A control signal generation circuit according to the present invention includes a plurality of control circuits supplying different internal control signals as outputs, respectively, and a common delay circuit. The common delay circuit includes a plurality of delay circuits for delaying a control signal serving as a reference. These delay circuits are connected in series and output signals of respective delay circuits can be taken out through taps provided corresponding thereto. Each of the plurality of control circuits sets a signal level of a corresponding internal control signal according to the change in a signal level of a corresponding tap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control signal generation circuit, and more particularly to a favorable structure of the control signal generation circuit for generating an internal control signal of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Background Art
In semiconductor devices including memory devices, generally a circuit supplying a control signal as an output is provided for the generation of an internal control signal which is employed for the control of a series of internal operations sequentially performed at a predetermined timing.
In a control signal generation circuit in a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), for example, first, command control signals such as /RAS, /CAS and /WE signals are supplied from an external source, then a command is generated according to the combination thereof, and a plurality of internal control signals are sequentially activated for carrying out a series of operations corresponding to the command.
FIG. 14 is a circuit diagram showing a structure of a control signal generation circuit 510 which is an example of a control circuit for generating a read command in the DRAM.
With reference to FIG. 14, control signal generation circuit 510 includes a logic gate LG50 supplying the result of an AND operation as an output according to the combination of signal levels of command control signals such as /RAS, /CAS, and so on supplied as inputs, a logic gate LG52 supplying the result of an OR operation of the output results from logic gates LG50 and LG54, and an edge trigger flip flop 515 taking in the output of logic gate LG52 in response to the rising edge of a clock signal CLK and determining the signal level of a read command signal READ.
Read command signal READ is activated (to an H level) when the read command is designated. A burst operation end signal /BSTEND is a signal which is set to an H level at the start of the reading operation and set to an L level at the end of the burst operation. Logic gate LG54 supplies the result of the AND operation of read command signal READ and burst operation end signal /BSTEND as an output. Thus the output of logic gate LG54 is set to an H level at the start of the reading operation and maintained at an H level until the end of the burst operation.
Therefore, when the read command is designated by the combination of command control signals supplied as inputs to logic gate LG50, read command signal READ is set to an H level by flip flop 515 at the rise of clock signal CLK.
After the reading operation is started, the output of logic gate LG54 is turned to an L level in response to the end of the burst operation. Through taking in the L level output via logic gate LG52 from LG54 at the rising edge of clock signal CLK, flip flop 515 resets read command signal READ to an L level.
Logic gate LG50 receives a row address strobe signal /RAS, a column address strobe signal /CAS, a chip select signal /CS and a write enable signal /WE. The combination of L level /CAS and /CS signals and H level /RAS and /WE signals designates the read command and causes the output of logic gate LG50 to be set to an H level.
In response to the activation of read command signal READ supplied as an output from control signal generation circuit 510, various internal control signals are activated to carry out the operation according to the read command. As an example, the generation of internal control signals for a column-related reading operation of the DRAM will be described below.
FIG. 15 is a circuit diagram showing a structure of a control signal generation circuit 520 supplying as an output a preamplifier activation signal PAE, which is one of internal control signals relating to the column-related reading operation.
With reference to FIG. 15, control signal generation circuit 520 includes a delay circuit 522 receiving clock signal CLK and supplying clock signal CLK delayed by a delay time td0 as an output, a logic gate LG60 supplying the result of an AND operation of read command signal READ and the output of delay circuit 522, a delay circuit 524 delaying the output of logic gate LG60 (by a delay time td1), a delay circuit 526 delaying the output of delay circuit 524 (by a delay time td2) and a logic gate LG62 carrying out an AND operation of the outputs of delay circuits 524 and 526. Logic gate LG62 supplies preamplifier activation signal PAE as an output.
FIG. 16 is a circuit diagram showing a structure of a control signal generation circuit 530 generating a column decoder activation signal CDE, which is one of the control signals relating to the column-related reading operation like the preamplifier activation signal.
With reference to FIG. 16, control signal generation circuit 530 supplies column decoder activation signal CDE according to read command signal READ and clock signal CLK, similarly to control signal generation circuit 520.
Though control signal generation circuit 530 has a similar structure to control signal generation circuit 520, differences exist in that delay circuits 522, 524 and 526 in control signal generation circuit 520 are replaced with delay circuits 532, 534 and 536 for adding different delay times td3, td4 and td5, respectively, in control signal generation circuit 530, and that control signal generation circuit 530 includes an OR gate as a logic gate LG66 for supplying control signal CDE as an output.
The activation and inactivation of internal control signals, including PAE and CDE are required to be carried out at appropriate timing for the correct reading operation. The timing is adjusted through the suitable setting of delay time added by a group of delay circuits to a reference control signal, which is obtained as the result of AND operation of read command signal READ and the signal obtained by delaying clock signal CLK.
FIG. 17 is a timing chart referenced for describing operations of control signal generation circuits 520 and 530.
As shown in FIG. 17, when the read command is designated according to the combination of command control signals /RAS, /CAS, /CS and /WE, the read command is taken in at the time of the rise of clock signal CLK at time t0. At time td1, that is, tdR after time t0, read command signal READ is activated (to an H level) by control signal generation circuit 510.
When the sum of delay time added by delay circuit 522 to clock signal CLK and delay time added by delay circuits 524 and 526 to the output of logic gate LG60, that is, td0+td1+td2, has passed after time t0, preamplifier activation signal PAE is activated (to an H level) at time t3. On the other hand, the fall of clock signal CLK is transmitted to logic gate LG62 after the time delay td0+td1. Hence, provided that the activation period of clock signal CLK is Tw, preamplifier activation signal PAE is maintained at an active state (H level) for the duration of Twxe2x88x92td2 and then attains an inactive state (L level) at time t4.
Column decoder activation signal CDE is activated (to an H level) in response to the rise of clock signal CLK at time t2, that is, the sum of delay time added at delay circuits 532 and 534, td3+td4, has elapsed after time t0.
The falling edge of clock signal CLK is transmitted to logic gate LG66 via delay circuits 532 and 534 in a similar manner. As delay time td5 is further added to one input to logic gate LG66 by delay circuit 536, column decoder activation signal CDE is maintained at an active state for the duration of Tw+td5 and inactivated (to an L level) again at time t5.
Thereafter, while read command signal READ is in an active state, the activation and inactivation of these control signals are carried out at the timing as described above in response to the rising and falling edges of clock signal CLK.
In control signal generation circuits 510 and 520, through the suitable setting of delay times td0xcx9ctd5, column decoder activation signal CDE is activated after the completion of taking-in and decoding of column address following the start of reading operation and the preamplifier signal is activated after read data appears on a data line in response to the activation of column decoder activation signal CDE. On the other hand, for the inactivation of the column-related reading operation, column decoder activation signal CDE is inactivated following the inactivation of the preamplifier signal.
Here, delay times td0 and td3 added respectively by delay circuits 522 and 532 are set such that they are longer than time tdR, that is, a period from the rise of clock signal CLK to the activation of read command signal READ. The purpose is to prevent an activation period of a control signal generated in response to a rising edge of a clock signal at the command generation from being shortened than that of a signal generated in response to other rising edge of the clock signal.
As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the delay circuits for the timing adjustment have generally been arranged independently for internal control signals of different types in the conventional control signal generation circuit. As a result, however, the increase in the number of types of internal control signals directly leads to increase in the number of delay circuits hence to the increase in layout area. The reduction of layout are is crucial today as the reduction in size of devices to which semiconductor device is incorporated is being advanced.
An object of the present invention is to reduce the layout area of the control signal generation circuit by sharing a delay circuit among a plurality of control signal generation circuits.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the chip area of a semiconductor device by providing a plurality of control signal generation circuits sharing a delay circuit.
The present invention is, in brief, a control signal generation circuit generating a plurality of first control signals according to a second control signal which serves as a reference and including a delay circuit and a plurality of signal generation circuits.
The delay circuit has a function of delaying the second control signal by a predetermined time period and includes a plurality of delay units connected in series and a plurality of taps taking out output signals from the plurality of delay units, respectively. The plurality of signal generation circuits generate the plurality of first control signals, respectively. Each of the plurality of signal generation circuits sets a signal level of corresponding one of the plurality of first control signals according to the signal levels of at least two of a plurality of delay signals supplied to the plurality of taps, respectively.
According to another aspect, the present invention is a semiconductor device including a control signal generation circuit.
The control signal generation circuit generates a plurality of internal control signals for carrying out a series of predetermined operations in the semiconductor device according to a control signal which serves as a reference and includes a delay circuit for delaying the control signal as a reference by a predetermined time period. The delay circuit includes a plurality of delay units connected in series and a plurality of taps for taking out output signals of the plurality of delay units, respectively.
The control signal generation circuit further includes a plurality of signal generation circuits for supplying a plurality of internal control signals, respectively. Each of the plurality of signal generation circuits sets a signal level of corresponding one of the plurality of control signals according to the signal levels of at least two of the plurality of delay signals supplied as outputs to the plurality of taps, respectively.
According to still another aspect, the present invention is a control signal generation circuit generating a plurality of first control signals based on a second control signal having a first state and a second state, and the control signal generation circuit includes a first delay circuit, a second delay circuit, and a plurality of signal generation circuits.
The first delay circuit is responsive to a first transition of the second control signal from the first state to the second state to output a plurality of first delay signals. A signal level of each of the plurality of first delay signals is changed a delay time after the first transition. The delay time is different from signal to signal. The second delay circuit is responsive to a second transition of the second control signal from the second state to the first state to output a plurality of second delay signals. A signal level of each of the plurality of second delay signals is changed a delay time after the second transition. The delay time is different from signal to signal.
The plurality of signal generation circuits generate the plurality of first control signals, respectively. Each of the signal generation circuits sets a signal level of a corresponding one of the plurality of first control signals in response to change in signal levels of the plurality of first delay signals and the plurality of second delay signals.
According to still another aspect, the present invention is a semiconductor device including a control signal generation circuit.
The control signal generation circuit is responsive to a reference control signal having a first state and a second state to generate a plurality of internal control signals for performing a series of predetermined operations in the semiconductor device. The control signal generation circuit includes a first delay circuit responsive to a first transition of the reference control signal from the first state to the second state to output a plurality of first delay signals. A signal level of each of the plurality of first delay signals is changed a delay time after the first transition. The delay time is different from signal to signal. The control signal generation circuit further includes a second delay circuit responsive to a second transition of the reference control signal from the second state to the first state to output a plurality of second delay signals. A signal level of each of the plurality of second delay signals is changed a delay time after the second transition. The delay time is different from signal to signal. The control signal generation circuit further includes a plurality of signal generation circuits to generate the plurality of internal control signals, respectively. Each of the signal generation circuits sets a signal level of a corresponding one of the plurality of internal control signals in response to change in signal levels of the plurality of first delay signals and the plurality of second delay signals.
Thus, a main advantage of the present invention lies in that as the plurality of second control signals can be generated based on the first control signal which is delayed by the predetermined time period by the delay circuit shared among signal generation circuits, the layout area of the control signal generation circuit generating the plurality of internal control signals at a predetermined timing according to the same control signal can be reduced.
In addition, the layout area of the semiconductor device can be reduced as the internal control signal controlling the operation of the semiconductor device is generated by the control signal generation circuit capable of generating the internal control signal according to the reference control signal which is delayed by a predetermined time period by the delay circuit shared among the signal generation circuits.
Further, the plurality of first control signals which are generated in response to rise and fall of the second control signal serving as a reference can be generated through the common delay circuit without increase in layout area of the control signal generation circuit and hence, the semiconductor device. Still further, the timing accuracy of the first control signal can be improved because the delay circuit is shared and the device becomes less susceptible to the effect of variation in delay time caused by the difference in layout.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Semiconductor device including a control signal generation circuit allowing reduction in size


