Disclosed is a system and method for controlling a fuel cell system. More specifically, a fuel cell demand current is calculated based on a driver demand current calculated from a driver demand torque. Then a target flow rate-1 of air to be supplied to a fuel cell stack is calculated based on the fuel cell demand current and a target stoichiometric ratio (SR) of air. The target flow rate-1 is then compensated for using the target SR, an RPM command value of an air blower is calculated based on a compensated target flow rate-2 and the amount of air currently measured. The operation of the air blower is subsequently controlled based on the calculated RPM command value.

1. (a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method for controlling a fuel cell system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for controlling a fuel cell system which minimizes excessive supply of air that is unintended and unnecessary and thus reduces unnecessary energy consumption for an operation of an air blower and improves fuel efficiency of a fuel cell vehicle as a result.
2. (b) Background Art
A fuel cell system as applied to a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle typically includes a fuel cell stack for generating electricity via an electrochemical reaction between reactant gases, a fuel processing system (FPS) for supplying hydrogen as a fuel to the fuel cell stack, an air processing system (APS) for supplying oxygen-containing air as an oxidant required for the electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell stack, and a thermal management system (TMS) for removing reaction heat from the fuel cell stack to outside of the fuel cell system, controlling an operating temperature of the fuel cell stack, and performing water management.
In the air processing system, external dry air is forcibly blown by an air blower into a membrane humidifier and, at the same time, supersaturated moist air discharged from a cathode outlet of the fuel cell stack is fed into the membrane humidifier. At this time, the dry air is humidified by water exchange between the dry air and the moist air, and the humidified air is supplied to the cathode inlet of the fuel cell stack.
At present, the air is supplied to the cathode of the fuel cell stack is about two times the stoichiometric ratio (SR. The amount of air supplied to the cathode affects the output of the fuel cell stack, the efficiency of the fuel cell system, the relative humidity of air, the water balance, etc. In particular, depending on the amount of air, when the operating temperature is low, such as during start-up or warm-up of the fuel cell system, flooding (excessive condensation) may occur. Furthermore, when the operating temperature increases, such as during high power operation, a polymer electrolyte membrane my dry out in the fuel cell stack. Thus, it is very important to optimally control the amount of air supplied to the cathode to improve the performance of the fuel cell.
As a conventional method for controlling the amount of air supplied, a method of calculating a target flow rate based on information related to the current of the fuel cell stack using an air stoichiometric ratio has been used. To control the amount of air supplied to the fuel cell stack, a controller calculates the target flow rate, calculates an RPM command value of the air blower such that the air is supplied to the fuel cell stack at the calculated target flow rate, and controls the RPM of the air blower to follow the calculated RPM command value. However, excess air may still be supplied to the cathode in this control method.
In particular, there is a difference between an SR calculated under actual operating conditions of the vehicle and a target SR as shown in FIG. 1. When the SR calculated under actual operating conditions is higher than the target SR, more than an optimum amount of air is supplied to the fuel cell stack (i.e., excessive supply of air). This means that the air blower is being operated more than is necessary to reach a target value, which consumes much more energy than necessary for the operation of the air blower, thus reducing the fuel efficiency of the fuel cell vehicle.
Moreover, during the operation of the air blower, significant noise is generated, and the water balance in the fuel cell stack is affected due to the unnecessary excessive supply of air, which may possibly cause the polymer electrolyte membrane to dry out, thus reducing the performance of the fuel cell.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

System and method for controlling fuel cell system


Provided is a vaporizable source material container having excellent corrosion resistance. The vaporizable source material container for storing and vaporizing a metal halide for thin film deposition S includes: a container main body including a container wall; a lid body provided with a carrier gas inlet and a mixed gas outlet; fastening members for fixing the container main body with the lid body; and joint members, wherein the container wall of the container main body is fabricated of copper with 99 to 99.9999% purity, aluminum with 99 to 99.9999% purity, or titanium with 99 to 99.9999% purity, and the container main body, the lid body, the fastening members and the joint members are each treated by fluorocarbon polymer coating and/or by electrolytic polishing.

Vaporizable source material containers are conventionally known as the containers for storing a vaporizable source material, for example, in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, where stainless steel and the like have been disclosed as materials out of which a vaporizer main body of the vaporizable source material containers is fabricated (refer to PTL 1).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vaporizable source material container and solid vaporization/supply system using the same


The present invention provides a contour extraction apparatus which has an image storing section 1 for storing an image, a contour model storing section 2 for storing a contour model, a contour model transforming section 3 for transforming and shrinking the contour model according to a prescribed rule, a contour model intersection detecting section 4 for detecting a contact or intersection in the contour model, a contour model dividing section 5 for dividing the contour model into contour models based on the detected contact or intersection, and an extraction completion judging section 7 for judging whether or not extraction of the contour of the object has been completed. According to the contour extraction apparatus, even when there are objects whose contours are to be extracted, the contour of the each object can be extracted correctly by predesignating a region only once, or without predesignating a region at all, despite the presence of excessive noise or a discontinuity in the edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contour extraction apparatus for extracting the contour of an object captured, for example, by a visual sensor such as a CCD or infrared camera.
2. Related Art of the Invention
As techniques for extracting the contour of an object from an image captured by a CCD camera or the like, and specifically as contour extraction techniques resistant to noise, SNAKES described in "JOHO SHORI (Information Processing) Vol.30, No.9, pp.1047-1057," etc. and the image processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Application No.319051 are known.
According to these techniques, when a rough contour of an object to be extracted is given in advance, the accurate contour of the object can be obtained by minimizing an energy function defined by the contour and image features. These techniques can be applied to multimedia equipment used, for example, for interactive image editing.
However, the above prior art techniques have had the problem that a plurality of objects cannot be extracted unless the number of objects to be extracted is specified in advance.
In SNAKES, it is required that a rough contour of an object be given in advance as an initial contour. As a result, when the number of objects or the number of images to be processed is large, the processing burden involved in setting the initial contours becomes excessive.
Furthermore, SNAKES has had the shortcoming that it cannot be applied for applications where the number of objects contained in an image needs to be detected automatically, as in the detection of the number of intruders in the case of a security system or in the detection of the number of room occupants in air-conditioning control.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Embodiments provide an automated participation evaluator, wherein processors are configured to evaluate participation of meeting attendees with respect to performance criteria including participation criteria and deliverable contribution criteria; populate object fields associated to ones of the performance criteria and attendees with values representing a quality of performance of the associated attendees relative to the associated performance criteria; notify the attendees of the populated object field values in response to determining that time for evaluating participation of the attendees with respect to performance criteria has not elapsed; update the populated object field values via reevaluating participation of the attendees in response to the notifying of the attendees of the populated values; and reward the attendees with reward values selected as a function of the updated, populated values, in response to determining time for evaluating the participation of the attendees with respect to each of the performance criteria has elapsed.

