At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to an image forming apparatus using a plurality of laser beams that includes a unit configured to detect a main scanning synchronization signal per beam while performing a laser light amount control per beam for each predetermined line, and a unit configured to produce a main scanning synchronization signal of a beam whose main scanning signal is not detected, by using the main scanning synchronization signal of the detected beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that can use an electrophotographic process. More specifically though not exclusively, the present invention relates to a color image forming apparatus that can form color images of different colors by using a plurality of laser beams.
2. Description of the Related Art
The relationship between an electric current that is supplied to a laser diode and its optical output differs in accordance with the type of laser diode. Further, the relationship between the current and the optical output differs also in accordance with a heat generated by the laser diode itself. Thus, a laser cannot be appropriately emitted by an open loop constant current control. Therefore, it can be necessary in some circumstances to perform a control so that a desired level of the optical output can be obtained by monitoring the output of the laser. The control is referred to as an automatic power control (APC). FIG. 5 illustrates a laser control circuit that performs the APC.
The laser control circuit includes a constant current circuit 501, a switching circuit 502, and an amplifier 503. The constant current circuit 501 is a voltage-current converter that causes an electronic current I1 to flow in accordance with a light amount signal 504 from a control device (CPU) 510. The switching circuit 502 switches the current I1 by a laser lighting signal 505. A laser diode 506 emits a light in accordance with an operation of the switching circuit 502.
An amount of the emission of light from the laser diode 506 is detected as an electronic current value by a light detector 507, and the detected current value is converted into a voltage value by a resistor 508. The light emission amount that has been converted into the voltage value is amplified by the amplifier 503, and converted into a light emission amount signal 509. The control device 510 monitors the light emission amount signal 509 and increases/decreases the level of the light amount signal 504.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates the APC operation. After the start of the APC (S1) and after causing a laser compulsory lighting signal to be active, the light emission amount signal is monitored (S2). If the light emission amount signal (also referred to as the light amount signal) is lower than a desired value, the level of the light amount signal is increased by one step (S3). On the other hand, if the light emission amount signal is higher than the desired value, the level of the light amount signal is decreased by one step (S5). Then, when the level of the light emission amount signal is adjusted to the desired value, the APC operation ends (S4).
FIG. 7 illustrates a timing of the APC operation using a semiconductor light emitting element that emits a plurality of laser beams. "APC 1" denotes the APC operation timing of a beam 1, and "APC 2" denotes the APC operation timing of a beam 2.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, APC2 is performed at a first predetermined timing, and next, APC1 is performed at a second predetermined timing. Contemporaneously, a main scanning synchronization signal BD1 of the beam 1 is detected. Then, when a main scanning synchronization signal BD2 of the beam 2 is detected, the APC 2 or a laser light emission ACC2 (hereinafter simply referred to as ACC) in which no APC is performed is carried out. Thus, the APC is performed to each laser for each line.
Further, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the APC can be performed between paper sheets.
Further, as illustrated in FIG. 9, there is a case where APC operations are repeatedly and alternatively performed for each line in an order of APC1, APC2, APC1. When the main scanning synchronization signal is detected, only the beam 1 is detected by a laser light emission ACC1 which performs no APC1.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-101947 discusses related art thereto.
However, in the conventional technologies, the APC is performed for each laser beam per each line. Therefore, the time required for the APC can be lengthy for some uses, because it takes twice as a long time as a one-beam laser in the case of a two-beam laser, and four times as long as a one beam laser in the case of a four-beamlaser. Therefore, when the time spent for the APC is limited, it can be difficult to effectively and appropriately perform the APC.
In addition, in the case where the APC is performed between the paper sheets, the light amount for the overall area of the sheet may not be appropriately secured. Therefore, the density of an image is not the same on the paper between where printing started and where printing ends.
In addition, there is a case where the APC operations are repeatedly and alternatively carried out for each line in an order such as APC1, APC2, APC1, . . . and only the beam 1 is detected by the laser mission control. In this laser emission, no APC is performed when the main scanning synchronization signal is detected. In such a case, since the time for detecting the main scanning synchronization has to be taken, the APC cannot be performed in a sufficiently long time period.


A novel electrochemiluminescent (ECL) reaction between diaminoaromatic ligands and soluble metal ions, specifically reactions between aminoaromatic ligands, such as 2,4-diaminotoluene (2,4,DAT), 3,4-diaminotoluene (3,4,DAT) and 2,3-diaminonaphthalene (2,3-DAN) and metal ions such as Au(I), Cu(II), Cr(VI), Fe(III), Ru)III), Se(IV) and V(V). Such reactions form the basis for ECL assays in detection of various substances, such as the reactants. The ECL interaction between these substances can also form the basis for binding methods in the detection of other substances, such as nucleic acids and antibodies wherein the metal ion ligand ECL complex may be used as a label. The ECL assays are considered useful for carrying out field and laboratory analyses for the detection of TNT breakdown products and toxic metals in wastewater streams, soil, and ground water supplies. In view of the formation of such ECL complexes being dependent on molecular size, further uses are contemplated for measuring atomic size or intermolecular distances of the complexes formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) reactions and assays based on such reactions for the determination of soluble metal ions and diaminoaromatic ligands. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a method for detecting diaminoaromatic ligands and soluble metal ions in, and for environmental analysis of, industrial wastewater streams, soils, groundwater supplies and the like. Furthermore, the present invention is directed to a method for determining atomic or intermolecular distances, for studying electronic states of molecules and characterizing coordinate bonding of complexes that exhibit ECL upon binding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Trinitrotoluene (TNT), other nitroaromatics and their byproducts or degradation products, especially the aminoaromatics, are significant military and industrial pollutants in terms of their toxicity, distribution, and relative abundance and are consequently of environmental concern. Likewise, many of the heavy and transition metals are highly toxic industrial pollutants. Assays and environmental sensors for toxic organics, such as TNT and metals, are continuously being developed and improved to yield better sensitivity and reliability for use in complex matrices as well as design simplicity and assay execution under field conditions.
Chemiluminescent (CL) assays have demonstrated extreme sensitivity, which in some cases rivals that of radioisotopic methods. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is a form of chemiluminescence which involves inducing luminescence via application of a voltage potential. ECL has been applied to such diverse problems as sensitive detection of biotoxins, nucleic acids, and bacterial pathogens. ECL has a distinct advantage over other forms of CL in that the luminescence can be controlled by the applied voltage at the working electrode.
ECL molecules can be entirely organic, organic-metal ion coordination complexes, or other types of molecules. An article entitled "Occurrence, Mechanism and Analytical Applications of Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence", authored by A. W. Knight and G. M Greenway, Analyst, (1994) Vol. 119, pp.879-890, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, discusses various known ECL compounds. Four main chemical systems which are known are referred to. The first system is ECL of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in both non-aqueous and aqueous media. The second is methods based on luminol reaction in alkaline solution. The third concerns ECL reactions using ruthenium (II) tris (2,2'-bipyridine), in particular its use as an ECL label for other non-electrochemiluminescent compounds or for the quantification of persulfates and oxalates. Finally, the fourth known ECL system discussed involves analytical aspects of cathodic luminescence at an oxide covered aluminum electrode.
Ruthenium trisbipyridine (Ru(bpy).sub.3) is, perhaps, the best known of the organic-metal ion coordination complex ECL molecules, although other transition metal complexes involving Cr, Cu, Eu, Ir, Mg, Os, and Tb have been observed to exhibit ECL under appropriate conditions.
Ru(bpy).sub.3 based ECL resembles fluorescence and phosphorescence in that an excited electronic state is induced in the ECL molecule which subsequently relaxes to a ground state to yield light. In the model Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.+2 ECL system, upon which the well known ORIGEN Technology is based (IGEN International Inc., Gaithersburg, Md.), Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.+2 is oxidized to the +3 state at the surface of an anode. Subsequently, Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.+3 is placed in an excited state (Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.+2.cndot.) by a high energy free radical electron transfer from an electron carrier such as nascent TPA.sup.+.cndot. radical, which is generated simultaneously at the anode. Relaxation of the high energy Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.+2.cndot. to the ground state yields luminescence at approximately 602 nm.
ORIGEN Technology is well known in the art and has been used to perform ECL immunoassays. Such immunoassays are generally performed by mixing sample fluid with two antibodies, one labeled or tagged with magnetic beads and the other labeled with ruthenium (II) tris (bipyridyl). After a short incubation, the amount of analyte is quantified by the emission of light from the ruthenium label or tags.
ECL is essentially a surface redox reaction which allows ECL molecules, such as Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.+2, primarily near the surface of the anode to undergo the ECL redox reaction sequence. This is an advantage in immunomagnetic bead-ECL assays as the overlying fluid phase contributes only negligible ECL compared to the magnetically captured antigen-antibody-ECL tag complexes on the anode surface, thus obviating "wash" steps. However, the surface redox phenomenon is a disadvantage for "solution phase" ECL measurements as sensitivity may be somewhat compromised. Thus, the use of immobilized ECL complexes, while not completely necessary, is probably desirable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,457, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, describes devices and methods for generating electrogenerated chemiluminescence primarily with ruthenium complexes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,221,605 and 5,238,808, also expressly incorporated herein by reference, are directed to ECL reactions involving ruthenium or osmium complexes and their use as labels in binding methods for determining the presence of substances of interest.
Prior to the present invention ECL reactions based on specific metal ions being captured by organic ligands to form ECL compounds, according to the present invention, had not been contemplated. Detection and identification of specific metal ions is traditionally carried out by flame or furnace atomic spectroscopy which can be costly and slow. Detection of organics is traditionally carried out by gas chromatography (GC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy (MS) devices which is usually costly and the instrumentation required to carry out such determinations can be large, at least in comparison to that required for ECL reactions.