An electroluminescent display and a method of driving the same are disclosed. In one aspect, the display includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels configured to operate based on a first power supply voltage having a negative voltage level. The display panel is configured to generate at least one feedback voltage corresponding to an ohmic drop of the first power supply voltage. An analog-to-digital converter is configured to generate at least one digital feedback signal based on the at least one feedback voltage. An adaptive voltage controller is configured to generate a voltage control signal based on input image data, the at least one digital feedback signal, a distribution of the input image data and the ohmic drop of the first power supply voltage. A voltage converter is configured to generate the first power supply voltage based on an input voltage and the voltage control signal.

Field
The described technology generally relates to an electroluminescent display and a method of driving the electroluminescent display.
Description of the Related Technology
Various display devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma displays, and electroluminescent displays have gained popularity. Among these, the electroluminescent display can be driven with quick response speed and reduced power consumption, using a matrix of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or an organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that emit light through recombination of electrons and holes. Each OLED includes an anode electrode, a cathode electrode and a light-emitting layer between the two electrodes, and the light-emitting layer is formed of material that emits light depending on a driving current flowing through the light-emitting layer from the anode electrode to the cathode electrode. The luminance of the electroluminescent display is determined by the driving currents of the OLEDs in the respective pixels. Thus, higher driving currents are required as the displayed image has increased brightness.

Electroluminescent display and method of driving the same


A protective fabric, and garments made therefrom, having superior resistance to wear and abrasion, as well as good flexibility and stretchability enabling the fabric to be conformed to the structure intended to be protected. The knitted fabric and garments made therefrom comprise a monofilament polymer having a gauge of 0.03 to 0.08 inches interknitted to form a structure of repeated interconnected loops or coils. The structure may be honeycomb-like in appearance. The monofilament polymer may be from a material selected from the group consisting of polyamide, Teflon, polyester or viscose.

The invention relates to knitted protective fabrics and garments made therefrom.
The prior art is replete with protective fabrics used in a variety of contexts including protective clothing for use by athletes, law enforcement and military personnel; and material for use in manufacturing, packaging and outdoor applications. Ideally, protective fabrics will be light and will exhibit sufficient flexibility to conform to the surface intended to be protected, without compromising the strength and resilience properties required to achieve the desired protective effect. For example, in the case of fabrics used to make protective clothing, the garment must be flexible enough to conform to the wearer's body, yet have adequate rigidity to impart the necessary strength characteristics, i.e. to avoid injury arising from high impact falls or violent impact by objects whether large and blunt or small and piercing, without unduly compromising freedom of movement or comfort.
One approach is found in ballistic resistant articles which use reinforced fibres to create a woven fabric, as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,401. However, these and other conventional woven fabrics are made with light gauge yarn filaments which yields a fine weave. Such fabrics are relatively light but exhibit poor resistance to wear and abrasion. Further, although woven fabrics are flexible and can conform to the surface intended to be protected, such fabrics lack elastic properties (stretchability) and are ill-suited for cushioning against force from blunt objects, sharp edges and shock impact which may result from a fall while in motion, a common occurrence in sports such as in-line skating, bicycling, skate boarding, etc.
Another approach is to add padding or other layers of material to reinforce the fabric for desired purposes, but this approach increases cost and complexity in the design and manufacturing process. Moreover, the padding can be bulky, and unseemly in appearance.
A still further type of protective fabric is metal ring (chain mail) fabric. Chain mail fabric is used to make protective garments for persons who are at risk of injury as a result of their having to work with knives, sharp tools or machinery which is used to cut, perforate, or puncture other objects. Chain mail fabric is strong and flexible enough to hug the body of the wearer, forming a protective sheath around the selected body part, thereby avoiding possible entanglement with loosely hanging garments, and protecting the wearer from injury from sharp objects. However, chain mail is not adapted to cushion against shock or abrasion because it is not stretchable.
Moreover, chain mail garments are relatively expensive to manufacture and have a number of other disadvantages. For example, the repeating series of metal rings which are used in chain mail result in a protective garment which is heavier than conventional garments made from yarn or non-metal fabric, and which may be uncomfortable worn next to the skin for prolonged periods in hot, humid or very cold conditions. Further, the metal can chafe or irritate the skin of the wearer, particularly if motions are repeated. A further drawback of chain mail is its relative lack of elasticity. The prior art reflects a number of attempts to address this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,242 describes a chain mail garment which orients the metal rings with regard to the natural motion of the body so as to avoid tension in connection with bending movements. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,241 describes a chain mail fabric of a protective garment which is impregnated with an elastomeric material to impart elastic characteristics to the fabric.

Knitted protective fabric and garments made therefrom


The invention relates to a process for the selective recovery of olefins from a mixture of gases by: a) bringing a gaseous mixture having olefins and hydrogen into contact with silver nitrate solution whereby the olefins are absorbed into the silver nitrate solution as a complex; b) separating the solution having complexed olefins from the non-absorbed gases; c) depressurising and heating the olefin complex solution from (b) so as to release the olefins from the complex and regenerate the silver nitrate solution; d) passing the regenerated silver nitrate solution through a bed containing silver oxide so as to maintain the pH value of the silver nitrate at between 3 and 6; and e) recycling the silver nitrate solution regenerated in (d) to step (a).

