In a noise suppression apparatus for suppressing noise contained in a speech signal, the speech signal is converted to a first vector of spectral speech components and a second vector of spectral speech components identical to the first vector. A vector of noise suppression coefficients is determined based on the first vector spectral speech components. A vector of estimated noise components is determined based on the first vector spectral speech components, and a speech section correction factor and a nonspeech section correction factor are calculated from the estimated noise components and the first-vector spectral speech components to produce a combined correction factor. The noise suppression coefficients are weighted by the combined correction factor to produce a vector of post-suppression coefficients. The second vector spectral speech components are weighted by the post-suppression coefficients to produce a vector of enhanced speech components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for suppressing noise in a noisy speech signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Noise suppression is a technique that involves estimating the power spectrum of a noise component introduced to an input noisy speech signal using a frequency-domain signal and subtracting the estimated power spectrum from the noisy speech signal. By continuously estimating the noise component, the noise suppression technique is also useful for suppressing nonstationary noise. The noise suppressor of this type is described in Japanese Patent Publication 2002-204175. FIG. 1 illustrates the noise suppressor of this patent publication. As illustrated, samples of a noisy speech signal are supplied to a frame decomposition and windowing circuit 1, which divides the signal into frames with K/2 samples where K represents an even number. The frames are multiplied by a window function w(t). A signal yn(t)=w(t)yn(t) is produced by windowing the nth-frame of the noisy speech signal yn(t) (t=0, 1, . . . , (K/2)−1). For real-numbers, symmetrical window functions are used. The window function is designed so that, when the noise suppression coefficient is 1, the input and output signals coincide with each other (i.e., w(t)+w(t+K/2)=1). If two consecutive frames are windowed as such, the well-known Hanning window w(t) is used:
      w              (      t      )        =      {                                                      0.5              +                              0.5                                                                                cos                                                        (                                                                  π                                                                          (                                                      t                            -                                                          K                              /                              2                                                                                )                                                                                K                        /                        2                                                              )                                                                        ,                                                0            ≤            t            <            K                                                            0            ,                                    otherwise                    The windowed speech frame yn(t) is supplied to a Fourier Transform converter 2 where the speech frame is converted to a vector of K frequency spectral speech components Yn=(Yn(0), Yn(1), . . . , Yn(K−1)). This vector of spectral speech components is separated into a vector of K phase components arg Yn=(arg Yn(0), arg Yn(1), . . . , arg Yn(K−1)) and a vector of K amplitude components |Yn|=(|Yn(0)|, |Yn(1) |, . . . , |Yn(K−1)|), the former being supplied to a multiplier 10 and the latter being fed to a squaring circuit 3 where the K amplitude spectral speech components are mutually squared in K multipliers 30˜3K-1. The squared values |Yn|2=(|Yn(0)|2, |Yn(1) |2, . . . , |Yn(K−1)|2) represents the power spectrum of a noisy speech. The outputs of the squaring circuit 3 are supplied to a power spectrum weighting circuit 4 (FIG. 2) where weighting is performed on the K frequency spectral speech components.
In FIG. 2, this power spectrum weighting is achieved first by calculating spectral signal-to-noise ratios using an array of dividers 410˜41K-1 to divide the K speech power components |Yn|2 by a vector of K noise power spectral components λn-1 which were estimated during a previous frame in a noise estimation circuit 5 and stored in a memory 42, producing a vector of SNR values {circumflex over (γ)}n=|Yn|2/λn-1. These SNR values are then subjected to a nonlinear processing through a vector of nonlinear weighting circuits 430˜43K-1 each having a nonlinear function of the form:
      f    2    =      {                                        1            ,                                                              f              1                        ≤            a                                                                                f                  1                                -                b                                            a                -                b                                      ,                                                a            <                          f              1                        <            b                                                            0            ,                                                b            <                          f              1                                          where, "a" and "b" are arbitrary real numbers. Each nonlinear weighting circuit 43 produces a weight value that equals 0 when the input SNR value is larger than "b" and 1 when the SNR is smaller than "a" and assumes a value anywhere between 0 and 1 that is inversely variable in proportion to the SNR value. Finally, the input K spectral speech power components |Yn|2 are multiplied respectively by the K weighting factors using a spectral multiplier 44 to produce a vector of weighted power spectral speech components. This vector of weighted power spectral speech components is supplied to a noise estimation circuit 5 (FIG. 3) to which the spectral power speech components |Yn|2 are also supplied from the squaring circuit 3. The nonlinear weighting by the circuits 43 is to reduce the adverse effect of the voiced components of the noisy speech power spectrum on estimating its noise components.
In FIG. 3, the K weighted spectral power speech components from the power spectrum weighting circuit 4 and the non-weighted K spectral power speech components from the squaring circuit 3 are respectively processed through noise calculators 500˜50K-1. In each noise calculator 50, the weighted component is passed through a gate 54 of a register update decision circuit 51 to a shift register 55 when the gate 54 is turned ON in response to a "1" from OR gate 511. This results in the shift register 55 being updated with a new spectral component. This shift-register update occurs when the initial period detector 512 supplies a "1" to OR gate 511 during the initial start-up time of the noise suppressor, or when the magnitude of the non-weighted power spectral components is low, indicating that it is a speech absence signal or a voiced low-level signal. In the latter case, the comparator 515 supplies a "1" to the OR gate 511 after comparison with a decision threshold that was stored in a memory 514 during the previous frame interval by a threshold calculator 513. A sample counter 59 increments its count value in response to a logical-1 output from the OR gate 511 to determine the number of weighed power spectral components stored in the shift register 55 during each frame interval. The counter is reset to zero when the count value becomes equal to the length of the shift register 55. The output of the counter 59 is compared in a minimum selector 57 with the length of the shift register 55. Minimum selector 57 selects the smaller of the two as a value M. The total sum of the M components Bn,0(k), Bn,1(k), . . . , Bn,M−1(k), which are stored in the shift register 55 during a frame "n" is calculated by an adder 56 and divided by the value M in a division circuit 58 to produce an output λn(k) as follows:
            λ      n                  (      k      )        =            1      M                          ∑                  m          =          0                          M          -          1                                            B                      n            ,            m                                            (          k          )
Since the output of sample counter 59 increases monotonically from the instant the noise suppressor is started, the division operation proceeds using initially the sample counter output. As the process continues, the sample counter 59 increases its output and eventually becomes higher than the register length, whereupon the division operation proceeds using the register length as a divisor. When the register length is used, the division output λn represents an average power of the total sum of the weighted power spectral speech components. The quotient value λn of the division operation is supplied to the threshold calculator 513, which multiplies the input value by a predetermined number or by a high-order polynomial or non-linear function, to produce a decision threshold to be used in the comparator 515 during the next frame. The quotient λn is the estimated noise that is supplied as a feedback signal to the power spectrum weighting circuit 4 and stored in its memory 42 to update the weighted power spectral noise components for the next frame.
Returning to FIG. 1, in an a-posteriori SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) calculator 6, the speech power spectral components |Yn|2 of the squaring circuit 3 are respectively divided by the estimated noise power spectral components λn of the noise estimation circuit 5 to produce a vector of a-posteriori SNR values γn, which are in turn supplied to an a-priori (a priori) SNR estimation circuit 7 (FIG. 4).
In FIG. 4, the a-posteriori (a posteriori) SNR values γn are each summed with "−1" in adders 70, producing a vector of {γn(0)−1}, {γn(1)−1}, . . . , {γn(k−1)−1}, which are restricted in range in a range restriction circuit 71 using maximum selectors 710˜71K-1. The maximum selectors compare their input with a value "zero" and select the greater of the two according to the relation P[x]=x, if x>0 and 0 if x≦0 and deliver outputs P[γn(k)−1] to multiply-and-add circuits 770˜77K-1. The a-posteriori SNR values γn(k) from a-posteriori SNR calculator 6 are also stored in a memory 72 for a frame interval and then supplied to a multiplier 75 as a vector of previous-frame a-posteriori SNR values γn-1(0)˜γn-1(K−1). These previous frame a-posteriori SNR values are multiplied by a vector of squared corrected noise suppression coefficients of previous frame Gn-12 that is supplied from a squaring circuit 74 to produce and supply a vector of values γn-1 Gn-12 to the multiply-and-add circuits 770˜77K-1 as a vector of estimated SNR values of previous frame. To generate Gn-12 a vector of corrected noise suppression coefficients Gn is received from a noise suppression coefficients corrector 9 and stored in a memory 73 for a frame interval and squared in a squaring circuit 74 to produce Gn-12. In each multiply-and-add circuit 77, the input signal P[γn-1(k)−1] from the corresponding maximum selector 71 is multiplied in a multiplier 771 by a factor (1−α) (where α is a weight value), and the previous-frame estimated SNR values γn-1(k) Gn-12 from the multiplication circuit 75 are multiplied in a multiplier 772 by the weight value α and summed with the output of multiplier 771 to produce an estimated a-priori SNR value in {circumflex over (ξ)}n=αγn-1 Gn-12+(1−α)P[γn−1], where G−12γ−1=1. The estimated a-priori SNR values {circumflex over (ξ)}n(0)˜{circumflex over (ξ)}n(K−1) are supplied to a noise suppression coefficients calculator 8 (FIG. 5) and noise suppression coefficients corrector 9 (FIG. 6).
In FIG. 5, in addition to the estimated a-priori SNR vector {circumflex over (ξ)}n=({circumflex over (ξ)}n(0),{circumflex over (ξ)}n(1), . . . , {circumflex over (ξ)}n(K−0)) from the a-priori SNR calculator 7, the noise suppression coefficients calculator 8 receives the a-posteriori SNR vector γn=γn(0)˜γn(K−1) from the a-posteriori SNR calculator 6. Noise suppression coefficients calculator 8 includes a MMSE-STSA (Minimum Mean Sequence Error Short Time Spectral Amplitude) gain function value calculator 81 and a GLR (Generalized Likelihood Ratio) calculator 82. For each spectral component, the MMSE-STSA gain function calculator 81 uses the a-posteriori SNR values γn and the a-priori SNR values {circumflex over (ξ)}n and a speech absence probability "q" to calculate an MMSE-STSA gain function Gn as follows:
      G    n    =                    π            2                                    v          n                            γ        n                                exp                          (                      -                                          v                n                            2                                )                                  [                                            (                              1                +                                  v                  n                                            )                                                                  I                0                                                          (                                                      v                    n                                    2                                )                                              +                                    v              n                                                                  I                1                                                          (                                                      v                    n                                    2                                )                                                    ]            where, I0(z)=Zero-order modified Bessel function,
I1(z)=First-order modified Bessel function,νn=(ηnγn)/(1+ηn), andηn={circumflex over (ξ)}n/(1−q).Using the same values of a-posteriori and a-priori SNR and speech absence probability as those used in the calculator 81, the GLR calculator 82 calculates a vector of K generalized likelihood ratios Λn as follows:
      Λ    n    =                    1        -        q            q                          exp                                                            v          n                            1        +                  η          n                    The gain function Gn and the GLR value Λn are used in a calculation circuit 83 to provide a noise suppression coefficients corrector 9 (FIG. 6) with a vector of noise suppression coefficients Gn given by:
            G      _        n    =                    Λ        n                              Λ          n                +        1                        G      n
In FIG. 6, the noise suppression coefficients Gn and the a-priori SNR values ξn are supplied to noise suppression coefficient correction circuits 910˜91K-1. Each a-priori SNR value is compared in a comparator 911 with a threshold value to produce a control signal for a selector 912, through which the noise suppression coefficient is selectively coupled to a maximum selector 914 either via a multiplier 913 or a through-connection depending on the magnitude of the a-priori SNR value relative to the threshold value. When the a-priori SNR value is lower than the threshold value, the selector 912 is switched to the lower position, coupling the noise suppression coefficient to the multiplier 913 where it is scaled by a correction value. Otherwise, the selector 912 is switched to the upper position, coupling the noise suppression coefficient direct to the maximum selector 914. Maximum selector 914 compares the input signal with a lower limit value of correction and delivers the greater of the two to a multiplier 10.
Returning to FIG. 1, the multiplier 10 multiplies the corrected noise suppression coefficients Gn by the speech amplitude spectral components |Yn| supplied from the Fourier transform converter 2 to produce enhanced speech amplitude spectral components | Xn|= Gn|Yn|. The latter is multiplied by the phase components arg Yn in a multiplier 11 to produce enhanced speech spectral components Xn=| Xn|arg Yn. Inverse Fourier transform is performed on the enhanced speech components in an inverse Fourier transform converter 12 to produce a speech frame containing a series of K time-domain components xn(t), where t=0, 1, . . . , K−1. The K/2 time-domain components of successive two speech frames are combined in a frame synthesis 13 into enhanced speech samples of the form {circumflex over (x)}n(t)= xn-1(t+K/2)+ xn(t).
However, the noise suppression coefficients of the prior art noise suppressor are calculated using the same algorithm without distinction between speech sections and noise sections. As a result, speech distortions can occur in speech sections, while suppression in noise sections is insufficient.

