having a rotary valve member driven by a turbine wheel and gear reducer for cycling the flow rate through the housing between high and low flow rates. Both of these showerheads require extremely complex mechanical structures in order to accomplish the desired motion. Consequently, these mechanism are prone to failure due to wear on various parts and mineral deposits throughout the structure.
A particularly useful action for a showerhead is referred to as "wobbling." The term "wobbling" may be defined as the motion of a circular member rolling on its edge along a surface following a circular path. A common example of wobbling is what occurs when a coin is spun on its edge over a smooth surface. The coin begins spinning or rotating in an vertically upright position, but as the coin slows, the coin begins to wobble along a circular path having an ever increasing diameter until the coin comes to rest on its face. While a wobbling motion will often be accompanied by some degree of rotation, a wobbling member will have points on its surface which experience a sequence of up and down motions as well.
Most spray heads, whether they are stationary or oscillating, deliver fluids in a predetermined manner. The user is not allowed to effect changes in the fluid delivery characteristics of the spray head, except perhaps increasing or decreasing the fluid flow rate by turning the control valve that communicates fluid to the spray head. One such spray head which actually allows user adjustments between a vibrating mode and a non-vibrating mode is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,927 (Lee). However, spray heads that allow adjustment of other fluid delivery characteristics have not been available.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved spray head or showerhead that allows a user to adjust or control the delivery of fluid. Characteristics of the fluid delivery that would be particularly desirable include the spray width, the spray velocity and spray flow rate. It would be desirable if the spray head were able to deliver water in the desired manner, even at low pressures or flow rates dictated or desirable for water conservation. It would be further desirable if the spray head provided a simple design and construction with minimal restriction to water flow.

Fluid delivery from a spray head having a moving nozzle


A method and system are provided for adaptively modeling and simulating high speed response of a transmission line. A simulation unit maintains a plurality of curve approximation options for modeling the transmission line. The suitability of a predefined primary one of the curve approximation options for modeling is determined based on frequency-domain modal scattering parameters obtained according to frequency-dependent data characterizing the transmission line. One of the options is selectively executed in response to the determination, in order to generate a macromodel of the transmission line. The primary option is executed upon determination of suitability, while a secondary one of the curve approximation options is alternatively executed upon determination of non-suitability. Transient simulation is then executed upon the resulting macromodel of the transmission line.

The present invention is directed to a method and system for modeling and simulating transmission lines. More specifically, the method and system serve to adaptively model and simulate lossy multi-conductor transmission lines representing conductive interconnections in a circuit layout, depending on the particularities of a given application. The method and system thereby provide for simulation and evaluation of transmission line transient behavior with an optimal combination of accuracy and, efficiency, even in high speed applications.
With recent advances in IC fabrication technology, and the ongoing development of computer and telecommunication systems, electronic designs operating at higher frequencies are becoming more prevalent. Data rates on the order of multi-Gbit/s, for instance, are not uncommon. In these applications, physical circuit interconnections such as conductive etches extending between neighboring components on a printed circuit board (PCB) cannot be modeled simply as ideal short-circuited point-to-point connections. At high operational frequencies, an interconnection is greater in its physical length than the transmitted signal's effective electrical length. There is generally a heightened sensitivity to transients and other factors which might otherwise be negligible, making a more precise modeling approach essential. Physical interconnections are therefore typically modeled as distributed transmission lines in high speed applications.
A distributed transmission line may impact the timing and integrity of transmitted signals through such factors as intrinsic propagation delay, skin effect, reflection, crosstalk, and the like. Thus, in order to verify that a high-speed design meets required timing and noise margins, there is a need for efficient and accurate measures by which to model and simulate lossy multi-conductor transmission lines.
While numerous simulation techniques are known in the art, there is still a need for an efficient and accurate modeling and simulation approach for lossy transmission lines, in particular for lossy multi-conductor transmission lines. There remains a need for such approach, whereby reliable simulation may be realized even in high frequency dependent environments, within broad operational frequency ranges.

Method and system for adaptive modeling and simulation of lossy transmission lines


A method and apparatus for dual-target register allocation is described, intended to enable the efficient mapping/renaming of registers associated with instructions within a pipelined microprocessor architecture.

In superscalar microprocessors, performance may be improved by using register renaming techniques, in which logical registers referred to by instructions are mapped onto a larger set of physical registers. The physical register mappings for an instruction may be assigned, or "allocated", in or around the renaming stage of the microprocessor pipeline, and may remain allocated until the corresponding instruction is retired.
In superscalar microprocessors containing long pipelines, the number of clock cycles between the renaming stage and the retire stage can be substantial. In order to achieve high-performance, the pipeline needs to remain filled with instructions as much as possible. Architecture features, such as branch prediction, may be used to keep the pipeline filled with instructions, which requires numerous physical registers to be allocated and de-allocated within the pipeline simultaneously. Furthermore, an instruction may require numerous physical registers, which require a large amount of available physical register space. Managing such a large physical register pool can require high-speed circuits that can occupy a relatively large die area.
Various register allocation/de-allocation methods have been implemented in microprocessors, one of which is the "ad hoc" algorithm. FIG. 1 illustrates the "ad hoc" register allocation/de-allocation algorithm. In the "ad hoc" algorithm, as a group of instructions are renamed, destination registers used by the instructions are counted. The destination registers are then allocated and removed from a register pool and used during the executing of the renamed instructions. Once the renamed instructions are retired, the allocated registers are de-allocated and returned to the pool.
At least two characteristics of the "ad hoc" method of register allocation/deallocation make it undesireable within high-performance microprocessors. First, the number of registers required by an instruction group must be determined before the register allocation can occur, which lengthens the rename stage of the pipeline and impacts overall microprocessor performance. Secondly, for microprocessors in which many instructions may be in the renaming stage at once, the number of register destinations corresonding to each group of instructions can be large, further degrading microprocessor performance. In FIG. 1, for example, between zero and eight registers must be allocated and removed from a pool of 256 registers each cycle.
One approach to improving the "ad hoc" method of register allocation/deallocation is by allocating registers in groups, or "blocks". In the block register allocation method, the register are grouped into blocks which are then allocated/de-allocated as atomic units. In FIG. 1, for example, instead of allocating each registers individually, a block of eight registers would be allocated simultaneously, such that only 32 allocation operations (32×8=256) are performed to allocate 256 registers in a worst case. A disadvantage of the block register allocation method is that if not all registers of a block are needed by an instruction group, the unneeded registers are wasted.
Another register allocation method is a "worst case" register allocation method, in which the number of registers allocated during each cycle is equal to the maximum number of regisers that could be required by an instruction group. For example, in FIG. 1, if an instruction group 100 contained eight instructions, and each instruction can write two destinations, then the "worst case" register allocation method would allocate 16 registers during each renaming cycle. After the renaming cycle, any registers that were not needed by the instruction group may be returned to the register pool 105. Although this method facilitates high-performance microprocessor architecture design, it requires an extensive amount of circuitry due to the dynamic nature of the grouping of the registers.