This invention relates to a method of reducing nitrogen oxide emissions in processes involving selective olefin recovery from a mixture of gases generated in petrochemical processing.
In petrochemical processing such as eg an ethylene cracker, olefins are made by steam cracking hydrocarbon feedstocks. Such a process results in the formation of a mixture of olefins and paraffins such as eg ethylene, ethane, propylene and propane and is contaminated further with by-products which include hydrogen, diolefins and acetylenic compounds. Thus, the so-called xe2x80x98Selective Olefin Recoveryxe2x80x99 (hereafter xe2x80x9cSORxe2x80x9d) processes have been devised to selectively recover olefins such as ethylene and propylene from the steam cracked products. The SOR process is based on the formation of a complex between the desired olefins and silver ions at relatively high gas pressures and relatively low temperatures. This complex formation is reversible in that when the pressure is reduced and the temperature is increased, the complex breaks down into the component olefin and silver ions. The SOR process is normally carried out by contacting the mixture of gases from the cracking process containing the olefins with an aqueous solution of silver nitrate (e.g. 2-6 M silver nitrate) in a vertical absorption tower at about 7 to 24 barg at and at 10-40xc2x0 C. solution inlet temperature. A solution rich in the complex is withdrawn from the bottom of the absorption tower and fed into a lower pressure vessel which is maintained at a relatively higher temperature (e.g 60-110xc2x0 C.) where the complex is broken down and the complexed olefin released and recovered. The remaining solution lean in olefins is cooled and recycled back to the absorption tower. A known SOR process is described in WO 98/25871.
It is well known, however, that the SOR process involving the use of silver nitrate solution is not straightforward. For instance, it is also known that hydrogen can lead to the decomposition of silver salt solutions to produce elemental silver. The high sensitivity of the silver nitrate solution to low levels of hydrogen has been established experimentally. Silver nitrate solution has been shown to remove free hydrogen down to levels of less than 10 ppm by bubbling gases containing various levels of hydrogen through silver nitrate solutions in glassware. The lowest concentration of hydrogen used corresponded to 10 ppm at 9 barg pressure. The reaction between hydrogen and silver nitrate can be represented by the following equation:
H2+2AgNO32Ag+2HNO3xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(I)
Thus, it is clear that this reaction in which nitric acid is generated will lead to an increase in the acidity of the solution. For instance, the pH value of the silver nitrate solution continuously falls from the initial value of 4.5 to about 3.5 in about 2-3 weeks in a pilot reactor. Moreover, the precipitation of silver from the silver nitrate solution means that the silver nitrate solution becomes depleted in the silver ions necessary to complex the desired olefins, reducing the efficiency of the SOR process. Moreover, traces of methyl acetylene and acetylene in the gaseous cracked products fed to the absorber will also react with the silver nitrate solution to increase the acidity.
We have found that the above chemical reaction with hydrogen reaches equilibrium provided it is operated at a sufficiently high concentration of HNO3, thereby preventing the deposition of silver. However, in order to achieve the desired concentration of acid, an increased level of nitric acid has to be used which in turn leads to an increase in the evolution of undesirable oxides of nitrogen (hereafter xe2x80x9cNOxxe2x80x9d) in the olefin product gas. For instance, the level of acidity required to prevent silver deposition was determined to be of the order of 20 wt % by determining the level of nitric acid required to redissolve precipitated silver. At this acidity level, the NOx impurity level is above the permitted limit of 1 ppm for NOx in eg the ethylene product. As a rough guide, the relative concentrations of NOx in a given silver nitrate solution can be summarised as follows:
It has now been found that the problem of controlling the pH of the silver nitrate solution in order to minimise NOx emissions can be reduced or eliminated by contacting the silver nitrate solution with silver oxide. This not only neutralises the acidity of the silver nitrate solution, but also replaces the silver ions lost by silver deposition by producing silver nitrate as a salt of neutralisation.
Accordingly, the present invention is a process for the selective recovery of a olefins from a mixture of gases, said process comprising:
a. bringing a gaseous mixture comprising olefins and hydrogen into contact with silver nitrate solution whereby the olefins are absorbed into the silver nitrate solution as a complex;
b. separating the solution comprising the complexed olefins from the non-absorbed gases;
C. depressurising and heating the olefin complex solution from (b) so as to release the olefins from the complex and regenerate the silver nitrate solution;
d. passing said regenerated silver nitrate solution through a bed comprising silver oxide so as to maintain the pH value of the silver nitrate at between 3 and 6; and
e. recycling the silver nitrate solution regenerated in (d) to step (a).
The reaction of step a) may be carried out in an absorption tower. Under the reaction conditions which are usually of relatively high pressure and relatively low temperature, the olefins are absorbed into the silver nitrate solution as a complex. The hydrogen present in the gaseous mixture also reacts with silver nitrate to produce silver metal and nitric acid, which lowers the pH of the resulting solution.
Step a) may be carried out at pressures of about 5 to 40 barg, preferably, 7 to 24 barg.
Step a) may be carried out at temperatures of about 5 to 50xc2x0 C., preferably, 15-30xc2x0 C.
Preferably, the silver nitrate solution employed has a concentration of 1 to 10 M, preferably, 2 to 6 M, for example 5 M.
In step b), the solution comprising the complexed olefins is separated from the non-absorbed gases, and then depressurised and heated in step c). Step c) releases the olefins from the complex, and regenerates the silver nitrate solution. The regenerated silver nitrate solution is of an increased acidity compared with the original silver nitrate solution, and contains particulate silver as a result of the reaction between silver nitrate and hydrogen. The high concentrations of acid may result in high NOx values, and furthermore the formation of silver metal depletes the concentration of silver ions in the regenerated solution, thereby reducing its ability to complex olefins. As will be explained below, these difficulties may be alleviated by the use of silver oxide.
Optionally, the particulate silver suspended in the regenerated silver nitrate solution may be recovered by passing the regenerated silver nitrate solution through a filtering aid which is capable of retaining the particulate silver. This step is preferably carried out before passing the regenerated silver nitrate solution through a bed comprising silver oxide (i.e. step d). It is possible, however, for such a filtering step to be carried out at any point during the process of the present invention.
In step d), the regenerated silver nitrate solution is passed through a bed comprising silver oxide. The silver oxide neutralises the acidity of the silver nitrate solution by a reaction represented by the following equations (IIA and IIB):
Ag2O+H2Oxe2x86x922AgOH
AgOH+HNO3xe2x86x92AgNO3+H2O
The reaction not only neutralises the nitric acid, but also produces silver nitrate. This silver nitrate is a source of silver ions which can be used to replace the silver ions lost, for example, in the reaction between hydrogen and silver nitrate. The treated silver nitrate solution from step d) can then be recycled to step a).
The process of the present invention is particularly suitable for selective recovery of olefins such as ethylene and propylene from petrochemical streams which have been subjected to steam cracking. The process of the present invention may enable the crude products of steam cracking to be processed for the recovery of olefins without any additional separation procedures to render such crude products completely free of compounds such as hydrogen, acetylenic compounds or the like. In operating this process, however, it may be desirable to remove acetylenic compounds before the main feedstream comprising the olefins and the other gases are fed to the absorption tower. This may be done by passing the feedstream through a guard bed comprising means (eg a source of silver ions) capable of forming an acetylide or acetylene complex with the acetylene and methyl acetylene present therein. A suitable example of such a guard bed having a source of silver ions is a commercially available silver-ion exchanged zeolite 13 X. By passing the feedstream through such a zeolite, substantially all of the acetylenic compounds may be removed from the feedstream. Alternatively, the feedstream can be fed directly into an absorption tower and the amount of acetylides formed in the silver nitrate solution can be monitored continuously to ensure that before they reach unacceptable levels, a suitable amount of these acetylides is removed
A suitable method for removing acetylenes from a hydrocarbon stream is described in WO 98/25871. This method employs a selective hydrogenation step to reduce the concentration of acetylenes and dienes in the stream to ppm levels.
The aforementioned methods, however, do not remove all of the hydrogen present in the feedstreams. Hence, each of these steps alone is inadequate to resolve the problems associated with the presence of hydrogen in the feedstream. As described above, further treatment by using silver oxide is therefore necessary.
In one embodiment of the invention, a gaseous mixture of olefins and hydrogen (the feedstream) is fed to the bottom of an absorption tower and a stream of silver nitrate is fed from the top enabling maximum contact time between the feed gases and silver nitrate so as to complex as much of the olefins in one pass as is possible. The complex formation and absorption of olefins by silver nitrate is a mildly exothermic process and thus the temperature of silver nitrate entering at the top of the absorption tower is usually lower than that of the same solution, now having complexed olefins therein.
The solution of the complex may suitably be withdrawn from the base of the absorption tower and pumped into a desorbing chamber where it is depressurised and heated to about 50 to 100xc2x0 C., preferably, 60-90xc2x0 C. The desorption process releases the complexed olefins from the silver nitrate solution and these are flashed off at the top of the desorption chamber. The olefins may be separated from one another, for example, by distillation. A suitable distillation method is described in WO 98/25871.
The residual (regenerated) silver nitrate solution is acidic, because the hydrogen present in the feedstream reacts with silver nitrate to produce nitric acid (see chemical equation I above). The reaction also converts at least some of the silver ions originally present in the silver nitrate solution to silver metal, reducing the capacity of the regenerated silver nitrate solution to complex with olefins. The silver metal may be entrained in the regenerated silver nitrate solution as a suspension of particulate silver, and this solution may optionally be passed through a filtering aid to remove particulate silver therefrom. The filtering aid may be located in the process stream either before or after the silver nitrate solution emergent from the desorption chamber is cooled to about 15-45xc2x0 C., preferably, 20-40xc2x0 C.
The particulate silver recovered from the filtering aid may be processed separately by converting back to a silver nitrate solution by dissolution thereof in a fresh aliquot of nitric acid.
The regenerated silver nitrate solution, whether filtered or not, is preferably cooled, and then passed through a bed of silver oxide to neutralise the excess acid and to replace the silver lost due to reduction by the presence of hydrogen. This step may be carried out at 10 to 50xc2x0 C., preferably, 15 to 30xc2x0 C., and 5 to 40 barg, preferably 7 to 24 barg.
The bed of silver oxide used is suitably in the form of pellets. Such pellets may be extruded without the use of a binding agent. Silver oxide may also be used in the form of a liquid (eg water) slurry, a dry powder or on an inert support such as a zeolite, an alumina or a clay. The silver oxide may be contacted with the regenerated silver nitrate solution in a stirred reactor or within a vessel. The vessel may be provided with an outlet filter to prevent the silver metal or silver oxide from exiting the vessel. The silver oxide enables control of the pH value of the silver nitrate solution within the region of 3 to 6, preferably, 3.5 to 5.5 and most preferably, 4 to 5.5. A surprising feature of the present invention is that the pH value of the silver nitrate solution is maintained within the desired region even when a large excess of silver oxide is present. This property of silver oxide is very important to the method of pH control chosen.
Thus, in summary, an embodiment of the process of the present invention may be carried out by bringing into contact a mixture of gases comprising the olefins with an aqueous solution of silver nitrate in a vertical absorption tower at about 7 to 24 barg and at about 15-30xc2x0 C. A solution rich in the complex is separated from the non-absorbed gases by preferably, withdrawing the solution comprising the complex from the bottom of the absorption tower and feeding it into a lower pressure desorption vessel which is maintained at a relatively higher temperature (eg 60-90xc2x0 C.). Here, the complex is broken down and the complexed olefin is released and recovered overhead. A lean, acidic solution of silver nitrate remains, and this is preferably cooled, optionally filtered, and neutralised by passing the solution through a bed of silver oxide. Thus treated, the solution is then recycled back to the absorption tower.
The benefits of the pH control process of the invention are that:
i) The olefin take up of the silver salt is not adversely affectedxe2x80x94for every mole of silver deposited, a mole of acid is made, for every mole of acid neutralised, a mole of silver is solubilised.
ii) Corrosion of the materials of construction is controlled.
iii) The NOx levels in the product stream are controlled within the product specification.