Meetings of groups of people to discuss issues, impart training, etc., may occur with meeting attendees located within a common, physical space (meeting room, auditorium, arena, etc.), or they may occur "virtually." A virtual meeting generally refers to an activity wherein a group of people share a common virtual environment on a telephonic connection or on a local or wide-area network or the web to review and discuss topics in real-time conversational formats, wherein each attendee is present and takes part through a communication device link and may be physically located anywhere, rather than meeting in a common or designated physical location. Virtual events may be highly interactive, and provide cost and resource-effective alternatives to physical meeting counterparts.
Relative to conventional, physical meetings, virtual event structures enable service providers to greatly scale up attendance and participation in a given event. Limits on attendee number and participation imposed by the capacity of meeting rooms, or by the requirement that attendees must physically travel to a specific geographic meeting site at a designated date and time, are eliminated by disseminating meeting content to networked, personal audio-visual devices, which may be located anywhere in the world that has permission to access a networked dissemination point. Examples of virtual events include virtual meetings, tradeshows, job fairs and conferences. Virtual events may be used to deliver presentations, provide training materials and real-time demonstrations, and acquire real-time feedback from participants that may be used to responsively alter the content and format of the on-going meeting, wherein the scale of the meeting in terms of attendance and participation is limited only by bandwidth and presenter response capacity.

International Business Machines Corporation


A communication protocol stack for enabling multimedia communication between communicating devices where multiple port communication data is tunneled through a single TCP port is provided. The communication protocol stack includes, at an application level, the capability to identify whether received communication data is for a communication port. If the received communication data is for the communication port, then the communication protocol stack includes the ability to forward identification data regarding the received communication data to a table in advance of forwarding the received communication data to a driver level of the communication protocol stack. A method, computer readable medium, and a system for tunneling port traffic through a single HTTP port are also provided.

The present invention relates generally to the transmission of information across the Internet, and more specifically to methods, systems, and apparatus for rapid, real-time transmission of information across the Internet and within networks and networked systems.
Many Internet based applications require real-time transmission and exchange of data for effective implementation. By way of example, H323 Internet video conferencing provides rapid, real time data exchange to present video and audio data for participants in local and remote settings. Typically, to realize the benefits of necessary real-time data exchange, data is transmitted over unreliable User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP). The advantage of using the unreliable UDP over the reliable Transmission Control Protocol (TCP, also TCP/IP) is primarily an advantage of speed. UDP has less overhead since it does not transmit packet acknowledgement, packet verification, packet re-transmission, etc. In real time media transmission and play-back, such transmissions and verification processes negatively impact the system performance.
TCP serves as essentially the standard for most Internet data transmission. TCP maintains the highest degree of reliability by ensuring all data is received, received in the correct order, and that the data received is accurate and consistent with the data that was transmitted. In many applications, such reliability is paramount for effective data transmission. The highest degree of reliability, however, is not necessary for applications such as H323 Internet video conferencing, where speed is paramount. Most video-conferencing applications can easily compensate for occasionally missed audio data, which is generally imperceptible, and similarly, occasionally missed or garbled video data is generally easily tolerated and of little hindrance to video conferencing sessions.
FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of computers exchanging information without a firewall. Computers 100 and 102 establish a TCP connection after exchanging handshake signals 104. With reference to a videoconferencing standards, e.g., H323, multiple UDP port numbers are established for communication of the audio and video data. At least 4 UDP ports, 108-1 through 108-4 and 110-1 and 110-4, for each of computers 100 and 102, respectively, are opened for the audio and video control/data signals. Typically more than four ports are opened for each of computers 100 and 102 as illustrated by ports 108n and 110n.
However, many office and home networks are protected through firewalls. As is generally known, firewalls are designed to keep out unwanted Internet Protocol (IP) traffic from a network by restricting the number of ports being unblocked. This creates a problem for videoconferencing standards as the videoconferencing standards require a large number of TCP and UDP ports are required to be unblocked. FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of two computers communicating through a firewall. Here, computer 100 is behind firewall 112 and computer 102 communicates with the firewall over network 114. As mentioned above, firewall 112 does not allow the multiple port opening required by a UDP connection. Furthermore, since firewall 112 limits the ports being unblocked, the firewall will not recognize any UDP ports, such as UDP port numbers 1024-65,538, all of which may be used for a videoconference application.
When rapid, real-time transmission is desired, a firewall can and often does limit or prevent desired video conferencing capability. If a particular firewall blocks or denies all incoming Internet traffic except TCP/IP, videoconferencing or any other data exchange, must be conducted using highly reliable, but much slower, TCP/IP, or some work-around must be established to conduct UDP data transmission and exchange. One attempt to address this shortcoming is the use of a TCP/IP connection for the data. However, the TCP connection results in poor quality video due to the retransmission of missed packets, i.e., the reliability characteristics of the TCP connection.
In view of the foregoing, what is needed is a method and system of communicating videoconference data through existing firewalls with minimal impact of the audio/video data or system administrator's administration.

