An LED array printer includes an LED array print head (1) and a control circuit board (31) for controlling the LED array printer. A setting arrangement circuit (41) for setting the characteristics and specifications of the head is disposed in the head (1). setting data is read from the setting arrangement (41) and transferred to the control circuit board (31) in order to control the head (1).

In an LED array printer, light emitted from an LED array print head is transmitted through a rod lens array onto a photosensitive drum so as to obtain an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is then developed into a toner image by a developing unit and transferred onto paper by a transfer unit.
To form the electrostatic latent image, the photosensitive drum is charged to a predetermined potential by a charger, and irradiated with light corresponding to predetermined data.
The LED array print head includes a plurality of LED array chips and an LED driver for driving the array chips. The chips are mounted on a substrate and driven by signals transmitted between the LED array print head and a control circuit.
The control circuit for controlling the LED array print head is connected to the LED array print head through connectors and a connecting cable. The control circuit includes a logic circuit for controlling the timing of data provided to the LED print head, a CPU, memory storing therein a control program for printing, data, and the like, and a switch array for setting several kinds of modes.
The switch array is used to set parameter information relating to the specifications of the LED array print head, variations in characteristics, and the like. The CPU detects whether switches of the switch array are turned on or off and produces the parameter information, corresponding to the setting of the switches, so as to control the logic circuit.
LED array chips having a large number of divisions are used in order to increase the dot resolution so as to enhance the quality of printing. Furthermore, the number of array chips has to be increased in order to enable printing on a large size paper. However, this causes higher cost, and the power consumption increases. Accordingly, it would be desirable in general for such an LED printer to be designed to have specifications which cope with specific needs or demands.
However, should printers be specifically manufactured based on several different specifications, the manufacturing cost would soar while the time for research and development would become longer. To avoid such higher manufacturing cost and longer R&D time, a basic structure is shared with different kinds of printers, and only component parts which cannot be common are specifically designed. For example, by choosing LED array print heads and selecting several parameters for printing control, the same basic printers can have several different functions. Further, if there are variations in characteristics such as light emission or the like among the LED array print heads, uniform printing quality cannot be obtained even though LED array print heads having the same specifications are connected respectively to the control circuits, and accordingly, compensation for the variations in the characteristics must be provided while printing.
In conventional LED array printers, various functions and specifications have been obtained in the same kind of printers with the use of a switch array disposed in the control circuit, and further, variations in the characteristics of the LED array print head, have to be absorbed while printing
However, although the specifications and characteristics of an LED array print head should be known in order to manipulate the switch array, there has been no indication showing such information on the LED array print head. Further, if an LED array print head is to be replaced due to a desired change in the specifications due to a failure thereof, the switches should be reset in accordance with the specifications and characteristics of the new connected LED array print head.
Accordingly, in a conventional LED array printer, it is troublesome to set parameter data relating to the specifications and characteristics of an LED array print head in the printer control circuit, and there is also the possibility of an erroneous setting. forgetting to set or the like. Should parameter data in the control circuit be inappropriate for the connected LED array print head, the printing quality would become worse and the printer might not ever work. Further, there is the possibility of damaging the LED array print head.

Printer with an LED print head having means for setting data about the print head


An adjustable hand lever having a vertically adjustable tripod base, an adjustable fulcrum point and a grab link at the working end of the lever. The grab link accomodates and makes adjustable linked working chains.

The field of the invention is machine elements and mechanisms and the invention is particularly concerned with adjustable hand levers. The state of the art may be ascertained by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 124,721; 262,519; 445,558 and 750,287.
There is a need in the field of hand operated levers for:
1. concrete foundation form pulling; PA0 2. counterweight lifting from a forklift; PA0 3. crate and box turnover and flipping; PA0 4. demolishing, prying and large nail pulling PA0 5. drainage gate lifting; PA0 6. elevator installation; PA0 7. fence post extraction; PA0 8. heavy object lifting such as walk-in coolers and freezers, auto engines, auto transmissions, castings, valves and computers; PA0 9. longshore hook-up of beams and bundle pipe; PA0 10. manhole cover lifting; PA0 11. metal fabrication lifting and alignment; PA0 12. oil field lifting; PA0 13. pipe line lifting; PA0 14. porch, step and sidewalk leveling; PA0 15. railroad tie lifting; PA0 16. safe moving; PA0 17. sign post extraction; PA0 18. tent stake pulling; PA0 19. timber lifting and rolling; PA0 20. trailer tongue lifting; PA0 21. tree root and stump extraction; PA0 22. buried utility pipe extraction; PA0 23. water well pipe extraction; and PA0 24. wood floor removal.
In order to carry out the above functions, it is necessary for the adjustable hand lever to be light in weight, vertically adjustable, variable in the force applied, easily dismantled and reassembled and low in cost. None of the prior art adjustable hand levers meet these requirements.


Transport system (2), comprising a controller, a drive motor and a safety switch (18) that is connected to a safety-related part (8, 10) of the transport system (2) and is able to distinguish between a safe state of the transport system (2) and an unsafe state of the transport system (2), where the safety switch is connected to the controller in order to interrupt the power to the drive motor in an unsafe state, characterized by the fact that the safety switch (18) is realized so that it is able to also detect a warning state in addition to the safe state and the unsafe state.