Method and apparatus for noise suppression


A portable computerized pari-mutuel sport system which includes a television, a video cassette recorder, a computer, a keypad, a receipt printer, and a computer program which controls the computer and, if desired, the video cassette recorder so that as betting continues, the betting information is conveyed to the computer where the odds are recalculated and displayed on the television.

This invention relates to a portable apparatus for off-site betting on sport events. In particular, it is designed to provide a method and apparatus for utilization by large groups, i.e., more than about 50 people, to participate in the fun and excitement of an event such as a horse race, without being at the event itself. Such activities are used as fund raising events for charitable organizations, for fun at a resort, or at a gambling casino, or corporate entertainment.
This system is completely portable and can be set up in minutes. The system is simple to operate and only a few minutes of training are necessary for the operators. No computer experience is necessary. Also, because of the system's portability and simplicity, it is well suited as a rental unit to any organization wishing to conduct a "Night At The Races". About the only equipment required by the sponsoring organization is a television set and a video cassette recorder (VCR).
Thus, one of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a method and equipment for operating a betting game away from the site of the event using a computer, computer program for operating the computer, computer television interface, a keypad for keying betting information into the computer, a printer for printing receipts for the bets keyed into the computer, a video cassette recorder (VCR) for playing a tape of a sport event, and a television set for displaying the event and the odds and/or payoffs on the event. These and other objects and advantages will become apparent hereinafter.

Portable computerized pari-mutuel sports entertainment system


A scapholunate stabilisation implant includes a central part having an elastic deformation capacity enabling the traction movements of the implant, and two end parts having an elastic deformation capacity enabling the torsional movements of the implant, the end parts being provided with at least one hole through which the fixing screw is passed, the central part and the end parts being connected by rods that can withstand the torsional deformations of the implant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a scapholunate stabilization implant.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
The scaphoid and the semilunate are two of the eight bones constituting the carpus of the hand. During a severe fall involving an impact on the wrist the intra-articular ligament connecting these two bones, called the scapholunate ligament, can suffer lesions such as a laceration, a tear . . . The failure of this ligament creates an instability which leads to an early arthrosis.
Interventions are available for the repair of this ligament depending on the extent of the injury:                interventions on the soft tissues;        fusions of bones.
If the lesion is taken care of early enough by a surgeon, the latter can perform a suture or a ligamentary reinsertion which is only feasible if the ligament is still vascularized. Ligamentary reinsertion associated to capsulodesis is the technique presently used most often. Whatever technique is used, if it allows bringing the bones closer together and to reduce the scaphoid in an efficient manner, after having suppressed intra-articular fibrosis, the result can be good. However, these techniques on soft tissues are to be reserved for dynamic instabilities or for static instabilities that are easily reducible. Although it is possible with these techniques to restore the dynamics of the wrist and although the danger of the appearance of arthrosis has been avoided, the injured ligament never regains its initial capacities.
In case the lesion is not quickly looked after, the damage caused by friction of the scaphoid and the semilunate maybe irreversible and bone fusion needs to be considered. Bone fusions radically modify the mechanics of the wrist. Although bone fusions are reliable over the long term, these interventions present numerous disadvantages, the main one being the risk of pseudarthrosis. Furthermore, these interventions are often stiffening in flexion and in extension so that the patient loses a good part of these capacities of movement. Lastly, the risk of a new rupture after anatomical repair of the ligament is not negligible.
In another extreme case, ablation of the two bones may have to be considered.
Also known are prosthetic devices as replacement of the scapholunate ligament.
Most often, these devices are constituted by two plates intended to be anchored in each of the two bones to be reconnected, or to be fastened on the latter, and by a rod or a wire for making the connection of said two plates.
The disadvantage of such devices is that they are generally constituted, in part, by metallic elements. So there is a risk of osseous adherence. In fact, when an implant is present in an organism over a lengthy period, the bone has a tendency to "re-grow" on the implant and to partially cover it. It can then be impossible to remove it in its entirety which can be problematic, particularly during subsequent surgical interventions.
Furthermore, presently available devices require, in most cases, immobilization of the wrist with a splint or a plaster cast for a duration of 6 to 8 weeks, which prevents any premature mobilization and leads to a stiffening of the wrist.
To remedy these disadvantages, a scapholunate stabilization implant has been proposed in document FR-2951072.
This stabilization implant of a generally trapezoid shape capable of replacing the broken scapholunate ligament or of reinforcing the injured scapholunate ligament, is constituted by a plate of oblong shape made of a material having a capacity of elastic deformation the ends of which being provided with at least one hole for the passage of fastening screws and the central part of which presents an opening delimited by two opposing sides, a spring of predetermined stiffness connecting two distant points, preferably two opposite points of said sides, this spring being positioned along the diagonal, in said opening.
This device makes possible in particular:                supply of an implant which efficiently performs the functions of the scapholunate ligament,        rapid and precise installation of this implant,        feasibility of relative movements of the scaphoid and the semilunate, which is to say good functioning of the wrist.
Utilization of this device has nevertheless made it possible to observe that it was desirable to make a few significant modifications with the aim of improving its performance.
For example, according to the implant described in document FR-2951072, the geometry of the implant is such that it does not support well the twisting movements in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the implant whereas the scaphoid and the semilunate are two bones that turn, one in relation to the other during certain movements of the hand.
One aim of the present invention is to provide orthopedic surgeons with a simple stabilization implant that is flexible, resistant and not very invasive, creating a mechanical connection between the scaphoid and the semilunate, reproducing the role of the scapholunate ligament, allowing to reestablish the initial mobility of the wrist bones (scaphoid and semilunate) and without the disadvantages mentioned above.
The device has been designed for the purpose of enabling the relative movements of the scaphoid and the semilunate while resisting the stresses imposed on them.

