A semiconductor structure with dual isolation structures is disclosed. The semiconductor structure may include a protruding isolation structure in a pixel array region of a substrate and an embedded isolation structure in a peripheral device region of the same substrate. A region of the protruding isolation structure extends from an upper surface of the substrate, while another region of the protruding isolation structure may, optionally, be embedded within the substrate. The embedded isolation structure is formed within the substrate and includes an upper surface that is substantially coplanar with the upper surface of the substrate. A method of forming the semiconductor structure with dual isolation structure is also disclosed.

Integrated imaging circuits are widely used to produce video and photographic images in digital cameras, copiers, scanners and other devices. Most integrated imaging circuits employ an array of photoactive pixels arranged in rows and columns for capturing images projected on the array. The pixels typically include photoactive or photoreceptive devices, such as photodiodes, in addition to adjacent transistor structures, such as transfer gate structures and reset transistors. Incident light that impacts an image sensor cell discharges the photodiode such that the resulting voltage drop can be used to determine the intensity level of the incident light. The transistors, as well as additional devices used for control and signal circuits in the peripheral regions of the image sensor cell, include complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices.
Shallow trench isolation (STI) is a known technique used to isolate pixels, devices or circuitry from one another in an imaging device. A trench is etched into a substrate and filled with a dielectric material, such as silicon dioxide (SiO2), to provide a physical and electrical barrier between adjacent pixels, devices, or circuitry. FIG. 1 illustrates a photodiode 100 with shallow trench isolations (STIs) 132 within the substrate 101. The photodiode 100 also includes p-well regions 126, an n-well region 128 and conductive gates 125. The STIs 132 have a depth of about 0.2 μm. Incident light travels into an interface between the p-well and the n-well (the p-n junction). When the p-n junction diode is reverse biased by application of a voltage to the p-n junction, a depletion region 129 forms as electrons diffuse from the n-well region 128 to the p-well regions 126. As a result, electron hole pairs are generated both inside and outside the depletion region 129. The photo-generated electron hole pairs diffuse and drift into the depletion region 129, inducing a photo current representing a portion of the image to which the photodiode was exposed.
During the STI process, a number of lattice defects, such as dangling bonds and stress-induced defects, may be introduced at vertical surfaces 130 in the substrate 101. Such defects may lead to the accumulation of electron hole pairs at the interface between the substrate 101 and the vertical surfaces 130 within the substrate 101. As voltage is applied, the depletion region 129 extends toward the vertical surfaces 130 in the substrate 101 in the vicinity of the oxide material of the STI, resulting in the accumulation of electron hole pairs at the interface of the STI 132 and depletion region 129. Accumulation of electron hole pairs resulting from damaged vertical surfaces 130 in the substrate 101 may have detrimental effects on the function of the photodiode. Such effects include an increased level of reverse bias leakage or dark current in the photodiodes. As used herein, the term "dark current" means and includes the leakage current discharged from a photodiode even when there is no incident light upon the image sensing element. Dark current arises from stress-related dislocations, such as dangling bonds, formed in the area around the interface between STIs 132 and the depletion region 129.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,187,023 to Yoshihara describes a solid-state imaging device having a first element isolation layer in a pixel array region of a semiconductor substrate and a second element isolation layer in a peripheral device region of the semiconductor substrate. The first element isolation layer is located partially within the semiconductor substrate and extends above the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The second element isolation layer is an STI and a portion thereof is formed within the semiconductor substrate and a portion thereof protrudes above the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
Wile imager devices fabricated using STI processes have achieved a relatively high level of commercial success, such imager devices exhibit some undesirable structural characteristics and operational deficiencies. Thus, there is a need in the art for imager device designs and fabrication processes resulting in imager devices having increased efficiency, reliability and durability.

Semiconductor structures with dual isolation structures, methods for forming same and systems including same


Provided is a bonding structure of an electronic equipment including first electrodes extended in a first direction and arranged in a second direction on a stretchable display panel having stretchability, second electrodes extended in a first direction and arranged in a second direction on a substrate and facing the first electrodes, and solder bonding parts interposed between the first electrodes and the second electrodes, facing each other in the second direction, and constituting a plurality of rows in the first direction.

The present disclosed herein relates to a bonding structure of an electronic equipment, and more particularly, to a bonding structure of an electronic equipment including a stretchable display.
Recently, a electronic equipment has a general constitution of connecting an stretchable display with an electronic circuit module installed on a rigid substrate. To connect the stretchable display and the circuit of the rigid substrate, a connection method using an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) is known.
The ACF has a dispersed state of conductive particles into a polymer. The ACF is disposed between the stretchable display and the rigid substrate for connection, and heat and pressure are applied. By the conductive particles disposed between an electrode included in the stretchable display and another electrode included in the rigid substrate, the stretchable display and the rigid substrate are electrically connected through mechanical contact. However, since the electrical contact of the conductive particles with the electrodes is kept by the polymer, the conductive particles are easily separated from the electrodes by external stress. In this case, electrical resistance may increase, and defects of the electronic equipments may be generated.

Bonding structure of electronic equipment

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate database processing in accordance with a plurality of various applications. In one aspect, a large database of objects is processed, wherein the objects can be represented as points in a vector space, and two or more objects are deemed ‘close’ if a Euclidean distance between the points is small. This can apply for substantially any type of object, provided a suitable distance measure can be defined. In another aspect, a ‘test’ object having a vector x, is processed to determine if there exists an object y in the database such that the distance between x and y falls below a threshold t. If several objects in the database satisfy this criteria, a list of objects can be returned, together with their corresponding distances. If no objects were to satisfy the criterion, an indication of this condition can also be provided, but in addition, the condition or information relating to the condition can be provided.

Signal processing architectures are one of the main foundational components of the modem digital age. As is common in ordinary desktop or mobile computer applications, users are given a plurality of multimedia choices when viewing, listening, and/or interacting with data that has been processed by such systems. Before users actually utilize such data in a respective application, however, analog information is typically sampled and captured in real time via an analog-to-digital converter and processed via a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and/or other signal processing techniques. Sampled data is often stored in a database whereby subsequent signal processing and/or data manipulation is performed thereon. After the data has been stored, a plurality of database algorithms or techniques may be employed to retrieve such data and are described below. Unfortunately, the form of data storage such as via a floating-point format is not very conducive to efficient processing and retrieval of the data. Moreover, noise that may be present in any given sample of data may cause significant problems when determining if another previously stored and/or related sample can be located in the database. For example, if a recently captured data sample were sent to a database of stored samples that are potentially related to the captured data, and the recently captured data was taken in a noisy environment, it may be substantially difficult (or not possible) to determine if the noisy sample matches or relates to any of the previously stored samples in the database (e.g., require large amounts of processing bandwidth to determine a match, if any).
As noted above, many database techniques have evolved to locate and retrieve previously stored data such as can be provided by various tree lookup procedures. For example, there are many variants of tree lookup processes that attempt to speed-up basic nearest neighbor determinations. One of the earliest known is the k-d tree, which is a binary tree wherein the data is split, according to the value of a particular component, such that roughly half of the data falls on either side of the split, whereby the particular component is selected to maximize the variance of the data in a direction perpendicular to a corresponding hyperplane. In a test phase, a rectangle containing a test point is located by descending the tree, wherein backtracking (e.g., process of retracing a search path) is performed if the closest training point in an associated hyperectangle is such that points in adjacent rectangles may be closer. It is believed that k-d trees are somewhat limited to applications having lower dimensional structures (e.g., about 10 dimensions). In addition, the k-d tree has the property that rejection (of a point that falls farther than a threshold away from all other points in the database) can be as computationally expensive as finding the nearest neighbor.
More recently, a variety of trees—an R-tree, an R* variant, and for example S-S trees have been proposed. In these trees, processed nodes correspond to regions in space into which the data falls, so if a test point falls in a node, the other points in that node are known or assumed to be close to the test point. However, this does not obviate the need for backtracking, but facilitates making an early rejection possible—a property that k-d trees do not have. In R-trees, the nodes are populated by rectangles. R-trees are a variant that tend to minimize the area, margin and overlap of the rectangles (whereby the 'margin' of a rectangle may be defined as the sum of the lengths its sides), which generally results in faster lookup, and also introduces 'forced reinsertion', for providing a more balanced tree.
The S-S (similarity search) tree approach may even out-perform R-trees on high dimensional data. In this approach, leaves of the tree correspond to ellipsoids, in which a center and radius are defined by the data enclosed (generally, the principal axes of the ellipsoid are selected beforehand, and represent the relative importance of different dimensions). The center of the ellipsoid is thus, the centroid of the data, wherein the radius is selected to enclose the data. Again, forced reinsertion is employed to balance the tree. Other approaches have focused on how approximate matching (that is, given a query q and some set of points P, find a point p ∈ P such that ∀p′ ∈ P, d(p,q)<(1+ε)d(p′,q), for some small ε, wherein d(p,q) is a distance measure between p and q) can yield more optimal bounds on preprocessing and lookup times than exact matches provide, however, the lookup time scales as (1/ε)d, wherein d is the dimension of the space which may cause an impractical computational expense for many applications that employ higher dimensional data sets.

