An access control ticket having three fields of data, a first field (3) of fixed data, a second field (7) of variable data, and a third field (8) of variable data is read and information processed by a microprocessor. The microprocessor determines the validity of information on the ticket data fields and which of the variable fields has older data. Writing only occurs on (over) the variable field with invalid or older data. Upon subsequent use, the ticket contains current access data (just written) and last previous access data, as well as fixed field data. This added data (past use) can be used for statistical analysis or other purposes. More importantly, the added data field reduces read/write reliability problems. One improperly written variable data field does not invalidate ticket, only the last variable data entry. The microprocessor is programmed to overwrite invalid data in one of the variable data fields during the next use. Since the ticket still has the fixed data field and a prior use variable data field, no human intervention, repair of access control devices (for single failures), or new tickets are required. The location of variable use data can also be segregated from fixed data to further enhance reliability. This reduction in failures and tolerance of single non recurring errors allows hand held swipe type read/writer to be utilized for mass transit applications. Access is quick, avoiding manual ticket insertion, grabbing, transport and return.

The primary objectives of a mass transit access control ticket read-writer system are to: 1) read and record a valid ticket's fare value and information; 2) write altered fare value and other information on the valid ticket; 3) allow quick and convenient entry/exit of persons with a valid ticket, and 4) reject invalid or insufficient fare tickets. Since the patron process may have to handle very large volumes of persons, it also must be fast acting and very reliable. It should also be light weight (to minimize structural support required), easy to maintain, rugged in construction, pleasing in appearance and low in cost. When the read/writer is used in each of the two operating modes (entrance and exit), a minimum of effort to convert from one mode to another mode is also desirable.
Current read/writer devices and methods may accomplish several of these objectives (in one or both of the operating modes) well, but other objectives poorly. A basic type of read/writer system for mass transit applications includes the mechanical transport of the ticket which is entered by the mass transit passenger. The ticket, which includes a magnetic or other encodable strip of material, is carried to a read head. The ticket may be immobilized or transported over the read head at a fixed speed. The read head detects or reads the information stored on the ticket's magnetically encoded tape or strip and the information is transmitted to a microprocessor.
If a valid ticket with sufficient fare is read, the system then encodes new, variable data on the ticket's tape or strip. This variable data typically includes date, location and reduced ticket/fare value. This writing of new variable data is typically validated by a second read head which verifies (read and compare) the new information. Any previous variable data on the ticket is overwritten by the new data. The ticket's encoded tape is typically segregated into fixed data (not normally written over) and variable data (normally written over). Control signals to lock and unlock an access control barrier may be provided via cables from the microprocessor,
The ticket may be used once per passage, if multiple fare or exit control is not required. Remote or supervisory locking/unlocking and ticket return control signals may also be given manually. An example of this type of system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,615. Versions of this basic type of mechanical transport of a ticket to a read/writer has been implemented in the Washington DC Metro system, the San Francisco BART system, the Singapore and in other mass transit systems.
An alternate type of access system based on a read only system is known conceptually, but has not been applied in this field, in the applicant's knowledge. This type of read only system uses a "swipe" reader, where ticket transport is accomplished manually by the passenger/ticket holder as he/she passes the hand held ticket over a read head or decoder. The ticket may be magnetically or otherwise encoded. If a valid ticket (single use) is detected, access is provided. In a read only system, encoded data is not over written. This basic type of read only system has been implemented in the New York City (New York) and Baltimore (Maryland) mass transit systems. Theoretically, this type of read only system could be applied to a multiple use application, but would require large, sophisticated real time central data processing, tracking and communication systems to each port. No known application of the multiple-use (where the fare value is deducted) read only system concept to mass transit is known to the applicant.
The prior art approaches to ticket read/writing have many limitations, especially when implemented in mass transit applications. The mechanical transport of tickets introduces several elements which are susceptible to failure and unreliable operation. The mechanical transport system can fail, be jammed, mechanically damage the ticket, magnetically alter the data stored on the ticket, may incorrectly place the ticket or allow ticket to move (when it should be immobilized), or may move the ticket across the read head at other than an acceptable speed. This improper ticket placement or movement can cause the reader to incorrectly interpret the stored information and/or allow the writer to erroneously erase fixed data and/or fail to write proper information on the ticket's magnetic strip. Since these failures may occur twice for each trip (entrance and exit modes of operation), and each ticket may be used for multiple trips (advance sale of fares recorded on single ticket) and millions of passengers may be using the mass transit system daily, it can be seen that a very large number of problems can occur, even if the mechanical transport system is statistically reliable (i.e.: experience a small percentage failure rate).
Mechanical systems tend to slow the passage of ticket holding passengers through the access control device. The passenger must locate the ticket entrance slot, determine the proper ticket orientation and edge to be inserted, reorient the ticket if necessary, and insert the proper edge of the ticket into the slot. The mechanical transport system must then grab the ticket and move it to the read/writer head(s). A minimum time of residence over the reader is required to read, process and write data. The ticket then has to be mechanically transported for either return to the passenger or rejected for disposal. In addition to delay, the mechanical passenger ticket transport and handling system interface presents other opportunities for unreliable operation, such as the accidental insertion of materials other than tickets into the ticket slot, contamination of an otherwise valid ticket being transferred to the read head, malfunction of the transport mechanism, multiple simultaneous ticket entry, and the passenger's failure to take a returned ticket.
Even with an ideal user with a contamination free valid ticket, the moving mechanical parts and critical clearances (ticket grabbing, lateral ticket control during read/writer operation, etc.) reduce reliability when compared to a swipe read system. The required added mechanical devices inherent in a mechanical ticket transport also consume more space, mechanical supports and electric power, thus increasing the cost of the access control system.
The multiplicity of elements, unfamiliar users, added processing time, weight and space detract from the objectives of reliability, rapid patron processing and convenient access/exit. As an example, one mass transit system with a mechanical ticket handling type of system experiences approximately 300 failures per day. These failures typically require manual intervention into the access control system, the reissuing of tickets and/or the refunding of fares. In addition to the direct cost of handling these failures and delays, the time required to repair the transport mechanism tends to cause a reduction in ticket sales, increases ticket purchase/delays, and encourages attempts to bypass the malfunctioning ticket/access control systems.
To the best of the applicant's knowledge the swipe writer has not been successfully implemented in the mass transit application. The swipe writers that exist at present can and do corrupt tickets in the operation cycle. This is primarily a result of the difficulty of adequately controlling the location of the ticket during the hand-held write mode of operation. If the magnetic strip is divided into read only (fixed data field) and read/write (variable data field) areas, writing must be precluded from fixed data field. Lateral misslocation of ticket or strip, insufficient time/excessive speed of ticket across read/writer heads, and excessive ticket distance from read/writer head are only some of the causes of possible error. In a mass transit application, passengers are unlikely to consistently and correctly place and retain the ticket over the read/write head. The inherent lack of ticket control and other problems can be expected to result in unacceptable failure rates (failure to properly write and verify writing) for this type of system.
What is needed is a new type of swipe read/writer that is significantly less susceptible to writing and verification errors. This type of system could be used with mechanical or hand held ticket handling systems, but would avoid the many problems and disadvantages of the prior art mechanical ticket read write systems. None of the prior art that the applicant is aware of provides the reliability of the present invention.

Fare card read-writer which overwrites oldest or invalid data

Cubic Automatic Revenue Collection Group


A hydraulic motor includes a motor mechanism that rotates by hydraulic liquid pressure led from a hydraulic liquid pressure source. The hydraulic motor includes a casing that defines a casing chamber which accommodates the motor mechanism, a brake mechanism that brakes the rotation of the motor mechanism, a brake release actuator that releases the braking of the brake mechanism by a brake release pressure led from the hydraulic liquid pressure source, and a throttle passage that is in communication with the casing chamber and extracts a portion of hydraulic liquid that is led into the brake release actuator and leads it to the casing chamber.

A hydraulic motor that is installed as a travel device in a hydraulic shovel, a road roller, or the like includes a motor mechanism that rotates by hydraulic liquid pressure and a reduction gear that reduces the speed of rotation of the motor mechanism to drive a wheel (drum).
In a piston motor including such a reduction gear, the temperature of the reduction gear rises when continuously operating at high speed, and a casing which accommodates the motor mechanism is also heated due to the rising temperature of the reduction gear.
In the piston motor disclosed in JP2004-60508A, hydraulic oil that has leaked out from the motor mechanism (leak oil) flows into the casing, and the casing is cooled by the hydraulic oil.
In the piston motor disclosed in JP2006-161453A, a portion of the hydraulic oil that drives a capacity-varying mechanism flows into the casing, and the casing is cooled by the hydraulic oil.