Electrochemiluminescence assays based on interactions with soluble metal ions and diaminoaromatic ligands


A fully adjustable upper torso and head support positioning system that retro fits to nearly any standard wheelchair is provided. This system has two individually adjustable lateral pads to provide comfortable yet positive adjustable support to fit the unique contours of a wide variety of users. An integrated head support adjusts vertically to an individual's height and adjusts horizontally to accommodate a moderate to severe Kyphosus. The head and shoulder support adjustments facilitate the present invention's use for patients with varying heights and shoulder widths. The aforementioned head and shoulder supports are attached to a mounting bracket which is designed in a manner that facilitates its easy attachment to the varying designs of wheelchairs currently used today.

The use of wheelchairs for mentally or physically impaired patients has become commonplace. Wheelchairs provide mobility for patients, and in the case of patients with some use of their extremities, provide needed support for their body while allowing the patient to perform certain daily tasks without assistance. However, some patients do not have any independent mobility and rely completely upon their wheelchairs for support of their bodies.
As patients employing the use of wheelchairs are in a sitting position for long periods of time, it is of the utmost importance that the wheelchair be comfortable and provide ample support for the patient's back, head and neck in order to prevent further injury to the spinal cord and muscles. This is of particular importance for patients who, due to lack of mental ability or muscle strength in the neck area, cannot hold their head in an upright position without assistance. While many wheelchair designs provide a headrest for the patient's comfort, these designs do not help those patients whose necks wobble uncontrollably and involuntarily from side to side. Additionally, it is important to provide support to the patient's shoulders in conjunction with support of the head. If this is not accomplished, the patient's shoulders and center of gravity can shift sideways, producing unwanted pressure on the patient's neck, especially if the head is restrained by some type of movement-controlling device.
Failure to provide proper support of the head, neck and shoulders of a wheelchair-bound patient can cause numerous physical and emotional problems to the patient. Incorrect posture can cause improper weight distribution, causing skin pressure problems such as sores. Correct posture promotes the efficient functioning of internal organs and also improves the appearance of the user. This improved appearance can produce a more positive self-image for the user, improving the user's mental well-being and quality of life.
Standard wheelchairs offer poor upper body and head support, thus, several attempts have been made at making wheelchair add ons. These inventions have been aimed at customizing standard wheelchairs to add the structural support required to maintain correct upper posture while the occupant is seated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,028 (granted to Kornberg) shows a concave headrest support consisting of a horizontal member attached to a pair of slide-adjustable clamping blocks which are attached to the rear of a wheelchair seat by means of vertical members. The headrest can be adjusted vertically and horizontally, and by means of the slide-adjustable clamping blocks, can be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to adjust to the patient's size and support needs. However, this apparatus provides no support for the patient's shoulders and therefore, offers no ability to keep the patient's body in an upright position should the patient be unable to do so himself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,836 (granted to Hudson, III et al.) also shows a removable apparatus which can be attached to a wheelchair to provide support for the patient's head. This is accomplished by the use of two head supports, located on each side of the patient's head, to prevent the head from involuntarily moving from side to side, and a large strap placed across the patient's forehead to prevent forward movement. While this apparatus accomplishes its objective, to keep the patient's head from moving involuntarily, it does not provide any support for the patient's shoulders. If the patient's shoulders shift sideways while his head is restrained in such a manner, neck strain or injury may occur.
From the foregoing discussion, it can be clearly seen that it would be highly desirable to provide a means for securing both the head and shoulders of a wheelchair-bound patient in a way that prevents unwanted movement and promotes proper posture. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a method for securing the head and shoulders of a wheelchair user that is removable from the wheelchair, and can be adjusted for use by persons with varying heights and shoulder widths.

Wheelchair support and attachment system


A liquid crystal display device adopting a storage-on-common method is disclosed to prevent the operation of a unit pixel with a point deficiency, such as a brilliant spot, at its occurrence, thereby preventing degradation of a picture quality caused due to the defective pixel. Because the defective pixel is controlled to turn black by the use of a repair pattern, the picture quality degradation due to the defective pixel is prevented when the liquid crystal display device is driven.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for resolving a pixel deficiency of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and, more particularly, to a technique for improving a pixel deficiency of a liquid crystal display device of a storage-on-common type.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a liquid crystal display device includes a thin film transistor TFT array substrate and a color filter substrate. The TFT array substrate includes a plurality of gate lines arranged in parallel in a line direction, a plurality of data lines arranged in a column direction and intersecting the gate lines, and TFTs formed at the intersection of the gate lines and the data lines. The color filter substrate has a plurality of color filters corresponding to unit pixels of the TFT array substrate. Liquid crystal is filled between the TFT array substrate and the color filter substrate.
The structure and operation of the TFT array substrate will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
A TFT array substrate 100 is constructed with a plurality of gate lines 4 formed in a column direction on a substrate; a plurality of data lines 2 arranged in a line direction and intersecting the gate lines 4; a plurality of thin film transistors (T) each formed at the intersection of the corresponding gate line 4 and the corresponding data line 2; a plurality of pixel electrodes 14 each formed at a unit pixel region defined by the intersection of the corresponding gate line 4 and the corresponding data line 2; and a storage capacitor (not shown) for maintaining a signal applied from the data line for a predetermined time period.
A method of forming the storage capacitor in the liquid crystal display device generally involves forming a storage capacitor of a storage-on-gate type or forming a storage capacitor of a storage-on-common type.
The storage-on-gate structure involves a storage capacitor formed at a certain region of the gate line, while the storage-on-common structure involves a storage line formed in a liquid crystal cell and a storage capacitor formed at a certain region of the storage line.
The liquid crystal display device with the storage-on-common structure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 2 is a view showing a plane structure of a TFT array substrate of the liquid crystal display device with the storage-on-common structure.
With reference to FIG. 2, the gate lines 4 are arranged isolated in a vertical direction on the substrate, and the data lines 2 are arranged isolated in a horizontal direction. Accordingly, the gate lines 4 and the data lines 2 are arranged in a matrix form. A pixel region is defined by the intersection of the corresponding data line 2 and the corresponding gate line 4, and has a thin film transistor TFT and the pixel electrode 14. Storage lines 3 are provided between the gate lines 4 with a certain space therebetween and arranged in parallel to the gate lines 4.
Each thin film transistor TFT includes: a gate electrode 10 formed to protrude from a certain position of the gate line 4, a source electrode 8 extended from a certain position of the data line 2 and overlapping with the gate electrode 10 at its certain region, and a drain electrode 12 formed at a position corresponding to the source electrode 8 on the basis of the gate electrode 10. Accordingly, each TFT is formed at the intersection of the corresponding gate line 4 and the corresponding data line 2.
The pixel electrode 14 is formed at a portion of the pixel region of the liquid crystal cell where the TFT is not formed, and electrically contacts the drain electrode 12 through a drain contact hole 16 formed on the drain electrode 12 of the thin film transistor.
Accordingly, for each pixel region, the pixel electrode 14 and the corresponding storage line 3 overlap with each other with an insulation film (not shown) therebetween at the region where the storage line 3 of the liquid crystal cell is formed. This overlapping structure serves as a storage capacitor 18.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line I-I′ of FIG. 2. A sectional structure of the TFT will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.
The gate electrode 10 is formed on the substrate 1, and a gate insulation film 30 is formed over the entire surface of the substrate 1 including the gate electrode 10. The gate electrode 10 is formed to protrude in one direction from a certain position of the gate line 4.
An active layer 36 is formed such that a semiconductor layer 32 made of amorphous silicon is formed at an upper portion of the gate insulation film 30 and an ohmic contact layer 34 made of amorphous silicon doped with high density phosphor is deposited thereon.
The source electrode 8 and the drain electrode 12 are formed as isolated with a certain space therebetween and at the upper portion of the active layer 36, facing each other.
The ohmic contact layer 34 formed at the upper portion of the semiconductor layer 32 at the region where the source electrode 8 and the drain electrode 12 are isolated is removed in the process of forming the source electrode 8 and the drain electrode 12. The semiconductor layer 32 exposed as the ohmic contact layer 34 is removed becomes a channel region of the thin film transistor.
A passivation layer 38 is formed at the entire surface of the substrate 1 exposed with the source electrode 8 and the drain electrode 12. The passivation layer 38 can be an inorganic insulation film such as SiNx or SiOx, or an organic insulation film such as benzocyclobutene (BCB), a spin-on-glass or acryl with a low dielectric constant in order to improve an aperture ratio of the liquid crystal display device.
The contact hole 16 is formed through the passivation layer 38 to expose a portion of the drain electrode 12. The pixel electrode 14 is formed at an upper portion of the passivation layer 38, and the pixel electrode 14 and the drain electrode 12 electrically contact with each other through the contact hole 16.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line II-II′ of FIG. 2. A sectional structure of the storage capacitor will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.
The storage line 3 is formed on the substrate 1, and the gate insulation film 30 is formed at the entire surface of the substrate 1 including the storage line 3. The storage line 3 is formed isolated from and parallel to the gate line 4 when the gate line 4 is formed. The passivation layer 38 is formed at an upper portion of the gate insulation film 30. The passivation layer 38 is the same layer as the passivation layer 38 of the switching device of FIG. 3. The pixel electrode 14 is formed at an upper portion of the passivation layer 38, overlapping with the storage line 3 at a certain region.
In the case of the storage capacitor as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the storage line 3 and the pixel electrode 14 overlap each other with the gate insulation film 30 and the passivation layer 38 therebetween.
A gate drive applies a signal to every gate line, and the channel of the TFT is turned on by the applied gate signal. While the channel of the TFT is turned on, a data signal is applied to the TFT, applying a current to the pixel electrode, according to which an electric field is formed both by the pixel electrode and the common electrode, thereby driving the liquid crystal. The voltage applied to the pixel electrode through the data line forms the storage capacitor together with the storage line positioned at a lower side of the pixel electrode.
The storage capacitor serves to maintain a signal while no signal is applied to the pixel electrode. However, during the fabrication process of the unit pixel, the unit pixel can be defective due to a particle or the like generated during the fabrication, thereby failing to perform a normal driving.

