Embodiments of the present invention provide for accurate relative location information to be preserved between vector and raster data sources during non-linear transformation. In a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, raster and vector data are received that corresponds to maps and conflated in a multi-step process. Objects of at least one of vector data are identified and conflated. For example, in an embodiment of the present invention, vertices of vector objects are identified. In a subsequent step, raster data is conflated by applying a non-linear transformation to the raster data using identified vertices of vector data from before and after conflation as control points. The resulting hybrid map is output that is advantageously accurate in general but is further advantageously accurate at critical points.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to computer graphics and, more specifically, to techniques for conflating raster and vector data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional digital images are generally represented in either vector or raster formats. Raster graphics, also called bitmap graphics, consist of a sequence of data representing a generally rectangular grid of picture elements, called pixels. Raster graphics generally correspond pixel-for-pixel with a displayed or printed representation of the content. Because raster graphics are discrete, they generally do not scale well.
Raster formats are used to store arrays of pixel color values, the color values specifying a color for each pixel location within a rectangular array of pixels. Raster images are generally resolution dependent, and the information in a raster image file only suffices to identify color values for a fixed resolution. Raster images can be scaled down in size by down-sampling such as by averaging, and scaled up by up-sampling such as by interpolation. However, up-sampled color values in general are artificial, and often destroy the true nature of an image. Familiar examples of raster images include image images acquired by a digital camera or scanner.
Vector graphics, on the other hand, are represented by description, rather than by listing a value for each pixel in a graphic. Geometric shapes can be represented as a vector graphic, and an arbitrary shape may be represented by a combination of such geometric shapes. For instance, a straight-line segment can be described as a vector graphic by describing its two endpoints, or by its slope, length, and origin. Likewise, a circle can be described in vector representation by describing its radius and center point. Accordingly, vector graphics are sometimes referred to as geometric data since they define objects by description rather than as a sequence of pixels. Because vector graphics are continuous, they can scale well. Familiar examples of vector images include flowcharts, block diagrams and other synthetic images produced by graphics software applications.
Image compositing involves generation of complex images by overlaying simpler images on top of one another. For example, a composite image may include a layer for a background, layers for various sprites, and a layer for text. Layers are generally arranged one on top of another. One of the many challenges of image compositing is the overlaying of raster and vector images. Since vector images are generally resolution independent, conventional digital compositing systems scale a vector image to the pixel dimensions of a raster image, when overlaying one upon the other.
Many organizations, e.g., utilities such as electric, gas, and telecom utilities, maintain data in what are sometimes call hybrid maps that are a composite image of raster and vector information resulting from a conflation process. For example, raster maps include scanned maps and/or rasterized results of vector maps. Vector maps may include maps with facilities or landbase features that are represented as vector graphics layers. The hybrid maps, therefore, contain overlapping data from both types of maps. It has been observed, however, that current methods of conflating such hybrid maps result in inaccuracies that can present hazards for field operations. For example, it is an undesirable result to visually misrepresent connections of electric conductors in a hybrid map. Indeed, such a misrepresented connection can result in costly errors and may present safety issues.
As the foregoing illustrates, there is a need in the art for a robust and practical approach for aligning raster and vector data across varying environments.

Method and system for conflating raster and vector data


A screw compressor having an unloader valve with a movable valve member, the unloader valve being capable of indicating when the valve member is installed incorrectly. The valve member is manufactured such that if it is installed incorrectly it provides a leakage path sufficiently large to be detected during full load testing of the compressor. When the screw compressor fails the load test, the compressor is partially disassembled, and the valve is reinstalled in the proper orientation and the compressor is re-tested. The valve member leakage path is provided while maintaining low costs for production and assembly of the compressor.

The invention relates to screw compressors, and more particularly to axial unloading lift valves for screw compressors.
Axial unloading lift valves are commonly used in screw compressors to vary the compression load produced by the screws. One or more valves are arranged axially towards the discharge side of the screws and the load is varied by selectively opening and closing the valves. Opening the valves to xe2x80x9cunloadxe2x80x9d the compressor reduces the effective working length of the screws by opening communication pathways between portions of the screw and the low-pressure suction end of the compressor. The open pathways allow the pressure to equalize so that compression does not occur over the portions of the screw communicating with the suction end of the compressor. When the valves are closed to xe2x80x9cloadxe2x80x9d the compressor, no pressure equalization occurs over the axial length of the screw. Therefore, the full working length of the screws is utilized for compression. The angular location of the valves around the discharge ends of the screws determines how much of the axial working length of the screws is used or eliminated when the valves are closed or opened.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic representations showing a portion of a prior art compressor 10 having an axial unloading lift valve 14. FIG. 1 shows the valve 14 in the loaded condition and FIG. 2 shows the valve 14 in the unloaded condition. The compressor 10 includes a pair of screws 15, 16 (only one is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) mounted for rotation in a screw housing 22. The interior of the screw housing 22 defines a compression chamber 24 where the fluid is compressed by the screws 15, 16, as is understood by those skilled in the art. A discharge housing 26 supports the discharge end of the screws 15, 16 and is coupled to one end of the screw housing 22. A suction housing 30 supports the suction end of the screws 15, 16 and is coupled to the other end of the screw housing 22.
The axial unloading valve 14 typically includes a cylindrically-shaped valve member 34 housed in a valve chamber 38. The valve chamber 38 is formed in the discharge housing 26 so that one end of the valve chamber 38 communicates both with the compression chamber 24 and with a vent passageway 42. The vent passageway 42 is connected to a suction cavity 46 formed in the suction housing 30. The other end of the valve chamber 38 communicates with a high-pressure fluid supply that controls the positioning of the valve member 34. The high-pressure fluid supply is typically either high-pressure lubricating oil or refrigerant that has been discharged from the compressor.
To load the compressor 10, the valve 14 is closed by flooding the valve chamber 38 with high-pressure fluid. The fluid in the valve chamber 38 forces the valve member 34 toward the screw housing 22 until the valve member 34 abuts the screw housing 22, as shown in FIG. 1. When the valve member 34 is in the position shown in FIG. 1, there is no communication, and therefore no pressure equalization, between the suction cavity 46 and the compression chamber 24. Because there is no pressure equalization, the entire working length of the screws 15, 16 is utilized and maximum compression loading is generated by the compressor 10.
To unload the compressor 10, the valve 14 is opened by draining the fluid from the valve chamber 38. The high-pressure fluid in the compression chamber 24 forces the valve member 34 away from the screw housing 22, as shown in FIG. 2. When the valve member 34 is in the position shown in FIG. 2, the passageway 42 provides communication, and therefore pressure equalization, between the compression chamber 24 and the suction cavity 46. This pressure equalization reduces the effective working length of the screws 15, 16, thereby reducing the compression load generated by the compressor 10.
For the axial unloading valve 14 to function properly, the valve member 34 must be carefully manufactured and installed. FIG. 3 shows a prior art valve member 34 in greater detail. The valve member 34 is substantially cylindrical and includes opposing first and second axial sealing surfaces 50 and 54, respectively. A radial sealing and positioning surface 58 extends between the axial sealing surfaces 50 and 54.
With this symmetrical configuration, the valve member 34 could be installed in the valve chamber 38 in two ways. Therefore, both the first and the second axial sealing surfaces 50 and 54 must be machined to tight axial run-out tolerances to ensure that, regardless of how the valve member 34 is installed, proper axial sealing occurs when the valve 14 is closed. The term xe2x80x9crun-outxe2x80x9d is well-known to those in manufacturing and in this situation is generally understood to refer to the perpendicularity between a longitudinal axis 62 and each of the axial sealing surfaces 50 and 54. In addition to sealing concerns, the tight run-out tolerance ensures that no portion of the valve member 34 will interfere with the 5 screws 15, 16 when the compressor 10 is operating at full load (i.e., when the valve 14 is closed). This is especially important on compressors having small axial screw endplay with respect to the discharge housing 26. Maintaining the tight axial run-out tolerances requires expensive precision machining and, because both axial sealing surfaces 50 and 54 must be tightly toleranced, two separate machine setups are required for two separate precision machining operations. This significantly increases the manufacturing cost of the valve member 34.
One way to eliminate the need for two tightly-toleranced axial sealing surfaces 50, 54 on the valve member 34 is to change the design. FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative prior art valve member 66 that has only one axial sealing surface 70. Additionally, the radial sealing surface 74 and the radial positioning surface 78 are separate surfaces. This ensures that the valve member 66 can only be installed in one way, thereby eliminating the need for a second axial sealing surface with a tight run-out tolerance.
While only one precision machining setup is necessary for achieving the desired run-out tolerance on the single axial sealing surface 70, a separate machining operation is still required to form the radial positioning surface 78. This second operation need not be precision machining, but nonetheless requires a second machine setup. The two separate machine setups required to manufacture the different radial surfaces 74 and 78 can create tolerance stack-up problems and often mandate the use of a gasket 82 to prevent leakage. The use of the gasket 82 also adds to the cost of the compressor 10 and increases the number of parts that may require periodic replacement.
The present invention provides an improved valve member for an axial unloading lift valve. The improved valve member has only one axial sealing surface requiring a tight run-out tolerance. Therefore, only one machine setup is needed to produce the sealing surfaces of the improved valve member. Additionally, the valve member of the present invention includes features that facilitate proper assembly and ensure that the valve member is properly installed. No gaskets are required to seal the valve member. Thus, the valve member of the present invention provides a less-expensive and more reliable valve member than the prior-art valve members described above.
More specifically, the invention provides a screw compressor having a housing, a drive screw supported by the housing, and an idler screw supported by the housing. The drive screw and idler screw assembly have a low-pressure end and a high-pressure end. The drive screw, driven by an outside force, drives the idler screw, to which the drive screw is operably engaged. Rotation of the screws moves a fluid from the low-pressure end to the high-pressure end. The screw compressor further has at least one vent passageway with one end in fluid communication with the low-pressure region and a second end in selective fluid communication with the high-pressure end. In addition, the screw compressor has at least one valve having a valve member. Each valve member has a sealing surface, a non-sealing surface, and a radial sealing surface partially extending between the sealing surface and the non-sealing surface, the non-sealing surface having a recess. The valve is positioned such that the valve member is installable in a correct orientation and an incorrect orientation. When installed in the correct orientation the valve member is movable between a loaded position, at which the valve member substantially prevents flow from the high-pressure end to the low-pressure end, and an unloaded position, at which fluid passes from the high-pressure region through the vent passageway to the low-pressure region. When the valve member is installed in the incorrect orientation, the valve member provides a flow path from the high-pressure end through the vent passageway to the low-pressure end when in the loaded position and the unloaded position.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims, and drawings.