A method of forming one or more three-dimensional objects for an optoelectronic lighting device including a carrier with an optoelectronic semiconductor component includes providing a carrier of an optoelectronic lighting device, wherein an optoelectronic semiconductor component is arranged on the carrier, and a construction region partly delimited by the carrier is defined, the optoelectronic semiconductor component facing the construction region, introducing a polymerizable liquid into the construction region, and exposing the construction region to form one or more solid polymers from the polymerizable liquid in a curing zone included by the construction region, and one or more three-dimensional objects from the one or more solid polymers in the curing zone, wherein an ineffective region is formed during the process of exposing the construction region, polymerization being inhibited in the ineffective region, and the curing zone is arranged between the carrier and the ineffective region.

John R. Tumbleston et al., Science, VOL 347, ISSUE 6228, pages 1349 to 1352, Mar. 20, 2015, entitled "Continuous liquid interface production of 3D objects", discloses a three-dimensional photolithographic printing method in which a three-dimensional object is formed by a UV-curing plastic by UV exposure.
WO 2014/126837 A2 discloses a method of forming a three-dimensional object, wherein, analogously to Tumbleston, a UV-curing plastic is exposed by UV light to form a three-dimensional object.
There is nonetheless a need to provide an efficient way to form one or more three-dimensional objects for an optoelectronic lighting device comprising a carrier with an optoelectronic semiconductor component.

Method of forming one or more three-dimensional objects


A Portulaca plant particularly distinguished by having a gold flower color, flower blooming period from spring to fall and vigorous, semi-mounding and upright plant growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct variety of Portulaca plant, botanically known as Portulaca oleracea, and referred to by the variety name 'SAKPOR004'. Portulaca line 'SAKPOR004' originated from a hybridization in Kakegawa, Japan in 2006 between the female Portulaca line 'Mo04-24B-V2', an unpatented proprietary Portulaca breeding line having a gold flower color and bushy growth habit and the male Portulaca line 'Ma01-3A-1B1', an unpatented proprietary Portulaca breeding line with a gold flower color and bushy growth habit.
In August 2006, the female parent line 'Mo04-24B-V2' and male parent line 'Ma01-3A-1B1' were crossed and F1 seeds were obtained. In May 2007, the F1 seed was sown in the greenhouse, cultivated and plant lines were produced with gold colored flowers with a bushy plant habit. The plants were evaluated and plant line 'K2008-105' was selected for its gold flower color, flower blooming period from spring to fall and vigorous plant growth habit. In May 2008, line 'K2008-105' was vegetatively propagated, cultivated and evaluated. In August 2008, line 'K2008-105' was confirmed to be fixed and stable. Line 'K2008-105' was propagated and cultivated again in May 2009, May 2010 and May 2011 to reconfirm the stability of the line. Line 'K2008-105' was subsequently named 'SAKPOR004' and its unique characteristics were found to reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation via vegetative cuttings.


An insect egress device for use with a window or door screen has a portal that is attached to the window screen with a portion of the portal extending through the screen from the inside to the outside. The portal may be provided with various insect attracting features and includes a flange, an extension extending outwardly from the flange surface that terminates at a free end, and an egress passage extending completely through the flange and the extension. The extension has a frusto-pyramidal shaped section and a second extension section that is generally straight and includes the free end. The egress passage has a first sidewall section of a tapering stair-step configuration and a second sidewall section that is not stair-step and is generally straight and terminates at the free end. In aspects, a phosphorescent material is disposed on the first sidewall section and visible through the egress passage from an interior position.

Insects, flying or otherwise, often get trapped inside an occupant space, whether the space is a room of a building, the inside of a tent, a recreation vehicle, or other enclosed space. The trapped insects are often an annoyance and/or a health risk to occupants of the space. Accordingly, there is a need and desire for a device that allows insects trapped inside a space to escape to the outdoors.


An imaging device includes: an image generation pixel including a light receiving element generating a signal for generating an image; a phase-difference detection pixel including a light receiving element generating a signal for performing in-focus determination by phase difference detection; and a holding section holding the signal generated by the light receiving element in the image generation pixel and disposed in an area where subject light is shielded by a light shielding layer in the phase-difference detection pixel.

The present disclosure relates to an imaging device, and more particularly, to an imaging device including a phase-difference detection pixel and an image generation pixel, and an imaging apparatus.
In recent years, imaging apparatuses, such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras, etc., which capture an image of a subject, such as a person, an animal, etc., using an imaging device to generate image data and record the image data, have become widespread. For example, imaging apparatuses using a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor are widely used now.
This CMOS sensor is an x-y addressing type sensor that reads an image signal for each pixel circuit (pixel) by specifying an x-axis (horizontal direction) and a y-axis (vertical direction). Accordingly, in the imaging apparatus, an image signal is read for each line (horizontally or vertically) in general, and the pixels are exposed in sequence for each line by the reading for each line. Thereby, exposure timing becomes different for each line, and thus when an image of a moving object is captured, a phenomenon that causes the image of the moving object to appear distorted (focal plane phenomenon) occurs.
Thus, a proposal has been made of an imaging apparatus in which generation timing (exposure timing) of image signals are made equal for all the pixels by providing a holding section which holds an image signal for each pixel, for example (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-281681).