An automatic vending machine includes an integrated capsule dispensing apparatus. The automatic vending machine comprises a first dispensing unit for delivering products that it withdraws from one or more first storage compartments, and is characterized in that it further comprises at least a second dispensing unit for delivering products packaged in the form of capsules that are stored loosely within second storage compartments.

Nowadays, particularly felt in automatic product vending machines, and in particular those dedicated to food and similar product vending operations, is a need for consumers, i.e. buyers, to be offered as wide as possible a variety of products, while having all these products duly stored and available for vending within the same machine. An obvious consequence of this resulting increase in the number and types of products offered by the machine for automatic vending, along with the fact that these products are quite often available in a form of differently sized and shaped packages, is a corresponding increase in a size and weight of the vending machine itself. Furthermore, keeping such a large variety of types of products, especially pre-packaged products, on offer for vending implies considerably longer procedures to be followed for restocking the vending machine, upon the latter having run out of supplies on sale, since restocking generally involves placing goods to be sold in an orderly arrangement, such as for example by placing the individual items into stacks or within appropriate spaces that are provided for this purpose between coils of a spiral or circular sectors of a wheel or a dispensing belt, or the like. Use of several automatic machines installed in a side-by-side arrangement may certainly enable a number and variety of products on offer for sale to be increased, but does certainly not solve any of the aforecited machine maintenance problems, nor enables costs for managing and running these machines to be reduced.

Automatic vending machine with integrated capsule feeding apparatus


A wireless charging positioning device and method, a receiver and a storage medium are provided. The device is applied to a transmitter and includes: at least one group of detection coils and at least one processor. Each group of detection coils includes N detection coils, detection regions covered by different detection coils are at least partially different, detection coil is configured to transmit a detection signal and receive a feedback signal sent by a receiver, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The at least one processor is connected with the N detection coils and configured to determine a position region of the receiver at the transmitter according to the feedback signals received by the N detection coils.

Along with the development of charging technologies, more and more terminals are capable to be charged in a wireless charging manner. Under a normal condition, a user places a terminal (i.e., a receiver) on a wireless charging base (i.e., a transmitter) for wireless charging. However, since alignment positions of the receiver and the transmitter are deviated during wireless charging, for example, the receiver is not placed in a transmitting coil of the transmitter, an electromagnetic wave signal and other signals for wireless charging are not completely utilized by the receiver, thereby resulting in low charging efficiency, serious energy loss, and the like.
In a related art, a receiver is usually positioned by observation through eyes, thereby determining whether the receiver is deviated. However, such a positioning manner for the receiver is usually low in accuracy and intelligence. Therefore, how to position a receiver on the wireless charging base (transmitter) automatically and accurately becomes a technical problem urgent to be solved.

Wireless charging positioning device and method, and storage medium

Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.


A system for deterring animals and humans from entering protected sprinkler zones. Motion sensors are placed in an area to be protected. Upon detection of a trespasser (e.g., animals or humans) within the protected area, the sensors produce a signal for activating sprinklers in the zone and/or other appropriate zones. The sensor output can be electrically connected to a step down transformer, which is connected to an appropriate sprinkler valve or to the sprinkler valve output at, for example, the sprinkler control box. The sprinkler valve can be activated and an appropriate sprinkler zone turned on to spray the trespasser with water. New or existing sprinkler systems can be utilized for varmint and/or intruder deterrent without utilizing complex electronics.

Electronically controlled irrigation systems typically include sprinklers, electric zone valves, and one or more electric controllers. Individual sprinklers are fed by underground water pipes connected to a water supply source and communicate with electrically operated solenoid zone valves. Such zone valves are typically Alternating Current (AC) powered solenoid valves, which are "hard wired" directly to the controller. Control wires also connect the controller to the solenoid valves, which are usually buried underground.
Typical controllers are AC powered and are mounted on a wall near an AC outlet, located either indoors or outdoors. The controllers are typically of solid state design and allow a user to control the sequence of zones to be watered, the starting time of each watering, the duration of each watering, and intervals between watering events.
Residential and commercial properties having irrigation systems installed are known for taking pride in the beauty of their lawn and flora, and perhaps the productivity of vegetables gardens. Such irrigation systems, however, do not offer any animal or human security or deterrent benefits to the property. Animal and human security deterrent systems are typically stand-alone systems that are incapable of being integrated with current irrigation systems. This creates added cost and complexity to the installation of stand-alone trespasser deterrent systems.
In one retrofit automatic irrigation system for animal and human deterrent control, one or more motion sensors may be placed within a bordered zone monitored for trespassers. Such motion sensors can detect a body entering a bordered zone and generate a trespasser signal having a unique ID. A programmable control receiver module receives the signal and activates a solenoid control valve to spray the trespasser with water. This wet and/or scares off the trespasser and prevent the entering of trespasser into the protected zone.
Such systems require complex and expensive designs, including the use of devices such as, for example, a programmable control receiver module. The conventional intruder detection and deterrent system affects the operation of an existing sprinkler system and requires modification of the sprinkler control system or the sprinkler valve.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed, there is a requirement for a human and animal deterrent control apparatus that can be easily and inexpensively retrofitted directly onto existing or with new irrigation systems.


A method for making an integrated circuit includes forming spaced-apart trenches on a surface of a single crystal silicon substrate, lining the trenches with a silicon oxide layer, forming a first polysilicon layer over the silicon oxide layer, forming a second polysilicon layer over the first polysilicon layer, and removing a thickness of the single crystal silicon substrate to expose tubs of single crystal silicon in the second polysilicon layer.