pH control method of reducing nitrogen oxides emission


A bifocal crystal optic lens made of a uniaxial crystal comprising two surfaces having a same axis, at least one of the two surfaces being a spherical surface or an aspherical surface. An optical system for an optical pickup device includes; a crystal optic lens consisting of a first lens body made of a transparent uniaxial crystal and a second lens body made of a transparent optical material selected from a second uniaxial crystal and an optical isotropic material, the first and second lens bodies joining via a spherically or aspherically curved interface; and an objective lens aligned with the crystal optic lens in a same optical axis of an incident ray. This optical system for the optical pickup device is capable of making simultaneously two focal points in the same axis, so as to simplify preferably the structure of the compatible video optical disc player for CD and SD to minimize the size thereof, thereby providing a relatively low cost for the manufacture thereof.

1.Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarizing optical element, and particularly to an optical pickup system or lens system used in an optical data reading device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a demand for a bifocal lens having two different focal lengths usable for an optical pickup system or lens system in an optical data reading device such as a compatible video optical disc player and the like which can read data from a so-called CD (compact disc), SD (super density disc) and the like. It is convenient to play such optical discs of CD, SD and the like which are formed on the basis of different specifications such as various different optical disc thickness by only a single player device. In case of reproduction of data from the optical disc with a multi-layered structure, the thicknesses of layers to be focused are different in such an optical disc. Therefore layers of the multi-layered disc cause spherical aberrations to the objective lens for reading data. Further, the most suitable numerical aperture NA of a certain objective lens for reading data varies for the different optical discs. The bifocal lens is helpful for solving such problems.
A bifocal hologram lens is known. The hologram lens comprises a circular diffraction grating including concentric circular lands and grooves are having a refractive index distribution allowing for a lens action. The hologram lens can separate an incident light beam into some light beams because of its diffraction.
It is difficult to manufacture the bifocal hologram lens having a high diffraction efficiency. The bifocal hologram lens tends to reduce the light beam intensity practically used for the pickup device. In addition, since the performance of the bifocal hologram lens is dependent on the another incident light beam, the bifocal hologram lens is weak against deviations of another of the incident light beam source. These are drawbacks of the bifocal hologram lens.

Crystal optic lens and an optical system for an optical pickup device


There is provided a scheme for bit error rate detection. It comprises: detecting the bit value present in a received multi-level signal, more narrowly detecting the bit value present in that received multi-level signal, comparing the results of narrow detection with the results detected otherwise to identify errors in detection, and accumulating detected symbol errors over unit time. Bit error rate detection can be used for antenna selection--selecting one of a plurality of diversity antennas when the error rate exceeds a certain error threshold.

Conventionally, received bit error rates are determined by one of two methods: by transmitting from time to time a known symbol pattern of sufficient length to have a high probability of at least one error, or by including an error-detecting code in the normal data and keeping a count of the errors so found. Either of these methods have the problem of requiring many bits of transmitted data to make an accurate estimate of the bit error rate. For instance, if the expected bit error rate is 1 in 100 thousand (a typical figure), an accurate estimate of the actual error rate would require the evaluation of several hundred thousand bits.
The additional system overhead bits required by either of these schemes undermines system throughput and constrains BER measurements to ensue on specific events or at specific predetermined intervals.
This invention then takes as its object to overcome these shortcomings and to realize certain advantages presented below.


There is provided a digital information signal recording and reproducing apparatus which is arranged to input a plurality of kinds of digital video signals, generate sub-information indicative of a television system of the digital video signal, and form a track on a recording medium to record the digital video signal and the sub-information related to the digital video signal at predetermined locations on the track, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for recording and reproducing information such as video information and, more particularly, to discrimination information (hereinafter referred to as "sub-information") which is recorded together with main information such as video/audio information and which is related to the processing of recording and reproducing the main information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the D2 format which has heretofore been known as one digital VTR format, three tracks are defined at a predetermined location along the length of a tape so that sub-information is recorded on the three tracks by a fixed head different from a head provided on a helical scan type drum for recording and reproducing main information including a video information signal and an audio information signal.
The three tracks are a cue track for realizing a cueing function or the like, a time-code track for time information, and a control track on which signals are recorded such as a video frame pulse and an audio frame pulse.
However, in the above-described conventional example, since it is necessary to mount fixed heads (for recording, reproduction and erasure) at predetermined locations on a tape path with a predetermined accuracy, it is difficult to reduce the size and price of digital VTRs.
Furthermore, since the three tracks occupy a large area in a tape space, no tape can be economically used.
In addition, since no satisfactory sub-information can be obtained from only the above-described time information, video frame pulse and audio frame pulse or the like, it is necessary to consider the arrangement of the tracks and the contents of the sub-information for domestic-use digital VTRs which will become popular in future.

Method of and apparatus for recording and reproducing digital information signal including sub-information


A data processing apparatus is provided, which detects falsification of software to data and rewriting of the data. The data processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a security unit which has an encryption circuit for decrypting an encrypted signal including secrecy data. The security unit includes a compression circuit which compresses an access signal used in accessing the security unit and outputs the compression result, and a comparison circuit which compares the compression result outputted from the compression circuit with a previously-calculated expectation value of the compression result of the access signal.