Axial unloading lift valve for a compressor and method of making the same


A discharge apparatus 1 comprises a feeder part 41 which is provided on a flow path of a discharge material from a supply part 10 to a nozzle 50 and feeds the discharge material in the flow path at a predetermined flow rate from the supply part 10 toward the nozzle 50 and a plurality of pressurizers 31, 32 provided in parallel to each other on the flow path and each having a function of temporarily storing the discharge material in a storage space and a function of pressurizing the discharge material stored in the storage space and feeding the discharge material under pressure to the feeder part 41. The plurality of pressurizers 31, 32 operate complementarily manner, thereby a constant pressure is applied to the discharge material fed to the feeder part 41.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a discharge apparatus and a discharge method for discharging a paste-like discharge material and particularly to a technique for stably discharging highly viscous paste.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technique for forming a wiring pattern on a surface of a substrate such as a glass substrate or a solar cell substrate or forming an active material layer on a current collector surface, a technique for applying paste-like application liquid containing a wiring material or an active material to a substrate or the like is known. For example, an applying apparatus described in JP2013-004400A produces an electrode for battery by applying paste containing an active material and a conductive material to a support body by a die coating method. Further, in this technique, the paste is caused to constantly flow to prevent the cohesion of dispersant added to the paste by recirculating the paste between a tank for storing the paste and a nozzle.
The above conventional technique is for forming a uniform coating film by coating. Although a shearing speed is not clearly specified in the above literature, a numerical value example of 3500 cp (3.5 Pa·s) is described as a typical paste viscosity. On the other hand, to form a fine pattern or thick pattern by such a coating technique, paste having a higher viscosity (more specifically, having a viscosity which is, for example, about 10 to 100-fold of the above numerical value) needs to be used.
At this time, such highly viscous paste needs to be stably discharged at a constant flow rate from the nozzle, but it is not easy to cause the highly viscous paste to reliably flow in a flow path with good controllability and discharge it from the nozzle. Particularly, a technique capable of stable discharge at a low flow rate, which is necessary in forming a fine pattern, has not been established thus far.

Discharge apparatus and discharge method


A roof opening/closing apparatus includes a roof moved between first and second positions and structured with first, second and third panels, a first supporting mechanism movably supporting the first and second panels in association with each other, a second supporting mechanism movably supporting the third panel, a first lock mechanism locking the first panel to the vehicle body, a second lock mechanism locking the first supporting mechanism, and a third lock mechanism locking the third panel to the second panel. The roof is moved between the first position and the second position by the first and second supporting mechanisms and retained at the first position by the first to third lock mechanisms. The second and third lock mechanisms are connected to each other by an operational member and operated in association with each other to release locking operations thereof by the operational member.

There exists a vehicle such as a convertible automobile having a roof opening/closing apparatus, which includes a roof structured with two panels. Such two panels are aligned in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle when an upper portion of a vehicle compartment is covered with the roof. Further, the panels can be folded and moved towards a luggage compartment provided at a back portion of the vehicle so as to be accommodated therein.
Such roof opening/closing apparatus includes a supporting apparatus for supporting the two panels, a front lock mechanism and a rear lock mechanism. The front lock mechanism locks one of the panels (front panel), which is located at the front side of the other panel (rear panel), to a vehicle body when the roof is located at a position for covering the upper portion of the vehicle compartment (hereinafter, referred to as extended position). The rear lock mechanism locks the supporting apparatus for maintaining a state where the two panels are longitudinally aligned when the roof is located at the extended position. The front lock mechanism and rear lock mechanism is connected to each other by means of a flexible cable. Therefore, the front and rear lock mechanisms are operated to simultaneously cooperate to unlock when moving the roof towards a position at which the roof is retracted to be accommodated in the luggage compartment. (hereinafter, referred to as retracted position).
According to an apparatus disclosed in JP3349410B (hereinafter, referred to as reference 1), the front lock mechanism is fixedly attached at the front panel, and the rear lock mechanism is fixedly attached at the rear panel.
Further, according to an apparatus disclosed in JP2005-145303A (hereinafter, referred to as reference 2), for example, a roof structured with three panels and moved between the extended position and the retracted position, has been proposed.
According to the apparatus for operating the roof structured with the two panels to move for opening and closing the upper portion of the vehicle compartment, which is disclosed in the reference 1, the cable serving as a connecting member for connecting the front and rear lock mechanisms is bent when the front and rear panels are folded. Therefore, so as not to be damaged even by being bent repeatedly, the cable is required to be loosely arranged between the front and rear lock mechanism in a manner where the cable is widely curved. Therefore, a sufficiently wide space is required to accommodate the curved (bent) cable. Further, a design for preventing interference of the cable with other portions of the vehicle is also required.
Still further, because the front and rear lock mechanism are operatively connected and operated in association with each other, balance of an assembling between the front and rear panel and an assembling between those panels and the vehicle body is required to be adjusted in an assembling process of the vehicle. Thus, the assembling of those members to the vehicle may be complicated.
A need thus exists for a roof opening/closing apparatus, which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.


A locking mechanism for a headgear suspension using two racks, a pinion, a driver and a lockable knob. The two racks are positioned on the suspension such that they overlap and permit engagement of the gears on the driver with teeth on the rack such that when the lockable knob is in the unlocked position the driver tightens or loosens the racks to adjust the diameter of the suspension to the user's head size. The lockable knob of the invention operates on a pull, rotate, push and lock system. There are no metal parts and the lockable knob can be locked and unlocked with one hand, by the user.

Helmets or visors with suspension systems to secure a helmet or visor to a user are used in a number of industries as protective headgear for workers and drivers of vehicles such as motorcycles and snowmobiles.
Suspension systems and mechanisms for adjusting and mechanisms for locking them are known in the art. Examples include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,628 issued on Jul. 24, 1990 in the name of Freund. Another example is US Patent Application 2004/0060154 published Apr. 1, 2004 in the name of Landrey.

Adjustable locking mechanism for protective head gear


A grating device with a substantially polarization-independent diffraction efficiency is disclosed. The grating device is preferably a surface grating that can be produced by ruling or holographically, and includes at least two different grating elements with the same grating period, but different modulation depths or blaze angles. The blaze angles and the illuminated areas of the respective grating elements can be selected to produce a substantially polarization-independent and optionally also wavelength-independent response of the grating device.