A cross-linkable polymer including 1,1′-binaphthyl repeating units linked through 6,6′-arylene groups, a cross-linked material comprising the cross-linkable polymer, an organic light emitting device including the cross-linked material, and a method of preparing the organic light emitting device are each disclosed.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a polymer and an organic light emitting device including the polymer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light emitting devices include a pair of electrodes and an organic layer interposed between the electrodes, wherein, when a current is supplied to the electrodes, electrons and holes injected through the electrodes are re-combined in the organic layer, thereby emitting light. Accordingly, organic light emitting devices are self-emission-type devices. Organic light emitting devices are lightweight, and can be easily manufactured using a relatively small number of components. In addition, organic light emitting devices provide high-quality images and have wide viewing angles. Furthermore, organic light emitting devices provide high color purity, accurately realize mobile images, have low power consumption, and are operated at low voltage. Due to these characteristics, organic light emitting devices are suitable for mobile electronic devices.
An organic light emitting display device includes an anode that is formed on a substrate, a hole transport layer (HTL), an emission layer (EML), and an electron transport layer (ETL) which are formed on the anode as organic layers, and a cathode that is formed thereon.
When a current is supplied to the anode and the cathode, holes injected through the anode move to the EML via the HTL, and electrons injected through the cathode move to the EML via the ETL. The holes and electrons recombine in the EML to generate excitons. The excitons are radioactively decaying to emit light having a wavelength corresponding to a band gap of the molecule.
Materials that are used in organic layers may be classified into vacuum depositable materials and solution coatable materials according to a method of preparing the organic layer. The solution coatable materials are miscible with a solvent to form a composition that may be coated on a substrate. The composition may be applied to the substrate, and the like using known methods such as inkjet printing, screen printing, and spin coating.

Cross-linkable polymer, cross-linked material of the cross-linkable polymer, organic light emitting device comprising the cross-linked material and method of preparing the organic light emitting device


Methods and compositions are provided for producing thermoset, water repellent binders particularly effective for forming combustible composite materials. The binders include a mixture of an alkaline protein hydrolyzate and a bio-oil or an acidic protein hydrolyzate and a lignin compound. Desirably, the binders and the resulting combustible composite materials are substantially free of formaldehyde.

Increasing concerns about rising oil prices are creating an increased interest in the development of economical and convenient alternative energy sources. For example, alternative energy sources may be derived by pelletizing and/or briquetting mixtures of binders and combustible materials, including coal, char, torrefied wood, and other combustible biomass feedstocks. Existing forms of composite combustible materials and binders, however, often lack the desired properties (i.e., water repellence and strength) and are costly.
For example, several practitioners have utilized bio-oils to produce adhesives for woods and other materials. Bio-oil generally is produced by fast pyrolysis of small biomass particles (i.e., lignocellulosic biomass materials) at 400 to 650° C. in the absence of oxygen. The yield of bio-oil is relatively high, at 60 to 80% dry weight basis. Although the chemical properties of bio-oils vary with the type of biomass feedstock, woody biomass feedstocks typically produce a bio-oil with a mixture of 30% water, 30% phenolics, 20% aldehydes and ketones, 15% alcohols and 10% miscellaneous compounds. In addition, bio-oils can contain up to 45% oxygen and may be highly reactive in combination with certain compounds. Not wishing to be bound by any theory, it is believed that the bio-oil's high phenolics content (about 30%) makes it particularly suitable for use as a substitute for existing commercial phenol-containing synthetic binders produced from fossil sources (i.e., just like the presence of phenols in synthetic binders derived from petroleum, the presence of phenols in the bio-oil imparts a degree of water repellence in any bio-oil containing binders).
In addition to bio-oils, hydrolyzed proteins previously have been used to produce adhesives or binders. The hydrolyzed proteins generally are mixed with phenol-containing compounds and/or resins and are cross-linked with a cross-linking agent to obtain the desired properties. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,117 discloses an adhesive prepared from vegetable protein hydrolyzates combined with phenol formaldehyde resin and/or isocyanate resin. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0272892 discloses an adhesive for structural composite wood panels, such as oriented strand board, particle board and plywood prepared from a soybean hydrolyzate and the familiar cross-linking agent, formaldehyde. U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,508 describes the cross-linking of alkali lignin with a polymethylol phenol combined with formaldehyde to allow a reduction of up to 80% of the required laminating resin. U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,675 discloses the development of a highly cross-linkable methyloated kraft lignin resin produced by combining a premethylolated kraft lignin with a phenolic cross-linking agent (e.g., formaldehyde). These references all suffer from similar disadvantages by continuing to utilize petroleum-based phenols and cross-linking agents (e.g., formaldehyde) to impart improved adhesive and cross-linking properties to the lignin-substituted formulas.

Methods for producing binders and combustible composite materials and compositions produced therefrom


A cyclone dust-collecting apparatus comprises a cyclone body having a first cyclone part and a second cyclone part comprising a plurality of cones, a cover unit connected with the upper portion of the cyclone body for guiding air movement between the first cyclone part and the second cyclone part, and a contaminant receptacle connected with the lower portion of the cyclone body for collecting contaminants separated from the first and second cyclone parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cyclone dust collecting apparatus and a vacuum cleaner using the same, and more particularly to a cyclone dust-collecting apparatus having dual cyclone divisions for providing a compact and efficient construction.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a vacuum cleaner comprises a main body in which a driving source is mounted, a suction brush connected with the main body for drawing in dust from a surface to be cleaned, and a hose or a connecting pipe connecting the suction brush and the main body. An upright-type vacuum cleaner may have the suction brush directly connected with the main body.
The main body has a driving source, such as a driving motor, and a filtering device for filtering dust from the air drawn into the vacuum cleaner. The main body comprises a driving chamber in which the driving motor is mounted, and a dust-collecting chamber in which the filtering device is mounted.
A dust filter, such as a dust bag, which is detachably mounted in the dust chamber, can be applied as the filtering device. However, a user must necessarily manually touch and pick up such dust bag in order to remove the contaminants and so to reuse the bag, which is unsanitary. To overcome the above drawbacks, a disposable filtering means, such as a disposable dust bag, can be used. However, use of consumable disposable dust bags increases the costs of maintenance.
Accordingly, a cyclone dust-collecting apparatus, which can compensate for the above-mentioned weaknesses resulting from use of conventional dust bags, and which is capable of collecting dust and contaminants, is required.

Cyclone dust collecting apparatus and vacuum cleaner using the same


A chemical mechanical polishing pad having an annular polishing track and a concentric center O. The polishing pad includes a polishing layer having a plurality of pad grooves formed therein. The polishing pad is designed for use with a carrier, e.g., a wafer carrier, that includes a polishing ring having a plurality of carrier grooves. Each of the plurality of pad grooves has a carrier-compatible groove shape configured to enhance the transport of a polishing medium beneath the carrier ring on the leading edge of the carrier ring during polishing.