The invention pertains to a transport system, in particular, a passenger transport system, such as an elevator, a moving sidewalk, or an escalator, where said transport system is provided with a controller, a drive motor, and a safety switch that is able to distinguish between a safe state of the transport system and an unsafe state of the transport system and that is connected to the controller in order to interrupt the power supply to the drive motor in the unsafe state.
Transport systems of this type are broadly utilized in the form of elevators, as well as in the form of escalators and moving sidewalks. The safety switch serves for monitoring safety-related states of the corresponding transport system. In elevator systems, for example, the elevator shaft doors and, if applicable, the elevator car doors are continuously monitored. When one of the doors is opened, the controller interrupts the power to the drive motor until the door, and thus the safety switch, are correctly closed again and power to the drive motor is restored. The doors of elevator systems require considerable maintenance. For example, the elevator shaft doors are typically suspended from suspension mechanisms on which rollers are mounted in corresponding guide rails, which are accommodated in the lintel beam over the shaft door opening. The door may comprise one or more door panels. There are door designs with centrally opening shaft doors and laterally opening shaft doors, as well as those in which several door panels open and close in telescoping fashion in only one direction. The drive of the shaft doors is realized, e.g., by means of a drive cable or drive belt that is also arranged in the lintel beam over the shaft door opening. The shaft doors must be correctly adjusted in order to ensure the reliable opening and closing of the doors. Elevator car doors are similarly arranged on elevator cars.
Currently, two-part safety contacts are used in elevator doors, where one part contains two openings that lie closely adjacent and the other part essentially consists of a U-shaped metal profile, which, when the door is correctly closed, protrudes into the two openings of the other part and closes the contact between two electrical connections therein. Here, the two parts of the safety switch are arranged on door panels that open and close relative to one another, particularly in a region above the lintel.
Alternatively, one part of the safety contact is arranged on an opening door panel in laterally opening doors, where the other part is arranged, for example, on the door frame or the door frame soffit. The door switch is adjusted in such a way that the contact is closed when the door is correctly closed. The door switch requires adjustments in order to ensure that the contact is no longer closed once there exist a certain gap, for example, between the two door panels. When this condition occurs, the power to the drive motor is interrupted and operation of the elevator system can only resume if the elevator doors are readjusted and correctly close again.
The customary wear associated with the operation as well as the use of force on the elevator door, e.g., due to forcefully opening the door, etc., causes the door no longer correctly to close. In both instances, the incorrectly or unsafely closed condition does not occur from one instant to the next, but the transition from a correctly to an incorrectly closed condition takes place gradually. Conventional safety switches are unable to detect this gradual deterioration. The safety switch is only able to detect such deterioration once a certain wear or misalignment condition appears. In such circumstances, the elevator system is deactivated from one instant to the next. Such sudden shutdowns of elevator systems are undesirable for several reasons. First, the operators of elevator systems are always unhappy if the elevator system suddenly shuts down and maintenance must be called to restore service. Second, high expenditures with respect to personnel and logistics are needed to ensure that those elevator systems requiring service can be repaired around the clock.
The situation is quite similar with respect to escalators or moving sidewalks. These passenger transport systems typically contain a so-called step band that consists of a series of interconnected step elements, i.e., stairstep or pallet elements, which are moved from an entry point to an exit point by a drive motor. So-called bottom paneling is provided to the side of the step elements or pallet elements. The gap between the step elements and the bottom paneling must be maintained within a relatively narrow range for safety reasons. This is usually also monitored with corresponding safety switches. These safety switches typically trigger when the gap is exceeded and cause the escalator or moving sidewalk to be deactivated in such cases. In principle, the negative effects of these undesirable shutdowns are identical to those described above with reference to elevator systems.
The present invention is based on the objective of making available transport systems of the initially mentioned type which fulfill the corresponding safety requirements and significantly minimize the risk of a sudden shutdown when an unsafe state is detected.
According to the invention, this objective is realized in that the safety switch is effected so that it is able also to detect a warning state in addition to the safe and unsafe states.
The invention makes it possible to detect a warning state before an unsafe state is reached. Consequently, it is possible to indicate this warning state via the safety control. A corresponding warning message may be directly sent to maintenance, e.g., via a remote line. An arbitrary display device may alternatively or additionally inform the building""s elevator attendant who then contacts maintenance. The transport system may be adjusted in such a way that, during typical operation, the warning state is indicated, for example, at least fourteen days before an unsafe state occurs. This means that sufficient time remains for readjusting the system or exchanging the defective parts during planned maintenance procedures. It would also be possible to realize the safety switch such that it continuously indicates the state of wear of the system instead of merely indicating a warning state once a certain intermediate state is reached.
Naturally, it is also possible to detect several intermediate states that essentially correspond to different warning levels. The safety switch preferably consists of a proximity switch, where an inductive proximity switch is particularly preferred. Alternatively, capacitive switches or devices may be used which, for example, determine the relevant spacing between two parts with the aid of light, ultrasound, etc.
Generally speaking, safety switches that cannot be manipulated are particularly preferred. For example, simple distance measuring devices that operate with ultrasound or light have the disadvantage that a closed door can be simulated with a mirror or another object. This is the reason why inductive proximity switches, particularly those composed of two parts are provided. In this case, the xe2x80x9cpassive partxe2x80x9d preferably consists of a magnetic material, e.g., ferrite, with a certain magnetic field strength, to which the sensor part is xe2x80x9ccalibrated.xe2x80x9d This type of switch design is difficult to manipulate with any given magnet. This feature is particularly important because elevator surfers increasingly attempt to bypass the safety devices in elevator systems in order to ride on the roof of the elevator car.
The safety switch is preferably realized in such a way that it outputs a certain non-zero value of the output variable, e.g., the voltage, the current, the resistance, etc. When using a switch that does not deliver three discrete values, but rather is able to generate individual or continuous intermediate values, a continuous range of values which should not include zero is correspondingly output as the output signal. A switch of this type which, in its normal mode, only outputs signals that have a certain predetermined value that differs from zero or signals that lie within a certain defined range of values also makes it possible to realize a plausibility check. For example, when a switch in which the voltage is used as the output variable delivers an output signal of 0 V to the controller, it can be assumed that a switch defect has occurred or that the cable connection between the switch and the controller is interrupted. Depending on the type of switch, a voltage that is significantly higher than the usual output voltage of the switch may, for example, indicate a short circuit in the switch and consequently a switch failure. This makes it possible significantly to improve the operational reliability of the system.
The controller is preferably realized such that it processes the signal of the safety switch and interrupts the power to the drive motor if an unsafe condition is detected, where the controller does not interrupt the power but generates a warning signal if an intermediate state between completely safe and unsafe is detected, where the controller does not interrupt the power and does not generate a warning signal if a safe state is detected, and where the controller determines that the safety switch is not functional and thusly interrupts the power if a voltage value is detected which does not correspond to any of the predetermined voltage values of the safety switch. A value that does not correspond to any of the predetermined values of the safety switch occurs, for example, if no signal arrives at the controller or if values that are significantly higher than the predetermined output values arrive at the controller. The controller may be correspondingly realized in the form of a hardware circuit. Alternatively, it would also be possible to realize the controller with a microprocessor in which a corresponding algorithm in the form of a data processing program is stored. This program continuously requests values to be delivered by the safety switch(es) within certain intervals.
The present invention may be utilized in connection with conventional safety chains, for example, in elevator systems. In such safety chains, the individual shaft door contacts are typically connected in series, where the power to the drive motor is interrupted if any of the shaft door contacts is opened. In this safety chain, the so-called shaft pit emergency shutdown switch and the inspection switch are arranged on the roof of the elevator car. In a series circuit of this type, it is advantageous to realize the safety switch such that an intermediate state can also be assumed by the switch at a certain predetermined resistance in addition to the open state of the switch in which the resistance is essentially infinite and the closed state of the switch in which the resistance is essentially zero. This means that the system controller receives a correspondingly reduced voltage that can be defined as a warning state. Alternatively, it would be possible to forward the warning states to the controller other than through the safety chain, i.e., through separate connections to the controller.
Generally speaking, it is particularly preferred to use the present invention in connection with modern safety systems in which the status of the various safety switches is queried individually and the status messages of the safety switches are separately forwarded to the elevator controller. One example of an elevator safety system of this type in which a bus system is used to forward the data is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,814 B1.
The transport system preferably consists of an elevator, and the safety switch preferably consists of a door contact switch that detects the closed state of the door.
The transport system preferably consists of an escalator or a moving sidewalk with a driven step band and a bottom paneling, where the safety switch monitors the gap between the step band and the bottom paneling.


In an embodiment of the invention, an end of travel stop is provided for a steering gear assembly having a housing, a rack, and a tie rod. The end of travel stop includes an annular body comprising a plurality of segments defining a first crenellated side of the annular body and a second crenellated side of the annular body. The stop is circumscribed over the rack and is oriented between the housing and the tie rod, and is configured to absorb an impact force transferred through the tie rod and to prevent overtravel of the rack.

Some known steering gear assemblies include a housing, a rack gear, and a tie rod. In an impact event (e.g., a vehicle striking a curb or other obstruction), the rack gear may be suddenly loaded. This may force a tie rod end into the end of the housing and may cause overtravel of the rack gear. This impact event may cause damage or failure to the steering gear assembly.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an end of travel stop to absorb an impact event force and to facilitate preventing overtravel of the gear.

STEERING SOLUTIONS IP HOLDING CORPORATION


A user can simply select and set up resolution of a monitor display device 2 among the resolutions which the monitor display device 2 supports, according to his/her taste, only by operating a specific key such provided in the remote control 4. The resolution of the monitor display device 2 is changed responding to a number of pressing down of the specific key by the user. When a command is inputted once, the resolution of video signals outputted from the optical disc player 1 is changed to be the lowest level. When the command is inputted twice, the resolution of the video signals is changed to be the next level. When the specific key is pressed down furthermore while the monitor display device 2 displays the images at the highest resolution, the output of the video signals from the optical disc player 1 is stopped. When the specific key is pressed down furthermore, the video signals are outputted at the lowest resolution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk player which output video signals to a monitor display device through an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable, and an AV (Audio and Visual) system using the optical disc player.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an optical disk player such as a DVD player is adapted to switch resolution of video output signals corresponding to a resolution of a monitor display device which displays images on a screen. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-191780 shows a DVD player which determines automatically the highest resolution of a monitor display device connected thereto at which the monitor display device can display and then outputs video signals at that resolution. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-189587 shows a DVD player which converts resolution of image data corresponding to resolution of a monitor display device obtained through a communication line. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-109703 shows an AV (Audio and Visual) system which can display a setting status of an AV amplifier, regardless of a connection system between the AV amplifier and a DVD player. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-357029 shows a video display device which has a memory for storing data such as resolution of a monitor display device and so on.
However, as for DVD players described in the above patent documents, it is difficult for a user to adapt the resolution of the monitor display device to his/her taste, and thus any of the above conventional DVD players are not user-friendly. In particular, a high-resolution video is not always most appropriate to elderly people lowing their good eyesight, and an optical disk player which enables a simple conversion of the resolution is eagerly awaited in the market.


OBJECT: To provide a non-contact power supply apparatus capable of supplying stable power very efficiently even when changes in load at the receiving side occur by tuning AC frequency supplied to the oscillating circuit on the receiving side and the resonant frequency of the resonance circuit on the receiving side. CONSTITUENTS: At the receiving side is provided a resonance circuit 3 in which resonance coil L3 on the receiving side is connected in parallel with resonance capacitor C3. At the supplying side are provided a detecting coil L2 which detects resonant frequency of resonance circuit 3 on the receiving side and a control means 1 which tunes AC frequency supplied to the aforementioned oscillating circuit 2 on the supplying side with resonant frequency of the aforementioned oscillating circuit 3 on the receiving side according to the frequency of induced electromotive force detected by said detecting coil L2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-contact power supply apparatus which supplies power to electronic equipment containing a charging battery by electromagnetic induction without contact.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Hitherto, methods for supplying power by electromagnetic induction were disclosed, for example, in Japanese Non-examined Patent Publication No. 3-98432. The structure of the apparatus used in this method is as shown in FIG. 5.
That is, this apparatus has separately provided on its supply side a supplying oscillating circuit 6 in which a supplying oscillating coil L6 is connected to an oscillator B3, and a supplying resonance circuit 7 in which a resonance capacitor C6 is connected in parallel with a resonance coil L7.
In addition, this apparatus has on its receiving side a receiving resonance circuit 8, in which a receiving resonance capacitor C7 is connected to a receiving resonance coil L8, and a rectifier smoothing circuit 9 containing a bridge D3 and a capacitor C8.
Further, the disclosed apparatus is capable of transmitting power efficiently by causing supplying oscillating circuit 6 to oscillate at a predetermined frequency approaching the resonant frequency of supplying resonance circuit 7 and receiving resonance circuit 8, so that it virtually resonates at the frequency of supplying oscillating circuit 6, supplying resonance circuit 7, and receiving resonance circuit 8.
However, in the above-described type of apparatus the resonant frequency of supplying resonance circuit 7 and receiving resonance circuit 8 is independently determined. The oscillating frequency of supplying oscillating circuit is also fixed independently.
For this reason, a change in load at the receiving side changes the resonant frequency of the resonance circuit 8 at the receiving side, preventing tuning of oscillating circuit 6 and resonance circuit 7 on the supply side with resonance circuit 8 on the receiving side. Consequently, the amount of power which can be supplied is greatly reduced, and sufficient power cannot be stably supplied.