Liquid crystal display device having redundancy repair pattern and method of forming and using the same


A teat unit has a teat, a securing device for securing the teat on a liquid container, and an air valve, the securing device having a first securing part and a second securing part. The air valve has a first valve part, which is arranged in the first securing part, and a second valve part, which is arranged in the first or in the second securing part. The air valve opens and closes with respect to the second securing part. The valve is preferably a diaphragm valve, and the first valve part is a valve diaphragm. This teat unit functions very reliably even at very small pressure differences between the bottle and the environment. Moreover, the range of function of the various teat units of the same type is relatively narrow, such that different teat units function very similarly and the air valves are actuated at similar pressure differences.

Babies who are not breastfeeding usually drink from a bottle provided with a teat.
The bottle is usually hard. That is to say, it does not deform during feeding, nor can it be pressed together by the usual forces applied by hand. During feeding, therefore, air has to be able to enter the bottle. This is usually achieved by the threaded ring with which the teat is secured on the bottle not being completely sealed with respect to the neck of the bottle. If the threaded ring is twisted too tightly on the neck of the bottle, too little air can flow into the bottle, and the baby has to make too much effort when feeding. However, if the threaded ring is applied too loosely to the neck of the bottle, milk drips out of the bottle from the threaded ring.
DE 23 41 762 proposes providing the suction opening of the teat with a non-return valve and providing the securing flange of the teat with an air valve. The air valve is formed by a two-stage hole and by a U-shaped or V-shaped diaphragm section with an X-shaped or Y-shaped cut.
WO 2007/137440 discloses a teat unit with a teat and a dimensionally stable receiving head for receiving the teat. The one-piece receiving head is provided with a threaded ring, such that it can be screwed onto the neck of a feeding bottle or a drinking cup. The teat is mounted on the hemispherical receiving head and not secured to the threaded ring. The teat has an air sealing lip that can open and close an air opening in the receiving head.
US 2008/0237176, U.S. Pat. No. 2,529,794, U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,084, U.S. Pat. No. 2,084,099, U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,744, U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,729 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,207 disclose feeding bottles with teats, which feeding bottles are provided with an air inlet device at their end directed away from the teat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,745,568 discloses a teat unit with a non-return valve and with a second valve. Liquid that has collected in the teat can flow back through this second valve into the bottle.


A loop circuit including a delay element and an all-pass filter circulates a tone signal. A driving waveform is applied to the loop circuit. The delay element provides a delay time corresponding to the pitch of the circulating tone signal and the all-pass filter is capable of changing the phase of the tone signal corresponding to its frequency. Thus, the resulting musical tone can be controlled in accordance with touch, thereby enabling the simulation of vibration of pitch and the generation of non-harmonic components caused by touch in a natural musical instrument.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tone signal synthesizer using a delayed feedback type tone signal synthesizing algorithm for synthesizing a tone signal by waveform processing through inputting a driving waveform signal into a closed loop containing a delay means and a filter means and circulating the driving waveform signal in the closed loop. In particular, it relates to a tone signal synthesizer adapted for an electronic musical instrument capable of providing tone control to simulate musical tones of natural musical instruments.
b) Description of the Prior Art
In a waveform read type tone signal synthesizer, tone signals different in pitch are synthesized by reading a fundamental waveform (for example, a sinusoidal waveform) at different reading speed. Because the number of points sampled from the fundamental waveform decreases as the frequency increases, the characteristics of the synthesized tone signals deteriorate. Further, it is difficult to change the signal waveform with the passage of time.
Japanese Patent Postexam. Publication No. Sho-58-58679 has proposed a technique for synthesizing a tone signal by inputting a driving waveform signal into a closed loop formed by a serial connection of a filter and a delay circuit and repeatedly circulating the driving waveform signal in the closed loop. According to this technique, the amplitude, high-frequency content, high-frequency phase, etc. of the signal can be changed widely with the passage of time, so that musical tones more perfectly approaching the musical tones of natural musical instruments can be generated compared with the waveform read type tone signal synthesizer.
In recent electronic musical instruments, a technique for changing various characteristics by touch has been popularized. For example, the attack-decay-sustain-release waveform of a musical tone in a natural musical instrument can be simulated by controlling a sound volume envelope correspondingly to the touch. Further, the vibration of pitch caused by the touch can be simulated.
In natural musical instruments such as a piano, not only a sound volume changes in accordance with touch but the pitch and harmonic structure of a musical tone change just after key depression and then return to the designated pitch and the standard harmonic structure with the passage of time. With respect to the harmonic structure, the musical tone just after key depression contains many non-harmonic pitch components as well as harmonics having pitches expressed by integers or simple fractional numbers with respect to the pitch of a fundamental tone. The non-harmonic pitch components decrease with the passage of time, so that a pure harmonic structure remains.

Tone signal synthesizer with touch control


A wiper apparatus for a vehicle, including: a frame to receive a wiper driving motor; a supporter formed to protrude from the frame toward an auto body panel; and a jointing member that combines with the supporter and that joins to the auto body panel, wherein the jointing member forms an ‘L’ shape in a longitudinal cross-section including a direction in which the jointing member is finally assembled into the auto body panel, and includes a first pressing part for contacting and supporting one side of the auto body panel; a second pressing part for contacting and supporting the other side of the auto body panel; and a protruding stopper for preventing the auto body panel from rotating in a direction parallel to the auto body panel.

Generally, a wiper apparatus for a vehicle is a kind of safety device for securing a driver's view by wiping off rain, snow, dust, or stains from the windshield with wiper blades. The wiper apparatus may be mounted not only on the windshield but also on a rear window, an outside rear view mirror, a head lamp, etc. Especially, the wiper apparatus mounted on the windshield typically includes a pair of wiper blades connected to a motor via a linkage tool to operate them. An example of the wiper apparatus is disclosed in the published Korean Patent No. 2001-0072421.
The wiper apparatus includes a wiper motor used as a driving source, a worm & worm-wheel gear used to convert torque and change a rotational direction, and a linkage tool used to rotate wiper blades back and forth with the power delivered from the worm & worm-wheel gear.
The wiper apparatus is generally assembled on an auto body panel with bolts and nuts. Such assembling of the wiper apparatus onto the auto body panel with bolts and nuts arises an issue of dropping working efficiency. Furthermore, conventional assembling requires welding weld nuts onto the auto body panel, thus arising another issue of cost-ineffective manufacturing.
To address the foregoing issues, a few new methods have been proposed. For example, Korean Patent No. 1045773 discloses a wiper apparatus assembled onto the auto body panel by being fitted into the auto body panel in a rotational manner. With the wiper apparatus, however, a worker has difficulty checking with the naked eye whether the wiper apparatus is completely assembled onto the auto body panel. In addition, a vibration control between the auto body panel and the wiper apparatus is so weak that the vibration occurring when the wiper apparatus is working may propagate to the auto body panel.