The present invention generally relates to the field of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). In particular, the present invention is directed to a CMP pad having grooves that reduce slurry consumption.
In the fabrication of integrated circuits and other electronic devices on a semiconductor wafer, multiple layers of conducting, semiconducting and dielectric materials are deposited onto and etched from the wafer. Thin layers of these materials may be deposited by a number of deposition techniques. Common deposition techniques in modern wafer processing include physical vapor deposition (PVD) (also known as sputtering), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and electrochemical plating. Common etching techniques include wet and dry isotropic and anisotropic etching, among others.
As layers of materials are sequentially deposited and etched, the surface of the wafer becomes non-planar. Because subsequent semiconductor processing (e.g., photolithography) requires the wafer to have a flat surface, the wafer needs to be periodically planarized. Planarization is useful for removing undesired surface topography as well as surface defects, such as rough surfaces, agglomerated materials, crystal lattice damage, scratches and contaminated layers or materials.
Chemical mechanical planarization, or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), is a common technique used to planarize semiconductor wafers and other workpieces. In conventional CMP using a dual-axis rotary polisher, a wafer carrier, or polishing head, is mounted on a carrier assembly. The polishing head holds the wafer and positions it in contact with a polishing layer of a polishing pad within the polisher. The polishing pad has a diameter greater than twice the diameter of the wafer being planarized. During polishing, the polishing pad and wafer are rotated about their respective concentric centers while the wafer is engaged with the polishing layer. The rotational axis of the wafer is offset relative to the rotational axis of the polishing pad by a distance greater than the radius of the wafer such that the rotation of the pad sweeps out an annular "wafer track" on the polishing layer of the pad. When the only movement of the wafer is rotational, the width of the wafer track is equal to the diameter of the wafer. However, in some dual-axis polishers the wafer is oscillated in a plane perpendicular to its axis of rotation. In this case, the width of the wafer track is wider than the diameter of the wafer by an amount that accounts for the displacement due to the oscillation. The carrier assembly provides a controllable pressure between the wafer and polishing pad. During polishing, a slurry, or other polishing medium, is flowed onto the polishing pad and into the gap between the wafer and polishing layer. The wafer surface is polished and made planar by chemical and mechanical action of the polishing layer and polishing medium on the surface.
The interaction among polishing layers, polishing media and wafer surfaces during CMP is being increasingly studied in an effort to optimize polishing pad designs. Most of the polishing pad developments over the years have been empirical in nature. Much of the design of polishing surfaces, or layers, has focused on providing these layers with various patterns of voids and arrangements of grooves that are claimed to enhance slurry utilization and polishing uniformity. Over the years, quite a few different groove and void patterns and arrangements have been implemented. Prior art groove patterns include radial, concentric circular, Cartesian grid and spiral, among others. Prior art groove configurations include configurations wherein the width and depth of all the grooves are uniform among all grooves and configurations wherein the width or depth of the grooves varies from one groove to another.
These groove patterns and configurations, however, overlook the utilization of slurry related to CMP polishers having active wafer carrier rings. Unlike CMP polishing equipment of earlier generations, these carrier rings confront the polishing surface independently, and under significantly higher pressure, than the wafer being polished. These factors often create a squeegee effect at the leading edge of the wafer, wherein much of the film of liquid, e.g., slurry, on the pad texture is swept off by the carrier ring. The loss of this potentially usable slurry may reduce the effectiveness and predictability of the polishing process, while resulting in significant additional process costs. Presently, certain wafer carriers available from Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., have carrier rings that include grooves that may reduce the squeegee effect by admitting additional slurry into the area under the wafer surface.
While polishing pads have a wide variety of groove patterns, the effectiveness of these groove patterns varies from one pattern to another, as well as from polishing process to polishing process. Polishing pad designers are continually seeking groove patterns that make the polishing pads more effective and useful relative to prior polishing pad designs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Polishing pad with grooves to reduce slurry consumption

Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials CMP Holdings, Inc.


Systems and methods are described herein for supporting loyalty tiers. According to certain aspects, a custom number of loyalty tiers may be specified. Dynamic tier boundaries may be defined for each tier based upon a specified number of loyalty points, a percentile of total loyalty points, or a combination thereof. Periodic recomputing of tier boundary values can support dynamic loyalty tiers. According to certain other aspects, a user loyalty status may include a current tier and a pending tier. User loyalty points may be updated for a current loyalty activity. The updated user loyalty points may be compared with a point boundary for the pending tier and the user may be updated to the pending tier. Transacting the tier update with the server may be bypassed to reduce tier update latency. Also, immediate access at the client to features associated with the updated current tier may be supported.

Certain customer loyalty systems allow users to check in at a physical merchant location to receive loyalty credit for visiting the business. These loyalty credits may be used to reward customers who frequently visit the merchant with special offers, discounts, or other benefits. Merchants may desire to categorize customers according to how often they visit the merchant location to customize rewards for customer loyalty.
Traditionally, merchants do not have a generalized framework to define various loyalty categories for their customer rewards. Furthermore, a need exists to address how a number of check-in events or other actions corresponding to a loyalty reward system may vary significantly between merchants or types of merchants. For example, a coffee shop may expect loyalty customers to visit several times a week while customers may visit a hotel less frequently.
Another deficiency in technology related to customer loyalty programs relates to latency in any system for tracking customer loyalty. Such latency would become particularly relevant if the customer loyalty categories are also involved. For example, a user currently checking in to a merchant location may now be eligible for a loyalty category upgrade thanks to loyalty recognition gained during the current visit. The present check-in and related upgrade traditionally takes some amount of time to process and track. This time delay, or latency, can prevent the recognition or application of the new upgraded loyalty category on the same visit thereby frustrating the customer instead of rewarding their loyalty as initially desired.

Customer loyalty tiers with reduced latency state updates


A gas turbine engine comprises a main fan that delivers air into a bypass duct and into a core engine. A heat exchanger is positioned within the bypass duct and receives a fluid to be cooled from a component associated with the gas turbine engine. A heat exchanger fan is positioned to draw air across the heat exchanger and a control for the heat exchanger fan. The control is programmed to stop operation of the fan during certain conditions, and to drive the heat exchanger fan under other conditions. A method of forming a heat exchanger is also disclosed.

This application relates to the placement of a heat exchanger in a gas turbine engine bypass duct where a fan is controlled to selectively draw air across the heat exchanger.
Gas turbine engines are known and typically include a fan delivering air into a bypass duct as propulsion air and into a compressor as core airflow. The air is compressed in the compressor and delivered into a combustion section where it is mixed with fuel and ignited. Products of this combustion pass downstream over turbine rotors, driving them to rotate.
As known, there are a number of accessories associated with a gas turbine engine. Various fluids associated with the accessories require cooling. Thus, it is known to place heat exchangers into various locations in a gas turbine engine.
One such location is in the bypass duct, such that a fluid within the heat exchanger is cooled by the bypass air. However, the pressure ratio delivered by the fan is becoming lower with the recent advent of a gear reduction driving the fan rotor at slower speeds. In addition, during the course of operation of a gas turbine engine associated with an aircraft, the amount of air driven through the bypass duct will vary. Further, the cooling challenges on the heat exchanger will vary. As an example, at takeoff conditions, the cooling load will tend to be greater than it will be at cruise conditions.
Known gas turbine engines have heat exchanger which are sized for the highest heat load challenge.