The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to dielectrically isolated substrates.
A large number of integrated circuit (IC) devices may be formed on a single wafer or substrate of semiconductor material. Each substrate is a thin slice of a single crystal semiconductor material such as silicon. The successful formation of viable IC devices requires the use of a correctly formed and processed substrate. An individual substrate may undergo steps of rough polishing and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) to remove surface damage caused by substrate slicing, to achieve a desired thickness, and to produce a substantially flat and planar surface on the substrate. The substrate edges may also be ground to a rounded configuration.
Typically, an initial step in forming IC devices on a silicon substrate is oxidation of the surface, such as to silicon dioxide SiO2, for example. The SiO2 provides a hard, electrically insulating layer which also serves to protect the substrate surface from physical damage and contamination. The formation of IC devices on a substrate normally includes many steps, most of which may be classified in the broad categories of layering, patterning, doping, and heat treatment. Every type of semiconductor chip requires some type of isolation in order for the individual devices (e.g., transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc.) to operate independently of one another, or to operate in environments of high radiation.
Many of the defects which occur in substrate and chip manufacture are related to inadequate dielectric isolation. Because of the drive toward integrated circuit devices with greater density and complexity, individual components must be made increasingly smaller and placed closer together. In some applications, operation at higher voltages or in high radiation environments is required. Thus, the need for electrical isolation and radiation isolation become of much greater significance.
One conventional method of forming a dielectrically isolated (DI) substrate for manufacturing bipolar and metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices will now be described. A prior art substrate is conventionally formed as a slice of a single crystal silicon material, and typically is subjected to grinding, polishing and surface oxidation steps to form a smooth planar first substrate surface. The first substrate surface is etched in a V-groove etching method well-known in the art. The etched depressions are known as trenches, troughs, or pockets, and may be formed by an isotropic wet etch or an anisotropic dry etch. In this application, the etched depressions will be referred to as trenches.
The side surfaces and bottom surfaces of the trenches and the non-trenched surfaces are oxidized to form a layer of silicon dioxide over the surfaces of the trenches and the non-trenched surfaces. This oxide layer is the isolation barrier. A thick layer of polysilicon is deposited over the oxide layer (i.e. the isolation barrier). The polysilicon layer backfills the trenches and non-trenched portions of the first substrate surface, forming a xe2x80x9chandlexe2x80x9d or layer for supporting the substrate and devices formed thereon. The substrate is lapped or removed from its second surface until the oxide layer is reached.
A substantial portion of the original silicon is removed, leaving a smoothed polysilicon substrate surface including oxide-isolated tubs or islands of the original single crystal silicon material. The exposed surface of each tub has an active surface. Circuit components may be fabricated on the active surfaces of the silicon tubs. The completed substrate with circuit components thereon may be cut or singulated into discrete chips which are packaged for the intended use.
The manufacture of DI devices has presented several drawbacks. First, unless the etching steps are carried out very carefully, the final working surface of the substrate may not be as planar as the original substrate. This affects subsequent processes, especially lithography, and may produce islands or tubs with varying thicknesses. Another problem in DI device manufacture has been the formation of pinholes and other defects in the isolation barrier (i.e., the oxide layer). Such pinholes cause current leakage to occur in both normal and high radiation environments, effectively negating the purpose of the isolation barrier. Thus, integrated circuits manufactured with the DI method have additional risks of reduced performance and poorer reliability.
Current leakage defects present a major problem in the manufacture of DI substrates and are largely due to the presence of contaminants in or on the surface of the oxide layer which become activated upon application of the polysilicon layer. The unit production cost of DI devices has been relatively high, largely because of the resulting low substrate yield.
An early form of isolating a substrate is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,571,919 to Gleim et al. The patent discloses depositing a layer of silicon carbide over mesas which, after etching become individual islands of single crystal silicon isolated by the carbide layer. The use of silicon dioxide as an isolation barrier became well-known, as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,875 to Baker et al. This reference addresses the formation of metal conductors spanning the isolation barrier.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,182 to Freeman, a trench isolation process is used to form electronic circuits surrounded on lateral sides by air-filled trenches. In intermediate steps of fabrication, the inner and outer walls of the trenches are coated with a silicon dioxide layer and covered with a layer of silicon nitride. The trenches extend downwardly to a level at or below a buried layer.
None of the above references address the problem of pin-hole formation and resulting current leakage in DI substrates when a silicon dioxide isolation barrier is covered with polysilicon. One attempted approach has been to decontaminate the polysilicon deposition chambers more frequently, i.e., between each batch. This has not substantially reduced contamination. Furthermore, such frequent cleaning is time-consuming and expensive.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for more readily fabricating high quality dielectrically isolated (DI) substrates for producing silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices such as bipolar and metal-oxide semiconductors (MOS) and the like, including the numerous variants thereof.
Another aspect of the object is to produce DI devices at higher yields.
A further object of the invention is to provide DI substrates with enhanced dielectric isolation, thereby enabling the reduction of component separation (i.e., higher packing density) of circuit components.
According to the invention, a method for making an integrated circuit includes forming spaced-apart trenches on a surface of a single crystal silicon substrate, lining the trenches and non-trenched areas with a silicon oxide layer, forming a first polysilicon layer over the silicon oxide layer, forming a second polysilicon layer over the first polysilicon layer, and removing a thickness of the single crystal silicon substrate to expose tubs of single crystal silicon in the second polysilicon layer. The first polysilicon layer and silicon oxide layer dielectrically isolate the single crystal silicon tubs from the second polysilicon layer. Furthermore, the first polysilicon layer reduces hole formation in the silicon oxide layer in subsequent processing steps and may significantly increase yield.
More specifically, the first polysilicon layer may be substantially coextensive with the silicon oxide layer. The first polysilicon layer may have a thickness in a range of about 0.02 xcexcm to 0.5 xcexcm and, more preferably, about 0.05 xcexcm to 0.15 xcexcm. Moreover, the first polysilicon layer may be formed using chemical vapor deposition or low pressure chemical vapor deposition, for example. The silicon oxide layer may be formed by thermal oxidation of the single crystal silicon substrate. Also, the silicon oxide layer may have a thickness in a range of about 0.2 xcexcm to 5 xcexcm and, more preferably, about 1 xcexcm to 3 xcexcm.
Additionally, the silicon oxide layer and the first polysilicon layer may extend between adjacent trenches on the second polysilicon layer, and the thickness of the silicon substrate may be removed to expose portions of the silicon oxide layer between adjacent single crystal silicon tubs. Alternatively, the thickness of the silicon substrate may be removed to a depth so that portions of the silicon oxide layer and first polysilicon layer are removed between adjacent single crystal silicon tubs.
Furthermore, the spaced-apart trenches may be formed by V-groove etching. Forming the spaced-apart trenches may also include forming a first set of parallel trenches and forming a second set of parallel trenches transverse to the first set of parallel trenches. Also, at least one circuit element may be formed on each of the single crystal silicon tubs. The method may also include forming an opening extending through the second polysilicon layer, the first polysilicon layer, and the silicon oxide layer to at least one of the single crystal silicon tubs. The first polysilicon layer may be formed at a first temperature and the second polysilicon layer may be formed at a second temperature greater than the first temperature of about 1000 to 1075xc2x0 C., for example.
An integrated circuit according to the present invention includes a polysilicon substrate having a plurality of recesses therein, a silicon oxide layer lining the trenches, a first polysilicon layer over the silicon oxide layer, and a plurality of single crystal silicon tubs on the silicon oxide layer and filling the plurality of recesses.

Method for making an integrated circuit device with dielectrically isolated tubs and related circuit


A peak detector circuit (100) includes an output transconductance amplifier (102), a current rectifier (104) and an averaging circuit (108). The current rectifier includes an amplifier (115) which reduces input impedance of the current rectifier to increase the operating frequency of the peak detector circuit. An isolator (106) employs a current mirror (509) with a cascode transistor (512) having a bias potential which is dynamically adjusted to achieve accurate mirroring. An amplifier of a common mode feedback circuit (110) has improved linearity.

Peak detector circuits have a variety of applications, including in cellular telephones. In general, a peak detector operates by detecting a time varying input voltage and storing charge on a capacitor to produce a voltage equal to the maximum detected input voltage. Another known type of peak detector converts input voltage to a current and integrates the current. This second type of peak detector may be implemented in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, which enhances its applicability. For example, the CMOS peak detector may be integrated on a single integrated circuit with other circuit elements to reduce the cost and size of the overall circuit. Also, the CMOS peak detector may be operated at relatively low operating voltages, such as 3.0 V.
However, known CMOS peak detector designs have been limited to relatively low speed or low frequency applications. In one known design, the maximum input frequency is only 12 MHz, which is too low for many applications.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved peak detector circuit operable at input frequencies above 12 MHz.