Kigawa Electronic Engineering Laboratory, Inc.


System and method for manufacturing three-dimensional integrated circuits are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes providing an imaging writer system that includes a plurality of spatial light modulator (SLM) imaging units arranged in one or more parallel arrays, receiving mask data to be written to one or more layers of the three-dimensional integrated circuit, processing the mask data to form a plurality of partitioned mask data patterns corresponding to the one or more layers of the three-dimensional integrated circuit, assigning one or more SLM imaging units to handle each of the partitioned mask data pattern, and controlling the plurality of SLM imaging units to write the plurality of partitioned mask data patterns to the one or more layers of the three-dimensional integrated circuits in parallel. The method of assigning performs at least one of scaling, alignment, inter-ocular displacement, rotational factor, or substrate deformation correction.

Fast-paced technology progress in semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has benefited well for the manufacturing of active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) TV and computer monitor displays. In the recent years, the size of LCD TV and computer monitor displays has grown to be larger and yet more affordable.
In the semiconductor IC industry, a technology generation is defined by the critical dimension (CD) of the circuit design rules. As each technology generation progresses, the IC of the later generation has smaller feature CD target and tighter tolerance. For the Flat Panel Display (FPD) industry, on the other hand, a technology generation is classified by the physical dimension of substrate used in manufacturing. In one example, the substrate sizes (in millimeter×millimeter) of FPDs sixth generation (G6) in 2005, eighth generation (G8) in 2007, and tenth generation (G10) in 2009 are 1500×1800, 2160×2460, and 2880×3080 respectively.
The lithography challenges in terms of making semiconductor ICs and FPD substrates are both trying to make larger sizes more affordable. However, they are entirely different from the manufacturing perspective. For the IC industry, a primary challenge is small CD features can be produced on a round 300 mm wafer. The goal is to pack as many transistors as possible for achieving better functionalities in the same die size. But for the FPD industry, one primary challenge is how large an entire rectangle substrate can be processed. The larger FPD substrate can be processed in a manufacturing line, the bigger size TVs or monitors can be produced with lower cost. The typical LCD TVs and monitors are designed with more sophisticated thin film transistor (TFT) for better performance. Still, the TFT CD target remains in the same specification range. In one viewpoint, one of the main challenges for FPD manufacturing is to keep throughput in pace with justifiable economics for each successive generation. Achieving profitable process yield is a key consideration, and the manufacturing process window needs to be preserved.
Conventionally, lithography technologies for manufacturing of FPD are derived from lithography process technologies for making semiconductor ICs. Majority of lithography exposure tools used for making FPD substrates are projection stepper and/or scanner systems. These are either 2-times reduction or 1-to-1 projection from mask to substrate. In order to project mask patterns to the substrate, the mask must first be made with the acceptable CD specifications. The FPD mask manufacturing process is similar to the one used for manufacturing semiconductor ICs, with the exception that the mask size for making semiconductor ICs is about 150 mm or 6 inches per side, whereas the mask size for manufacturing FPD, in one example, may be nearly 8-times larger per side, or physically more than one meter per side.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional configuration of projection exposure tool used for scanning mask patterns onto FPD substrate. In this configuration, the exposure sources used are mainly high pressure mercury (Hg) short-arc lamps. The incoming illumination light is reflected by a light folding mirror 102, and the reflected light passes through a mask 104, a projection lens 106 before it reaches a FPD substrate 108. The concern of using this conventional mask-based exposure tool configuration as shown in FIG. 1 for the upcoming FPD lithography manufacturing is the issue of handling the increasing physical size of masks. In one example, for the G8 FPD, the size of a mask is about 1080 mm×1230 mm. The area size of G8 substrate is four times larger. The TFT CD feature specification is in the range of 3 microns±10%. The CD control for TFT over more-than-two-meters per side of G8 substrate is more challenging than controlling specifications for printing advanced IC features on a 300 mm silicon wafer. The challenge facing the FPD industry is to build such a mask-based exposure tool cost effectively for the upcoming FPD generations while preserving acceptable lithography process window.
To mitigate CD uniformity issue over the entire FPD exposure field, one approach is to use multiple exposures method. The nominal exposure is composed of several component exposures in adequate proportions. Each component exposure uses pre-selected wavelength for illumination along with the corresponding projection lens for scanning and stepping. More than one projection lenses need to be included in this type of exposure tool but only single illumination source is equipped. This is due to the need of using high powered Hg short-arc illumination sources in kilo Watts (KW) for throughput. The selection of exposure wavelength can be done by applying adequate filter to the source. In one example, this multi-wavelength exposure method relaxes the negative impact on CD uniformity over a G8 substrate hence allowing more economical quality of lens and illumination set-up to be used.
In using multi-wavelength exposures, it is necessary to specify more stringent CD target and uniformity on the mask itself. In one example, the TFT mask CD tolerance is under 100 nm, much smaller than otherwise necessary for the nominal 3 microns mask CD target. One reason is that the process window for FPD lithography manufacturing can be more manageable for the existing exposure tool configuration. Unfortunately, the tighter FPD mask CD specifications required would push the already costly mask set to be even more expensive. In some situations, making a critical level mask for the G8 FPD becomes very expensive and has long delivery lead time.
Yet another problem with the conventional approach is the defect density control for the use of larger sized masks. Lithography processing with such a large size mask using multiple exposures, even starting with defect free mask, is prone to introduce detrimental defects. A defect prone process impacts yield and ultimately the cost of the mask.
FIG. 1b illustrates another setup of a conventional exposure tool. As shown in FIG. 1b, the exposure tool includes a light source 110, a first projection lens 112, a reticle 114 (also referred to as a mask), a second projection lens 116, a wafer 118, and a wafer stage 120. The light source 110 is controlled to project rays of light via the first projection lens 112 to the reticle 114, where the reticle contains patterns to be imaged onto the wafer 118. A portion of the light rays is blocked by the reticle 114, and other portion of the light rays is allowed to pass through the reticle 114 to expose the wafer 118 via the second project lens 116. The light rays passed through the reticle 114 exposed certain areas of the wafer 118 to generate a set of pattern images that corresponds to IC design pattern formed on the reticle 122.
Note that the wafer is held by the wafer stage 120, which may be controlled to move in directions as shown by the arrows. In a conventional stepper system, the light source 110 is either blue visible light or near UV, the first projection lens 112, the reticle 114, the second projection lens 116 remain stationery, while the wafer 118 and the wafer stage 120 that holds the wafer move to allow different areas on the wafer 118 to be exposed. The stepper system may be used to manufacture designs with resolution accuracies in the range of 1 to 3 microns, such as for manufacturing small sized masks, LEDs, and fourth generation or earlier flat panel displays. In a conventional scanner system, both the light source 110, the first projection lens 112, and the second projection lens 116 remain stationery, while the reticle 114, the wafer 118 and the wafer stage 120 that holds the wafer move to allow different areas on the wafer 118 to be exposed. The scanner system is more efficient in handling large-sized mask flat panel displays than the stepper system, and is more expensive than the stepper system. The scanner system is typically used to manufacture sixth generation of later flat panel displays that are made with much larger substrate size.
FIGS. 1c-1e illustrates different ways a mask may be held in conventional exposure tools, and manners to align the mask for exposure. In FIG. 1c, the mask 130 is held in contact with the substrate wafer 132 and is commonly referred to as a contact aligner system; while in FIG. 1d, the mask 130 is held in proximity of the substrate wafer 132 and is commonly referred to as a proximity aligner system. The conventional contact aligner system and the proximity aligner system are typically used in manufacturing of printed circuit boards, touch panels (25-40 um), light emitting diodes (3-5 um), and solar panels (>100 um). Some of the drawbacks of the contact aligner and proximity aligner systems are that they have problems handling high resolution designs and warped wafers or substrate larger than 4 inches in size.
FIG. 1e illustrates a conventional projection aligner system, where there is a projection lens 131 between the mask 130 and the substrate wafer 132. It is typically used in manufacturing of circuits in the range of 5-10 um. Such a projection aligner is more suited with the use of large-sized mask for making color filters in flat panel displays. The drawback is that such large-sized masks are quite expensive. Therefore, the projection aligner system is not cost efficient for manufacturing of printed circuit boards, and light emitting diodes where substantial mask cost is less tolerable.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional mask making exposure tool configuration. In this exposure tool configuration, illumination light 202 is sent to a beam splitter 204 and then partially reflected to illuminate the spatial light modulator (SLM) 206 through a Fourier lens 208. Then, the imaging light rays reflected back, pass through the Fourier lens 208, the beam splitter 204, the Fourier filter 210 and the reduction lens 212, and finally reach to the mask blank substrate 216. Mask data 214 is sent to the SLM 206 electronically to set the micro-mirror pixels. The reflected light produce bright spots on the mask blank substrate 216, or otherwise absence of reflected light would produce dark spots on the mask blank substrate 216. By controlling and composing the reflections, mask data patterns can be transferred to the mask blank substrate 216.
Note that for this type of exposure tool configuration, the illumination light path is folded in order to illuminate the SLM at a right angle incidence. This folded illumination path makes a "T" joint to the exposure imaging path. In addition to high power illumination source, this type of exposure system requires using projection lens with high reduction ratio in order to write mask pattern in high accuracy and precision. Typically, the lens reduction ratio is about 100 times. Using such a high reduction ratio of lens makes the exposure field very small with a single SLM die. The physical die size for SLM is in the neighborhood of 1 cm. After a 100-times reduction, the SLM writing field is reduced to around 100 microns. This writing field size is very small and therefore slow when attempting to write a full G8 FPD mask.
Another conventional approach is to use multiple laser beams to illuminate the SLM in succession. The multiple beams are generated by reflecting a single illumination laser source from multi-faced rotating mirrors. Multiple illumination beams speed up mask writing as they make multiple exposures at a given time. With this configuration, in one instance, the time for writing a G8 FPD mask takes nearly twenty hours. Such a long write time makes machine control expensive to sustain both mechanically and electronically, hence increases the cost of the FPD mask produced. Using the same exposure tool for the upcoming G10 or beyond, the cost of manufacturing FPD masks will be even higher.
In another conventional approach, to address the mask cost issue for low volume prototyping application, one exposure tool configuration is to make use of transparent SLM as the mask. This is done such that the mask pattern can be read into SLM to show desired mask patterns without the need to make a real physical mask. The function of such a transparent SLM mask takes place of the real mask. This saves the mask cost. From the exposure tool configuration perspective, this method is essentially the same as the mask-based projection system. Unfortunately, the SLM mask has lower image quality as compared to the image quality on an actual mask. It does not meet the pattern specification requirements for FPD manufacturing.
In yet another conventional approach, a process for roll-to-roll manufacture of a display by synchronized photolithographic exposure on a substrate web is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,779 (the '779 patent). The '779 patent teaches a method to expose mask pattern on a roll of substrate. In addition, another conventional method for doing roll-to-roll lithography is described in the article "High-Speed Roll-to-Toll Nanoimprint Lithography on Flexible Plastic Substrates" by Se Hyun Ahn, etc., Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim; Advanced Materials 2008, 20, page 2044-2049 (the Ahn article).
However, in both conventional methods described above, the mask is limited to a predetermined physical size, and the physical mask dimension essentially limits the dimension of the flexible display that can be manufactured. Another problem with the conventional methods described by the 779 patent and the Ahn article is that, to achieve a reasonable printing result, the roll of substrate must be stretched flat during the exposure stage. As a result, the surface flatness of the substrate is not as good as rigid glass substrate, typically used for LCD TV display. With such a mask-based lithography, the depth of focus (DOF) is limited due to uneven substrate surface. Thus, it can be very challenging for these conventional methods to pattern TFT feature critical dimension (CD) at 5 μm or less. To achieve decent definition display based on TFT, it is necessary to have CD for TFT mask pattern in the neighborhood of 3 μm.
The challenges discussed previously for the manufacturing of future generations of FPDs are driven by the need for cost reduction for the FPD industry. One key motivation is to achieve cost efficiency when the newer manufacturing generation is being adopted. Lithography process requires maintaining throughput efficiency while assuring product yield better than previous generations. This demands wider lithography process window and fewer process defects while contending with bigger FPD substrates. As discussed above, there are numerous shortcomings with the existing exposure tool configurations. One of the major shortcomings is associated with the use of a mask. The size of the mask is too large to be manufactured cost effectively. This shortcoming continues to grow as the size of the mask must increase in order to keep up with future generations of FPDs. Therefore, there is a need for an improved imaging writer system that addresses the issues of the conventional tools and approaches.