Bypass duct heat exchanger with controlled fan


A food container includes a glass container, a lid and a protective sleeve. The sleeve covers at least a portion of the side walls and bottom surface of the glass container. The lid has a perimeter that is absent of securing features for the container. The lid has a receiving feature which is engaged by a latch on the protective sleeve when the latch is moved from an open position to a locked position.

Food containers are used for many purposes, such as for storing food in a refrigerator or freezer, cooking in a microwave or oven, serving, and transporting food items. Thus, food containers must be able to withstand various environments while also being durable enough for daily use. Plastic materials are often used for food containers because of their low-cost and lightweight characteristics. However, many plastic materials can leach unsafe chemicals into food, particularly when exposed to heat such as in cooking or being placed in a dishwasher. Thus, there is a continued need to provide durable and safe food containers.


A sheet processing apparatus comprises a heating unit configured to heat a sheet when the sheet is conveyed between a pair of rollers, a first guide unit that supports and guides movement of the heating unit in a first direction towards a predetermined position exterior to the sheet processing apparatus, and a second guide unit that supports and guides further movement of the heating unit in the first direction in cooperation with the first guide unit, the second guide unit including an abutment section configured to stop movement of the heating unit in the first direction when the heating unit reaches the predetermined position.

A sheet processing apparatus is known which comprises a heating apparatus used in a fixing device for fixing a visualized image with a developing material, that is, a color material, on a sheet and used in an erasing apparatus for erasing the color of the visualized image to reuse the sheet.
Generally, the heating apparatus comprises a heating mechanism including, for example, a heat roller having a heat source and a press roller for pressing a sheet having the color material against the heat roller as the sheet is conveyed, to thereby carry out heating processing on the sheet.

Sheet processing apparatus with movable heating unit


A drag reducing device for use on transport vehicles includes a delta wing having variable height and irregularly spaced undulations on an upper surface of each side of the wing. A length of each side of the delta wing is different than the length of the other wing side thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of drag reducing devices used with transport vehicles. More particularly the invention relates to specialized shapes for such devices that have greater efficiency in drag reduction.
2. Background Art
It is well understood in the art of physics of fluid flow control over surfaces that an adverse pressure gradient exists when low static and high static pressure regions interact. As a fluid boundary layer flows across a flow control surface there tends to be a blocking boundary formed which can block the flow and even reverse the motion of fluid flow locally. This may in turn separate the fluid with a resulting rise in drag. It is again well understood in the art that generating stream-wise vortices, generally using so-called vortex generators, can create conditions of mixing which may prevent a separation of the flow. There are many types of vortex generators primarily embodied as devices with vanes that protrude above the boundary layer, such as described by Stephens in U.S. Pat. No. 2,800,291. Limitations of the device described in the '291 patent include that the boundary is regulated with increased conditions of drag. Other approaches have been discussed in Kluethe, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,578,264 and 3,741,285 primarily exhibiting internal boundary vortices when a fluid encounters and is made to flow over a concave surface; in effect forcing the boundary layer between adjacent wings to transfer a vortex into the boundary layer and cause mixing. The results of such devices while of academic merit have inefficiencies due to out of scale issues leading to excess drag.
Wheeler, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,045 describes in detail that a strong vortex is formed along the leading edges of delta wings at high angles of attack. In the disclosed device in the '045 patent, submerged channels are molded to have a nominally triangular plan form shape permanently formed onto a flow surface. The channels as described in the '045 patent have sharp upper edges for effective vortex formation, divergent sidewalls essentially normal to the flow-control surface, and floor contours arranged to immediately conduct the stream-wise vortices below the level of the local flow control surface. Basically, the principles described in the '045 patent are that placing a series of submerged channels to be nested together in a properly overlapping manner creates a stream-wise cascade, thereby reducing the drag and at the same time controlling the boundary flow.
There exists a need for improved drag reducing devices for use on long transport vehicles.

Drag reduction device for transport vehicles having randomized irregular shaped edge vortex generating channels


An adjustable headrest includes a rotatable member positioned between a stationary member and a movable member to which a padded head support is attached. The member has opposed staggered arcuate surfaces extending on opposite sides of a pivot point with one of the surfaces including teeth which selectively engage teeth on the movable member, while the remaining arcuate surface of the member engages a stationary portion of the headrest. A spring holds the teeth in removable engagement with each other and an articulated release arm selectively disengage the teeth to retract the head support.

The present invention pertains to a vehicle headrest, and particularly to one which is adjustable.
There exists a variety of proposed headrest constructions which allow a headrest to be adjusted to fit a particular driver or passenger. One adjustable headrest provides a pivoting adjustment as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,240 while a pneumatically operated bellows-type control is provided for another adjustable headrest as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,218. These headrests as well as others which include screw jack-type adjustments with scissor arms for supporting a movable plate with respect to a stationary plate typically are mounted to rods which extend into the seat back and provide vertical adjustment of the headrests.
Although these systems provide the desired adjustment motion, some are either somewhat complicated to manufacture or require auxiliary equipment to operate and/or are relatively slow and cumbersome to use.


A gypsum wallboard may have a paper-covered first face with shaped regions formed along side portions near the wallboard edges, and a fibrous mat-covered second face. The fibrous mat material covering the second face extends around the wallboard edges and is overlapped by portions of the paper on the first face. The wallboard can be manufactured by depositing a gypsum slurry onto a moving web of the fibrous mat material, applying a web of the paper to the deposited gypsum slurry, and forming shaped regions in the side portions of the top surface.