Biotech Ortho and Universite D'aix Marseille


An energy transferring system including a source-side resonator, an intermediate resonant module, and a device-side resonator is provided. The three resonators substantially have the same resonant frequency for generating resonance. The energy on the source-side resonator is coupled to the intermediate resonant module, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module. The energy coupled to the intermediate resonant module is further coupled to the device-side resonator, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the intermediate resonant module and the device-side resonator to achieve energy transfer between the source-side resonator and the device-side resonator. The coupling coefficient between the intermediate resonant module and its two adjacent resonators is larger than the coupling coefficient between the source-side resonator and the device-side resonator. The invention has the advantages of high transmission efficiency, small volume, low cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to an energy transferring device and a method thereof, and more particularly to an energy transferring device which achieves energy transfer through energy coupling between resonators and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many techniques of wireless transmission already used in the field of communication. Currently, conventional techniques of wireless transmission are mostly used in the reception and transmission of signals, and are hence only applicable to the transmission of low power signals.
As there are more and more electronic products adopt wireless transmission, the development of wireless transmission applicable to high power signals attracts more and more attention. United State Patent No. US2007/0222542 disclosed a wireless non-radiative energy transferor capable of transferring energy by a wireless power transfer (WPT) to transfer the power of a resonator to another resonator by way of resonance.
To achieve a predetermined level of transferring efficiency, the above transferor requires a high Q-factor resonator. However, such Q-factor resonator, which occupies a large volume and costs a lot, cannot be used in ordinary electronic products. Moreover, when the transferring distance is remote, the transferor can only achieve low efficiency in the transfer of energy. Therefore, how to design a wireless power transferring system having the features of small volume, low cost, and high transfer efficiency has become an important direction to people in the field of power transfer.

Energy transferring system and method thereof


A method and system provide capacity-efficient restoration within an optical fiber communication system. The system includes a plurality of nodes each interconnected by optical fibers. Each optical fiber connection between nodes includes at least three channel groups with different priority levels for restoration switching in response to a connection failure. The system maintains and restores full-capacity communication services by switching at least a portion of the channel groups from a first optical fiber connection to a second optical fiber connection system based on the priority levels assigned to the channel groups. Service reliability is effectively maintained without incurring additional costs for dedicated spare optical fiber equipment by improving idle capacity utilization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical communication systems. It particularly relates to a capacity-efficient restoration architecture for an optical communication system.
2. Background Art
The operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of optical fiber communication systems are described in the Synchronous Optical Network/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH) standards as specified by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Telecommunication Unionxe2x80x94Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). SDH is specified in ITU-T G.707 Recommendation, Network node interface for the SDH.
Typical optical fiber communication systems comprise a combination of transmitters, receivers, optical combiners, optical fibers, optical amplifiers, optical connectors, and splitters. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) or Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) systems also comprise couplers to enable multiple wavelength transmission over the same optical fiber. Typical optical system configurations include mesh networks and ring networks. Ring networks commonly comprise two fiber pairs connecting a plurality of nodes in a loop. One fiber pair carries bi-directional aggregate traffic between pairs of nodes in the ring. The second fiber pair is used to re-route traffic when there is a failure in the ring on a shared basis. A two-fiber ring is also available in which half the capacity within a fiber is reserved for traffic restoration. Mesh networks commonly comprise a plurality of nodes wherein a node can be connected to more than two nodes in the network enabling enhanced network reliability and higher capacity efficiency when a link failure occurs.
Optical fibers carry far greater amounts of information than carried by other communication media (e.g., electrical cables). Under the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET"") standard, the commonly used OC-48 protocol operates at 2.488 Gbps supporting a capacity equivalent to over 32,000 voice circuits. The next highest protocol, OC-192, operates at 9.953 Gbps supporting a capacity equivalent to over 128,000 voice circuits. Therefore, robustness and reliability is required from such high-capacity, long-haul systems. Indeed, most Transatlantic cable systems (TAT), undersea systems which carry international telecommunication traffic, are required to have at least 25 year reliability.
However, since reliability is never absolute most optical systems require a restoration scheme to maintain some level of system performance despite fiber outages, amplifier failures, and some other equipment failure. Several common restoration schemes commercially used include those specified in the SONET standard in a point-to-point single link configuration or a ring network configuration.
Examples of these standardized traditional protection schemes are shown in FIGS. 1, 2. Particularly, FIG. 1 shows a typical one-line point-to-point 1:1 protection system in a Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) scheme wherein nodes A, B are linked nodes within an optical fiber communication system. The system shown operates in accordance with the SONET/SDH standard, the standard for synchronous data transmission on optical media.
The protection system architecture 100 includes protection switches 110, 190, working and protection link 150, and dense wavelength division multiplexers (DWDMs) 120, 160. Working and protection link 150 commonly comprises a single or multiple (cable bundle of fibers) optical fiber connection between nodes A, B. Protection switches 110, 190 commonly comprise optical-to-electrical transducers and/or optical layer cross-connection switches that provide communication service connectivity between the protection system 100 and other communication devices (e.g., customer premises equipment). There exists a one-to-one correspondence between working channels (lines) 130, 170 and protection channels (lines) 140, 180. However, both working and protection channels 130, 170, 140, 180 are multiplexed by the DWDMs on to a single optical fiber connection between DWDMs 120, 160 for one direction (e.g., A to B). Another corresponding fiber is typically used for the other direction traffic from B to A.
In response to a failure in the transmitter or receiver or cabling for a working line, the SONET/SDH signals carried by working lines 130, 170 are switched from the working lines 130, 170 to the protection lines 140, 180 by protection switches 110, 190. However, since both working lines 130, 170 and protection lines 140, 180 are carried by the same working and protection link 150, a fiber cut in link 150 or a failure in DWDMs 120, 160 or in an optical amplifier for link 150 completely terminates optical communication services between nodes A, B over link 150. To resume service, alternate routing (not shown) would be necessary that can be accomplished through ring switch or mesh restoration means.
FIG. 2 shows the same protection configuration but now with a two-line point-to-point 1:1 protection architecture 200. The protection system architecture 200 includes protection switches 210, 295 working link 250 and protection link 260, and DWDMs 220, 270. DWDMs 220, 270 multiplex working lines 230, 280 and protection lines 240, 290 on to separate working link 250 and protection link 260 between nodes A, B.
For this protection scheme, in response to a failure in the transmitter or receiver or cabling for a working line as well as an optical amplifier or DWDM failure, the SONET/SDH signals carried by working lines 230, 280 are switched from the working lines 230, 280 to the protection lines 240, 290 by protection switches 210, 295. However, again, to resume service when both working and protection links 250, 260 both fail or are cut because the fibers in lines 250 and 260 are in the same cable, alternate routing (not shown) would be necessary that can be accomplished through ring switch or mesh restoration means.
Both 1-line or 2-line 1:1 DWDM systems shown in FIGS. 1, 2 are inefficient in terms of utilization of protection capacity. Both systems use 100% idle capacity that either does not generate any revenue or provides low-grade service on the protection lines. This low-grade service can be preempted when there is a failure of the primary revenue-generating service.
FIGS. 3, 4 again show a commonly-used optical restoration system architecture that provides communication services in accordance with the SONET standard. Particularly, FIG. 3 shows a one-line 1:N protection system using DWDM. The protection system architecture 300 includes protection switches 310, 390 working and protection link 350, and DWDMs 340, 360. Nodes A, B within the system are interconnected by working and protection link 350. In the 1:N protection scheme, there is one dedicated protection channel (line) 330, 380 for each group of N (N greater than 1) working channels (lines) 320, 370. A typical example may be ten groups of 4 (N=4) working channels therein resulting in 10 protection channels for a total number of 40 working channels. In the illustrative example shown in FIG. 2(a), a transmitter/receiver failure on one of a group of N working channels 320, 370 is protected by switching to a protection channel 330, 380 dedicated for that group. Again, due to the one-line scheme for working and protection link 350, an optical amplifier failure or fiber cut results in a termination of communication services between nodes A, B over link 350. Working channels 320, 370 must be re-routed using a ring or mesh restoration network (not shown).
Similarly, FIG. 4 shows a two-line 1:N (N greater than 1) protection system using DWDM. The protection system architecture 400 includes protection switches 410, 495 working link 450 and protection link 460, and DWDMs 440, 470. Nodes A, B within the system are interconnected by working link 450 and protection link 460. For a DWDM or optical amplifier failure, or fiber cut even in a two-line DWDM configuration, (Nxe2x88x921) channels from each group of N working channels 420 will not be restored. Therefore, in our current example assuming ten groups of 4 (N=4) working channels, there are only 10 restoration channels resulting in 30 channels [(Nxe2x88x921)*10] not being restored.
Additionally, even a 2-line 1:N protection using DWDM does not efficiently utilize idle capacity. When the working DWDM link 450 is used to its maximum capacity, only 1/N fraction (e.g., xc2xc fraction for current example) of the working channels 420 is used in the protection DWDM link 460 thereby not utilizing the protection DWDM link 460 to its maximum capacity. Therefore, the two-line 1:N protection system inefficiently utilizes the capacity of the protection link although it is more capacity-efficient than the two-line 1:1 protection system which has 100% idle capacity. However, the two-line 1:1 protection system offers better reliability as all working channels in the failed working link will be effectively switched to the idle protection link as contrasted to the 1/N protection capability of the two-line 1:N system.
Another category of restoration schemes include systems which are not confined to a single link. These systems include Bi-directional line switched rings (BLSR) and mesh restoration. These systems have the advantage that the protection capacity is utilized on a shared basis for failures in multiple links within the ring. Particularly, BLSRs typically comprise four fiber rings wherein traffic in one direction travels on one fiber pair while traffic in the opposite direction travels on the other fiber pair. This scheme uses 1:1 configuration for each link of the ring, but the same protection lines of the links of a ring are also used for protection against a fiber cut type of failure when both working and protection lines of another link fail. For failures which affect only the working channel on a route, the signal is protected by using the 1:1 protection scheme previously described. For failures that affect both the working and protection lines of a route, the signal is restored using the protection line carrying traffic traveling around the other direction of the system. The same protection line is used on a shared basis when both working and protection channels fail anywhere within the ring. It would require much more capacity to provide similar reliability as a BLSR against fiber cuts using a 1:1 protection scheme. In the 1:1 scheme, the working line and the protection line between any pair of protection switch systems need to be routed via DWDMs in the opposite directions in the loop.
However, the BLSR system still does not offer the most capacity efficient network when typically there are more than two fiber routes at most of the nodes. This system is limited to particular applications and to only two types of service grades due to the two-fiber architecture. These two grades are the fully-protected service on the working channels in a fiber or the pre-emptable service carried by the protection channels.
A mesh restoration scheme offers some additional advantage by sharing the protection capacity more efficiently than BLSR. Mesh restoration offers 1-line or 2-line 1:1 protection for each link or some mesh restoration architectures use a 1:N protection scheme for each link. The protection channels are also used for restoration against a link failure. Again, 1:1 protection makes inefficient use of protection capacity while 1:N protection offers lower reliability for working channels or poor utilization of DWDM capacity in 2-line 1:N protection configuration.
In view of the above, there is a need to maintain capacity without incurring additional costs when restoring optical communication links. Idle capacity utilization needs to be improved while providing multiple grades of protection (varying priority levels) for different type of communication services. Due to the disadvantages of prior restoration techniques, there is a need to restore communication links and paths while still limiting costs and still maintaining capacity. The present invention describes such a capacity-efficient restoration architecture that dynamically restores failed optical communication links without incurring costs from idle protection links while still maintaining the same capacity or in some instances actually improving capacity from the failed link.
The present invention overcomes the previously mentioned disadvantages by using a hybrid protection architecture for an optical communication system comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes. The protection scheme uses a two-line optical fiber connection for each link between nodes but is not 1:1 protection. At least three channel groups are carried by each line wherein each channel group is assigned a different priority level for restoration. In response to a failure on a line, channels are switched in descending priority level to available restoration channels on another line or link to maintain optical communication services connectivity.