System and method providing automated margin tree analysis and processing of sampled data


A bicyclic heteroaromatic compound according to general formula I, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof,

Gonadotropins serve important functions in a variety of bodily functions including metabolism, temperature regulation and the reproductive process. The hypophyseal gonadotropin FSH for example plays a pivotal role in the stimulation of follicle development and maturation whereas LH induces ovulation (Sharp, R. M. Clin Endocrinol. 33:787–807, 1990; Dorrington and Armstrong, Recent Prog. Horm. Res. 35:301–342, 1979). Currently, LH is applied clinically, in combination with FSH, for ovarian stimulation i.e. ovarian hyperstimulation for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and induction of ovulation in infertile anovulatory women (Insler, V., Int. J. Fertility 33:85–97, 1988, Navot and Rosenwaks, J. Vitro Fert. Embryo Transfer 5:3–13, 1988), as well as for male hypogonadism and male infertility.
Gonadotropins act on specific gonadal cell types to initiate ovarian and testicular differentiation and steroidogenesis. The actions of these pituitary and placental hormones are mediated by specific plasma membrane receptors that are members of the large family of G-protein coupled receptors. They consist of a single polypeptide with seven transmembrane domains and are able to interact with the Gs protein, leading to the activation of adenyl cyclase.
Gonadotropins destined for therapeutic purposes can be isolated from human urine sources and are of low purity (Morse et al, Amer. J. Reproduct. Immunol. and Microbiology 17:143, 1988). Alternatively, they can be prepared as recombinant gonadotropins.
As with other therapeutic proteins, it is necessary to administer gonadotropins either subcutaneous or intramuscular. It would be advantageous, however, to activate the receptor with a small molecule that could be administered through e.g. the oral or transdermal route.

Abstract: wherein    R1 is (3–8C)cycloalkyl, (2–7C)heterocycloalkyl, (6–14C)aryl or (4–13C)heteroaryl; all optionally substituted with one or more substituents; R2 is (1–4C)alkyl, (2–4C)alkenyl, (2–4C)alkynyl, (6–14C)aryl or (4–13C)heteroaryl; R3 is (1–8C)alkyl, (3–8C)cycloalkyl, (2–7C)heterocycloalkyl, (6–14C)aryl or (4–13C)heteroaryl; Y is CH or N; Z is NH2 or OH;    A is S, N(H), N(R), O or a bond and B is N(H), O or a bond;    X1—X2 is C═C, C(O)—NH, NH—C(O), C(O)—O, O—C(O), C═N, N═C or S or O.

Abstract: The compounds of the invention can be used in fertility regulation therapies.


A powertrain system for a hybrid vehicle. The hybrid vehicle includes a heat engine, such as a diesel engine, and an electric machine, which operates as both an electric motor and an alternator, to power the vehicle. The hybrid vehicle also includes a manual-style transmission configured to operate as an automatic transmission from the perspective of the driver. The engine and the electric machine drive an input shaft which in turn drives an output shaft of the transmission. In addition to driving the transmission, the electric machine regulates the speed of the input shaft in order to synchronize the input shaft during either an upshift or downshift of the transmission by either decreasing or increasing the speed of the input shaft. When decreasing the speed of the input shaft, the electric motor functions as an alternator to produce electrical energy which may be stored by a storage device. Operation of the transmission is controlled by a transmission controller which receives input signals and generates output signals to control shift and clutch motors to effect smooth launch, upshift shifts, and downshifts of the transmission, so that the transmission functions substantially as an automatic transmission from the perspective of the driver, while internally substantially functioning as a manual transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a hybrid powertrain system for motor vehicles and, more particularly, to an electronically controlled transmission for hybrid powertrain system for a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the invention of power vehicles, many different powertrain systems have been attempted, including a steam engine with a boiler or an electric motor with a storage battery. It was, however, the discovery of petroleum in 1856 and the four-stroke internal combustion engine invented by Otto in 1876, that provided the impetus for the modern motor vehicle industry. Although fossil fuel emerged as the fuel of choice for motor vehicles, recent concerns regarding fuel availability and increasingly stringent federal and state emission regulations have renewed interest in alternative fuel powered vehicles. Alternative fuel vehicles include vehicles powered by methanol, ethanol, natural gas, electricity, or a combination of these fuels.
Of these vehicles, electrically powered alternative fuel vehicles offers several advantages: electricity is readily available, an electric power distribution system is already in place, and an electric powered vehicle produces virtually no emissions. There are, however, several technological disadvantages that must be overcome before electric powered vehicles gain acceptance in the marketplace. For instance, the range of an electric powered vehicle is limited to approximately 100 miles, compared to approximately 300 miles for a similar fossil fuel powered vehicle. Further, the acceleration is significantly less than that of a comparable fossil fuel powered vehicle.
A hybrid powered vehicle, powered by both a fuel source and an energy storage device, overcomes the technical disadvantages of a dedicated electric vehicle while still offering an environmental benefit. The performance and range characteristics of the hybrid powered vehicle is comparable to a conventional fossil fuel powered vehicle. Thus, there is a need in the art for hybrid powertrain system for a motor vehicle that is energy efficient, has low emissions, and offers the performance of a conventional fossil fuel powered vehicle. Further, there is a need for a transmission system to complement the combined electric and gas power plants.
There are presently two transmissions available for use on conventional automobiles. The first, and oldest, type of transmission is the manually operated transmission. These transmissions are characterized in that vehicles having manually operated transmissions include a clutch pedal usually positioned to the left of the brake pedal and a H configuration gear shift lever which is usually mounted in the center of the vehicle just behind the dashboard. To operate the manual transmission, the driver must coordinate depression of the clutch and accelerator pedals with the position of the shift lever in order to shift into the desired gear. Proper operation of a manual transmission is well known to those skilled in the art, and will not be described further herein.
In a vehicle having an automatic transmission, no clutch pedal is necessary, and the standard H configuration shift lever is replaced by a shift lever which moves back and forth for gear selection. The driver need only select between park, reverse, neutral, drive, and 1 or 2 low gears then operate an accelerator and a brake pedal. As it is commonly known in the art, the shift lever is placed in one of several positions having the designation P, R, N, D, 2, and possibly 1, which corresponds to park, reverse, neutral, drive, and first or second low gears, respectively. Vehicle operation when the gear shift lever is placed in one of these positions is well know in the art. In particular, when in drive mode, the transmission automatically selects between the available forward gears. As is also well known, older transmission systems typically included first, second, and third gears, while newer transmission systems include first through third gears as well as a fourth and possibly a fifth overdrive gears. The overdrive gears provide improved fuel economy at higher speeds.
Early transmissions were almost exclusively manually operated transmissions. With a steady development of automatic transmissions, drivers increasingly gravitated toward the ease of operation offered by automatic transmissions. However, in the middle 1970's, heightened concerns about present and future fossil fuel shortages resulted in implementation of corporate average fuel economy regulations. These fuel economy requirements necessitated investigating increasing the fuel economy of motor vehicles in order to meet government regulations. These government regulations prompted further investigation of and a renewed interest in transmission efficiency.
In the ensuing years, many mechanical vehicle systems were adapted to include electronic actuator mechanisms to replace the mechanical actuators or, alternatively, were adapted to be electronically controlled. The electronic control systems greatly increased the fuel efficiency of vehicle engines and enabled a gradual reversion to the convenience of automatic transmissions. In addition, electronic controls placed on automatic transmissions greatly improved the shift schedules and shift feel of automatic transmissions and also enabled acceptable implementation of fourth and fifth overdrive gears, thereby increasing fuel economy. Thus, automatic transmissions have become increasingly popular.
Automatic and manual transmissions offer various competing advantages and disadvantages. A manual transmission enables the driver to select particular forward gears, depending upon the driving conditions. For example, the driver may shift from fifth to third when needing additional power in order to quickly accelerate the vehicle, such as in a passing situation. Manual transmissions also provide the driver with greater control of vehicle acceleration, because the driver may maintain the transmission in a lower forward gear for continued acceleration. On the other hand, an automatic transmission may upshift when the driver does not desire such an upshift, thereby limiting vehicle acceleration. Further, skilled drivers can take advantage of weight distribution between the front and rear tires by selectively upshifting and downshifting when entering and exiting curves and corners. Finally, some drivers prefer the sporty impression that manual transmissions provide. Conversely, automatic transmissions first and foremost offer ease of operation, so that the driver need not burden both hands, one for the steering wheel and one for the gear shifter, and both feet, one for the clutch and one for the gas and brake while driving. When operating an automatic transmission the driver has one hand and one foot free. In addition, an automatic transmission provides extreme convenience in stop and go situations, as the driver need not worry about continuously shifting gears to adjust the ever-changing speed of traffic.
With respect to hybrid vehicles, however, manual transmissions prove to be particularly advantageous to increasing efficiency, thereby improving fuel economy. The primary reason for the superior efficiency of the manual transmission in the hybrid vehicle lies in the basic operation of automatic transmissions. In most automatic transmissions, the output of the engine connects to the input of the transmission through a torque converter. Most torque converters have an input turbine connected to the output shaft of the engine and an input turbine connected to the input shaft of the transmission. Movement of the turbine at the input side results in a hydraulic fluid flow which causes a corresponding movement of the turbine connected to the input shaft of the transmission. While torque converters provide a smooth coupling between the engine and the transmission, hydraulic fluid inherently introduces parasitic losses, thereby decreasing efficiency of the powertrain. Further, the shift operation in an automatic transmission also requires hydraulic fluid pressure, thereby introducing additional parasitic losses and efficiency in the powertrain. Thus, there is a need in the art for a powertrain system having an efficient transmission which limits parasitic losses due to hydraulic fluid control.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain system for a motor vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain system having an improved power distribution system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a transmission for a hybrid powertrain system which eliminates parasitic losses due to hydraulic fluid flow which occurs in a typical automatic transmission.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an automatic transmission for a hybrid powertrain system which is configured substantially as a manually operated transmission.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a transmission for a hybrid powertrain system which is configured as a manual-style transmission and is electronically controlled to substantially operate as an automatic transmission, thereby eliminating parasitic loses due to hydraulic fluid flow.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain transmission system that utilizes an electric machine to synchronize the speed of the driving or input shaft of the transmission with the speed of the driven or output shaft of the transmission.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain transmission system that utilizes an electric machine to reduce the speed of the driving or input shaft of the transmission in order to synchronize the input shaft speed with the driving or output shaft speed and which operates in a regenerative mode to output electricity when reducing the speed of the input shaft.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain transmission system that utilizes an electric machine to synchronize the speed of the driving or input shaft with the speed of the driven or output shaft of the transmission by increasing the speed of the input shaft in order to synchronize the speeds of the input and output shafts.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain transmission system having a set of electric motors to effect depressing a clutch of a manual-style transmission and to effect shifting gears of a manual-style transmission.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hybrid powertrain transmission system having electric motors to effect operation of the clutch and shifting of the gears of a manual-style transmission in accordance with electronic control signals generated by a transmission controller.