The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus capable of safely managing data which is valuable from a financial point of view, such as an image, music data, and personal information.
With development of semiconductor technology in recent years, digitization of data is advancing rapidly, in the music data from a record to CD (Compact Disc), and in movie data from video to DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). Digital data, such as copyrighted data and personal information, has an advantage for a producer or a purchaser in that quality degradation does not occur by copying; on the other hand, the digital data has a disadvantage, such as the decrease in a quantity sold due to illegal copies and the leakage of the personal information to many and unspecified persons. In this way, it is desirable to establish a kind of mechanism in which only those who are permitted can use digital contents.
In order to protect digital contents and the valuable data in communication, finance, etc. from a malicious third party, encryption technology is used positively. The encryption technology has realized the authentication function to confirm whether a user is permitted to use contents, as well as the function of data encryption and decryption to enable only those who are permitted to use the contents. Processing systems of digital contents, etc. are realized by implementing such an encryption technology into a semiconductor product.
In a digital contents processing system in the past, authentication is performed among a device which outputs encrypted contents, such as a DVD drive, a contents processing unit, and contents recording medium. When it is confirmed that authenticating processing is just, the encrypted contents are transmitted to the contents processing unit from the contents recording medium. In order to decrypt the encrypted contents, a key is necessary. The key is generated by calculation from the information necessary for generation of the key and unique information in the contents recording medium. The unique information, temporary data, and a key (the temporary data and the key being generated in the calculation process of a contents decryption key) are required to be of secrecy, since the encrypted contents can be unjustly decrypted by obtaining these items unjustly.
In this way, in order that the contents may not be used unjustly by a malicious third party, it is necessary to provide a security protection area in the contents processing unit. However, in the case where a malicious third party can have a certain influence to the security protection area, neither the secrecy of contents nor the authentication result with respect to a drive is necessarily secured when authentication and decoding of contents are performed. For example, since the contents processing unit is controlled by CPU (Central Processing Unit) by executing the software, falsification of the authentication result and unjust acquisition of the unique information become easily performed by coupling a debugger. When such an unjust access becomes feasible, it is possible to nullify the authentication etc. by sending data directly to a security protection area. Therefore, in such a contents processing system, it is necessary to provide configuration which prevents unjust access to the function in the security protection area from the exterior. To be specific, it is necessary to devise measures such as integrating the function in the security protection area into a single chip, thereby disenabling the coupling of a debugger to CPU and the unjust writing/reading of data from the exterior.
In the past, the following measures are disclosed: that is, a data processor calculates the sum value to instructions included in every predetermined section of an instruction flow, and when the sum value obtained by the last operation and the sum value obtained by the present operation disagree in the same section, the execution of instructions is stopped or the execution sequence of instructions is compulsorily changed (refer to, for example, Document 1 (Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-166070)). In addition, an encryption program generating apparatus is proposed, which compresses a branch instruction, a non-branch instruction, and the check sum of the non-branch instruction, which are extracted from a game program, encrypts the compressed data concerned, and stores the encrypted data in a program memory (refer to, for example, Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application No. 131107-2007)).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and apparatus for verifying anti-counterfeiting information are provided so as to improve an anti-counterfeiting effect, to lower an anti-counterfeiting cost, to extend the scope of population to which anti-counterfeiting effect is applicable and to guarantee the stability of anti-counterfeiting means. The method includes: a terminal obtains and parses encrypted address information of an object; the terminal connects to a network address corresponding to the parsed encrypted address information; the terminal determines that the encrypted address information is valid upon successful connection and sending verification information of the object to the network address corresponding to the encrypted address information; and the terminal receives feedback information about whether the verification information is valid.

How to improve anti-counterfeiting technologies of products has become an issue highly desirable by producers and sellers to be addressed along with constant emergence of fake and inferior commodities and constantly upgraded means of producing and selling fake products. Existing anti-counterfeiting technologies common in the market include pattern anti-counterfeiting, wetness-sensitive anti-counterfeiting, watermark anti-counterfeiting, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip, etc., all of which have their numerous technical drawbacks and problems including an insignificant anti-counterfeiting effect and a low counterfeiting threshold; instable anti-counterfeiting; and non-adaptiveness to different customers. Consequently the existing anti-counterfeiting technologies are desirable to be further improved and enhanced.

Method and apparatus for verifying anti-counterfeiting information

PEKING UNIVERSITY FOUNDER GROUP CO., LTD.

FOUNDER MOBILE MEDIA TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.


There is provided a display control device including a display control unit configured to perform control to display a second image based on image information on a surface of a projection device that projects a first image based on the image information onto a predetermined surface. The first image and the second image correspond to different ranges of a single image that is reproduced from the image information.

The present disclosure relates to a display control device and a display control method.
The use of a light-integrated projector into which a lighting device that irradiates a room with light and a projector that is capable of projection onto the walls and the ceiling of the room are integrated makes it possible to project a still image or a picture onto not only the walls of the room, but also the ceiling of the room. The light-integrated projector can project a still image or a picture to the whole room by projecting the still image or the picture onto not only the walls of the room, but also the ceiling of the room.

Display control device and display control method


A method for translating non internet unique addresses of a home network device to an internet unique address for internet communication through a router. Every device within a given home network is assigned three addresses:(i) a configured address identical to the network address of the router enabling access to an Internet; (ii) a logical address visible only to the other devices in the same home network; and (iii) a medium access control ("MAC") address. Every packet originating from a home network source device includes its MAC address, the router MAC address, its configured address and the network destination address, and is forwarded to its destination through the router. The router examines the network destination address to determine whether the communication is intranet or internet. For intranet communications the router replaces the configured address of the home network source device with the logical address of the home network source device, the logical address of the home network destination device with the configured address, its MAC address with the MAC address of the home network destination device, and forwards the packet to the home network destination device. For Internet communications the router forwards the packet along the Internet without replacing any of the source or destination information in the headers of the packet. Based on the source MAC address, however, the router records the logical address of the home network source device as well as the DA, SP, DP and PT in order to identify a response to the packet from the Internet destination device.

Data packets generally comprise the underlying data to be communicated, surrounded by one or more layers of header and footer information to enable forwarding the packet from end user to end user. Initially, a header identifying the application is appended to the data, i.e. the application layer. Thereafter, a header identifying the ports and communication protocol is appended, i.e. the transport layer. The network layer identifies the source and destination devices by their network addresses, such as an IP address. Lastly, the immediate link protocol information is included in the data link layer.
For internet applications the network layer comprises the IP address of the source and destination devices. Proper transmission requires that these addresses be unique. However, their number is limited. For example, there are at most 4 billion IP addresses. With the proliferation of the Internet this number is clearly insufficient. To reduce the demand on IP addresses, devices connected through a gateway, such as a router, to the Internet are not necessarily given Internet unique IP addresses. For example, the devices within a local area network ("LAN") with access to the Internet through a router will have IP addresses which are unique as between devices in the LAN, but not unique as between all devices on the Internet.
To facilitate the following discussion we will refer to a network device with a non unique network address as a home network device. The home network device may be part of an intranet, or it may be a stand-alone computer with access to an internet, such as through an internet service provider. The key is that the home network device does not have a unique network address vis a vis the internet to which it has access.
As for intranet communication, each home network device has a unique IP address. Therefore the home network devices have no difficulty identifying each other and communicating. However, since its network address is not unique with respect to other devices on the Internet its packets cannot be forwarded directly to their respective destinations. Rather, a home network device that wants to forward a packet to a destination device on the Internet initially includes its non-unique address SA in the network layer header and forwards the packet to the router. The router removes the address SA and inserts its own Internet unique address RSA, instead. The router records the source address SA, the destination address DA, the source port SP, the destination port DP and the protocol type PT from the network and transport layers of the packet and then forwards the packet to its destination over the internet.
Any response from the destination will include RSA as its DA' and DA, SP, DP and PT as SA', DP', SP' and PT, respectively. The router will recognize this information as a response from the original destination, now acting as a source, to the original source, now acting as a destination. The router will then replace its IP address RSA from the DA' in the network layer for the non-unique address SA of the original source and forward the response to the appropriate network device.
While the above-mentioned scheme addresses the concern of limited IP addresses, it remains limited in addressing several applications. First, it does not enable a source to send a packet through the Internet to a home network device, unless it is responding to a packet that originated from that home network device. The source simply has no means for identifying the home network device. The source can only identify the router connecting the home network device to the internet. Yet, the router has no means for determining which home network device is the intended recipient of the packet.
A second application where the above-mentioned scheme is at best inefficient, is voice communication over the Internet using a protocol such as ITU H.323, well known in the art. In accordance with the ITU H.323 protocol, the source network device inserts its IP address among the data bits of the IP packet, referred to as the payload as opposed to the network layer header. Clearly, where the source device is a home network device the source address that would be inserted into the payload would be a non-unique address which may not appear outside of the home network. Thus the home network device could not engage in voice communications in accordance with ITU H.323. While it is possible to instruct the router to examine the payload, remove the non-unique network address and insert its own unique network address, this would involve many operations that would overload the router. In addition, the router would have to apply the same operations in reverse when it receives a response from the internet device to the home network device. Moreover, the router would have to be able to handle similar operations for each of a variety of protocols with similar demands, such as the file transfer protocol ("FTP").
A third application where the above-mentioned scheme is limited in enabling access between home network devices and devices on the Internet is the IP security protocol. IP security is a scheme for authenticating the communicating devices. In general, a device employing IP security performs a checksum operation on its IP header and the result is appended as a header to the IP header. The destination device performs a similar checksum operation on the IP header of the received packet and compares the result with the IP security header.
This will not work, however, when the IP packet was forwarded from a home network device to an Internet device in accordance with the above-mentioned scheme. In this scheme the original source address of the packet on which the IP security header depends is replaced with the router source address. Thus when the destination device receives the packet and performs the checksum operation the IP security header will not match. As with voice communications, to employ the router to replace the IP security header is too complicated. Indeed, currently IP security is not used with home network devices.
Accordingly, a method for network address translation not constrained by the aforementioned limitations is desirable and described below.