Method and apparatus for tunneling data through a single port


A surgical device and tool for use in stabilizing tissue, such as an organ relative to a clamp, the surgical device having an elongate rigid member with a proximal end of the device having a stabilizing structure that rests against the skin of the subject and includes a vessel guide for guiding a blood vessel attached to the organ or tissue, and a tapered distal end that mounts on the clamp. The surgical tool includes the combination of a clamp and the above-mentioned surgical device, with the clamp having a hinge pin with tapered socket that receives mounted the distal end of the device and a flap positioned on the proximal end. The tool is used to stabilize an organ by placement of the stabilizing structure against the skin of the subject, guiding a blood vessel with the vessel hook, using the flap to hold tissue away from the organ, and clamping such vessel distal to the vessel guide. A ligature is then placed across the vessel between the vessel guide and the clamp.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the surgical removal of small organs and, more specifically, to an apparatus for the stabilization of tissue or an organ during a surgical procedure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Domesticated household pets such as dogs and cats are often spayed. The spaying of pet has many advantages. For example, a spayed pet is likely to have fewer incidences of certain medical problems, be more affectionate companions, and will not contribute to the problem of the production of unwanted litters. While the spaying of pets is a routine veterinary procedure, complications may nevertheless occur.
The spaying of a pet typically includes the steps of exteriorization of the ovaries and uterine horns, ligation of the ovarian pedicles, and transection of the ovarian pedicles distal to the ligature across the ovarian pedicles. During the ligation process, it is desirable to stabilize an ovary in an exteriorized position, as such exteriorization simplifies the placement of the ligature. However, as an ovary is under tension from the ovarian pedicle, traction is required to maintain the ovary in a stabilized exteriorized position.
Because the placement of the ligature requires two hands, the ligature across the ovarian pedicle may be placed while the ovary is exteriorized by either an assistant or by mechanical means.
Due to personnel cost, the spaying procedure is frequently completed by a veterinarian who is operating without the aid of an assistant. One typical solo technique of a spaying procedure requires the placement of a clamp on the ovarian pedicle, proximal to the intended ligature location, prior to the placement of the ovarian pedicle ligature. While the proximal clamp assists in the stabilization of the ovary in an exteriorized position, this method has many disadvantages. For example, the proximal clamp often crushes, and may even puncture the ovarian pedicle proximal to the ligature site. As the portion of the ovarian pedicle proximal to the transection site is not removed from the animal, such crushing or punctures may lead to blood loss or other surgical complications. Moreover, tissue associated with or near the organ, such as fat tissue, often interferes with access to the organ, visually and physically.
Another method of performing a solo spaying procedure involves the use of a Hauptman OHE Retractor (available from Jorgenson Laboratories of Loveland Colo.). A Hauptman OHE Retractor may be used to stabilize an ovary in an exteriorized position to aid in the placement of the ligature across the ovarian pedicle. However, a single size of a Hauptman OHE Retractor is only suitable for use on animals within a limited weight range. Further, it is prone to tipping over during the placement of the ovarian pedicle ligature, and the Hauptman OHE retractor is a complicated and costly device.
Therefore it is desirable to have a simple, stable, exteriorization device for use during a spaying procedure that does not require the clamping of the ovarian pedicle proximal to the ovarian pedicle ligature.

Surgical retraction device for removal of small organs


Disclosed and recited herein are devices, systems, methods, and programs by which data is transmitted and, when receipt of the transmitted data has not been acknowledged, an impulse noise occurrence may be diagnosed at the transmitter based on flag streams associated with data transfer units corresponding to the transmitted data. Characteristics of the impulse noise occurrence may be diagnosed based on, at least, a number of consecutive error bits in at least one of the flag streams associated with the data transfer units corresponding to the transmitted data.

Disclosed and recited herein are communication devices, communication systems incorporating such communication devices, and corresponding methods and programs, by which data transmission and retransmission may be facilitated.
Transmission of data between a transmitter and a receiver, for example wireline transmission, e.g., xDSL transmission, or wireless transmission, may be governed by a number of communication parameters that may, e.g., determine an amount of protection against various types of noise encountered. However, impulse noise may still degrade at least portions of the transmitted data.
Examples of such impulse noise may include single high impulse noise events (hereafter "SHINE") and repetitive electrical impulse noise (hereafter "REIN"). SHINE may occur as random, unpredictable noise events; while REIN may occur as noise from electrical means, and therefore may repeat at a constant period related to a local AC power frequency.

Impulse noise diagnosis during retransmission


The present application discloses promoter sequences for Tie, an endothelial cell receptor tyrosine kinase and their use in therapy and diagnosis as well as production of proteins in blood and tissues.