Automated manual transmission clutch controller


A hinge for doors or for wings of furniture items comprises fastening elements provided with fixed pivot pins and with sliding guides, which can be housed respectively in the thickness of the door and in a corresponding fixed door post; arms for connecting the door to the door post connected to the fastening elements with their first extremity, hinged on the fixed pivot pin of one of the fastening elements and with a second extremity engaged in the sliding guide of the other fastening element; and a joint interposed at the extremities of the arms which pivotingly connects the arms to each other allowing their relative angular mobility. The fastening elements comprise connecting bodies movable relative to each other at least along one direction defined by at least one of three cartesian axes, respective adjusting means being provided thereto. The arms have mutually different lengths at least in correspondence with their first portion, positioned between the respective first extremities and the intermediate joint, to allow the opening of the door with the rotation thereof relative to the door post, to a condition of parallelism between door and door post and without substantial interposition of space.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of wings of furniture items and doors in general and in particular it pertains to hidden hinges to articulate the wings to the fixed part of the furniture item and more in general the doors to the related door post.
These hinges, currently called invisible hinges, are partly contained inside the thickness of the door and partly inside the thickness of the door post and comprise in particular two fastening elements to connect the hinge respectively to the door and to the door post; arms, each of which is connected to the two fastening elements with their first extremity hinged on a fixed pivot pin of one of the fastening elements and with the other extremity engaged in a sliding guide borne by the other fastening element; and lastly a pivot pin, interposed at the extremities of the arms, which connects the arms in mutually pivoting fashion being able to move, remaining parallel to itself, in the opening and closing motion of the door.
In rather complicated and sophisticated hinges of this kind no adjustment in any of three directions in space is permitted to the door with respect to its fixed post. Infact, they are provided with fastening means of the hinge which are articulated exclusively with one another, but fixed in space once applied.
Furthermore, in known hinges of this kind, the arms are equal in shape and dimensions and are generally perfectly reversible relative to each other. Moreover, the fastening elements contained in the thickness of the wing and of the door post are opposite and mutually aligned. This conformation of the hinges generally determines the impossibility of positioning the door, in the open condition, flush with the door post when this post is provided with an outer finishing cornice.
In practice, the distance, measured between the front surface of the post and the plane of the door opened at an angle of 180 degrees, is never sufficient to permit the application of a standard finishing cornice, the thickness of which is always greater than such a distance. Generally, therefore, if, as almost always happens, the cited finishing cornices were to be applied on the exterior of the post, the door would open only partially, at an angle of approximately 90 to 100 degrees, unless hollows are produced in the front part of the post so as to allow the application of the cornice, but thus greatly increasing the number of operations and the time needed for the application itself.
The aim of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks by means of a hinge so shaped as to allow the wing to position itself, in the open condition, rigorously flush with a door post having a finishing cornice, the hinge being adjustable along the three cartesian axes, thus permitting the adjustment of door verticality and squaring and the recovery of any imperfection in the assembly.
In accordance with the invention this aim is reached by a hinge according to claim 1, wherein the arms have mutually different lengths, at least in correspondence with their portion positioned between the respective first extremities and the intermediate articulation pivot pin, to allow the complete rotation of the door relative to the door post up to an angle of 180 degrees, at least until reaching a condition in which the door is positioned parallel to the finishing cornice.
The hinge is also provided with adjustment means which allow in particular to adjust the arms along a vertical direction passing through the intermediate pivot pin.
If the adjustment means are so devised as to allow also the adjustment of the hinge along two additional horizontal directions orthogonal to each other and to the vertical direction, the hinge according to the invention is also adjustable in all directions in space.


The invention provides an image recognition method. First, it is judged whether a set of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients corresponding to an image and/or a set of texture parameters corresponding to the DCT coefficients exist. If the judgment is no, the image is selectively performed a DCT or an inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT) to generate the set of DCT coefficients based on a format of the image. Based on the set of DCT coefficients, the set of texture parameters is then generated. Afterward, the set of texture parameters is compared with a set of target texture parameters to generate a recognition result.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to image processing, and particularly, to an image recognition method and an image recognition apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, with the continuous advance of image technology, the digital image related technology also develops very fast. At present, most photos are taken in a digital way (e.g., with a digital camera) and saved in a digital format (e.g., a memory card, a compact disk, or a hard disk). Because the digital image recognition technology can be widely used in the monitor managing system and the guarding system, it has a developing potential. Most of the conventional image recognition technologies recognize the digital image by performing a pixel-to-pixel comparison between images. However, the recognition rate of this digital image recognition technology is quite slow and the efficiency is low. If there is a large quantity of digital images needed to be recognized, a lot of time and system resources will be wasted to perform the recognition.
Therefore, the scope of the invention is to provide an image recognition method and apparatus to solve the above problems.

Image recognition method and image recognition apparatus


A first tubular shaft is placed on a radially outer side of a countershaft. A second tubular shaft is placed on a radially outer side of the first tubular shaft. A first driven gear is provided at one end portion of the first tubular shaft and is meshed with a first drive gear. A second driven gear is provided at one end portion of the second tubular shaft and is meshed with a second drive gear. A second secondary coupling portion is provided at the countershaft. A second primary coupling portion is provided at the other end portion of the first tubular shaft. The second primary coupling portion is engageable with the second secondary coupling portion. A third primary coupling portion is provided at the other end portion of the second tubular shaft. The third primary coupling portion is engageable with the second secondary coupling portion.