A motor control circuit provides reduced stopping time. The circuit utilizes n rotational signals whose relative phase differences are proportional to the rotational speed of the motor. Inverted logic signals are formed of these n signals. Circuitry for discriminating the direction of the motor and for determining from the n signals n-1 and/or n inverted signals, the initial change of any of the signals following a reversal of the motor. Upon determining the initial change, a signal is supplied to the motor drive circuit to cause the motor to de-energized. A specific circuit for holding the motor in a stopped condition is disclosed.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motor control circuits and, more particularly, to such circuits for stopping motors which provide a reduced stopping time.
b) Background of the Prior Art
In a compact disk player or a photo disk device, it is desired to shorten the waiting time as much as possible before the disk can be removed.
For this purpose, a brake circuit is provided in a control circuit for a spindle motor which rotatively drives a disk in order to rapidly stop the rotation of the disk.
For use as such circuit, a logic type control circuit is known which applies energy to a motor so that it is rotated in a direction opposite to that in which the motor is initially rotated to apply a brake, and the start of the reverse rotation of the motor is detected to stop energization to the motor. This is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application LaidOpen No. 195392/l982 (See FIG. 3).
The logic control type circuit described in this publication comprises a discrimination circuit (5) for discriminating a rotational direction of a motor by rotational signals (c) and (d), which differ in phase proportional to the rotational speed of the motor based on the outputs of Hall elements H1 and H2, a memory (6) for storing the discrimination signal of the discrimination circuit, a rotational direction instruction circuit (10) for controlling a motor drive circuit (2) so that the motor is reversely rotated at the time of the stop instruction, a comparator circuit (7) for comparing the discrimination signal of the discrimination circuit (5) with the stored signal of the memory circuit, and a stop circuit (11) for opening a power source of the drive circuit (2) in response to the change in output of the comparator circuit when the motor is reversed.
In this circuit, the rotational direction of the motor is discriminated by the discrimination circuit (5) on the basis of the rotational signals (c) and (d) which differ in phase proportional to the rotational speed of the motor as derived from the rotation detector, and the discrimination signal of the discrimination circuit is stored in the memory circuit (6). The drive circuit (2) is capable of rotating the motor in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions, and at the time of the stop instruction, the motor drive circuit (2) is controlled so that the motor is energized in the direction opposite to the initial energizing direction by the rotational direction instruction circuit (10) to apply a brake in order to reverse the motor. The discrimination signal of the discrimination circuit (5) and the storage signal of the memory circuit (6) are compared by the comparator circuit and the power source of the drive circuit is opened by the stop circuit (11) due to the change in output of the comparator circuit (7) when the motor is reversed.
A D flip flop FF1 constitutes a discrimination circuit (5) in which rotational signals, i.e., clocks having outputs of a rotation detector shaped in waveform (c) and (d), which differ in phase proportional to the rotational speed of the motor as derived from Hall elements for detecting the rotation of the motor, are supplied so that the (d) signal is latched by a change in state (rise) of the (c) signal to thereby discriminate the rotational direction of the motor. The rotational direction instruction circuit (10) prepares a rotational direction signal (f) from a stop signal (stop instruction) (a) and a rotational direction instruction signal (b) to supply it to the motor drive circuit 2. The stop circuit (11) prepares an energization signal, stop-start signal (j), from a stop signal (a) and an output signal (e) of the D flip flop FF1 to feed it to the drive circuit 2. The drive circuit 2 controls the rotational direction of the motor to the normal positive rotational direction when the stop signal (a) is off (low level) and the rotational direction instruction (f) is at a high level, and controls the rotational direction of the motor to the rotational direction opposite the normal direction when the stop signal is on (high level) and the rotational direction instruction (f) is at a low level. That is, this drive circuit 2 determines the normal rotational direction (positive rotational direction) in either clockwise or counterclockwise direction to provide a logic arrangement such that only when the stop signal (a) is on, the motor is rotated in the rotational direction opposite to the normal rotational direction whereas when the stop signal (a) is off, the power source is opened. The drive circuit 2 energizes the motor when the stop signal (a) is off and the energized signal (j) is at a low level to drive the motor in the positive rotational direction. When the stop signal (a) is on as shown in FIG. 4, the rotational direction instruction (f) is at a low level so that the motor is reversely rotated by the drive circuit 2. When the motor is actually reversely rotated, the D flip flop FF1 detects its reversal, the output signal thereof assumes a high level and the energized signal (3) assumes a high level so that the energization to the motor is stopped by the drive circuit 21 and the motor naturally decelerates and stops. In this case, the reversal detection time until the D flip flop FF1 detects the reversal after the motor has been actually reversed changes since the start of reversal of the motor is not in synchronism with the rotational signals (c) and (d) from the rotation detector, but it is, at most, one period portion of the rotational signals.
The reversal of the motor upon application of the brake thereto is detected by comparing the discrimination signal of the discrimination circuit (5) with the storage signal of the memory circuit (6) by the comparator circuit (7). Accordingly, the time until the reversal of the motor is detected after the motor starts to reverse is the total of the time until the discrimination circuit detects the reversal of the motor and the time until the comparator circuit (7) detects the reversal of the motor by comparison of the discrimination signal of the discrimination circuit (5) with the storage signal of the memory circuit (6), which is a total time beyond one period of the rotational signal from the rotation detector. Therefore, the reversing time of the motor becomes extended and the stopping of the motor is delayed.
In the past, when a vibration occurs in the entire apparatus including a motor and as a result the rotor of the motor rotates, the motor sometimes continues to run due to the vibration despite a stop instruction having been issued since the time a rotational signal had been provided from the rotation detector.
The present invention overcomes the above-described disadvantages. It is an object of the present invention to provide a stop control circuit for a motor which is simple in structure and in which, in the case where braking is applied to the motor, reversal detection time until the reversal of the motor is detected after the motor begins to reverse can be considerably shortened, and the stopping of the motor can be performed quickly and positively.


A partial reflective laser output device comprising a partial reflective unit mounted on a laser output device (such as a vertical cavity emitting laser), the partial reflective unit allowing the laser beam emitted from the laser output device to be partially reflected while the rest penetrating through. On one hand, this device decreases the intensity of output laser light so as to comply with the eye safety standard; the reflected light is absorbed by a photodiode (PD) to perform auto power control on the laser output device on the other. In addition, by adjusting the tilting angle of the partial reflective unit or making a curvature thereon, the reflected light can have no destructive interference with the output light and can even be focused onto the PD so that there would be no relative intensity noise problem and the size of the PD can be made smaller to lower the cost.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a partial reflective laser output device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device with which the laser output power can be controlled to meet eye safety standards and, at the same time, the reflected light is received by a photodiode for a feedback circuit to perform auto power control. The partial reflective laser output device of the present invention can avoid the problem of relative intensity noise and is most suitable for mass production.
2. Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional surface emitting laser output device, such as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) 10 comprises a P-type mirror 11 and an N-type mirror 13 enclosing an active area 12. Resonant light in the active area 12 forms laser light, wherein the up-going light 20 is output through the surface in a cone shape, while the down-going light is absorbed by a substrate 14. Only one surface of the VCSEL 10 emits light; therefore, auto power control on this system is not so easy as an edge emitting laser which emits light on both sides. Many suggestions have been proposed in the past, and most of them call for the monitoring with detectors of epitaxial chip structures grown from monoliths around the VCSEL 10. However, most of these suggestions, which do not allow a planar structure on the VCSEL 10, would cause the product yield and reliability to be adversely affected, as well as problems in the mass production thereof.
Therefore, if one wants to monitor the output light 20 intensity without changing the CSEL 10 structure, the output light 20 from the VCSEL 10 has to be partially directed to photodiode (PD). Most methods used on currently available products on the market are add a silicon (Si) PD under the VCSEL 10 and to encapsulate the devices in a transistor outline (TO) can. The above method for monitoring the output light intensity from the VCSEL 10 is the simplest one and can be achieved by coating a layer of reflective film on the lens of the TO can. On one hand, this makes the output light 20 from the VCSEL 10 comply with the Class I Eye Safety requirement of the range between 200 xcexcW and 400 xcexcW, and sufficient reflected light can be fed back to the PD to perform auto power control on the other. This method does not only keep a planar structure for the VCSEL 10 but still uses surface mount technology (SMT) in encapsulation. So it is very suitable for mass production processes.
With reference to FIG. 2A and taking a conventional flat window TO can encapsulation as an example, to monitor the output light 20 intensity from the TO can encapsulated VCSEL 10 the surface of the flat window 54 can be coated with a film so that reflected light 21 generated thereby can be absorbed by the PD 30 so as to monitor the output light 20 intensity. Under this encapsulation structure, however, an additional focusing lens, such as a ball lens 50, is needed in the exterior for coupling the VCSEL 10 output light 20 into a fiber 60. Thus, calibration of light paths becomes more difficult.
To decrease the complexity of coupling light, one can consider the encapsulation with a ball lens 50 TO can 52 structure, as shown in FIG. 2B, which integrates the ball lens 50 and the TO can 52 so that calibration of the coupling light paths between the VCSEL 10 output light 20 and the fiber 60 becomes much easier. Nonetheless, this results in another problem: since light is reflected by the spherical surface of the ball lens 50, the reflection angle is so large that only a small portion of reflected light reaches and is absorbed by the PD 30. So the light current detected by the PD 30 might not be enough for the enacting threshold required by the feedback circuit. Of course, the area of the PD 30 can be enlarged to receive sufficient light, yet this increases the cost.
Moreover, it is very difficult to coat a film on the ball lens 50 by mass production and, yet, the reflected light 21 would shine on the VCSEL 10 in the above-mentioned two encapsulation structures and causes the problem of relative intensity noise.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a convenient device to monitor and adjust the output light intensity from a laser output device, e.g. a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), so as to meet the eye safety standard on one hand, and to avoid the problem of relative intensity noise due to light path overlapping on the other. Furthermore, this device requires a lower manufacturing cost.
Pursuant to the above object, a partial reflective laser output device of the present invention comprises a partial reflective unit mounted on a laser output device (such as a VCSEL), the partial reflective unit allowing the laser beam emitted from the laser output device to be partially reflected while the rest penetrating through. This device decreases the intensity of output laser light to comply with the eye safety standard on one hand; the reflected light is guided to be absorbed by a photodiode (PD) for performing auto power control on the laser output device on the other. In addition, by adjusting the tilting angle of the partial reflective unit so that it is not perpendicular to the output laser light path or making a proper curvature thereon, the-reflected light can have no destructive interference with the output light and even can be focused onto the PD so that there would be no relative intensity noise problem and the size of the PD can be made smaller to lower the cost.
Moreover, the present invention can be incorporated into a transistor outline (TO) can encapsulation or be mounted on a printed circuit board for practical uses in manufacture.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


There is provided a method for forming a pattern comprising two regions of different refractive indices easily, that is, a method comprising the steps of forming a pattern having a water-shedding oil-shedding region by use of a radiation sensitive resin composition and coating the pattern with a high refractive index resin solution using a solvent having low wettability to the water-shedding oil-shedding region so as to form two regions of different refractive indices.