The invention relates to the diffraction of light by a surface grating, and more particularly to a surface grating structure that eliminates or at least reduces the polarization-dependence of the diffraction efficiency of such grating.
Increasingly, information transmitted over long distances increasingly travels over fiber-optic communication systems. It is well known that standard single-mode fiber may not preserve to preserve the launched state of polarization (SOP) of optical signals propagating through the fiber. Moreover, the SOP usually varies with time at any given point along the fiber due to small changes in the physical environment of the fiber or in the optical wavelengths. These random polarization fluctuations can affect transmission systems that employ polarization-sensitive optical components, such as optical amplifiers, coherent optical receivers or polarization-dependent photonic switches and demultiplexers. Polarization scramblers have recently been employed in optically amplified transoceanic communication systems, where they are used, for example, to eliminate anisotropic gain saturation (polarization hole burning) in the optical amplifiers by depolarizing the launched optical signal. Accordingly, optical components used with optical fibers should be made polarization independent, thereby reducing costs and complexity of the fiber-optic communications system.
In wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems, different channels are associated with different optical wavelengths. Channel allocations for dense WDM systems are determined by complex engineering tradeoffs relating both to transmission effects and to technology constraints at the transmitter, demultiplexers, and receivers. The international telecommunications union (ITU) standards body has proposed a channel allocation grid with 100 GHz channel spacing (xcx9c0.81 nm at a 1550 nm wavelength) on even 100 GHz intervals, counting nominally in both directions from a center frequency of 193.1 THz. Newer systems are being designed to reduce the channel spacing to 50 GHz or less. In addition, the total wavelength range over which these devices are designed to operate is increasing. Hence, devices are required for separating (demultiplexing) the various wavelengths from a common transmission fiber into separate optical channels and for combining (multiplexing) the various optical channels back into a single fiber. Passive wavelength-selective components include interference filters, fiber Bragg gratings, arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG), and free space gratings, such as surface relief diffraction gratings. Many of these wavelength-selective components have a polarization-sensitive response.
It would therefore be desirable to provide multiplexers and demultiplexers that have a uniform and constant diffraction efficiency over the wavelength range of interest independent of the polarization state of the light.
The invention is directed to an optical surface diffraction grating designed to provide a substantially identical diffraction efficiency over a certain wavelength range for two orthogonal polarization directions of light. According to one aspect of the invention, the grating includes at least one first grating element with a grating period and a first height defining a modulation depth of a first grating relief pattern, and at least one second grating element with the same grating period, and a second height defining a modulation depth of a second grating relief pattern. The second height is different from the first height. The first and second grating elements are arranged substantially side-by-side. The first height and the second height are selected so that an average value formed from the diffraction efficiencies of the first and second grating elements over the preselected wavelength range is substantially identical for two orthogonal polarization directions.
According to another aspect of the invention, an optical wavelength division demultiplexer using the substantially polarization-independent grating device includes at least one optical illumination source and a plurality of optical receiving devices receiving wavelength-selected diffracted optical radiation from the grating device. The characteristic features of the grating device are selected so that the intensity of the wavelength-selected diffracted optical radiation is substantially independent of a direction of polarization of the at least one optical illumination source.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, an optical wavelength division multiplexer using the substantially polarization-independent grating device includes a plurality of optical illumination sources and at least one optical receiving device wavelength-combined diffracted optical radiation from the grating device. The characteristic features of the grating device are selected so that the intensity of the wavelength-combined diffracted optical radiation is substantially independent of a direction of polarization of the plurality of optical illumination sources.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of producing diffracted optical radiation that is substantially independent of the polarization direction of illuminating optical radiation over a preselected wavelength range is disclosed. The method includes diffracting a first portion of the illuminating optical radiation on at least one first grating element having a grating period and a first height defining a modulation depth of a first grating relief pattern, and diffracting a second portion of the illuminating optical radiation on at least one second grating element having the same grating period and a second height different from the first height and defining a modulation depth of a second grating relief pattern. The diffracted first and second portions are combined to form the diffracted optical radiation. The first height and the second height, and the first portion and the second portion, respectively, are selected so that an average value formed from the diffraction efficiencies of the first and second grating elements over the preselected wavelength range and the illuminated area is substantially identical for two orthogonal polarization directions. Such polarization-insensitive multiplexers and demultiplexers can be applied in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fiberoptic telecommunication systems.
Embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The average value of the diffraction efficiency may be weighted according to a ratio of surface areas of the first and second grating elements exposed to optical radiation illuminating the grating device. To obtain a substantially wavelength-independent diffraction efficiency, the first height and the second height can be selected so that a slope of the diffraction efficiency of the first grating element as a function of wavelength over the predetermined wavelength range is opposite in sign from a slope of the diffraction efficiency of the second grating element over the predetermined wavelength range. The grating elements may be ruled gratings, in which case the respective heights of the first and second grating relief patterns define respective blaze angles, or the gratings may be fabricated by holographic means. The first and second grating elements may be arranged in a geometrical pattern on a common surface, which can be flat or curved, for example, concave to provide focusing. The geometrical pattern may be a stripe or checkerboard pattern or any other suitable pattern. The grooves of the grating elements may be aligned parallel or at an angle with respect to areas where the different grating elements are joined. The area where the grating elements are joined may be apodized.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments and from the claims.

Optical diffraction grating structure with reduced polarization sensitivity


A method of detecting an internal flaw in a particulate filter includes a step of coupling ultrasonic transducer with the particulate filter. The method also includes a step of moving at least one of the ultrasonic transducer and the particulate filter relative to the other. Consistent coupling of the ultrasonic transducer with the particulate filter is maintained during the moving step. Ultrasonic energy is transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer through a majority of a volume of the particulate filter. The method also includes a step of determining if the particulate filter includes an internal flaw using the ultrasonic energy.

Recent governmental regulations have prompted development and application of exhaust aftertreatment systems to reduce particulate matter emissions from both on-highway and off-highway vehicles. Exhaust aftertreatment systems for diesel engines, for example, typically include a diesel particulate filter. Particulate filters, such as a diesel particulate filter, typically include a cylindrical shape with a honeycomb structure cross section. Generally, these honeycomb structures are formed by bringing a powder of ceramic, metal or the like together with a binder, and extruding the mixture with a honeycomb shape. This structure is then fired to fix the honeycomb shape.
Filtration occurs by passing exhaust gas through walls of the honeycomb structure while trapping particles. In some instances, these filters may then be coated with a suitable catalyst to facilitate exhaust aftertreatment of other constituents, such as by the inclusion of a diesel oxidation catalyst for oxidizing hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide gas and other more desirable compounds. It is well known that, during the production process, occasional internal defects, such as cracks and internal voids, can sometimes occur in the honeycomb structures of the particulate filters. When a crack occurs in cell walls of the particulate filter, the crack can significantly affect the durability of the particulate filter and can result in a substantial deterioration in the ability of the filter to trap particles, at least in the area of the crack, according to expectations and specifications. Visual inspections have proven an inadequate strategy for detecting internal flaws in particulate filters.
It is known to employ an ultrasound testing strategy to detect internal flaws in particulate filters. For example, in the testing strategy described in U.S. Publication No. 2007/0144260, a test apparatus may include one or more ultrasound transducers for performing either a pulse echo test or a through transmission test. In either arrangement, the test apparatus moves the one or more transducers into engagement with the particulate filter to test from a first discrete location along a surface of the particulate filter. After the test is performed, the test apparatus may reposition the one or more transducers to test from a second discrete location along the surface of the particulate filter. While this inspection method may prove successful at detecting internal flaws at the tested locations, it ultimately tests only a small volume of the particulate filter. Testing more locations across the filter surface is possible, but requires repositioning of the one or more ultrasonic transducers, which undesirably increases inspection time.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems set forth above.

System and method for detecting internal flaws in a particulate filter


A warehouse system and method for detecting air particles in a warehouse are disclosed. The warehouse system includes storage locations, air filters, a cartridge, and a control base. The air filters are correspondingly arranged on outer sides of each storage location. A detecting module of the cartridge detects the air particles on a surface of corresponding air filter of the abnormal storage locations. The detecting module further calculates a radius of the air particles and transmits the radius of the air particles to the control base. The control base determines if the corresponding air filter of the abnormal storage locations has leaked. The detecting process of the claimed invention is safer, more precise and convenient.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to warehouse technology, and more particularly to a warehouse system and method for detecting air particles.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As automatic warehouse systems require a dust free environment, usually, air filters are installed in the warehouse so as to absorb air particles, such as acidic or basic air particles, or liquid particles.
Typically, the detecting process to determine if the air filters have leaked is conducted by human labors. Specifically, operators stand on mechanical arms of lifting apparatuses and use the detector to detect air particles on a surface of the air filters when the operators are lifted at a predetermined altitude.
However, the above detecting process has problems. First, the detecting process is not convenient and safe. As the operators have to stand on the mechanical arms, accidents may happy due to incorrect operations of the lifting apparatus or incautious operators. Second, the detecting results may not be precise enough for the reason that the detecting process is performed by human labors.

Warehouse system and method for detecting air particles

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


An adjustable carpenters square is presented, which aids carpenters in marking and measuring work product to be cut or formed. The adjustable square can be set at a variety of angles to enable cut marking. It also possesses an attached measuring tape and a straight edge to combine three useful features in one tool.