The circulatory system is the first organ system to differentiate in the developing embryo. Kaufman, The Atlas of Mouse Development, Academic Press (1992). Embryonic and yolk sac vascular systems take form in an 8.5 day post-coitum (p.c.) mouse embryo, and a day later the heart beats regularly, circulating primitive blood cells, nutrients, and metabolic waste products. Endothelial cells covering blood vessels provide a barrier between blood and other tissues of the embryo. When organs differentiate and begin to perform their specific functions, the phenotypic heterogeneity of endothelial cells increases. Fenestrated vessels, nonfenestrated vessels with tight junctions and sinusoidal vessels are found, for example, in the kidney, brain, and liver, respectively. In addition, endothelial cells perform specific functions in differentiated tissue. For example, such cells take part in several biochemical and physiological events such as blood cell trafficking, blood clotting, hemostasis, ovulation, wound healing, atherosclerosis, and angiogenesis associated with tumor metastasis.
At least five receptor tyrosine kinase genes are expressed in endothelial cells. Of these, the protein products of the FLT1, KDR/FLK-1, and FLT4 genes belong to receptor tyrosine kinase subclass III; whereas Tie and its close relative Tek (Tie-2) form a novel subclass of their own (Terman, et al., Oncogene, 6: 1677-1683 (1991); Terman, et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 187: 1579-1586 (1992); Aprelikova, et al., Cancer Res., 52: 746-748 (1992); De Vries, et al., Science, 255: 989-991 (1992); Pajusola, et al., Cancer Res., 52: 5738-5742 (1992); Sarzani, et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 186: 706-714 (1992); Galland, et al., Oncogene, 8: 1233-1240 (1993); Millauer, et al., Cell, 72: 835-846 (1993); Oelrichs, et al., Oncogene, 8: 11-18 (1993); Schnurch and Risau, Development, 119: 957-968 (1993)).
Both human and mouse Tie cDNAs have been cloned (Partanen, et al., Mol. Cel. Biol., 12: 1698-1707 (1992); Korhonen, et al., Blood, 80: 2548-2555 (1992); Korhonen, et al., Oncogene, 8: 395-403 (1994); Iwama, et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 195: 301-309 (1993); Sato, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 90: 9355-9358 (1993)). Tie and homologous genes have been isolated from bovine and rat sources (Maisonpierre, et al., Oncogene, 8: 1631-1637 (1993); Sato, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 90: 9355-9358 (1993)).
The 4.4 kb Tie-encoding mRNA encodes a 125 kDa transmembrane protein which is N-glycosylated. In its extracellular domain Tie contains two immunoglobulin-like loops and three epidermal growth factor and fibronectin type III homology regions, which are followed by trans- and juxtamembrane domains connected to a tyrosine kinase domain which is split by a short kinase insert sequence and a carboxyl terminal tail (Partanen, et al., Mol. Cel. Biol., 12: 1698-1707 (1992); Korhonen, et al., Oncogene, 8: 395-403 (1994); Sato, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 90: 9355-9358 (1993)). Both Tie and TEK have been localized to mouse chromosome 4 at a distance of 12.2 centimorgans from each other. Such receptors are uniformly expressed in endothelial cells of various blood vessels during embryonic development, although the expression of Tek mRNA appears to begin 0.5 days earlier than the expression of Tie. In adult mice, the expression of Tie mRNA persists in vessels of the lung whereas in the heart and brain it appears to decrease. Korhonen, et al., Oncogene, 8: 395-403 (1994). Production of Tie mRNA is enhanced during ovulation and wound healing and in human glioblastomas (Korhonen, et al., Blood, 80: 2548-2555 (1992)).
Endothelial cells play a key role in gene therapy directed to diseases involving endothelial cells and blood vessels, such as establishment of neovascularization or inhibition of angiogenesis, and control of inflammatory trafficking of leukocytes. One approach to the treatment of vascular disease is to express genes at specific sites in the circulation that might ameliorate the disease in situ. Because endothelial cells are found at diseased sites, they represent logical carriers to convey therapeutic agents that might include anticoagulant, vasodilator, angiogenic or growth factors. Accordingly, the genetic modification of endothelial cells represents a therapeutic approach to the treatment of many vascular disorders, including hypertension, atherosclerosis and restenosis. For example, endothelial cells expressing growth inhibitory proteins could be introduced via catheter to the angioplasty site to prevent local intimal hyperplasia and clinical restenosis. The luminal surface of vascular grafts could also be lined with genetically modified endothelial cells producing therapeutic proteins which prevent thrombosis or promote repopulation (Nabel, et al., J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 17: 189B-194B (1991)).
Endothelial cells lining blood vessels are easily transfected with methods using liposomes, adenovirus vectors and retroviral vectors (Nabel, et al., J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 17: 189B-94B). Endothelial cells are also in direct contact with blood and are therefore optimal sources for production and secretion of desired proteins or peptides into the blood stream. For example, the Factor VIII gene may be introduced into endothelial cells under an endothelial-cell-specific promoter, resulting in correction of hemophilia if the protein were expressed in sufficeint quantity. On the other hand, endothelial cells are also useful for delivery of peptides or proteins expressed in them into tissues. In this regard, a selective expression of a particular gene regulatory element in endothelial cells of the microvasculature (capillaries) is extremely useful, given that most of the cell surface area facing the vascular lumen consists of microvascular endothelial cells.
Control elements of the endothelial-cell-specific promoters may be further subdivided and dissected into functional elements and units according to methods standard in the art. The Tie protein is expressed in certain endothelial cells and in a small fraction of human bone marrow cells including hematopoietic progenitor cells. See Batard et al., Blood, 68:1729-1735 (1996). Therefore, it is likely that the Tie promoter is active also in some hematopoietic cells. However, expression of the Tie promoter in hematopoietic cells may be controlled by elements which are distinguishable from endothelial-cell-specific elements and may be dissected away while retaining the endothelial cell specificity of the promoter.
The present invention provides a novel promoter associated with the gene encoding the Tie receptor tyrosine kinase for use in therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. In addition, the promoter may prove useful in the production of desired proteins to the blood or tissues of animals.

Promoter for the receptor tyrosine kinase, Tie


The present invention is directed to a game, and more specifically to an outdoor game designed for two or more players that requires navigating a large playing field containing a variety of objects and obstacles. The players navigate the course by hitting a ball with a bat over, through or around the objects while avoiding the obstacles. The starting line, the end line, the game course, the rules for the game and the point system to decide the winner are determined and communicated to the players prior to the game. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the player reaching the end line with the fewest strokes is awarded the win. The preferred playing field is a golf course.

The game of golf is very popular in the US as well as worldwide, but is fairly expensive to play. Golf courses require large areas of land which are scarce and costly especially in large metropolitan areas. Golf courses built in rural areas are less expensive to build but, for many golfers, typically require time consuming and expensive travel to get to. Golf can be played year round in warm climates but the playing season in northern regions can be as short as four months or even less. Thus many golf courses in these regions attempt to pack a very tight schedule during the playing season, but are abandoned come November. One solution devised to meet the demand for golf at lower costs includes designing smaller courses where a limited version of golf can be played, such as miniature golf. Another solution described in the prior art relates to the design of modified games that include elements of the game of golf along with those of other games, such as basketball or Frisbee. These games can typically be played on fields that are more available and thus less expensive, and/or may be played on a golf course during part of the off-season.
Several prior art references disclose games that constitute modifications of the game of baseball or the game of golf, or games that combine fields, setups and rules of two or more known games. U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,105 is directed to a novel golf playing field for a golf-like target game. Although the playing field incorporates many of the features of standard golf including golf clubs, golf balls, a fairway, teeing areas, a sand trap, a putting green and target greens, the present invention is not an attempt to faithfully simulate a standard round of golf. Basically, the invention includes a playing field comprising a course with a fairway and a plurality of target greens positioned thereon in a predetermined pattern. U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,293 teaches a game referred to as golh which uses a golh club, golfrisbee disc and golfrisbee basket. Swivelling the golh club, the flying object such as golfrisbee disk is thrown to fly into the golfrisbee basket. The golfrisbee basket has the wind-bell-chain reverted umbrella structure to protect the golfrisbee from damage. Golh is a hybrid golf comprising the flying golfrisbee and golf ball. Basedisc is the golfrisbee sport following the similar game rules of baseball. The core technologies are the swivelling club throwing technology, wind-bell-chain reverted-umbrella golfrisbee basket and the universal direction wing flying disk technology. U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,394 discloses a playing field that utilizes a conventional baseball diamond includes, beginning at the back of the infield, arcuate segments lined off in the outfield to create scoring zones. The last line or the field's boundary fence is the home run zone. Additionally, a plurality of vertical hoops is placed at selected locations in the playing field with the opening of the hoop facing home plate. Hitting through the hoops could award the hitter additional score points. U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,907 relates to an athletic field and outdoor game played thereon. The game uses bats, mitts, and a ball on a rectangular playing field where each team attempts to score points by hitting the ball into the other team's end zone. U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,964 refers to a game and, more specifically, to a game that utilizes throwing rings and balls. A number of games exist that test the skill of a player to direct throwing rings or balls in relationship to other objects. For example, such games as lawn bowling, horseshoes, bocce ball and croquet utilize at least one of the above-referenced components. The above-described games require skill and practice to develop one's game but, in general, requires little strategy.