A known drive force transmission apparatus installed in a hybrid vehicle (e.g., a hybrid automobile) is configured to transmit a drive force from a plurality of drive sources to a drive device of the vehicle, which drives the vehicle. For example, JP2012-30775A (corresponding to US2012/0006153A1) teaches a drive force transmission apparatus, which is configured to transmit a drive force of an internal combustion engine and a drive force of a motor to a differential gear of a vehicle through an input shaft and an output shaft.
In the drive force transmission apparatus of JP2012-30775A (corresponding to US2012/0006153A1), the number of clutches is reduced while enabling use of a high gear and a low gear by the internal combustion engine and a first motor in a drive force transmission path to reduce a size of the drive force transmission apparatus. In the drive force transmission apparatus of the first embodiment disclosed in JP2012-30775A (corresponding to US2012/0006153A1), the low gear and the high gear are provided to the input shaft, and an input-side clutch is placed between the low gear and the high gear. Furthermore, in this drive force transmission apparatus, the output shaft is placed parallel to the input shaft, and a first output-side clutch and a second output-side clutch are placed one after another in an axial direction of the output shaft. Furthermore, a driven gear, which is meshed with the high gear, is placed on a differential gear side of the first output-side clutch. In addition, a driven gear, which is meshed with the low gear, is placed on a second motor side of the second output-side clutch. As discussed above, in this drive force transmission apparatus, the clutches and the gears are dispersed along the axial direction of the input shaft and the output shaft. Therefore, the length of the input shaft and the length of the output shaft are disadvantageously increased.
In the drive force transmission apparatus of the second embodiment disclosed in JP2012-30775A (corresponding to US2012/0006153A1), a cylindrical tubular input shaft is placed coaxially with the input shaft on a radially outer side of the input shaft, and the low gear is connected to an engine side of the cylindrical tubular shaft. Furthermore, the input-side clutch is placed on a first motor side of the cylindrical tubular input shaft. With this construction, in comparison to the drive force transmission apparatus of the first embodiment disclosed in JP2012-30775A (corresponding to US2012/0006153A1), the length of the input shaft may be further increased. In addition, a dead volume may possibly be formed between the high gear and the low gear.
As discussed above, in these embodiments of JP2012-30775A (corresponding to US2012/0006153A1), the length of the input shaft and the length of the output shaft are relatively long, so that the installability of the drive force transmission apparatus in the vehicle may possibly be deteriorated. Also, a torsion resistance of the input shaft and the output shaft may possibly be deteriorated.


A basketball shooting training aid for releasably limiting to a predetermined maximum length the span distance between a basketball player's shooting or launch hand and guide hand comprises a pair of elastic wristlet bands secureable around opposite wrists of the player. Each wristlet has protruding outwardly therefrom a flexible, longitudinally elongated stalk which has at the outer end thereof a coupler releasably engageable with the other coupler. In a preferred embodiment, each coupler includes a permanent magnet having a longitudinally outwardly extending magnetic field of opposite polarity to that of the opposite coupler, thus enabling the couplers to automatically engage when outer ends of the stalks are brought sufficiently close to each other, e.g., about 2 inches, and to automatically disengage when a tensional parting force of a predetermined value, e.g., about 6 pounds is exerted on the couplers by drawing the wrists apart.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to physiological conditioning and training of people desirous of becoming proficient in athletic games. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for aiding beginning basketball players in acquiring motor skills needed to accurately launch or "shoot" a basketball into a distant basket.
B. Description of Background Art
The game of basketball, as well as other athletic activities, requires a particular set of human motor skills for a person to achieve a reasonable level of proficiency at playing the game. Since the goal of a basketball game is to score a maximum number of points by players' launching or shooting a basketball from a location on the playing floor into a basket, acquiring shooting skill is an essential goal of a beginning basketball player.
Usually, a basketball is launched towards a basket by grasping opposite sides of the ball between the palms of a player's hands, with the forearms retracted upwardly and rearwardly towards the shoulders of the player to thus flex the elbow joints into laterally spaced apart, generally parallel, V-shaped configurations. One forearm, such as the right forearm of a right-handed player, is twisted inwardly slightly towards a vertical longitudinal center plane of the person's body, to thus position the palm of one hand against the rear side of the ball. The hand contacting the rear surface of the ball, called the shooting or launch hand, is then thrust forward, thereby unbending the shooting arm elbow to a more generally straight, forwardly pointing configuration, and thus launching the ball into an upwardly and forwardly curved, arc-shaped trajectory.
Just prior to launching a basketball as described above, the player's other hand, referred to as the guide hand and being the left hand in the case of a right-handed player, is positioned in a generally vertical position, pressed lightly against the left side of the the left, guide hand, desirably is maintained on the ball until it is thrust forward from the finger tips of the right, launch hand. Maintenance of a guiding force on the ball until it is launched ensures that the azimuthal launch angle determined by the player to be aligned with a distant basket will be maintained.
However, in practice, it has been found that beginning basketball players routinely make a common mistake which results in unsatisfactory shooting performance in basketball, as well as other sports. Specifically, beginning basketball players often fail to follow-through in shooting a ball towards a basket. Thus, it is a common tendency of a beginning basketball player to prematurely drop the guide hand before a ball has been launched forward away from the tips of the launch hand. This premature removal of a lateral guiding force by the guide hand frequently results in the launched ball deviating left or right from an intended trajectory, and therefore resulting in a shot which deviates left or right of the basket centerline.
In apparent recognition of the problematic lack of follow-through of the guide hand displayed by beginning basketball players, a number of devices have been disclosed which are intended to aid beginning basketball players in learning how to accurately shoot a basketball into a basket. The devices include Okerlin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,204, Blevins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,652 and Goeble, U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0214330, all of which disclose devices for maintaining a basketball player's hands in close proximity while making a practice shot. Chrystal, U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,160 discloses a teaching device for facilitating an orientation of a person's hands prior to performing a task such as catching a ball. Stanisic, U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,140 discloses a tennis teaching instruction aid which includes wrist bands for encircling the wrists of a user and an umbilical that fits between the wrist bands to maintain the hands at a maximum distance. Baxter, U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,254 discloses a breakaway sports training device which includes a pair of wrist straps connected by a strap which has a breakaway attachment means that enables the wrists to be freed from constraint at a predetermined breakaway tension.
The present invention was conceived of to provide a basketball shooting training aid which is effective in performing muscle memory habit conditioning for the purpose of achieving proficiency in shooting baskets, and which overcomes certain limitations of prior art devices.

Basketball shooting training aid with automatically engageable wristlet couplers


A positioning mechanism includes a loading assembly and a clamping assembly. The clamping assembly includes a driver mounted on the bottom of the loading assembly, at least two sliding members driven by the driver, and at least two clamping subassemblies mounted on the top of the loading assembly. The clamping subassemblies are divided into two groups and are arranged and mounted adjacent to opposite sides of the loading assembly, and the sliding members are connected to the two groups of the at least two clamping subassemblies, respectively. The driver is capable of driving the sliding members to move away from or toward each other to enable the two groups of the clamping subassemblies to move toward or away from the loading assembly to clamp or release a workpiece on the loading assembly. The present invention further discloses a bonding device using the positioning mechanism.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a positioning mechanism, more particularly, to a positioning mechanism configured with a clamping assembly, and a bonding device using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A bonding device with a positioning mechanism is used in product manufacturing to bond a first workpiece to a second workpiece. The positioning mechanism includes a loading member and a positioning member. The loading member defines a positioning groove in the top surface of the second workpiece and a positioning cutout in the bottom of the positioning groove. The positioning groove is defined to receive the first workpiece. The positioning cutout allows the second workpiece to pass through. When bonding, the positioning member rests against the first workpiece in the positioning groove of the loading member. The second workpiece is driven to rest against the first workpiece through the positioning cutout of the loading member. However, the bottom surface of the positioning member entirely rests against the first workpiece, so when thicknesses of the first workpiece are uneven due to fabrication tolerances and errors, the first workpiece becomes tilted, thereby negatively impacting bonding quality of the workpieces.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Positioning mechanism and bonding device using the same

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


Provided is a transmission circuit that includes first and second drive circuits. A first digital signal at a data rate of a predetermined period length is input to the first drive circuit. A second digital signal at the data rate of the predetermined period length shifted by ½ of the predetermined period length relative to the first digital signal is input to second drive circuit. The outputs of the first drive circuit and the second drive circuit are connected. The connected output indicates the maximum level or the minimum level when the value of the first digital signal and the value of the second digital signal are the same. The connected output indicates a level between the maximum level and the minimum level when the value of the first digital signal and the value of the second digital signal are different.

In the Ethernet (registered trademark) standard, etc., the data rate is increased from 10 Gbit/s to 25 Gbit/s. Accompanying this, the data rate of the serial data transmission circuit included in the SerDes (SERializer/DESerializer) and the serial data transmission circuit is also increased to 25 Gbit/s.
With reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C, a conventional serial data transmission circuit is explained. FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a conventional serial data transmission circuit 101. FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a time chart of the serial data transmission circuit 101.
The serial data transmission circuit 101 configured to output serially four digital signals input in parallel has a divide-by-2 frequency divider circuit 110, 2:1 multiplexers 120, 121, and 122, and a driver circuit 130. When driving an output signal at a data rate of 25 Gbit/s, to the divide-by-2 frequency divider circuit 110 and the 2:1 multiplexer 122, a clock signal CK of 12.5 GHz corresponding to a waveform [PA] of FIG. 1B is provided. The divide-by-2 frequency divider circuit 110 divides the frequency of the provided clock signal CK and provides a divide-by-2 signal of 6.25 GHz corresponding to a waveform [PB] of FIG. 1B to the 2:1 multiplexers 120 and 121. The 2:1 multiplexer 120 outputs one of first and third digital signals Din0 and Din2 that are input based the divide-by-2 signal provided from the divide-by-2 frequency divider circuit 110. The digital signal output from the 2:1 multiplexer 120 corresponds to a waveform [PC] of FIG. 1B. Further, the 2:1 multiplexer 121 outputs one of second and fourth digital signals Din1 and Din3 that are input based the divide-by-2 signal provided from the divide-by-2 frequency divider circuit 110. The digital signal output from the 2:1 multiplexer 121 corresponds to a waveform [PD] of FIG. 1B. Furthermore, the 2:1 multiplexer 122 outputs one of the digital signals input from the 2:1 multiplexers 120 and 121 in a clock period CK indicated by 12.5 GHz in FIG. 1A. The digital signal output from the 2:1 multiplexer 122 corresponds to a waveform [PE] of FIG. 1B. Then, an output signal Vout output from the 2:1 multiplexer 122 is transmitted to a transfer path via the driver circuit 130.

