A method of manufacturing a vibrator which includes a method of manufacturing a wiring board includes disposing one granular conductor within each of through holes of a ceramic substrate having the through holes formed therein, supplying a glass paste into the through holes, baking the glass paste, forming an electrode, and disposing a vibrator element and a lid. When a maximum diameter of the granular conductor is set to d1 and a minimum diameter of each of the through holes is set to d2, d1/d2 is preferably equal to or greater than 0.8 and equal to or less than 1.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a wiring board, a method of manufacturing the same, an element housing package, an electronic device, an electronic apparatus, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
Ceramic wiring boards are more excellent than organic wiring boards from the viewpoint of thermal conductivity, heat resistance, chemical stability, and the like. Thus, ceramic wiring boards can increase the density of wiring boards and contribute to a reduction in the size of electronic apparatuses.
Such a ceramic wiring board is provided with a through wiring passing therethrough in a thickness direction, and thus can be used as an interposer substrate.
For example, JP-A-2008-004927 discloses a laminated mounting structure that includes a first substrate, a second substrate, and an intermediate substrate which is provided between the first and second substrates. The intermediate substrate is provided with a through hole that passes therethrough in a thickness direction. Further, an elastic conductive ball having a size larger than a depth and an inner diameter of the through hole is pressed into the through hole. Thus, an electrode provided in the first substrate and an electrode provided in the second substrate are electrically connected to each other through the elastic conductive ball.
On the other hand, ceramic wiring boards have been used as substrates for packages of various types of devices, on the basis of excellent gas impermeability derived from the ceramics.
A piezoelectric device using a piezoelectric material such as, for example, quartz crystal has been used in many fields as a vibration device such as a piezoelectric vibrator, a resonator, and a filter. Among these, the piezoelectric vibrator (vibration device) is frequently used in electronic apparatuses as a time source, a timing source such as a control signal, a reference signal source, and the like. The piezoelectric vibrator includes a piezoelectric vibrator element and an excitation electrode which is provided on both principal surfaces of a vibration region in the piezoelectric vibrator element. In order to use the piezoelectric vibrator as the above-described time source and the like, the piezoelectric vibrator is required to be accurately oscillated at an intended resonance frequency.
However, in the piezoelectric vibrator element, frequency characteristics may change unintentionally due to the aging deterioration of the material thereof or the attachment of impurities. Consequently, the piezoelectric vibrator element is accommodated in a package, and the package is airtightly sealed, thereby suppressing the material deterioration and the attachment of impurities on the piezoelectric vibrator element over a long period and suppressing changes in frequency characteristics. On the other hand, electric wiring that connects the inside and outside of the package is required in order to drive the piezoelectric vibrator element, and thus through wiring is formed in the package.
A ceramic wiring board is used as a substrate constituting a portion of such a package for the piezoelectric vibrator.
Consequently, when the ceramic wiring board disclosed in JP-A-2008-004927 is applied to a ceramic wiring board for a piezoelectric vibrator, it is possible to form a through wiring passing through the ceramic wiring board by using an elastic conductive ball.
However, since the elastic conductive ball is merely pressed into the through hole, it is difficult to airtightly seal the through hole.

Wiring board, method of manufacturing the same, element housing package, electronic device, electronic apparatus, and moving object


A method for separating metal residues from a polymer wherein a solution or suspension of said polymer is contacted with an aqueous solution containing one or more inorganic acids in the presence of a monocarboxylic acid containing from about 6 to about 20 carbon atoms. The polymer solution or suspension will be contacted with an oxidizing agent either prior to or simultaneously with the contacting with the aqueous inorganic acid solution. The inorganic acid is, preferably, a mineral acid and the monocarboxylic acid is preferably a branched chain alkanoic acid having from about 6 to about 10 carbon atoms. When a monocarboxylic acid is used in combination with the inorganic acid, the amount of metal removed from the polymer is increased and the amount of the aqueous phase containing ionized metal entrained in the organic phase is sugnificantly reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for separating various contaminants form organic polymers. More particularly, this invention relates to a method of separating metal contaminants from organic polymers.
2. Prior Art
It is, of course, well known in the prior art that various metal contaminants are, frequent]y, undesirable in organic polymers and organic polymer compositions since such contaminants frequently accelerate deterioration of the polymer and may interfere with subsequent curing reactions. Metals may be introduced into the polymer either as catalyst( during polymerization or as catalyst during a subsequent treatment such as hydrogenation of an unsaturated polymer.
Heretofore several processes have been proposed for separating various metals from organic polymers. These processes generally involve reaction of the metal or a compound thereof with a reagent thereby forming a product which can then be separated. Generally, the product will be insoluble in the organic phase and may be removed therefrom either via extraction into an inorganic phase or by filtration or the like. Suitable reagents include mineral acids such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,982 as well as carboxylic acids such as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,893,982; 3,780,138; 4,476,297 and 4,595,749. Other suitable reagents include the ammonium phosphates such as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,531,448 and 3,793,306. Carboxylic acids may be used in combination with other reagents such as an anhydrous base as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,485 or an aliphatic alcohol as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,138. An oxidizing agent may also be used prior to or simultaneously with the reagent used to react with the metal or metal compound such as tau&ht in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,780,138; 3,793,306 and 4,595,749.
As is well known, most, if not all, of the aforementioned processes are effective in significantly reducing the amount of metal remaining in the polymer after treatment. None, however, are effective in removing all of the metal and certain of these processes frequently leave more metal in the polymer than is desired in many end uses for the polymer. Moreover, those processes involving the use of an aqueous phase generally result in higher concentrations of metal in the polymer due to entrainment of the aqueous phase in the organic, polymer phase. In light of this, the need for an improved process for separating various metals from organic polymers is believed to be readily apparent.

Method for separating metal contaminants from organic polymers


A monitoring system and method are presented for use in monitoring a target. The monitoring system comprises: an input utility for receiving input data comprising measured data indicative of optical response of the target measured under predetermined conditions and comprising phase data indicative of a two-dimensional profile of full phase of the optical response of the target in a predetermined two-dimensional parametric space including a two-dimensional range in which said target exhibits phase singularity; an analyzer module for processing said measured data and extracting at least one phase singularity signature of the target characterizing the target status, the phase singularity signature being formed by a number N of phase singularity points, each corresponding to a condition that the physical phase continuously accumulates a nonzero integer multiple m of 2π around said point.

Optical interrogation of targets enables a non-destructive way to extract useful information on target parameters/conditions. Such techniques are widely used in various industrial applications, for example in inspection tools for monitoring/controlling parameter(s) and/or parameter variations of the target structure (e.g. in semiconductor industry), as well as in sensing devices for monitoring changes in target's parameter(s) caused by a change in its environment. The latter may be used for controlling the target condition or obtaining information about environment via measurements on the target, e.g. to detect foreign substance(s) via their interaction with the target.
It is generally known to extract target-related information from optical measurements performed with different measurement schemes and/or different modes/conditions of the same measurement scheme. Some of the commonly used techniques employ either angular or spectral interrogation, in which the target is illuminated at different incidence angles or wavelengths, respectively. The reflected (or transmitted) light is then used to extract information on the target. These techniques are pivotal in the arsenal of available tools for critical parameter extractions on a wide range of targets for a wide range of applications. For example, ellipsometry systems employ both spectral and angular interrogation, and are amongst the most sensitive of such methods. Ellipsometry is therefore widely used in metrology of sub-wavelength targets on silicon wafers for yield management.
Within the realm of angular and spectral optical interrogation methods, the Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) phenomena allows real-time sensing of environmental changes at a several hundred nanometer range of a metal surface, by tracking shifts to the condition in which a local minimum in the reflectivity occurs. SPR sensing techniques are commonly applied to biosensing of molecular interactions and protein interactions. The vast majority of commercial SPR systems employ angular interrogation at a single wavelength (with a monochromatic light source), but SPR tools that employ spectral interrogation instead also exist (illuminating at a fixed angle with a wideband light source).
Technique utilizing optical schemes for measurements using both multiple incidence angles and multiple illumination wavelengths have also been proposed, for example for use in metrology systems. The motivation behind such spectro-angular interrogation is to increase the optical sensitivity by collecting more information about the target.

System and method for monitoring status of target

TECHNION RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION LIMITED


An implantable electrode, for an implantable tissue stimulator, has an electrically conductive porous material comprising metal carbide, metal nitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxide or metal oxynitride and one or more coating layers on a surface thereof. The coating layer or at least one of the coating layers, is for contact with body tissue when the electrode is implanted. Each coating layer is an electrically conductive layer of polymer having a polypyrrole polymeric backbone or polythiophene polymeric backbone. The coating layer or layers are formed in situ by electropolymerisation. The polypyrrole or polythiophene may be substituted. The coating layer or layers can provide high charge storage capacitance and a fast discharging profile, as well as biocompatibility.