Game system and method for hitting a ball through a playing field


A region for which nonlinear analysis should be carried out is extracted and welding deformation of only the extracted region is computed by nonlinear analysis. Specifically, the displacement and reaction force at the limit surface are computed by linear analysis of the object to be welded, the reaction force at the limit surface is computed by nonlinear analysis of the region for which nonlinear analysis is necessary, an amount of correction of the displacement at the limit surface is computed and the above processing is repeated when it is judged that a difference between the two reaction forces is larger than a predetermined value, and welding deformation of the object to be welded is computed based on the computed displacement if it is judged that the difference between the reaction forces is smaller than the predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a welding deformation computing method, a welding deformation computing device, and a computer program product for reducing a computation time of welding deformation when compared with a case in which nonlinear analysis is carried out for a whole region by dividing a structure, which is an object to be welded, into a region for which nonlinear analysis is necessary and a region for which linear analysis is sufficient and partly carrying out nonlinear analysis.
2. Description of Related Art
When building a welded structure using metallic material, deformation resulting from local heat history (hereinafter referred to as welding deformation) inevitably appears in structural members. Such welding deformation causes dimension errors, shape errors and the like of products and is directly linked to degradation in quality of products. Welding deformation also causes gaps, dislocations and the like between structural members in a production process and is one of factors that lie in the way of robotization and automation.
Therefore, if a degree of welding deformation can be predicted quantitatively and accurately, reduction of rework processes, promotion of robotization and automation and the like in producing a welded structure can be sought, and thus predicting a degree of welding deformation accurately is one of important tasks in production of welded structures.
To predict a degree of welding deformation accurately, nonlinear analysis must be carried out and a finite element method (hereinafter referred to as FEM) is frequently used. Also, a linear finite element method is often used as an approximate method by which local deformation such as transverse contraction, angular deformation, and longitudinal contraction generated near a welded portion is assumed as a known amount and deformation generated by such local deformation is linearly superimposed.
However, a large amount of processing time is necessary for computation of nonlinear analysis if a method is used by which nonlinear analysis is carried out in reference to the above-described welded structure, which is the object to be welded. In addition, if a deducing method of welding deformation using the linear finite element method is applied, there has been a problem that deducing accuracy may vary depending on how long a welded length is and it is difficult to maintain a certain level of deducing accuracy.
Though it is possible to compute welding deformation with high precision when nonlinear analysis using FEM is carried out in all regions of a welded structure, the degree n (n is a natural number) of simultaneous equations to be solved becomes larger and a computation time is proportional to n3.
Also, when nonlinear analysis is carried out, a whole welding process is divided by a short time interval into ms (ms is a natural number) steps and convergence computation is repeated mi (mi is a natural number) times sequentially in each step. Therefore, since the computation time increases in proportion to the following equation (1), the amount of consumption of computer resources becomes huge. When computing welding deformation of a large welded structure, for example, a result is actually computed only after a lapse of three days to one week.n3×ms×mi  (1)

Welding deformation computing method, welding deformation computing device, and computer program product


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for transmitting data to user equipment through not only a current base station cell but also a neighboring base station cell via inter-eNB CA in a wireless communication system. A method for transmitting data though carrier aggregation in the wireless communication system, according to the present invention, comprises the steps of: a first base station transreceiving data with a terminal through at least two PDN connections; the first base station transmitting a carrier aggregation request message to a second base station for aggregating carriers, when the first base station determines to carry out inter-eNB carrier aggregation; the first base station receiving a carrier aggregation reply message from the second base station in response to the carrier aggregation request message; the first base station performing an RRC reconfiguration process with the terminal to notify to the terminal of the determination to perform the inter-eNB carrier aggregation; and the first base station transmitting a path change request message to a mobile management entity to correct a data transreceiving path, so that data on at least one PDN connection from among the PDN connections is transreceived through the second base station.

Mobile communication systems were developed to provide the subscribers with voice communication services on the move. With the rapid advance of technologies, the mobile communication systems have evolved to support high speed data communication services beyond the early voice-oriented services. However, the limited resource and user requirements for higher speed services in the current mobile communication system spur the evolution to more advanced mobile communication systems.
In the wireless communication system, a terminal connects to a network via a base station (hereinafter, the term 'eNB' is interchangeably used therewith) for data communication. However, since the bandwidth of the eNB is restrictive, it may not satisfy the service quality requirements of the users.
There is therefore a need of a method for dispersing the data of a specific Packet Data Network (PDN) connection to neighboring eNBs while transmitting some data of the PDN connection trough the current eNB to facilitate providing the communication service.

Method and apparatus for transmitting data through inter-eNB carrier aggregation in wireless communication system


The present invention provides a chemical-mechanical polishing slurry for use in removing a barrier layer during the fabrication of a damascene structure. The slurry according to the invention includes an agent that suppresses the rate at which an underlying silicon-containing dielectric layer is removed. In the presently most preferred embodiment of the invention, the agent that suppresses the rate at which an underlying silicon-containing dielectric layer is removed is L-lysine and/or L-arginine. The present invention also provides a method of suppressing the removal rate of an underlying silicon-containing dielectric layer during the chemical-mechanical polishing of a barrier layer in a damascene structure. The method according to the invention includes polishing the barrier layer with a slurry comprising an agent that suppresses the rate at which said underlying silicon-containing dielectric layer is removed.