System and method for manufacturing three dimensional integrated circuits


Disclosed is an ultraviolet irradiation device for package of a light-emitting diode. The ultraviolet irradiation device includes a sealed shell. A light-emitting diode to be packaged is arranged in the shell, and a UV mask that is movable in the shell is arranged below the light-emitting diode. The ultraviolet irradiation device further includes a UV lamp arranged below the UV mask. The ultraviolet irradiation device further includes a sealed chamber which is in communication with the shell. The chamber is arranged at a side of the shell. A first rolling unit that is configured to deliver the light-emitting diode is arranged in the chamber, and a first gate and a second gate are respectively arranged at two ends of the chamber. The chamber is further in communication with an air exhaust unit and a first gas source respectively. The structure of the ultraviolet irradiation device is simple. When a replacement of the UV mask is performed, a rapid replacement thereof can be achieved, i.e., much time for replacing the UV mask can be saved, which is beneficial for improving productivity.

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device possesses a plurality of advantages. Currently, many manufacturers of display devices carry out development, research, or production of the organic light-emitting diode display device. In glass package methods of an organic light-emitting diode, UV glue package and frit glue package are common, and a UV glue curing process is involved in both methods. Since package of the organic light-emitting diode needs to be carried out in an N2 environment, an N2 environment is provided inside a UV curing machine. A side view of the UV curing machine and a top view thereof are shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. A UV mask 2 needs to be changed when a panel 1 of a different size is to be produced. The UV mask 2 comprises a mask frame 21 and a mask effective region 22. The UV mask 2 is arranged on a pin 5. A UV lamp 4 is arranged below the UV mask 2. When the UV mask 2 is to be changed, a chamber 3 needs to be opened to destroy the N2 environment, and then the UV mask 2 is changed. The N2 environment is recovered by inflating N2 after the chamber 3 is closed. It takes more than 6 hours to recover the N7, environment so as to meet the production requirements (H2O/O2<10 ppm). Such a long duration results in a large amount of productivity consumption.
In order to solve the current problem, it is necessary to provide a new ultraviolet irradiation device for package of a light-emitting diode.

Ultraviolet irradiation device for package of light-emitting diode

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A device having a partially reflective cover, in particular for use as a decorative mirror element, is described. The device comprises a light source and a cover, which is arranged in front of the light source, the cover comprising a reflective polarizer and a circular polarizer, which is arranged behind the reflective polarizer.

Predominantly in the field of consumer electronics, but also, for example, in the design of motor vehicles and other devices, device surfaces are often provided with light-emitting decorative elements. Such decorative elements frequently represent a logo of the device manufacturer or decorate contours of the object to which they are attached. Both for aesthetic reasons and for the purpose of energy saving, which is a frequent requirement in particular in the case of mobile devices with a battery-based power supply, the illumination intensity of such decorative elements is generally chosen to be relatively weak. In addition, illumination often takes place only when the device is in an active operating state, which serves both to save energy in the non-operating state and to make an active state of the device recognisable.
Owing to the often weak or non-existent active illumination of the described decorative elements, it is desirable for such elements to appear visually attractive even when their own illumination is switched off and in strong ambient light. To that end, they can be provided with a partially reflective surface, which reflects a large part of the incident ambient light in the manner of a mirror but at the same time is partially transparent to the light of a light source arranged beneath the surface. The appearance of such decorative elements thus varies, in dependence on the switching status of their light source and the ambient light conditions, between a luminous and a reflecting surface.
The use of partially reflective surfaces requires a compromise between, on the one hand, a satisfactory mirror effect for strong ambient light, which prevents the light source located beneath the surface from being visible, and, on the other hand, a sufficiently high transmissivity for the light emitted by that light source during operation. The necessary reflectivity for ambient light in most cases requires high absorption of the light emitted by the light source, which is undesirable in particular in view of the energy efficiency of illuminated decorative elements in mobile devices.
It has therefore been shown that decorative elements which avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages of low reflectivity or high absorption are desirable.

Device having a partially reflective cover


A device for use in conveying information concerning an article of commerce. In one embodiment, the device comprises a fastener, the fastener comprising an elongated unitary plastic member having a first end, a second end, and a flexible filament. The flexible filament interconnects the first end and the second end. The first end is shaped to define a cross-bar insertable through an article of commerce using a tagger gun, the tagger gun having a hollow slotted needle. The second end is sized and shaped to define a paddle for preventing the flexible filament from being pulled completely through the article of commerce. The device also includes a transponder incorporated into the cross-bar portion of the fastener for transmitting, in response to an interrogation, a response signal communicating information concerning the article of commerce to which the fastener is attached. The transponder may include a programmable chip capable of encoding one or more static or varying pieces of information relating to the article of commerce. Examples of the types of information transmitted by the transponder include, but are not limited to, the price of the article, inventory information, and information as to whether the article has been duly purchased.