To prepare wood or other materials for cutting or routing, the workman uses a tape measure to measure the piece, a square for making a reliable mark, and a straight edge to draw the mark. A retractable tape measure, usually metal, is used to set the marks based on length from one end of the piece. A workman often has three or more instruments or tools to help with these tasks, including a straight edge, a retractable tape, a square and a marker (pencil or pen).
Combining a set of these tools into a single item that can be easily carried has been approached in the art, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,599 to Clifton, which teaches a combination square and tape measure, with an embedded protractor to set the square at various angles to help in drawing diagonal lines. Other U.S. Pat. Nos. such as 6,226,885 to Korich and 5,782,007 to Harris teach similar tool sets, with variations.
There is till a need for a combination tool that supports the three functions of measuring, marking, and drawing that is reliable and sturdy.

Adjustable carpenters square with tape measure


The braided line apparatus comprises a flexible, braided line into which a portion of a solid shaft is inserted which expands the braided line relative to the dimensions under tension and creates initial friction between the shaft and the flexible braided line. The shaft has a constant diameter and has a curved neck portion to create a hook section for ease of connection.

This invention pertains to a method for attaching a braided line to a solid shaft.
There are many current methods and means that attach solid material to ropes, line, or the like. Using devices, such as clamps, locking nuts and bolts is well known in the field. The difficulties that are inherent in these designs and should be overcome include the following: The bulkiness and weight created by these connectors is not desirable; A smooth surface is not created by these connection devices. It is the object of this invention to teach a braided line apparatus which avoids the disadvantages and limitations, above recited which occur in previous attaching methods and means.


Disclosed is a wader for use in fishing and other activities having a body portion covering the lower body (including the legs, feet, hips, and waist of the wearer), and a chest portion normally folded inside the body portion but extendable upward about the chest, but not the shoulders of the wearer. The chest portion is preferably held about the chest by a drawstring, such as an elastic drawstring, and is advantageously biased into the lowered position inside the body portion by mans of a seam joining the two portions.

The present invention relates to protective, water-resistant clothing and particularly relates to a type of protective clothing known as waders, used in conjunction with a variety of water sports such as fishing; yet it is understood that the present invention is also usable in non-water related activities, where body protection from the elements is desired.
The use of wader-type protective clothing in conjunction with water sports such as fishing or crabbing, and specifically fly fishing, is well known and widely adopted. The waders are generally manufactured of a waterproof fabric. One type of wader, generally referred to as a "hip boot" style, is two boots which extend up to the thigh and are generally supported by attaching them to the wearer's belt. A second style of wader is the waist-high wader. These waders are generally a one-piece wader that extends up to and sometimes slightly above the waist of the wearer. Finally, there is a full chest wader, that extends up to the armpits of the wearer and is typically supported by shoulder straps.
The environmental condition faced by the user of such waders is normally the decisive factor as to whether the user shall wear the waist-high or chest-high version in his sporting endeavor. A sportsman using the waders in high water levels, low air temperatures, or foul weather conditions may desire to use the chest-high version for its increased warmth and protective qualities relative to the waist-high version. On the other hand, a sportsman desiring protection in shallower water or relatively higher air temperatures may desire to use hip waders or waist-high waders. However, sportsmen in general and fly fishermen in particular learn to anticipate a variety of conditions in any one expedition. They may find themselves having to go through deep water at one point in the day, but may spend most of the day in shallower water. Often, a sunny, warm day develops into a cold day as weather fronts move through. Such changing conditions often make the choice of wader an unsatisfactory compromise.
Additionally, the chest-high waders, with their shoulder straps and additional bulk, generally limit the user's freedom of movement (for instance when rowing a raft or drift boat or carrying or lifting an object) and are cumbersome and time-consuming to remove. Therefore, in situations where maximum freedom of movement is required, a user would be inclined to use the waist-high version, even if environmental conditions dictate otherwise.
To circumvent the inherent mobility and temperature retentive problems associated with the chest-high waders, many sportsmen wear the chest-high waders in all environmental conditions, yet disconnect them at the shoulder straps and fold or roll them down on top of and over the wader to produce a waist-high model when conditions dictate, with the shoulder straps and bib or chest-protecting area hanging loosely beneath or rolled into a "spare tire" about the torso. This situation is problematic for the sportsman, as the bulky, heavy chest-high waders are not adapted for use without support from the shoulders. Thus, they are difficult to keep up when in this configuration. More importantly, the sportsman may find the dangling or bulky chest and shoulder portions interfering with his sporting endeavor. Although this can be a problem in many sporting uses of waders, fishermen in particular often cannot afford to have such extraneous matter hanging from his clothing. The loose, hanging material comprising the chest and shoulder portion of the waders will tend to interfere with the use of the fisherman's equipment. Moreover, when wading in even knee-high water, the folded down chest and shoulder portion will tend to drag in the water.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wader providing full freedom of movement while being adaptable to varying conditions of temperature and water depth.


A rear vehicle-body structure separates air flowing on a side of the vehicle so as not to flow around to a rear of the vehicle, to ensure aerodynamic performance. The disclosed rear vehicle-body structure has a rear combi lamp mounted on a vehicle-width-direction outer side face of a vehicle rear portion, and a rear bumper mounted under the rear combi lamp. The rear combi lamp includes, on the vehicle-width-direction outer side face, a curved portion that is curved from a vehicle-width-direction outer side forwardly inward in a vehicle width direction in a vehicle plan view. The curved portion has a curvature increasing toward a lower side of the vehicle. A protruding portion protruding toward the vehicle-width-direction outer side as going to a rear of the vehicle is provided at a front portion of the curved portion.

Conventionally, for example, as disclosed in International Publication No. WO2011/138931, it has been known that a rectification fin is mounted on a vehicle-width-direction outer side face of a rear combi lamp (more specifically, rear combination lamp) mounted at a vehicle rear portion, and the air flowing at a vehicle body side portion (namely, a vehicle body side-face airflow) is rectified by the rectification fin. However, in the conventional structure disclosed in International Publication No. WO2011/138931, the rectification fin is relatively long in a vehicle front-rear direction, which causes a problem of lack of designability of the vehicle.

Rear vehicle-body structure of a vehicle


Recorded data including secondary data independent of the main data, which are recorded on an optical disk being rotated in a constant linear velocity manner or a constant angular velocity manner by a variable clock signal or a clock-locked signal, are read out by computing an average of preamble data bits contained in the secondary data, setting a window value according to the average and detecting data bits following the preamble data, based on the window value, while rotating the disk in an arbitrary disk rotating manner without intervention of a phase-locked loop circuit.