Integrated circuits are made up of millions of active devices formed in or on a substrate such as silicon or gallium arsenide. The active devices are typically isolated from each other using silicon-containing dielectric materials such as polysilicon, single-crystalline silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon-containing low-k inorganic and organic materials, phosphosilicate glass, borophosphosilicate glass, and the like. The active devices are usually formed in multiple layers that are interconnected to form functional circuits and components. Interconnection of active devices is typically accomplished through the use of well-known multilevel interconnection processes such as the process disclosed in Chow et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,648.
Copper, aluminum and tungsten are preferred metals used to fabricate integrated circuits. These metals, however, have a tendency to diffuse into conventional silicon-containing dielectric materials. Once silicon-containing dielectric materials have been contaminated with metal atoms, the dielectric constant is adversely affected and the integrated circuit may cease to function properly. Therefore, a barrier layer or liner film must be applied to the silicon-containing dielectric layer in order to prevent metal diffusion.
One of the presently preferred methods of fabricating integrated circuits having metal wiring and interconnects, which are also known as damascene structures, generally comprises providing interconnected metal wiring or metallization patterns in a discrete layer of silicon-containing dielectric film. The silicon-containing dielectric layer is etched or otherwise processed to pattern a series of trenches and holes therein. A thin barrier layer, generally not more than approximately 300 □ (30 nm) thick, is then deposited over the silicon-containing dielectric layer. When the metal used to form the wiring pattern is copper, the preferred barrier layer comprises a thin film of tantalum and/or tantalum nitride. When the metal used to form the wiring pattern is aluminum or tungsten, the preferred barrier layer comprises a thin film of titanium and/or titanium nitride. Such barrier layers are commonly deposited by physical vapor deposition, which is also known as sputter deposition, or they may be deposited by chemical vapor deposition. The barrier layer coats the surfaces of the trenches and holes as well as the upper surface of the silicon-containing dielectric layer to prevent metal diffusion and also to provide good adhesion between the metallization layer and the silicon-containing dielectric layer. A layer of metal approximately 3,000–15,000 Å (300–1,500 nm) thick is then deposited over the barrier layer so as to completely fill the trenches and holes. The filled trenches thus form a network of metal lines whereas the filled holes form vias or interconnects. The final step in the process of fabricating an integrated circuit, which is also known as a damascene process, is removing the metal layer and barrier layer down to the upper surface of the silicon-containing dielectric layer leaving only the metal filled trenches and holes. This is typically accomplished by chemical-mechanical polishing.
In a typical chemical-mechanical polishing process, the surface of the damascene structure is placed in direct contact with a rotating polishing pad at a controlled downward pressure. An abrasive and chemically reactive solution commonly referred to as a "slurry" is present between the pad and the surface of the damascene structure during polishing. The slurry initiates the polishing process by chemically reacting with the surface of the metal and/or barrier layer being polished. The polishing process is facilitated by the rotational movement of the pad relative to the substrate and the presence of the slurry at the film/pad interface. Polishing is continued in this manner until the desired metal and barrier layer are removed.
The composition of the slurry is an important factor in the chemical-mechanical polishing. If the chemical agents and abrasives in the slurry are selected properly, the slurry can be tailored to provide effective polishing of metals and barrier layers at desired polishing rates while minimizing surface imperfections, defects and corrosion and erosion. Furthermore, the polishing slurry can preferably provide controlled polishing selectivities to other materials used to construct the damascene structure.
One of the problems with known chemical-mechanical polishing slurries used to remove barrier layers in damascene structures is that they tend to remove the underlying silicon-containing dielectric layers at a relatively high rate. This makes it very difficult to remove all of the barrier layer without eroding or otherwise damaging the underlying silicon-containing dielectric layer. Because of this problem, in many instances the polishing of the barrier layer is stopped too soon, which results in a portion of the barrier layer remaining on the damascene structure. Conversely, if polishing of the barrier layer is stopped too late, the result is that significant portions of the underlying silicon-containing dielectric layer are removed. In either circumstance, the integrity and functionality of the integrated circuit can be adversely affected.
A need exists for a chemical-mechanical polishing slurry for use in removing barrier layers from damascene structures that reduces and/or eliminates this problem. Such a chemical-mechanical polishing slurry would preferably remove barrier layers at a high enough rate to insure acceptable throughput while at the same time avoid removing or damaging the underlying silicon-containing dielectric layers.

Chemical-mechanical polishing slurry and method


An apparatus for latching a door against a frame has a door pin extending from the door and a handle lever rotatably mounted to the door and having an extending handle pin. A latch bar is mounted for reciprocating travel relative to the frame, the latch bar having a first slot having a cam surface adapted to receive the door pin, and a second slot adapted to receive the handle pin. The latch bar and handle have a first position where the handle pin enters the second slot and the door pin enters the first slot, and a second position where the handle pin contacts the second slot and the cam surface bears against the door pin. Rotation of the handle when the latch bar is in the first position causes the handle pin to bear against the second slot, moving the latch bar in a latching direction from the first position to the second position, so that the first slot on the cam surface bears against the door pin and urges the door in a closing direction.

Various arrangements for latching a door closed against a frame are known. Some of these latches are used with gasket-sealed doors that swing from a hinge on one side of the door. A known type of latch employs a power-operated reciprocating latch bar having a cam surface that engages and captures a pin or roller on the door and urges the pin in the closed direction to hold the door closed. The latch bar may be pneumatically operated and the cam surface may be provided on a slot opening in the bar so that as the door swings into a closed position, the pin on the door swings into the slot. In some applications the camming contact of the latch bar and pin may urge the door closed against an opposing force provided by compression of a resilient gasket provided between the door and the door frame.
A disadvantage of this known arrangement is that it requires power operation of the latch bar, adding complexity to the overall device. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a door latch that can be manually operated.


Methods and kits for radiolabeling proteins, peptides and ligands with radiolytic isotopes, particularly yttrium-90, are disclosed, whereby sufficient purity, specific activity and binding affinity are achieved such that the radiolabeled protein may be directly administered to a patient without further column purification. Such kits and methods will be particularly useful in bringing radioimmunotherapy to the hospital and outpatient setting for the treatment of cancer.

