An end closure design for a paperboard container having four or more end panels that form the end closure hingedly joined respectively to four side panels connected to each other by parallel, spaced apart fold lines. Each of the hinged end panels has a straight free edge parallel the hinged edge and each free edge has two spaced apart notches of the same shape and size cut therein, each positioned the same distance from the parallel, spaced apart fold lines such that when the panels are folded over, a notch from each end panel interlocks with a notch from an adjacent end panel. An opposing two of the hinged end panels also include two diagonal score lines, each extending from an interior edge of the notches to the interior corner formed by the fold lines between the end closure panel and its respective side panel. To form the end closure, the end closure panels without the diagonal score lines are folded inwardly, then the end closure panels with the diagonal score lines are folded inwardly. Pressure is applied (by pushing) to the central portion of the two panels with score lines between the score lines to cause adjacent and overlapping notches to interlock to form the end closure. The resulting container has an end with a central open area and four interlocked notches at the open area's corners.

It has been found that there is a need in the packaging industry for octagonal and rectangular shaped cartons that can be easily squared up on a pallet and that have easy locking bottom flanges or panels that are more resistant to tearing.
Locking mechanisms for closing the bottom of containers are well known in the packaging industry. In particular, bottom closure panels having combinations of notches and score lines have been used to provide many different variations of push-type end closure/locking mechanisms. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,090 to Blasdell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,882 to Parker, U.S. Pat. No. 2,361,603 to Cohen and U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,869 to Ostwald. The prior art devices attempt to solve the same general problem of closing and locking container bottom and/or top panels. However, each has a problem in utilization that makes it relatively unattractive to manufacture or use. For example, many of the prior art locking systems are not easily set up, have limited use dependent on the type and size of carton they are to be used on, and have problems with score memory or tearing of the flanges if not folded properly. In addition, many of the prior art locking mechanisms require added costs in materials or manufacture.
Accordingly, it is a broad object of this invention to provide an improved locking system for the bottom or top panels of a container or carton, which is inexpensive to produce, has application to a wide variety of cartons, and operates in a simple manner that allows a user to easily close and lock the end panels while reducing the risk of tearing and the negative effects of score memory.


A method of correcting a photomask, comprises preparing a photomask substrate with a mask pattern including a phase shift pattern, forming a reference hole by removing a part of the mask pattern, applying an ion beam from an ion beam source to an area including the reference hole to allow secondary charged particles to be released from the reference hole, obtaining a position of the reference hole by detecting the secondary charged particles by a detector, calculating a positional relationship between the obtained position of the reference hole and a position of a defect of the mask pattern, and correcting the defect by applying an ion beam from the ion beam source to the defect, based on the calculated positional relationship, wherein a pattern of the reference hole, as viewed in a direction perpendicular to a top surface of the photomask substrate, is substantially rectangular, and a longitudinal direction of the rectangular pattern is parallel to a longitudinal direction of the phase shift pattern.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-028553, filed Feb. 5, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of correcting a photomask used for the manufacture of a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly to a method of correcting a photomask by applying a focused ion beam (FIB) to a defect of the photomask to repair the defect.
2. Description of the Related Art
In correcting a defect of a photomask using a focused ion beam, one point drift correction is used in order to totally correct a drift of an image due to charge up, or a drift due to thermal expansion of a mask or a mask holder. In the one point drift correction, a pinhole is formed in a pattern of the photomask. The beam is moved to the portion to be corrected by using the pinhole as a reference point, thereby enhancing correction accuracy. A specific example of the one point drift correction will be described below with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.
A focused ion beam 22a is applied to a part of a pattern 12 which is formed on a substrate 11 for a photomask, so that a pinhole 13, which serves as a reference point, is formed. Then, an ion beam 22b is applied from an ion beam source 21 to a scan region 14 including the pinhole 13. Secondary ions (secondary charged particles) 23 released from the portion where the pinhole 13 is formed are detected by a detector 24, thereby recognizing (obtaining) the reference point. Then, the positional relationship between the detected position of the pinhole 13 (position of the reference point) and the portion to be corrected which is known in advance, is calculated. After re-confirming the position of the pinhole 13, the ion beam is applied to the portion to be corrected, thereby correcting the defect. After that, by repeatedly performing the ion beam irradiation for confirming the reference point and the ion beam irradiation for correcting the defect, the defect correction is completed. In this way, by confirming the reference point immediately before the defect correction processing, the influence of a drift can be reduced to a minimum.
If defect correction is performed using the above-described one point drift correction, it is conventionally considered that a round shape is ideal as the shape of a planar pattern of the reference point (pinhole) (refer, for example, to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 5-4660). From this point of view, the pinhole is conventionally formed by applying the ion beam to a square-shaped area with an equal number of dots in longitudinal and horizontal directions (e.g. 4xc3x974 dots).
However, if a phase shift mask is used as a photomask, a proper phase shift operation (phase effect) cannot be obtained at the region where the pinhole is formed. Therefore, if the pinhole is large relative to the pattern, a region which affects a projected image is also large. If the pinhole is large, the scan region for detecting the pinhole needs to be large. Thus, the beam scan damages a wide area of the pattern. Therefore, if the pattern is small, the line size of the projected image is small, which is a problem. Further, in the case of correcting a pinhole mark, since a carbon film deposited for correction does not have a phase shift operation, the smaller the pattern, the wider the region which affects the projected image.
As shown in FIG. 10, in general, a detector 24 is disposed obliquely above the pinhole 13. Thus, if the pattern of the pinhole has a square shape, the following problem will arise. Since the detector 24 is disposed obliquely above the pinhole 13, the secondary ions 23 coming out of the pinhole 13 are considered to be blocked to some extent by a sidewall at the detector 24 side (the left sidewall in FIG. 10). Therefore, the length of the pinhole 13 in the X direction shown in FIG. 10 needs to be increased to a degree. In this case, if the pinhole 13 is a square pattern, the length of the pinhole 13 in the Y direction is equal to that in X direction. Regarding the X direction, the arrival of the secondary ions to the detector 24 is limited by the left sidewall (in FIG. 10). Thus, the yield of the secondary ions is biased to the right region (in FIG. 10), and a certain degree of positional accuracy can be obtained. However, since such a situation will hardly occur in the Y direction, the positional accuracy (recognition accuracy) of the pinhole in the Y direction cannot sufficiently be obtained. In actuality, as shown in FIG. 11, a secondary ion image 31 corresponding to the pinhole is a vertically elongated image in the Y direction.
Further, in the prior art, many secondary ions are blocked by a sidewall on the detector 24 side as described above. Thus, there is a problem that the secondary ions from the bottom portion of the pinhole, i.e., the exposed surface of the substrate, do not reach the detector with efficiency.
In the conventional method of correcting the photomask using one point drift correction, if the phase shift mask is used as a photomask, the region, where phase shift operation (phase effect) cannot be obtained, increases. Thus, a proper projected image cannot be obtained, which is a problem. There are also problems that the positional accuracy (recognition accuracy) of the reference pinhole is insufficient, and that the secondary ions (secondary charged particles) from the pinhole cannot efficiently be made incident on the detector.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of correcting a photomask, comprising: preparing a photomask substrate with a mask pattern including a phase shift pattern; forming a reference hole by removing a part of the mask pattern; applying an ion beam from an ion beam source to an area including the reference hole to allow secondary charged particles to be released from the reference hole; obtaining a position of the reference hole by detecting the secondary charged particles by a detector; calculating a positional relationship between the obtained position of the reference hole and a position of a defect of the mask pattern; and correcting the defect by applying an ion beam from the ion beam source to the defect, based on the calculated positional relationship, wherein a pattern of the reference hole, as viewed in a direction perpendicular to a top surface of the photomask substrate, is substantially rectangular, and a longitudinal direction of the rectangular pattern is parallel to a longitudinal direction of the phase shift pattern.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of correcting a photomask, comprising: preparing a photomask substrate having a mask pattern; forming a reference hole by removing a part of the mask pattern; applying an ion beam from an ion beam source to an area including the reference hole to allow secondary charged particles to be released from the reference hole; obtaining a position of the reference hole by detecting the secondary charged particles by a detector, a charged particle incidence portion of the detector being disposed obliquely above the reference hole; calculating a positional relationship between the obtained position of the reference hole and a position of a defect of the mask pattern; and correcting the defect by applying an ion beam from the ion beam source to the defect, based on the calculated positional relationship, wherein a pattern of the reference hole, as viewed in a direction perpendicular to a top surface of the photomask substrate, is substantially rectangular, and a longitudinal direction of the rectangular pattern is parallel to a straight line obtained by projecting, on the top surface of the photomask substrate, a straight line linking the incidence portion of the detector and the reference hole.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of correcting a photomask, comprising: preparing a photomask substrate having a mask pattern; forming a reference hole by removing a part of the mask pattern; applying an ion beam from an ion beam source to an area including the reference hole to allow secondary charged particles to be released from the reference hole; obtaining a position of the reference hole by detecting the secondary charged particles by a detector, a charged particle incidence portion of the detector being disposed obliquely above the reference hole; calculating a positional relationship between the obtained position of the reference hole and a position of a defect of the mask pattern; and correcting the defect by applying an ion beam from the ion beam source to the defect, based on the calculated positional relationship, wherein the reference hole is defined by a first sidewall located at the same side as the incidence portion of the detector, and a second sidewall opposed to the first sidewall, and an inclination of a plane linking a bottom end and an upper end of the first sidewall is more gentle than that of a plane linking a bottom end and an upper end of the second side wall.