A device includes a substrate having a front side and a backside, the backside being opposite the front side. An isolation layer is disposed on the front side of the substrate, wherein first portions of isolation layer and the substrate are in physical contact. A through substrate via (TSV) extends from the front side to the backside of the substrate. An oxide liner is on a sidewall of the TSV. The oxide liner extends between second portions of the substrate and the isolation layer. A dielectric layer having a metal pad is disposed over the isolation layer on the front side of the substrate. The metal pad and the TSV are formed of a same material.

Through-substrate vias (TSVs) are commonly used in three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuits. TSVs penetrate through substrates, and are used to electrically inter-couple features on opposite sides of the substrates.
Conventionally, the TSV formation process includes etching or drilling into the substrate to form TSV openings. The TSV openings are then filled with a conductive material, which is then planarized to remove excess portions, and the remaining portions of the conductive material in the substrate form the TSVs. Additional metal lines and/or metal pads are then formed over and electrically coupled to the TSVs, for example, using damascene processes.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A plurality of groups of tone parameters different in kind required for the generation of a musical sound is stored. The tone parameters of the same kind among those tone parameters are modulated with the same sway signal generated at the same time at a desired time or at fixed intervals of time when a key concerned is depressed. The modulated parameters are either restored in the original storage region or directly delivered to a sound source. The resulting musical sound has an acoustically natural comfortable tone quality. Even if musical sounds are generated simultaneously, no sways in the respective tones of the musical sound are canceled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tone parameter control apparatus used in electronic musical instruments or the like which control tone parameters used to generate a musical sound.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it is well known that the amplitude and frequency of a musical sound generated from an electronic instrument or the like are changed in response to the output of a low frequency oscillator (LFO) or an envelope oscillator to apply various musical effects to the generated musical sound.
However, the output from such LFO or envelope oscillator is very monotonous, so that the effects produced by the use of such outputs are artificial and unnatural.
In view of such situation, it has been considered to modulate tone parameters required for generation of a musical sound with a more irregular natural signal, for example, of noise having a power spectrum of a magnitude of 1/f inversely proportional to a frequency of f, or a 1/f sway (or fluctuation) signal and not a signal from such LFO or envelope oscillator.
By the use of this system, addition of sway (or fluctuation) of a natural tone which is not provided by the conventional musical sound generator is realized.
However, easy addition of this sway (or fluctuation) may cause the following problems. Throughout the following description and claims, the term sway signal is used, which is synonymous with the term fluctuation signal.
If a 1/f sway signal is separately applied to tone parameters without considering the relationship between the tone parameters, for example, when a plurality of tones are generated in unison, a natural sway effect of a tone based on the 1/f sway signal would undesirably be canceled greatly and reduced.
If 1/f sway signals are added to several tone parameters of the same kind, for example, on the modulation depth of the LFO applied separately to three different tone ranges of an electronic instrument and if a musical sound in one tone range and then another musical sound in another range are generated sequentially, the sway levels of the tones may undesirably differ from each other and the tone would sound unnatural.


A lower extremity vehicle navigation control system for driving a vehicle with one or more lower extremities is disclosed. The system may include a steering engagement surface, a brake engagement surface, and an acceleration control engagement surface positioned between a driver's seat and a vehicle floor forming a driver's compartment such that a driver may use his lower extremity to steer the vehicle, to brake and to accelerate. Each of the engagement surfaces may be in relative proximity to each other such that a driver may easily move his lower extremity between contact with each of the engagement surfaces. The system may also include gear shifting arm and a foot activated ignition system, both of which may be operable by one or more lower extremities of a driver of a vehicle.

Driving a vehicle currently requires functionalization of both arms and one or more feet. The mobility of people with physical disabilities, such as with upper extremity disabilities, is hindered by the lack of proper devices that utilize other methods of controlling the maneuverability a vehicles. Thus, a need exists for vehicle control systems that are more accommodating to drivers with upper extremity disabilities.

Lower extremity vehicle navigation control system


Embodiments of the disclosure provide control systems and methods for controlling a pulsed laser diode and a sensing device including a pulsed laser diode. An exemplary control system includes a distance detector configured to generate a distance signal indicating a distance between the pulsed laser diode and an object reflecting pulsed laser beams emitted by the pulsed laser diode. The control system may also include a controller configured to dynamically control power supplied to the pulse laser diode based on the distance signal.

Pulsed laser diodes (PLDs) are widely used in three-dimensional (3D) sensing applications. For example, in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system, PLDs are utilized to generate pulsed laser beams, which are emitted by the LiDAR and reflected by surrounding objects. The reflected laser signals may be detected by a photodetector and used to determine range or distance information based on, for example, the round-trip travel time of the laser beams.
In current systems, PLDs are powered by a constant voltage source. As a result, the output of the PLDs (e.g., laser light intensity) is fixed. Fixed light intensity has several drawbacks. For example, in 3D sensing applications, objects (e.g., detection targets) may be located at differing distances from the PLDs. For nearby objects, the PLD output may be too high, which may violate safety regulations, such as the FDA laser eye-safety standard IEC 60825-1. In addition, a high PLD output may cause the receiving photodetector to saturate, resulting in false detections. On the other hand, for distant objects, the PLD output may be too low, compromising the detection capability of the distant objects.
Embodiments of the disclosure address the above problems by adaptively controlling the PLD output based on the distance between the PLD and a detection target.

Adaptive power control for pulsed laser diodes


The present invention, and embodiments thereof, provide a process to separate ethylene products from impurities such as nitrogen, hydrogen, ethane, propane and isobutane without the need for distillation processes.

Ethylene-ethane separations for current commercial applications require the use of very large distillation towers and energy requirements in order to separate ethylene to a polymer-grade level. In the polyethylene plant there are stranded gas streams containing significant ethylene content, ranging from 50 to greater than 90 mol %. Due to the intensive process currently used, these gas streams cannot be recycled or recovered at smaller scales. In prior art, some membrane technologies have been developed that have moderate ethylene membrane selectivity, typically less than 10.
Pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) technology is an alternative technology for recovering stranded ethylene in a polyethylene plant that uses a solid adsorbent material to remove impurities that include ethane, hydrogen, nitrogen and methane gas. The adsorbent selection can function as either an equilibrium-based or kinetic-based separation. In principle, all adsorption processes utilize at least two steps: adsorption or uptake of the target molecule in the adsorbent; and desorption or removal of the same target molecule from the adsorbent. This may be achieved by changes in concentration, pressure, or temperature. In the case of PSA and vacuum-swing adsorption (VSA), pressure changes are used to regenerate the adsorbent. PSA does not require a dehydration step necessarily prior to separation of target components. PSA technology is able to treat stranded ethylene gas to recover ethylene up to a target purity of at least 98 mol % without the use of distillation or other thermally-driven separation processes.
It would be desirable to have a PSA or VSA process utilizing an adsorbent material which would require lower vacuum power consumption or elimination of vacuum entirely while allowing for improved recovery of ethylene product. Such a process would enable deployment and competitive use of PSA units to recover stranded ethylene gases.
In one aspect, a method is provided for removing impurities found in a polyethylene plant from a stranded ethylene gas stream. These impurities include methane, nitrogen, hydrogen and ethane, but may also include propane and isobutane. The method includes alternating input of the feed gas stream between at least two beds of adsorbent particles comprising a zeolite with CDO framework such that the feed gas stream contacts one of the at least two beds at a given time in an adsorption step and a tail gas stream is simultaneously vented from another of the at least two beds in a desorption step. The contact occurs at a feed pressure of from about 50 to about 500 psia for a sufficient period of time to preferentially adsorb ethylene over other impurities in the gas stream. A product gas stream is produced containing no greater than 2 mol % of impurities and at least 98 mol % purity of ethylene. The feed gas stream is input at a feed end of each bed. The product gas stream is removed by depressurization of the bed and desorption of ethylene adsorbed on the zeolite adsorbent with CDO framework. The impurity stream is produced in less than the feed composition of ethylene and utilized as a fuel gas or other gas stream within the polyethylene plant.