The present invention relates to a data reproduction apparatus and method for performing reproduction of data from an optical disk.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a common data recording/reproducing system for an optical disk. In the recording and reproduction of data on an optical disk, there are two types of velocity control manners (methods): a constant linear velocity (CLV) method and a constant angular velocity (CAV) method.
The CLV method is referred to as a method which controls a spindle motor according to the position of a disk so that the linear velocity of a data track which is traced by the head is made constant at all times. The CLV method has the advantage that data can be recorded with constant recording density over the entire disk, but on the other hand, since the rotational speed of the disk has to be changed according to the head position, it has the disadvantages that circuitry is increased in size for the speed change control and time is required for searching.
The CAV method is referred to as a method in which the number of revolutions of a spindle motor is always constant. For this reason, the CAV method has the advantages that circuitry can be reduced in size and also searching can be easily performed, because changing the speed of the spindle motor is unnecessary compared with the CLV method. However, the CAV method has the disadvantage that the total amount of recorded data is reduced, because if data is written to both an inner track and an outer track by the same clock signal, a difference in recording density will occur.
Now, a description will be made of a specific reproduction example of data. Each track on an optical disk is usually constituted by a main data area for main data, such as video data, voice data, and system data, and a secondary data area for secondary data such as a track address representing an address of a track. The main data area occupies the greater part of an area on the disk, and even if data of any frequency were reproduced, the data and the clock signal would be extracted through a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit and therefore the reproduction of the data could be performed.
On the other hand, the secondary data such as a track address is not long enough to be passed through a PLL circuit, because it is constituted by the minimum number of data bits for recording main data as much as possible. However, the track address is a key representing the information of the track, and in the case where the track address is not reproduced correctly, there are cases where the incorrectly reproduced track address will damage the data reproduction processing thereafter. However, in the case where recording and reproduction are performed between the same methods, data of a recorded frequency is reproduced, so a data reproduction unit can be relatively easily constructed.
In FIG. 5 there is shown a specific format of the track address (TA). In the TA here, the track is divided into three blocks, each containing a synchronous idle character (SYNC) area, a track address (TA) area, and a cyclic redundancy check character (CRCC) area, and a preamble (PR) area and a postamble (PO) area are provided at the start and the end of the track, respectively.
Next, in FIG. 6 a recording method and a clock phase relationship are shown. In the recording method, assume that frequency modulation (FM or F2F) recording by a double clock signal is performed to convert a "0" data bit to 10 data bits and a "1" data bit to 11 data bits and, furthermore, non-return-to-zero (NRZ)-inverted (NRZI) recording is performed. At this time, if it is assumed that a write clock signal with respect to a "1" data bit in the track address (TA) data bits is a track address clock (TACK) signal, the recording cycle of data bits will be a double track address clock (2TACK) interval which is double the TACK interval by FM recording. Furthermore, since NRZI recording is performed, a "0" data bit is inverted at the track address clock (TACK) interval and a "1" data bit is continuously inverted twice at the double track address clock (2TACK) interval. Moreover, if the PR and PO data bits are all made 0's, then they will be repetitive data bits with a track address clock (TACK) interval. For secondary data such as a track address TA, recording and reproduction are performed not by a fast clock signal but by a relatively slower clock signal since no PLL is applied and some jitter occurs in reproduction.
In an actual detection method, data is sampled at double track address clock (2TACK) intervals and followed by the track address TA. If the synchronous idle character (SYNC) with a unique waveform which is not usually reproduced from other signals is detected, then the track address (TA) and the cyclic redundancy check character (CRCC) will be reproduced. With the CRCC, it is checked whether or not the SYNC contains an error. The waveform of SYNC is shown in FIG. 8. This waveform is obtained after FM recording and NRZI recording and is a relatively long unique pattern that is not detected from the PR, TA, or CRCC.
FIG. 11 shows how the track address (TA) is reproduced by a conventional method. Since reproduced data contains slight jitter between data bits, data is sampled at the rising and falling edges of the pulse of the double track address clock (2TACK) signal whose cycle is greater than an amount of jitter, as shown at 72 and 73. With this, if either cyclic redundancy check character (CRCC) contains no error by performing SYNC detection operations at 74 and 75, TA data detection operations at 76 and 77, and CRCC checking operations at 78 and 79, then it can be confirmed that the track address (TA) has been reproduced correctly.
As described above, in the recording and reproduction of data on an optical disk, there are two types of methods: a CLV method and a CAV method, and each method has advantages and disadvantages. For recording, the CLV method is superior to the CAV method in that data can be written with constant recording density over the entire disk surface. For reproduction, in the case where a recording/reproduction unit consists of a single head and produces a single output signal, the same CLV method may be employed. However, in the case where a recording/ reproduction unit consists of a plurality of heads, when a multitude of output signals are made possible or an editing operation requiring the switching of a plurality of systems is performed, it is realized only by the CAV method in which the speed of a spindle motor is always constant and also searching is easy. The reason for this is that since the CLV method performs control of rotation in accordance with the position of a track at which a recording/reproduction head is positioned, the CLV method cannot make a plurality of heads active at the same time.
In order to utilize the respective advantages of the two methods, it is necessary that recording and reproduction can be performed between different methods. For example, it is necessary that the data on an optical disk recorded with the CLV method can be reproduced with the CAV method. In such a case, the frequency of recorded data will differ from that of reproduced data.
As previously described, in the case where recording and reproduction are performed with the same method, data of a frequency recorded is reproduced, and consequently, the data reproduction unit can be constructed relatively easily. However, in the case where data is recorded and reproduced with different methods, reproduced data differs in frequency from recorded data, and the data reproduction unit cannot be easily constructed. More specifically, in the case where data recorded with the CLV method is reproduced with the CAV method, the frequency of data to be reproduced will be higher than that of recorded data if the relative speed between the reproduction head and the optical disk is faster than that used during recording, and a lower reproduced frequency will be obtained if the relative speed is slower. Thus, the frequency varies between recording and reproduction, and furthermore, it is not easy to reproduce a frequency which varies gradually depending upon the position of the reproduction head.
While the aforementioned recording has been performed with a clock-locked signal, there is another method which records data with a variable clock signal so that a reproduced frequency becomes constant when reproduced. Thus, there are various methods for recording and reproduction, and circuitry which can record and reproduce data only by a predetermined method has hitherto been constructed.

Apparatus for reproducing short length data stored on an optical disk


A cathode-ray tube display device wherein a resistance material, e.g. graphite, is provided on each of a funnel portion, a cone portion and a neck portion of a cathode-ray tube, and a deflecting coil unit is mounted to the neck portion through an insulator, to shield an alternating electric field generated from the deflecting coil unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode-ray tube display device which displays images using a cathode-ray tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a principal portion of a conventional cathode-ray tube display device disclosed, for example, in Swiss Patent No. 309701. In the same figure, the reference numeral 1 denotes a cathode-ray tube (hereinafter referred to as "CRT"); the numeral 2 denotes a deflecting coil unit mounted to a neck portion of the CRT 1; numeral 3 denotes a circuit board mounted to the deflecting coil unit; numeral 4 denotes a lead wire drawn out from the circuit board 3; numeral 5 denotes a connector connected to the lead wire; numeral 6 denotes a metallic reinforcing band for explosion-proof wound round a panel portion 1a of the CRT 1; numeral 7 denotes a cabinet which houses therein substantially the whole of the device; and numeral 8 denotes a front cover which encloses therein the panel portion 1a of the CRT 1.
Referring to FIG. 2, which is a side view of the CRT 1, the numeral 1b denotes a funnel portion body other than the panel portion 1a, the panel portion body 1b being divided into a funnel portion 1c, a cone portion 1d and a neck portion 1e. Numeral 9 denotes an electron gun disposed in the interior of the neck portion 1e; numeral 11 denotes an anode button provided in the funnel portion 1c; and numeral 12 denotes a resistance material, e.g. graphite, applied to the funnel portion 1c for imparting capacitance to the CRT 1. The panel portion 1a and the funnel portion 1c are sealed and bonded together using fritted glass, and the reinforcing band 6 is wound round a boundary portion between the two.
In FIG. 3, which is a perspective view of the deflecting coil unit 2, the numeral 13 denotes a coil mounting body constituted by a trumpet-shaped insulator; numeral 14 denotes a vertical deflecting coil mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the coil mounting body 13; and numeral 15 denotes a horizontal deflecting coil mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the coil mounting body 13. The deflecting coil unit 2 of such a construction is mounted on the neck portion 1e of the CRT 1, as shown in FIG. 1, and a front end portion thereof is in contact with the cone portion 1d.
FIGS. 4 and 5 are a perspective view and a sectional side view, respectively, showing a horizontal width adjusting coil unit, in which the numeral 16 denotes a horizontal width adjusting coil unit; numeral 17 denotes a coil bobbin; numeral 18 denotes a coil wound round the coil bobbin 17; and numeral 19 denotes a screw core for inductance adjustment which is movable vertically in the interior of the coil 18. The horizontal width adjusting coil unit 16 of such a construction is used in connection with a fly-back transformer (not shown).
The operation of such conventional cathode-ray tube display device will be described below.
A vertical deflecting current and a horizontal deflecting current are fed to the vertical deflecting coil 14 and the horizontal deflecting coil 15 of the deflecting coil unit 2, and a video signal is fed to the electron gun 9, whereby an electron beam from the electron gun 9 is deflected. This electron beam is radiated to a phosphor of R.G.B. applied to the surface of the panel portion 1a, whereby the panel surface is rendered luminous and an image is displayed thereon. By adjusting the screw core 19 of the horizontal width adjusting coil unit 16, the horizontal width of the screen is adjusted.
Since the conventional cathode-ray tube display device is constructed as above, an alternating electric current is generated from the coils and transformers of the deflecting coil unit 2 and the horizontal width adjusting coil unit 16 and sometimes the leakage thereof to the exterior affects the peripheral devices. Recently, a standard for restricting the generation of such alternating electric field has been established, so there arose the necessity of taking some measures to meet the standard. In this connection, there has been proposed a method in which a resistance material is provided on the tube surface and is connected to ground to shield electrostatically the alternating electric field leaking in the tube axis direction from the deflecting coil unit 2. However, a satisfactory effect has not been obtained yet.


Particular embodiments may receive a request to perform a task to a core network by a user device via an access point. The user device may be authenticated by the core network which comprises one or more network functionality components, and each of the one or more network functionality components may be decomposed into multiple service types. The core network may identify a sequence of a service instances based on the task. Each of the service instances may belong to one of the multiple decomposed service types. The sequence of service instances may be scheduled for deployment to accomplish the task by the core network. The core network may deploy the sequence of the service instances to one or more server machines of the core network.

Mobile data communications are growing quickly because of global communication networks and devices such as the internet, intranets, mobile computing devices, and increased requirements of workforce mobility. A mobile computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, or laptop computer, may include functionality for wireless communication, such as BLUETOOTH communication, near-field communication (NFC), infrared (IR) communication, communication with a wireless local area networks (WLANs), or cellular-telephone network.
Data communication networks including but not limited to generations of wireless or mobile data communication networks may provide a comprehensive and secure network communication solution with much faster data speeds than a previous generation thereof. The traffic demand in a core mobile data network has increased dramatically in the past few years and is expected to grow even faster. A core network is the core part of the data communication network, which offers numerous services to the users who are interconnected by accessing the network. The core network delivers routes to exchange information among various sub-networks. When it comes to enterprise networks that serve a single organization, the term backbone is often used instead of core network, whereas when used with service providers the term core network is prominent. To extend the mobile data communication and to meet the incremental data rates and capacity demands, network infrastructures are expanded rapidly and globally.