Method of correcting a photomask and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device


A method for acquiring Global Positioning System (GPS) code includes describing GPS code as a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code, and decoding the LDPC code to achieve acquisition by directly solving for the correct code phase.

Acquisition of the GPS Clear/Acquisition (C/A) codes at low signal-to-noise ratio, such as exists inside buildings, is a difficult technical challenge for two basis reasons: (a) the amount of GPS receiver hardware needed to detect the presence of the GPS signal and acquire the C/A code (or alternatively the time needed for acquisition) becomes large as the signal-to-noise ratio decreases toward the theoretical acquisition threshold, as defined by the Shannon limit; and (b) the correlation time over which the GPS receiver is able to process the received noisy signal (which in turn sets the effective signal-to-noise ratio) is limited by the fact that the C/A code has data bit transitions that invert the C/A code, randomly, at intervals of 20 msec.
It would be useful to be able to provide an acquisition technique that addresses one or more of the problems described above. It would also be useful to be able to provide an acquisition technique that can be used by GPS receivers to improve the acquisition of signals in a disadvantaged signal environment, such as inside buildings.


A two dimensional metrological calibration standard includes a plurality of calibration cylinders each having a diameter and a plurality of calibration gauge blocks each having a length, each calibration gauge block being interposed between two of the calibration cylinders, such that end faces thereof are in contact with the walls of adjacent calibration cylinders, the calibration cylinders and calibration gauge blocks as a group are fastened to a flat plate and conjointly form a triangle. Bearing and alignment rulers ensure alignment of the calibration gauge blocks between the calibration cylinders, by contact with the calibration gauge blocks and/or the calibration cylinders, and are fastened to the plate.

1. Technical Field
The field of application of this invention mainly concerns the metrological verification and the calibration of multi-dimensional measuring instruments such as three-dimensional measuring machines, without or without contact, machines with a rotary table, poly-articulated arms, and such as laser tracker type apparatuses and theodolites. The invention concerns a two-dimensional metrology standard, that is to say a calibration standard capable of serving as a metrological reference for coplanar lengths (non-parallel) and/or angles (non-zero).
2. Description of the Related Art
The geometry of a multi-dimensional measuring machine is generally verified on the basis of one-dimensional calibration standards of calibration gauge block or stepped block type, placed in different positions in the measuring space. The ISO-10360 series of standards sets a certain number of distance measurements (referred to as sizes) in different positions to verify that the maximum measurement discrepancy is less than a manufacturer's specification. This procedure is very costly in time and in number of calibration standards, and above all only enables partial verification of geometry. If it is desired to measure geometry more fully, it is necessary to provide a multiplicity of positions for the blocks, or employ an interferometer and electronic levels.
In order to simplify the process of verifying a multi-dimensional measuring machine, certain assemblies of one-dimensional calibration standards have been produced. They thus enable the geometry of the machine to be tracked by monitoring the drifts relative to an initial measurement, but these assemblies do not associate the dimensions together in the metrological sense (see the document JP-3427376 or the document US-2009/0082986, or the device called "KOBA-check sphere plate" of Kolb & Baumann GmbH & Co KG or that called "CMM Check" by Carl Zeiss Messtechnik GmbH). In fact, these assemblies only have the advantage of avoiding the operator having to dispose the various one-dimensional calibration standards in the measuring space himself. Yet the relative dimensions between the individual one-dimensional calibration standards do not enable lengths and angles to be linked in the metrological sense. At best, such assemblies are characterized on measuring machines considered to be more precise than those on which they will be used. These items of equipment enable tracking of the change in the machine over time, using control charts, for example, but do not enable the parameter of the geometry that has fluctuated to be defined, in case of drift.

Two-dimensional metrological calibration standard

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES


A table saw (10) includes a table top (16) over which a saw blade (20) is positioned. The upper region is covered by a guard (26) which is height-adjustable relative to the saw blade (20) in particular, and the saw blade (20) is angularly-displaceable relative to the table top (16). A gap (32) is located between the guard (26) and the table top (16). The table saw is made safer to handle by the fact that the guard (26) includes a protective panel (36) which is movably supported relative to the guard (26) and closes the gap (32) in a manner such that it cannot be penetrated by the operator's fingers.

The present invention relates generally to a table saw.
Table saws with a table top are known, over which a saw blade is positioned, whereby the upper region of the saw blade is covered by a guard which is height-adjustable relative to the saw blade and/or the table top, and whereby the saw blade is angularly-adjustable relative to the table top to enable diagonal cuts. If, to make diagonal cuts, the saw blade, together with the guard, is angularly-displaced around a swivelling axis located substantially parallel to the saw blade and in the plane of the table top, a gap forms between the guard and the work piece on the side of the guard which forms an obtuse angle with the table top. The more obtuse this angle is, the larger the gap is and, therefore, the greater the danger is that the operator will become injured during sawing, because his finger can accidentally slip through the gap and contact the saw blade.


A refrigerator can prevent torsion of a rail member guiding withdrawal of a storage box to stably withdraw the storage box. The refrigerator includes a body, a movable storage box, a rail member, and a supporting member. The body includes a storing compartment. The movable storage box is provided inside the body. The rail member is provided in at least one side of the storage box and guides a movement of the storage box. The supporting member is disposed between the rail member and the body and allows the rail member to be tiltably supported with respect to the body. Therefore, the usability of the refrigerator is improved.

Embodiments relate to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator in which torsion of a rail member guiding a movement of a storage box is prevented to stably insert or withdraw the storage box.
In general, a refrigerator is equipment for storing goods at a lower temperature. The refrigerator is configured to store foods in a freezing or refrigerating state according to the foods to be stored therein.
The inside of the refrigerator is refrigerated by cold air continuously produced by heat exchange with refrigerant. The refrigerant circulates in the refrigerator while undergoing a continuous refrigeration cycle of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation.
Thus, the cold air flowing inside the refrigerator is uniformly distributed into the refrigerator by convection, thereby allowing foods in the refrigerator to be stored at a desired temperature.
With the tendency of large-scaled and multifunctional refrigerators according to a variety of user preferences and changes in eating patterns, various types of refrigerators are being released.
Such a refrigerator is classified into three types according to relative position between a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment. In a first type, the freezer compartment is disposed above the refrigerator compartment. In a second type, the freezer compartment is disposed under the refrigerator compartment. In a third type, the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment are adjacently disposed with respect to each other at the left and right sides.
Although a bottom freezer type in which a freezer compartment is disposed under a refrigerator compartment will be described as an example in an embodiment, the present disclosure is not limited thereto but can be applied to various products.
In the bottom freezer type, a withdrawable storage box is provided in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator. The storage box is coupled to a freezer compartment door. The storage box is withdrawn when the freezer compartment door opens.
A guide rail guiding insertion and withdrawal of the storage box is provided on both sides of the storage box. A portion of the guide rail, i.e., a rear end of the guide rail is fixed to a lateral surface of the freezer compartment, the other portion of the guide rail, i.e., a front end of the guide rail is withdrawn in stages.
However, the related art refrigerator as described above has a limitation as mentioned in the following sections.
When the storage box is withdrawn, a force acting in a downward direction is applied to the storage box due to a load of stored goods. In this case, one side of the rail supporting the storage box is torsioned with respect to the other side of the rail.
That is, since the rear end of the rail is fixed to the lateral surface of the freezer compartment, the rear end of the rail is slightly torsioned. On the other hand, the withdrawn front end of the rail is relatively sharply torsioned.
Therefore, when the storage box is repeatedly inserted and withdrawn, or when the storage box is maintained in a withdrawn state for a long time, the rail is plastic-deformed to cause malfunction.
In addition, when the freezer compartment does not completely close due to breakdown of the rail, the refrigerator cannot perform its normal function.