Transmission circuit, communication system and transmission method


An imaging apparatus displays and records any area in a synthesized image according to user's taste. The synthesized image is displayed based on the set display area and the record area is set to display the synthesized image, so that the display area is compared with the record area to enable easily confirming whether the actually acquired synthesized image satisfies the area desired by the user and assisting recording in an area where a better composition is provided even if the user is unfamiliar with the composition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and program for synthesizing a plurality of images to produce one image and display it.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-134371, a camera is capable of pick up images from the start to the end of shooting as one image, because it is provided with a calendar clock which obtains the time, an image pickup device which captures a plurality of object images for each of the time, a matching device which performs a pattern matching for searching a matched portion from among images before and after the plurality of captured images, an image extracting device which extracts part of the image in the longitudinal direction or part of the image in the transverse direction from the images subjected to the pattern matching and an image synthesizing device which joins together the part of the extracted image for each of the time.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-156818, various variables and an internal buffer are initialized. A slit image is generated from a video frame currently captured by utilizing the detected numerical values (the position and speed of a moving body). A determination is made as to whether the generated slit image belongs to the left side or the right side. A panoramic image stored in an internal buffer is scrolled in the left or right direction only by the width w of the slit image generated at the preceding step. The slit image obtained at a step 302 is copied on the space of the internal buffer obtained by the scroll processing at the preceding step to obtain a current panoramic image. Finally, a determination is made as to whether a system finishes operating.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-69293, an area wider than a field image captured by a CCD is set as a still image area. A camera is moved longitudinally and transversely to capture images all over the area. The captured area is stored in a frame memory and displayed on a finder as a captured image. The area not yet captured is displayed in blue as a non-captured area. A latest image is displayed on a moving image area. If a duplication rate between the field images in an area and an adjacent area is smaller than a minimum duplication rate, the portion is displayed as a missing area. If the missing area protrudes from the area, the area is automatically extended.
In the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2003-134371 and 2000-156818, however, it is unclear how images are superimposed between frames, a gap is apt to be formed between the frames and images may not be able to be synthesized during capturing. In the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-69293, the area of a synthesized still picture is equal to an integral multiplication of a captured area, which makes it difficult to capture images at an angle of view desired by a user and record the images.


A polymer actuator, power supply and method of using the activation are described.

Actuators are devices that generate displacements or force for various applications. These can take on many forms such as motors, air cylinders, hydraulic cylinders, and electromagnetic solenoids to name a few. These actuators are utilized for many different applications and have been in use for decades.
More recently there have been attempts at developing applications for actuators that require small size and "low profile". By low profile, we mean that the actuator must operate over an area but be spatially constrained in thickness and/or length. This can be quite challenging in the actuator art. An example of such an application is an IV pump that is to be worn by a patient. To avoid discomfort and embarrassment the patient would prefer that such a pump be very thin so as to not be particularly noticeable under clothing or even swim suits.
Conventional actuators do not meet the full need for such an application. There is a need for thinner and lower profile actuators that still meet high performance actuation requirements such as a generation of high forces and displacements. Furthermore the state of the art polymer actuators do not include a separator material to isolate and create distinct ionic or pH boundaries of the electrolyte at the anode or cathode side of the electrodes. This eliminates comingling of the ionic or pH regions, the addition of the separator material substantially increases the response, accuracy, time and volume changes of the actuator material as well as improving the range of electrode materials and configurations of the cathode and anode electrodes within the device.
Patients have need of pumped medication in a variety of settings. Most pumps such as IV pumps are relatively bulky and usually only suitable at a bedside in a managed care environment such as a hospital. More recently medications have been delivered by more portable pumps that may be fastened to the body. Such pumps are more convenient than the larger IV pumps but still suffer from tradeoffs such as limitations on the amount of medication that may be delivered. Moreover, wearing a pump on the body can be quite uncomfortable. There is a need to improve upon these pumps in terms of their comfort and their ability to deliver larger volumes of medication.
Also, critical high potency medications such as Schedule II pain therapeutics are often administered to patients at healthcare facilities. Schedule II pain medications are particularly important for patients having undergone surgeries or having conditions involving acute pain. In such a situation a doctor writes an order or prescription for treatment of the patient. The order is filled or verified by the facility pharmacy and may need to be renewed every 48 to 96 hours. The order can then be dispensed by an automated cabinet system to a caregiver (e.g., a nurse) as required by the patient.
Insufficient or delayed pain therapy may impair a patient's ability to heal and leave the healthcare facility. What is needed is a new process that addresses these issues while simplifying the process of administering the medication.

Low profile actuator and improved method of caregiver controlled administration of therapeutics


The invention is directed to novel methods for the suppression of photocarcinogenesis and photoimmunosuppression in mice. The novel methods comprises the step of administering to a subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising niacin and a pharmaceutical carrier.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to methods and compositions for the oral administration of niacin for the prevention of photocarcinogenesis and photoimmunosuppression.
2. Description of the Background
Nonmelanoma skin cancers are the most frequent of human cancers, approximating 62.5% of the expected incidence for all non-skin cancers combined (Parker, S L et al., CA Cancer J Clin 47, 5-27, 1997). Nonmelanoma skin cancers have been increasing in incidence at an annual rate of 3-6% (Gallagher, R P et al., J Am Acad Dermatol 23, 413-421, 1990). The increase in nonmelanoma skin cancer rate is likely due to an increase in lifetime exposure to UV radiation caused by a longer life expectancy and ozone depletion (Moseley, H, and Mackie, R M, Brit J Dermatol 137, 101-103, 1997). Nonmelanoma skin cancers represent considerable morbidity (Johnson M L et al., J Am Acad Dermatol 11: 930-936, 1984). Both squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma can be invasive and tend to present as multiple primary tumors on visible areas of the body (Kwa, R E, et al., J Am Acad Dermatol 26, 1-26, 1992; Miller, S J, J Am Acad Dermatol 24, 1-13, 1991; Miller, S J, J Am Acad Dermatol 24, 161-175, 1991; Schreiber, M M, J Am Acad Dermatol 23, 1114-1118, 1990). The use of sunscreens alone may not be sufficient protection against skin cancer development (Naylor, M F et al., Arch Dermatol 131, 170-175, 1995). These observations indicate an increasing need for novel skin cancer prevention strategies.
It is an object of the invention to suppress or reverse photoimmunosuppression and photocarcinogenesis in a subject.
One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for reducing photocarcinogenesis or photoimmunosuppression in a subject. In the method, one or more oral administration of a pharmaceutical composition is given to the subject. The pharmaceutical composition comprises niacin in an amount effective to reduce photocarcinogenesis or photoimmunosuppression. The pharmaceutical composition may optionally comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The method may be used to reduce, eliminate, prevent or reverse photocarcinogenesis. Further, the method may be used to reduce, eliminate, prevent or reverse photoimmunosuppression.
The subject to be treated may be any animal. Thus, the subject may be a mammal, such as, for example, a human.
The pharmaceutical composition may contain niacin in an amount such that the dosage to be administered orally is between 1 mg niacin per kilogram of subject weight to about 100 mg per kilogram of subject weight. Preferably, the dosage is between 10 mg niacin per kilogram of subject weight to about 40 mg per kilogram of subject weight.
The photoimmunusuppression and photocarcinogenesis referred to in this application may be caused by natural or artificial means. Natural means include direct or reflected sunlight. Artificial means include all man made ultraviolet light sources such as UV lamps, residue UV from lighting fixtures, and ultraviolet light emitted from industrial processes and methods of manufacture.

Method for inhibition of photocarcinogenesis or photoimmunosuppression using niacin

University of Kentucky Research Foundation


A method for preparing a compact of resin compound comprising the following steps (a) to (c):                (a) a preparation step of mounting a sheet-shaped or block-shaped compact of resin compound including a resin composition, which contains a filler having magnetic anisotropy and is solidified by curing or by being advanced to a B-stage, on a transportation unit which is movable in the horizontal direction, and covering at least a top surface of the compact of resin compound with a cover material;        (b) a step of applying a magnetic field to the compact of resin compound obtained in the step (a) with a bulk superconductor magnet having a central magnetic flux density of 1 T or more; and        (c) a step of moving the compact of resin compound in the horizontal direction and scanning it while applying vibrations to the compact of resin compound mounted on a region of a central part of the bulk superconductor magnet under application of a magnetic field.