The present invention relates to a pressure-formed bamboo sheets or bars composed of bamboo materials having a reduced variation in fiber density. A bamboo is split in the peripheral direction into a plurality of long bamboo slices, then the long bamboo slices are subjected to heat mothproofing. The heat-mothproofed bamboo slices are separated under pressure into a plurality of extra-fine bamboo slivers and are coated with resin until one complete bamboo sheet or bar is obtained.

The present invention relates to a pressure-formed bamboo sheet or bar and a production process therefor.
For the purpose of prior art for production of a sheet from bamboo, for example, as shown in FIGS. 9(A)-9(F), a bamboo plate material is produced by cutting a bamboo 1 of a given size along the axial direction of the bamboo into a plurality of slices to form a plurality of long bamboo square bars 4, joining said bamboo square bars 4 together into a laminated bamboo sheeting 5, and cutting said bamboo laminated sheeting 5 in a proper thickness.
More specifically, bamboo 1 is cut in a proper length, as shown by FIG. 9(A). Next, the bamboo 1 is split in the radial direction into proper numbers of slices, as shown in FIGS. 9(B) and (C). Then, each of the slices is machined by cutting off the inner and outer faces thereof to form a long bamboo square bar 4 having a length a and a width b, as shown in FIGS. 9(D) and (E). Then, a plurality of the long bamboo square bars 4 are laminated to each other into a laminated bamboo sheeting 5, as shown in FIG. 9(F). Specifically, the long bamboo square bars 4 are joined together under pressure with their respective front and back faces 41 and 42 stuck to each other with adhesives. In the drawing, the numeral 43 designates the side of the long bamboo square bars 4, and 44 the end face of same, the bamboo fibers extending in a longitudinal direction (in the direction x). Finally, the laminated bamboo sheeting 5 is cut from above piece by piece in an equal thickness to obtain a bamboo plate material 6, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 9(F). The resultant bamboo plate material 6 comprises slices 6' constituted by long bamboo square bars 4 connected with each other in the direction of width (in the direction y), with the bamboo fibers extending longitudinally (in the direction x), and the bamboo density changing widthwise (in the direction y). To be specific, the density is thicker at the side of front face 41, and more coarse at the side of back face 42.
With the bamboo plate materials, however, only a few parts of bamboo 1 can be used, while the other parts are thrown away. In addition, the processing of bamboo is complicated, and there is a limit to the promotion in the efficiency of production. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 9(D) and (E), a machining operation takes place in the form of cutting off the inner and outer peripheries from a bamboo slice to form a long bamboo square bar 4 having a length a and a width b. The remaining bamboo parts left behind after forming the long bamboo square 4 are destined to be abandoned. And the processing involved in each procedure step is complex, such that the predetermined dimensions a, b must be secured at the step where a long bamboo square bar 4 is obtained. In addition, as shown in FIG. 9(F), the long bamboo square bars 4 must be laminated to one to another. In particular, irregularities in the dimensions a, b of each long bamboo square bar 4 is liable to give rise to gaps between the adjacent long bamboo square bars 4. Therefore, a resultant bamboo plate material 6 may also have such gaps formed therewithin so as to be imperfect as a plate-formed product. Furthermore, requiring a long bamboo square bar 4 with a predetermined length and width a and b from a hollow cylindrical bamboo makes it difficult to find and cut off a usable bamboo portion, and much of the long bamboo square bar 4 unavoidably goes to waste, as described above. Additionally, the fibers of resultant bamboo plate materials 6 may be irregular in density. While on the one hand, development of new uses for such products may be possible, these products will have restrictions in use.
Occasionally, some bamboo has eggs laid therein by insects harmful to bamboo. Although harmful insects can be exterminated from the bamboo using chemicals and drugs, laid eggs cannot possibly be exterminated completely. Thus after such egg-infested bamboo in question is processed into final products or after such products are sold, the eggs within the bamboo hatch, and the resulting insects eat away the bamboo from within to such an extent that the bamboo finally becomes porous.
An object of a first invention of the present application is to develop a pressure-formed bamboo product composed of bamboo materials which have reduced variations in fiber density, and which may be manufactured without using complicated processes and without losing of bamboo.
The object of a second invention of the present application is to develop a pressure-formed bamboo product composed of high-strength bamboo materials which are uniformly strong therethroughout with a reduced fiber density variation, and which may be manufactured without using any complicated process and without wasting of bamboo.
The object of a third invention of the present application is to provide a process for producing pressure-formed bamboo products while reducing waste, increasing the production efficiency for bamboo in more simple manner, decreasing bamboo fiber density irregularities, and effectively exterminating eggs of harmful insects from the bamboo.

Pressure forming process for pressure-formed bamboo products


A method of measuring a circular wafer in which the surface (A) of the wafer is divided into a plurality (N) of concentric rings of constant surface area (A/N), and at least one measurement point (Pn) is positioned on each ring. The outside radius (Rn) of each ring is calculated using the following formula:Rn=RN(n/N)1/2in which n varies from 1 to N. In this manner, rings are obtained that become narrower with increasing distance from the center of the wafer, thereby providing measurement points that become closer together towards the edge of the wafer, and covering only the useful zone of the wafer to be measured, guaranteeing that no measurement is made in an annular exclusion zone.

The present invention relates to inspecting the quality of wafers each in the form of a thin cylindrical wafer of a semiconductor material such as silicon that undergoes a certain number of transformations (polishing, oxidation, implantation, transfer, depositing layers of materials, etc.) to form a support from which large numbers of components may be produced (for example, cells of integrated circuits or discrete devices).
Throughout the industrial process for producing such a wafer, its quality as regards the thickness, structure, number of defects, optical or electrical characteristics, etc. must be inspected regularly. To this end, methods exist for measuring magnitudes that can be used to carry out whole wafer mapping (electrical characteristics, thickness of a thin film, composition, etc). This mapping is carried out from measurement points, the number of which is necessarily limited by the acceptable duration of such inspections during the fabrication process. Thus, it is important to have methods which allow a minimum number of measurement points to be determined, and especially to determine a judicious positioning for them to represent the characteristics of the wafer to be measured in as faithful and efficient a manner as possible.
As an example, when inspecting the uniformity of the thickness of the thin silicon layer of a SOI (silicon-on-insulator) wafer obtained by the SMART-CUT® technique, the thickness of the thin layer after polishing (on the order of 20 nm to 1.5 μm) must take several factors into account:
Firstly, a high uniformity of thickness is desired over the whole wafer (on the order of several atomic planes), which requires great accuracy in the measurement. During the wafer fabrication process, polishing equipment is used. Because the layers in question are very thin, it will be understood that it is important to monitor and carefully adjust the operation of such equipment.
Further, the periphery of a SOI wafer has a zone termed an exclusion zone (up to 5 mm at the wafer circumference) where the measurements are not representative. This exclusion zone is actually larger than the unused peripheral zone of the wafer (for example zone not transferred after bonding typically 1 mm to 2 mm) to avoid measurement artifacts induced by the proximity of the wafer edge.
Certain measurements may be carried out "on-line", i.e. directly on the production line, while others are carried out "off-line", i.e. with measurement means that cannot be integrated into the production line, such as electrical measurements that can only be made off-line, for example.
Regarding "on-line" measurements, the polishing equipment includes metrological means (for example a reflectometer to measure thickness) with a capacity as regards the number of measurement points that is typically limited to about one hundred points per wafer, the measurement period being of the order of one second per point. Methods used to carry out wafer mapping are constituted by a distribution either along a diameter of the wafer, or in a circle, or by defining Cartesian coordinates for the measurement points. Those methods for positioning the measurement points are thus not adapted to measuring SOI wafers as the methods cannot, for example, permit a denser distribution of points close to the exclusion zone or suppression of the points in that zone.
Regarding "off-line" measurements, reflectometry equipment (for example measuring instrument such as "ACUMAP®" from ADE Semiconductor) produces a map that requires a large number of measurement points to obtain a faithful map of the uniformity of thickness of the thin layer: of the order of 7500 points for ACUMAP® equipment. Those measurements take a long time (about 2 to 3 minutes per wafer) and are thus expensive. For that reason, that type of inspection is generally carried out by sampling (i.e., off-line inspection, for example by analyzing one wafer per batch), which is not satisfactory. Further, off-line production inspection by sampling does not allow immediate corrective action to be carried out, which causes a loss of product during production.
This problem, discussed for the sake of clarification with the particular example of measuring thickness, is also applicable to measurements of electrical characteristics and more generally to any wafer characterization (thickness by ellipsometry, stress by Raman measurements, etc), especially of SOI wafers, where rapid and faithful mapping of a physical magnitude is required. A solution to this problem is needed, and is now provided by the present invention.