An assay chip includes fluidic-channel member composed of a light-transmissive lower member and an upper member, forming a fluidic-channel therebetween, and a cover member fitted with the fluidic-channel member from the upper-member-side thereof. An inlet for injecting a sample solution into the fluidic-channel and a suction opening for sucking, from the downstream side, the injected sample solution, both communicating with the fluidic-channel, are formed on the upper surface of the upper member. A pot for carrying out predetermined pre-processing on the sample solution, a pot for first-reaction processing to bind a photoresponsive labeling substance to an analyte in the sample solution, an inlet insertion-hole for inserting the inlet, and a suction-opening insertion-hole for inserting the suction opening are linearly arranged on the upper surface of the cover member.

Conventionally, plasmon sensors are known (please refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,031 (Patent Document 1), for example). The plasmon sensors utilize the principle of surface plasmon resonance using evanescent waves, and perform quantitative assays on substances contained in samples. In Patent Document 1, an interface between a prism and a metal coating applied to a surface of the prism, and the metal coating being in contact with the sample, is illuminated with a light beam at a total reflection angle. Further, the reflection angle of the light beam that has been totally reflected at the interface is detected to perform a quantitative assay on a substance in the sample. Further, in Patent Document 1, a light source and a photo-detector (light detector) are movable to perform quantitative assays on plural samples stored in sample cells.
Further, fluorescence detection apparatuses utilizing the evanescent waves have been proposed (please refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-128151 (Patent Document 2), for example). Patent Document 2 discloses a quantitative assay on an analyte by detecting fluorescence output when the analyte labeled with a fluorescent material or the like in a sample container is excited by evanescent waves.
Generally, when biochemical assay is performed by using the fluorescence detection apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is necessary to carry out first reaction processing in advance before carrying out second reaction processing. In the first reaction processing, an analyte in a sample solution and a fluorescent label are bound together, and in the second reaction processing, the analyte labeled with the fluorescent material is captured by chemical bond.
Here, μTAS (Micro Total Analysis Systems), as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-222479 (Patent Document 3), may be adopted to reduce the amount of sample solution collected from a living body, and to increase a detection speed. At this time, desirable effects are achievable as for the second reaction processing. However, there are some problems as for the first reaction processing. Specifically, it is necessary that the analyte in the sample solution and the fluorescent label sufficiently bind to each other. However, it is difficult to sufficiently stir the solution in a fluidic channel of the μTAS to dissolve the fluorescent material in the solution. Consequently, the accuracy of detection of the analyte becomes lower.
As described above, a desirable method for the first reaction processing and a desirable method for the second reaction processing are different. Therefore, efficient measurement has been difficult by using conventional methods.


To preserve flow line characteristics in a reduced mesh, the mesh is reduced by identifying one or more flow lines in the mesh and removing a plurality of edges associated with the one or more flow lines. Such a reduction may be achieved by identifying a set of connecting edges between adjacent flow lines, or between portions of adjacent flow lines, and contracting these connecting edges in one step. The set of connecting edges to contract in any given iteration may be identified based on the flow lines. A cost metric also may be used to decide which connecting edges are in the set to be contracted. In a first technique, a lowest cost edge is selected, and other connecting edges between the same adjacent flow lines are added to the set until a threshold condition is met. This threshold condition balances preservation of flow lines with preservation of attributes. In a second technique, several sets of connecting edges are identified. The set of connecting edges with the lowest cost is contracted in each iteration, and the cost of each set is updated after each iteration.

Polygon reduction is a term used to describe techniques for reducing the complexity of a polygon mesh while minimizing alterations to attributes of the polygon mesh. Example attributes of a polygon mesh include but are not limited to its general shape, sharpness of features, color variations, etc. A polygon mesh of reduced complexity uses less memory and is faster to display.
A widely used technique for polygon reduction is based on the progressive mesh algorithm described by Hugues Hoppe in "Progressive Meshes," in Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '96, pages 99-108, August 1996 ("Hoppe"). The algorithm involves iteratively contracting adjacent vertex pairs (or edges between them) into one vertex, which is then positioned to minimize attribute changes. At each iteration, the algorithm chooses the pair that will be contracted with the minimal attribute change. The quantification of this change is called a "cost." This cost can be computed using various metrics, such as described in "Surface Simplification Using Quadric Error Metrics," by M. Garland and P. Heckbert in Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '97, pages 209-216 ("Garland"), and in "Fast and Memory Efficient Polygonal Simplification," by P. Lindstrom and G. Turk, in Proceedings of IEEE Visualization '98, pages 279-286 ("Lindstrom").

Reduction of a mesh with preservation of flow lines


The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for determining the position of a first element relative to a second element. The apparatus includes a magnet being attached to the first element. First and second sensing devices are adapted to detect a magnetic flux density produced by the magnet and responsively generating first and second signals. The apparatus also includes a controller for receiving the first and second signals and responsively determining the position of the first element relative to the second. The present invention enables continuous calibration during the normal operation of the machine.

In articulated machines, such as, but not limited to, articulated wheel loaders or motor graders, it is important to be able to determine the articulation angle of the machine. This information enables the function of various electronic control systems during the operation of the machine. These systems include, but are not limited to, "steer-by-wire", automatic yaw control, and torque control systems. However, there are several obstacles in trying to determine the articulation angle using present devices. In one embodiment, a potentiometer is used to measure an articulation angle. However, temperature, age and the limited number of cycles due to contact technology, confines its use to less demanding applications. Drift of such devices requires a periodic calibration routine to be executed to ensure satisfactory operation. These calibration routines are time consuming, highly inconvenient, and have to be performed as a separate operation of the machine.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems identified above.

Sensing system for determining an articulation angle between two elements


A specific embodiment is disclosed for a method and apparatus for processing data access requests from a requesting device, such as a graphics processor device. Data access commands are provided at a first rate, for example 200M command per second, to a memory bridge. In response to receiving the access requests the memory bridge will provide its own access requests to a plurality of memories at approximately the first rate. In response to the memory bridge requests, the plurality of memories will access a plurality of data a second data rate. When the data access between the memory bridge and the memories is a read request, data is returned to the requesting device at a third data rate which is greater than the first data rate by approximately four times or more. Noise and power reduction techniques can be used on the data bus between the accessing device and the data bridge.

The present invention relates generally to accessing data, and in particular to accessing data through a memory bridge at an enhanced data rate.
Modem data processing devices, such as multimedia data processors, have migrated towards using large data words to accommodate the transfer data in high speed applications, such as graphics rendering. The implementation of large data words is problematic when external memory devices are used. Specifically, large external data buses increase the pin count of processing devices and the board area needed to route the busses. In addition, large bus sizes often require the use of multiple memory devices to provide the needed data width. The large number of traces associated with a large bus, and the additional memories needed to support the bus width result in increased circuit board size, which is generally not desirable. Therefore, a method and system capable of supporting large data words without the problems of the prior art would be useful.

System for accessing memory and method therefore


Disclosed herein are novel methods and compositions useful for promoting intestinal stem cell function. The methods and compositions are particularly useful for stimulating the proliferation of and/or self-renewal of intestinal stem cells, as well as for minimizing, preventing, or ameliorating cellular damage resulting from incidental or accidental exposure to radiation (e.g., cancer radiation therapy).

Adult stem cells maintain tissues for the life of an organism by achieving equilibrium between self-renewal and differentiation. These stem cells often require cues from their microenvironment or "niche" for their maintenance and function. In the mammalian intestine, for example, most intestinal stem cells (ISCs) reside at the bottom of the crypts and are adjacent to Paneth cells, which constitute a key component of the stem cell niche.
Intestinal atrophy or damage affects a significant portion of hospitalized patients in the US, including those suffering from inflammatory bowel disease, vascular disease, cancer, infection or malnourishment, as well as those exposed to ionizing radiation. Accordingly, there remains a need for therapies capable of modulating the processes of intestinal cell proliferation and remodeling.