In the so-called "mass media driven society" at the present time, a refractive-index-distributed optical molded article comprising regions of different refractive indices is in significantly great demand. As examples of such an optical molded article, optical materials such as an optical waveguide which transmits data and microlens arrays for image devices using a semiconductor such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor, and an organic EL or liquid crystal display in which a high refractive index portion and a low refractive index portion are formed on a pixel to improve brightness and contrast so as to prevent color leakage between pixels as described in JP-A 2002-164180 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") are known.
An example of a method for coating and forming these two distinct regions having different refractive indices is a method comprising the steps of performing patterning with a radiation sensitive material, applying a radiation sensitive material having a different refractive index thereon and then performing patterning again. Alternatively, the regions can be formed by a method comprising the steps of performing patterning with a radiation sensitive material, applying a material having a different refractive index thereon, and performing surface polishing by a dry etching or CMP (Chemical Mechanical Planarization) process or by using a material which undergoes a change in refractive index through exposure as described in JP-A 62-25705, JP-A 7-92313 and JP-A 11-060803.
However, the methods using two types of radiation sensitive materials and the method involving surface polishing have such problems in terms of processes as complicated processes and high costs and have such a limitation that only materials suited for surface polishing can be used. As for the material whose refractive index is changed by exposure, the maximum refractive index difference is as large as about 0.001 to 0.02, and it is difficult to achieve much wider refractive index distribution for the purposes of preventing an optical loss in an optical waveguide and improving the light converging rate of microlens.

Method for forming pattern, and optical element


A semiconductor device manufacturing system is provided. In one embodiment, a load lock chamber of the semiconductor device manufacturing system comprises an internal cavity, a substrate carrier, configured to support and deliver a substrate and a cooling gas inlet module arranged in the internal cavity and adjacent to a first side of the internal cavity. The cooling gas inlet module is configured to discharge a gas toward a second side of the internal cavity to cool down the substrate supported and delivered by the substrate carrier, wherein the second side. The second side is opposite to the first side.

Many tools in a semiconductor manufacturing facility process wafers in a high vacuum environment. Because the wafers travel from one tool to another at atmosphere, each tool has a way of loading the wafers into a transitional vacuum chamber (load lock chamber) to remove the air pressure before they are handled by the machine into its high vacuum environment. Conversely, this same load lock is typically used to return the wafers from high vacuum environment back to atmosphere for removal after being processed.
When a wafer is transported from the transitional vacuum chamber (high temperature and vacuum environment, such as the load lock chamber) into the external environment (low temperature and humidity environment, such as a FOUP), the high-temperature process gases remaining on the wafer contact the external atmosphere and form condensations on the surface of the wafer.

Semiconductor device manufacturing system and method for manufacturing semiconductor device

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.


A build system and method, including receiving attribute rules and new rules, wherein the attribute rules correspond to one or more predefined default actions of the build system, wherein the new rules specify new actions that are to be added to the build system. A graph is generated to include files specified as attributes in the attributes rules and the one or more predefined default actions that correspond to the attributes rules. A request to enable at least one of the new rules is received. Action listener rules are received, wherein the action listener rules indicate default actions and corresponding new rules of the one or more new rules. The graph is checked for default actions that are indicated in the action listener rules. Additional actions are added to the graph for new rules based on the default actions indicated in the action listener rules.

1. Field of the Invention
The following relates to a software build system, software build method, and computer-readable storage medium for providing added actions in the form of rules to the build system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Software build systems automate the production of complex software systems. Some software build systems are rule based in which rules are used to abstract away command-line instructions to perform actions by the build system. Rules are typically described in a build file. Although software build systems can be constructed to accommodate a general developer community, particular developers or development teams often desire to use additional tools to be run alongside default tools on the same rule. Conventional rule-based build systems have a fixed mapping between the rule and the actions that will be run. Conventional rule-based build systems do not support additional actions.
A possible solution to enable developers or development teams to add actions to a rule-based build system may be to modify the build system by hard coding a new action performed by an additional tool. It may also be possible to somehow trick the build system to execute a script that will run both the original tool and the additional tool. However, hard coding revisions to the build system can require extensive effort and time. The effort and time may not be practical when only a small group of developers require the additional tool. In the case of tricking the build system, there may not actually be a reliable way of tricking the build system for most actions. Also, there may be performance and scalability issues.

Systems and methods for rule based meta-programming of actions for rule based build systems


An apparatus for applying a coating to the head-shank junction of externally threaded fasteners in an automated fashion. The fasteners are positioned, head down, on rotating part holders positioned about the periphery of a rotating disc. The part holders may be magnetic or other forms, and are adapted to maintain the fasteners in a generally fixed position during their movement. The fasteners are pre-heated at a heating station during their rotational movement on the disc. A dispenser is then used to apply the coating to the articles, in timed sequence to the movement of the articles. In this fashion, a coating can be applied to selected portions of the entire periphery of the head-shank junction. A method for applying a coating to the head-shank junction of externally threaded fasteners in an automated fashion also forms part of the present invention.

This invention generally relates to an apparatus and method for coating articles. More specifically, the invention provides either a liquid or melted powder coating to the head/shank junction of externally threaded fasteners.
There are many fastener applications that require a coating, such as a sealant coating, to be applied over the head/shank junction of male fasteners. For example, externally threaded fastener 12 shown in FIG. 6 includes head 13 and shank 18, and knurls 16 at the head/shank junction which extend generally normal to threads 17 on shank 18. Knurls 16 can then be coated with a suitable coating 19, as shown in FIG. 7, and coated fastener 12 can be put to a variety of uses. As one example, coated fastener 12 can then be pressed into an aperture within a stamping, to provide a mechanical lock within the stamping using coated knurls 16.
Various apparatus and methods are known for applying coatings to fasteners. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,890 discloses a powder spray apparatus which employs oppositely-directed belts to rotate the fasteners during spraying, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,555 patent describes relatively accurate spraying of internally threaded fasteners to provide a self-locking patch. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,078,083 and 5,090,355 disclose rotating magnetic means for holding and rotating fasteners during spraying. However, the prior art fails to teach the application of a closely defined and substantially uniform coating to a specific location on an externally threaded fastener, such as the head-shank junction, for predetermined, intermittent time periods, with the coating application being responsive to fastener movement.

Method and apparatus for applying a coating to the head/shank junction of externally threaded articles


A fuel-cell vehicle includes a vehicle body provided with a vehicle body frame, a fuel cell that is disposed in an inside space of a vehicle body frame and generates electric power using hydrogen as fuel, a fuel tank including a tank main body storing hydrogen fuel to be supplied to the fuel cell and a tank valve, an engine that generates a drive force for a vehicle with the electric power from the fuel cell, and at least one casing that accommodates a required vehicle component and is formed into a box shape with high rigidity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle driven by fuel-cell or battery including a fuel cell that generates electric power with use of hydrogen as fuel, that is called hereinafter "fuel-cell vehicle" for the sake of convenience.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel-cell vehicle is equipped with a fuel-cell system. In the fuel-cell system, a fuel gas such as a hydrogen gas and a reaction gas such as air are supplied to a fuel cell, in which electrochemical reaction is caused to thereby generate an electric power.
The electric power generated by the fuel cell system is supplied to a motor, and when the motor is driven, a wheel (wheels) is driven via a power transmission mechanism.
The fuel-cell vehicle of this kind includes a fuel-cell two-wheeled vehicle such as motorcycle and a tricycle in which a fuel cell system formed by a fuel cell and a fuel tank is mounted on a vehicle body frame (see Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 2010-235071) and Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-47482).
The invention described in Patent Document 1 is the fuel-cell vehicle in which a pair of left and right fuel tanks are equipped so as to be exposed to the upper portions on both sides in the front side of a vehicle body frame, and a radiator is disposed so as to protrude on both sides of a fuel cell that is provided in a central portion of the vehicle body frame.
However, the radiator does not have sufficient mechanical and physical strength, and therefore, does not always provide a sufficient function of protecting the fuel cell at the time of falling down. In addition, the fuel tank is exposed on both sides at the upper portion of the front of the vehicle body frame, and therefore, the fuel tank is liable to be easily damaged at the time of falling down.
Furthermore, in the fuel-cell two-wheeled vehicle (called "motorcycle" hereinafter) described in Patent Document 2, a fuel cell and a fuel tank are mounted on the lower portion of the front of a vehicle body, and in such mounting structure, the fuel cell and the valve of the fuel tank as precision instruments need to be protected from scattered stones during traveling and impact at the time of falling down. In order to protect the fuel cell and the valve of the fuel tank, it is necessary for the cover member covering the vehicle body lower portion to be made large and strong with high rigidity, thus providing a problem leading to increase in the vehicle weight of a fuel-cell motorcycle.


An underwater acoustic control system for use in a subsurface unit receiv coded signals. A hydrophone receives the signal and enables an electronics package to supply a control pulse which could activate a switch or fire a squib. A timer is included in the package to provide a delayed turn-on of the receiver circuit for as long a period as desired.