This invention relates to an improved gypsum wallboard faced with fiber mat. More particularly, the present invention relates to a gypsum wallboard covered with a glass fiber mat (preferably a coated glass mat) on one face, and paper on the opposite face. The wallboard of the present invention is particularly advantageous for use in applications where a face of the wallboard will confront a confined area in which mold propagation may be a concern, such as, e.g., certain interior wall cavities. Still other applications will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention.
Panels of gypsum wallboard having a core of set gypsum sandwiched between two sheets of facing paper have long been used as structural members in the fabrication of buildings. Such panels are typically used to form the partitions or walls of rooms, elevator shafts, stairwells, ceilings and the like. Although paper is a relatively inexpensive facing material and easily used in the process of manufacturing wallboard, it is has disadvantages, particularly with regard to moisture-resistance. Moisture can have deleterious effects upon wallboard. In addition to degrading strength and other structural properties, moisture (in combination with other factors) can encourage the growth of fungi (including, e.g., mold). The problem can (under certain circumstances) be particularly acute with regard to certain spaces that, upon installation of the wallboard, are enclosed and inaccessible.
An example of this problem can occur with regard to interior walls. As is known in the art, interior walls are often formed by erecting a supporting structure (which may include wood or metal studs), and then fastening gypsum wallboard to that structure from floor to ceiling. A confined cavity is thereby formed within the wall. That cavity may be empty, or it may contain insulation, wiring, piping, etc. Once the wall is completed, however, that cavity is generally inaccessible without removing the wallboard, which must then be replaced. Even though inaccessible, a wall cavity is often susceptible to moisture penetration and collection. This may occur through leakage of pipes within the cavity, by condensation, by leaking of a roof, flooding, etc. If the wallboard is not resistant to water penetration, the facing and gypsum core may absorb water. Because wall cavities are typically not ventilated, the water may tend to remain, and fungal growth can occur.
As an alternative to paper facing, gypsum wallboard can also be manufactured with a fibrous mat (such as glass fiber) as a facing material. Examples of such wallboards include that described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,822. In addition to improved water a resistance, fibrous matting often provides significant improvements in strength and other structural attributes. Although fibrous matting is a more advantageous facing material than paper in many respects, it may be less desirable than paper in other respects. For example, fibrous mat can be more expensive than paper. Glass or other fiber matting also provides a less desirable wall surface in some applications. Interior walls, for example, are often finished with paint or wall paper. Paper facing offers a smoother surface for painting or wall papering than is offered by fibrous mat facing.
It is also known in the art to manufacture gypsum wallboards for interior use having shaped regions near the edges. This shaped region can form a bevel, a taper, a rounded edge, or other desired shape. This shaping is often formed on the interior face (i.e., the face exposed to a room interior after installation). A cross section of such an existing wallboard is shown in FIG. 1A; various angles, thicknesses and other dimensions are exaggerated for clarity. Typically, the wallboard has a first face covered with a smooth paper facing material wrapped around the gypsum core. A second face is likewise covered with a paper facing material overlaying the gypsum core. The facing material from the first face is typically wrapped around the edges of the board and is overlapped at its margins by small portions of the facing material on the second face. The shaped regions can allow a small depression to be formed along the joints of adjoining wallboards. Specifically, the first faces of adjoining wallboards are oriented so as to confront the interior of a room, with their edges touching (or very close together). Joint tape, drywall mud, etc. can be placed into the depression to provide a finished wall that is generally flat (e.g., without ridges along the wallboard joints) and ready for painting or wallpapering. FIG. 1A also shows, on the left hand side of the figure, additional examples of shapes that may be formed.
Although interior wallboards with shaped regions on an interior face are used in applications which might benefit from the advantages of both fiber matting and paper facing materials, combining such materials in a single board for such an application presents potential problems, and has not been described in the prior art. Because dissimilar facing materials would generally create different stresses during fabrication of the wallboard, warpage would be expected to occur. Moreover, conventional manufacturing methods require that the shaped regions be formed on the bottom surface of a horizontal wallboard as it progresses down a production line during fabrication. FIG. 1B is a schematic cross section of a prior art wallboard during manufacture. The center would typically be horizontal, with two small shaping forms attached to, and running the length of, the conveyor. The upper surface of the forming wallboard would typically be flat. This arrangement, however, requires that the facing material on the bottom (conveyor) side be used to wrap around the edges of the wallboard during fabrication. In order to manufacture an interior wallboard using conventional methods, and having shaped regions on the paper-covered face and a mat-covering on the other face, it would be necessary to place the paper web on the bottom (conveyor) surface and the mat web on the top surface. However, the paper web would then be wrapped around the edges of the fabricated wallboard. In this configuration, and upon installation of a wallboard in a wall, the paper facing material would be exposed to the confined interior wall cavity. As set forth above, paper can be less water-resistant than fibrous matting. Moreover, the joints between adjacent wallboards are generally not sealed on the wall cavity side. A paper-wrapped edge could thus provide a path for moisture to infiltrate the wallboard, and at least partially defeat the benefits of the mat facing material.
According to the present invention, a gypsum wallboard has a paper-covered first face with shaped regions near the edges, and a second face covered with a water-resistant facing material, preferably a fibrous mat material, and more preferably a coated fibrous mat material. The paper-covered first face presents a good surface for painting or wallpapering. The second face, because of its preferred coated mat facing material, is resistant to water infiltration. The mat material covering the second face wraps around the edges of the wallboard. Preferably, the mat material terminates on the shaped regions of the first face. The paper facing material is glued to the mat along an overlap of the two facing materials, preferably on the shaped regions of the first face.
According to another aspect of the invention, a process for fabricating a wallboard with shaped regions is provided. A bottom web of facing material is continuously fed. Onto the bottom web is deposited a gypsum slurry. Lateral portions of the bottom web are wrapped around the edge of the forming wallboard and overlap side portions of the upper slurry surface along its margins. A top web of continuously fed facing material is applied to the upper surface of the slurry, and is glued along regions of overlap of the two facing materials A series of shims located along the lateral margins of the upper surface of the forming wallboard form shaped regions in those margins. In this manner, it is thereby possible to continuously form wallboard having shaped regions in a first face, with the facing material of a second face extending around the wallboard edges.