Compositions and methods for promoting intestinal stem cell function

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research


A bonding defect detecting apparatus is provided for operation in conjunction with an ultrasonic wire bonder using an ultrasonic oscillator driven by a signal. The apparatus has A/D converters for digitally converting a signal waveform of the signal by real-time sampling during a bonding operation. A digital signal processing device is provided for calculating at least one signal characteristic of each of the signal waveforms for each of a plurality of the bonding operation. A data accumulating devices accumulates the at least one signal characteristic for n number of bonding operations of the plurality of the bonding operation. A calculating device calculates an average signal characteristic of the signal characteristics of the n number of bonding operations. And a comparing device compares the average signal characteristic with a corresponding present signal characteristic of a last bonding operation of the plurality of the bonding operation, occurring after the n number of bonding operations, to thereby determine whether a bonding defect exists. Preferably, the n number of bonding operations are a most recent n number of bonding operations occurring before the last bonding operation. In an embodiment, the signal waveform includes both a voltage waveform and a current waveform from which signal characteristics such as average voltage, average current, peak voltage, peak current, a phase difference between the voltage waveform and a current waveform and an impedance are determined.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting bonding defects of a semiconductor element such as an IC by monitoring an output waveform of an ultrasonic oscillator of a bonder.
In the case of a semiconductor element having as many as several hundreds of pins, it is usual to determine the quality of the products by bonding the pins using ultrasonic waves and then measuring the characteristic of the product with a semiconductor tester. However, with this method, even when bonding strength does not satisfy rated value, if the pins are only electrically connected, no bonding defect will be detected, and there is a high possibility that several bonding defects may appear after the product has been shipped.
Further, although there is conventionally a bonding defect detecting apparatus aiming at the variations of voltage waveform and current waveform of an ultrasonic oscillator of a bonder, the measuring method is based on the measurement of absolute values. That is, the apparatus is used to measure the effective values of the voltage and current during the bonding operation, setting a reference value based on the average value thereof, and determining whether or not the product is qualified by setting this reference value to be a fixed value.
However, in the case of an actual bonding for an IC, there are differences in reference values resulting from different types of apparatuses or semiconductor elements, or there are differences in average value due to positions of the pins on the frame. Therefore, using the reference value as a fixed value is not practical because of gross errors produced when determination is made.
Further, even in the case of the same semiconductor element, effective values of voltage and current fluctuate with time due to wear, and a rise in temperature, of the tool at a top end of the bonder, and the conventional apparatus using average values has a problem of being unable to cope with the fluctuation, with the result that the criterion of determination of the quality of the product is not kept constant.

Apparatus for detecting semiconductor bonding defects


A beverage dispense valve having a valve body; a female taper member inside the valve body and defining an internal chamber; the internal diameter of the chamber increasing in a downstream direction away from the inlet port, a male taper member having a taper portion receivable in said internal chamber, the external diameter of the taper portion increasing in a downstream direction so as to be at least partially complementary to the female taper member, and having a hollow outlet portion downstream of the taper portion, one taper member being slidable relative to the other so that a flow passageway can be formed in an annular gap between them, the flow passageway providing a restrictive diffusing flow path and the two taper members forming a flow regulator; a valve closure arrangement, and an actuating mechanism outside the valve body to operate both the flow regulator and the valve closure arrangement.

Beverage Dispense Taps [BDTs] with a slidable sealed piston valve or a spring-loaded tensioned sealed piston valve are commonly known. The handle for opening and closing the flow through the BDT is usually attached to the tap body so that the handle movement communicates a cam surface with the piston valve to move the piston valve from the closed position to the open position. When the piston valve is in the closed position a seal is engaged to ensure no pressurised liquid can flow through the BDT. When the handle is actuated to the open position the seal is disengaged from its seat to allow liquid to flow around the piston valve and through the outlet port of the BDT into the glass. The handle moves the piston valve from the closed to open position creating a liquid conduit between the beverage inlet and the beverage outlet. In these designs there is no diffusion of the liquid flow as the BDT opens. The liquid is pressurised at the specific dispense pressure when the BDT is in the closed position and immediately de-pressurised as the BDT handle is moved to the open position. When the BDT is opened there is a rapid drop in pressure which can lead to excessive fobbing and subsequently waste beer. In such BDTs the handle can be located vertically or horizontally and similarly in alignment with the actuated directional movement of the piston valve.
In BDTs that dispense pressurised carbonated liquids, it is preferable to have a means of adjustment to control the velocity of the liquid flow through the BDT to ensure that the beverage is dispensed at a preferred flow rate. The preferred flow rate is determined as that which is suitable for producing a pre-defined final presentation of the beverage in the glass in relation to pouring speed and appearance, particularly in relation to the formation of the frothy head on the top of the beverage. The need for adjustment is due to the physical variables within pressurised dispense systems, particularly the following;                the relative volume of gas to liquid in the beverage,        the temperature variations in the system affecting the carbonation of the beverage,        the dispense pressure applied to the beverage container,        the distance of the supply line and the vertical elevation from the beverage container to the BDT,        the atmospheric pressure at the system location.
All pressurised carbonated beverage dispense systems require equilibrium of pressure to be maintained between the container and the BDT to ensure the achievement of a suitable final presentation of the beverage in the glass. It is commonly known that the most suitable means of adjusting the liquid flow at the BDT is by means of a needle taper valve which incorporates a male taper needle valve with externally accessible adjustment means, the male taper being aligned within a female taper body having a matching taper form, that creates a parallel annular gap between the male and female tapers as the male is adjusted. When the male taper is fully inserted into the female taper the annular gap is either nil, so that the tapers form a surface seal or that the gap between the tapers is diminutive so as to restrict liquid from flowing through the valve. In this position the restriction between the two tapers is at its highest and the liquid flow rate is stopped or at its slowest. Likewise when the male taper is extended outward from the female taper the annular gap between the tapers increases, creating an increase in volume between the tapers, reducing the restriction and allowing the liquid flow rate to increase in a proportionate ratio to the dispense pressure propelling the liquid. In this position the gap between the two tapers is at the highest and the liquid flow rate is increased.
The needle taper valves currently in use to control flow rates are located in close proximity to the BDT, ideally attached to the inlet portion of the BDT or as an integral component of the BDT construction. In these constructions the means to adjust the needle taper valve is independent to the actuation of the tap handle and the opening and closing of the BDT. The operation of the BDT to pour the beverage can involve three physical actions, firstly the opening of the BDT through the movement of the handle, secondly the adjustment of the flow rate through the independent needle taper valve and thirdly the closing of the BDT through the return movement of the handle. This action is required whilst the operator of the tap also holds the glass into which the beverage is pouring.
In the current market for dispensing carbonated beverages, particularly draught beer, there is an increasing desire to dispense at faster pouring speeds to ensure maximum revenue can be achieved in limited peak drinking periods. The method of pouring fast requires experienced bar staff operators as the faster the flow the more difficult it is to control the gas breakout during the pour, leading to high levels of waste beer due to excessive head formation creating fobbing in the glass. The market need to pour faster is exacerbated by the lack of trained bar staff and the high turnover of staff in this service provision. In such instances the existing BDTs and their method of operation do not adequately meet the changing market needs and this invention is proposed as an alternative solution.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel Beverage Dispense Valve that when used to dispense pressurised carbonated beverages reduces or eliminates the problems described herein by providing a reliable, user-friendly BDT which is convenient to the changing market needs of faster pouring and lack of operator skills to ensure that pressurised carbonated beverages can be poured successfully at faster pouring speeds without excessive fobbing waste and without specialised operator training.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,200 B1 Davis describes a beverage dispense device comprising:                1. a valve body,        2. a nozzle or spout,        3. a valve comprising a valve seat and a closure member, the valve being opened and closed by movement of the closure member out of and into contact with the valve seat to allow or prevent flow of the beverage into a conically shaped flow passage way within the body,        4. a flow regulator between the valve seat and the nozzle, the flow regulator being adjustable to control flow rate through the nozzle and being in the form of a core member moveable in the conically-shaped flow passageway downstream of the valve seat and spaced from the valve seat, the core member and the flow passageway having matching tapering surfaces, and        5. the nozzle or spout being formed as an integral unit with the core and moveable upwardly and downwardly within an annular extension which depends downwardly of the valve body, the nozzle or spout sealingly engaging the inner wall of the extension by means of an annular seal which is held in a corresponding groove in the surface of the nozzle or spout. The annular seal is below ports which penetrate through the wall thickness of the flow regulator to allow beverage to flow to an outlet defined through the nozzle or spout. Therefore the annular seal is to prevent leakage of beverage and does not prevent its flow to the outlet.
In the embodiment as described and illustrated, the closure member of the valve is an armature which is operated by a solenoid to cause it to move upwardly (upstream) out of contact with the valve seat and (downwardly) downstream into contact with the valve seat. The core member of the flow regulator below (downstream of) the valve seat is adjustable upwardly or downwardly within the flow passageway by separate screw-threaded means. The text suggests that in an alternative embodiment the adjustment may be by means of a stepper motor, for example, and where a stepper motor is used for this purpose it may have the dual function of opening and closing the valve. Another part of the text suggests that the adjustment means for the flow regulator may be a stepper motor and the valve seat may be achieved by direct contact between the core and the wall of the flow passageway. However there is no description or drawing to show how this could work in practice The valve closure member and the flow regulator are two separate components with different movements. Furthermore the description at column 1 lines 60-63 emphasises that the flow regulator is downstream of the valve and effectively provides a back pressure to the beverage being dispensed and thereby provides an adjustable pressure drop to which the beverage is subjected when the valve is opened. There is no description to explain how the core of the flow regulator could be downstream of the valve and yet simultaneously be achieving the valve seat by contact with the wall of the flow passageway.
GB 1,486,245 Leroy describes a valve member that is moveable along with a frusto-conical core member to permit both variation of the restrictor passage and opening/closing of the faucet with a single actuator. The valve member is located at the upstream end of the frusto-conical core member and comprises an annular shoulder on the core member positioned to mate with a similar shoulder on the annular valve seat at the inlet end of the chamber. An O-ring is placed on the core member shoulder to assure a pressure seal in the off position of the valve. However the valve opening is reported to serve as a "pinch point" which causes the liquid to froth immediately downstream of it. Furthermore, the liquid flow is re-directed through many planes in a constrained chamber area in order to exit the spout. The re-direction of flow of liquid through so many planes in a constrained chamber area creates turbulence and can lead to cleaning difficulties.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,117 Lombardo discloses a single actuator dispenser valve wherein a frusto-conical core member has a rounded tip that seals the inlet opening at the narrow end of the frusto-conical valve chamber when the valve is closed. However this arrangement also places the valve upstream of the diffusing passage between the core member and the wall of the flow passageway.
In each of the previously cited patents the flow regulator is positioned downstream of the main valve seal. In practice this configuration does not effectively regulate the flow as the positioning of the regulator must be before the valve seal to ensure that the regulator can maintain an effective back pressure in the carbonated beverage to ensure that the carbonated beverage retains its pressurised characteristics prior to the egress at the valve seal where the carbonation is allowed to break out naturally to an atmospheric conduit or nozzle and into the beverage container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,028 Lombardo describes a valve which includes a frusto-conical valve member disposed in a similarly configured frusto-conical chamber section to both define a restrictive diffusing flow path when the valve is open and the sole pressure seal when the valve is closed. The pressure seal is created along a substantial length of the core member which is preferably made of resiliently compressible plastic to enhance the seal. However this arrangement involves a risk of leakage of beverage past the seal. Furthermore, baffles are used in the outlet spout to control eddying. Eddying is a turbulent condition created by the multi-directional flow path in which the liquid has to flow at the larger end of the conical taper, in that liquid entering the concave annular recess is directed into a vortex by the nature in which it has to flow around this annular recess to exit at the lower portion into the spout. Thus the flow rate is not equalised in this arrangement as the velocity of flow is greater at the lowest point of the frusto-conical concave annular recess, where the spout is positioned, whereas the flow at the highest point is decelerated, as it is required to flow around this concave annular recess before exiting into the spout.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispense tap having a combined valve and flow control with the flow control upstream of the valve. It is also an object of the invention to provide a device having a practical arrangement for operating both the valve and the flow regulator with a single control.