The present invention pertains generally to acoustics and more specifically to underwater control systems.
In the sub-surface mooring of ordnance devices, such as mines, torpedo, and the like, it is desirable to control the functioning of these devices from the surface. Prior systems for underwater control have included cable linked control systems, preset timer activated control systems, and conventional acoustic control systems.
The disadvantage of the cable-linked control systems is that they require physical cables from the sub-surface mooring to a support vessel. This type of device is vulnerable to cable damage by both storms and ship motion. Also, the cost of keeping a ship on station for long periods of time would be prohibitive.
The disadvantage of the preset timer-activated control systems is a lack of flexibility in activating the device. For instance, this system might be preset to release a sub-surface mooring after one month. If the weather happens to be too stormy for a vessel to attempt the recovery, the mooring would probably be lost.
The conventional acoustic control systems that have been in use for the last several years have demonstrated reliable operation and have proved their usefulness for many undersea control tasks. These conventional acoustic control systems however are typically packaged in sizable pressure housings which may vary in weight from 40 to 130 pounds in air. These pressure housings are usually attached to, or form an integral part of, the anchor cable of the sub-surface mooring. The bulk of these older acoustic control systems and their attachment location place limitations on their use. These limitations are particularly apparent when the acoustic control system is to be used for the testing of underwater ordnance. The fact that most sub-surface moored ordnance are either dropped from an aircraft or launched from a submarine's torpedo tube precludes the attachment of a separate pressure housing. In addition, it is impossible to attach the acoustic control housing between the anchor and the ordnance device to be moored since the ordnance device, cable, and anchor are typically launched as a single package. Further, the conventional acoustic control systems fail to use coding methods so that unauthorized signal are often interpreted as control input signals.

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


An integrated circuit includes four electronic components, a buried UTBOX layer under and plumb with the electronic components, and two pairs of oppositely doped ground planes plumb with corresponding components under the layer. A first isolation trench mutually isolates the ground planes from corresponding wells made plumb and in contact with the ground planes and exhibiting the first doping type. Bias electrodes contact respective wells and ground planes. One pair of electrodes is for connecting to a first bias voltage and the other pair is for connecting to a second bias voltage. Also included are a semiconductor substrate exhibiting the first type of doping and a deeply buried well exhibiting the second type of doping. The deeply buried well contacts the other wells and separates them from the substrate. Finally, a control electrode couples to the deeply buried well.

Integrated circuits produced by SOI technology exhibit a certain number of advantages. Such circuits generally exhibit lower electrical consumption for equivalent performance. Such circuits also induce lower parasitic capacitances, which make it possible to improve switching speed. Moreover, the phenomenon of parasitic triggering ("latchup") encountered by MOS transistors in Bulk technology can be avoided. Such circuits therefore turn out to be particularly suitable for applications of SoC or MEMS type. It is also noted that SOI integrated circuits are less sensitive to the effects of ionizing radiations and thus turn out to be more reliable in applications where such radiations may induce operational problems, in particular in space applications. SOI integrated circuits can in particular comprise random-access memories of SRAM type or logic gates.
The reduction in the static consumption of logic gates while increasing their toggling speed forms the subject of much research. Certain integrated circuits currently being developed integrate at one and the same time logic gates with low consumption and logic gates with high toggling speed. To generate these two types of logic gates on one and the same integrated circuit, the threshold voltage of certain transistors of the logic gates with fast access is lowered, and the threshold voltage of other transistors of the logic gates with low consumption is increased. In Bulk technology, the modulation of the threshold voltage level of transistors of the same type is performed by differentiating the doping level of their channel. However, in FDSOI (for "Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator") technology, the doping of the channel is almost zero (1015 cm−3). Thus, the doping level of the channel of the transistors therefore cannot exhibit any significant variations, thus preventing the threshold voltages from being differentiated in this way. A solution proposed in certain studies in order to produce transistors of the same type with distinct threshold voltages is to integrate different gate materials for these transistors. However, the practical production of an integrated circuit such as this turns out to be technically tricky and economically prohibitive.
In order to have distinct threshold voltages for different transistors in FDSOI technology, it is also known to use a biased ground plane disposed between a thin insulating oxide layer and the silicon substrate. By altering the doping of the ground planes and their bias, it is possible to define a range of threshold voltages for the different transistors. This will therefore yield transistors with low threshold voltage termed LVT (for "Low VT", typically 400 mV), transistors with high threshold voltage termed HVT (for "High VT", typically 550 mV) and transistors with medium threshold voltage termed SVT (for "Standard VT", typically 450 mV) or RVT (for "Regular VT").
To allow the operation of the different transistors, it is necessary to electrically insulate them from one another. Consequently, the transistors are generally surrounded by isolation trenches (designated by the acronym STI for "Shallow Trench Isolation") which extend as far as the wells.
In a known manner, integrated circuits such as these also include devices for protection against accidental electrostatic discharges (ESD) that might impair these transistors.
The following documents are known from the prior art:                US 2009/134468 A1;        US 2007/063284 A1;        WO 2010/112585 A1;        J. P. Noel et al., "Multi-VT UTBB FDSOI Device 10 Architectures for Low-Power CMOS Circuit"; IEEE
Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 58, p. 2473-2482, 1st August 2011;                J. P. Noel et al., "UT2B-FDSOI device architecture dedicated to low power design techniques"; Proceedings of IEEE ESSDERC 2010.        WO 2011/089179 A1.
There exists a need for protection against electrostatic discharges that is not detrimental to the compactness of the integrated circuit, capable of evacuating a localized discharge whatever its polarity, and inexpensive.

On-SOI integrated circuit comprising a triac for protection against electrostatic discharges

COMMISSARIAT À L'ÉNERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES


Certain methods to determine wellbore relative permeability ratio from wellbore drilling data are described. A section of a wellbore is drilled in a subterranean zone including a subsurface reservoir in which hydrocarbons are entrapped. The hydrocarbons include a multiphase fluid including oil phase and water phase. A relevant suite of logs of rock in the section of the wellbore is determined. Water saturation is determined from the relevant suite of logs. A relative permeability ratio of the rock in the section to a flow of the oil phase and the water phase is determined. Using the relative permeability ratio, a flow rate of the oil phase or a flow rate of the water phase through the rock is determined.

Hydrocarbons (for example, petroleum, natural gas, or combinations of them) entrapped in subsurface reservoirs of subterranean zones can be produced to the surface through wellbores. A wellbore can be drilled into the subterranean zone (for example, a formation, a portion of a formation, or multiple formations) from a surface to a desired depth and in desired orientations (for example, vertical, horizontal, angular, or combinations of them). The hydrocarbons are entrapped in the reservoirs under pressure. When the well is completed, the reservoir pressure forces the hydrocarbons into the wellbore, and the hydrocarbons are lifted to the surface.
The subsurface reservoirs define a porous network through which the hydrocarbons flow. Information about the porous network and other features of the subsurface reservoirs can improve well operations including drilling and production.

Relative permeability ratio from wellbore drilling data


A window covering including a head rail, a bottom rail, and a window covering material located between the head rail and the bottom rail. The bottom rail being connected to the head rail by two lift cords and configured to move in a first direction and a second direction. The blind also includes a variable friction device having a bearing surface configured to provide a first friction force that opposes movement of the two lift cords when the bottom rail is moved in the first direction, and a second friction force that opposes movement of the two lift cords wherein the bottom rail is moved in the second direction. The first friction force is different than the second friction force.