Method of a liquid process type electrophotographic apparatus forming a multicolor visible image on a surface of a photosensitive drum, which prevents the visible image after the second color from being disturbed. After a visible image of the first color has been formed with a development unit on a surface of a photosensitive drum, a part of liquid carrier existing on the surface of the photosensitive drum is removed by using a squeeze roller and an air blower. When an electrostatic latent image is formed with a charger 1 and an exposing unit on the photosensitive drum where the visible image of the first color has been formed, disturbance of the electrostatic latent image caused by a large amount of liquid carrier or lack of liquid carrier can be reduced by reserving a predetermined very small amount of liquid carrier, and disturbance of a visible image of the second color to be developed by a development unit can be reduced.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-295271, filed on Sep. 27, 2000; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to an image forming method, and more particularly concerns an image forming method where an image is formed by superimposing visible toner images of a plurality of colors together on a surface of a latent image recording member with a liquid developer.
Being able to obtain high quality images comparable to that of printing (e.g. offset) thanks to extremely fine toner particles of sub-micron in diameter, being able to reduce cost for copying because sufficient image density can be obtained with a small amount of toner, and being able to accomplish energy saving because the toner can be fixed to a copy sheet at a relatively low temperature, etc. are the important advantages of the liquid process type electro-photographic recording apparatus employing a liquid developer, which cannot be realized with dry type one, so that its value has been thought better lately.
There are two methods to form a multicolor image using the electro-photography: one is that both forming a visible image on a photosensitive member and transferring the image from the photosensitive member to a recording medium are carried out separately for each color, and then every visible image of each individual color is deposited in superimposed registration with each other on the recording medium, and another is that a multicolor visible image is formed on a surface of a photosensitive member by developing each color separately and successively, and then the multicolor image is collectively transferred to the recording medium.
A method to transfer a plurality of images collectively is advantageous for forming an image with reference to process speed and accuracy of registration of colors.
In the collective transferring, exposure for forming the next visible image on the visible image of the first color formed in advance is carried out. Because toner particles of about 10 micrometers in diameter are used in the electro-photography with powdered toner, exposure light is dispersed by the toner particles which constitute the visible image of the first color. Therefore the exposure of the photosensitive member for the second color was interfered, so that it was difficult to adopt the collective transferring method as the electro-photographic system using powdered toner. On the other hand, because the liquid process type recording system utilizing liquid developer has little dispersion of light due to the liquid developer even though the liquid developer remains on the photosensitive member, it is possible to expose the surface of the photosensitive member over the visible image of the first color.
Then the inventors have tried to form an image adopting the collective transferring method as the electro-photography utilizing a liquid developer. However the problem has been confirmed that the accuracy of the visible image of the second color to the visible image of the first color deteriorates, although transparency of the visible image of the first color is so high that there is no interference to the exposure for the second color.
As mentioned above, there has been a problem that the accuracy of the image of the second color is inferior to the accuracy of the image of the first color if the collective transferring is adopted in the image forming method utilizing the liquid developer.
One object of the present invention is to provide an image forming method performing the collective transferring which enables to prevent the accuracy of the image of the second color from deteriorating.
An aspect of the present invention is a method to form a visible toner image, in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on an electrostatic latent image recording member, and the electrostatic latent image is developed with a liquid developer comprising liquid carrier and toner particles, the method comprising:
forming a first visible toner image on the surface of the electrostatic latent image recording member by providing the surface of the electrostatic latent image recording member with a first liquid developer containing liquid carrier and toner particles to develop the first electrostatic latent image,
removing the liquid carrier existing on the surface of the electrostatic latent image recording member on which the first visible toner image is formed to the extent that the liquid carrier remains by a density of 5.0xc3x9710xe2x88x925 g/cm2 to 5.0xc3x9710xe2x88x923 g/cm2,
forming a second electrostatic latent image by charging and exposing the surface of the electrostatic latent image recording member on which the first developed toner visible image with the remained liquid carrier is formed, and
forming a second visible toner image on the surface of the electrostatic latent image recording member by providing the surface of the electrostatic latent image recording member with a second liquid developer containing liquid carrier and second toner particles to develop the second electrostatic latent image.
Another aspect of the present invention comprises:
(a) forming a first color toner image on an electrostatic latent image recording member comprising a cylindrical conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer, comprising,
(a-1) charging the surface of the photosensitive layer,
(a-2) exposing on the surface of the photosensitive layer by optical scanning to form an electrostatic latent image, and
(a-3) forming the first color toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image with a liquid developer having a liquid carrier containing toner particles of the first color,
(b) removing the liquid carrier to remove excess liquid carrier from the toner image of the first color containing the liquid carrier on the electrostatic latent image recording member to the extent that the liquid carrier remains by a density of 5.0xc3x9710xe2x88x925 g/cm2 to 5.0xc3x9710xe2x88x923 g/cm2,
(c) forming a toner image of a second color on the electrostatic latent image recording member, comprising,
(c-1) charging the surface of the photosensitive layer on which the toner image of the first color is formed,
(c-2) exposing the surface of the photosensitive layer by optical scanning to form an electrostatic latent image, and
(c-3) forming the second color toner image deposited in superimposed registration with the first color toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image with a liquid developer containing toner particles of the second color, and
(d) collectively transferring the first and second color toner images to a transferring member by contacting the photosensitive layer on which the both toner images are formed to the transferring member.

Method for controlling density of liquid carrier in the toner images


A method of patrolling a perimeter of a geographic area, using two or more unmanned vehicles having means for locomotion along a perimeter path. Each vehicle is equipped with at least the following systems: a navigation system operable to autonomously navigate the unmanned vehicle, an anomaly detection system, a communications system, an anomaly tracking system, operable to track, visually or by following, a detected anomaly, and an alert evaluation system. Each vehicle travels the path on a predetermined route, and is operable to broadcast an alert message to all other vehicles if that vehicle detects an anomaly, to perform an evaluation of any received alert message to determine if it will travel to an anomaly based on stored evaluation rules, and to respond to an alert message based on the evaluation.

For various reasons, it is often desired to patrol the geographic perimeter of an area. Examples of perimeter patrol applications are prisons, airports, schools, sea ports, and military installations. Larger-scale applications include patrol of geographic borders.
A common application is for an area where there is a particular need for security and protection against "anomalies". Examples of perimeter anomalies are objects blocking a perimeter path, fence or wall breaches, or unauthorized persons crossing the perimeter.
Conventional methods for perimeter patrol use human operators of small to mid-sized vehicles. This approach places the human operators in a dull environment, where repetition can lead to complacency and where detection of anomalies requires human perception and attention. Funding is often a limiting factor as to how many vehicles and personnel can be devoted to the patrol system.
A more modern approach is using unmanned ground vehicles to autonomously (without human intervention) perform the patrol tasks. The technology for an automated perimeter patrol system can be expensive, but such a system can significantly improve overall reliability in detecting anomalies.