In most cases, implantable stimulation or stimulating electrodes, for example for heart pacemakers, consist of an electrode body having an insulated cable lead and an electrode head for the transmission of the stimulation pulses, i.e. the active or effective area of the electrode.
Such electrode materials should be compatible with the body, i.e. the formation of connective tissue layers should be very low if it is not suppressed altogether; in any case, the thickness of connective tissue should remain below 100 μm. The stimulation threshold, further, should be as constant as possible. Furthermore, a high double layer capacitance should form at the phase boundary of the electrode and bodily fluid, so that the polarization rise during the stimulation pulses are small, typically less than 0.1V. The high double layer capacitance that is sought has a beneficial effect in the case of stimulation electrodes because, as a result of the impressed current, only slight potential changes occur, electrochemical reactions with the bodily fluid are largely suppressed and the energy outlay is slight.
The demands noted above have been partially met by electrodes in which the electrode head consists of glassy carbon. A high double layer capacitance is achieved by means of an activation of the surface of the glassy carbon, whereby a thin, firmly adhering layer of activated carbon is obtained, i.e. a surface with a microporous structure. Importantly, activated carbon also exhibits good biocompatibility.
However, mechanical processing (during manufacture) and electrical contacting in such a device have proven problematic. This has led to the development of pacing materials based on porous titanium nitride and other nitride or carbide materials which are conducting and have high intrinsic surface areas which meet the capacitance and energy needs of a stimulator.
Published US patent application 2001/0002000 A1 discloses substrates of plastic, metals, etc., with a biocompatible coating, which is formed from amorphous titanium nitride. The applications of the substrates are in the field of cardiac pacemakers and electrodes. European published patent applications EP 0 117 972 A, EP 0 116 280 A and EP 0 115 778 A disclose electrodes for medical applications, provided with porous layers of titanium nitride. U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,637 discloses a cardiac pacemaker system in which the passive electrode is coated, for example, with activated carbon or titanium nitride. German published patent application DE 33 00 672 A1 discloses a cardiac pacemaker system with an electrode which has, for example, a coating of titanium nitride. The publication, J. Riedmüller, A. Bolz, H. Rebling, M. Schaldach, "Improvement of Stimulation and Sensing Performance of Bipolar Pacemaker Leads", Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE/EMBS, pp. 2364-2365 (1992), discloses that the use of titanium nitride layers with anodic polarization leads to the formation of oxide layers in the region of the electrode surface. While the physical properties of the titanium nitride are substantially unchanged in stimulation electrodes with a titanium nitride layer which is used as the cathode, this is not the case with use as an anode. The attack by OH-ions leads to the formation of oxide layers, which cause a rise of impedance and therewith also a rise of the threshold voltage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,136 describes electrodes for use in cardiac pacing having a surface layer of iridium oxide overlying a substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,443 likewise describes iridium oxide as a non-native coating on a metal electrode surface, and also mentions mixtures of oxides such as ruthenium oxide, iridium oxide and tantalum oxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,099 describes the use of conductive polymeric hydrogels as a surface layer of an electrode intended to be applied to a patient's skin for exterior stimulation of the heart.
Use of functionalized polypyrrole layers on electrodes and other implantable devices is known for example from WO98/33552 and WO2008/139200. The latter discloses stents having layers which provide good biocompatibility and anti-thrombolytic properties.
WO2008/033546 describes use of polyoxometalates in a surface layer of an implantable electrode, where the layer may be a conductive polymer, and is discussed more below.


A tool is provided for sizing a gap between adjacent deck boards or other objects. The tool includes a primary element of elongate rigid form and a secondary element affixed to the primary element. The secondary element is adapted to be placed within a gap to be sized. The secondary element has a cross-section which exhibits a greater thickness in a first direction than in a second direction. This tool is used in a gap sizing method, typically with multiple similar tools, where the tool is first oriented with a greater thickness aligned with adjacent objects on each side of the gap. The tool is then rotated about a long axis of the secondary element to exhibit lesser thickness and facilitate easy removal of the tool from the gap.

Residential structures often benefit from including a deck adjacent thereto. Such decks are typically located outside of the residential structure and act to expand overall useful space of the residence and tend to join an exterior landscape with interior space of the residential structure.
Such decks typically include a plurality of joists oriented parallel to each other and either supported from below by girders or other structural members, or suspended from the residential structure (or both). Decking material, often in the form of deck boards, are placed upon the joists, typically perpendicular to the joists. These deck boards or other decking materials provide the surface upon which occupants can stand when utilizing the deck, and upon which furniture and other decorative items are typically placed.
Because decking structures are typically formed from dimensional lumber or other wood containing materials, the integrity and lifespan of the deck is enhanced by maintaining a gap between adjacent deck boards. Specifically, when water strikes the deck boards it is important that the water not be in any way encouraged to reside for indefinite periods of time adjacent the various decking materials. If the deck boards are adjacent each other, moisture can reside between the deck boards and cause the deck boards (and also the joists) to prematurely decay. Most properly designed decks thus call for a standard gap width between adjacent deck boards.
On most decks this gap width is either ¼ inch or ⅜ inch. While the gap could be wider or smaller (for instance some composite decking material specifies a ⅛ inch gap width) and could vary, decks typically benefit aesthetically by having gaps which are of uniform width. Accordingly, a need exists for this gap to be efficiently and properly provided as the deck boards are being installed.
Numerous products exist in the prior art which are directed to the general goal of assisting a deck board installer in maintaining proper gap width between adjacent deck boards. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,735,497; 4,850,114; 4,955,142; 5,560,117; 6,508,010; 6,510,621; 6,539,641; 6,647,638; and 6,915,590 provide various prior art attempts to address this need.
One problem exhibited by most if not all of the prior art deck board positioning prior art is the difficulty in removing the prior art devices after adjacent deck boards have been fastened in place. In particular, to make the gap of uniform width it is desirable to place the boards snugly together with only the gap sizing tool therebetween. Once the boards have been fastened to underlying joists, the gap sizing tool is often wedged tightly between the deck boards. Accordingly, a need exists for a deck board gap sizing tool which can be readily removed after use.
Also, it would be beneficial to provide a gap sizing method which allows multiple gaps between multiple adjacent boards to be sized initially in an overall deck layout step with simple gap sizing tools which can be used together in a large set, and preferably be adjustable to provide varying width gaps and be readily removable after use.


A ceiling-mounted apparatus for running a cable harness, in more precise terms a ceiling-mounted apparatus for running a cable harness with a chain of guide carriages coupled to one another by means of spring elements, said guide carriages running in at least one guide rail in each instance, with a first guide carriage being connected to a cable harness source by means of at least one spring element and with the guide carriages comprising additional spring elements for attaching the cable harness.

The present embodiments relate to a ceiling-mounted apparatus for guiding a cable harness.
Robots with a large range of movement require flexible cable runs, which guarantee the guidance of the cable harness throughout the entire movement range of the moveable parts of the robot. The cable harness couples the moveable parts to the corresponding controller. The cable runs limit the mechanical stress on the cable harness to defined maximum values and ensure that the cable harness is always within a defined corridor in order to be able to reliably rule out collisions between moveable parts and the cable harness and other dangers originating from the cable harness.


A ram air turbine has turbine blades connected to rotate a transmission shaft. The transmission shaft is connected to drive a first gear which is engaged to drive a second gear. The second gear is connected to rotate an output shaft extending through a strut away from the transmission shaft. A governor arrangement is configured to change a pitch angle of the blades in response to speed, and includes counterweights acting on a spring in the governor arrangement. The governor spring is positioned on an opposed side of the strut relative to the turbine.

This application relates to a ram air turbine wherein the governor springs are positioned in a unique location.
Ram air turbines are known and typically include a turbine and blade set that is moved outwardly into an airflow path associated with an aircraft. The turbine is driven to rotate and an output shaft is driven by this rotation and utilized to generate electricity or other power.
In one example, a ram air turbine may be selectively deployed or stowed. In such an application, the ram air turbine may be moved to the deployed position in the event of a power failure for other sources of power associated with an aircraft.
In another application, the ram air turbine may be utilized to generate accessory electrical power. As one example, it may be utilized to provide power for a midair refueling operation.
A ram air turbine has a governor that controls the speed with which the components are driven to rotate. Typically, counterweights and governor springs interact to provide the desired speed.
To date, the governor springs have been co-located with the turbine positioned on a (forward) side of a strut through which the output shaft extends.

Ram air turbine governor spring positioning


A thread tap includes a shaft and teeth. The shaft includes helical passages from the threading end to the base end of the shaft. Each passage opens through an aperture in the threading end. A second tap includes a cap and the shaft includes an axially extending passage. The cap is coupled to the threading end and at least partially defines apertures in fluid communication with the passage and the exterior of the tap. A third tap includes teeth spaced apart by a plurality of linear flutes. The shaft includes a central passage and a plurality of flute passages. Each flute passage extends radially outward from a common location in the central passage to a corresponding one of the flutes. The central passage is closed to a terminal end of the threading end.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Conventional thread taps use high volume flow of a liquid lubricant over the cutting edges of the tool. Some thread taps have an internal passage that provide this liquid lubricant to each cutting edge. Since the liquid lubricant is essentially an incompressible fluid, flow from the passage to each cutting edge remains substantially based on the pressure of the liquid supplied to the tool.
In contrast, minimum quantity lubrication ("MQL") machining uses lubrication supplied to the cutting edges of a tool through a lean air-oil mist, rather than through the high volume liquid-based emulsion in conventional thread tapping. The ratio of air to oil in the air-oil mist is typically very high and the lubricant mist acts as a compressible fluid (unlike the incompressible liquid lubricant of conventional thread tapping). Taps designed for liquid lubricant flow through internal passages suffer from excessive air compression and backpressure when used with the air-oil mist of MQL machining. This can result in wasted lubricant and excess wear on the tap.
The present disclosure provides a thread tap having a more balanced lubrication flow for MQL thread tapping that overcomes the problems of typical thread taps when used for MQL tapping.