The present invention relates to cordless blinds. More particularly, the present invention relates to a variable friction device for a cordless blind.
It is generally known to provide for a window covering venetian blind with the slats that are raised and lowered by a pair of lift cords. Such known window coverings typically include lift cords that are secured to a bottom rail and extend upward through the slats into a head rail. The lift cords are guided within the head rail and exit through a cord lock and hang outside of the window covering. In order to raise or lower the window covering, the lift cords are manipulated to first release the cord lock. Similarly, once the window covering has been raised or lowered the cord lock is manipulated again to lock the cords in place. However, such an arrangement may present a safety concern to small children and pets.
Blinds and shades in which the lift cords are contained within the bottom rail, window covering and head rail are referred to as xe2x80x9ccordlessxe2x80x9d blinds and shades because no portion of the lift cords is external to the blind or shade. Cordless blinds have been gaining popularity and are employed in a wide variety of blinds and shades such as venetian blinds, cellular blinds, pleated shades, and wood blinds. One type of cordless blind disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,482,100; 5,531,257; and 6,079,471, and incorporated herein, utilizes a spring motor to apply a spring force to the lift cords to bias the bottom rail and accumulated window covering toward the top rail.
In a xe2x80x9cbalancedxe2x80x9d cordless blind system, the spring force of the spring motor is balanced by the combined weight of the bottom rail (and any accumulated window covering) and friction, sometimes misidentified in the field as inertia. If the system is not in balance, the bottom bar will either move upward or downward depending on the imbalance in the system. For example if the spring force is greater than the weight of the bottom bar (and accumulated window covering) and the frictional forces in the system, then the bottom bar will continue to be biased upward toward the head rail, until the weight of the accumulated window covering balances the system. Similarly, if the spring force and frictional system forces are less than the weight of the bottom bar and accumulated window covering the bottom bar will move downward away from the head rail.
In such balanced cordless blind systems the frictional force is greater than the difference between the spring force and the combined weight of the bottom rail and accumulated window covering when the bottom rail is at any location between a fully raised position (open) and a fully lowered position (closed).
Because the weight of the accumulated window covering increases as the bottom bar moves toward the head rail, the minimum weight occurs when the bottom rail is fully lowered (closed). The friction that is inherent or that is added (e.g., designed into or introduced) to the system needs to be at least sufficient to offset this minimum weight condition, and prevent undesired movement toward the head rail. To prevent the bottom rail from undesirable upward movement, the total friction of the system must be sufficient to resist forces generated by oversized spring motors (which are included to accommodate a variety of sizes of window coverings). Accordingly, because most of the operation of the blind is where the blind is between the fully raised and fully lowered positions, the system has more friction than is necessary to balance it. However, operator force necessary to overcome excess friction may damage the window covering, the head rail, the spring motor, or the mounting brackets, and the like. Also, while a blind with a superfluous amount of friction will operate (so long as there is sufficient spring force to retract the liftcords), it is unduly and unnecessarily laborious for the user.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a cordless blind having a device that would vary the amount of friction introduced into a blind actuation system. It would also be advantageous to provide a cordless blind having a variable friction device, in which the blind could be raised by manual biasing of the bottom rail toward the top rail without releasing a brake. To provide an inexpensive, reliable, and widely adaptable variable friction device for a cordless blind that avoids the above-referenced and other problems would represent a significant advance in the art.
A primary feature of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture and aesthetically-pleasing balanced cordless blind that overcomes the above-noted disadvantages.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a device that provides a varying amount of friction to a cordless blind system.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a variable friction device design that is adaptable to work with a variety of window covering configurations.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a variable friction device that can be located in the head rail or the bottom rail.
How these and other advantages and features of the present invention accomplished (individually, collectively, or in various subcombinations) will be described in the following detailed description of the preferred and other exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the FIGURES. Generally, however, they are accomplished in a blind including a head rail, a bottom rail, and a window covering located between the head rail and the bottom rail, and a spool and spring motor assembly. The bottom rail is connected to the head rail by two lift cords and is configured to move in a first direction and in a second direction. The spool and spring motor assembly is configured to bias the bottom rail toward the head rail. The blind also includes a variable friction device that includes a pair of first frictional bearing surfaces configured to provide resistance to movement of the two lift cords, a pair of second frictional bearing surfaces configured to provide resistance to movement of the two lift cords, and a biasing member coupled to one of the first frictional bearing surfaces and the second frictional bearing surfaces. The biasing member is configured to expand and contract based on the direction of movement of the bottom rail. The variable friction device is configured to provide a first friction path for the two lift cords when the bottom rail is moved in the first direction and a second friction path for the two lift cords when the bottom rail is moved in the second direction, the first friction path being different than the second friction path.
These and other advantages and features of the present invention may also be accomplished in a blind including a head rail, a bottom rail, and a window covering located between the head rail and the bottom rail. The bottom rail being connected to the head rail by two lift cords and configured to move in a first direction and a second direction. The blind also includes a variable friction device having a bearing surface configured to provide a first friction force that opposes movement of the two lift cords when the bottom rail is moved in the first direction, and a second friction force that opposes movement of the two lift cords wherein the bottom rail is moved in the second direction. The first friction force is different than the second friction force.
These and other advantages and features of the present invention may also be accomplished in blind including a head rail, a bottom rail, and a window covering located between the head rail and the bottom rail, the bottom rail being connected to the head rail by a pair of lift cords and configured to move in a first direction and a second direction. The blind also includes a first bearing surface and a second bearing surface defined by the contact surface area between the two lift cords and the first and second bearing surfaces, and means for varying the friction force between the first and second bearing surfaces and the left cords.
The present invention further relates to various features and combinations of features shown and described in the disclosed embodiments. Other ways in which the objects and features of the disclosed embodiments are accomplished will be described in the following specification or will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they have read this specification. Such other ways are deemed to fall within the scope of the disclosed embodiments if they fall within the scope of the claims which follow.

Variable friction device for a cordless blind


The present invention is a wall hydrant box having a unitary front plate welded onto a front portion of the wall hydrant box. The unitary front plate is sufficiently sized to allow a ring or any other such structure to be mounted to a rear portion of the wall hydrant box, so that the structure is obscured when the wall hydrant is viewed from the front. The unitary front plate also provides a uniform and aesthetic look to the front of the wall hydrant box.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a wall hydrant and, more specifically, to an encased wall hydrant having a unitary front plate.
2. Description of Related Art
Wall hydrants are designed for commercial applications such as office buildings, institutions, hospitals, malls, retail outlets, and schools. Such wall hydrants may be encased within a box, such as a stainless steel box that is mounted within a wall. The box includes a hinged cover with an operating key lock. A face plate surrounding the cover is welded onto the box. Previous face plates did not sufficiently extend past the edge of the box to conceal any portion of a ring that was attached to the back of the box. Therefore, to overcome this deficiency, the prior art involved welding a frame along the outside edges of the existing faceplate. The frame, in conjunction with the existing face plate, provided sufficient coverage to conceal the ring and allow the frame to cover any exposed areas of a hole in the wall into which the wall hydrant was mounted.
A prior art wall hydrant box 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The prior art wall hydrant box includes a box 12, a cover 14, a lock 16, a face plate 18, and a frame 20. The box 12 is desirably of stainless steel construction and designed to accommodate a wall hydrant therein. The cover 14 is hinged to the box 12 and includes the lock 16 for locking the cover 14 to the box 12. The face plate 18, which is typically 6¾ inch square, is welded to the front of the box 12, so that the cover 14 is surrounded by and flush with the face plate 18. The frame 20, which typically will result in an extended face plate of 10 inch square, is welded along the outer surface of the face plate 18 at the flush weld point 21 to increase coverage of the front of the wall hydrant box 10 to a greater extent than if only the face plate 18 were to be utilized. The frame 20 is essentially a 10 inch square plate with a 6¾ inch square hole cut out that receives face plate 18, which is welded thereto.
The welding of the additional frame 20 results in weld lines, which detract from the aesthetic quality of the face plate 18. Additionally, the process of welding requires additional work time to be expended.
Accordingly, what is needed and has not heretofore been developed is a wall hydrant having a unitary front plate, eliminating the need for welding two frames together.


A method for decoding a coded video sequence includes decoding at least one tile which comprises a first tile boundary defined by a first tile layout and a second tile boundary defined by second tile layout, wherein the coded video sequence indicates that at least one first prediction mechanism is available across the first tile boundary, and that the at least one first prediction mechanism is not available across the second tile boundary.