Double buffering of serial transfers is provided in order to allow for increased serial transfer rate without requiring increased internal processing speeds. A serial controller serially receives a word including address bits and data bits. During a write operation, the address bits are serially shifted into an address shift register, and the data bits are serially shifted into a data shift register. After the address bits and data bits are completely shifted into the respective address and data shift registers, the address bits and data bits are transferred in parallel to address and data holding registers. After the parallel transfers of the address bits and data bits from the address and data shift registers to the address and data holding registers, the address and data shift registers are available to serially receive additional address bits and data bits of an additional word.

A host computer typically writes to and reads from registers and memory locations of a storage device using a bi-directional serial data input/output line (SDIO). For example, the host may send a 16 bit word including a 1 bit mode (specifying read or write), followed by a 7 bit address, followed by 8 bits of data. During write mode, the 7 bit address may specify a write address, and the 8 bits of data may specify the data to be written. During read mode, the 7 bit address may specify a read address, and the 8 bits of data may be the 8 bits of data being read from the specified address. Other variations are also possible.
Typically, the host will need to send many consecutive words to the storage device, thereby requiring that the storage device quickly deal with each word as it is received. However, the storage device may not always be able to deal with each word quickly because, for example, other components within the storage device may have higher priority access to the busses, registers and/or memory within the storage device that need to be accessed to deal with the read or write requests sent from the host. This may slow down the serial transfer rate between the host and the storage device. This may also require that the various components within the storage device operate at a much higher speed than the serial transfer rate.
There is a desire to overcome the above mentioned constraints. More specifically, it is desirable to increase (rather than limit) the serial transfer rate between the host and the storage device. Additionally, it is desirable to relax (rather than increase) operating requirements of a laser driver, while still being able to achieve a faster serial transfer rate between the host and the storage device containing the laser driver.


A data center design tool is described herein. The tool receives a number of design specifications for a proposed facility of the data center. The tool determines requirements of the data center based on the design specifications. Further, the tool receives an equipment component input and attributes of the equipment component input for the data center. The tool determines additional equipment component inputs and additional attributes based on the received design specifications, the determined requirements, and the received equipment component inputs and attributes.

A data center often includes servers, power supply equipment, lights, office equipment, miscellaneous equipment, and cooling equipment (collectively equipment components). Power supply equipment may include uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment, batteries, and power generators. Cooling equipment may include cooling towers, chillers, computer room air conditioners (CRAC), and the like. In general, a data center is designed to provide some number of kilowatts for the critical load, i.e., the electrically powered critical equipment can consume no more than the provided power.
Typically data center users want to ensure their facilities are as energy efficient as is financially sensible. The industry accepted metric used for quantifying efficiency is Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). PUE is defined as Total Facility Power/IT Equipment Power. As such, a value approaching 1.0 would indicate 100% efficiency. Another metric used is Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) which is the reciprocal of PUE (1/PUE). A 0.33 DCiE would indicate that IT equipment consumes one third of a data center's power usage and would correspond to a 3 PUE. Other efficiency metrics exist, such as Data Center Performance Efficiency (DCPE) which is defined as useful work divided by total facility power.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