There is provided a semiconductor device which is simple in configuration and resistant to tampering. A user input unit receives an authentication code input by a user. A CPU determines whether a user's access is legal based on the input authentication code and activates an enable signal if the user's access is legal. A normal row decoder decodes the row address specified by the CPU and selects a normal memory cell of any row based on the result of decode. A redundancy row decoder prohibits the selection by the normal row decoder when the specified row address agrees with the row address of a predetermined normal memory cell only if the enable signal is activated and selects a redundant memory cell of any row.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, in particular, to the semiconductor device with tamper resistance.
Data of which tamper resistance is required, such as an encryption key and personal information, can be stored in a semiconductor device. Some semiconductor devices have a function of protecting data of which tamper resistance is required from illegal access.
A semiconductor device according to Patent Document 1, for example, can set a security function for deactivating a memory space and cancel a security function for activating the memory space. In the semiconductor device, the security function is set such that an address identified by an input address signal agrees with a key address in which it is previously known that the key address is not operated in specific situations or a key address in which it is previously known that the key address is operated in specific situations.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-306400

Tamper resistant semiconductor device with access control


A mobile device stores a TV application for serving as a remote control capable of controlling a TV receiver. The mobile device starts the process of starting the TV application and transmits, to the TV receiver, control signals to turn on the TV receiver before the TV application has been started. More particularly, the mobile device transmits the control signals to turn on the TV receiver while performing the process of starting the TV application. When the mobile device has started the TV application and then the TV receiver has been turned on in normal mode, a user can control the TV receiver by using the mobile device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal that can start an application to control an external device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile devices that can expand their functions by starting applications have recently become known. Such a mobile device can work, for example, as a remote control capable of controlling a television (hereinafter referred to as "TV") receiver by starting an application that can control the TV receiver (hereinafter referred to as "TV application").


An imprint apparatus forms a pattern by curing a radical polymerizable imprint material by irradiating the imprint material with light in a state in which a mold is brought into contact with the imprint material. The apparatus includes an irradiator configured to irradiate the imprint material with light, and a controller configured to control the irradiator. Letting Ic be an illuminance of the light with which the imprint material is irradiated, tc be a time during which the imprint material is irradiated with the light, k be a coefficient, and PD be a target degree of photopolymerization of the imprint material subjected to irradiation with the light, the controller determines the irradiation time in accordance with: PD=k×(√Ic)×tc.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus and an article manufacturing method.
Description of the Related Art
An imprint technique by which an imprint material is placed on a substrate and cured by being irradiated with light while a mold is brought in contact with the imprint material, thereby transferring a pattern of the mold onto the imprint material, is attracting attention. The degree of cure of the imprint material depends on the amount of light with which the imprint material is irradiated. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-099197 describes a double-sided imprint apparatus in which the irradiation time of a UV light source arranged in a lower-side stamper is made shorter than that of a UV light source arranged in an upper-side stamper. In this double-sided imprint apparatus, a transferred material can be released from the upper-side stamper after the transferred material is released from the lower-side stamper because the force required for release depends on the irradiation time. "Basis and Practical Use of Photosensitive Resin", CMC, supervised by Kiyoshi Akamatsu, pp. 242-243 describes that chemical reaction velocity of a radical polymerizable resist is proportional to the square root of illuminance.
In the conventional imprint apparatus, the time during which an imprint material is irradiated with light is optimized in advance, and the imprint material is cured by controlling light irradiation to the imprint material in accordance with the irradiation time. Therefore, if the illuminance decreases due to, for example, deterioration of the light source, cure of the imprint material may become insufficient. In the conventional imprint apparatus, the degree of photopolymerization (the degree of cure) of a radical polymerizable imprint material is not automatically adjusted to a target value.

Imprint apparatus and article manufacturing method


A spinneret having octagonally-shaped orifices for producing yarn filaments having a characteristic cross-section and improved cross-sectional fidelity. The filament cross-section is characterized by generally symmetrical rectangular sub-sections each having four lobes and joined one to the other by a central bridging portion connecting the short facing sides of the sub-sections. This cross-section has increased surface area and remains substantially constant throughout the length of the filament whereby reduced air pressure is required when using the filament in air jet looms.

The present invention relates to the production of yarns by the extrusion of filament-forming material, for example, cellulose acetate, through orifices in a spinneret and particularly relates to spinneret orifices of octagonal configuration, the yarn filaments formed by the extrusion of the filament-forming material through the octagonal spinneret orifices, yarn formed of such filaments and methods of producing the filaments using the octagonal spinneret orifices.
Synthetic yarn filaments are traditionally produced by melt, wet or dry spinning techniques, each being very well known in the art. For the production of cellulose acetate filaments, the dry spinning technique has been utilized quite successfully in the past. That is, a solution (usually called a "dope" in art parlance) comprising cellulose acetate and a volatile solvent therefor (usually acetone) is typically extruded through orifices into a gaseous medium which serves to volatilize and evaporate the solvent thereby forming filaments of cellulose acetate. Usually multiple filaments are extruded, gathered into a yarn and the yarn is then wound upon a bobbin. The yarns are then typically woven into fabrics for a variety of textile end uses including garments, draperies and the like.
The spinneret orifices for the production of cellulose acetate filaments have conventionally been of a circular geometry and produce filaments which can be characterized as crenulated or multi-lobal in cross-section. Circular orifices, however, produce a filament which lacks cross-section fidelity, i.e., such filament lacks uniformity of cross-section or periodic smooth surface portions along its length or, conversely, exhibits substantial cross-sectional variance along its length. Finished fabric produced from yarn filaments lacking cross-sectional fidelity appears to have occasional light or dark streaks resulting from differential light scattering. While such fabrics do exhibit a pleasing hand, efforts have been made to improve the fabric produced from such spinnerets. One such effort is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,526. In that patent, yarn filament is formed by extruding filament-forming material through a multi-grooved orifice defined by alternating convexities and concavities along the surface of the spinneret defining the orifice. The yarn filament produced is multi-lobal in cross-section. Various other cross-sectional shapes of yarn filaments, as well as additional characteristics thereof, are also discussed in that patent.
According to one aspect of the present invention, it has been found that there is a relationship between cross-sectional fidelity and the surface area of the filaments throughout their lengths, on the one hand, and the level of air pressure needed for pick insertion in air jet weaving looms, on the other hand. By increasing the number of lobes in the cross-section of the yarn filament and hence its surface area, it has been found that the filaments are more "air-friendly" for use in air jet looms. That is to say, yarn filaments having increased surface area and substantial and consistent uniformity of cross-section throughout their lengths, according to the present invention, afford improved filling performance on air jet looms at lower air consumption rates and hence reduced costs. They also provide a reduced level of fabric defects. Conversely, the yarn filaments hereof contribute to increased fabric production, while maintaining the cost of such production at a relatively constant level. Moreover, this can be achieved without a decrease in hand of the fabric produced by such yarn filaments. The cross-section of the yarn filament can be controlled in accordance with the present invention through appropriate spinneret design with resulting improvements in lowered air consumption and hence cost or increased fabric production in air jet looms and reduced fabric defects.
In accordance with the present invention, spinnerets with octagonally-shaped exit orifices have been found to significantly and consistently provide an increased crenulation level of filaments formed by extrusion of a dope therethrough in comparison with filaments formed by dope extrusion through circular or round spinneret orifices, as well as reduced variability of the cross-section of the yarn filament throughout its length. Both factors significantly improve uniformity of fabric appearance. This is achieved in accordance with the present invention by providing a spinneret orifice having an octagonal shape. That is to say, the present invention provides a spinneret having a plurality of orifices, at least one of which is defined throughout its full perimetrical extent, by eight discrete side edges, each forming an included angle with an adjacent side edge of between 90.degree. and 180.degree.. Preferably, the orifice is formed of a regular octagon.
Also, according to the present invention, a yarn filament is produced having a cross-sectional shape which may be characterized by a pair of generally symmetrical polygonal sub-sections, each having at least three lobes and joined one to the other by a bridging portion extending between adjacent facing sides of the sub-sections. The sub-sections are each generally rectangular in shape and the bridging portion joins the short facing sides of the rectangular sub-sections. By using spinneret orifices of octagonal shape, an average of seven or more crenulations or lobes in the cross-sections of the yarn filaments is produced. Moreover, a substantial uniformity of filament cross-section throughout its length is achieved. Also, a consistency of cross-section among the various filaments produced from the octagonally-shaped orifices is obtained. These achievements result in improved fabric appearance and reduced air pressure requirements on air jet looms.
An additional benefit derived from the use of an octagonal-shaped orifice in a spinneret is the lack of deterioration of the integrity of the octagonal cross-section with time. Historically, one of the problems with spinnerets having orifices of unusual cross-sections has been the tendency for the filament-forming material to deposit in the orifices. This conventionally results in a deterioration of the ability of the orifices to produce a filament having the targeted cross-section. However, tests of the present octagonally-shaped spinneret orifices have demonstrated no substantial cross-sectional deterioration over time. While some deposit of filament forming material does occur over time, it has been surprisingly discovered that such deposits are uniform from one orifice to another in a spinneret having multiple orifices of this invention. In comparison, a spinneret having multiple round orifices typically exhibits nonuniform deposit of filament forming material or preferential depositing of material from one round orifice to another. This nonuniform depositing of material leads to denier per filament (dpf) variability over time. However, use of the octagonal orifices of this invention reduces dpf variability (as compared to round orifices) and, moreover, maintain such low dpf variability substantially constant over time.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming filaments for the production of yarn by extruding filament forming material through a spinneret having a plurality of orifices including the step of forming the material in at least one of the orifices into a shape having a cross-sectional shape having eight discrete side edges each forming an included angle with an adjacent side edge of between 90.degree. and 180.degree..
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a spinneret orifice configuration for producing yarn filaments having increased crenulation, hence surface area, improved cross-sectional fidelity and consistency, and, when used in air jet looms, affords improved filling performance characterized by lower air consumption rates or increased loom speed.
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, claims and appended drawings.