Cooperative perimeter patrol system and method


For crystallizing an amorphous semiconductor film by means of irradiation of laser beams, a top surface and a back surface of the amorphous semiconductor film are irradiated with the laser beams. In this case, an effective energy intensity Io of the laser beams to be applied onto the top surface and an effective energy intensity Ioxe2x80x2 of the laser beams to be applied onto the back surface satisfy the relationship of 0 less than Ioxe2x80x2/Io less than 1 or 1 less than Ioxe2x80x2/Io. Thus, a laser annealing method capable of providing a crystalline semiconductor film with large grain diameters can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of annealing a semiconductor film with laser beams (hereinbelow referred to as laser annealing) and a laser apparatus to be used for performing the same (more specifically, an apparatus including a laser source and an optical system for guiding laser beams emitted from the laser source to an object to be processed).
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, developments of thin film transistors (hereinbelow referred to as TFTs) has been advanced, and in particular, TFTs employing a polycrystalline silicon film (polysilicon film) as a crystalline semiconductor film has drawn much attention. Especially, in a liquid crystal display device (liquid crystal display) or an EL (electro-luminescence) display device (EL display), these TFTs are used as elements for switching pixels and elements constituting a driver circuit for controlling the pixels.
In common techniques for obtaining a polysilicon film, an amorphous silicon film) is crystallized to obtain a polysilicon film. In particular, a method of crystallizing an amorphous silicon film with laser beams has been receiving much attention. In the present specification, the technique for crystallizing an amorphous semiconductor film with laser beams to obtain a crystalline semiconductor film is referred to as laser crystallization.
The laser crystallization enables instantaneous heating of a semiconductor film, and thus it is an effective technique for annealing a semiconductor film formed on a substrate having low heat-resistance, such as a glass substrate, a plastic substrate or the like. In addition, the laser crystallization has a significantly higher throughput, as compared to conventional heating means employing an electric furnace (hereinbelow ref erred to as furnace annealing).
Although various kinds of laser beams are available, laser beams emitted from a pulse-oscillated excimer laser (hereinbelow referred to as excimer laser beams) are generally used in the laser crystallization. The excimer laser can provide a large output power and repeat irradiation at high frequencies. Furthermore, the excimer laser beams have an advantage of a high absorption coefficient against a silicon film.
One of the most important problems to be solved in these days is how to enlarge the diameters of crystal grains in a crystalline semiconductor film crystallized with laser beams. It is clear that the larger each crystal grain (also simply referred to as a grain) is, the less number of grains traverse TFTs, in particular. channel-formation regions thereof. This enables improvements in the fluctuation of typical electrical characteristics of TFTs, such as a field effect mobility or a threshold voltage.
In addition, since relatively satisfactory crystallinity is maintained at the inside of each grain, it is desirable, when fabricating TFTs, to dispose the entire channel-formation region within a single grain so as to improve the above-mentioned various operational characteristics of TFTs.
However, it is difficult to obtain a crystalline semiconductor film having sufficiently large grain diameters with employment of presently available techniques. Although some results have been reported indicating that such a crystalline semiconductor film with sufficiently large grain diameters was experimentally obtained those reported techniques have not reached practical levels yet.
For example, in the experimental level, the results have been achieved as described in the article entitled xe2x80x9cHigh-mobility poly-Si thin-film transistors fabricated by a novel excimer laser crystallization methodxe2x80x9d by K. Shimizu, O. Sugiura and M. Matsumura in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 112-117 (1993). In this article, a three-layered structure of Si/SiO2/n+Si is formed on a substrate, and this layered structure is irradiated with excimer laser beams from both the Si side and the n+Si side. The article explained that larger grain diameters can be thus obtained.
The present invention is intended to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages In the art by providing a laser annealing method capable of providing a crystalline semiconductor film with larger grain diameters, and a laser apparatus to be used in such a laser annealing method.
In accordance with the present invention, upon crystallization of an amorphous semiconductor film, a top surface (on which a thin film is to be deposited) and a back surface (a surface opposite to the top surface) of the amorphous semiconductor film are simultaneously irradiated with laser beams while an effective energy intensity of the laser beams to be applied onto the top surface (hereinafter referred to as first laser beams) is set at a level different from that of the laser beams to be applied onto the back surface (hereinafter referred to as second laser beams).
More specifically, the irradiation conditions of the laser beams are set so that the effective energy intensity ratio Ioxe2x80x2/Io between the effective energy intensity Io of the first laser beams and the effective energy intensity Ioxe2x80x2 of the second laser beams satisfies the relationship of 0 less than Ioxe2x80x2/Io less than 1 or 1 less than Ioxe2x80x2/Io, where the product of Io and Ioxe2x80x2 (Ioxc3x97Ioxe2x80x2) is not equal to zero.
In the present specification, the term xe2x80x9ceffective energy intensityxe2x80x9d is defined as the energy intensity of the laser beams at the top or back surface of an amorphous semiconductor film while taking energy losses, caused by various reasons such as reflection or the like, into consideration. The unit of the effective energy intensity is the same as that of the energy density, i.e., mJ/cm2. Although the effective energy intensity can not be directly measured, it can be calculated based on known parameters such as a reflectance or a transmittance as long as medium present along a path of the laser beams is known.
For example, the calculation method of the effective energy intensity will be described in more detail by taking as an example the case where the present invention is applied to the structure as illustrated in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes a reflector made of aluminum, 602 denotes a Corning #1737 substrate (having a thickness of 0.7 mm), 603 denotes a silicon oxynitride film (hereinbelow referred to as SiON film) having a thickness of 200 nm, and 604 denotes an amorphous silicon film having a thickness of 55 nm. This sample is irradiated with XeCl excimer laser beams having a wavelength of 308 nm in air.
The energy intensity of the excimer laser beams (with the wavelength of 308 nm) immediately before reaching the amorphous silicon film 604 is represented as Ia. Taking into consideration the reflection of the laser beams at the surface of the amorphous silicon film, the effective energy intensity Io of the first laser beams can be expressed as Io=Iaxc3x97(1xe2x88x92RSi), where RSi indicates the reflectance of the laser beams. In this case, Io is calculated as 0.45xc3x97Ia.
Furthermore, the effective energy intensity Ioxe2x80x2 of the second laser beams can be expressed as Ioxe2x80x2=Iaxc3x97T1737xc3x97RAlxc3x97T1737xc3x97(1xe2x88x92RSiON-Si) where T1737 indicates the transmittance of the #1737 substrate, RAl indicates the reflectance at the aluminum surface, and RSiON-Si indicates the reflectance experienced by the light beams incident onto the amorphous silicon film from the SiON film. The reflectance experienced by the light beams incident onto the SiON film from air, the transmittance in the SiON film, the reflectance experienced by the light beams incident on the #1737 substrate from the SiON film, and the reflectance experienced by the light beams incident on the SiON film from the #1737 substrate are found to be negligible from the experimental results, and therefore not considered in the calculation. In this case, Ioxe2x80x2 is calculated as 0.13xc3x97Ia.
Accordingly, in the structure illustrated in FIG. 6, the effective energy intensity Io of the first laser beams and the effective energy intensity Ioxe2x80x2 of the second laser beams can be calculated as 0.45Ia and 0.13Ia, respectively. Thus, the effective energy intensity ratio Ioxe2x80x2/Io can be calculated as 0.29. The fact that the effective energy intensity ratio thus calculated satisfies the relationship of 0 less than Ioxe2x80x2/Io less than 1 is one of the features of the present invention.
Furthermore, the present invention is applicable to the case where the intensity of the first laser beams is smaller than that of the second laser beams. In other words, the present invention is applicable to the case where the relationship of 1 less than Ioxe2x80x2/Io is satisfied.
The effective energy intensities of the first and second laser beams can be set at different levels by, for example, the following manners:
1) When the top and back surfaces of an amorphous semiconductor film are irradiated with laser beams by means of ea reflector disposed below a substrate, the effective energy intensity of the second laser beams is attenuated by adjusting the reflectance of the reflector so as to become smaller as compared to the effective energy intensity of the first laser beams.
2) The first laser beams are divided to form the second laser beams, and either the effective energy intensity of the first laser beams or that of the second laser beams is attenuated by means of an appropriate filter (such as a variable attenuator or the like) so that the effective energy intensities of the first and second laser beams are set at different levels from each other.
3) The effective energy intensity of the second laser beams is attenuated in accordance with a material of the substrate on which an amorphous semiconductor film is to be deposited, so as to become smaller as compared to the effective energy intensity of the first laser beams.
4) An insulating film is provided between the substrate and the amorphous semiconductor film so that the effective energy intensity of the second laser beams is attenuated by the insulating film, thereby resulting in the smaller effective energy intensity as compared to the effective energy intensity of the first laser beams.
5) The surface of the amorphous semiconductor film is covered with an insulating film so that the reflectance of the first laser beams at the surface of the amorphous semiconductor film becomes smaller, thereby resulting in the effective energy intensity of the first laser beams being larger as compared to that of the second laser beams.
6) The surface of the amorphous semiconductor film is covered with an insulating film so that the effective energy intensity of the first laser beams is attenuated by the insulating film, thereby resulting in the smaller effective energy intensity as compared to the effective energy intensity of the second laser beams.
7) The first and second laser beams are emitted from different oscillating sources, respectively, so that the effective energy intensities of both laser beams are set at different levels.
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to a specific type of lasers. Rather, various lasers can be used in the present invention: for example, generally known excimer lasers (typically a KrF laser or a XeCl laser), solid-state lasers (typically a Nd:YAG laser or a ruby laser), gas lasers (typically an Ar laser or a Hexe2x80x94Ne laser), metal vapor lasers (typically a Cu vapor laser or a Hexe2x80x94Cd laser), or semiconductor lasers.
In the case where the laser such as Nd:YAG laser which has a fundamental wave (the first harmonic wave) of a long wavelength (1064 nm for Nd:YAG laser) is used, it is preferable to use the second, third or fourth harmonic wave. These high-order harmonic wave can be obtained by means of non-linear crystal (non-linear device). Alternatively, a well-known Q-switch may be used to obtain the higher-order harmonic wave.

Laser apparatus and laser annealing method

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A semiconductor device for outputting data read from a read only storage device, includes a plurality of read only storage devices, each including memory cells, a plurality of selecting signal lines for transmitting selecting signals to the read only storage devices for indicating a read only storage device storing data to be read, an address signal line for transmitting an address signal to the read only storage devices for indicating an address of memory cells storing data to be read and a switching device. The switching device has an address storage circuit for storing address information of a defective memory cell and detecting whether or not selected memory cells include a defective memory cell, a data storage circuit for storing replacement data for memory cells including a defective memory cell, and a switching circuit. The switching circuit inputs data from memory cells of a selected read only storage device and replacement data and outputs the data from the memory cells of the selected read only storage device and replacement data instead of data from the selected read only storage device which is stored in memory cells including a defective memory cell.