Ethylene separations using a small pore zeolite with CDO framework


A fireworks igniter system and method for safely igniting fuse-type fireworks including a handheld igniter module and a remote control module. An igniter head at the proximal end of the igniter module includes a heater element and fuse clamp slide which receives and biasingly molds the fuse against the heater element. A microprocessor in the igniter module includes an infrared receiver and an igniter module actuator. The remote control module includes an infrared emitter and a remote control module actuator, the infrared emitter emitting a coded IR signal in response to activation of the actuator. The IR signal is sensed by the infrared receiver to activate the igniter module actuator and deliver electric current to the heater element sufficient to ignite the fuse.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of fireworks and pyrotechnic igniters, and more particularly to a remotely controlled fireworks igniter for use with consumer-type fireworks.
2. Description of Related Art
Although consumer-type fireworks have been severely regulated and, with respect to those that are legal in most states, have been substantially reduced in explosive and pyrotechnic capacities, nonetheless, legal fireworks which are currently available and illegal fireworks which carry substantially greater charges of explosive material, can be quite dangerous. Particularly with respect to young and adult children, many injuries to the eyes and hands, particularly fingers occur during each yearly fireworks seasons particularly prior to Fourth of July celebrations.
Many of these consumer-type fireworks have very short fuses and are difficult to hand launch a safe distance away. Moreover, all fuses have their own burn rate and erratic and rapid fuse burn can lead to unpleasant surprises and fireworks ignition before anticipated. A number of devices and apparatus have been developed and patented which are intended to substantially enhance the safety factor in setting off fireworks, particularly those for both commercial and consumer use.
Bailey et al. teach remotely controlled igniters for use with consumer class fireworks in U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,424 and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0207467. A fireworks holder with remote control firing system is disclosed by Tang in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0070572. U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,500 to Mancini discloses a remotely-actuated fireworks launcher. Neahr teaches an electric firework igniter in U.S. Pat. No. 1,445,904. A fuse igniter is taught by Frye in U.S. Pat. No. 2,003,483. U.S. Pat. No. 7,688,566 to Zhang discloses an electric firing device for fireworks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,802 to Streifer et al. discloses a method for initiating pyrotechnic ignitions in the proper sequence.
The present invention discloses a very safe fireworks igniter system which, when used properly as taught, ensures fuse ignition at a safe distance and manner of ignition.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.


Transmission delay time measurement is performed on a signal propagation path between respective points of two printed circuit boards connected by a coaxial cable. Measurement is made of a frequency-domain response of the cable and a first time-domain response of the propagation path at its sending point and a second time-domain response of the propagation path at its receiving point. From the first time-domain response and the frequency-domain response, estimation is made of a third time-domain response of the propagation path that would be observed at the receiving point if there is no waveform distortion on the surface of the printed circuit boards. Time-domain correlation is calculated between the second and third time-domain responses. A first delay time is determined from the estimated time-domain response and a second delay time is determined from the correlation. The first and second delay times are summed to yield the transmission delay time of the propagation path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for measuring the propagation delay of a transmission system, and more specifically to an apparatus and method for accurately measuring the transmission delay time of a signal propagation path between printed circuit boards by efficiently extracting a significantly attenuated high-speed broadband signal at the receiving point of the path. The present invention is particularly useful for a transmission link that transports high-speed broadband signals, such as rectangular pulses at frequencies higher than 100 MHz.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent tendency toward using high-speed broadband signals has created a need for a precision measurement of their propagation delay time from output ports of an integrated circuit chip on a first printed circuit board to input ports of an integrated circuit chip on a second printed circuit board. The measured delay time data is used to precisely align delay timings between chip-to-chip parallel transmission channels for canceling inter-channel crosstalk. Two methods are currently available for determining the propagation delays. In one method, a sampling oscilloscope is used to directly evaluate time-domain responses (waveforms). According to the other method that is shown and described in Japanese Patent Publication 2004-104235, a network analyzer is used to calculate the inverse Fourier transform of the frequency-domain response characteristic of a transmission channel. Based on the result of this calculation, the network analyzer calculates the delay time of the channel.
If the transmission channel is designed to carry a broadband signal, the transmitted signal would be severely weakened by the inherent high-frequency loss of the transmission channel, so that it reduces significantly to a low level at the receive end of the channel in comparison with the level of random noise introduced to the channel.
If an oscilloscope were used to measure the delay time of a broadband signal on a noisy transmission medium it is necessary to suppress the noise component of the received signal. In order to suppress the random noise of a transmission channel, a test signal is transmitted at periodic intervals over the channel. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio at the receive end, the received signal is sampled at intervals, and the sample values are averaged over time. Since the number of samples necessary to achieve a desired signal-to-noise ratio depends on the level of the received signal, it is necessary to continue reception for a long period of time until a sufficient number of samples are obtained.
If the transmission delay time of a received signal were determined based on the frequency-domain response of the received signal, precision calibration is necessary to measure the frequency-domain response using a network analyzer. This involves the use of a number of standard blank circuit boards to perform calibration in different calibration modes, including open-circuit, loaded-circuit, short-circuit and through-circuit modes. After calibrations are performed for all modes, a pair of blank boards is used to measure the delay time of the transmission channel between them. If precision measurement of the delay time between two IC chips is required, a number of blank circuit boards must be prepared for each printed circuit board under test to perform calibration in open-circuit, loaded-circuit, short-circuit and through-circuit modes.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, for each pair of printed circuit boards to be tested, there are provided a pair of blank circuit boards 401 and 405 to perform open-circuit calibration a pair of blank circuit boards 402 and 406 for load-circuit calibration, a pair of blank circuit boards 403 and 407 for short-circuit calibration, and a blank circuit board 404 for through-circuit calibration. Each blank circuit board is a non-printed circuit board, which is substantially similar in size and shape to, and is formed of the same material as, the tested printed circuit board and is provided with at least one connector to which a different circuit element is attached corresponding to each calibration mode. In the case of the open-circuit calibration, an etched short surface line 421 is attached to the connector 411 to simulate an open circuit. In the case of the loaded-circuit calibration, the connector 412 is connected by an etched short surface line 422 to a 50-ohm termination resistor 423 to serve as a load. In the short-circuit calibration boards 403, 407, the connector 413 is grounded through an etched short surface line 424. In the through-circuit calibration board 404, an etched short surface line 425 is used to connect connectors 414 and 415 to each other. To perform a frequency-domain response calibration, the connectors of each pair of blank circuit boards are connected to the ports 431 and 432 of a network analyzer 430 by cables shown in the dotted lines.
As shown in FIG. 11, when all calibrations are performed, a pair of test boards 502 and 512 is further prepared if it is desired to accurately determine the transmission delay time based on a measured frequency-domain response characteristic of a frequency-domain response test section 500 between two printed circuit boards. Test board 502 is provided with a PCB connector 501 with an input port 503 of the test section 500, the input port 503 being attached through etched lines 504 on the board 502 to a PCB connector 505. Likewise, the test board 512 is provided with a connector 513 with an output port 511 of the test section 500, the port 511 being attached through etched lines 510 to a PCB connector 509. Coaxial cable 507 is connected between the PCB connectors 505 and 509. Connectors 501 and 513 are fitted with ports 526 and 528, respectively, for connection to the network analyzer 430.
Network analyzer 430 has its output port 431 connected to the port 526 using an extension cable 517 and has its input port 432 connected to the port 528 using an extension cable 519. A frequency-domain test signal is transmitted from the output port 503 through the test section 500 to the input port 511.

Apparatus and method for measuring transmission delay time of a signal propagation path between printed circuit boards