The present disclosure relates to a method for reducing quantification errors caused by reaction volume deviations in digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) and to a method for determining the amount or concentration of a nucleic acid of interest in a sample with dPCR.

For many biological, biochemical, diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, it is necessary to accurately and precisely determine the amount or concentration of a nucleic acid in a sample. dPCR is a rather new approach to nucleic acid detection and quantification that offers an alternative method to conventional real-time quantitative PCR for absolute quantification of nucleic acids and rare allele detection. dPCR works by partitioning a sample of nucleic acids into many individual, parallel PCR reactions; some of these reactions contain the target molecule (positive) while others do not (negative). Following PCR analysis, the fraction of negative reactions is used to generate an absolute count of the number of target molecules in the sample. One of the key advantages of dPCR over real-time PCR is its superior accuracy of quantification. This advantage relies on inherent properties of dPCR as quantification only requires correct counting of positive partitions and the knowledge of the theoretical partition volume (the count number is not very sensitive to PCR efficiency). A quantification standard is not required. This eliminates potential quantification errors caused by the standard itself.
The prior art provides methods in order to identify incorrect positive or negative counts and for calibrating or normalizing signals in droplet-based assay (US 2013/0302792 A1). This normalization should improve the separation between positive and negative counts. Hence the normalization reduces the risk of false positive or negative counts. The ultimate goal is to improve the accuracy and precision of the determination of the nucleic acid concentration by correcting the signal obtained for the nucleic acid.
However, the methods of the prior art do not account for quantification errors in PCR due to situations, in which the true volume in the dPCR reaction areas differs from the expected or intended one.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods of quantifying a nucleic acid of interest by dPCR, which reduce quantification errors caused by reaction volume deviations. The object of the present disclosure was to provide those methods.

Method for reducing quantification errors caused by reaction volume deviations in digital polymerase chain reaction


An image forming apparatus having: a light source for emitting a beam; a deflector for deflecting the beam; a light receiving element for receiving the beam and generating a detection signal; a converter for converting electric potentials of the detection signal into data values and generating time data associated with the data values; and a first calculator for calculating a position of center of the beam from the data values and the time data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that emits light from a light source, that deflects the light with a deflector and that scans a photoreceptor with the light.
2. Description of Related Art
An example of conventional image forming apparatuses is a color image forming apparatus disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-244843. In the color image forming apparatus, the light intensity of a laser beam is adjusted in the way described below. FIGS. 11a to 11d are signal waveform diagrams used for the light intensity adjustment to the laser beam in the color image forming apparatus. FIG. 11a shows an output waveform from a PD (photodiode), and FIG. 11b is an output waveform from a COMP circuit. FIG. 11c shows an output waveform from a delay circuit, and FIG. 11d shows a waveform of a light intensity monitor signal.
When the PD receives light, the PD generates a PD output as shown by FIG. 11a. The COMP circuit generates a COMP output as shown by FIG. 11b, and the COMP output is on a high level while the PD output is over a threshold value. The delay circuit generates a delay output that rises to a high level with a delay of a specified time from the rise of the COMP output. The rise of the delay output incidents with the peak (the center of the high-level period) of the PD output. As shown by FIG. 11d, the light intensity monitor signal is generated based on the delay signal. The light intensity monitor signal is used for the light intensity adjustment to the laser beam.
In the color image forming apparatus disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-244843, however, the rise of the delay output may not be incident with the peak (the center of the high-level period) of the PD output. More specifically, the high-level potential of the PD output fluctuates. When the high-level potential of the PD output is relatively low, the PD output rises gradually, and when the high-level potential is relatively high, the PD output rises steeply. Accordingly, the time when the PD output comes over the threshold value depends on the value of the high-level potential of the PD output. The delay time from the COMP output is fixed although the high-level potential of the PD output fluctuates. Therefore, the rise of the delay output may not be incident with the peak (the center of the high-level period) of the PD output.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A martensitic stainless steel for inexpensive seamless pipe having 655 MPa yield strength, high toughness and excellent corrosion resistance in high CO2 environments, and a method for manufacturing thereof is provided. The steel comprises C: 0.005-0.05%, Si: 0.1-0.5%, Mn: 0.1-2.0%, P: −0.05%, S: −0.005%, Cr: 10.0-12.5%, Mo: 0.1-0.5%, Ni: 1.5-3.0%, N: −0.02%, Al: 0.01-0.1%, by weight, while FI value defined by the formula [FI=Cr+Mo−Ni−30(C+N)] being 5.00 to 8.49, and balance of substantially Fe. The method comprises the steps of reheating the cooled steel at temperatures from 780° C. to 960° C., quenching the reheated steel, and then tempering the quenched steel at temperatures from 550° C. to 650° C.

In recent years, there has been progressing the exploitation of oil wells and gas wells under various environments, including very deep wells, high temperature and high pressure gas wells, and wells in cold region. Accordingly, there are also aroused the problems of corrosion under high CO2 environments and, for an oil well generating H2S, of sulfide stress corrosion cracking (SSC) caused by H2S. As a result, there is an increased demand of steel pipes having both the 552 MPa or higher yield strength and the high toughness, necessary for OCTG for deep wells enduring above-described severe corrosion environments.
Conventional OCTG materials are 410 Steel or 420 Steel specified by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Although these grades of steels are relatively inexpensive and achieve 552 MPa or higher yield strength by heat treatment, they do not have satisfactory corrosion resistance and toughness. Furthermore, since these steels contain carbon by about 0.1% or more by weight, they cannot be treated by water-cooling in the manufacturing process, which degrades the production efficiency.
Regarding the martensitic stainless steel having above-described strength, high toughness, and high corrosion resistance, and regarding the method for manufacturing thereof, there are several proposals.
For instance, Patent Literature 1, (Japanese Patent No. 2665009), discloses a steel containing 0.005 to 0.04% C, 12.0 to 17.0% Cr, and 1.5 to 6.0% Ni, by weight, and a method for manufacturing thereof. Although the steel has 784 to 1078 MPa yield strength (proof stress), which is higher than that of general-use 552 MPa grade and 655 MPa grade steels, and although the steel gives favorable corrosion resistance in a 65% nitric acid corrosion test, the steel is not examined for corrosion resistance under high CO2 environments. Patent Literature 2, (Japanese Patent No 2091532), discloses a steel containing 0.15% or less C, 9 to 16.0% Cr, and 0.2 to 2.5% Ni, by weight, and a method for manufacturing thereof. Since, however, the manufacturing of the steel needs controlled rolling, the method has a problem in the efficiency of manufacturing process, and has a limitation on the manufacturing facilities. Patent Literature 3, (Japanese Patent No. 2995524), discloses a steel containing 0.03% or less C, 11 to 17% Cr, and 3.5 to 7.0% Ni, by weight, and a method for manufacturing thereof. Since, however, the steel needs to add 3.5% or more Ni, the steel is not advantageous in economy. Patent Literature 4, (JP-A-2004-115890), (the term "JP-A" referred to herein signifies the "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No."), discloses a low-Ni steel containing 0.05% or less C, 10 to 12.5% Cr, and 1.5 to 3.0% Ni, by weight, and a method for manufacturing thereof. The steel is, however, limited to 552 MPa grade strength because these materials as shown above rapidly degrade properties such as toughness and SSC resistance if the strength exceeds 552 MPa grade. Patent Literature 5, (JP-A-2004-99964), discloses a low Ni—Nb steel containing 0.02 to 0.05% C, 10 to 12% Cr, 1.5 to 3.0% Ni, and 0.005 to 0.10% Nb, by weight, and a method for manufacturing thereof. The steel is, however, limited to 758 MPa grade of strength.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent No. 2665009
[Patent Literature 2] Japanese Patent No. 2091532
[Patent Literature 3] Japanese Patent No. 2995524
[Patent Literature 4] JP-A-2004-115890
[Patent Literature 5] JP-A-2004-99964