The present invention relates to a read only storage device installed in semiconductor devices, particularly to a mask ROM (read only memory) into which information is written at the manufacturing stage.
Recently, in a mask ROM, as the manufacturing process gets finer and the storage capacity increases, it has become an important issue to improve the production yield. In order to improve the production yield, the technique for replacing a defective memory cell with a spare memory cell is proposed. A specific description will be provided below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a prior art semiconductor device. The semiconductor device in FIG. 13 comprises a control circuit 3, an address input circuit 4, a row decoder 5, a memory cell array 6, a column decoder 7, a sense amplifier circuit 8, an output circuit 9, an address storage circuit 10, a data storage circuit 11, and a switching circuit 20 which inputs the data from the memory cell array 6 and the data from the data storage circuit 11, selects either of these two pieces of data based on the output information from the address storage circuit 10 and outputs the selected data.
FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the address storage circuit 10. The address storage circuit 10 stores the address of a memory cell to be replaced (a defective memory cell) in the memory cell array 6. In FIG. 2, the address storage circuit 10 inputs address signals AD1–ADn. The address signals AD1–ADn connect to the gate terminals of transistors TRP1–TRPn and the inputs of inverters 201–20n. The outputs of the inverters 201–20n connect to the gate terminals of transistors TRN1–TRNn. The source of each of the transistors TRP1–TRPn and TRN1–TRNn is grounded and the drain thereof is connected via the corresponding one of fuse elements FAP1–n and FAN1–n to the input of two serially connected inverters 221–222. An output signal (control signal) RAD from these two serially connected inverters 221–222 is transmitted to the data storage circuit 11 and the switching circuit 20.
When there is a defective memory cell, in the manufacturing step, the fuse elements of the address storage circuit 10 in FIG. 2 are disconnected by laser in response to the values of the address signals AD1–ADn of the defective memory cell. Namely, if the address signal ADi of the defective memory cell (i: an arbitrary integer of 1 through n) is 1 (high level), the fuse element FAPi is disconnected, whereas, if the address signal ADi of the defective memory cell is 0 (low level), the fuse element FANi is disconnected. Afterwards, when the address signals AD1–ADn coincide with the address of the defective memory cell, the control signal RAD is driven high, whereas, when the address signals AD1–ADn constitute the address of other than the defective memory cell, the control signal RAD is driven low.
FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the data storage circuit 11. The data storage circuit 11 stores m-bit data of the memory cell to be replaced (defective memory cell) in the memory cell array 6. The data storage circuit 11 inputs the control signal RAD from the address storage circuit 10, which is further input to the gate terminals of transistors TRD1–TRDm. The source of each transistor is grounded, and the drain thereof is connected via the corresponding one of fuse elements FD1–m to the input of each of two-stage inverters 301–30m. Output data RD1–m from the two-stage inverters 301–30m is transmitted to the switching circuit 20.
When there is a defective memory cell, the m-bit data which should have been stored in the memory cell is stored in m circuit(s) of the data storage circuit 11. Specifically, in the manufacturing step, the address signals AD1–ADn of the defective memory cell are input to the address storage circuit 10 and the control signal RAD is driven high. The data storage circuit 11 inputs the high control signal RAD. The transistors TRD1–TRDm of the data storage circuit 11 are all brought into conduction.
When data DATAj (j: an arbitrary integer of 1 through m) is high in response to m-bit data DATA1–DATAm which should have been stored in the defective memory cell, the fuse element FDj of the bit is disconnected by laser. If the DATAj is 0 (low level), the fuse element FDj is not disconnected. As a result, when the control signal RAD is driven high (if the address signals AD1–ADn of the defective memory cell are input to the semiconductor device), the data storage circuit 11 outputs the m-bit data of the defective memory cell.
FIG. 14 shows a configuration example of the switching circuit 20 of the prior art semiconductor device. M selection circuits 1401–140m of the switching circuit 20 input output data SO1–SOm coming via the sense amplifier from the memory cell array 6 and the output data RD1–RDm coming from the data storage circuit 11 (each of these two pieces of the output data comprises m bits), select either the output data SO1–SOm or RD1–RDm according to the control signal RAD output from the address storage circuit 10 and output the selected data as data DI1–m. When the control signal RAD is high, the switching circuit 20 outputs the data RD1–m, whereas, when the control signal RAD is low, the switching circuit 20 outputs the data SO1–m.
As described above, when there is a defective memory cell in the memory cell array 6, the address of the defective memory cell is stored by disconnecting the corresponding fuses among the fuses FAP1–n and FAN1–n of the address storage circuit 10. The data of the defective memory cell is stored by disconnecting the corresponding fuses among the fuses FD1–m of the data storage circuit 11. When the address input signals AD1–n coincide with the address of the defective memory cell, the control signal RAD output from the address storage circuit 10 is driven high, whereby the switching circuit 20 outputs the data coming from the data storage circuit 11, and from the output circuit 9, the data coming from the data storage circuit 11 is output. When the address signals AD1–n don't coincide with the address of the defective memory cell, the control signal RAD output from the address storage circuit 10 is driven low, whereby the switching circuit 20 outputs the data coming from the memory cell array 6. The output circuit 9 outputs the data coming from the memory cell array 6 according to a selection signal CS1 (storage device selection information) (if the mask ROM core is selected by the selection signal CS1).
In recent years, semiconductor devices, with increasing sophistication, have come with a plurality of mask ROM cores (referred to as a storage device) which are of high-speed reading type and of low capacity. The prior art semiconductor device had the switching circuit 20 between the sense amplifier circuit 8 of the mask ROM core and the output circuit 9. The transmission delay time from when the address storage circuit 10 inputs the address signals AD1–n until the data read from the data storage circuit 11 arrives at the switching circuit 20 is longer than the transmission delay time from when the address circuit 4 inputs the address signals AD1–n until the data read from the memory cell array 6 of high-speed reading type arrives at the switching circuit 20. Therefore, the prior art semiconductor device has a problem that the data read time in the case of replacing the defective memory cell with the address storage circuit 10 and the data storage circuit 11 gets longer than the usual data read time.
In general, fuse elements constitute a very large chip area. Since the prior art semiconductor device has a configuration where the address storage circuit and the data storage circuit for replacing the data of the defective memory cell are provided per ROM core (a configuration where the switching from the data of the defective memory cell to the replacement data is performed in each mask ROM core), there is a problem that the chip area of the semiconductor device having a plurality of mask ROM cores increases.
The present invention intends to solve the above-mentioned problem and is intended to provide a semiconductor device wherein the data read time in the case of replacing the defective memory cell with the address storage circuit and the data storage circuit is equal to the data read time in the case of reading data from the memory cell array.
The present invention further intends to provide a semiconductor device which has a configuration where a plurality of mask ROM cores share the address storage circuit and the data storage circuit so that two or more mask ROM cores are provided while the chip area is small.

Semiconductor device for outputting data read from a read only storage device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A light emitting unit includes a light source device and a reflector. The light source device extends in parallel with an extension direction, and is capable of providing a light beam. The reflector is configured under the light source device and extends in parallel with the extension direction. The reflector has a first protrusion and a pair of second protrusions located on two sides of the first protrusion, the first protrusion has a peak portion and two trough portions, the second protrusion has a peak portion and a trough portion, and the two trough portions of the first protrusion are respectively connected to the trough portions of the two second protrusions to provide a fluctuant reflection surface, and a height of a cross section contour of the pair of the second protrusions in parallel with the extension direction is decreased from a center to two ends of the reflector.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a light source device, in particular, to a light emitting unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display, being a non-self-luminance display device, needs a backlight module providing uniform illumination. A light emitting diode (LED) is usually applied to, for example, a bottom type backlight module and an edge type backlight module, so as to achieve a backlight module being light, thin, and power saving. Currently, the bottom type backlight module has good light emitting uniformity and brilliance, thereby being usually used in various high order displays. In order to enable the light emission of the LEDs of a plurality of point light sources to be more uniform, usually a diffusion film layer is used to further diffuse the light beams emitted from the LEDs distributed in the backlight module, and a distance is maintained between the LEDs and the diffusion film layer for the diffusion of the light beams, that is, a so-called light cavity is formed. Alternatively, a secondary optical lens is utilized to further diffuse the light beams of the LEDs. However, when the light cavity is utilized to enable the light beams to be uniformly diffused, the volume of the backlight module may be excessively large, so that it is difficult to thin the display device. On the other hand, when the thickness of the light cavity is decreased, more LEDs are needed to be configured to prevent the backlight module from generating bright and dark fringes in which brightness and darkness exist at intervals. The configured secondary optical lens may increase the overall cost of the backlight module, and it is difficult to reduce the weight as well. Therefore, it is a problem still waited to be solved that how to compromise the light and thin volume, the light emitting uniformity, and the cost of the display device.
In ROC Patent Publication No. TWI265749, a backlight device is disclosed, tapered projections are formed on a position of a reflecting piece corresponding to an LED located thereabove, and the tapered projections may enable light beams directly emitted downwards by the LED to be guided along a transverse or horizontal direction. In ROC Patent Publication No. TWI360695, a bottom type backlight module is disclosed, a reflecting piece includes a plurality of first reflecting protrusions and a plurality of second reflecting protrusions, the first reflecting protrusions are located right under a line light source, and the first reflecting protrusions and the second reflecting protrusions are arranged at intervals and are in an elongated strip shape being parallel with one another. In ROC Patent Publication No. TW593926, it is disclosed that each reflecting unit of a reflecting plate further includes a protruding portion extending from a centre position of a middle face portion along a longitudinal direction of a corresponding line light source and protruding upwards. In ROC Patent Publication No. TW201007291, a backlight module is disclosed, a plurality of reflecting curved surfaces are formed on a bottom plate of a frame, light beam emitted from a spot light source towards the frame first reach the reflecting curved surfaces, are reflected by the reflecting curved surfaces to an optical plate above the spot light source for being emitted. In PRC Patent Publication No. CN201475729U, an LED light source beneficiating device is disclosed, two inclined planes being inclined outwards are disposed on a surface of a heat dissipation surface, the two inclined planes are symmetrically arranged as a V shape, and two LED modules having the same power are respectively assembled on the surfaces of the two inclined planes. In ROC Patent Publication No. TW526349, it is disclosed that protrusion shapes of a reflecting plate are continuous variations or discontinuous variations. In US Patent Publication No. US20050243578, it is disclosed that a curvature of a reflection surface of a reflecting piece is the same as that of a light conductive plate. In PRC Patent Publication No. CN101418929B, a widely uniform backlight device is disclosed. In PRC Patent Publication No. CN2729530Y, a shading plate having a non-transparent plate body provided with a reflecting surface is disclosed.