Video coding and decoding using inter-picture prediction with motion compensation has been known for decades. Uncompressed digital video can consist of a series of pictures, each picture having a spatial dimension of, for example, 1920×1080 luminance samples and associated chrominance samples. The series of pictures can have a fixed or variable picture rate (informally also known as frame rate), of, for example 60 pictures per second or 60 Hz. Uncompressed video has significant bitrate requirements. For example, 1080p60 4:2:0 video at 8 bit per sample (1920×1080 luminance sample resolution at 60 Hz frame rate) requires close to 1.5 Gbit/s bandwidth. An hour of such video requires more than 600 GByte of storage space.
One purpose of video coding and decoding can be the reduction of redundancy in the input video signal, through compression. Compression can help reducing aforementioned bandwidth or storage space requirements, in some cases by two orders of magnitude or more. Both lossless and lossy compression, as well as a combination thereof can be employed. Lossless compression refers to techniques where an exact copy of the original signal can be reconstructed from the compressed original signal. When using lossy compression, the reconstructed signal may not be identical to the original signal, but the distortion between original and reconstructed signal is small enough to make the reconstructed signal useful for the intended application. In the case of video, lossy compression is widely employed. The amount of distortion tolerated depends on the application; for example, users of certain consumer streaming applications may tolerate higher distortion than users of television contribution applications. The compression ratio achievable can reflect that: higher allowable/tolerable distortion can yield higher compression ratios.
A video encoder and decoder can utilize techniques from several broad categories, including, for example, motion compensation, transform, quantization, and entropy coding, some of which will be introduced below.
Tiles are one mechanism of several available in certain video codecs that help to partition a coded video bitstream. A tile can be a rectangular area of a picture. The scan order of coding units (CUs), also known as blocks, macroblocks, can be local to a tile, top left-to-right, then top-to-bottom. A picture can be separated into a number of tiles wherein each CU can be part of exactly one tile. Prediction of information from outside of a tile can be limited, is hard-coded in the video compression technologies or standards. In H.265, for example, (independent) tiles do not use data from outside CUs of the same picture for the reconstruction of CUs inside the tile, but may use motion compensated sample data from previous pictures in decoding order. Motion constraint tiles do not even use that data and are, in that, comparable to H.263's rectangular slices. Tiles were introduced to enable parallel encoding (and decoding), by allowing each processor or core to focus its attention to only a part of the picture to be coded, in that no communication to processors responsible for other tiles is required except for the final bitstream generation process.
Another bitstream partitioning tool is known as slices. Slices are the collection of coded CUs in scan order. The scan order can be the one of the whole picture (when no tiles are in use) or local within the tile. Certain video compression technologies put certain restrictions on tie interworking between tiles and slices. The main purpose of slices is Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) size matching—ensuring, that no independently decodable part of a picture spans more than one MTU so to be able to put a slice into a single packet, even if a coded picture may span multiple packets.
The interworking between tiles and slices has been studied, for example, during the standardization process of H.265.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


By placing a blood plasma in contact with a blood coagulation contact phase activator, before or during preparation of a fibrinogen-based biological glue, a preactivated biological glue is obtained which does not coagulate spontaneously but which is capable of coagulating in less than 5 minutes simply by the addition of calcium ions, without the addition of thrombin. The process has application to the field of surgery.

The invention relates to a method for preparing a biological glue capable of coagulating simply by addition of calcium ions.
It is known that protein concentrates containing fibrinogen and factor XIII in particular can coagulate by adding thrombin to produce a fibrin network, and are used as adhesives. More specifically, under the effect of the thrombin, the fibrinogen is converted into fibrin monomer. The fibrin monomers assemble into fibrin polymers. Under the action of factor XIII activated by thrombin, in the presence of calcium ions, the fibrin chains are crosslinked. Thus, the addition of thrombin, followed by application of the resulting mixture, causes coagulation by formation of fibrin on the parts to be glued, by a mechanism that mimics the end phase of blood coagulation. Thus, by coagulating, the fibrinogen concentrates constitute a glue that can join living tissue and keep it joined while producing a hemostatic action; see for example patent FR-2448900. Such glues are commonly called "biological glues" or "fibrin glues" and are used in surgery, particular to prevent or stop bleeding, replace or reinforce suture threads, hold grafts in place, for example skin grafts, bring together tissues that have undergone resection, for example in lung or gastrointestinal tract surgery, or to glue parts of prostheses, etc.
When biological glues are used, thrombin should be available, prepared from human or animal blood plasma mixtures. Homologous products, i.e. products of human origin for which the donor and recipient are different, carry the risk of contaminating the recipient by pathogens from the donor. This risk can be reduced by donor selection and screening for pathogen markers in the donor, or physical/chemical treatments that destroy the prepared products or diminish their virulence. However, there can be no certainty that homologous products are safe.
Products prepared from animal tissues also carry risks linked to the existence of pathogens transmissible to humans, and also risks of immunization and hence anaphylactic reactions.
The above risks would be avoided if solely autologous products, i.e. products prepared only from material taken from the future recipient, were used.
The principle of autologous transfusion is known and extremely widespread, as is the preparation of fibrinogen-based glues. However, the so-called "autologous" glues are only truly autologous as far as the fibrinogen solution is concerned. In fact, the thrombin solution is obtained from homologous or heterologous plasmas, but not autologously; see in particular Cederholm-Williams, Lancet 344, 336-337 (1994).
Patent Application PCT WO94/07548 describes a biological glue enriched with platelet factors that is able to coagulate without addition of thrombin by adding, to the recalcified glue, an activator of the blood coagulation contact phase such as kaolin. However, in this patent application, the contact phase activator is incorporated at the time the glue is used, which makes activation uncertain and difficult because the fibrinogen concentrate is a highly viscous product, difficult to handle. As a result, coagulation time is difficult to control. Moreover, since coagulation progresses along with activation, it is difficult to separate the activator from the activated glue.

Method of preparing a biological glue able to coagulate simply by addition of calcium ions


A food mixer is provided with a bowl guard consisting of a fixed first semi-cylindrical splash guard portion and a removable semi-cylindrical second see-through portion pivotable about a cylindrical mixer transmission. The second portion is suspended from the transmission by spaced guide shoes mounted on a circumferential ring at the upper end of the pivotable portion. The shoes slidingly engage a fixed track extending horizontally and circumferentially around the transmission portion. The improvement consists of the track being provided as an essentially continuous bead formed in a cylindrical sheet metal band covering the transmission portion. The bead is integral with the band and may be created by rolling or spinning it into the band with metal forming tools. When the second portion of the bowl guard is removed for cleaning away from the mixer, the exterior of the band can be easily cleaned by wiping, since its method of manufacture provides a band surface which is essentially free of food-collecting crevices.

Manufacturers of food equipment regularly seek to provide devices which limit access by users of the equipment to areas of operating machine elements while the elements are performing food altering or manipulating functions. In so doing, they have often made the equipment more complex. In turn, this design complexity has presented problems of machine cleanliness and loss of productivity during cleaning, particularly where the machines are of a batch-making type and must be cleaned between food batches or when changing batches from one type of food product to another. The more complex and cumbersome the design of guarding, the more difficult it can be to clean and maintain the cleanliness of the machine. This is particularly true where the guarding parts result in crevices being present in areas where food which is splashed, smeared or otherwise distributed collects in such crevices. Oftentimes, the guarding must enable visual inspection of the food during processing. This necessitates that the design be in the nature of a see-through cover which limits physical access to the product while allowing its visual inspection, but enables access when the guarding is removed from a covering position. Frequently, such guarding elements have some parts which are removable to enable their being taken to a sink for scrubbing, hosing or rinsing under a water faucet when cleaning is required. Some such equipment has attaching means for the guarding that is permanently fixed to the machine and therefore the guarding is incapable of being removed for scrubbing at a location remote from the machine. Such parts are often difficult to clean and maintain that way because of the food-collecting crevices which are not easily cleansed on the machine. It is not often that such food machines are used in an environment that allows for them to be hosed down.
One such product, the food mixer, is subject to beating and whipping actions which are capable of causing batter to be splashed about, as much from operator bowl filling and removal operations as from the mixing function itself. When a mixing function has been completed, unless a batch of the same product is to be produced and some carryover is permissible, it is ordinarily necessary to clean the guarding means and surrounding areas. While some parts of a guarding means are typically removable for sink cleaning, other guard-mounting parts remain on the machine and must be wiped clean with a cloth or some other cleaning medium.


A ground working system includes at least one self-driving ground working device having a drive, a control unit and a battery. An operating region is determined by a boundary wire, wherein the ground working device travels over a traveling path determined by the control unit in the operating region. Connected to the boundary wire is a first base station, which transmits a signal on the boundary wire. The electromagnetic field of the signal induces a reception signal in the reception coil of the ground working device. The reception signal is processed in the control unit. In order to make a stable signal available over the entire length of the boundary wire, it is provided that the boundary wire is electrically connected to a further base station configured as a repeater, which receives the signal transmitted by the first base station, processes it and passes it on.

The ground working system has at least one first base station, which is electrically connected to the boundary wire and generates a signal which is transmitted on the boundary wire. The electromagnetic field of the wire signal induces in a reception coil of the ground working device a reception signal, which is processed in the control unit of the ground working device and used for determining the traveling path.
Bounding the operating region by a boundary wire has proven successful in practice. Increasingly larger operating regions are delimited in a functionally reliable way by a boundary wire and, in such an enclosed operating region, not just a single ground working device but multiple ground working devices are operated. However, because of the technical and physical conditions, the maximum possible length of a boundary wire laid in a wire loop is limited. If the boundary wire is made longer, a very strong signal must be transmitted, with which proper control of the ground working devices is reliably possible even in regions away from the base station. When operating a ground working system, legal requirements also have to be met. For instance, the transmitted signals cannot be of any strength whatsoever, since their electromagnetic field may impair the function of other, for example adjacent, ground working systems.

Ground working system with an endless boundary wire