A toothbrush with a head having at least one pair of twisted wire brushes secured to the head's top surface in a position that creates a narrow and substantially uniform trench between the bristles of opposing brushes. Head construction may be solid, curved, blunt, tapering, or have a forked distal end. When a user's brace hardware and/or orthodontic wires are placed within the trench, bristles adjacent to it reach tooth surfaces behind the orthodontic wires to gently remove plaque without wire or hardware breakage. The twisted wires of opposing conical brushes are not parallel so as to create a uniform trench. The twisted wires in narrow end of conical brushes are also angled toward the distal end of the toothbrush head to facilitate reaching crowded back teeth without orthodontic wire breakage. The toothbrush handle can be laterally angled relative to its head and brushes are optionally replaceable by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to toothbrushes used by orthodontic patients having braces, specifically to a toothbrush with a head having at least one pair of longitudinally extending twisted wire brushes secured thereto, sometimes called proxy brushes, which are positioned so as to provide a very narrow but uniform trench between brush bristles along a substantial portion of the head. The trench permits brush bristles to reach farther behind the orthodontic wire for removal of food and plaque from tooth surfaces, than otherwise could be accomplished with any known prior art device. One or two pairs of twisted wire brushes are preferred, but the number used is not critical. Also, conical brushes are preferred over substantially cylindrical brushes, although either can be used. The most preferred embodiment of the present invention would provide two pairs of conical brushes, with the wider end of each conical brush adjacent to the others in the middle portion of the toothbrush head so that the longer brush bristles in the middle of the toothbrush head are able to effectively reach behind an orthodontic wire for tooth cleaning and the shorter brush bristles near the distal end of the toothbrush head remain compact for reaching into the limited space between cheek and gums around back teeth and being withdrawn without damage to the orthodontic appliances and/or injury to the person wearing them. The toothbrush head may employ a solid, blunt, curved, tapering, and/or forked end construction for support of the pair or multiple pairs of twisted wire brushes that form the narrow trench for orthodontic wire passage. The trench is useful when placed into a horizontally-extending orientation around the horizontally-extending orthodontic wire of the braces connected between the complementary hardware wrapped around each tooth, whereby brush bristles adjacent to the trench are able to move behind the orthodontic wires, without damaging them, and clean surfaces of the teeth typically inaccessible by other types of orthodontic cleaning devices. When conical brushes are used, the twisted wires of the present invention are not parallel, nor are the twisted wires positioned at a uniform spaced-apart distance from the toothbrush head. Instead, to create the substantially uniform trench needed between adjacent bristles, the twisted wires of the conical brushes are angled laterally relative to the head surface so that the twisted wires at the narrow end of the conical configuration are more closely positioned together. Also, the twisted wires at the narrow end of the conical configuration angle toward the head surface to give it a more compact structure so that the distal end of the present invention head with its attached brushes can be easily manipulated between the user's cheek and back teeth for effective tooth cleaning behind the orthodontic wires, and thereafter be easily withdrawn from the user's mouth without damage to the orthodontic hardware attached to the teeth or the orthodontic wires connected between them. The brush bristles positioned directly between the twisted wires and adjacent to the trench, are positioned very close to one another or set into a slightly overlapping configuration. In some embodiments of the present invention, it is contemplated for the handle attached to the toothbrush head to be laterally angled to allow a user to hold it like a pencil and more conveniently align the orthodontic wires with the trench, as well as allow the user to clean teeth with his or her supporting hand and arm in a lowered and less awkward position that prevents premature fatigue. Also, some embodiments of the present invention may optionally have easily replaced brush bristles, be considered disposable as an entire unit when bristles wear out and no longer provide effective tooth cleaning, after a limited number of uses, or be electric to provide counter-rotating bristles that pull food out of orthodontic appliances.
2. Description of the Related Art
When brace hardware and orthodontic wires are connected to teeth, food easily collects on exposed and hidden tooth surfaces in and around the tooth hardware and behind the orthodontic wires, and is difficult to remove. If not frequently cleaned, plaque will form and lead to tooth decay. However, the aggressive tooth cleaning sometimes required to remove plaque from exposed and hidden tooth surfaces behind orthodontic wires and complementary tooth hardware, particularly when working around back teeth, is likely to break the orthodontic wires. Also, molars and other back teeth, which are even difficult to clean when no brace hardware and orthodontic wires are present, are even more difficult to clean when the limited space between cheek and gums is occupied in part by orthodontic wires and complementary tooth hardware. Further, much orthodontic work is performed on teens and pre-teens, and many of them have small mouths, making it even more difficult to insert an effective cleaning device between the cheek and gums that is able to clean plaque from tooth surfaces without damaging orthodontic wires. While most prior art tooth cleaning devices, including water irrigation devices and twisted wire brushes used individually, are able to remove a significant amount of food from the brace hardware and orthodontic wires, most are unable to effectively remove plaque from tooth surfaces located behind the orthodontic wires and complementary brace hardware, and/or are too wide or thick in dimension to effectively operate in the limited space between cheek and gum to remove plaque from the crowded back teeth of teens and pre-teens.
The invention thought to be most closely related to the present invention is the toothbrush disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,708 to Luposello (1996). However, significant differences exist between the Luposello invention and the present invention. The Luposello invention discloses a toothbrush and orthodontic appliance cleaning device having a cleaning head with upstanding standard toothbrush bristles extending perpendicularly from the head. In addition, two elongated twisted wire brush members are supported upon the standard bristles in a parallel orientation to the head. The Luposello invention identifies use in cleaning braces, teeth, and gingival surfaces. However, the mouths of teen and pre-teen dental patients are small, and the distal end of the Luposello invention head, with its upstanding bristles and superimposed twisted wires brushes, would be too thick to reach in and around back teeth to effectively clean plaque from the back teeth without risk of damage to orthodontic wires. Further, the gap shown between the Luposello elongated brush bristles is much larger than the nearly overlapping, or slightly overlapping, bristles adjacent to the present invention trench. Also, FIG. 7 in the Luposello disclosure shows the large Luposello gap being used in a vertical orientation relative to a tooth, to clean around the width of the brace hardware attached to the tooth. However, its large gap would prevent it from being as effective as the present invention for removing plaque from the entire tooth surface behind orthodontic wires and tooth brackets. In contrast, the present invention is contemplated for tooth cleaning when its trench is in a substantially horizontally-extending orientation, with an orthodontic wire passing through the trench and not perpendicular to it, which allows the nearly overlapping or slightly overlapping twisted wire brush bristles of the present invention to interact with one another, and as a result of the combined brush activity provided, effectively clean all tooth surfaces behind an orthodontic wire and its attached tooth brackets. Further, if the Luposello invention would be used with its gap in a horizontally-extending position, its elongated brush bristles are much too far apart to reach fully behind the orthodontic wires connected between the brace hardware attached to each tooth, and the standard upstanding toothbrush bristles beneath the Luposello will collapse when placed in contact with the orthodontic wire and not be able to reach around it to effectively remove plaque from all tooth surfaces behind the orthodontic wire. In addition, even though the Luposello invention discloses the use of conical elongated brushes, the twisted wires in all embodiments of the Luposello invention remain parallel to one another (see FIGS. 1, 3, 5, and 8), so that the gap/trench between them is even wider at the narrow end of a conical brush, which would make the Luposello invention even less effective in cleaning plaque from tooth surfaces behind orthodontic wires and tooth hardware. Also, as shown in FIG. 2 of the Luposello disclosure, its elongated twisted wire brushes are raised above the surface of the upstanding standard toothbrush bristles where they provide a thick profile and are likely to become entangled with orthodontic wires or brace members when used to clean crowded back teeth. Such entanglement may either cause the orthodontic wires to bend or break, cause out-of-position movement for one or more of the elongated twisted wire brushes, cause movement of one or more of the elongated twisted wire brushes away from the toothbrush head, or some combination thereof. Exposed wires and fragments from repositioned twisted wire brushes, broken orthodontic wires, and/or damaged brace hardware, not only places the inside check surface of the person wearing the braces at risk for injury, it risks further damage to the orthodontic appliances. The present invention tooth cleaning device always maintains a narrow trench of uniform dimension between the bristles of all elongated brushes secured to its head, with adjacent bristle ends overlapping or nearly overlapping one another, so that when the trench is in a horizontally-extending position and an orthodontic wire moves through the trench, adjacent bristles reach behind the orthodontic wire to effectively clean plaque from all tooth surfaces behind the orthodontic wire and adjacent brace hardware attached to the teeth. The twisted wires in the conical brushes of the present invention are not always oriented parallel to the head, as is shown in Luposello FIGS. 1, 2, and 4. Instead, the present invention teaches angled brushes that are also able to effectively clean crowded back teeth, particularly in the small mouths of teens and pre-teens. Further, the Luposello invention does not disclose a laterally angled head for facilitated horizontal positioning of its trench during tooth cleaning use, nor does the Luposello invention teach the use of replaceable elongated brushes. No other system and method is known that functions in the same manner or provides all of the advantages of the present invention.


There is provided an apparatus and method for three-dimensional measurements by shining an object to be measured with plural laser beams while scanning. Even if the optical intensity of laser beams is weak, light disturbance is accurately separated to perform real-time three-dimensional measurement. A laser beam emitted from a laser source is separated into the plural beams of slit light with a predetermined angle at a hologram plate. These two beams are used for scanning and irradiating the object by a scanning mirror. These beams are reflected and read to determine whether or not an interval between these beams corresponds to the predetermined angle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional measurement apparatus and a three-dimensional measurement method for measuring the three-dimensional shape of an object to be measured by radiating and scanning the object with a laser beam and reading reflected light therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the currently available methods for obtaining three-dimensional profile information of an object is an optical sectioning method. As shown in FIG. 7, slit light is projected to an object while scanning it, and reflected light therefrom is received by an image sensor of a camera. By measuring timings on which the reflected light is received per pixel, a distance from an imaging surface of the image sensor to an object to be measured is measured in accordance with the principle of triangulation (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-280926, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-108418).
Typically, in the above-mentioned optical sectioning method, a typical CCD image sensor is employed for receiving light. In this case, the frame rate is limited to about 30 fps. If it is desirable to maintain a certain degree of distance resolution, the scanning rate has to be slowed down, thus making it difficult to use for real-time measuring of a moving object.
In order to address the above point, a system that enables a high-speed measurement by improving an image sensor is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-287625 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-169251, Published Date: Jun. 13, 2003).
In FIG. 6 of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-169251, the principle of triangulation and the principle of three-dimensional measurement based on a laser slit light are described.
The above-mentioned system is designed for allowing each pixel to detect a passing timing of the slit light at a high speed by carrying out a differential calculation with a high frame rate inside the image sensor. In the above-mentioned system, it is possible to measure a distance image at 15 fps or 30 fps by means of carrying out the differential calculation by the image sensor at 3.3 kfps.