All publications and patent applications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.
Radiolabeled proteins, particularly antibodies, have been undergoing evaluation for many years as potential diagnostic and therapeutic reagents. Such reagents are thought to be particularly useful as cancer therapeutics, now that researchers are beginning to identify tumor-specific antigens and cognate ligands or antibodies which bind to such antigens. By administering a radiolabeled ligand or antibody which has binding specificity for a tumor-specific antigen, coupled to a radioisotope that has a short range, high energy and abundant particle emission, one has the potential to deliver a lethal dose of radiation directly to the tumor cell.
Depending on the particle range of the particular isotope, labels may be chosen based on their suitability for targeting a particular type of cell. For instance, gamma emitters are generally used for diagnostic purposes, i.e., visualizing tumors, but are generally ineffective as killing agents. In contrast, alpha and beta emitters may be used to effect cell killing. Alpha emitters may be particularly useful for blood-born diseases or vascular tumors where they can achieve good penetration; although one particle emission in some cases may be enough to effect cell killing, typically alpha emitter must be located right at the cell surface. In contrast, beta emitters, i.e., 90Y, are particularly suitable for bulkier, more localized disease because they typically have a longer emission range.
Yttrium-90-labeled antibodies and peptides in particular have shown encouraging results in clinical therapy protocols (Thomas et al. 1995. Gamma-interferon administration after 90Y radiolabeled antibody therapy: survival and hematopoietic toxicity studies. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 31: 529–534; DeNardo et al. 1995. Yttrium-90/Indium-111 DOTA peptide chimeric L6: pharmacokinetics, dosimetry and initial therapeutic studies in patients with breast cancer. J. Nucl. Med. 36: 97P). Such conjugates are usually made by coupling a bifunctional chelator to the protein or antibody, then conjugating the radiolabel to the protein construct via the bifunctional chelator. For instance, copending application Ser. Nos. 08/475,813, 08/475,815 and 08/478,967, herein incorporated by reference, describe radiolabeled therapeutic antibodies for the targeting and destruction of B cell lymphomas and tumor cells. Particularly disclosed is the Y2B8 conjugate, which comprises an anti-human CD20 murine monoclonal antibody, 2B8, attached to 90Y via a bifunctional chelator, MX-DTPA.
Patents relating to chelators and chelator conjugates are known in the art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,175 of Gansow is directed to polysubstituted diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid chelators and protein conjugates containing the same, and methods for their preparation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,099,069, 5,246,692, 5,286,850, and 5,124,471 of Gansow also relate to polysubstituted DTPA chelators. As described in Kozak et al., several DTPA chelating agents, including MX-DTPA, have been shown to be suitable for yttrium-monoclonal antibody radioimmunotherapy (1989. Nature of the bifunctional chelating agent used for radioimmunotherapy with yttrium-90 monoclonal antibodies: Critical factors in determining in vivo survival and organ toxicity. Cancer Res. 49: 2639–2644). These references are incorporated herein in their entirety.
Yttrium-90 is particularly suited for radioimmunotherapy and radioligand therapy for several reasons. The 64 hour half-life of 90Y is long enough to allow antibody accumulation by the tumor and, unlike e.g., 131I, it is a pure beta emitter of high energy (E max 2.27 MeV) with no accompanying gamma irradiation in its decay. It's particle emission range is 100 to 1000 cell diameters, which is a sufficiently minimal amount of penetrating radiation that outpatient administration would be possible. Furthermore, internalization of labeled antibodies is not required for cell killing, and the local emission of ionizing radiation should be lethal for adjacent tumor cells which might lack the target antigen.
However, despite the recognized utility of yttrium-labeled antibodies and the encouraging clinical results with some yttrium-labeled therapeutics, many patients are deprived of the benefit these therapeutics might offer because of the inherent difficulties in conducting both the radiolabeling and administration at a single location. This significant problem is evident in the nearly complete void of kits and products which enable on-site labeling of reagents with alpha and beta emitting radioisotopes, which might otherwise demonstrate the commercial applicability of such technology.
The problem with providing kits for radiolabeling and subsequent administration of therapeutics labeled with destructive isotopes appears to be the long-existing belief in the art that, before such therapeutics could be administered to a patient, an extensive purification process was required to remove unbound label so as not to expose the patient to free radioisotope which might accumulate in the bone and other non-target organs. Even those kits currently available for labeling antibodies with yttrium require a complicated purification step before the therapeutic is ready for administration.
For instance, Antisoma currently offers a kit for radiolabeling monoclonal antibody HMFG1 (Theragyn®) with 90Y for subsequent administration to patients who have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. An extended phase I–II study demonstrated that this treatment may be particularly beneficial to patients as a follow-up to conventional surgery and chemotherapy (Hird et al. 1993. Adjuvant therapy of ovarian cancer with radioactive monoclonal antibody. Br. J. Cancer 68: 403–406). Yet Antisoma's labeling method requires removal of unbound label by Sephadex G50 gel filtration, which is a significant deterrent to the Theragyn® labeling kit achieving commercial success, as well as an obstacle for ensuring that this therapy is readily available for all ovarian cancer patients for whom it might serve to benefit.
The fact that such reagents currently require purification before administration has been and will continue to be a major deterrent in their availability to all patients who could benefit from such technology unless a simplified method is presented that allows physicians to quickly, efficiently and safely administer such reagents. For instance, a doctor in an outpatient setting does not have the time or facilities to purify a reagent by HPLC or gel filtration chromatography before administering the reagent to his patient. This means that additional facilities must be available on site for concurrent production of the reagent and immediate delivery to the doctor, which drastically increases the cost of the therapy and in some cases might require a patient to travel a significant distance to receive the therapy. Alternatively, the drug could be labeled off-site, which would require prior preparation and at least a short-term storage of the therapeutic. This not only has the effect of decreasing the strength of the radioisotope through radioactive decay during storage, but also leads to significant radiolytic damage to the structural integrity of the protein by overexposure to the radioisotope.
For instance, many reports have discussed the radiolytic nature of 90Y and similar radioisotopes (i.e., Salako et al. 1998. Effects of radiolysis on yttrium-90-labeled Lym-1 antibody preparations. J. Nucl. Med. 39: 667–670; Chakrabarti et al. 1996. Prevention of radiolysis of monoclonal antibody during labeling. J. Nucl. Med. 37: 1384–1388). As noted in Chakrabarti et al., radionuclides such as 90Y deliver a large amount of radiation to the antibody during the labeling process as well as during storage. Radiation has reportedly led to instances of significant antibody damage, which can eliminate preferential targeting of tumor cells and expose non-target tissues to significant levels of toxicity.
The mechanism for radiation damage has been attributed to the generation of free radicals (Pizzarello. 1975. Direct and indirect action. In: Pizzarello and Witcofski, eds. Basic Radiation Biology, 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febger, pp. 20–29). But as noted in Salako et al., at an energy of 2.2 MeV, the beta particles emitted from 90Y could easily break most chemical bonds including the disulfide bridges of an antibody, which have a bond strength of only 4.4 eV (Skoog. 1985. Principles of Instrumental Analysis, 3rd edition. San Francisco: Saunders). Thus, the shorter the amount of time that the protein to be labeled is exposed to destructive radioisotopes such as 90Y, the better the chances will be that the protein will maintain the structural integrity and binding specificity it requires to interact with the target antigen up until the time it is administered and reaches the target site.
The radiolytic nature of 90Y has been known in the art for years and many have tried to solve the problem 90Y presents in the commercial application of these therapeutics. For instance, both Salako et al. and Chakrabarti et al. evaluate the use of radioprotectants in 90Y-labeled antibody preparations as a means to decrease damage to the antibody. Salako et al. in particular reported that human serum albumin enabled maintenance of 90Y-labeled antibody immunoreactivity for up to 72 hours. However, the specific activity exhibited by Salako's preparations was rather low (less than 2 mCi/ml). Moreover, neither Salako nor Chakrabarti report any effort to forego the extensive purification processes required after antibody labeling. Salako et al. labels for a period of 45 minutes to an hour, then purifies the antibody by molecular sieve chromatography, whereas Chakrabarti labels for nearly three hours and purifies by gel filtration chromatography. Neither of these methods will be instrumental in bringing 90Y-labeled therapeutics to the out-patient setting.
Chinol and Hnatowich were able to achieve 90% radiochemical purity for 90Y-labeled proteins with specific activities ranging from 1–3 mCi/mg absent post-labeling purification, using their own generator-produced 90Y (1987. Generator-produced yttrium-90 for radioimmunotherapy. J. Nucl. Med. 28(9): 1465–1470). However, the authors expressly discourage administering preparations having less than 95% purity to patients, and suggest that HPLC may be an important and "possibly essential" step.
Those who have recognized that HPLC and other types of purification must be eliminated in the outpatient and hospital setting have not succeeded in developing a sufficient labeling protocol for 90Y such that a high level of label incorporation is achieved and an acceptable level of antibody stability is maintained. If a high level of radioincorporation is not consistently achieved, the patient could be exposed to unacceptable levels of free non-bound radiolabel if this label is not purified away from the reagent. Moreover, again, if antibody structural integrity is damaged such that the antibody loses target specificity, such reagents will not bind specifically to their cognate ligands.
Mather and colleagues set out with the purpose of labeling tumor-specific antibodies with 90Y in a manner such that post-labeling purification could be avoided (1989. Labeling monoclonal antibodies with yttrium-90. Eur. J. Nucl. Med. 15: 307–312). However, Mather found that high labeling efficiencies (over 95%) could only be achieved at modest specific activities (1 mCi/mg). Moreover, Mather et al. reports that their antibody preparations showed signs of breakdown (due to radiolysis) after only a few hours. This may be because Mather et al., as do many others in the field, conducted their labeling reaction over a period of one hour.
For example, there have been methods proposed for labeling protein reagents with less destructive labels such as 111In which forego additional purification steps. Richardson et al. propose such a procedure for labeling antibodies with 111In with the goal of facilitating a kit format for diagnostic use (Richardson et al. 1987. Optimization and batch production of DTPA-labeled antibody kits for routine use in 111In immunoscintography. Nucl. Med. Comm. 8: 347–356). However, the labeling method proposed in Richardson et al. is conducted over a period of one hour, which might be feasible with 111In which is not very radiolytic, but does not appear to be amenable to 90Y labeling applications as evidenced by the difficulties reported in Mather et al.
This brings us to the surprising and unexpected advantages of the present invention, which provides invaluable insight into the process of radiolabeling proteins with 90Y which has not been yet been recognized by others in the art. Surprisingly, the present inventors have found that the processes of HPLC or other purification steps that others have long thought to be necessary to achieve pure reagent, and the lengthy incubation times which others have adopted in an effort to increase the specific activity of their reagents, are actually detrimental to the process of preparing 90Y-labeled reagents. Such time-inclusive processes serve only to increase the damage to the protein due to radiolysis, leading to less specificity or binding, loss of radioisotope from the targeting agent and an increased rate of protein degradation by the time the radiolabeled protein is ready for injection. Surprisingly, the present inventors have found that efficient labeling with 90Y (>95% incorporation and at least 15 mCi/mg specific activity) can be accomplished in as little as two to five minutes, and in fact such labeling loses its efficiency as reaction times are increased beyond even eight minutes.
The fact that labeling with 90Y may now be achieved by the methods of the present invention in as little as one-two minutes or even as quickly as 30 seconds will completely dissolve the current skepticism in the field toward the applicability of yttrium radiolabeling kits in hospital and outpatient settings. The kits of the present invention will therefor finally satisfy the long felt need that has perhaps been recognized by many cancer patients and doctors alike with regard to the commercial applicability and accessability of protein-based, radiolabeled cancer therapeutics.