The present invention relates generally to plastic fasteners of the type commonly used, for example, to attach merchandise tags to articles of commerce.
Plastic fasteners of the type commonly used, for example, to attach merchandise tags to articles of commerce, such as articles of clothing, are well-known and are widely used in the retail industry. Typically, such fasteners comprise an elongated unitary plastic member having a first end shaped to define a cross-bar (also commonly referred to as a "T-bar"), a second end shaped to define a paddle (or a second cross-bar), and a thin flexible filament portion interconnecting the cross-bar and the paddle. The crossbar is appropriately sized and shaped to be inserted first through a merchandise tag and then through the article of commerce. The paddle is appropriately sized and shaped to prevent the tag from being pulled off the filament portion.
Typically, such fasteners are mass-produced by a molding process in either one of two different forms known as fastener stock. One type of fastener stock, which is disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 and which is incorporated herein by reference, comprises a plurality of fasteners joined together at their respective cross-bars by an orthogonally disposed runner bar. The other type of fastener stock, which is disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,475 and which is incorporated herein by reference, comprises a plurality of fasteners arranged in an end- to-end alignment, the heads and opposite ends of successive fasteners being joined together by severable connectors so as to form a continuously connected fastener stock.
The dispensing of individual fasteners from fastener stock into desired articles of commerce is typically accomplished using an apparatus commonly referred to as a "tagger gun." Examples of tagger guns are illustrated in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,320,269, 5,024,365, 4,121,487 and 4,456,161, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Typically, a tagger gun includes (a) a hollow needle having a longitudinal slot extending across its length; (b) means for separating an individual crossbar from the remainder of the fastener stock; and (c) means for feeding the individual cross-bar through the hollow, slotted needle and the desired article of commerce. (Connections, if any, between the paddles of a pair of adjacent fasteners are severed by pulling the tagger gun away from the article of commerce after the cross-bar of one of the fasteners has been inserted thereinto.)
Although plastic fasteners of the type described above work well in the attachment of merchandise tags to article of commerce, it is nonetheless known that certain unscrupulous consumers, on occasion, engage in the practice of "ticket switching" wherein the price tag for a low-priced item is switched with the price tag for a desired high-priced item using the plastic fastener from either the low-priced or the high-priced item. Various approaches to this problem have been devised. See e.g., commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,872, incorporated herein by reference, wherein a tamper-resistant plastic fastener is disclosed.
Although unrelated to the use of plastic fasteners, another common problem suffered by merchants is the theft of their merchandise. One approach that has been adopted by many merchants is the attachment of theft-detection devices to their articles of commerce. Such devices, which are typically quite large and conspicuous in appearance; are usually equipped with a magnetizable element which causes an audible signal or alarm to be emitted from a detector if the article is moved past the detector without previously demagnetizing the element. Typically, the sensor is located at the egress of the store so as to permit authorized personnel to demagnetize or remove the element following the purchase of the item.
Additional patents of interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,151,684, 5,129,974, 4,966,857, 4,947,531,4,920,335, 4,822,990, 4,795,895, 4,299,040, 4,063,229, 4,000,488 and 3,825,801, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Device for use in conveying information concerning an article of commerce


In production of lithographic printing plates by developing a photographic material comprising a support having thereon at least both silver halide emulsion layer and physical development nuclei layer by silver complex diffusion transfer process to form transfer silver to be used as ink-receptive portions of the lithographic printing plates, when the development is carried out in the presence of a cyclic imide compound (alone or in combination with sulfites, thiosulfates, thiocyanates or alkanolamines) as defined hereinafter, ink-receptivity of the transfer silver image portions and printing endurance of thus obtained printing plates are improved. Moreover, the non-image portions have no or substantially no stains.

This invention relates to a silver halide photographic material for the production of lithographic printing plates by the silver complex diffusion transfer process and a method for making same.
Lithographic printing plates consist of greasy ink receptive olephilic image portions and ink repellent oleophobic non-image portions, the latter being generally water receptive hydrophilic areas.
Therefore, the conventional lithographic printing is carried out by feeding both water and ink to the surface of printing plates to allow the image portions to receive preferentially the ink and the non-image portions to receive preferentially water and then transferring the ink on the image portions onto a substrate such as paper.
Thus, in order to obtain prints of good quality, it is necessary that the difference between oleophilicity of the surface of image portions and hydrophilicity of the surface of non-image portions is sufficiently large so that when water and ink are applied the image portions can receive sufficient amount of ink while the non-image portions may completely repel the ink.
Defects of lithographic printing plates made by silver complex diffusion transfer process (referred to as "DTR process" hereinafter) are as follows. The printing plates are poor in resistance against mechanical abrasion and ink receptivity of hydrophobic areas which carry ink images is gradually lost to result in decrease of printing endurance. Furthermore, the hydrophilic areas are gradually rendered hydrophobic and so the non-image areas, namely, background areas are apt to be stained with ink. Moreover, the hydrophobic image areas become unable to receive uniformly the greasy ink to cause unevenness of ink receptivity of the image areas.
There have already been printing plates in actual use which are produced by providing metallic silver patterns on the plates which are rendered ink-receptive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,837 and No. 3,721,559, Japanese Patent Examined Publications (KOKOKU) No. 16725/73 and No. 30562/73 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publications (KOKAI) No. 4482/71 and No. 21602/78. However, these printing plates have still the defects as enumerated above.
Like other lithographic printing plates, lithographic printing plates obtained by applying the DTR process are also required to be increased in their printing endurance by selecting construction of plate materials, composition of processing solutions, printing conditions, etc., but the effect which the state of transfer-developed silver particles give on printing characteristics of printing plates is a big factor for increasing the printing endurance. In order that the silver particles transfer-developed by the DTR process may have higher printing endurance, conditions for formation of transfer silver particles, such as diffusion speed of silver complex, stability and reducing rate and size and shape of the formed silver particles are important factors although construction of lithographic printing plates has some influence thereon.
A great number of compounds are known as silver complex forming agents used for DTR process. For making lithographic printing plates by applying DTR process, thiosulfates and thiocyanates have been considered most preferred and actually used from the economical point of view and the point of printing endurance of said transfer-developed silver particles. However, even these silver complex forming agents cannot provide lithographic printing plates having satisfactory printing endurance.

Photographic material for production of printing plates and method for production of printing plates


The mechanism has an actuator provided with a piston, a servo control valve which is actuated by electric input and output signals for supplying working fluid to the actuator and exhausting working fluid from the actuator, a slider which closes an oil passage from the servo control valve to the actuator and which temporarily engages with the piston of the actuator via a link mechanism, when a system for transmitting the input and output signals or the servo control valve breaks down, and a centering valve which is constructed in one body with the slider and which stops supply and exhaust of working fluid after the actuator has been returned to its neutral position by supply of working fluid to the actuator when a system for transmitting the input and output signals or the servo control valve breaks down.

The present invention relates to a mechanism for returning to a neutral position of an actuator. The present invention relates to a mechanism for returning a servo actuator, used in equipment, such as an aircraft, which especially requires high safety, to its neutral position when electric system for input and output signals breaks down.
In general, an aircraft requires high safety. In order to meet with this requirements, an aircraft is generally provided with two or more control systems for one object to be controlled so that a flight can be continued by using the remaining control system even when one of the control systems breaks down.
Even in this case, if the broken down control system maintains the condition under which the breakdown has occurred, the operation by the remaining control system may be obstructed, and accordingly, the safety of flight may be endangered. Thus, in such a case, it is necessary for the broken down control system to be returned to its neutral position wherein the flight is not adversely influenced upon by the broken down control system.
Mechanisms for returning a servo actuator, which controls wing, to its neutral position upon its breakdown have been conventionally proposed. Such conventional mechanisms for returning to the neutral position are roughly classified into two basic groups.
In the first group, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 63-297802, No. Hei 1-266308, and No. Hei 2-113101, the servo control valve is forcedly actuated upon breakdown so as to return the actuator to its neutral position.
In the second group, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 63-308204, the passage in the servo control valve is closed upon breakdown, and a centering valve which is additionally disposed is actuated so as to return the actuator to its neutral position.
However, these conventional mechanisms for returning neutral position have the following disadvantages. More specifically, in the mechanisms belonging to the first group, the servo control valves per se have to be specially designed and accordingly, commercially available servo control valves cannot be used therefor. Thus, their manufacturing cost is expensive.
Contrary to this, in the mechanisms belonging to the second group, a directional control valve or a stop valve has to be disposed between the mechanism for returning to neutral position and the actuator. Accordingly, the hydraulic circuit becomes complicated and the size of the mechanism becomes large, and accordingly, their manufacturing cost is also expensive.
In addition, it is necessary for the mechanisms of the second group to be provided with a plurality of restrictor check valves so as to prevent a runaway of the actuator, i.e., a condition wherein the piston of the actuator moves to the operating end at a stretch, or an uncontrollable condition of the actuator upon switching from a normal condition to a breakdown condition or from a breakdown condition to a normal condition. However, in actual usage, although the runaway speed can be reduced, occurrence of such a runaway or an uncontrollable condition cannot be completely prevented.
Further, when, for example, the mechanism is applied to a mechanism for operating a steering flap of an airplane, it is preferred from an operational point of view that it initially moves slowly upon return to the neutral position, it gradually increases its speed and then it stops at the neutral position. However, because of the construction as described above, the moving speed of the actuator is slow since the restrictor check valve is disposed in the return oil passage from the centering valve, and accordingly, the actuator cannot be returned quickly to the neutral position.