In recent years, resins used in automobiles, airplanes, and solar batteries are demanded to have higher performance in various aspects. In particular, resins containing fillers having high anisotropy are gaining attention in recent years. For example, bodies of airplanes and automobiles require high strength and lightweight members, so that resins containing carbon fibers and cellulose nanofibers are receiving attention and under development. Additionally, as transparent materials replacing ITO, resins containing silver nanowire, and high thermally-conductive resins containing scaly boron nitride for TIM use are under development. However, these materials achieve high function based on properties of fillers, but the use of their anisotropy can achieve further high performance such as high strength. Thorough utilization of anisotropy of fillers requires the technique of control of arrangement and orientation of fillers in resins.
Examples of these methods include a method of using flowing of a resin (Patent Document 1). In the method using flowing at the time of injection, fibers are oriented in accordance with flowing in the mold during injection molding, so that complete control of orientation in a specific shape is difficult. It is particularly difficult to make a thin sheet-shaped molded article in which fibers are oriented in the planar direction. Additionally, the usable resin is limited to those having high flowability.
Other examples include a method of using an electric field (Patent Document 2). The method using an electric field facilitates control of orientation, but requires a high voltage, so that the method is not suitable to prepare an oriented resin while ensuring safety.
Other examples also include a method using a magnetic field (Patent Documents 3 to 5). Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4 disclose methods of preparing compacts of resin compound including oriented anisotropic fillers using a superconducting coil magnet of 10 T is disclosed. However, these methods are not suitable to orient resin fillers larger than the size of the hole of the coil of superconducting coil magnet. Additionally, the magnet has a tubular structure, and thus is not suitable for orientation other than vibrations by air vibrations, such as contact with an ultrasonic transducer. Additionally, the apparatus is expensive and its continuous production is difficult, so that mass production and cost reduction of compacts of resin compounds are difficult. Patent Document 5 discloses a method of orienting ferromagnetic substance-coated carbon fibers in a resin by applying vibrations to the resin under application of a magnetic field with a normal conducting coil magnet. However, a normal conducting coil magnet has a small magnetic flux density, and cannot achieve sufficient orientation without covering the filler with a ferromagnetic substance, which markedly imposes limitations on the cost and properties or the material.
Therefore, a method of using a bulk superconductor magnet is suggested. The bulk superconductor magnet can maintain a strong magnetic field of 4 T to 20 T only with cooling, has a simple and compact structure, and can be used like an ordinary permanent magnet. However, the bulk superconductor magnet has a problem that a strong magnetic field is emitted from its central part, but the magnetic field becomes weak and oblique just by slightly deviating from the center. Therefore, the method is unsuitable for preparing a large anisotropic material such as a sheet-shaped compact of 30 cm square.

Method for preparing compact of resin compound having anisotropy


Systems, methods and apparatuses for embodiments of a transformation engine for structured documents are disclosed. More specifically, instruction code may be generated by a compiler from transformation instructions for a structured document. Embodiments of the transformation engine may comprise hardware circuitry operable to execute the instruction code to process a structured document according to the transformation instructions such that output for an output document is generated.

Electronic data, entertainment and communications technologies are growing increasingly prevalent with each passing day. In the past, the vast majority of these electronic documents were in a proprietary format. In other words, a particular electronic document could only be processed or understood by the application that created that document. Up until relatively recently this has not been especially troublesome.
This situation became progressively more problematic with the advent of networking technologies, however. These networking technologies allowed electronic documents to be communicated between different and varying devices, and as these network technologies blossomed, so did user's desires to use these networked devices to share electronic data.
Much to the annoyance of many users, however, the proprietary formats of the majority of these electronic documents prevented them from being shared between different platforms: if a document was created by one type of platform it usually could not be processed, or rendered, by another type of platform.
To that end, data began to be placed in structured documents. Structured documents may be loosely defined as any type of document that adheres to a set of rules. Because the structured document conforms to a set of rules it enables the cross-platform distribution of data, as an application or platform may process or render a structured document based on the set of rules, no matter the application that originally created the structured document.
The use of structured documents to facilitate the cross-platform distribution of data is not without its own set of problems, however. In particular, in many cases the structured document does not itself define how the data it contains is to be rendered, for example for presentation to a user. Exacerbating the problem is the size of many of these structured documents. To facilitate the organization of data intended for generic consumption these structured documents may contain a great deal of meta-data, and thus may be larger than similar proprietary documents, in some cases up to twenty times larger or more.
In many cases, instructions may be provided for how to transform or render a particular structured document. For example, one mechanism implemented as a means to facilitate processing XML is the extensible stylesheet language (XSL) and stylesheets written using XSL. Stylesheets may be written to transform XML documents from one markup definition (or "vocabulary") defined within XML to another vocabulary, from XML markup to another structured or unstructured document form (such as plain text, word processor, spreadsheet, database, pdf, HTML, etc.), or from another structured or unstructured document form to XML markup. Thus, stylesheets may be used to transform a document's structure from its original form to a form expected by a given user (output form).
Typically, structured documents are transformed or rendered with one or more software applications. However, as many definitions for these structured languages were designed and implemented without taking into account conciseness or efficiency of parsing and transformation, the use of software applications to transform or render these structured documents may be prohibitively inefficient.
Thus, as can be seen, there is a need for methods and systems for an architecture for the efficient processing of structured documents.

Method, system and apparatus for a transformation engine for use in the processing of structured documents