655 MPa grade martensitic stainless steel having high toughness and method for manufacturing the same


A method of adjusting one or more of braking parameters used in a braking function to control braking of a train includes determining an adjustment factor based on a joint stopping distance probability distribution, the joint stopping distance probability distribution representing the composite effect on stopping distance of a plurality of predetermined train characteristic parameters, each of the predetermined train characteristic parameters being variable, and applying the adjustment factor to each of the one or more of braking parameters. Also, a method of adjusting braking parameters that includes determining an adjustment factor based on a nominal value, a worst case limit value and a best case limit value of each of a plurality of predetermined train characteristic parameters, each of the predetermined train characteristic parameters being variable, and applying the adjustment factor to each of the one or more of braking parameters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the automatic control of trains, and in particular to positive train control systems and methodologies that provide enhanced safety by controlling the braking of a train including generating braking signals or requests that are provided to a train engineer and/or that automatically cause a brake application to occur.
2. Description of the Related Art
Positive train control (PTC) refers to various technologies that are used to monitor and control the movements of trains, such as passenger and freight trains, to provide increased safety. In PTC systems, the train receives information about its location, including maximum speed limits and where it is allowed to safely travel. Equipment on-board the train then enforces these limits to prevent unsafe movement. In one aspect, PTC systems employ sophisticated braking algorithms designed to review speeds, track conditions, and vehicle locations and automatically slow a train or bring a train to a safe stop (by alerting the crew and/or automatically causing an emergency stop of the train) if the train encounters a condition that could lead to an accident (such as the engineer not paying attention to a signal or a switch not being fully engaged). A typical PTC system consists of equipment provided on the train, equipment provided in a centralized control center, equipment provided on the rail wayside, and a wireless communication system that allows for wireless communications between the elements just identified.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/703,959, entitled "System and Method for Controlling Braking of a Train" and assigned to the assignee of the present invention (hereinafter "the '959 application"), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an algorithm for controlling the braking of a train that is based on three particular braking parameters that are unique to a train and its particular train consist. Those three parameters are propagation delay time (Td), brake build-up time (T), and maximum brake rate (αmax). Brake propagation delay time (Td) as used herein is the time duration between a brake application request by the on-board computer of the train and the time that the braking effort begins, brake build-up time (T) as used herein is the time duration between braking effort initiation and the achievement of the full braking effort, and maximum brake rate (αmax) as used herein is the constant brake rate achieved during steady-state braking. In one embodiment, the '959 application provides a method of controlling the braking of a train that is implemented in a train-borne component of a positive train control system that includes the on-board computer of the train. The method, as implemented, includes obtaining in the on-board computer a brake propagation delay time (Td), a brake build-up time (T), and a maximum brake rate (αmax) for the train, and controlling the braking of the train in the on-board computer by generating one or more braking profiles for the train using the Td, T and αmax values, which braking profiles may then be displayed to the driver of the train for controlling the train. The '959 application also, in another embodiment, provides a method of determining the above described three braking parameters based on certain known train consist parameters for the train, including the length (L) of the train consist, the ratio (w) of the weight (W) of the train consist to the total number (V) of brake valves in the train consist excluding any brake valves on any locomotives in the train consist, the total number (N) of cars in the train consist excluding any locomotives, and the number (ni) of each type of car in the train consist excluding any locomotives. In this embodiment, brake propagation delay time (Td) for the train is based on L, N and ni brake build-up time (T) for the train is based on L, N and ni, and maximum brake rate (αmax) for the train is based on L, N, ni and w.
While the above described methodologies have proven to be effective, there is still room for improvement in connection therewith. In particular, the braking performance of a train obtained by using the above described three braking parameters computed from the known consist parameters does not account for random variations in certain train characteristics such as, without limitation, presence of empty/load sensors, percent operable brakes, types of brake valves, brake cylinder piston stroke length, brake pipe length and pressure, and braking force per shoe, among others. The braking performance also does not account for factors such as location of locomotives in the consist and use of distributed power, changes in the weight of the locomotives, errors in individual car counts and loads, differences in actual track grade versus grade data stored in the on-board computer, error in measured train speed, and changes in ambient temperature and pressure. It would thus be advantageous to be able to effectively adjust the brake propagation delay time (Td), brake build-up time (T) and maximum brake rate (αmax) braking parameters to account for random variation in various train consist parameters and other factors listed above, among others, in order to ensure safe braking performance of the train while also improving it operational efficiency.

Method for adjusting braking parameters of a train to account for train characteristic parameter variations


A system receives location identifiers associated with documents visited by one or more users. The system retrieves the documents using the received location identifiers and maps the retrieved documents to one or more topics. The system determines a popularity value associated with the retrieved documents and correlates the popularity value with the one or more topics to determine a per-topic popularity for the retrieved documents.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to information storage and searching systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods for correlating the topicality and popularity of multiple stored documents.
2. Description of Related Art
Existing information searching systems use search queries to search through aggregated data to retrieve specific information that corresponds to the received search queries. Such information searching systems may search information stored locally, or in distributed locations. The World Wide Web ("web") is one example of information stored in distributed locations. The web contains a vast amount of information and locating a desired portion of that information, however, can be challenging. This problem is compounded because the amount of information on the web, and the number of new users inexperienced at web searching, are growing rapidly.
Search engines attempt to return hyperlinks to web documents in which a user is interested. Generally, search engines base their determination of the user's interest on search terms (called a search query) entered by the user. The goal of the search engine is to provide links to high quality, relevant results to the user based on the search query. Typically, the search engine accomplishes this by matching the terms in the search query to a corpus of pre-stored web documents. Web documents that contain the user's search terms are "hits" and are returned to the user. The search engine oftentimes ranks the documents using a ranking function based on the documents' perceived relevance to the user's search terms.

Systems and methods for correlating document topicality and popularity


The invention provides an apparatus and method for purification of a fluid, the apparatus comprising:                a vessel (1) for receiving, in operation, a filter bed (2) with granular filter material;        a transport system (8) configured to, during operation, transport filter material from a cavity (5) underneath the filter bed (2) to a location (17) above the filter bed;        a fluid inlet (14) for introducing fluid to be purified into the apparatus;        a mixing section (3) adapted to, in operation, provide a mixture of fluid from the fluid inlet and granular filter material from the filter bed in a part of the vessel beneath the mixing section; and        a plurality of gas lift injectors (4), wherein each gas lift injector (4) is configured to, in operation, transport the mixture of fluid from the fluid inlet (14) and granular filter material from the filter bed (2) to the cavity (5).

Different types of filter bed reactors for purifying or refining a fluid or liquid are known in the art. In the conventional stationary filters, solids are progressively accumulated in the filter bed, increasing the head loss until the filter material must be cleaned by backwashing before treatment can resume. The times between backwashings can vary, and if these times are too short, the effective operating time of the system can be considerably reduced.
In continuous bed filter reactors, the fluid to be purified is conducted through the filter bed and the filter material is brought to motion by means of a transport system. Bringing to motion the filter material is often done by making the filter material circulate through the filter bed, for example by bringing the filter material from the bottom of the filter bed to the top where it is deposited, either before or after the filter material is treated, and letting it drop again to the filter bed, so that it can continuously keep moving from the bottom to the top. These are in general auto-refining systems, wherein the eliminated parts are continuously drained in a concentrated stream.
This type of continuous bed filter reactors are increasingly being used for the refinement of industrial and domestic waste water, and for the purification of drinking water.
EP 730 895 A1 discloses a typical prior art sand filter, comprising a cylindrical vessel with an oblique conical bottom along which the filter material of the filter bed slides down before it is lifted with an air lift for purification. Water to be cleaned is generally introduced in an inlet in the top half of the vessel. These apparatuses have the disadvantage, due to the conical bottom, of being normally quite high, around 6 to 7 meters. This can make construction more complicated and expensive. Furthermore, the filter bed is often unevenly loaded and, as a consequence, preferred fluid paths might be created, especially as the diameter of the filter is bigger. For both reasons, the diameter of this type of filters is normally limited to a maximum of 4 meters.

Apparatus and method for purification of a fluid by means of a filter bed


A method for checkpointing a multithreaded application program, based on the egalitarian and competitive active replication strategy. The invention enables different threads to be checkpointed at different times in such a way that the checkpoints restore a consistent state of the threads at a new or recovering replica, even though the threads operate concurrently and asynchronously. Separate checkpoints are generated for the local state of each thread and for the data that are shared between threads and are protected by mutexes. The checkpoint of the shared data is communicated in a special message that also determines the order in which the claims of mutexes are granted to the threads. A source-code preprocessor tool is described for inserting code into an application program to checkpoint the state of the thread during normal operation and to restore the state of the thread from the checkpoint subsequently.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to software-based fault-tolerant computer systems and, more specifically, to checkpointing and restoration of the states of the threads of objects, processes or other components of multithreaded application programs that are replicated using active replication.
2. Incorporation by Reference.
The following patent and publications are incorporated herein by reference:

Consistent asynchronous checkpointing of multithreaded application programs based on active replication


Novel families of tri-valent metal complexes including scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, aluminum, gallium, indium, manganese, antimony, bismuth; and of divalent metal complexes including magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, manganese, cobalt, iron, nickel, ruthenium, copper, zinc, cadium are disclosed. These metal complexes can be used as precursors to deposit metal or metal oxide films in semi-conductor industries.