A method for providing remote assistance for controlling a site is disclosed. A remote assistance request may be received from a control device. The remote assistance request may be sent from the control device to a remote server. Communication between the remote server and the control device may be established.

The price of electronic devices has continued to decrease dramatically. In addition, the types of consumer electronic components and home automation electronics that can be purchased have continued to increase. For example, DVD players, large screen TVs, multi-carousel CD and DVD players, MP3 players, video game consoles, and similar consumer electronic items have continued to drop in price and become more widely available. The decreasing prices and increasing types of consumer electronic components has packed today's homes with modern conveniences. But as these conveniences grow in number and sophistication, they also become more difficult to manage and control. In recent years, home automation systems have emerged to help manage and control the myriad devices found in modern homes.
While the home automation market continues to grow each year, past solutions typically addressed customers who build high-end custom homes or do major reconstructions on an existing home. Homeowners have needed a more affordable way to automate their existing homes without the headache and expense of major remodeling. Additionally, homeowners wanted to be able to add new products over time as they are able to afford additional technology. Home automation companies have answered the call by utilizing new wireless technologies that have significantly reduced the costs of installing automated devices in older homes as well as newly constructed homes. The desire for control of devices at a particular location is continuing to expand into retail and other non-home markets.
However, with the affordability of new technology, the number of automated devices in modern homes and other sites has continued to steadily increase. Property owners now desire more customizable systems and features in their automation systems. With more customizations and features, property owners may desire the ability to receive remote assistance for controlling their site.

Systems and methods for providing remote assistance for controlling a site


A bubbler for use in vapor generation systems that minimizes splashing and the formation of aerosol droplets of liquid, which are carried out of the bubbler in the vapor stream and result in erratic mass transfer of the process chemical liquid. A closed stainless steel vessel contains a carrier gas distribution plenum that distributes the carrier gas to a plurality of small diameter generator tubes, which are submerged into the process chemical liquid. The length, inside diameter and number of the generator tubes are designed to inject a high velocity, small diameter stream of carrier gas into the liquid such that a long small diameter cylinder of carrier gas is created in the process chemical liquid. The surface tension of the liquid-gas interface causes the cylinder of gas to be pinched off at intervals along the length of the cylinder to produce a plurality of small bubbles the diameter of which is largely independent of the carrier gas flow rate. By preventing the formation of large diameter bubbles at high carrier gas flow rates splashing and the formation of aerosol droplets of liquid are effectively eliminated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bubblers for supplying a vapor to a chemical process by introducing a carrier gas into a process chemical liquid to form a mixture of the vapor of the process chemical with the carrier gas.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,922 of Collins et al. shows a xe2x80x9cLiquid Source Bubbler.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,428 of Rodgers shows a xe2x80x9cSelf-Metering Reservoirxe2x80x9d.
An object of the invention is to provide a bubbler that suppresses splashing and the generation of aerosol droplets at high carrier gas flow rates, which exit the bubbler in the outlet flow mixture of the carrier gas and a chemical vapor, thus creating erratic variations in chemical mass transfer.
Another object of the invention is to provide the high flow rate of the carrier gas and the chemical vapor with anti-aerosol properties with a bubbler having a small internal volume.
A further object of the invention is to provide a high flow rate small volume bubbler, whose outlet concentration of chemical vapor to carrier gas is independent of the carrier gas flow rate.
Another object of the invention is to provide a high flow rate small volume bubbler, whose outlet concentration of chemical vapor to carrier gas is largely independent of the liquid level in the bubbler.
In accordance with the above objects, the invention provides an apparatus and method for generating a saturated mixture of a carrier gas and a chemical vapor devoid of chemical liquid droplets. The bubbler consists of a closed stainless steel bubbler container having a carrier gas inlet tube, a carrier gas/vapor outlet, a process chemical liquid fill inlet and a process chemical liquid drain outlet. The carrier gas inlet tube passes through the top of the bubbler container and into an enclosed plenum that distributes the carrier gas to a plurality of small generator tubes. The generator tubes extend from the bottom of the plenum down into the process chemical liquid in the bubbler container. The dimensions of the generator tubes are chosen such that at the maximum carrier gas flow rate the carrier gas stream exiting the generator tube into the liquid is a high velocity fully developed laminar flow comprising a cylindrical stream. Under these conditions the exiting cylindrical stream of carrier gas maintains a small diameter cylindrical shape in the process chemical liquid for a substantial distance from the outlet end of the generator tube. As the stream stretches farther away from the outlet end of the generator tube, the surface tension at the carrier gas/process chemical liquid interface acts to pinch off the cylindrical stream of carrier gas into a series of small bubbles whose diameter is primarily a function of the diameter of the cylindrical stream of carrier gas and the surface tension. The bubble diameter is almost independent of flow rate. The series of small bubbles rises up through the process chemical liquid and quickly becomes fully saturated with chemical vapor due to their large surface-area-to-volume ratio. A further benefit of maintaining small bubble size is that the rate of bubble ascent is limited, thus increasing contact time with the process chemical liquid while minimizing splashing and the formation of aerosol droplets of liquid when the bubble breaks the surface of the process chemical liquid. The carrier gas vapor outlet port extends through the top of the bubbler container and is located behind the plenum such that the plenum acts as a baffle to shield the carrier gas vapor outlet port from the surface of the process chemical liquid as a further means of preventing any liquid from entering the outlet stream.
Chemical liquid level measurement means measure the chemical liquid level inside the bubbler container to provide for chemical liquid level alarm conditions and for automatic filling. A piezo-ceramic transducer is bonded to the outside surface of the bottom of the bubbler container in an area aside from the location of the generator tubes. An electrical signal is applied to the piezo-ceramic transducer that generates an elastic wave that propagates through the bottom of the stainless steel bubbler container and into the process chemical liquid. The acoustical wave propagates through the process chemical liquid and is almost totally reflected at the surface of the process chemical liquid due to the mismatch in acoustical impedance between a liquid and a gas. The reflected acoustical wave propagates back through the liquid and the bottom of the bubbler container and is received by the piezo-ceramic transducer, thereby producing an electrical signal, which is detected and processed to determine the time delay between the transmitted and received signals. The height of the liquid above the piezo-ceramic transducer is calculated as a function of the measured time delay and the known speed of sound in the liquid. Because the speed of sound in a liquid is almost independent of the chemical composition of the liquid, a generic speed of sound of 1,300 meters per second can be used and still maintain a liquid level measurement accuracy of xc2x110%.
The column of process chemical liquid above the piezo-ceramic transducer is partially isolated from the bulk of the process chemical liquid volume by a stainless steel baffle attached to the inside wall of the bubbler container. The baffle keeps the process chemical liquid surface above the piezo-ceramic transducer relatively smooth, further enhancing the accuracy of the time delay measurement. Small gaps at the top and bottom of the baffle connect the volume enclosed by the baffle with the rest of the volume of the bubbler container, thus allowing the height Hxe2x80x2 of the process chemical liquid level in the volume enclosed by the baffle to remain in equilibrium with the height H of the process chemical liquid level in the main volume of the bubbler container.
Temperature control means allow bubbler operation above ambient temperature to increase the outlet concentration of chemical vapor in the carrier gas. These include a molded silicon-rubber insulating jacket that encapsulates the bubbler container and inlet and outlet fittings, heating elements bonded to the exterior surfaces of the bubbler container, a temperature measurement means and a temperature feedback control means.

Bubbler for use in vapor generation systems


The invention relates to a connecting arrangement for a releasable and lockable connection between the upper end of a table leg and the underside of a table plate for assembly of a table. In this case a first connecting part provided with clamp bolts can be fixed on the upper end of the table leg and a second connecting part can be fixed on the underside of the table plate, this second connecting part having several bores and receiving holes adapted in size, number and distribution to the clamp bolts and containing an end plate with a clamp closure plate which is arranged flat above it and is rotatable relative thereto to engage the clamp bolts and firmly clamp the clamp bolts and attached table leg to the second connecting part and this connection can be released again. In this way a reliably stable and releasable connection is produced between table legs and at least one table plate with the possibility of assembling tables of any size from any number of table plates.