Method and apparatus for capacity-efficient restoration in an optical communication system


There is disclosed an optical connector for use in an endoscope. The optical connector includes a connector body for fixedly receiving one end portion of a light guide, and a retainer receiving an optical element. The retainer is threaded on the connector body to such an extent that an abutment surface of the retainer is abutted against a stopper surface of the connector body. An annular flange is formed on an inner periphery of the retainer adjacent to a distal open end of the retainer. The optical element and an annular elastic member are disposed between the flange of the retainer and a distal end surface of the connector body. The elastic member urges the optical element against the flange, thereby keeping the optical element away a predetermined distance from the one end of the light guide.

This invention relates to an optical connector and an endoscope provided with an optical connector.
An optical connector disclosed in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,958 comprises a tubular connector body. One end portion of an optical fiber is inserted into and fixed to this connector body. A tubular retainer is threaded on the outer periphery of the connector body. This retainer has an annular flange formed on its inner periphery adjacent to its open distal end. A spherical lens (optical element) is received within the retainer. The spherical lens is disposed between the flange of the retainer and a conical surface formed on the distal end of the connector body, and is exposed to the exterior via the open distal end of the retainer. The retainer is threaded on the connector body until the spherical lens is brought into contact with the conical surface on the distal end of the connector body and the flange of the retainer, so that the spherical lens is firmly supported.
In the above optical connector, the spherical lens is firmly held between the flange of the retainer and the connector body, and therefore when the connector is not in use, the spherical lens exposed to the exterior, upon striking against a rigid object, may be damaged by an impact force. Also, there is a possibility that the spherical lens may be damaged by a thermal stress caused by the heat from a light source device. Although an O-ring of an elastic material is mounted within the retainer, this O-ring is used merely for sealing purposes, and does not perform any function of supporting the spherical lens.
An optical connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,754 comprises a tubular connector body into which one end portion of an optical fiber is fixedly inserted, and a tubular retainer threaded on the outer periphery of the connector body. A flange is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the retainer intermediate the opposite ends thereof, and an annular holder plate is fixedly secured to the distal end surface of the retainer. Mounted within the retainer are a glass plate disposed between the flange and the holder plate, and a pair of O-rings disposed respectively on the opposite sides of the glass plate. In this optical connector, an impact against the glass plate can be absorbed by the pair of O-rings; however, since the glass plate is held between the pair of O-rings, the position of the glass plate relative to the end face of the optical fiber can not be maintained with high precision.
An endoscope disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 56-47014 comprises an endoscope body, a flexible insertion tube extending forwardly from the endoscope body and having at its distal end portion an illumination window and an inspection window, and a light guide tube extending laterally from the endoscope body. An optical connector of a cylindrical shape is attached to the distal end of the light guide tube. The endoscope further comprises an optical fiber bundle whose one end portion is inserted into and fixed to the optical connector. The optical fiber bundle is passed through the light guide tube, the endoscope body and the insertion tube, and is opposed at the other end thereof to the illumination window. As shown in FIG. 4 of the above publication, the optical connector comprises a tubular connector body into which the one end portion of the optical fiber bundle is fixedly inserted, a retainer threaded on the outer periphery of the connector body, and a cover glass plate fixedly mounted on an open distal end of the retainer. The cover glass plate serves to protect the one end face of the optical fiber bundle. The optical connector is inserted into a housing of a light source device, and in this inserted condition, the distal end of the optical connector is disposed in opposed relation to a light source. Illumination light from the light source is incident on the one end face of the optical fiber bundle via the cover glass plate, and is passed through the optical fiber bundle, and is emitted from the other end face of the optical fiber bundle into a body cavity via the illumination window.
In the optical connector of the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 56-47014, also, since the cover glass plate is fixedly mounted on the retainer, this plate may be damaged upon striking against a rigid body or upon reception of a thermal stress. Constructions analogous to this optical connector are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 56-66908 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-32243. In this Utility Model Publication No. 62-32243, instead of a cover glass plate, a fiber conduit is fixedly mounted on a retainer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,937 discloses an endoscope in which a light guide tube is detachably connected to an endoscope body. Other prior art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,710,091, 3,724,383, 4,307,934, 4,846,544 and 4,850,669.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 500,491 filed Mar. 28, 1990 and European Patent Application No. 90303515.2 (corresponding to this U.S. Patent Application) filed Apr. 2, 1990 disclose a connector for an endoscope which is analogous in construction to the present invention, but is not provided with an O-ring of an elastic material.

Optical connector and endoscope with optical connector


A stitched assembly of a gathered fabric sandwiched between an overlying straight fabric and an underlying elastic strip. The stitch is a chain stitch with the loops of the looper thread directly applied against the elastic strip. The edges of the two fabrics may be joined by an overlock stitch effected in the same sewing operation.