Method and instrument for measuring semiconductor wafers

S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies


A semiconductor device wafer base wherein devices may be fabricated in silicon carbide, the base having a compatible substrate and a beta silicon carbide overlay layer epitaxially related to the substrate, the beta silicon carbide layer being unpolytyped, single crystal, uncracked, without twins, and having integrated circuit quality surface morphology. Preferably, the substrate is a single crystal of titanium carbide, which is the same cubic lattice-type as beta silicon carbide with a lattice parameter different from that of beta silicon carbide by less than about 1%. Additionally, the thermal expansion coefficients of beta silicon carbide and titanium carbide are nearly the same, minimizing the creation of thermal stresses during cooling and heating. The beta silicon carbide is useful in fabricating semi-conductor devices for use at much higher temperatures than is silicon, and for use at high power levels, at high frequencies, and in radiation hardened applications. The device base may be fabricated by any suitable technique, including reactive deposition and chemical vapor deposition.

This invention relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device wafer base wherein a silicon carbide overlay layer is deposited on a suitable substrate.
An extensive technology of semiconductor devices has been developed based upon the properties of single crystal silicon and other similar materials which may be doped, heat treated and otherwise processed to produce adjacent layers and regions of varying electronic characteristics. The use of devices produced by silicon technology is generally limited to operation at ambient or, at most, low elevated temperatures, and in non-corrosive, inert environments. The temperature limitation is a consequence of the rapid diffusion of dopant and impurity species in the silicon, which in turn can substantially alter the character of the fabricated semiconductor device by diffusional degradation. The limitation to relatively inert environments results from the high chemical reactivity of silicon in many corrosive environments, which also can alter the character of the fabricated device. Silicon devices are also limited as to power level, frequency and radiation tolerance by the materials used therein.
For many applications, the temperature, environmental, and other use limitations on silicon devices may be overcome by the use of proper cooling and packaging techniques, but in other applications these limitations have prevented the use of silicon for integrated circuit technology. For example, in many space craft and aircraft applications, elevated temperatures may be encountered, and it is not always possible to insure that adequate cooling is provided. In high power applications, internal thermal transients in devices otherwise operating at ambient temperature can rapidly destroy the operability of the device unless extensive cooling is provided Such cooling requires that the device be larger in size than might otherwise be necessary, in part defeating the purpose of the integrated circuit technology.
There has therefore been an on-going search over a period of twenty years to identify and develop a semiconductor technology based in other materials which allow the fabrication of devices for use at higher temperatures such as, for example, the range of at least about 400.degree. C.-600.degree. C., and in applications not amenable to the use of silicon. Because corrosive effects can be greatly accelerated at elevated temperatures, any such materials and devices must also exhibit excellent corrosion resistance over a range of pressures from vacuum to many atmospheres. Some generally desirable requirements of such materials have been identified, including large band gap, ability to be doped to produce regions of varying electronic characteristics, a high melting temperature, resistance to diffusion by undesired foreign atoms, thermal stability, chemical inertness, and the ability to form ohmic external contacts
Silicon carbide was early identified as a candidate material meeting the indicated requirements. Silicon carbide has a high breakdown voltage, a relatively large band gap, and a thermal conductivity of more than three times that of silicon at ambient temperature. Silicon carbide is also resistant to the diffusion of impurity species. Silicon carbide may be processed by several techniques similar to those used in silicon device technology, and in many instances silicon carbide devices may be substituted at moderate and low temperatures for silicon devices. Silicon carbide semiconductor device technology therefore offers the opportunity for supplementing, and in some instances replacing, conventional silicon device technology.
For all of its potential, the promise of silicon carbide device technology has not been achieved simply because it has not been possible to produce unpolytyped silicon carbide single crystals of sufficient size to allow the fabrication of semiconductor devices Small bulk single crystals of beta silicon carbide have been fabricated, but with dimensions no greater than about 2 millimeters. An alternative approach to the use of bulk single crystals, which is widely used in silicon device technology, is the preparation of device bases by epitaxially depositing an overlay of the desired semiconductor on a substrate which serves both to support the overlay layer and to provide a nucleation plane for epitaxial growth. Epitaxial growth of thin overlay layers of beta silicon carbide has been attempted on beta silicon carbide itself, previously carburized silicon, alpha silicon carbide and molybdenum with and without a liquid metal intermediate layer, and silicon.
All of these substrates and techniques have proved to be unsuitable, either because large single crystals of the substrates themselves cannot be prepared, because the resulting silicon carbide overlays could not be fabricated as sufficiently large single crystals, because a single stable crystal of beta silicon carbide polytype without any included alpha silicon carbide polytype could not be prepared, because of a large lattice parameter and thermal expansion mismatch between the beta silicon carbide and the substrate, or because of unsatisfactory surface morphology of the resulting beta silicon carbide overlay. In short, an intensive, worldwide effort to produce either bulk single crystals or epitaxial overlay single crystals of unpolytyped silicon carbide suitable for integrated circuit applications, with dimensions greater that a few millimeters, has failed completely. The potential for the use of silicon carbide has been verified by manufacturing devices in very small silicon carbide crystals, but this demonstration has not been extended to practical, large scale devices because of this limitation in fabricating sufficiently large single crystals of a single polytype or large area beta silicon carbide epitaxial layers suitable for device or integrated circuit processing.
Thus, there exists a need for some approach to utilizing silicon carbide semiconductor technology on a large scale in practical devices. The approach should allow the reproducible preparation of thin beta silicon carbide single crystals having lateral dimensions greater than several millimeters, so that large scale semiconductor arrays of devices can be processed and prepared on a single crystal. The approach should also be consistent with the utilization of the desirable characteristics of beta silicon carbide. That is, the fabrication technique should not adversely influence its thermal stability, corrosion resistance, and other desirable properties. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.