As is already well known in the art, tables can be assembled in such a way that the table legs are firmly connected, particularly by glueing, to a table frame by means of edge connections or the like and at least one appertaining table plate is attached to the table frame thus formed. It is also known in the art for the table legs to be screwed directly onto the underside of the table plates, if the table plates are sufficiently stable, using separate connecting arrangements. A connecting arrangement for the last mentioned case is known for example from DE Utility Model 87 12 124. Here the connecting arrangement is made in one piece and is in the shape of a truncated pyramid or cone, and has a vertical recess to receive the table leg as well as an upper supporting surface by means of which it can be screwed together with the table leg onto the underside of at least one table plate. If an individual table produced in this way is to be used to assemble a larger conference table, then with this known construction it is possible for the table legs in the region of abutting table plates to be arranged so that the supporting surfaces of their connecting arrangements are each screwed on with half of the surface under the adjacent opposing edge regions of two table plates.


An ink jet recording head and an ink jet recording apparatus using the ink jet recording head are disclosed. The adhesion between a substrate and a discharge port forming member can be improved. In order to further reduce the size of the substrate by further optimizing the arrangement of an inspection pad, at least a recording element protecting section covers the upper part of a recording element row with a conductivity, and at least an electrical circuit element protecting section covers the upper part of an electrical circuit element row with a conductivity. An inspection electrode pad is electrically connectable with the recording element protecting section and the electrical circuit element protecting section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head and an ink jet recording apparatus using the ink jet recording head for performing the recording operation by discharging a recording liquid onto the recording surface of a recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
In an ink jet recording head, an electrothermal energy conversion element arranged in a recording liquid chamber is heated by being supplied with an electrical pulse as a recording signal thereby to impart thermal energy to the ink. Utilizing the bubble pressure generated by the bubbling (boiling) of the recording liquid due to the phase change of the recording liquid, minute ink droplets are discharged from at least a minute discharge port thereby to perform the recording operation on a recording medium.
The electrothermal energy conversion element of this ink jet recording head is heated and the interior of the recording liquid chamber is exposed to a high temperature. Desirably, therefore, the ink having the properties thereof not changed at a high temperature is selected while at the same time covering the various elements on the substrate with a protective film to protect the electric circuit elements from thermal damage. Also, the metal surface is liable to be corroded by a water hammer when the heated bubbles are extinguished, and therefore it is desirable to provide a protective film (anti-cavitation film).
In the conventional ink jet recording head, at least an electrothermal energy conversion element and at least an electrical circuit element are mounted on a substrate, and a protective film is formed on the assembly to give a heat resistance. The resulting assembly is formed with an anti-cavitation film over the entire surface thereof, followed by forming a discharge port forming member thereon. The discharge port forming member includes a flow path wall for defining a flow path in accordance with each electrothermal energy conversion element and a discharge port communicating with an external unit from the flow path and adapted to discharge the ink. This configuration exhibits the effect of protecting the electrothermal energy conversion element and the electrical circuit element. Nevertheless, the following problem is posed.
Firstly, the ill compatibility between a tantalum (Ta) film generally used as an anti-cavitation film and the discharge port forming member made of a synthetic resin causes the problem of a low adhesion. A low adhesion between the substrate and the discharge port forming member gives rise to a solution leakage from the flow path and the displacement of the discharge port, thereby sometimes making it impossible to perform the desired recording operation.
Secondly, an inspection pad is required to check the insulation between the protective film formed under the anti-cavitation film and the electrothermal energy conversion element and the electrical circuit element, thereby undesirably increasing the size of the substrate.
In order to solve the two problems described above, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-79672 discloses a recording head comprising a first metal film as an anti-cavitation film covering the upper part of a recording element and a second metal film as an anti-cavitation film covering the upper part of an electrical circuit element, where the first and second metal films are provided in the shape of a pair of combs and are arranged in opposed relation with each other. This recording head can improve the adhesion between the substrate and the discharge port forming member due to a reduced ratio which the anti-cavitation film represents of the substrate. Further, the provision of an inspection pad on each of the first and second metal films described above makes it possible to inspect the protective film for a defect without increasing the substrate size.
However, the recording head disclosed in the patent publication described above comprises an inspection electrode pad for each of the first and second metal films, with the result that the substrate size is increased proportionately. To reduce the size of the substrate, therefore, the arrangement of the inspection pad is required to be more optimized.

Ink jet recording head with multiple recording elements, electrical circuit elements and protecting sections


The present invention relates to the field of embedded processing systems and electronic control units (ECUs) and to autonomic embedded computing solutions. The present invention proposes to remove or extract the application-specific support functions and respective I/O subsystems from the main processors or controllers of the system, to include said extracted circuits into a respective number of ASIC chips or the like, and to connect them preferably via a supervising General Controller Unit (12) to a plurality of standard and low-price processors (40), which have the task to supply the ASIC and the multiple functions thereof with enough computing power.

1.1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of embedded processing systems and electronic control units (ECUs) and to autonomic embedded computing solutions in particular for telematic applications implemented in vehicles on road.
1.2. Description and Disadvantages of Prior Art
The present invention may be applied in a variety of technical environments including industrial control units, e.g. machinery tool control, manufacturing-line control units, automotive ECUs, multimedia units, telematic units, home appliance electronic control units, commercial and industrial diagnostics equipment tools, as well as in autonomic-embedded-computing solutions for vehicles on road, track, in the air, on/under water for security relevant systems and for safety relevant systems.
In the field of embedded processing systems and ECUs generally, a variety of functions are performed in a computer-assisted way. Very often, this means to apply a dedicated single- or multiprocessor unit to achieve one particular function. This is very often accompanied by applying quite specialised expensive components which are produced very specifically and in small series just to perform a single application function. This is repeated for a plurality of different application functions, which results in enormous aggregation of high cost ECUs, which work side by side, sometimes connected via a common bus system.
The same is true for the before-mentioned embedded-computing solutions for vehicles for example on road. As this is a particular focus of the present invention, prior art will be discussed in closer relationship thereto.
In automotive applications the security requirements are basically quite high in order to avoid breakdown of components as this may result in risking critical situations. Thus, quite expensive, highly reliable components and subsystems are often used redundantly which share a common bus system, for example a CAN-bus. Typically, a prior art embedded system may be sketched out as follows: an embedded processing system covering a plurality of technical applications, the operative functions of which are performed with a respective plurality of application-specific Electronic Control Units (ECU), whereby an ECU comprises a micro-controller and/or one or more processors, and specific input/output (I/O) subsystems.
This situation is schematically shown in FIG. 1. Three ECUs A, B, C are depicted, of which each ECU performs an own application function. ECU A may be considered to be dedicated for heating and cooling the car, ECU B for controlling a built-in mobile phone and ECU C for controlling open and closing of the windows. As one can see, each ECU comprises a specialised application-specific input/output subsystem 3 and one or more processors or micro-controllers 4. They differ from A, B and C very distinctly because the I/O subsystems are specific for controlling temperature, controlling the mobile phone and controlling the opening and closing of windows.
In the automotive sector such embedded systems are increasingly used. In many cars, the value of them is in the range of 20 to 30% of the total car value. Under the general constraint to provide improvements to the purchaser of a car giving more safety, security or luxury the car manufacturers must basically build in more redundancy in order to avoid that an eventual breakdown of a part of a ECU causes problems. Increased redundancy of electronic circuits, however, results in an increase of costs because expensive systems are used, which must be duplicated on system- and subsystem level. Further, a general cost-increasing problem is that a car manufacturer buys one ECU from a first supplier, and the next ECU from a different supplier and is thus very dependent of specific suppliers and on their proprietary solutions, systems, subsystems and components.
One solution to this would be the unrealistic approach to demand from a ECU-supplier also to fabricate ECUs for applications which are not inside his competence. Of course, this way is not feasible.
1.3. Objectives of the Invention
It is thus an objective of the present invention to provide improved embedded processing systems which have an increased level of security, performance, while the costs are not increased, but more or less decreased.

International Business Machines Corporation


An analog to digital converter circuit and technique including a peak detector circuit for generating a reference potential corresponding to a peak amplitude of the analog signal to be converted, a level shifting circuit for shifting the dc level of the analog signal in response to the reference potential, and an analog to digital converter for converting the shifted analog signal relative to the reference potential to provide automatically high bit resolution digital signals, independent of the magnitude of the input signal. Preferably, the level shifter sums one half the analog signal and one half the reference potential to produce the shifted signal, and the shifted signal is converted using a ratiometric analog to digital converter having a reference signal input of one half the reference potential. The reference potential is periodically updated by detecting a new peak. Analog signals containing amplitude modulated information may be so processed to provide effectively a dyanmic range corresponding to the input range of the analog to digital converter for optimum bit resolution.