The stitched assembly disclosed herein can be obtained through the use of applicant's patent entitled: "SEWING MACHINE" bearing U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,449 and issued Oct. 30, 1984. In this patent, there is embodied a modified sewing machine capable of performing in one operation the two heretofore separate procedures which were as follows:
(1) gathering the waist of a skirt, sleeve or the like; first fabric and retaining the gathered condition by a first line of stitching; and
(2) stitching the first fabric to a second fabric, such as a corsage and also to an elastic or non-elastic strip, which is applied directly to the first-gathered fabric.
When the strip is elastic, it can be sewn to the two fabrics under any suitable tension.
Briefly summarized the sewing machine of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,449 comprises a sewing machine provided with first differential second feed dogs adapted to catch and gather the first fabric and feed both fabric past the sewing needle. A guide device projecting angularly above the throat plate of the machine ensures that the second fabric will be fed steadily overlyingly the first fabric without being gathered by the front feed dogs. The throat plate is formed with a longitudinal forward groove adapted to guide the strip below the fabric being gathered. This guiding groove has no feed dogs to ensure that the strip is not in contact with gathering dogs. Therefore, the strip is not gathered itself while being stitched in the simultaneous operation.
It is known to stitch two pieces of fabric together, one gathered and the other straight or ungathered, with an elastic strip stitched to the two pieces of fabric. The disadvantage of such sewing resides in the fact that two separate operations have till now been necessary in order that the resulting stitched assembly complies with the aesthetic requirements of the trade. For instance, to sew the gathered top edge of a skirt to the ungathered lower edge of a corsage together with an elastic strip at the junction of the two pieces of fabric, the elastic strip must overlie the gathered fabric and not the ungathered fabric, otherwise the elastic strip would cause an unaesthetic and totally-unacceptable bulge in the corsage. The known manner is therefore first to gather and sew the top edge of the skirt in a first sewing operation and then sew the corsage and strip to the gathered skirt in a second sewing operation with the gathered skirt on top of the corsage and the elastic strip on top of the skirt. With this known manner, it is also very difficult to match the pattern of the two pieces of fabric. Moreover, since such separate operations are time-consuming and costly, it would be very desirable to have a stitched assembly in which the strip, the gathered fabric and the ungathered fabric are stitched together by a single line of stitching, with the strip directly applied to the gathered fabric.


A node device which participates in an overlay network formed by participation of all or part of a plurality of node devices which are connected to each other via a communication device. The node device includes a search information transmission device, a reply information receiving device, a communication load information device, a communication load comparison device, a node selection device and a participation request information transmission device. The search information transmission device transmits search information to search a node device transmitted to an information processing device connected to the communication device. The receiving device receives information replied from the plurality of node devices. The comparison device compares information regarding communication load in each of the communication routes. The selection device selects a node device on the basis of comparison result by the comparison device. The participation request information transmission device transmits the participation request information to the selected node device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a peer to peer (P2P) information delivery system including a plurality of node devices connected with each other via a network and method or the like thereof and, especially, relates to a technical field for a non-participating node device to participate in an overlay network which is formed by participation of all or part of the plurality of node devices.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the peer to peer information delivery system, for example, in an overlay network which is logically configured by use of a distributed hash table (hereinafter referred to as DHT), each of node devices which participates in the overlay network does not recognize link information (for example, IP address) of all the node devices, but retains only part of link information obtained on participation or the like and data inquiry or the like is performed on the basis of such link information.
In an overlay network thus structured, it is necessary that distribution of load be appropriately performed even when participation and withdrawal of node devices occur often. In Non-patent Document 1, a technique which enables appropriate distribution of load even when participation and withdrawal often occur is disclosed.
Non-patent Document 1: "Lightweight Load Balancing for Distributed Hash Table". Technical Report of the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers.
However, in the above conventional technique, locality, in other words, distance in a real network, is not considered with regard to link information of each of node devices. Therefore it is considered whether or not unnecessary load should be given to a real network.

Node device, information transfer processing program, and network participation processing method and the like


There is provided an optical element module comprising a first optical element and an optical element holder. The first optical element has a first coefficient of thermal expansion. The optical element holder holds the first optical element and has a second coefficient of thermal expansion, the second coefficient of thermal expansion being adapted to the first coefficient of thermal expansion. The optical element is directly contacting the optical element holder in a wide contact area. The contact area is defined by a first contact surface of the first optical element and a second contact surface of the optical element holder, wherein the second contact surface matches the first contact surface. Thus, favorable rigidity and deformation behavior is provided.

The invention relates to optical element modules used in exposure processes, in particular to optical element modules of microlithography systems. It further relates to optical element units comprising such optical element modules. It also relates to optical exposure apparatuses comprising such optical element units. Furthermore, it relates to a method of holding an optical element as well as a method of manufacturing such optical element modules. The invention may be used in the context of photolithography processes for fabricating microelectronic devices, in particular semiconductor devices, or in the context of fabricating devices, such as masks or reticles, used during such photolithography processes.
Typically, the optical systems used in the context of fabricating microelectronic devices such as semiconductor devices comprise a plurality of optical elements, such as lenses and mirrors etc., in the light path of the optical system. Those optical elements usually cooperate in an exposure process to transfer an image formed on a mask, reticle or the like onto a substrate such as a wafer. Said optical elements are usually combined in one or more functionally distinct optical element groups. These distinct optical element groups may be held by distinct optical element units. Such optical element units are often built from a stack of optical element modules holding one or more optical elements. These optical element modules usually comprise an external generally ring shaped support device supporting one or more optical element holders each, in turn, holding an optical element.
Optical element groups comprising at least mainly refractive optical elements, such as lenses, mostly have a straight common axis of symmetry of the optical elements usually referred to as the optical axis. Moreover, the optical element units holding such optical element groups often have an elongated substantially tubular design due to which they are typically referred to as lens barrels.
Due to the ongoing miniaturization of semiconductor devices there is a permanent need for enhanced resolution of the optical systems used for fabricating those semiconductor devices. This need for enhanced resolution obviously pushes the need for an increased numerical aperture and increased imaging accuracy of the optical system.
Furthermore, to reliably obtain high-quality semiconductor devices it is not only necessary to provide an optical system showing a high degree of imaging accuracy. It is also necessary to maintain such a high degree of accuracy throughout the entire exposure process and over the lifetime of the system. As a consequence, the optical elements of such an optical system must be supported in a defined manner in order to maintain a predetermined spatial relationship between said optical elements to provide a high quality exposure process.
In this context there exist, among others, two general requirements for the support of optical elements of the optical system. One is that the rigidity of the support system of the optical elements has to be as high as possible in certain directions, in particular in the direction of the optical axis, to keep the resonant frequencies of the system as high as possible. Furthermore, deformations of the optical elements of the optical system are to be avoided to the greatest possible extent in order to keep imaging errors resulting from such deformations as low as possible.
To avoid thermally induced deformations of an optical element due to differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the optical element and its optical element holder, it is known to connect the optical element and its optical element holder via deformation uncoupling elements. These deformation uncoupling elements generally allow for relative movements between the optical element and its optical element holder.
These deformation uncoupling elements may provide a reduction of the stresses and, thus, the deformations introduced into the optical element. However, they have the disadvantage that they also reduce the rigidity of the support system. To deal with this effect, the rigidity of the uncoupling elements might be increased, but this would reduce their deformation uncoupling abilities leading to increased stresses and, thus, the deformations introduced into the optical element.
Furthermore, it is known from US 2001/0039126 A1 (to Ebinuma et al.) to provide for an adaptation of the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between an optical element and a support ring contacting the optical element via three small contact pins and/or layers of adhesive material in order to reduce the introduction of thermally induced deformations into the optical element resulting from differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion. However, the small contact pins as well as the layers of adhesive are likely not to provide for a desirable long term stable and rigid connection between the optical element and the support structure.
A further problem that arises with the three point support disclosed in this document is the wave like deformation introduced into the optical element due to the local concentration of the reaction forces to the gravitational forces acting on the optical element.


A radial blowing device for a harvester thresher cleaning arrangement has at least two blowers each having a double impeller with two sets of blades, two wind passages each extending from a respective one of the impellers, and two partitions each subdividing a respective one of the wind passages into two half passages, so that each of the half passages communicates with a respective one of the sets of blades of a respective one of the impellers, and each of the partitions extends up to the rotor of a respective one of the impellers.