Three-dimensional measurement apparatus and three-dimensional measurement method


The present invention is in the field of digital imaging. It relates to a method for determining the coordinates of a subject of interest in a digital image, so as to be able to then display this subject of interest on the screen of a terminal with low display capacity. The present invention enables, from the screen of a terminal with sufficient display capacity, at least one subject of interest in an original still digital image to be selected, and the coordinates of said subject of interest to be determined. The application of the present invention consists in preparing the display operation of subjects of interest of digital images on the screens of terminals with low display capacity.

The combined development of networks, wireless communication means, terminals equipped with display screens and interface systems enabling these means to work together, provides users with the possibility of choosing and exchanging digital images through a network such as for example the internet. The screens of these terminals, and especially the screens of portable terminals, do not always have sufficient capacity to display directly an image with relatively high definition, given the number of displayable colors (for screens displaying colors) and the too restricted number of display pixels. "Low" display capacities are for example in the order of 96 by 44 pixels (NOKIA cell phone), 160 by 160 pixels (PALM Personal Digital Assistant). Consequently, the retrieved image, displayed for example on a cell phone screen, is often hardly, or even not, useable visually. All the more so, part of the image constituting a special area of interest of the whole image displayed on the cell phone screen, is even less useable visually by a user of the telephone. Therefore it is of interest for the user to be able to view in good conditions all the special areas, or the subjects of interest of an original image.
Therefore, in order to visually use an image on terminal screens with low display capacity, the image rendering needs to be improved, i.e. obtain the best possible quality of retrieval, given the fact that these devices offer poor display capacities. This improvement of the plotting can be provided by manually cutting out the subject of interest in the original digital image; but this technique has the major disadvantage of requiring prior knowledge of the shape factor of the display of the terminal with low display capacity used to view the image. An automatic means, independent of the terminal with low display capacity used, is thus desirable to determine and display the subject of interest.

Method for selecting and displaying a subject or interest in a still digital image


A mount for holding and releasing dental implant components. The mount has a generally cylindrical body with a capture formed in the body. The capture includes an opening that is deformable between two positions. In a first position, a dental component is frictionally captured or engaged in the opening. In a second position, the dental component is released or disengaged as the opening deforms.

A complete product line in implant dentistry consists of hundreds of different dental components. These components include dental implants, abutments, healing components, analogs, copings, and screws, just to name a few. Each of these components is typically available in several different sizes, and each of these sizes is relatively small in length. In fact, most dental components measure only several millimeters in length and width. Because of small size, these components are often pre-assembled to mount or holders. For example, an implant delivery system can include a specialized vial for holding the dental implant and driver mount and mount for holding a cover screw. These components are neatly and systematically assembled in the vial and ready to use during a surgical implantation procedure.
In many instances, the dental components are individually packaged and shipped. A surgeon, for example, may order replacement parts, such as a single healing collar, cover screw, abutment, or the like. In other instances, the components are not pre-assembled and always shipped separately.
Unique challenges arise when dental components are individually packaged and shipped. Since individual parts are so tiny, they can easily become lost. Further, once the part is removed from the packaging, it is very difficult to handle because the hand and fingers are so large compared to the part itself.
Some manufacturers pre-assemble these individual parts in a plastic mount. Specifically, the part is threaded into a threaded bore located in the mount. A threaded attachment between the mount and part, though, has distinct disadvantages. First, a separate tool may be needed to remove the part from the mount. A screwdriver or hex tool, for example, must engage an end of the part in order to unscrew it from the mount. This added step of obtaining a tool and unscrewing the part from the mount is quite time consuming during a surgical procedure. Second, as the part is unthreaded from the mount, small plastic shavings can be forced out of the bore. These shavings can fall on the floor of the operating room or even in the sterile surgical field. Regardless, the generation of unwanted waste in the form of shavings is highly undesired.
Further this mount could be made to cooperate with a dental implant delivery system to deliver for example the cover screw placed on the implant during the healing phase. The mount in some embodiments could be assembled with implant holding vial to create a system form delivering first the implant and then the cover screw.
It therefore would be advantageous to provide an improved mount for holding small dental components. The components could be easily removed from the mount and not generate any unwanted waste during the removal procedure.

Mount for holding and releasing dental implant components


An arithmetic processing apparatus includes: a plurality of nodes (N nodes) capable of communicating with each other, each of the plurality of nodes including a memory and a processor, the memory being configured to store a value and an operation result, the processor being configured to execute first processing when N is a natural number of 2 or more, n is a natural number of 1 or more, and N≠2n, wherein the first processing is configured to divide by 2 a value held by a first node, the first node being any of the plurality of nodes and a last node in an order of counting, obtain one or more node pairs by pairing remaining nodes among the plurality of nodes exception for the first node, and calculate repeatedly an average value of values held by each node pair of the one or more node pairs.

In recent years, techniques such as high-performance computing (HPC), data science, machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), or the like have been used in various fields. These techniques are difficult to process data in a single processor in order to perform an enormous amount of calculations. Therefore, when using these techniques, there is introduced a parallel computer that divides and assigns data to many processors and performs calculations in parallel to increase the speed. The parallel computer includes a plurality of nodes formed by a processor, a memory, and a communication device and couples the plurality of nodes via a network to perform data communication between the processors.
For example, when DL is performed, a plurality of neuron layers are prepared in a parallel computer. Forward processing of obtaining output data from input data, backward processing of comparing the output data and a correct answer to obtain a difference, and update processing of updating parameters used in each neuron layer by using the difference are repeatedly performed over each neuron layer. Thereby, the parameter optimization for obtaining appropriate values of the parameters used in each neuron layer is performed. The difference obtained by the backward processing is sometimes referred to as gradient information when expressed by a differential coefficient or the like in image recognition or the like, for example. In this way, the parameters (or model parameters) are optimized to reduce the distance between a model function and the data.
In the parameter optimization, processing called "Allreduce" processing is performed in which differences acquired at each node by the backward processing are aggregated for each neuron layer and update data is obtained by a predetermined operation and distributed to each node. In the Allreduce processing, for example, gradient information of all nodes is added, and the added value is distributed to each node. Thereafter, at each node, update data may be obtained by dividing the added value by the number of nodes included in the parallel computer and taking an average.
It is known that DL calculation is different from HPC calculation which performs 32-bit or 64-bit floating-point arithmetic, for example and that even if the accuracy is somewhat low, a final result obtained is almost comparable to the result of HPC calculation, for example. Therefore, a model parameter is expressed by a low-bit integer to reduce the amount of data communication between nodes. It is possible to speed up the operations by reducing the data communication amount. For example, a graphics processing unit (GPU) has been proposed that supports 16-bit half-precision floating-point arithmetic and may achieve more than twice the throughput compared to 32-bit floating-point arithmetic. There is a technique for further improving a throughput by using a low-bit integer that is a fixed-point number.
However, in a parallel computer having, for example, four nodes, even if the gradient information is, for example, an 8-bit value, a register for 10 bits may be unavoidable during the Allreduce processing. For example, if the 8-bit value in each of the four nodes is an unsigned binary number "11111111", the added value of these values becomes a 10-bit value "1111111100". In this case, eventually, operations are performed in a 16-bit expression, and therefore the throughput is reduced by ½. When the number of nodes included in a parallel computer is increased to 512, for example, the added value may become 17 bits, and in this case, operations are performed in a 32-bit expression, and therefore the throughput is reduced to ¼.
Therefore, in order to suppress an overflow, the gradient information of each node may be divided by the number of nodes in advance before addition. However, in this case, although the occurrence of an overflow may be reduced, when the number of nodes included in the parallel computer is large, the quotient becomes very small or becomes 0, and therefore an error occurs at the time of addition, thereby deteriorating the operation accuracy. For example, if the 8-bit value in each of the 512 nodes included in the parallel computer is an unsigned binary number "11111111", the result obtained by dividing this value by the number of nodes "512" is an 8-bit value "00000000". Therefore, it is difficult to maintain the operation accuracy by avoiding an overflow.
In this manner, in the related art, when the number of nodes of the parallel computer increases, the throughput decreases, and if an attempt is made to improve the throughput by using a low-bit integer, the operation accuracy deteriorates, and therefore it is difficult to suppress the deterioration in operation accuracy by obtaining a node average.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-339278 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-20501 are examples of related art.