Interior wallboard and method of making same


A method and device for testing through-substrate vias (TSVs) in a 3D chip stack are disclosed. In one aspect, the 3D chip stack includes at least a first die having a first electrical circuit and a second die having a second electrical circuit. The first die further includes at least one first TSV for providing electrical connection between the first electrical circuit and the second electrical circuit. The first die further includes test circuitry and at least one second TSV electrically connected between the first TSV and the test circuitry. The electrical connection between the first TSV and the second TSV is made outside the second die. In one aspect, this allows testing the first TSV in the first die even if the second die is not provided with dedicated test circuitry.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of three-dimensional stacking of semiconductor chips. Embodiments of the present invention provide the opportunity to fully test a TSV-based interconnect while only one of two tiers is under design control of a stack manufacturer.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The semiconductor industry is on an ongoing quest to integrate more functionality into a smaller form factor with increased performance, lower power and reduced cost. Traditionally, only two-dimensional planes were used for this: through conventional CMOS scaling, multiple IP cores in a single die (system-on-chip, SoC), multiple dies in a single package (multi-chip package, MCP) and multiple ICs on a printed circuit board (PCB). More recently, also the third, vertical dimension started to become exploited: system-in-package (SiP), in which multiple naked dies are vertically stacked in a single IC package, and interconnected by means of wire-bonds to the substrate; and package-on-package (PoP), in which multiple packaged chips are vertically stacked.
Three-dimensional (3D) stacking of chips is a hot research item, as it promises higher transistor densities and smaller footprints of electronic products. The latest evolution in this list of innovations is the so-called three-dimensional stacked IC (3D-SIC); a single package containing a vertical stack of naked dies which are interconnected by means of through-substrate-vias (TSVs). 3D stacking based on through-substrate-vias (TSVs) offers the benefits of more functionality, higher bandwidth and performance at smaller sizes, alongside lower power consumption and cost; and this even in an era in which conventional feature-size scaling becomes increasingly difficult and expensive. TSVs provide, as their name indicates, an electrical connection from the active front-side (face) of a semiconductor die through the semiconductor substrate to the back-side. TSVs are conducting nails which stick out of the back-side of a thinned-down die, which allow that die to be vertically interconnected to another die. TSVs are high-density, low-capacity interconnects compared to traditional wire-bonds, and hence allow for much more interconnects between stacked dies, and these interconnects can operate at higher speeds and lower power dissipation. TSVs allow to interconnect multiple vertically stacked dies with each other.
Like all ICs, also these new TSV-based 3D-SICs need to be tested for manufacturing defects, in order to guarantee sufficient outgoing product quality to a customer. Chip stacks should be delivered fault free as much as possible. In 3D chip stacking, the TSVs typically carry all interconnect signals between two dies, and hence are quite critical. Both the TSV manufacturing process, as well as the bonding process are delicate, and hence the TSV-based interconnects are prone to defects, such as for example opens and shorts.
Conventional test solutions include boundary scan testing, and require control and observation of special design-for-test (DfT) features or circuitry. If the dies on both ends of the TSVs are, at design time, under full control of the 3D chip stack designer, special Design-for-Test features can be added to the design of both top and bottom die that allow controllability and observability of the TSV, in order to fully test it. An alternative approach is that both tiers comprise control and/or observe DfT features, whereby the DfT features in the die which is not under control of the stack manufacturer are as desired or expected by the stack manufacturer, either by agreement, by chance, or by standardization. The DfT features in all tiers can be designed to co-operate. Once available, this circuitry reduces the test problem to an interconnect test problem, for which in literature many sets of test patterns are available. An example of a DfT implementation is illustrated in FIG. 1. A first die 10, also called bottom die, is provided with functional TSV connections 11a, 11b. The first die 10 is designed for being connected, via the TSV connections 11a, 11b, to corresponding bond pads 12 on a second die 13, also called top die. Special design for test features 14a, 14b are provided both in the first die 10 and in the second die 13. In the first die 10, a first input port TDI1 is provided for applying electrical input signals to test circuitry 14a for driving TSV connections 11a, and a first output port TDO1 is provided for sensing electrical signals emanating from the TSV connections 11b. A second input port TDI2 is provided for applying electrical input signals to test circuitry 14b for driving TSV connections 11b, and a second output port TDO2 is provided for sensing electrical signals emanating from the TSV connections 11a. Furthermore, a test data select port is provided for applying select signals to multiplexers in the design for test features 14a, 14b.
Unfortunately it is often the case that one of the dies is not under control of the stack designer, e.g. because it is an already-existing die. Hence the stack designer cannot provide special design-for-test features in the die not under his control, neither can these features be added as an afterthought. Nevertheless, the TSV-based interconnects need to be tested. A particular example thereof is memories, which typically do not have features for boundary scan testing.
Kang et al. disclose, in "8 Gb 3D DDR3 DRAM Using Through-Silicon-Via Technology", ISSCC'09, Paper 7.2, pp. 130-131, a TSV repair scheme to increase the assembly yield. A number of redundant TSVs is allocated to a group of TSVs. If one of the TSVs fails, it is replaced by one of the redundant TSVs. No distinction is made between regular and redundant TSVs. If a failure occurs at a TSV, the remaining TSVs are all shifted to the neighboring ones, so a failed TSV is always repaired with a neighboring TSV. In order to determine that a TSV fails, a test is needed, but the document does not specify how TSVs are tested.

Method and device for testing TSVS in a 3D chip stack


A semiconductor package mainly includes a leadframe and a first semiconductor chip such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) encapsulated in a first package body having a cavity for receiving a second semiconductor chip such as a pressure sensor chip, and a cover disposed over the cavity of the first package body. At least a portion of the first package body is formed between the second semiconductor chip and the die pad such that the second semiconductor chip is directly disposed on the portion of the first package body instead of the die pad.

With ever increasing demands for miniaturization and higher operating speeds, semiconductor packages having a plurality of semiconductor chips, i.e., multi-chip modules (MCMs), are increasingly attractive in a variety of electronics. MCMs which contain more than one die can help minimize the system operational speed restrictions imposed by long printed circuit board connection traces by combining, for example, the processor, memory, and associated logic into a single package. In addition, MCMs decrease the interconnection length between IC chips thereby reducing signal delays and access times.
However, in certain applications (e.g., tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) for monitoring the pressure in automotive tires), it is desirable to have one chip, e.g., a sensor chip separate from other integrated circuit chips for reasons of functionality, reliability, safety, and/or manufacturability. TPMS typically include a sensor chip for sensing tire pressure and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) responsive to temperature and system battery voltage.
TMPS have been packaged in a variety of ways. WO 2005/038422 A1 discloses that components for a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) may be packaged on a common leadframe in which the ASIC is over-molded and rendered insensitive to the local environment, and the sensor chip is disposed in open cavity sealed with a cover having pressure transfer aperture. However, the sensor chip of this conventional TPMS is directly supported by the die pad of the leadframe. Since there is a significant difference between the sensor chip and the die pad in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), the sensor chip and the die pad expand and contract in different amounts along with temperature fluctuations from the environment to which the sensor chip is exposed. This causes warpage of the sensor chip thereby resulting in adverse influences that makes the sensor chip unable to sense tire pressure. Furthermore, the thermal stress due to CTE mismatch may result in delamination between the sensor chip and the die pad or chip cracking. Also, such differences in CTE could induce undesirable strains in the mechanical and electrical connections between the sensor chip and the leadframe.