Analog to digital converter ("ADC") devices are well known. Generally, these devices periodically sample the instantaneous analog input signal and divide it into parts over a resistor network to produce a binary representation of the instantaneous analog signal. The analog waveform is thus converted into a series of binary values, i.e., a digital signal, at the selected sampling rate. The sampling rate determines how accurately the digital signal represents the analog signal. The number of bits used in the binary representation determines the amplitude resolution of the digital signal. Practical restraints and economics limit the number of bits that may be efficiently used.
Importantly, the dynamic range of the analog signal to be converted must be adjusted to fit within the input range of the ADC. The term "dynamic range" refers to the potential difference between the positive and negative peaks of the analog signal, whether or not the signal is bi-polar. Adjusting the dynamic range conventionally involves DC level shifting the analog signal and adjusting the gain of the analog signal. However, when the dynamic range of the analog signal changes over time or in response to monitored parameters, e.g., changing signal strength, it is necessary to adjust again the new dynamic range for conversion by the ADC.
One known technique for solving this problem, as illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, monitors the peak of the analog signal and adjusts the gain of the analog signal in response to the measured peak of the analog signal to a level that falls within the input range of the analog to digital converter ("ADC"). The digitized signal is then provided to a device such as a microprocessor for subsequent processing. For bi-polar analog signals that are to be converted by a unipolar ADC, the DC level of the gain adjusted analog signal may be shifted to provide a unipolar input to the ADC.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,191 refers to an analog to digital convertor circuit that includes an ADC having a controllable input range that is defined by a maximum span input and a minimum span input and a peak detection circuit for detecting positive and negative peaks of the analog signal. Signals representative of those detected peaks are provided to the maximum and minimum span inputs, respectively. The '191 patent also refers to using a positive peak detector and circuit for clamping the negative peaks of the analog signal and the negative span input of the ADC to ground. Accordingly, the circuit converts the analog signal relative to the maximum and minimum span inputs so as to provide an input range adjustment for a digital conversion of the entire analog signal.
It is known to use ADC devices in connection with magnetic ink character recognition techniques. Industry convention has established a font style for printing characters using magnetic ink. This convention provides that each character, when read by a suitable magnetic transducer, will produce a unique signature as an analog, pulsatile signal waveform having from four to eight peaks of one or more amplitudes.
One of the problems with analog to digital conversion in magnetic ink character recognition is that the quality of ink, and thus the intensity of the magnetic field presented to the transducer, may vary from character to character and from document to document. In addition, the mechanics of rapidly moving the transducer relative to characters printed on a document may result in spatial variations between the transducer and the ink. These variations may be caused by the transducer head lift off or force lift off, or as a result of other moving parts causing undesired vibrations, such as worn idler wheels. Consequently, the sensed analog signals have a dynamic range and magnitude that may vary from character to character and/or from document to document by as much as 25:1.
The technique illustrated in FIG. 1 may be used to adjust the gain of the analog signal for analog to digital conversion to account for such signal variations. However, this technique introduces an undesirably high count of components to adjust adequately the gain of the analog signal within the maximum and minimum limits of the ADC. These components consume valuable space in a machine and incremental amounts of power, and also provide a potential source of part failure, assembly error, and circuit instability.
The technique described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,191 will not overcome these problems. For one thing, the reference span inputs follow the detected peaks and thus normalize the analog signal relative to a continuously changing reference signal. This has the effect of suppressing or losing the information represented by different amplitude peaks in an analog signal waveform, and in particular, a signature waveform. Another problem with this technique is that it is apparently susceptible to interpreting noise peaks as valid signal information and normalizing the signal accordingly. This may result in erroneous digitized signals.
There is thus a continuing need for improved analog to digital converter circuits and in particular a need for such circuits for converting analog signal waveforms containing amplitude modulated information, e.g., signature waveforms representing magnetic ink characters for document processing.

Analog-to-digital converter circuit having automatic range control


An improved direction finding apparatus for determining the azimuth of a target source of radio frequency signals using in an optimal manner the signals from a central antenna and an associated array of direction finding antennas. The signals of the antennas are repeatedly scanned to generate running averages of the inphase and quadrature phase components of the RF phasors and to thereby reduce the effect of system noise on the measurement of the phasors. A series of computed candidate phasors corresponding to candidate target sources are then compared to the measured phasors and the azimuth of the candidate target having phasors most closely approximating the measured phasors is an optimal determination of the unknown azimuth of the actual target.

The invention relates to an improved direction finder for finding the azimuth of a target source of RF signals, and, more particularly, to such a direction finder including means for accurately determining the azimuth of a target source in a system having a relatively small signal to noise ratio.
Prior art direction finding systems have typically employed a circular antenna array to receive the signals that are transmitted by a particular RF target source. Thus, the RF signal that is received by each antenna is shifted in phase with respect to the corresponding signals of adjacent antennas in the array.
In operation, an electronic commutator is used to successively sample the RF signals of each of the antennas of the array and the sampled RF signals are typically converted to corresponding IF signals that are then applied to a tracking phase-locked loop (PLL). The output of the PLL corresponds to the magnitude of the phase shift between successive antennas of the array.
The PLL output signal is applied to a sample and hold circuit to provide a stair-case approximation of a sinusoidal waveform that represents the differential phase shift of the RF signal between adjacent antennas in the array. This stair-case signal is then passed to a band pass filter having a center frequency equal to the sampling frequency of the commutator and the zero crossing of the output of this filter identifies the antenna that is closest in line to the target source. The position of the zero crossing antenna with respect to a north reference antenna then provides an approximation of the azimuth of the target source.
In such prior art systems, large system noise and the 360.degree. ambiguity in the PLL tracking of a noisy phase angle will cause large and erroneous jumps in the incremental phase-shift measurements between adjacent antennas unless the antennas of the array are closely spaced. However, if the antennas of the array are closely spaced, the magnitude of the incremental phase shift between adjacent antennas will be decreased, thereby decreasing the signal to noise ratio of the received signals and reducing the accuracy of measurement of the signals. Thus, as system noise increases, the accuracy of such prior art systems is rapidly reduced.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a direction finding apparatus for accurately determining the azimuth of a signal source in systems having relatively small signal to noise ratios.
A further object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus having a gradual rather than catastrophic degradation in accuracy with increasing system noise.
Another object of the invention is to provide a direction finding apparatus that makes optimal use of all of the phasor data that are received by the antennas of a direction finding array.
These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from a review of the detailed specification which follows and a consideration of the accompanying drawings.


A tool for measuring and checking the clamping force exerted by a movable spindle of a length measuring instrument such as a micrometer comprises a housing which is arranged to receive the free end of the spindle when a rim of the housing is placed against a surface of the instrument body around the spindle and the spindle is advanced, a force sensor which is located at the bottom of the housing for engagement by the free end of the spindle, and a read-out device for indicating the force exerted by the spindle as measured by the force sensor.

The invention relates to a tool for measuring a clamping force exerted by a movable spindle of a length measuring instrument.
Precision length measuring instruments, usually termed micrometers, consist essentially of a body, a spindle mounted in the body so that it projects from the body and is axially movable relative thereto, an anvil fixed to the body in line with the spindle, means for causing the spindle to move and generally including a nut having a knurled gripping surface, and a stress limiter interposed between the spindle and the moving means.
In the case of an external micrometer, the article whose length is to be measured is placed between the free end of the spindle and the anvil, and the moving means is operated to bring the spindle closer to the anvil until the article is clamped. The stress limiter interrupts the action of the moving means as soon as the stopping force is reached.
The precise knowledge of this force is of considerable importance, and French Standard Ell-095 specifies that in principle it should be between 5 and 20 newtons.
Moreover, the variation of this force throughout the measurement should not exceed .+-.2.5 newtons.
If the stopping force is too weak, the clamping of the article is no longer ensured and it becomes difficult to measure in satisfactory circumstances. On the other hand, if it is excessive, mechanical deformations are produced which result in measurement errors.
It is therefore necessary periodically to measure the clamping force exerted by the movable spindle to check that the instrument meets the required standard, but, to the inventor's knowledge, there is no simple tool for this purpose in existence.

Tool for measuring a clamping force exerted by a movable spindle of a length measuring instrument

Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation "Snecma"


A method for compensating valve drift in an internal combustion engine having a variable valve train; in the method, an actual value of the current operating state of the internal combustion engine is determined in an air expenditure map and compared to a desired value of the air expenditure map, whereupon the air expenditure map is corrected.

The invention relates to a method for compensating valve drift in an internal combustion engine having a variable valve drive.
In internal combustion engines which are operated with gas, the necessary mixture mass of air and gas is determined using a volumetric efficiency characteristic diagram. Such engine control functions very reliably with a rigid valve drive.
However, with a variable valve drive changes occur in the valve behavior during the operation of the internal combustion engine. These changes are also referred to as valve drift. These changes can be caused by external influences or by ageing processes in a valve or in the valve control, as a result of which changes occur in the opening behavior or the closing behavior. For example, the changes in the valve behavior can be caused by the hydraulic components or by the masses to be moved. Further causes can be e.g. changes in the friction conditions, wear of the valve plates or surface roughening of the valve plates. As a result, the volumetric efficiency characteristic diagram is no longer up to date and therefore the mixture mass can no longer be determined with sufficient precision. This influences the running behavior of the internal combustion engine and its efficiency. A mixture mass which is adapted to the respective operating conditions of the internal combustion engine gives rise to knocking or misfires.

Method for compensating valve drift in an internal combustion engine