Light emitting unit with reflector for uniform light emission


A node in a wireless communication system comprising an antenna array with at least a first antenna function and a second antenna function. The node further comprises a first radio chain and a second radio chain, where each antenna function is connected to a base band via a corresponding radio chain. Each radio chain comprises an oscillator, a splitter and a multiplexer, each oscillator being arranged to feed a signal with a unique frequency band to the splitter in the same radio chain. The splitter is arranged to divide the signal into at least two signal parts and feed each part to the multiplexer of each radio chain such that each multiplexer in the node receives signal parts from each splitter in the node. The splitter is arranged to weight the division of the signal into the signal parts in dependence of the frequency bands fed by each oscillator.

The use of mobile phones and wireless broadband devices has increased rapidly during the last decade, and it is expected to grow even faster during coming years. To meet these demands, operators must increase the capacity in their communication systems.
In LTE (Long Term Evolution) Advanced, wider bandwidth is achieved by aggregating component carriers either contiguously or non-contiguously. The component carriers are backward compatible with the ones defined in LTE Rel-8. For contiguous carrier aggregation, consecutive spectrum is aggregated. On the other hand, discontinuous bands are accumulated for non-contiguous carrier aggregation.
One way increase capacity in LTE-Advanced is to use reconfigurable antennas at the base station. A reconfigurable antenna is an antenna that can change its properties, for example change tilt, beam direction etc. This could be used to focus the power towards hotspot areas or balancing the load between different cells. To steer the beam in different directions, phase shifters are normally used.
The capacity may also be increased by increasing the frequency bandwidth. However, the available frequency spectrum is limited and to be able to get sufficient large bandwidth, an aggregation of fragmented frequency bands are needed. Two or more bandwidths are then used in combination to increase the bandwidth.
Reconfigurable antennas usually depicts of several antenna elements with individual phase shifters used to steer the beam of the antenna. Each frequency results in a beam. However, the different frequency bands will result in a spatial separation between antenna elements in terms of wavelength. This will cause the beam width to be different for different frequencies. When using aggregated spectrum, this means that different frequency bands will have different beam width, and therefore, also different coverage areas.

Antenna architecture for maintaining beam shape in a reconfigurable antenna


In a vehicle control system that obtains an index based on a running condition of a vehicle and changes a running characteristic of the vehicle according to the index, includes index setting means for making a change in the index in response to a change in the running condition in a direction toward crisp running of the vehicle, faster than a change in the index in response to a change in the running condition in such a direction as to reduce crispness with which the vehicle is running.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle control system that is configured to control behavior characteristics or acceleration/deceleration characteristics (which will be called "running characteristics") of the vehicle, such as a power characteristic, steering characteristic and a suspension characteristic of the vehicle, so that the running characteristics match a running environment and driver's preferences and intention regarding running.
2. Description of the Related Art
While the vehicle behavior, such as a vehicle speed and a running direction, varies according to the driver's accelerating/decelerating operation and steering operation, the relationship between the amount of the driver's operation and the amount of change of the behavior is determined not only by the energy efficiency, such as a fuel efficiency, but also by characteristics, such as a ride comfort, quietness and power performance, which are required of the vehicle.
In the meantime, environments in which the vehicle runs include a wide variety of surroundings or road types, such as an urban area, an expressway, a winding road, an uphill, and a downhill, and there are a variety of driver's preferences and intentions regarding running, and there are a variety, of impressions the driver receives from the vehicle during running. Therefore, an expected running characteristic is not necessarily obtained if the running environment changes or the vehicle is driven by another driver. As a result, so-called driveability may deteriorate.
Thus, one type of vehicle has been developed which is arranged to manually select running characteristics, such as a power output characteristic (or acceleration characteristic) and a suspension characteristic, concerning the behavior of the vehicle, by operating a mode selection switch. Namely, the vehicle is arranged to manually select a drive mode from, for example, a sporty mode in which the vehicle runs with an excellent accelerating ability, and the suspension is set to be somewhat hard, a normal mode in which the vehicle accelerates at a relatively low rate, and has a relatively soft suspension characteristic, and an eco mode in which the fuel economy or efficiency is prioritized, by operating the switch.
Also, various systems have been proposed which are configured to cause the driving orientation to be reflected by behavior control of the vehicle. This type of system does not necessitate any switching operation, and permits changes of subtle or detailed characteristics. One example of this type of system is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 06-249007 (JP-A-06-249007). In the system described in JP-A-06-249007, which is a driving force control system using a neurocomputer, the relationship of the acceleration with respect to the acceleration stroke and the vehicle speed is learned as a required acceleration model, and the throttle opening is calculated based on a deviation between the, model and a second reference acceleration model that reflects the driver's orientation or preferences in connection with running, and a deviation between the second reference acceleration model and a first reference acceleration model as a standard model.
Also, a system that is configured to detect the driving characteristics or driving orientation while distinguishing those of the longitudinal direction of the vehicle from those of the lateral direction is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-129924 (JP-A-11-129924). The system described in JP-A-11-129924 obtains an acceleration/braking model of the driver, based on control input information, such as the amount of operation of the accelerator pedal or brake pedal, and behavior information, such as a longitudinal acceleration, and also obtains a steering model of the driver, based on lateral operation information, such as a steering angle, and lateral behavior information, such as a yaw rate.
Both of the systems described in JP-A-06-249007 and JP-A-11-129924 are configured to detect the relationship between the amount of operation performed by the driver and the amount of change of the vehicle behavior achieved by the driver's operation. Like these systems, a system configured to estimate the driving orientation or preferences using variables associated with driving operations, which are derived from the driver's operations, is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 09-242863 (JP-A-09-242863). More specifically, the system described in JP-A-09-242863 is configured to estimate the driving orientation of the vehicle, based on the output of a neural network that receives at least one of the amount of output operation at the time of start of the vehicle, the maximum rate of change of the output operation amount, the maximum deceleration during braking of the vehicle, coasting time of the vehicle, and the constant-vehicle-speed running time.
On the other hand, a system configured to cause the driving orientation and road conditions to be reflected by shift control is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 07-156815 (JP-A-07-156815). The driving orientation is denoted as "crispness" in JP-A-07-156815, and, the crispness representing a driving condition of the driver is estimated by obtaining the frequency distribution for each of vehicle operating parameters including the vehicle speed, accelerator pedal stroke, and the longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and entering the average value and distribution of each frequency distribution into a neural network.
A driving force control system that aims at performing driving force control that more accurately reflects the driver's intention represented by the amount of operation of the vehicle is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-120172 (JP-A-2008-120172). The system described in JP-A-2008-120172 is configured to control the vehicle speed based on the actual vehicle speed, and a target vehicle speed set based on the driver's intention, and change the manner of controlling the vehicle speed according to the lateral acceleration, such that the degree of the change is changed based on a relative vehicle speed between the actual vehicle speed and the target vehicle speed.
A shift control system configured to accurately determine a driver's intention regarding running and perform shift control that reflects the driver's intention is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-257434 (JP-A-2004-257434). In the system as described in JP-A-2004-257434, the absolute value of the vehicle acceleration is integrated for each given period of time so that the integral is updated. When the integral is larger than a first reference value, a first shift schedule is changed to a second shift schedule in which shift lines in a region of at least a part of the first shift schedule are changed to higher-vehicle-speed shift lines, and shift control is performed based on the second shift schedule.
In addition, a system configured to change the content of shift control in accordance with the degree of sportiness is described in the proceedings 944 1994-10 (p. 241-p. 244) of academic symposia held by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan. The system is configured to change the vehicle speed according to the gradient of the road and the manner of driving, and is configured to determine the manner of driving based on the degree of sportiness. The degree of sportiness is determined based on the larger value of the engine load and a degree of tire load, where the degree of tire load is represented by a degree of load relative to the limit friction force of the tire.
Although the systems described in JP-A-06-249007, JP-A-11-129924, JP-A-09-242863, JP-A-07-156815, JP-A-2008-120172, JP-A-004-257434, and the proceedings 944 1994-10 (p. 241 -p. 244) of academic symposia held by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan execute control that reflects the driver's intention regarding running, the systems leave room for improvement.