The present invention relates to a radial blowing device for a harvester thresher cleaning arrangement which is composed substantially of an upper sieve, a lower sieve and a guiding bottom. More particularly, it relates to a radial blowing device which has at least two blowers with wind passages, wherein each blower has as a double impeller including two sets of blades.
Radial blowing devices for cleaning arrangements of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. The German Pat. No. 289,559 describes a blowing device for a cleaning arrangement of a thresher, wherein baffles are arranged in an outlet passage to provide for uniform distribution of the air volume over the width of the outlet passage. This distribution is attained, as a rule, by such an arrangement of baffles that they can be adjusted relative to one another. The German Pat. No. 289,559 is based on the realization of the fact that especially in wide threshers when the ventilator housing is correspondingly wide, the distribution of the air volume aspirated through the lateral openings into the outlet passage, is not uniform, the air volume considerably decreases from the lateral walls of the passage toward the central region of the same, and thereby the material traveling on the sieve surfaces is not completely cleaned by the air stream in the central region of the sieve.
When one closely examines the operation of the blowing device disclosed in this patent which intends to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages, he will come to the conclusion that a uniform action upon the cleaning sieve over its entire working width in the construction with the openable baffles cannot be attained, inasmuch as the known blowing device has an impeller with blades which extend over the entire width of the blower. Subdivision of the blowing device into several partial blowers is not provided, which means that the air volume and air speed decrease toward the central region of the blowing device, they reach the zero value, whereas the baffles alone cannot provide for uniform distribution of the cleaning air.
A blowing device for a grain cleaning arrangement is further known, for example from the U.S. Pat. Nos. 236,340, 2,849,118 and 2,954,123, wherein two blowers are provided which have a common wind outlet passage subdivided by a vertical wall. These blowers do not have double impellers with two inflow separated sets of blades, and no wind baffle normal to the bottom of the wind passage is provided in the latter. For these reason, the cleaning air again cannot act upon the cleaning sieve uniformly over its entire working width. Moreover, the air volume and air speed at the side of the partial blowers are considerably greater than in the central region, whereby this known blowing device has the disadvantage it that it does not provide for a complete cleaning action.
Further, a ventilating device for grain cleaning machines is disclosed in the German Pat. No. 37,594 wherein an upper suction-and-pressure blower and a lower suction blower are provided, which are subdivided into two blowers located at a distance adjacent to one another and supported by a common shaft. The upper suction-and-pressure blower aspirates from a third cleaning arrangement still existing impurities of the machine and acts by the generated pressure air upon the uncleaned grain which travels through a sieve arranged under the vibrator, onto a return bottom. The grain which is cleaned by the upper blower runs through the double suction blower arranged below, so as to be freed from lighter admixtures. This arrangement ensures that with the utilization of two ventilator-units at three locations, cleaning of the grain is attained. However, in this known construction a subdivision of the blowers located at a distance adjacent to one another is not provided and a wind baffle is not arranged. Thereby uniform distribution of the cleaning air over the entire cross section of the outlet of the blowing device is also not guaranteed.
Finally, it is known from the German Auslegeschrift No. 1,403,495 that the radial blowing device is subdivided into at least three blowers with wind passages which aspirate air at both sides, and the air travels through the wind passage via a common outlet opening. Each blower has a double impeller with two inflow separated sets of blades, wherein at least two wind baffles are arranged in the wind passage of each blower normal to the bottom. This arrangement also does not provide for uniform air distribution over the entire region of the cleaning arrangement, inasmuch as one of the wind baffles is arranged at a relatively great distance from the double impeller and thereby turbulence takes place between the double impeller and the wind baffles. On the other hand, this is because the air stream generated from the separate blowers is no longer guided after it leaves the wind passages.

Radial blowing device for a cleaning arrangement of a harvester thresher


A polishing head of a polishing apparatus of this invention has a structure in which an air blast port is formed in a lower surface of a carrier 20, and an upper outer peripheral portion 24 of the carrier is so formed as to protrude in a diametric direction, and is placed on a retainer ring 30 to thereby form a seal portion 25. The retainer ring clamps a peripheral edge of a rubber sheet in such a form as to cover the carrier. Consequently, an air chamber 61 is formed between the carrier lower surface and the rubber sheet, and an air pressure of this air chamber pushes a wafer W to a polishing cloth 2.

This application claims priority of Japan patent Application No. 2000-024082, filed on Feb. 1, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of a polishing head of a polishing apparatus of a semiconductor wafer by CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) and, more particularly, to a structure of a polishing head floating on air while polishing a wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
As processing of ICs has made progress in recent years, the formation of IC patterns in multiple layers has been conducted. In this case, the occurrence of surface unevenness is unavoidable to a certain extent. It has been customary to form, as such, a pattern of a next layer on a preceding layer. As the number of the layers increases, however, the widths of lines and the diameters of holes have become smaller. The smaller the dimension, the more difficult it becomes to form an excellent pattern with the result that defects are more likely to occur. Therefore, it has been customary to polish the surface of a preceding layer on which the pattern is formed, so as to planarize the surface, and then to form the pattern of a next layer. To polish a wafer during the formation process of the IC pattern, a wafer polishing apparatus (CMP apparatus) using a CMP method has been employed.
An ordinary wafer polishing apparatus includes a disc-like polishing table having a polishing pad bonded to a surface thereof, a plurality of wafer polishing heads for holding one of the surfaces of a wafer to be polished and bringing the other surface of the wafer into contact with the polishing pad, and a head driving mechanism for causing these wafer polishing heads to rotate relative to the polishing table. Polishing is conducted while a slurry of a polishing agent is supplied between the polishing pad and the wafer.
A mechanism in which a packing material (wafer bonding sheet) is bonded to a wafer-holding carrier on a carrier surface side to be pushed, and one of the surfaces of the wafer is bonded to, and held by, this packing material (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-229808), and a mechanism in which a resilient porometic polyurethane insert is bonded to a carrier and the wafer is bonded to, and held by, this insert (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 6-79618) are known as the wafer holding mechanism of the wafer polishing heads.
In the conventional wafer holding mechanisms described above, however, a so-called xe2x80x9cpacking sheetxe2x80x9d must be bonded to the surface of the carrier. However, air bubbles are likely to develop when the packing sheet is bonded, and skill is necessary for the bonding work. Planarity of the packing sheet bonding surface of the carrier and variance of the thickness of the packing material affect a wafer-processing surface. Furthermore, the wafer polishing heads must be removed whenever the packing sheet is bonded.
To solve these problems, the applicant of the present invention previously proposed a wafer polishing apparatus in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-92030. This wafer polishing apparatus employs an air blast member disposed on the lower surface of a carrier idly supported inside a wafer holding head main body in such a manner as to be capable of moving up and down, for blowing air to the rear surface of the wafer to form a pressure fluid layer between the carrier and the wafer. The wafer is pushed to a polishing table through this pressure fluid layer and is held.
Nonetheless, this wafer holding mechanism of the wafer polishing apparatus is not yet free from the problem that the rear surface of the wafer is likely to come into direct contact with, and to be damaged by, a hard surface of the carrier during delivery of the wafer by adsorption and during its polishing.
Therefore, the applicant of the present invention further proposed a wafer polishing apparatus in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-128558. In this wafer polishing apparatus, a protective sheet is disposed on an outer surface of an air blast member on a lower surface of a carrier, and is used as an air bag that is inflated by air from the air blast member so as to push the wafer to a polishing pad.
In this air bag system, an exhaust port for the air remains constant. Therefore, when the air pressure inside the protective sheet becomes higher than the pushing force that pushes the carrier and a retainer ring, a force that tilts the carrier develops if the point of receiving a lateral force exists above the surface of the polishing pad during processing, and this force affects processing accuracy. In addition, a variation in the thickness of the surface shape of the sheet affects processing accuracy, too.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a structure of a polishing head of a wafer polishing apparatus that completely inhibits jump-out of a wafer from inside a polishing head during polishing, and also inhibits undulation of a polishing pad and variance of thickness of a packing material (rubber sheet) from affecting planarization accuracy.
In a structure of a polishing head of a wafer polishing apparatus according to the present invention, a rubber sheet is disposed on an inner surface of a retainer ring, an air bag is formed by air from an air blast port of a carrier, and an upper outer peripheral edge of a carrier, that protrudes from the carrier, is placed on the retainer ring to form a seal portion of air. Therefore, even when a retainer pressure for pushing the retainer ring to the polishing pad is set to a low pressure and an air bag pressure for pushing the wafer is set to a high pressure, the seal portion plays the role of a regulator valve and the carrier does not push the wafer out from the retainer ring. The pushing force of the wafer does not change against the lateral force during processing of the wafer. Furthermore, the wafer is not damaged by coming into contact with the hard surface of the carrier.
In a structure of a polishing head according to another embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of holes is formed in the rubber sheet. In this way, the wafer adsorption holding effect of the polishing head during transportation of the wafer can be improved, and air blown out from the holes of the rubber sheet pushes the wafer to the polishing pad during polishing. Therefore, variation of the thickness of the rubber sheet and undulation of the polishing pad do not affect processing accuracy of the wafer. Since the quantity of air blown out from the gap between the wafer and the rubber sheet is extremely small, aggregation of slurry does not occur.
In a structure of a polishing head according to still another embodiment of the present invention, an interconnection portion constituting a retainer ring and a retainer main body are connected to each other by a ring so that assembly and disassembly can be done easily.
In a structure of a polishing head according to still another embodiment of the present invention, an exchange portion constituting the retainer ring is removably fitted to the retainer main body and the rubber sheet is clamped between the exchange portion and the retainer main body. In consequence, the exchange portion that undergoes wear can be frequently exchanged, and the rubber sheet, too, can be exchanged easily.
In a structure of a polishing head according to still another embodiment of the present invention, a lower surface of the carrier is divided into a plurality of regions, and a second rubber sheet is further disposed so that an air bag can be formed in each of these regions. As a result, the wafer processing quantity can be changed depending on the regions.
The present invention may be more fully understood from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention set forth below, together with the accompanying drawings.

Structure of polishing head of polishing apparatus


An optical fiber structure having a holey fiber arranged in a holey outer support structure made up of holey tubes encased in a thin walled outer jacket. The holey fiber may have a solid core surrounded by a holey cladding having a plurality of rings of holes. With the invention it is possible to produce robust, coated and jacketed fibers with microstructured core features of micrometer size relatively easily using existing fiber fabrication technology. This improvement is a result of the outer holey structure which reduces the thermal mass of the supporting structure and makes it possible to reliably and controllably retain small hole features during the fiber fabrication process.