Arithmetic processing apparatus, control method of arithmetic processing apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for storing program


A computer system including one or more processing nodes, each of which includes one or more subnodes is provided. One of the subnodes (the controller subnode) manages the interface between the processing node and the remainder of the computer system. Other subnodes (snooper subnodes) are employed to store access rights for coherency units within the memory. The processing node's memory is logically divided into portions, and each subnode stores access rights for a particular memory portion. When a transaction is initiated within the processing node, the subnode storing the access rights for the coherency unit affected by the transaction analyzes the access rights and determines if the transaction may complete locally within the processing node. If coherency activity is required, the subnode asserts an ignore signal causing the transaction to be omitted while coherency activity is performed to acquire sufficient access rights. The access rights are updated concurrent with reissue of a transaction for which coherency activity is performed. In this manner, the updated access rights are available to subsequent transactions even though the access rights may be stored in a different subnode than the controller subnode (which performs the reissue transaction). In one embodiment, the updated access rights are conveyed within one of the address phases of the reissue transaction. A bytemask field within one of the address phases is used.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of multiprocessor computer systems and, more particularly, to storing coherency states within multiple subnodes of processing nodes in distributed shared memory multiprocessing computer systems.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Multiprocessing computer systems include two or more processors which may be employed to perform computing tasks. A particular computing task may be performed upon one processor while other processors perform unrelated computing tasks. Alternatively, components of a particular computing task may be distributed among multiple processors to decrease the time required to perform the computing task as a whole. Generally speaking, a processor is a device configured to perform an operation upon one or more operands to produce a result. The operation is performed in response to an instruction executed by the processor.
A popular architecture in commercial multiprocessing computer systems is the symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) architecture. Typically, an SMP computer system comprises multiple processors connected through a cache hierarchy to a shared bus. Additionally connected to the bus is a memory, which is shared among the processors in the system. Access to any particular memory location within the memory occurs in a similar amount of time as access to any other particular memory location. Since each location in the memory may be accessed in a uniform manner, this structure is often referred to as a uniform memory architecture (UMA).
Processors are often configured with internal caches, and one or more caches are typically included in the cache hierarchy between the processors and the shared bus in an SMP computer system. Multiple copies of data residing at a particular main memory address may be stored in these caches. In order to maintain the shared memory model, in which a particular address stores exactly one data value at any given time, shared bus computer systems employ cache coherency. Generally speaking, an operation is coherent if the effects of the operation upon data stored at a particular memory address are reflected in each copy of the data within the cache hierarchy. For example, when data stored at a particular memory address is updated, the update may be supplied to the caches which are storing copies of the previous data. Alternatively, the copies of the previous data may be invalidated in the caches such that a subsequent access to the particular memory address causes the updated copy to be transferred from main memory. For shared bus systems, a snoop bus protocol is typically employed. Each coherent transaction performed upon the shared bus is examined (or "snooped") against data in the caches. If a copy of the affected data is found, the state of the cache line containing the data may be updated in response to the coherent transaction.
Unfortunately, shared bus architectures suffer from several drawbacks which limit their usefulness in multiprocessing computer systems. A bus is capable of a peak bandwidth (e.g. a number of bytes/second which may be transferred across the bus). As additional processors are attached to the bus, the bandwidth required to supply the processors with data and instructions may exceed the peak bus bandwidth. Since some processors are forced to wait for available bus bandwidth, performance of the computer system suffers when the bandwidth requirements of the processors exceeds available bus bandwidth.
Additionally, adding more processors to a shared bus increases the capacitive loading on the bus and may even cause the physical length of the bus to be increased. The increased capacitive loading and extended bus length increases the delay in propagating a signal across the bus. Due to the increased propagation delay, transactions may take longer to perform. Therefore, the peak bandwidth of the bus may decrease as more processors are added.
These problems are further magnified by the continued increase in operating frequency and performance of processors. The increased performance enabled by the higher frequencies and more advanced processor microarchitectures results in higher bandwidth requirements than previous processor generations, even for the same number of processors. Therefore, buses which previously provided sufficient bandwidth for a multiprocessing computer system may be insufficient for a similar computer system employing the higher performance processors.
Another structure for multiprocessing computer systems is a distributed shared memory architecture. A distributed shared memory architecture includes multiple nodes within which processors and memory reside. The multiple nodes communicate via a network coupled there between. When considered as a whole, the memory included within the multiple nodes forms the shared memory for the computer system. Typically, directories are used to identify which nodes have cached copies of data corresponding to a particular address. Coherency activities may be generated via examination of the directories.
Distributed shared memory systems are scaleable, overcoming the limitations of the shared bus architecture. Since many of the processor accesses are completed within a node, nodes typically have much lower bandwidth requirements upon the network than a shared bus architecture must provide upon its shared bus. The nodes may operate at high clock frequency and bandwidth, accessing the network when needed. Additional nodes may be added to the network without affecting the local bandwidth of the nodes. Instead, only the network bandwidth is affected.
Many distributed shared memory systems suffer from a limitation upon the memory which may be included within a node. The limitation arises not from the number of memory modules (such as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, modules which are popular in the industry) which may be configured into a node to form the memory, but instead arises from the amount of memory which may be used to store the access rights of the node to a particular coherency unit within the memory. In order to maintain system-wide memory coherency, the access rights granted to a particular node must be respected by that node. However, the node typically employs high speed internal communications, such that the access rights must by accessible very quickly. DRAM is typically not suitable for high speed access. Instead, static random access memory (SRAM) modules are typically used to store the access rights.
While SRAM modules may respond with speeds suitable for use in storing access rights, SRAM modules suffer from other drawbacks. SRAM modules are not fabricated with the densities typified by DRAM. In other words, a much larger number of SRAM modules must be used to store the same number of bits as a particular number of DRAM modules. Unfortunately, the lack of density in SRAM modules leads to increased pinouts on modules housing the control logic which interfaces to the SRAM modules in order to store, retrieve, and analyze access rights corresponding to a coherency unit accessed by a transaction occurring within the node. The number of SRAM modules which may be used is therefore limited by the number of pins available on the control logic modules. Hence, the number of access rights (and therefore the number of coherency units) which may be stored in the node is limited. Additionally, SRAM modules are significantly more expensive then DRAM modules. In order to minimize the cost of the computer system, it is important to minimize the number of SRAM modules included.
For at least the above reasons, the amount of memory needed to store access rights may limit the amount of main memory which may be included within the node. Still further, if less than the maximum amount of memory is included in a node, it is desirable to reduce the memory dedicated to storing access rights accordingly. In addition, it is desirable to be able to upgrade the amount of memory in a given node subsequent to manufacture of the computer system. Therefore, the amount of memory used for storing access rights must be similarly increasable.

Multiprocessing system configured to store coherency state within multiple subnodes of a processing node


The invention refers to a pilot controlled pressure relief valve comprising a pair of fluid ports to be operable in both directions of flow. The pressure relief valve is provided with a single pilot control valve 24 which allows for an equal actuating pressure in both flow directions.

German patent 34 01 369 discloses a differential piston defining a circular area and an annular area each of which is part of a control chamber. Each control chamber communicates with a pilot valve. When the fluid pressure exceeds a predetermined pressure which is adjusted at each one of a pair of pilot valves, the main piston is actuated to open the fluid passage in either flow direction.


A data reproducing apparatus according to the present invention enables a recorder to rewrite recorded contents of a memory card. A digital signal processing section (DSP) detects a compression system for compressed data recorded in the memory card. A central processing unit (CPU) detects whether or not the memory card records a decoding file corresponding to the detected compression system. When such decoding file is not detected, internal memory stores data indicating the undetected decoding file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic device and more particularly to a data reproducing apparatus, a data processing apparatus, and a data transfer system capable of outputting voice signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there is commercialized a voice recording/reproducing apparatus having a reproducing-only mode (player mode) and a recording/reproducing mode (voice memo mode or recorder mode) as operation modes. The reproducing-only mode can reproduce music data distributed from a pay database, etc. The recording/reproducing mode can record voice data on internal memory and reproduce it.
There is known a data reproducing apparatus which compresses and digitizes music or voice information, stores this information as data in a personal computer, and records the data on removable memory. The removable memory can be mounted on a portable electronic device for reproduction and reproducing the desired music or voice information.
Such data reproducing apparatus need not previously record a program for expanding compressed data on a portable electronic device. There is provided a method of reading a program for expanding compressed data into a digital signal processing section during reproduction, operating the digital signal processing section, and then reading the recorded data for reproduction.
However, before reproduction, the above-mentioned data reproducing apparatus requires a user to check whether or not the transferred data records a decompression program capable of reproducing desired music or voice.
Such apparatus is not easy to use because a user can check whether or not the removable memory contains that decompression program only during reproduction.
In addition, when the removable memory does not contain the decompression program as a check result, the user must transfer the decompression program from the personal computer to the data reproducing apparatus. This is another user unfriendly aspect of the apparatus.

Data reproducing apparatus and data reproducing system for reproducing contents stored on a removable recording medium