The air blower (18) of a fuel cell power plant (9) is used to force water out of the coolant flow fields (27) of a fuel cell stack (10), a coolant pump (35) and a heat exchanger (40) through a valve (46) which is closed during normal operation. The water removal occurs as part of a shutdown procedure in which the fuel cell stack continues to operate so that it provides the power for the air pump and to assist in water removal (such as retaining low vapor pressure). The water flow to an accumulator (33) is blocked by a valve (29) during the shutdown procedure.

Damage can occur to fuel cell power plant components as a result of water freezing, whenever a fuel cell power plant is to be non-operational in an ambient environment in subfreezing temperatures. It is known to have an accumulator placed at the lowest point in the coolant system so that freezable coolant that actually flows through the fuel cell stack can drain toward the accumulator. It is also known to use external pumps to blow air or inert gas through various parts of the system in order to purge water therefrom.
However, use of an external pump increases the cost, size, weight and complexity of a fuel cell power plant and may be prohibitive in fuel cell power plants used to power electric vehicles. In addition, when the fuel cell power plant is shut down, an auxiliary power source, such as batteries or supercapacitors, must be utilized in order to power the purging pump equipment. This either reduces auxiliary power available for various functions, such as melting of ice or warming of the fuel cell stack, or else requires larger, heavier and more expensive auxiliary power sources, which also may be prohibitive in electric vehicles.

Purging water with reactant air pump powered by operational fuel cell system during shutdown


A method of neural network-based pattern analysis for real-time threat detection according to an embodiment includes receiving a real-time request for a system resource from a user of the system, determining a user identifier associated with the user of the system, retrieving a set of recent requests associated with the user identifier from a short-term buffer, analyzing, using machine learning, the real-time request based on the set of recent requests and a neural network model to determine whether the real-time request is suspicious, and flagging the real-time request as a suspicious request in response to a determination that the real-time request is suspicious.

Cyberattacks and other malicious attacks on enterprise and organizational computing systems often involve internal actors. Unfortunately, insider attacks are typically also the costliest to fix and more difficult to detect, especially in large-scale software systems with hundreds or thousands of users. Typical strategies for insider threat detection involve monitoring user behavior for anomalies. For example, one technique for anomaly detection is to create a set of rules (e.g., thresholds on number of logins, activity after normal business hours, activity from a certain source IP addresses, etc.). Although such rules are certainly good safeguards to incorporate into a security system, there are some downsides to relying on such rules alone. For example, for a customer who runs global contact centers that operate around the clock, schedule-based rules may not work well. Further, research shows that a majority of insider attacks actually occur during normal business hours. Also, with the burgeoning of remote and hybrid work environments, managing IP address whitelists becomes more difficult. Importantly, rules-based systems also often need tuning, especially as attack patterns change.

Systems and methods relating to neural network-based API request pattern analysis for real-time insider threat detection


An improved smoothing layer for use with a thick film dielectric layer, and improved composite thick film dielectric structure is provided. The smoothing layer is a piezoelectric or ferroelectric material that has a reduced amount of defects. The smoothing layer is formed by the addition of surfactant to a sol gel or metal organic solution of organo metallic precursor compounds. The composite thick film dielectric structure comprises a thick film dielectric composition having a PZT smoothing layer thereon, the smoothing layer being made by a process incorporating surfactant. Both the smoothing layer and the composite thick film dielectric structure are for use in electroluminescent displays.

Thick film dielectric electroluminescent displays are typically fabricated on ceramic, glass ceramic, glass or other heat resistant substrate and provide superior resistance to dielectric breakdown, as well as a reduced operating voltage compared to thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) displays fabricated on glass substrates. The fabrication process for the display entails first depositing a set of row electrodes on the substrate. Next a thick film dielectric layer is deposited, following this, a thin film structure is deposited that comprises one or more thin film dielectric layers sandwiching one or more thin phosphor films and a set of optically transparent column electrodes. The entire structure is covered with a sealing layer that protects the thick and thin film structures from degradation due to moisture or other atmospheric contaminants.
The composite thick film dielectric layers used in such displays have a high dielectric constant, allowing the use of relatively thick dielectric layers in the displays without a significant increase in the display operating voltage. Because the dielectric breakdown strength of these materials is relatively low, relatively thick dielectric layers are used, typically greater than about 10 micrometers, to prevent dielectric breakdown during display operation. Typically, the thick film layer comprises a sintered perovskite piezoelectric or ferroelectric material such as lead magnesium niobate (PMN) or lead magnesium titanate-zirconate (PMN-PT) with a dielectric constant of several thousand. There may also be a thinner overlayer of a compatible piezoelectric or ferroelectric material such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) applied using metal organic deposition (MOD) or sol gel techniques to smooth the thick film surface for deposition of a thin film phosphor structure.
The Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,015 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) discloses thick film dielectric composite structures for use in electroluminescent displays. The thick film layer is sintered at high temperatures onto a suitable substrate onto which thin film gold electrodes have been applied to achieve a sintered thick film density that is sufficiently high that the remaining porosity, particularly in the upper portion of the layer can be filled by an overlayer deposited using sol gel or MOD techniques. However, the overlayer does not completely fill the porosity of the sintered material since it undergoes a severe volume reduction when the sol gel or MOD precursor materials are fired to form the piezoelectric or ferroelectric material.
The Applicant's PCT patent application Serial No. WO00/70917 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses an isostatic pressing process by which a deposited thick film dielectric material is mechanically compressed using an isostatic pressing process prior to sintering. This serves the function of increasing the density and decreasing the porosity of the thick film material so that when the overlayer is applied, both the dielectric constant and the dielectric strength of the layer are increased. Dielectric breakdown is associated with random defects in the dielectric layers and the probability of breakdown increases with increasing display area. Thus layers with a higher nominal dielectric strength are desired for use for larger area displays to counteract this tendency.
The Applicant's International Patent Application PCT CA02/01932 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) discloses a modified thick film paste formulation used to make a thick film dielectric layer. This modified thick film dielectric layer may be sintered at temperatures as low as 650° C. to facilitate the use of a glass substrate. However, the modified thick film dielectric layer still contains residual porosity.
It is therefore desired to provide an improved composite thick film dielectric structure that exhibits fewer defects (i.e. pores or holes) which potentially act as sites for dielectric breakdown and provide a conduit for undesirable reactions between the thick film dielectric layer and phosphor layers leading to reduced display life.

Thick film dielectric structure for thick dielectric electroluminescent displays


A process for making highly mechanical and chemical resistant ceramic substrates, especially tiles is provided, wherein the process comprises coating said substrates with a base coat layer of a thermosetting or radiation curable powder coating composition, curing the applied powder coating composition, and applying a further layer of a liquid coating composition and curing the composition by exposure to heat. Coated ceramic substrates, in particular tiles are also provided.

Usually ceramic substrates such as tiles or sanitary fittings are coated with enamels in order to be highly decorative as well as scratch, wear and solvent resistant. However enameling consumes large amounts of energy and has limitations in view of decoration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,181 relates to a method of applying a coating(s) composed of a primer and a topcoat on glass substrates. The primer, intended to protect the substrate from damage upon impact, is applied as a solution comprising a thermosetting binder composed of a hydroxy functional polyester; the powder topcoat serves for improving resistance to caustic soda and also comprises a thermosetting binder composed of a hydroxy functional polyester.
DE 19748927 relates to a method for obtaining a scratch resistant decorative or functional coating obtained from a thermosetting composition comprising polyester or polyurethane resins on heat resistant non metallic substrates. The substrate is heated to a temperature which is above the softening temperature of the coating to be applied. Subsequently the powder is applied to the heated substrate without the use of electrostatic field, the substrate itself being electrically insulated. The substrate then is transferred to an oven for curing the thermosetting powder. A two coat system is illustrated: a first black powder coating, a polyester TGIC system, is applied at a thickness of 200 microns and cured for 10 minutes. Subsequently a second clear layer of the same polyester TGIC system containing brass flakes is applied and cured for another 10 minutes in order to obtain a highly decorative coating.
WO 2008/055921 relates to a process for coating ceramic substrates with a powder coating composition comprising at least one polyester having carboxy- and/or hydroxy-functional groups and at least one hardener having functional groups reactable with the polyester functional groups as base coat, and with a coating composition comprising a radiation curable resin as further layer.
WO 2008/055922 relates to a process for coating ceramic substrates with a powder coating composition comprising at least one acrylic copolymer comprising carboxy hydroxy and/or glycidyl functional groups and at least one hardener having functional groups reactable with the acrylic copolymers' functional groups to the substrate. A powder primer layer is often first applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,137 relates to a method of forming color images on tiles or glass wherein the substrate is first coated with a clear powder polymer coating cured at 80% to 95%, then a xerographically color image is applied, finally another layer of the same polymer and then the system is heated to achieve complete cure.
None of these prior art coatings obtain a high decorative finish with outstanding mechanical and chemical performance, such as scratch resistance and chemical resistance.
Hardness of the finishes proposed thus far was often not sufficient, and especially extreme hardness (3H-4H) in combination with outstanding solvent and heat shock resistance formed a technical challenge.

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