Electrostatic precipitator is disclosed, including a discharge unit having ground electrodes and discharge electrodes, and a collecting unit having collecting electrodes and positive electrodes, wherein the discharge unit is applied of a voltage enough to emit a photo-energy which can activate a photo-catalyst, and a component in the electrostatic precipitator contains the photo-catalyst, or a separate photo-catalyst filter containing the photo-catalyst is provided within a reach of the photo-energy emitted from the discharge unit , thereby the photo-energy from the discharge unit activating the photo-catalyst, whereby providing a simple structured electrostatic precipitator making sterilization and deodorization at a low cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrostatic precipitator, and more particularly, to an electrostatic precipitator, in which a photo-catalyst technology is utilized for sterilization and deodorization.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, the electrostatic precipitator collects and removes solid state, and liquid state particles floating in a gas. FIG. 1 illustrates a section of a background art electrostatic precipitator, with reference to which the background art electrostatic precipitator will be explained.
The background art electrostatic precipitator is provided with a body 10 having an intake grill 12 and a discharge grill 14, and filters 20, 30, and 100 and fan 16 mounted inside of the body 10. In the filters, there are a pre-filter 20 at rear of the intake grill 12 for primary filtering of dusts from intake air, an electrostatic precipitating part 100 at rear of the pre-filter 20 for electrical removal of dusts, deodorizing filter 30 at rear of the electrostatic precipitating part 100 for removal of odor in air.
The foregoing electrostatic precipitator will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 2. The electrostatic precipitating part 100 is provided with the discharge unit 110 for charging dusts and the like in air, and the collecting unit 130 for collecting the dusts charged in the discharge unit 110. In detail, the body 10 has a discharge unit case 112 and holders 114 on both sides of the discharge unit case 112. And, there are a plurality of ground electrodes 116 fitted to the holders 114 at fixed intervals, and a plurality of discharge electrodes 118 between the ground electrodes 116. And, the body 10 has a collecing case 132 which has a plurality of collecting electrodes 134 fitted thereto at fixed intervals for acting as ground electrodes, and there are a plurality of positive electrodes 136 between the collecting electrodes 134. A plurality of projections 138 may be provided on top of both the collecting electrodes 134 and the positive electrodes 136 for maintaining a gap between the electrode plates 134 and 136. The collecting electrodes 134 and the positive electrodes 136 are conductors, such as conductive paint or aluminum foil. Resin of a good insulating property is coated or bonded on the conductors.
At time, there is a metal mesh(not shown) between a discharge unit 110 and a collecting unit 130 for minimizing electric field interference between the discharge unit 110 and the collecting unit 130.
In the meantime, there are a "-" voltage applying terminal 142 and a "+" voltage applying terminal 144; the "-" voltage applying terminal 142 is connected to the ground electrodes 116 in the discharge unit 110 and the collecting electrodes 134 in the collecting unit 130, and the "+" voltage applying terminal 144 is connected to the discharge electrodes 118 and the positive electrodes 136.
The operation of the background art electrostatic precipitator will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
Upon application of power to the electrostatic precipitator, the fan 16 is put into operation to cause outside air to flow into the body 10 through the intake grill 12. The air is primarily filtrated of comparatively large sized dusts as the air passes through the prefilter 20 and flows to the discharge unit 110. As the ground electrodes 116 and the discharge electrodes 118 in the discharge unit 110 are at application of voltage, a corona discharge occurred between the ground electrodes 116 and the discharge electrodes 118, charging dust particles flowed in the discharge unit 110. The dusts charged in the discharge unit 110 continues to flow toward the collecting unit 130, where, as the charged dusts are charged of "+", a repulsive force is acted between the dusts and the positive electrodes 136 having a "+" voltage applied thereto, and an attracting force is acted between the dusts and the collecting electrodes 134 having a "-" voltage applied thereto. Accordingly, the charged dusts are accelerated toward the collecting electrodes 134, being collected at the collecting electrodes 134 at last. The air, passed through the collecting unit 130 finally, is removed of odors in the air as the air passes through the deodorizing filter 30 of active carbon, to become clean air, which is discharge through the discharge grill 14. However, the background art electrostatic precipitator can not remove harmfull microbes contained in the air, and has a poor deodorizing performance, causing a problem that the harmful microbes are discharged into a room without being filtrated, or accumulated on electrode plates in the collecting unit 130 and decomposes to give out bad smell.
To cope with this problem, so called photo-catalyst technology is developed, in which a substance (hereafter called "photo-catalyst") adapted to be activated by a photo-energy to have sterilizing and deodorizing capability is used, of which typical photo-catalyst is titanium oxide TiO.sub.2. The photo-catalyst like titanium oxide has an excellent adsorption power to organic substances and is excited when exposed to a photo energy to form various forms of radical, which sterilizes microbes by a strong oxidation power and, on the same time, decomposes substances giving out bad smells in reaction with the radical.
This may be explained in detail referring to FIG. 3 as follows.
When a photo-energy emitted from an UV lamp and the like is directed onto a photo-catalyst, an electron in a valence band is transited to a conduction band, generating an electron and a hole. As these electron and hole have very strong oxidizing and reducing power, these electron and hole make reaction with water vapor H.sub.2 O or oxygen O.sub.2 in air, to produce active oxygens, such as OH radical, H radical, and super oxide n ion O.sub.2.sup.-. And, as these radicals have strong bonding forces to other components, these radicals break bonding of substances giving a bad smell, thereby making deodorization. That is, as OH radical breaks bonding of an organic substance which causes an odor and makes a direct bonding with the organic substance, leaving water vapor and carbon dioxide finally, the odor is removed. And, as OH radical has a strong oxidizing power which sterilizes microbes, OH radical can sterilize microbes. When the electron or hole make a direct bonding with organic substance, the direct bonding breaks bonding of the organic substance, changing the organic substance to another form of radical. And, the another form of radical breaks a bonding of another organic substance, to form water vapor and carbon dioxide at the end, thereby making deodorization. Thus, by proceeding the foregoing process, sterilization and deodorization can be made.
PCT application(PCT/US 96/14204) discloses a filter coated with a photo-catalyst and a UV lamp which activates the aforementioned photo-catalyst. However, the technologies on sterilization and deodorization using photo-catalyst known up to now have the following problems.
First, as a photo-energy is required for exciting a photo-catalyst as titanium oxide, a separate photo-energy source for generating such a photo-energy has been required additionally. That is, the UV lamp and the like used additionally as the photo-energy source increases components in the electrostatic precipitator, making the electrostatic precipitator to have a complicated structure and to cost high.
Second, the UV lamp or filter coated with photo-catalyst mounted in air stream make resistance to air flow, which causes a pressure loss of the air flow.


For operating a plurality of mechanisms with a single motor, a motor control device is provided which is capable of stably operating one of the mechanisms while reducing influence of load imparted on the motor and attributed by an operation of remaining one of the mechanisms. A CPU suitably controls or selects electrical current level provisionally ranked and stored in a ROM to a printing motor which drives a print hammer for obtaining predetermined velocity of the hammer. If the print hammer reaches its decelerating position, the CPU determines offset electrical current level and current applying period to be applied to the printing motor on a basis of the rank of the electrical current at that phase.

The present invention relates to a motor control device, and more particularly, to the control device for controlling rotation speed of the motor depending on load level imparted thereon.
Has been known a conventional equipment using a motor as a drive source, for example, a printing device which employs a motor for printing operation. As one example of this type of the printing device, has been known a daisy wheel type electronic typewriter in which a print hammer, a character wheel, a printing ribbon and an erase ribbon are provided on a carriage for performing character printing and erasing.

Motor control device for controlling motor speed depending on imparted load


A method is provided for fabricating an electrical fuse and a field effect transistor having a metal gate which includes removing material from first and second openings in a dielectric region overlying a substrate, wherein the first opening is aligned with an active semiconductor region of the substrate, and the second opening is aligned with an isolation region of the substrate, and the active semiconductor region including a source region and a drain region adjacent edges of the first opening. An electrical fuse can be formed which has a fuse element filling the second opening, the fuse element being a monolithic region of a single conductive material being a metal or a conductive compound of a metal. A metal gate can be formed which extends within the first opening to define a field effect transistor (“FET”) which includes the metal gate and the active semiconductor region.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of the present application relates to electrical fuses and their manufacture, and more specifically to a structure and method of making an electrical fuse with a replacement metal gate structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fuses have been widely used in integrated circuits to store permanent information on board such as the Electronic Chip Identification (ECID), key system boot code and other critical information in the form of One-Time Programmable Read Only Memory (OTPROM). They are also widely used for redundancy repairs in memories and various integrated circuits to improve manufacturing yield or circuit trimming to fine tune device performance in analog products.
Various types of electrically-blowable fuses have been proposed for use and used in microelectronic elements, i.e., semiconductor wafers, or portions thereof such as semiconductor chips incorporating integrated circuits. Such fuses are programmed, i.e., blown, from a conductive state to a nonconductive state by driving a programming current therethrough.
Future improvements can be made to the fabrication and structure of electrical fuses in accordance with the embodiments of the invention as further described herein.

Electrical fuse formed by replacement metal gate process

International Business Machines Corporation


A detection circuit module for use with a household appliance door to detect when the door is closed and/or locked, the detection circuit module having a first and a second contact configured for electrical connection with the household appliance door so as to be operable with the household appliance door, the detection circuit module including: a door closing switch arranged electrically in series between the first connecting contact and an actuator; a door locking switch arranged electrically in series between the actuator member and the second connecting contact; and a diode arranged in series with the actuator and the second connecting contact and the diode being arranged electrically in parallel with the door locking switch.

Washing machines, dryers and other such household appliances may typically comprise a door locking mechanism having an electric circuit module configured for detecting when the door is closed as well as when the door is locked. Certain electric circuit modules used in such appliances tend to be susceptible to inaccuracy in detection of the door closed and/or door locked state which may compromise operation of the household appliance in use. Accordingly, there is a perceived need to improve the reliability of the detection mechanism to alleviate such problems from arising.

Detection circuit module for use in detecting an operational status of a household appliance door