Wafer base for silicon carbide semiconductor device

The Regents of the University of California


Co-administration of a lysostaphin or other anti-staphylococcal agent which cleaves cross-links of peptidoglycans of staphylococci cell walls such as lysostaphin and an antibiotic effective against staphylococci due to antibiotic activity mediated by cell-wall activity is effective against staphylococcal infection, even staphylococci that may be resistant to one or other of lysostaphin or the cell-wall active antibiotic. Co-administration simultaneously suppresses the generation of antibiotic-resistant mutant strains. Effective cell-wall active antibiotics include β-lactams and glycopeptides.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a method of treating staphylococcal infection in mammals, including humans. The method involves the simultaneous administration of a lysostaphin or other agent which attacks the glycine-containing peptide cross-links of the cell wall peptidoglycan found in staphylococci and an antibiotic, the antibiotic properties of which are mediated by its ability to affect the cell wall of the target staphylococci. This combined administration is effective in treating the staphylococcal infection, and at the same time suppresses the formation of strains resistant to lysostaphin or other peptidoglycan active agent.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Lysostaphin is a bacteriocin secreted by a staphylococcal strain isolated and originally named Staphylococcus staphylolyticus (now S. simulans). The production of lysostaphin is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,378. Lysostaphin is an endopeptidase which cleaves the polyglycine cross-links of the peptidoglycan found in the cell walls of staphylococci. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,398,056 and 3,594,284 describe improvements to culture medium and inoculation techniques for the production of lysostaphin.
The gene for lysostaphin from S. simulans has been sequenced and cloned, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,390. Lysostaphin for use as a laboratory reagent has been produced by fermentation of a non-pathogenic recombinant strain of B. sphaericus, from which it is readily purified. The cloning and sequencing of the lysostaphin gene permits the isolation of variant enzymes that have properties similar to or different from those of wild type lysostaphin. One such altered enzyme, bearing a single amino acid change, has been characterized and shown to have potent anti-staphylococcal activity both in vitro and in an animal infection model. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/120,030, filed Jul. 21, 1998 and incorporated herein by reference. Other lysostaphin analogues, including naturally occurring enzymes of this type have been established as potent agents capable of addressing difficult to treat bacterial diseases caused by staphylococcal infection. Other peptidases with related activity are known. Thus lasA protease and achromopeptidase, reported in Kessler, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:7503–08 (1993) and Li et al., J. Biochem. 122:772–778 (1997), respectively, have anti-staphylococcal activity based on their digestion of glycine-containing cross-links in the peptidoglycan cell wall component. These agents may be used in this invention in place of lysostaphin.
The development of lysostaphin as an effective antibiotic to treat staphylococcal infection has been plagued, however, by a problem that is universal for antibiotic administration—the increasing development of antibiotic-resistant strains of mutant staphylococci. Already, a wide variety of staphylococcal infections resistant to various antibiotics that were previously the treatment of choice, including methicillin (methicillin resistant S. aureus are referred to as MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant strains (referred to as VISA) have been identified. Resistance to a wide variety of other antibiotics, not exhibited by sensitive staphylococci, has been noted as well. MRSA, as well as strains resistant to other antibiotics, are discussed at length in Stranden, et al., J. Bacteriology 179(1):9–16 (1997). Further difficulties are encountered in that MRSA tend to accumulate a variety of other resistances as well. Multiresistant MRSA are typically treated with vancomycin, The Staphylococci In Human Diseases, 158–174 (Grossley, et al., editors 1997). Vancomycin itself may be toxic. Additionally, vancomycin resistance has recently been detected in staphylococci infections.
The problem posed by the continuing development of antibiotic-resistant infectious agents, such as staphylococci, is more than the difficulty involved in treating any individual patient. Popular press, as well as scientific journals, have noted the alarming increase in the generation of resistant strains, due in part to indiscriminate use or over-use of antibiotics. Each time an individual is treated with an antibiotic, whether needlessly or reasonably, the chance that a strain resistant to that particular treatment will arise is increased. Resistant strains of staphylococci have become endemic in many hospitals and pose a life-threatening danger to patients already debilitated by other ailments who become infected after admission to those hospitals.
Numerous articles have noted the development of resistance to either lysostaphin or β-lactams, such as methicillin, and the relationship there between. Thus, DeHart, et al., Applied Environmental Microbiology 61, 1475–1479 (1995) noted the development of mutant S. aureus recombinant cells that were resistant to lysostaphin, but susceptible to methicillin. Similar phenomenon are reported by Zygmunt, et al., Can. J. Microbio. 13,845–852 (1966), Polak. et al., Diagn. Microbiol. Infet. Dis. 17:265–270 (1993) and Dickson, et al., Yale J. Bio. Med. 41:62–67 (1968). Each of these references, as well as later reports such as Ehlert, J. Bacteriology, 179:7573–7576 (1997) note that staphylococci that develop resistance to lysostaphin, either spontaneously or through induced recombination, become susceptible to methicillin treatment, and vice-versa. In all of these references, the uniform suggestion is to follow a course of administration of lysostaphin, even a short one, with administration of methicillin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,026, commonly assigned herewith, employs a specific method for treating mastitis, by intramammary infusion of lysostaphin. The patent reports, Table ID and elsewhere, that a synergistic result is predicted when combining lysostaphin and a β-lactam to treat mastitis, based on an in vitro assay. The bovine mastitis model is not predictive of in vivo administration of antibiotics, and the synergistic effects reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,026 have not been substantiated in an environment or model that would be reflective of in vivo administration to a mammal such as a human.
Those of skill in the art will be aware that there are a wide variety of staphylococcal strains. Many are resistant to conventional antibiotics, unlike sensitive strains. S. aureus strains are recognized as highly virulent and the most common single cause of serious systemic infections. Coagulase-negative staphylococcal species, although generally less invasive than S. aureus, are now responsible for a significant incidence of infections; particulary among debilitated or immunocompromised patients. As an example of such infection, one may point to endocarditis consequent to heart valve replacement. This is but one of a variety of intractable staphylococcal infections which are increasing due to the widespread use of antibiotics.
Accordingly, it remains an object of those of ordinary skill in the art to develop a method whereby even resistant staphylococcal infections in mammals, including humans, may be effectively treated by the administration of antibiotics. Desirably, this method is developed so as suppress the formation of strains resistant to the antibiotics used.

Compositions and methods for treatment of staphylococcal infection while suppressing formation of antibiotic-resistant strains


Disclosed are stabilized dry chemical (e.g. pharmaceutical) compositions containing the water soluble acid addition salt of a poorly soluble basic compound (e.g. mianserin, apomorphine, chlorpromazine, imipramine, or promethazine); an excipient selected from the group consisting of microcrystalline cellulose, lactose, calcium hydrogen phosphate, and mixtures thereof; and a water soluble (>2 mg/ml) alkaline stabilizer. The resulting dry compositions are relatively more bioavailable and stable than compositions not containing the water soluble alkaline stabilizer, especially after high temperature (>45.degree.) granulation processes. The process for preparing the dry composition is also more "rugged" with the added water soluble alkaline stabilizer.

1. Field
This invention relates to chemical compositions generally, especially to stable solid pharmaceutical preparations containing the water soluble acid addition salt of a poorly soluble basic compound.
2. State of the Art
Methods for making tablets and other solid or dry pharmaceutical preparations are well-known. For example in Chase, et al, Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences. pp. 1553-1576 (16th ed. 1980, Mack Publ. Co. of Easton, Pa., U.S.A.), methods of making tablets, capsules and pills and their respective components are described.
Two methods of making tablets are the "wet-granulation" and "dry-granulation" methods. The dry granulation method is especially suitable for medicinal compounds which are sensitive to moisture or are unable to withstand elevated drying temperatures associated with the wet-granulation methods.
Even with the use of these granulation methods however, the tableting of certain compounds (e.g. the water soluble acid addition salts of poorly soluble basic drugs) is less than ideal. Granulation processes using these compounds are not very "rugged", i.e. the processes have relatively strict tolerances making the granulation process extremely sensitive to changes in process variables (e.g. temperature and moisture changes). A process which is not very rugged has relatively strict operating tolerances which make the process sensitive to changes in processing variables. This is especially disadvantageous with regard to high temperature granulation processes which involve high temperatures and high humidities.
Even after tablets or other dry dosage pharmaceutical preparations are made containing the water soluble acid addition salts of poorly soluble basic drugs, the resulting preparations are generally not very stable. They discolour and/or degrade under certain conditions. For example, they may discolour or degrade upon exposure to light, relatively high humidity, or elevated temperatures. Color changes and degradation are tokens of instability. These tokens of instability may occur rather rapidly, sometimes within months, forcing a pharmacist or wholesaler storing the tablets to restock the product frequently.
The compound sodium pyrophosphate (Na.sub.4 P.sub.2 O.sub.7) has been described as stabilizing certain calcium phosphate compounds. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,287,699 to Moss et al, alkali metal pyrophosphates (e.g. Na.sub.4 P.sub.2 O.sub.7) are used to prepare a stabilized form of dicalcium phosphate (e.g. CaHPO.sub.4.2H.sub.2 O). In U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,852 to Nelson et al, a process for producing "internally stabilized" dicalcium phosphate dihydrate using pyrophosphate ions is also disclosed.
Certain magnesium compounds are also known to stabilize calcium phosphate compounds. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,018,410 to McDonald et al, trimagnesium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, magnesium stearate, and dimagnesium phosphate are all described as stabilizing hydrated dicalcium phosphate compounds substantially free from monocalcium phosphate for use in dentifrice preparations. In GB 1,548,465 to Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft, dimagnesium phosphate trihydrate is used to stabilize dicalcium phosphate dihydrate. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,411,873 to Harnisch et al, a process for stabilizing dicalcium phosphate dihydrate by means of a magnesium phosphate is disclosed.
In German patent application DE 2,741,513 to J. H. Benckiser GmbH, a procedure is described for stabilizing calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate against hydrolysis using a diphosphonic acid or its water-soluble salt.
In European Patent 054,333 to Stauffer Chemical Co., fine particles of a calcium phosphate (e.g. calcium pyrophosphate) are compacted under pressure to form a sheet. The sheet may then be comminuted to give a granular material. This granular material may then be used as an excipient in pharmaceutical tablets or wafers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,450 to Harris et al discloses pharmaceutical compositions containing a drug (i.e. an ACE inhibitor), an alkaline stabilizer, and a saccharide. Harris et al prefers water insoluble stabilizers such as magnesium carbonate, calcium carbonate, and magnesium silicate, which have not always proved adequate in trying to stabilize a high temperature, high humidity granulation process. Harris et al also specifically requires a saccharide component in the described compositions, which unnecessarily adds to the costs of such compositions. Harris et al furthermore does not disclose any methods of increasing the ruggedness of a granulation procedure, nor does the reference disclose rugged granulation procedures utilizing temperatures greater than 45.degree. C. It is now found that when the drying temperature exceeds 45.degree. C., such procedures become less rugged. The same criticality is found with regard to granulation temperatures.
European patent application 380,021 to Abbott Laboratories discloses that buffers may be used to obtain complete solubilization of certain drugs, and that these buffers can increase the thermal stability of a drug formulation during the drying step of the granulation process. It also discloses solid dosage forms having increased stability which may contain estropipate, a tromethamine buffer, and an additional alkaline buffering agent, such as dibasic sodium phosphate. The dosage forms may also contain an excipient, such as dibasic calcium phosphate.
To date no one has been able to economically increase the ruggedness of a high temperature mixing step of granulation procedures involving certain unstable chemical compounds (e.g. the water soluble acid addition salt of a poorly soluble basic compound).

Stabilized solid pharmaceutical composition containing acid addition salts of a basic drug and an alkaline stabilizer