A semiconductor device comprising a high withstand voltage MOS transistor of an offset drain/offset source structure easing a high electric field generated between a channel and a parasitic channel stopper in an operating state and preventing changes of a threshold voltage Vth, on-resistance Ron, or other characteristics, said device characterized in that a parasitic channel stopper layer containing an impurity is formed with a concentration gradient wherein the impurity concentration decreases along with approaching a channel region and a method of producing the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device comprising a high withstand or threshold voltage MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) transistor and a method of producing the same.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device comprising a high withstand voltage MOS transistor having an offset drain/offset source structure that includes a channel region and a parasitic channel stopper layer formed below a field insulating film that abuts the channel region. The channel stopper layer has an impurity concentration gradient that decreases in the direction of the channel region, to substantially prevent a high electric field from being generated between the channel region and the parasitic channel stopper when the transistor is in an operational state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the increase in size of displays of personal computers and television sets for home use, the market for displays has expanded rapidly. Also, in the current field of displays, while CRTs having a high definition, a high luminance, a wide viewing angle, a high contrast, and other superior view ability are most widespread, attention is focusing on the increase in the space they occupy along with their future enlargement. In addition to liquid crystal displays and projector displays, plasma displays of a new type using plasma and other flat panel displays capable of being made thinner have been looked to as the next-generation of displays to take the place of CRTs. In view of this situation, in the field of semiconductor devices , a high withstand voltage process able to form a driver IC of a high withstand voltage of several hundred volts for controlling plasma has been required.
For facilitating understanding of the present invention, a conventional high withstand voltage NMOS transistor and high withstand voltage PMOS transistor will be explained with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a top view of a conventional high withstand voltage NMOS transistor viewed from an upper side of the substrate. FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view along X-Xxe2x80x2 of FIG. 1. FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view along Y-Yxe2x80x2 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a top view of a conventional high withstand voltage PMOS transistor viewed from an upper side of the substrate. FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view along X-Xxe2x80x2 of FIG. 3. FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view along Y-Yxe2x80x2 of FIG. 3. In the top views of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a broken line represents a part that is overlapped with another part represented by a solid line.
These high withstand voltage MOS transistors are called LOD/S (LOCOS offset drain/source)-type LDMOS transistors. The structure of the NMOS transistor shown in FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B will now be explained. A buried layer doped with a p-type impurity (PBL) 3 is formed in a predetermined region of a p-type silicon semiconductor substrate 1 on which an n-type epitaxial layer 5 is then formed. A p-well 8 and n-wells 9 are formed in a surface part of the n-type epitaxial layer 5.
Also, on the p-well 8 of a region separated by a field insulating film, that is, LOCOS oxide film 10, a gate electrode 14 is formed with side wall protection oxide films 17 adjacent a gate oxide film 12. On the gate electrode 14, as shown in FIG. 2B, a gate electrode plug 14a is formed. On the surface of the n-wells 9 separated from each other by the p-well 8, an n-type source region 18n and an n-type drain region 19n are formed. These are connected to a source electrode 20 and a drain electrode 21 respectively.
As shown in FIG. 2B, an n-channel formation region 22 is formed on a surface of the p-well 8 just below the polycrystalline silicon gate electrode 14. When voltage is supplied on the gate electrode 14, a channel is formed in the n-channel region 22. Also, at parts of the p-well 8 contacting the LOCOS oxide film 10, parasitic n-channel stopper layers 11 containing a p-type impurity are formed so as to sandwich this n-channel formation region 22 between them. Due to this, the withstand voltage is increased.
Further, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in the above transistor, silicon oxide films 15, 16 covering the upper side are formed.
The PMOS transistor shown in FIG. 3 and FIGS. 4A and 4B has a similar structure. An n-well 9 is formed on a n-type buried layer 4 formed on the substrate 1. Also, on the surface of the p-well 8 separated by the n-well 9, a p-type source region 18p and a p-type drain region 19p are formed. A p-channel formation region 23 is formed on a surface of the n-well 9 just below the polycrystalline silicon gate electrode 14. Also, at parts of the n-well 9 contacting the LOCOS oxide film 10, parasitic p-channel stopper layers 13 containing an n-type impurity are formed so as to sandwich the p-channel formation region 23 between them. Due to this, the withstand voltage is increased.
These high withstand voltage NMOS and PMOS transistors are called LOD/S (LOCOS offset drain/source)-type LDMOS transistors. In these MOS transistors, for the purpose of securing a high BVds Ounction withstand voltage between source and drain), for example in the case of the NMOS, as shown in FIG. 2A, the n-type source region 18 and n-type drain region 19 are formed away from the p-well 8 by the LOCOS oxide film 10.
In this MOS transistor, when a reverse bias is supplied between the source and the drain, a depletion layer extends from a junction of the p-well 8 of a low concentration of impurity and the n-well 9 to the n-well 9. The withstand voltage is secured by using the extension of the depletion layer to the n-well 9 for easing the electric field.
In addition, in this transistor, the withstand voltage is increased further by employing a RESURF (reduced surface field) technique, that is, easing of the electric field at the surface of the n-well 9 using an extension of a depletion layer at the junction of the p-type silicon semiconductor substrate 1 of a low concentration of impurity and the n-type epitaxial layer 5 of a low concentration of impurity in the surface direction.
Also, unlike general LOD-type LDMOS transistors, since these MOS transistors have a symmetrical structure right and left from the gate, that is, in the direction of the source and the drain, it is possible to obtain a high withstand voltage not only between a backgate connected generally to a reference voltage and the drain and between the gate and the drain or other drain sides but also between a backgate and the source and between the gate and source or other source sides.
However, when the NMOS transistor shown in FIG. 2 is in an on state, that is, in the state where the source electrode 20 and drain electrode 21 have any voltage, a positive voltage is supplied on the polycrystalline silicon gate electrode 14, a channel is formed in the n-channel formation region 22 as shown in FIG. 2B, and an electric current flows between the source and drain. When the source electrode 20 (or the drain electrode) voltage becomes a high voltage, a high electric field is generated at the junction of the n-channel region 22 and the parasitic n-channel stopper layer 11 (parts shown with arrows) and a junction breakdown is sometimes caused.
Further, it suffers from the disadvantage that carriers generated by this breakdown jump into the gate oxide film 12 due to the positive voltage supplied on the polycrystalline silicon gate electrode 14, causing the threshold voltage Vth to change.
Also, in the PMOS transistor too, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the voltage of the source electrode 20 becomes a high voltage, a high electric field is generated at the junction of the p-channel 23 and the parasitic p-channel stopper layer 13 (parts shown with arrows) and a breakdown is induced in the same manner. Then, it suffers from the disadvantage that carriers generated by this change the threshold voltage Vth.
If an analog switch comprised of high withstand voltage NMOS and PMOS transistors as shown in FIG. 5 is formed, an input signal can no longer be transferred accurately to an output circuit, when changes in the threshold voltage Vth are induced as described above. This greatly influences the characteristics of the IC. Therefore, in the prior art, it was necessary to restrict the voltage of the input signal able to prevent fluctuation in or a change to the threshold voltage of Vth for the respective NMOS or PMOS transistor.
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device comprising a high withstand voltage MOS transistor having an offset drain/offset source structure wherein the high electric field generated between the channel and the parasitic channel stopper in an operating state is eased and changes to the threshold voltage Vth, on-resistance Ron, or other characteristics are prevented.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing the semiconductor device in a high yield.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising: a substrate; an epitaxial layer formed on the substrate; a source region and a drain region formed in the epitaxial layer and containing a first conductivity type impurity; a source electrode connected to the source region; a drain electrode connected to the drain region; a channel region formed between the source region and drain region; a gate insulating film formed on the channel region; and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film, said device comprising at least a second conductivity type channel stopper layer formed in proximity to the channel region in the epitaxial layer except between the source region and/or drain region and the gate electrode, wherein an impurity concentration in a first region of the channel stopper layer near the channel region is lower than an impurity concentration in a second region far from the channel region.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises a field insulating film formed on the channel stopper layer.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises a field insulating film formed on a surface of the epitaxial layer between the source electrode and/or the drain electrode and the gate electrode.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises said field insulating film formed on a surface of the epitaxial layer between the source electrode and/or the drain electrode and the gate electrode.
Preferably, the field insulating film is an oxide film.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising: a first conductivity type substrate; a second conductivity type epitaxial layer formed on the substrate; a first well region and a second well region formed in the epitaxial layer and containing a second conductivity type impurity; a source region formed in the first well region and containing a second conductivity type impurity at a higher concentration than the first well region; a drain region formed in the second well region and containing a second conductivity type impurity at a higher concentration than the second well region; a source electrode connected to the source region; a drain electrode connected to the drain region; a channel region formed between the source region and the drain region; a gate insulating film formed on the channel region; and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film, wherein the channel region is included in at least a first conductivity type third well, said device comprising at least a first conductivity type channel stopper layer formed in proximity to the channel region in the epitaxial layer except between the source region and/or the drain region and the gate electrode, wherein an impurity concentration in a first region of the channel stopper layer near the channel region is lower than an impurity concentration in a second region far from the channel region.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises a field insulating film formed on the channel stopper layer.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises a field insulating film formed on a surface of the epitaxial layer between the source electrode and/or the drain electrode and the gate electrode.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises the field insulating film formed on a surface of the epitaxial layer between the source electrode and/or the drain electrode and the gate electrode.
Preferably, the field insulating film is an oxide film.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising: a first conductivity type substrate; a second conductivity type buried layer formed in the substrate; a second conductivity type epitaxial layer formed on the substrate; a first well region and a second well region formed in the epitaxial layer and containing a first conductivity type impurity; a source region formed in the first well region and containing a first conductivity type impurity at a higher concentration than the first well region; a drain region formed in the second well region and containing a first conductivity type impurity at a higher concentration than the second well region; a source electrode connected to the source region; a drain electrode connected to the drain region; a channel region formed between the source region and the drain region; a gate insulating film formed on the channel region; and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film, wherein the channel region is included in at least a second conductivity type third well, said device comprising at least a second conductivity type channel stopper layer formed in proximity to the channel region in the epitaxial layer except between the source region and/or the drain region and the gate electrode, wherein an impurity concentration in a first region of the channel stopper layer near the channel region is lower than an impurity concentration in a second region far from the channel region.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises a field insulating film formed on the channel stopper layer.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises a field insulating film formed on a surface of the epitaxial layer between the source electrode and/or the drain electrode and the gate electrode.
Preferably, the semiconductor device further comprises the field insulating film formed on a surface of the epitaxial layer between the source electrode and/or the drain electrode and the gate electrode.
Preferably, the field insulating film is an oxide film.
Due to this, it is possible to ease the high electric field generated between the channel and parasitic channel stopper in an operating state and reliably prevent a change to the threshold voltage Vth, on-resistance Ron, or other characteristics.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a semiconductor device for forming a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor on a same substrate, said method comprising the steps of: introducing a first conductivity type impurity in the NMOS transistor formation region and introducing a second conductivity type impurity in the PMOS transistor formation region; forming a second conductivity type epitaxial layer on the substrate; forming a first conductivity type first well region in the epitaxial layer of the NMOS transistor formation region and forming first conductivity type second and third well regions in the epitaxial layer of the PMOS transistor formation region; forming second conductivity type fourth and fifth well regions at both edges of the first well region and forming a second conductivity type sixth well region between the second well region and the third well region; forming a first channel stopper layer by introducing a second conductivity type impurity in the epitaxial layer except a direction facing the second well region and/or the third well region and the sixth well region; forming a second channel stopper layer by introducing a second conductivity type impurity in the first channel stopper layer of a position farther from the second well region and/or the third well region; forming a LOCOS oxide film between the first well region and the fourth well region, between the first well region and the fifth well region, between the second well region and the sixth well region and between the third well region and the sixth well region; forming a gate insulating film on the first well region and on the sixth well region; after forming the LOCOS oxide film, forming a third channel stopper layer by introducing a first conductivity type impurity in the epitaxial layer except a direction facing the fourth well region and/or the fifth well region and the first well region; forming a fourth channel stopper layer by introducing a first conductivity type impurity in the third channel stopper layer of a position farther from the fourth well region and/or the fifth well region; forming a first conductivity type source region and drain region by introducing further a first conductivity type impurity in the second and third well regions and forming a second conductivity type source region and drain region by introducing further a second conductivity type impurity in the fourth and fifth well regions; forming electrodes connected to the source regions and drain regions respectively; and forming gate electrodes on the gate insulating films respectively.
Due to this, it is possible to simply produce in a high yield a semiconductor device that substantially prevents a high electric field from forming between the channel and parasitic channel stopper when in an operating state, preventing a change to the threshold voltage Vth, on-resistance Ron, or other characteristics of the semi-conductor device.