The invention relates to holey fibres and to a method of fabricating holey fibres and holey fibre preforms.
A holey fibre is an optical fibre whose optical confinement mechanism and properties are affected by an array of air holes defined by cavities that run lengthwise down the fibre. Light can be guided within holey fibres by two distinct mechanisms. First, with periodic arrangements of air holes, guidance can be obtained through photonic band gap effects [1]. Second, guidance can be obtained from volume average refractive index effects. This second guidance mechanism does not rely on periodicity of the air holes [2].
Generally, a holey fibre has a solid core (FIG. 1A of the accompanying drawings) or a hollow core (FIG. 1B of the accompanying drawings) surrounded by a holey cladding region. The holey fibres illustrated have a hole structure characterised by a hole diameter, d, and an interhole spacing, i.e. pitch, Λ.
A holey fibre structure is fabricated by stacking tubular capillaries in a hexagonal close packed array within a larger tube that forms an outer jacket or casing containing the capillaries. To form a solid core holey fibre as in FIG. 1A, one of the tubular capillaries is removed from the stack and replaced with a solid rod of the same outer dimensions. To form a hollow core holey fibre as in FIG. 1B, a number of capillaries in the centre of the stack are removed. The fibre stack is then drawn into a preform by a caning procedure and then placed in a fibre drawing tower and drawn into fibre. The finished holey fibre structure is then characterised by an inner core (solid or hollow) surrounded by a holey cladding. Fabrication of holey fibres is discussed further in the literature [3][4].
To realise holey fibres for many applications, it is desirable to fabricate a holey fibre with relatively small feature sizes, such as interhole spacing, i.e. pitch, Λ˜1–2 microns. Fibres with such small hole feature sizes have a number of interesting and unique properties such as anomalous dispersion at short wavelength, high optical nonlinearity and the possibility for large evanescent fields in air.
To satisfy the desire for small pitch, it is necessary to construct a preform structure with relatively small capillaries. Because of the small size of the capillaries, several hundred capillary elements are needed to provide a structure which is large enough to handle conveniently during the fabrication stages of preform caning and fibre drawing. Moreover, to be practical, the fabricated fibre needs to have an outer diameter of about 80 microns or more. However, the large number of small capillaries required to fulfil these requirements presents difficulties in the fabrication and also results in a weak fibre.
An improvement is to stack the capillaries within an outer jacket which has a relatively thick wall, as shown by FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings which shows a thick wall silica outer jacket 1 defining an inner cylindrical space in which is placed two rings of silica cladding capillaries 2 which are arranged concentrically about a centrally placed solid silica core 4. In the illustrated example, the inner space of the outer jacket 1 is additionally sleeved by a vycore tube 3. The dimensions included on the top of the figure are exemplary preform dimensions in millimetres, whereas the dimensions at the bottom of the figure are target fibre dimensions in microns. Use of a thick wall outer jacket has the advantage of allowing the number of capillaries required to be greatly reduced.
The thick wall outer jacket approach has been demonstrated by other groups. However, in the experience of the present inventors at least, it has proved difficult to reliably and controllably retain small hole features during the fibre pulling stage of the fabrication process when using such thick walled outer jacket structures. It is believed that this problem is attributable to the relatively small ratio of air to glass in the thick-walled structure, and to the relatively large thermal mass of the glass of the outer jacket as the preform is melted in the drawing tower furnace during the fibre drawing process.
It is therefore an aim of the invention to provide an improved method for fabricating holey fibres with relatively small feature sizes.


An apparatus for transferring data blocks of variable lengths between intaces of different widths. The apparatus includes a series memory of the first-in, first-out type (FIFO) and an interface means at the input and output of the series memory. The interface means has a first means for storage of input data words and a second means for storage of output data words, the two storage means being of different storage capacity. Means are included for signalling to external devices when the first storage means and the series memory are empty and ready to receive data. Means are also included for controlling in response to an external signal the width of the output data words.

The present invention is a system which allows the transfer of data blocks of variable size between two data processing devices, the interfaces of which have different widths.
The system, according to the invention, deals in particular with buffering techniques. There are known dynamic series memories functioning according to a first data in first data out (FIFO) principle. Memories of this type are presently built by manufacturers of integrated circuits. An example of such a dynamic series memory is the MM 15,741 made by Monolithic Memories Incorporated.
As advantageous as these products might be, their use is not flexible and require external adaptations of a more or less complicated nature depending on each buffering problem. This results in costly expenditures for material, difficulties in technical production, increased space requirements and a decrease in performance and reliability in these products.
Progress achieved in the area of the miniaturization of electronic circuits, namely in LSI (Large Scale Integration) techniques, enables a larger integration of circuits. This gives way to important cost reduction, simplifies production diagrams of electronic machines and ameliorates equipment performance.

Apparatus enabling the transfer of data blocks of variable lengths between two memory interfaces of different widths

Compagnie Internationale pour l'Informatique CII-Honeywell Bull


An electronic tachometer that includes an integrator for producing a speed signal by integrating a signal representative of acceleration of a body and a differentiator for producing a speed signal by differentiating a signal representative of the position of the body, the differentiator being formed by a passive RC circuit and operatively associated with circuitry for alternately supplying to the differentiator two signals representative of position, one of which is inverted so that signals of a single polarity are supplied to the differentiator, and further circuitry for connecting the differentiator output to the integrator feedback circuitry so as periodically to update or reset the speed signal produced by the integrator, which is formed by an operational amplifier having a capacitive feedback which is shunted by a resistor when the differentiator output is active to update the integrator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic tachometer for producing a signal indicative of the speed at which a servo head traverses a series of magnetic tracks in data storage equipment, and more particularly to an improved differentiator for such tachometer that produces a highly accurate discontinuous speed signal in response to traversal of the magnetic tracks by the servo head.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existent electronic tachometers for indicating the speed at which a servo head moves radially of a magnetic disk on which parallel concentric servo tracks are recorded are employed in many disk pack data storage systems. One known technique for producing such speed signal is to integrate the current signal applied to drive the servo head in the radial direction. Because the current is proportional to the acceleration of the servo head, integration of the current signal produces a signal representative of speed. Such signal, however, is subject to electronic integrator drift, external forces and force constant variation and therefore although continuous, is not sufficiently accurate.
Another known technique for producing a speed signal is to differentiate a signal representative of the position of the servo head relative to the tracks. This technique, although much more accurate than the integration technique, produces a discontinuous signal because the position signal, when the head moves at or near the center of one of the servo tracks, is not accurately related to head position.
The two techniques mentioned above have been combined to produce a tachometer that produces a continuous speed signal from an integrator which continuous signal is periodically reset or updated by a discontinuous speed signal produced by differentiating the position signal, U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,059 (324/177) to Sordello exemplifying such technique. Although the system disclosed in such patent provides improved performance over either of the above techniques when employed individually, present implementation utilizes an active differentiator that includes an operational amplifier. As is known, operational amplifiers have inherent characteristics such as amplifier slew rate, amplifier noise and band width limitations. Although these characteristics can be compensated for to avoid instability, they impair the accuracy of such system, particularly at low speeds wherein noise can account for a substantial proportion of the total output signal.
Further, the position signal includes alternate positive going and negative going portions, but portions of only one sense can be employed in producing a speed signal by differentiation. One known technique is to differentiate both the positive and negative going portions and then to rectify the resultant differentiated position signal so that all portions thereof vary in the same sense. Such rectification, however, increases the adverse effects of noise because the noise, rather than being averaged to zero by substantially equal positive and negative going portions is converted to DC by the rectifier. U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,894 (360/78) to Johnson exemplifies a system wherein the position signal is rectified.
Another technique, which eliminates the noise signal error resulting from rectification after differentiation is to provide two differentiators and to switch the differentiators so that the output of each differentiator is applied separately to the tachometer output during individual portions of the position signal. The accuracy of such system is dependent on the degree to which the components forming the differentiators are identical to one another. Identical components are impractical, particularly in commercially competitive systems. U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,712 (335/151.32) to Oswald exemplifies a system having two individual differentiators.


The object of this invention is to provide a toilet and an odor exhausting apparatus for such toilets, designed to quickly suck odor from the toilet bowl to a chimney pot installed on the rooftop during defecation or urination so as to quickly expel the odor into the atmosphere outside a house. In the apparatus, the seat (3) has a cavity (1d), a plurality of odor suction ports (1f), a tubular hinge joint (2) and an odor outlet port (1e). A connection pipe (6), having an inlet port (6a), is set within the hinge joint (2). A seat cover (8) is coupled to the connection pipe (6) through a toothed engagement. A tubular shaft (7), having an inlet port (7a), is rotatably set within the connection pipe (6), and communicates with the atmosphere outside the house through a pipeline (12). When the cover (8) is closed, the port (7a) is closed by the sidewall of the connection pipe (6). However, when the cover (8) is opened, the port (7a) communicates with the port (1e) of the seat (3) through the port (6a) of the connection pipe (6), thus automatically expelling odor from the toilet bowl to the atmosphere due to suction force of the pipeline.