The semiconductor industry is currently considering the use of thin metal or metal containing films for a variety of applications. Many organometallic complexes have been evaluated as potential precursors for the formation of these thin films.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2009302434A and WO09149372A disclose methods and compositions for depositing rare earth metal-containing layers. In general the disclosed methods deposit the precursor compounds comprising rare earth metal-containing compounds using deposition methods such as chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition. The disclosed precursor compounds include a cyclopentadienyl ligand having at least one aliphatic group as a substituent and an amidine ligand.
The tutorial review by Edelmann, F. T. "Lanthanide Amidinates and Guanidinates: From Laboratory Curiosities to Efficient Homogeneous Catalysts and Precursors for Rare-Earth Oxide Thin Films." Chemical Society Reviews 38(8): 2253-2268 (2009) teaches that a hot topic in current organolanthanide chemistry is the search for alternative ligand sets which are able to satisfy the coordination requirements of the large lanthanide cations. Among the most successful approaches in this field is the use of amidinate ligands of the general type [RC(NR′)2]− (R=H, alkyl, aryl; R′=alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, SiMe3) which can be regarded as steric cyclopentadienyl equivalents. Closely related are the guanidinate anions of the general type [R2NC(NR′)2]− (R=alkyl, SiMe3; R′=alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, SiMe3). Two amidinate or guanidinate ligands can coordinate to a lanthanide ion to form a metallocene-like coordination environment which allows the isolation and characterization of stable though very reactive amide, alkyl, and hydride species. Mono- and trisubstituted lanthanide amidinate and guanidinate complexes are also readily available. Various rare earth amidinates and guanidinates have turned out to be very efficient homogeneous catalysts e.g. for ring-opening polymerization reactions. Moreover, certain alkyl-substituted lanthanide tris(amidinates) and tris(guanidinates) were found to be highly volatile and could thus be promising precursors for ALD (=Atomic Layer Deposition) and MOCVD (=Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) processes in materials science and nanotechnology. This tutorial review covered the success story of lanthanide amidinates and guanidinates and their transition from mere laboratory curiosities to efficient homogeneous catalysts as well as ALD and MOCVD precursors.
Husekova, K., M. JurkoviC, K. Cico, D. Machajdik, E. DobroCka, R. Luptak, A. Mackova and K. Frohlich "Preparation of High Permittivity GdScO3 Films by Liquid Injection MOCVD." ECS Transactions 25(8): 1061-1064 (2009) teach the preparation and properties of GdScO3 thin films. The films were prepared by liquid injection metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, MOCVD at 600° C. on (100) Si substrate. The as-deposited films were amorphous with a smooth surface and sharp GdScO3/Si interface. X-ray diffraction showed that the amorphous phase is well preserved upon rapid thermal annealing up to 1000° C. However, modification of the X-ray reflectivity pattern after annealing at 1000° C. indicates increasing of the film thickness, presumably due to diffusion of silicon from the substrate into the whole volume of the film. Capacitance-voltage measurement resulted in dielectric constant of 22. It is shown, that exact stoichiometry of GdScO3 is not necessary to achieve dielectric constant above 20.
Jones, A. C., H. C. Aspinall, P. R. Chalker, R. J. Potter, K. Kukli, A. Rahtu, M. Ritala and M. Leskela "Recent Developments in The MOCVD and ALD of Rare Earth Oxides and Silicates." Materials Science and Engineering B 118(1-3): 97-104 (2005) investigate lanthanide, or rare-earth as alternatives to SiO2 as the dielectric insulating layer in sub-0.1 μm CMOS technology. Metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) are promising techniques for the deposition of these high-K dielectric oxides and in this paper some of our recent research into the MOCVD and ALD of PrOx, La2O3, Gd2O3, Nd2O3 and their related silicates are reviewed.
Japanese patent application No, JP2002338590 A2 discloses 11 tris(ethylcyclopentadienyl)lanthanides represented by general formula Ln(C5H4Et)3 (Ln=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Y) are prepared by reaction of anhydrous lanthanide chloride with ethylcyclopentadienyl potassium in THF or an inert organic solvent containing THF, removing a salt formed and distilling off unreacted reactants, THF, solvent, and byproducts under reduced pressure, and vacuum distillation to recover the product.
Katamreddy, R., N. A. Stafford, L. Guerin, B. Feist, C. Dussarrat, V. Pallem, C. Weiland and R. Opila "Atomic Layer Deposition of Rare-Earth Oxide Thin Films for High-K Dielectric Applications" ECS Transactions, 19(2): 525-536 (2009) propose many different organolanthanide molecules as metal sources for depositing metal and metal oxide layers for semiconductors by atomic layer deposition (ALD). These precursors needed particular physical and thermal properties to be used in the semiconductor manufacturing process. For example, the precursors needed to have high volatility, reactivity, and thermal stability. ALD deposition methods were very promising; however, new high-K metal oxide films would require new precursors to meet the very stringent requirements of the semiconductor process. Tris(cyclopentadienyl) rare earth compounds are interesting for use as precursors because of their high vapor pressures, often low melting points and availability in the liquid state, high reactivity towards water, and high growth rates for deposition. In this study, the various important thermal properties of Cp-based lanthanide precursors along with their ALD properties for metal oxide deposition were studied.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US20080032062A1 discloses organometallic compounds represented by the formula M(NR1R2)x wherein M is a metal or metalloid, R1 is the same or different and is a hydrocarbon group or a heteroatom-containing group, R2 is the same or different and is a hydrocarbon group or a heteroatom-containing group; R1 and R2 can be combined to form a substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated cyclic group; R1 or R2 of one (NR1R2) group can be combined with R1 or R2 of another (NR1R2) group to form a substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated cyclic group; x is equal to the oxidation state of M; and wherein said organometallic compound has (i) a steric bulk sufficient to maintain a monomeric structure and a coordination number equal to the oxidation state of M with respect to anionic ligands, and (ii) a molecular weight sufficient to possess a volatility suitable for vapor deposition; a process for producing the organometallic compounds, and a method for producing a film or coating from organometallic precursor compounds.
Nief, F. "Heterocyclopentadienyl Complexes of Group-3 Metals." European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry(4): 891-904 (2001) teaches that heterocyclopentadienyl complexes of group-3 metals (scandium, yttrium, lanthanum and the lanthanides, and uranium) are compounds in which one or more —CH units of a cyclopentadienyl-like ligand have been replaced by a heteroelement (nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, or antimony). These ligands can have very diverse substitution patterns, notably with bridged and cavitand-like structures. In addition to the classical η5-coordination behaviour, the heterocyclopentadienyl ligand can adopt a very large array of coordination patterns. Some complexes have a very promising chemistry since they have been found to activate small molecules such as nitrogen and ethylene.
Päiväsaari, J. and I. Charles L. Dezelah, Dwayne Back, Hani M. El-Kaderi, Mary Jane Heeg, Matti Putkonen, Lauri Niinistö and Charles H. Winter "Synthesis, structure and properties of volatile lanthanide complexes containing amidinate ligands: application for Er2O3 thin film growth by atomic layer deposition." J. Mater. Chem. 15: 4224-4233 (2005) teach the treatment of anhydrous rare earth chlorides with three equivalents of lithium 1,3-di-tert-butylacetamidinate (prepared in situ from the di-tert-butylcarbodiimide and methyllithium) in tetrahydrofuran at ambient temperature afforded Ln(tBuNC(CH3)NtBu)3 (Ln=Y, La, Ce, Nd, Eu, Er, Lu) in 57-72% isolated yields. X-Ray crystal structures of these complexes demonstrated monomeric formulations with distorted octahedral geometry about the lanthanide(III) ions. These new complexes are thermally stable at >300° C., and sublime without decomposition between 180-220° C./0.05 Torr. The atomic layer deposition of Er2O3 films was demonstrated using Er(tBuNC(CH3)NtBu)3 and ozone with substrate temperatures between 225-300° C. The growth rate increased linearly with substrate temperature from 0.37 Å per cycle at 225° C. to 0.55 Å per cycle at 300° C. Substrate temperatures of >300° C. resulted in significant thickness gradients across the substrates, suggesting thermal decomposition of the precursor. The film growth rate increased slightly with an erbium precursor pulse length between 1.0 and 3.0 s, with growth rates of 0.39 and 0.51 Å per cycle, respectively. In a series of films deposited at 250° C., the growth rates varied linearly with the number of deposition cycles. Time of flight elastic recoil analyses demonstrated slightly oxygen-rich Er2O3 films, with carbon, hydrogen and fluorine levels of 1.0-1.9, 1.7-1.9 and 0.3-1.3 atom %, respectively, at substrate temperatures of 250 and 300° C. Infrared spectroscopy showed the presence of carbonate, suggesting that the carbon and slight excess of oxygen in the films are due to this species. The as-deposited films were amorphous below 300° C., but showed reflections due to cubic Er2O3 at 300° C. Atomic force microscopy showed a root mean square surface roughness of 0.3 and 2.8 nm for films deposited at 250 and 300° C., respectively.
Peng, H., Z. Zhang, R. Qi, Y. Yao, Y. Zhang, Q. Shen and Y. Cheng "Synthesis, Reactivity, and Characterization of Sodium and Rare-Earth Metal Complexes Bearing a Dianionic N-Aryloxo-Functionalized β-ketoiminate Ligand." Inorganic Chemistry 47(21): 9828-9835 (2008) teach the synthesis and reactivity of a series of sodium and rare-earth metal complexes stabilized by a dianionic N-aryloxo-functionalized β-ketoiminate ligand. The reaction of acetylacetone with 1 equivalent of 2-amino-4-methylphenol in absolute ethanol gave the compound 4-(2-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)imino-2-pentanone (LH2, 1) in high yield. Compound 1 reacted with excess NaH to afford the novel sodium cluster [LNa2(THF)2]4 (2) in good isolated yield. Structure determination revealed that complex 2 has the 22-vertex cage structure. Reactions of complex 2 with anhydrous LnCl3 in a 1:4 molar ratio, after workup, gave the desired lanthanide chlorides [LLnCl(DME)]2[Ln=Y (3), Yb (4), Tb (5)] as dimers. A further study revealed that complexes 3-5 are inert for chlorine substitution reactions. (ArO)3Ln(THF) (ArO=2,6-But2-4-MeC6H2O) reacted with compound 1 in a 1:1 molar ratio in tetrahydrofuran (THF), after workup, to give the desired rare-earth metal aryloxides as dimers [LLn(OAr)(THF)]2[Ln=Nd (6), Sm (7), Yb (8), Y (9)] in high isolated yields. All of these complexes are well characterized, and the definitive molecular structures of complexes 2 and 4-6 were determined. It was found that complexes 6-9 can be used as efficient initiators for L-lactide polymerization, and the ionic radii of the central metals have a significant effect on the catalytic activity.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2010078601 teaches methods and compositions for depositing rare earth metal-containing layers. In general the disclosed methods deposit the precursor compounds comprising rare earth-containing compounds using vapor deposition methods such as chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition. In certain embodiments the disclosed precursor compounds include a cyclopentadienyl ligand having at least one aliphatic group as a substituent.
A need still exists in the industry for developing new volatile, reactive, and thermally stable compounds as potential precursors to deposit metal containing films via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition(ALD).
This invention is directed to a novel family of group 2 to 15 metal complexes which can be potentially used as precursors to deposit metal or metal oxide films in semi-conductor industries.