Semiconductor device with improved channel stopper


A dynamic surgical table system includes any one or combination of a head support system, support systems for each arm, a torso support system, and a leg support system mounted to a frame system to support a patient during surgery. Any one or combination of the support systems is movable relative to the other and to the frame system to facilitate patient repositioning during surgery. Such repositioning may be desirable, for example, to create flexion, extension or rotation of the spine to facilitate access to and surgical treatment of one or more vertebral bodies, disc spaces between vertebral bodies, or other anatomical structures adjacent the spine of the patient. Furthermore, individual support members of any one of the support systems can articulate to conform to the patient anatomy and facilitate repositioning of the particular portion of the patient's body being support thereon while minimizing stress on the patient.

Surgical tables are employed during surgery to support the patient in a position that provides access to internal portions of the patient's body to be subject to surgical procedures. The ability to manipulate the patient's limbs, head and/or torso during the surgery can be limited by the design and functioning of the surgical table. Furthermore, the contact areas between the table and the patient can create pressure points on the patient. During long procedures, these pressure points can create post-operative sores and irritation for the patient.
It is sometimes necessary to reposition the patient during surgery. Such repositioning may involve time-consuming lifting and movement of the patient and placement of pads between the patient and the surgical table. In addition, the areas of contact between the table and the patient may create sores and irritation through friction or rubbing the skin of the patient as the patient is repositioned during surgery.


Techniques are disclosed for session control of a client-side native application that utilizes a browser for an authentication process. A login request from the browser is received in a proxy service, which scans the request for a URL redirecting back to the native application. The URL is modified to redirect the login request to a policy endpoint to determine if the request is allowed based on policy applied to the native application and browser. If the request is allowed, the policy endpoint restores the URL redirecting to the native application and bypasses the request to resume normal authentication flow. If the request is prohibited, a failure message is sent to the browser. Some implementations may include injection of browser detection code into the browser to determine which variant of the browser is used and sending the browser data regarding the variant to the policy endpoint for consideration in applying policy.

In networked computer systems, proxy services are sometimes used to monitor internet traffic and enforce policy restrictions on user activities on client platforms. A common policy restriction is to limit accessibility to resources to certain allowed platforms, e.g. devices and applications, to prevent access from high risk platforms.
Currently, web applications commonly have multiple user interface (UI) points, such as a web browser UI or applications residing on mobile devices, laptop devices or desktop computers, e.g. native applications. Proxy session control currently typically runs on a web browser UI, but cannot be injected into native applications. Native applications typically contain relevant access endpoints in the code of the application, which cannot be changed. Native applications can also utilize different methods to present themselves during a user login process.
Conventional native application identification approaches have typically relied on the application itself to make a login request to a service provider. For example, in user-agent parsing, many applications declare themselves in a user-agent request header during login, which can be an explicit name of the service or an abbreviation that is sufficiently unique to identify the application. A database of known application identifiers can be maintained with access control rules defined by an administrator, such as policy defined a tenant administrator. When an application login is detected for the user-agent request, the application identifier is checked against the access control rules to determine if the login from the native application on the client is to be blocked or allowed to bypass to the login process.
Another known approach to native application identification is request header parsing. Many mobile applications, such as ANDROID based application, use unique request headers, e.g. "X-Requested-With", to declare themselves during the login process. Often, a particular application declares specific request headers that indicate the identity of the application. For example, a request header for BOX uses "X-Requested-With: com.box.android" declares that the login attempt is from the BOX application on an ANDROID device. Similar to the user-agent parsing technique, a database of known application request headers can be maintained with access control rules that determine whether the corresponding application is to be blocked or allowed to bypass.
As noted, these conventional approaches rely on the applications to identify themselves. However, many applications outsource the authentication process, such as a single-sign-on (SSO) login process, to third party identity and access management providers, e.g. CENTRIFY Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., using a browser and receive the authentication data from the browser once the login process is completed. These login sessions that involve an application utilizing a browser generally cannot be distinguished from a normal login flow for a browser. In this scenario, a proxy service attempting to perform session control to enforce policy restrictions may be unable to identify a user's platform, e.g. device and application and apply access policies to prevent the use of unsecure native applications.
It is with respect to these and other technical challenges that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Client-side native application and browser identification for session control in proxy solutions


System and method for combining maximizing a received signal in a multipath environment. A preferred embodiment comprises a rake receiver (for example, rake receiver 1100), created from switched capacitors, with N fingers. Each of the fingers is coupled to a signal input for a period of time to accumulate a charge on a storing capacitor (for example, storing capacitor 1115). The charges stored on the storing capacitors can then be read-out to produce a value. The rake receiver can implement either equal ratio combining or maximum gain combining to further improve received signal strength.

Generally, when a wireless signal is transmitted over-the-air, reflections of the signal will occur whenever the signal encounters a solid surface, for example, buildings, bridges, large rocks (hills and mountains), walls, etc. The original wireless signal and the reflections will then scatter and arrive at a destination at different times. This is commonly referred to as multipath. Each time that a reflection occurs, a net reduction of the original wireless signal's strength is seen, since the surface that the original wireless signal reflects from absorbs a portion of the original wireless signal and the reflection itself takes away a part of the original wireless signal.
Multipath can be a problem when it comes to the proper reception of the transmitted signal, with the reflections interfering with the original wireless signal and degrading system performance. Multipath occurs in many wireless communications systems, from uni-directional systems such as AM/FM radio to bi-directional systems like cellular telephones and geosynchronous satellite based communications systems. In an ultra-wideband (UWB) communications system that may use a stream of short-duration pulses, the reflections of the pulses can be readily distinguished from the original pulse due to the fact that the pulses are of short-duration and there is normally no mingling of the original pulse and any of the reflections. In wireless communications systems with a continuously transmitted signal or wherein the signal length is longer than a typical multipath delay, problems may arise from the intermingling of the original signal and the reflections and special techniques must be employed to separate the signal from the reflections.
However, in systems where the multipath delay is greater than the signal length, it is possible to easily combine the received original wireless signal (attenuated by distance traveled and reflections lost) with the received reflections to maximize the received signal strength. A commonly used technique employs what is commonly referred to as a rake receiver. The rake receiver has multiple "fingers" that measures the received signal at various points in time, hoping to capture the reflections of the original wireless signal. The signals measured by the fingers are then combined so that the received signal strength is maximized.
Rake receivers are commonly implemented in software and make use of existing receivers. This permits the benefits of rake receivers without significantly increasing the cost of the receiver or requiring the re-design of a receiver without a rake receiver to include the rake receiver.
Additionally, in wireless communications systems that use the precise arrival of signals and pulses, a slight mismatch between the actual arrival time of the signal and the expected arrival time of the signal can result in a significant reduction in the received signal strength. This is often due to a misalignment between the signal and a correlator/integrator that is used to detect the arrival of the signal and to produce a value that is proportional to the received signal strength of the signal. It is therefore, vital to align the correlator/integrator with the received signal to maximize the available received signal strength.
However, since the arrival times of the signal can vary, either on purpose (such as due to a modulation scheme) or through error (via clock drift, etc.), a method of simply using historical timing information derived from previously arrived signals is generally not adequate. Even techniques that use the most recently received signal to predict the arrival of the next signal may not provide optimal performance. This is especially true in an ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless communications system that makes use of a stream of short-duration pulses to encode and convey information. Depending on the modulation scheme used, the actual arrival time of the short-duration pulses may be varied to convey information.
One disadvantage of the prior art is that many of the rake receivers are implemented via software, using existing receiver hardware. While this can minimize any additional hardware costs involved with the implementation of a rake receiver, the fact that the rake receiver is implemented in software can place limits on a maximum speed at which the rake receiver can operate. Therefore, if the incoming signals are arriving too quickly, then the software rake receiver may not be able to measure a significant number of the reflections to significantly improve the received signal strength.
A second disadvantage of the prior art is that while existing rake receivers can increase the received signal strength by combining reflections of the received signal, if the received signals and the reflections themselves are not at a maximum signal strength, then system performance can suffer.
Yet another disadvantage of the prior art is that historical timing information cannot be reliably used to detect the arrival of future signals. This is due to problems associated with clock drive and even modulation schemes.

Rake receiver architecture for an ultra-wideband (UWB) receiver