The present invention relates, in general, to a toilet and an odor exhausting apparatus for such toilets, designed to quickly suck odor from the toilet bowl to a chimney pot installed on the rooftop while relieving one""s bowels so as to quickly expel the odor into the atmosphere through the chimney pot and, more particularly, to a toilet and an odor exhausting apparatus for such toilets, with a cavity having a plurality of odor suction ports and being defined in the seat of the toilet, a hollow connection pipe having an odor inlet port and being set within the tubular hinge joint of the seat, and a tubular shaft being axially set within the connection pipe and communicating with a chimney pot through a vertical pipeline.
1. Background Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, conventional toilets are provided with a flushing mechanism designed to flush a toilet bowl so as to remove excrement while or after a user relieves one""s bowels. However, such a conventional toilet is not provided with any means for sucking odor of excrements from its bowl, and so it regrettably allows a diffusion of odor of excrements from the bowl into the atmosphere within the limited space of a water closet until the toilet bowl is flushed. Of course, the diffused odor of excrements may be, thereafter, expelled into the atmosphere outside the water closet through a motor fan or a ventilation grille provided on the sidewall or the roof of the water closet. However, such conventional toilets are very inconvenient to users since the toilets force the user to suffer the diffused odor during defecation or urination. In order to offset such diffused odor within the limited space of a water closet, some people use an aromatic yielding a fragrant aroma. However, the aromatic merely offsets the diffused odor, but cannot radically such a diffusion of odor from toilet bowls, and so the users have to suffer such diffused odor during defecation or urination. It is thus required to propose a structurally improved toilet provided with a means for removing odor of excrement without allowing a diffusion of odor of excrements into the atmosphere within the limited space of a water closet while reliving one""s bowels.
2. Disclosure of the Invention
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toilet and an odor exhausting apparatus for such toilets, which is designed to quickly suck odor of excrements from the toilet bowl to a chimney pot installed on the rooftop without allowing a diffusion of odor into the limited space of a water closet during defecation or urination, and which thus quickly expels the odor into the atmosphere outside the water closet through the chimney pot, and which always maintains the enclosed compartment of the water closet in a fresh, sanitary and hygienic state.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a toilet and an odor exhausting apparatus for such toilets, comprising a plurality of odor suction ports formed on the lower wall of a hollow seat. The odor suction ports of the seat communicate with the atmosphere outside a house through an outlet port formed on the hinge joint of the seat, an inlet port of a connection pipe, an inlet port of a tubular shaft, and a vertical pipeline. Therefore, the toilet, provided with the odor exhausting apparatus, expels odor of excrements from the toilet bowl to the atmosphere outside the house through the suction ports and the vertical pipeline during defecation or urination.
In the present invention, the connection pipe rotatably connects the seat cover to the hinge joint of the seat, and has an inlet port. The inlet port of the connection pipe is selectively aligned with the outlet port of the seat so as to communicate with the interior of the toilet bowl through the cavity of the seat. The tubular shaft, having an inlet port, is set within the connection pipe, and communicates with the atmosphere outside the house via the vertical pipeline. During defecation or urination with the seat cover being fully opened, the toilet provided with the apparatus of this invention automatically and forcibly expels odor of excrements from the toilet bowl to the atmosphere due to suction force generated by rising air within the vertical pipeline.
In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the toilet comprises: an openable seat hinged to the top surface of a toilet bowl, said seat consisting of a cavity defined within said seat, a plurality of odor suction ports formed on the lower wall of the seat so as to suck odor from the toilet bowl into the cavity, and a tubular hinge joint provided at the rear end of the seat for hinging the seat to the toilet bowl, and communicating with said cavity through an odor outlet port; a hollow connection pipe rotatably set within the hinge joint, and having a first odor inlet port, with an externally-toothed engagement part being formed at each end of the connection pipe; a seat cover coupled to said connection pipe by two internally-toothed connection rings externally engaging with the externally-toothed engagement parts of the connection pipe; and a tubular shaft defining a cylindrical passage therein and having a second odor inlet port, said tubular shaft being axially and rotatably set within the hollow connection pipe, and rotatably held at opposite ends thereof on the toilet bowl by two support brackets mounted on the toilet bowl, with a vertical pipe extending from the passage of the tubular shaft to the atmosphere outside the house.
The odor exhausting apparatus for toilets according to the preferred embodiment of this invention consists of an openable seat and an openable seat cover, comprising: a cavity defined within said seat; a plurality of odor suction ports formed on the lower wall of the seat so as to suck odor from a toilet bowl into the cavity; a tubular hinge joint provided at the rear end of the seat for hinging the seat to the toilet bowl, said hinge joint communicating with said cavity through an odor outlet port; a hollow connection pipe rotatably set within the hinge joint, said connection pipe having a first odor inlet port, with an externally-toothed engagement part being formed at each end of the connection pipe; two connection rings formed on said seat cover so as to couple the seat cover to said connection pipe, said two connection rings being toothed on the internal surfaces thereof and externally engaging with the externally-toothed engagement parts of the connection pipe; a tubular shaft defining a cylindrical passage therein and having a second odor inlet port, said tubular shaft being axially and rotatably set within the hollow connection pipe, and rotatably held at opposite ends thereof on the toilet bowl using two support brackets mounted on the toilet bowl; and a vertical pipe connecting the passage of the tubular shaft to a vertical pipeline extending to the atmosphere outside a house, thus automatically expelling odor of excrements from the toilet bowl into the atmosphere outside the house due to suction force generated by ascending air within said vertical pipeline.
In the present invention, the toilet may have a conventional construction. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the seat of the toilet defines a cavity therein, with a plurality of suction ports formed on the lower wall of the seat so as to suck odor from the toilet bowl into the cavity of the seat. The above seat is attached to the toilet bowl by a tubular hinge joint, with an outlet port formed on the joint so as to allow the joint to communicate with the interior of the toilet bowl through the cavity of the seat. The outlet port is formed on the sidewall of the joint, and may comprise one port or a plurality of ports.
In addition, the connection pipe is rotatably set within the tubular hinge joint of the seat, and is coupled to the seat cover so as to be rotatable along with the seat cover relative to the seat. In the preferred embodiment, such a connection of the seat cover to the connection pipe is accomplished by a toothed connection of the internally-toothed connection rings of the seat cover to the externally-toothed ends of the connection pipe. However, it should be understood that the connection structure provided at the junction of the seat cover and the connection pipe may be accomplished by a fitting structure or another structure using a separate locking means in place of the toothed structure without affecting the functioning of this invention. On the other hand, it is preferred to form one inlet port on the sidewall of the connection pipe so as to allow the inlet port to communicate with the interior of the toilet bowl through the outlet port of the seat when the seat cover is fully opened. However, the inlet port may be formed around the sidewall of the connection pipe in such a way that the inlet port of the connection pipe always communicates with the interior of the toilet bowl through the outlet port of the seat regardless of the angular position of the seat cover relative to the seat.
The tubular shaft is held at opposite ends thereof on the top surface of the toilet bowl by two brackets mounted to the top surface of the toilet bowl. This tubular shaft thus acts as a hinge shaft for both the seat and the seat cover, and acts as a passage for odor. That is, the tubular shaft communicates with the atmosphere outside a house through a vertical pipeline, thus guiding odor from the toilet bowl to the vertical pipeline so as to finally expel the odor to the atmosphere. In the present invention, the tubular shaft may be closed or opened at opposite ends thereof. When the opposite ends of the tubular shaft are closed, the tubular shaft is simply held by the two brackets at the closed opposite ends. However, when the opposite ends of the tubular shaft are opened, it is necessary to close the open ends by the two brackets during a process of holding the opposite ends of the tubular shaft by the brackets. In such a case, it is preferable to form a bearing recess on each of the brackets so as to allow the brackets to hold the ends of the tubular shaft at the bearing recesses while closing the ends. As a further alternative, the tubular shaft may be at least partially integrated with the brackets at its opposite ends. In such a case, it is necessary to form an opening on one of the two brackets so as to allow the interior of the tubular shaft to communicate with the vertical pipeline through the opening.
In the present invention, the vertical pipeline may be vertically set within a sidewall of a house or may be vertically arrayed on the external surface of the sidewall of the house. In the case of a multi-storied house, for example, an apartment house, it is preferable to use one of pipelines, previously set within the sidewall of the house during a building process, as the vertical pipeline. In most of conventional multi-storied houses or buildings, the pipelines extend to the atmosphere outside the rooftop, with motor fans typically installed at the top ends of the pipelines. Therefore, such pipelines effectively generate suction force therein, and are preferably usable as the vertical pipeline of this invention. When the toilets, installed on the floors of the stories of a multi-storied house, are commonly connected to such a pipeline through a plurality of horizontal pipes, it is possible to effectively and almost completely expel odor of excrements from the toilet bowls to the atmosphere outside the rooftop of the house without allowing a diffusion of odor from the toilet bowl into the limited spaces within the water closets having the toilets.

Odor exhausting apparatus for water closet