Metal complexes for metal-containing film deposition


An advanced chemical-biological mask for protecting a wearer from chemical and biological environmental contaminants. The mask provides improvements for the wearer in the areas of weight/bulk, fit/comfort, optical compatibility, breathing resistance, communication, and protection. The mask includes a facepiece, eye lens, filter means, inlet and outlet valves, and a nosecup all of which may be molded or integrally bonded to the facepiece which also has a face seal adapted to engage a person's face and form seal therewith. The mask also has a suspension flange which is connected to the facepiece adjacent the seal. An elastic suspension system includes a crown portion for suspending the mask on a person's head and pulling the seal downwardly and into contact with the person's face. The separate nosecup has integral channels to direct the flow of incoming gas along a path adjacent the lens to prevent fogging of the lens. The lens is one-piece and is designed to a polynomial curvature having an optimum eye relief of about 25 millimeters. The filter means comprises low profile integral filters having immobilized carbon beds and particulate filter media.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to gas mask respiratory protection in contaminated environments. More particularly, the invention is directed to an advanced chemical-biological mask for protecting a wearer from chemical and biological environmental contaminants. The mask is especially suitable for military applications, but is of interest in any civil emergency situation where highly toxic substances are in the atmosphere.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since World War I, various nations throughout the world have possessed chemical-biological (CB) agents and delivery systems capable of striking military and civilian targets with little or no warning. To minimize the effects of CB attacks, there is a need for reliable, durable, lightweight, foldable, comfortable, and small-sized protective masks for use by military and civilian populations in emergency situations in contaminated environments. Such a mask should provide the wearer with a leak-proof protection for an extended time period (e.g., twenty-four hours).
For the reasons stated below, conventional chemical-biological masks cannot satisfy the above-noted need due their deficiencies in weight/bulk, fit/comfort, optical compatibility, breathing resistance, communications, and protection.
A. Weight/Bulk
A primary thrust in current U.S. Army plans for the future battlefield is to "Lighten the Soldier's Load", i.e., lessen the soldiers weight carrying burden to increase mobility. Gear such as the protective mask must always be carried during operations (whether it is needed/used or not) since it provides critical life-saving protection and need is unpredictable. However, the Army's current M40 mask is not conducive to the Light Forces concept due to its weight and bulk.
For example, the M40 cannot be easily rolled-up in the carrier and occupies too much space for normal combat operations. It requires a special carrier that must be carried in addition to the soldier's backpack. A reduction in size is needed to allow transport as part of the user's backpack or storage in a pocket.
B. Fit/Comfort
Lack of comfort is a product of several factors in the M40 mask. The suspension system has thick strapping and metal buckles which cause hot spots on the user's head. The combined weight of the mask, hood, and canister on the head causes neck strain. The relatively heavy filter canister bounces when the user moves quickly, causing the mask to jerk the head of the wearer. In addition, the canister causes an uneven weight distribution further aggravating the neck strain. Moreover, people with unusual facial structures do not fall within the three sizes of the M40 mask.
C. Optical Compatibility
Due to the eye relief of the M40 being 45 millimeters, many sighting devices within the Army inventory either cannot be used or the field-of-view is significantly reduced. The eye relief typically required is 25 millimeters. The filter canister, since it is located on the facepiece, also poses compatibility problems with weapon systems.
D. Breathing Resistance
Breathing resistance creates a significant physiological burden for the user of any mask. Overall, the goal of the present invention was to decrease inhalation and exhalation resistances by a factor of two (2) over current military masks, such as the M40, to satisfy physiological goals. There are essentially three methods of reducing breathing resistance for a mask, all of which are utilized in the present invention. Surface area of the filter may be increased, lower resistance filter media may be used, and the resistance of inlet and outlet valves may be reduced. For the present invention, the flapper type valves were redesigned or replaced by lower resistance valves. The C2 canister (which is the filter used with the M40) has a 45 mm of H.sub.2 O resistance when measured at 85 Ipm, which is improved for the present invention with an alternate filter design.
E. Communications
The passive kapton film voicemitter provides an average of 75% word recognition using the standard U.S. Army Modified Rhyme Test. An average of 91% is determined necessary to match recognition without a mask. Any variability or loosening of the film tension results in further performance reductions.
F. Protection
The seal of the M40 provides very good protection under normal conditions but may be subject to leakage under unusual conditions. With head movement, the face mounted canister can cause a torque on the facepiece and subsequent leakage. The rigidity of the facepiece structure can prevent adequate sealing during extreme facial movements.
The existing liquid protection hood system available for military masks only provides for a 6 hour liquid agent resistance as opposed to the desired 24 hours. While the second skin covers the mask and provides the desired 24 hours, it significantly adds to the weight and bulk of the present mask systems.

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


A device for sequentially dispensing individual objects includes a housing having a first housing portion which is conically-shaped. The first housing portion has a first end proximate a supply of objects and a second end proximate a location where the objects are to be dispensed. There is a spiral race, disposed on an interior surface of the first housing portion and extending from the first end to the second end of the first housing portion, along which the objects to be dispensed travel.

Dispensing apparatus for objects have been developed over the years in many configurations. In the case of the dispensing of food in small sizes, for instance gum balls dispensed in candy dispensers, and as shown herein, kibble and animal treats dispensed from a supply of such, the majority of such dispensing devices are not well adapted to dispense a single item, when the supply of such items, for instance as noted dry kibble for dogs and cats, comes in a large stacked or reservoir-held supply. Using the example of kibble, because it is lightweight, dry, and generally within a small deviation in size, dispensers such as shoveling devices, or drop-filling devices, are generally unable to dispense a single kibble, repeatedly. Herein, the process of sequentially dispensing a single item from a larger supply of such items is known as "singulation" and systems that do this are said to "singulate".
Further, when the housed-supply is of unequal or numerous sizes, dispensing devices, especially in the noted arena of pet food dispensers, are unable to sort the housed-supply to deliver smaller, or larger sized individual kibble, or item, from the mix of sizes. Further, the ability to repeat this sorting where a single maximum or minimum sized object, from a stored supply of such objects in varying sizes, and to do so repeatedly, while concurrently dispensing a single unit at a time, is not found in the prior art.
As such, there is an unmet need for a dispensing device, which is employable to dispense individual units, from communicable supplies of a product or material, stored for such dispensing. Such a device should be employable to repeatedly, and reliably dispense, a single unit from the supply of food, or other material being dispensed whether the supply thereof is heterogeneous or homogeneous in nature. In addition to singular repeated sequential delivery, such a device ideally also should be mechanically and operably configurable, to sort the available supply of such material by size, and to then dispense individual units of substantially the same size from the available supply, while rejecting the units of material which are either larger or smaller than is wanted for dispensing. Still further, such a device should be able to concurrently sort the dispensed material to size and concurrently deliver individual units thereof, singularly and sequentially, as needed, and do so reliably.
The forgoing examples of related art and limitation related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings. Further, while the device and method herein are directed to the dispensing of food for animals from a supply thereof available for ease of understanding of the principals of operation of the device, in no manner should such be considered limiting and those skilled in the art will immediately ascertain on reading this disclosure other modes of employment of the dispensing apparatus. All such uses and deployments as would occur to those skilled in the art, are considered to be within the scope of this application.