Semiconductor package and process for making the same


A file system executing on a computing device may store a placeholder for a file on secondary storage of the computing device. The placeholder may comprise a sparse data stream containing none or some of the data of the file and information which enables the remotely stored data of the file to be retrieved from the network. As some or all of the data for the file is being stored remotely, the computing device may rely on a storage virtualization provider to create metadata for the file. Thus, the file system executing on the computing device may receive, from the storage virtualization provider, a request to store metadata associated with the file. In response to this request, the file system may store the metadata as a Binary Large Object (BLOB) in a secondary data stream of the placeholder for the file.

With the ever increasing need for data storage in computer systems, the use of cloud storage providers is increasing. With cloud storage, the data of a file or directory is stored "in the cloud" rather than on a user's local computing device. When the data for a file or directory is needed, it can be pulled "from the cloud" back onto the user's local computing device. In a typical computer system, a component located on a computing device, such as an indexer, may be configured to index properties associated with the files and to store these properties as metadata with the file. Unfortunately, the process of creating and storing metadata for files stored in the cloud is not as seamless as when those files are stored locally on the computing device.

Metadata storage for placeholders in a storage virtualization system


An apparatus for dewatering a pulp is described, comprising a vessel having a pulp chamber for pulp to be dewatered; a pulp inlet to the vessle; pulp outlet from the vessel; a filtrate chamber with an outlet for filtrate expelled from the pulp; a stationary cylindrical screen mounted within the vessel and defining said plup chamber and filtrate chamber on opposite sides thereof; and mechanical cleaning means supported by a shaft and disposed in the pulp chamber close to the screen face of the screen for removing a mat of pulp therefrom. The apparatus further comprises a backflushing means mounted outside the vessel and including a cylinder with first and second end portions and a piston mounted within the cylinder for reciprocal movement therein. The first end portion communicates with the interior of the apparatus, and the second end portion communicates with the filtrate chamber. Furthermore, the backflushing means comprises a power transmitting means for actuating the piston in the cylinder to move reciprocally in cycles each cycle comprising a slow stroke for drawing filtrate slowly into the cylinder and removing pulp slowly therefrom, and a fast stroke for expelling said drawn-in filtrate quickly out from the cylinder and drawing pulp quickly into the cylinder, said quickly expelled filtrate causing a backlfush through the screen.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for dewatering a pulp.
Apparatus for dewatering pulp are known through a number of patent specifications, see, e.g. SE 117 717, SE 186 644, SE 392 838 and CA 957 287. One drawback with such apparatus is the fact that the mechanical cleaning means is insufficient to keep the stationary screen clean so that the screen is clogged by fiber material, the efficiency of the screen being gradually reduced.


An apparatus for forming films by evaporation in vacuum has a chamber for evaporating a coating material containing a coating material (10), and a heating element (2) positioned outside this chamber. A collimating chamber (3), which is identically constructed, communicates with the chamber (1), and each of the chambers (1,3) has a pair of ports (4, 5) aligned on an axis (8), a socket pipe (6,7) being received in one of the ports, respectively, the socket pipe (6) of the evaporation chamber (1) being received in the port (5) of the collimating chamber (3), the evaporation chamber (1) having a sealing member (9) provided in the other port (4) of the chamber (1).

Known in the art is an apparatus for forming films by evaporation in vacuum (GB, B, 1517085), comprising a debiteuse containing a material being evaporated, the electric current flowing directly through the debiteuse for heating and evaporating a coating material. A substrate is placed horizontally opposite to the debiteuse and is spaced therefrom.
This apparatus is characterized by large losses of a coating material because of the absence of a directional flow of the evaporated material, and it can only be used for forming films on horizontal substrates.
For creating a directional flow of an evaporated material, nozzles are used, e.g. in an evaporator for vacuum plants (SU, A, 397567) having a heater accommodating a crucible containing a material to be evaporated and a nozzle provided in the top part of the crucible. A substrate is horizontally positioned and is aligned with the nozzle axis and spaced from the outlet edge of the nozzle.
This prior art evaporator also features availability of a boundary layer in the flow adjacent to the walls of the nozzle, the width of the boundary layer covering a substantial part of the flow with velocities of evaporated materials used in practice. Molecules emitted from this layer move chaotically and cause an increase in losses of a coating material.
A substantial reduction of losses of a coating material can be achieved by using the technique of solid phase recovery of an evaporated material that failed to get to the substrate as it is the case in an apparatus for forming films by evaporation in vacuum (U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,660), comprising a chamber for evaporating a coating material, a heating element provided outside the chamber, and a collimating chamber communicating therewith, each chamber of identical construction having two ports aligned on one and the same axis.
The chamber for evaporating a coating material and the collimating chamber comprise a pipeline having a transverse plane of symmetry. The bottom end of the evaporation chamber is positioned in a crucible containing a coating material. Both chambers may be separated by a diaphragm with an opening extending in the plane of symmetry.
The pipeline is turned over at regular intervals as the coating material is consumed and replenished and is placed in such a manner that it should be received in the crucible with an end thereof on which the coating material that failed to get to the substrate has been deposited. This material is used in the next evaporation cycle.
The abovedescribed apparatus is, however, suitable for forming films only on horizontally positioned substrates as the coating material can flow out through unsealed spots in the joint between the bottom end of the pipeline defining the evaporation chamber and the crucible. In addition, in the simplest versions of the apparatus in which the pipeline is of an integral construction and has an annular recess in the middle part separating the evaporation and collimating chambers, the material is always condensed in the annular recess zone with any position of the pipeline. The coating material collected in the annular recess would overflow to one of the chambers so as to cause an asymmetric change in distribution of intensity of vapour flow escaping from the collimating chamber thus lowering uniformity of thickness of the applied films.
In addition, this apparatus in its simplest form cannot ensure high uniformity of thickness of the applied film on large-area substrates even if they are positioned horizontally, and the use of various diaphragms provided for that purpose in the pipeline complicates construction of the apparatus.
In case rather thick films are to be formed, a layer of material condensed in the collimating chamber causes a change in distribution of intensity of vapour flow escaping therefrom thus lowering uniformity of film thickness.
Moreover, evaporation of the coating material simultaneously from the crucible and evaporation chamber which are generally at somewhat different temperatures results in a change in evaporation rate during evaporation: first evaporation of the material occurs at a higher rate from a stronger heated surface (evaporation chamber) and then the material evaporates at a lower rate from a less heated surface (crucible). For ensuring a parity between evaporation rates, it is necessary to control heating current during evaporation which makes the apparatus more complicated.

Apparatus for forming films by evaporation in vacuum