This new grape plant xe2x80x98l3-21-12xe2x80x99 is new and different because of its unusual shape, late ripening and very large berry size. It differs from the xe2x80x98Thompson Seedlessxe2x80x99 variety, from which it descends, by having a much larger berry size, berries with a tougher skin and looser cluster. It somewhat resembles the xe2x80x98Calmeriaxe2x80x99 variety, from which it also descends, by having a seedless berry and larger berry size upon application of exogenous gibberellic acid.

Genus and species: Vitis vinifera.
The new grape plant named xe2x80x9813-21-12xe2x80x99 is of Vitis vinifera parentage and resulted from a twenty year breeding program which had as its goal the development of a late ripening, white, seedless table grape. The female parent was the variety xe2x80x98Calmeriaxe2x80x99 (unpatented). The male parent of the cross is an unnamed, seedless grapevine resulting from a series of crosses involving xe2x80x98Emperorxe2x80x99 (unpatented), xe2x80x98Thompson Seedlessxe2x80x99 (unpatented), and xe2x80x98Calmeriaxe2x80x99 (unpatented). The hybridization resulting in xe2x80x9813-21-12xe2x80x99 was made near McFarland, Calif. in 1992. The seedling was selected from a population of 218 seedlings of like parentage in 1996. It was then propagated by cuttings and grafting to xe2x80x98Freedomxe2x80x99 (unpatented) rootstock. Those resulting plants were stable and typical of the original vine.
The new grape plant named xe2x80x9813-21-12xe2x80x99 somewhat resembles the standard variety xe2x80x98Calmeriaxe2x80x99 (unpatented), its female parent, but differs from it by bearing seedless berries. The new variety resembles its unnamed male parent but differs from it by bearing elongate rather than spherical berries.

Grapevine plant named xe2x80x9813-21-12xe2x80x99


The disclosed system and method data increases data transmission speed through a memory system by using optical signals comprising a plurality of wavelengths of light so that each pulse of optical signals can represent more than a single bit of data. An optical transmitter comprises multiple, separately controllable light-emitting sections which generate light at different wavelengths. A photoreceptor, comprising sections of materials responsive to light received at different wavelengths, provides an output signal corresponding to the light signals received at the different wavelengths. The photoreceptor therefore can decode the received optical signals into a multiple bit output sequence corresponding with the multiple bit sequence originally transmitted. The disclosed method and system can be used to communicate signals between a plurality of memory devices and a memory hub within a memory module or directly to a system memory controller, and/or between a plurality of memory hubs and a system memory controller.

The underlying technology and benefits of optical data transmission and fiber optic technology are well known in the art and beyond. Signals in the form of light, at wavelengths both within and beyond the visible spectrum, can be transmitted through free space, a reflective wave guide such as a fiber optic medium, or similar means. Whatever medium is. used, the potential bandwidth is tremendous. Moreover, as compared to electrical signals transmitted through conventional conductive wiring, problems with noise, crosstalk, and similar concerns are reduced if not eliminated. It is no surprise, therefore, that fiber optic cabling has been replacing conventional conductive cabling as the backbone of public and private data networks.
Optical data transmission can be of tremendous potential benefit not only in transmitting data between computer systems, but within computer systems as well. Optical data transmission holds great promise for reducing or eliminating bottlenecks which limit computer processing throughput. With improvements in semiconductor miniaturization and manufacturing, today's microprocessors operate at gigahertz clock speeds, while other aspects of computer design and manufacture have not kept pace. As a result, a microprocessor may run at gigahertz speeds, but be left sitting idle waiting on the computer's subsystems to respond to instructions or return data.
To name one very significant example, the response time of computer memory systems has not at all kept up with increases in microprocessor speed. "Memory latency," i.e., delays in responding to processor requests for data, is a large problem. Typical computer motherboards operate at between one hundred and three hundred megahertz, almost an order of magnitude slower than typical microprocessors. Moreover, the disparity between the speed of processor clocks and memory clocks is growing. Currently, the ratio of processor clock speed to memory clock speed typically is 8:1, but that ratio is predicted to increase to 100:1 in the next few years. Further compounding the problem is the fact that a memory system may require ten or more of its own memory clock cycles to respond to a memory retrieval request, thus, the ratio for a complete memory cycle is far worse. Today, completion of one full memory cycle may result in the waste of hundreds of processing cycles. In the near future, based on current performance trends in microprocessors, completion of a memory cycle may result in the waste of thousands of processing cycles.
Although memory latency results in part from the slower speed of memory chips themselves, an appreciable portion of this delay is because of the time required to route data from the system controller to memory modules, and within memory modules to the module's memory chips. Problems such as cross talk, skew, and similar concerns limit just how quickly data can be communicated through memory systems. In addition, while microprocessors can accommodate larger and larger data words and ranges of addresses, data and address busses have not increased commensurately. As a result, data and address signals bits must be multiplexed in order to transmit that information on existing busses, further impairing the exchange of data with memory.
Memory modules used in computer systems commonly are in the form of single in-line memory modules ("SIMMs") and double in-line memory modules ("DIMMs"). An example of a conventional SIMM memory module 10 is shown in FIG. 1. The memory module 10 includes a circuit board substrate 14 on which several memory devices 20, typically dynamic random access memories ("DRAMs"), are mounted. Terminals 24 are formed along an edge of the substrate 14, which mate with slotted connectors (not shown ) typically mounted on a computer system mother-board. The terminals 24 are electrically coupled to the power and signal terminals on the memory devices 20. Also mounted on the substrate 14 may be a register 26 that stores command and address signals applied to the memory module 10 through the terminals 24 responsive to a clock signal that is also applied to the memory module 10 through the terminals 24. The register 26 then applies the command and address signals to the memory devices 20. Memory modules having a register 26 operating in this manner are known as "registered DRAM modules." However, it should be understood that memory modules often do not include the register 26, and they may include components in addition to those shown in FIG. 1.
A portion of a memory system 30 shown in FIG. 2 includes three memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c coupled to a system controller 32 though a common data bus 34, address bus 36 and command bus 38. The system controller 32 initiates a memory operation by coupling a memory request in the form of a memory command and a memory address (generally in the form of a row address and a column address) to all of the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c through the command bus 38 and the address bus 36, respectively. If the memory operation is a write operation, the system controller 32 will also couple write data to the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c through the data bus 34. To prevent all of the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c from responding to the memory request, the system controller 32 also generally applies a unique chip select or similar select signal to each of the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c. A unique select signal is thus applied to each of the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c so that only the desired memory module of modules 10a, 10b, and 10c responds to the memory request.
The bandwidth of data between the system controller 32 and the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c can be increased by simultaneously accessing the memory devices 20 (FIG. 1) in each of the modules 10a, 10b, and 10c. For example, the sixteeen memory devices 20 included in the memory module 10a, 10b, and 10c may be divided into four sets or "ranks" of four memory devices. Data may be read from all four of the ranks responsive to a single memory read request so that data must be coupled through the data bus 34 at a rate that is four times faster than the rate at which data is coupled from each rank of the memory devices 20. However, as the operating speed of memory devices continues to increase, the bandwidth of data coupled from the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c may be limited by the bandwidth of the data bus 34 coupled between the system controller 32 and the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c.
Another factor that limits the operating speed of computer systems using the system controller 32 coupled to the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c through the buses 34, 36, and 38 is the need to allow for a settling time between writing data to a memory module 10a, 10b, or 10c and reading data from a memory module 10. When the system controller 32 outputs data to the memory modules, the data signals are reflected from various locations, such as the junction between the data bus 34 and terminals 24 (FIG. 1) on the substrates 14 of the modules 10. Therefore, signal induced noise is present on the data bus for a considerable period after data have been written to the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c. Signal induced noise is generated on the data bus for the same reason in a read operation when one of the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c couples data onto the data bus 34 for transfer to the system controller 32. This noise must be allowed to dissipate before data are subsequently written to or read from the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c or else the noise may be mistakenly interpreted as read or write data. The need to provide for a settling time read can markedly reduce the effective memory bandwidth of computer systems and other devices using memory modules.
Not only is the communication between the system controller 32 (FIG. 2) and the memory modules 10a, 10b, and 10c a concern, but comparable concerns arise within the module 10 (FIG. 1) in communications between the register 26 and memory devices 20. A basic concern is that great care must be taken in manufacturing a substrate 14 which includes workable connections (not shown) between the register 26 and the memory devices 20. In addition, because of the signal currents passing along these necessarily closely disposed signal lines, phenomena such as noise and cross-talk could result in data communications errors between the register 26 and memory devices 20. Certainly, settling time must be allowed for intramodule communications just as it must for intermodule communications, further slowing the effective speed of the system memory.
Thus, both between and within memory modules, there is therefore a need for a memory system communications technique that permits a higher bandwidth of data transfer to and from memory modules and memory devices and that reduces or eliminates delays in writing data to and reading from memory in a computer system. It is to this objective that the present invention is directed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for multiple bit optical data transmission in memory systems