Method for radiolabeling antibodies with yttrium-90


An inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils, and a preparation method thereof. The inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils includes a non-magnetic material frame and a non-magnetic material bearer frame. The inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils includes two or more coaxial annular magnetic gaps with the same diameter value, two suits of symmetric magnetic paths, and a symmetric coil. In the transducer, enwinding direction, connection mode and parameters of coils are decided, in order to ensure that the value of the inductance of coils and the opposing electromotive force obtained during the process of moving to and fro are counteracted by each other. The inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils has resistance load character or approximately has a resistance load character, simultaneously, has high sensitivity, high analytic capability, and high fidelity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, which belongs to the field of electroacoustic transducers and mechanical-electrical transducers in electricity, relates to a transducer and in particular to an inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils.
2. Background of the Related Art
During one-hundred-thirty years since the world's first moving-coil speaker (hereinafter referred to as speaker) was granted for a patent for invention in 1877, almost all the speakers of commercial production are equipped with only one magnetic gap and one coil, except those as disclosed by the invention patents of U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,760 in the name of USA HARMAN Company, CN951010204 in the name of JAPAN ALPINE Company, and CN99114781.2, CN00122197.3, U.S. Pat. No. 6,795,564 and TW88109796 in the name of the present inventor and the like. When the coil is connected to an audio signal current, a left-handed electrodynamic force F is generated under interaction with the magnetic field of the magnetic gap according to the Fleming's left-hand rule, such that the coil and the vibrating membrane is driven to take piston-like reciprocation and sounds are produced due to air vibration. However, at the same time when the coil reciprocates like a piston, according to the Fleming's right-hand rule, the permanent magnetic lines within the magnetic gap will cut perpendicularly the coil to thereby induce an electric generator potential within the same coil, namely, a so-called back electromotive force of a speaker by the electroacoustic technical field. As the vector of the back electromotive force has a difference in phase angle of 180 degrees with the vector of the audio input signal (ignoring the inductance and wire-to-wire capacitance of the coil), they are superposed within the same coil, and the back electromotive force necessarily incurs distortion during electroacoustic restoration of the speaker. Obviously, it is an undesirable yet inextricable physical phenomenon.
Generally, the greater the relatively moving speed, the relatively moving range and the inductance of the coil of the speaker are, the lower the frequency of the audio signal current while the larger the amplitude of the back electromotive force become, with a result that a greater distortion is incurred. Thus, it is impossible or unwilling for the prior art to improve the sensitivity of the speaker, i.e. the electroacoustic conversion efficiency, so as to prevent the troublesome back electromotive force from incurring serious distortion. Even the back electromotive force of a professional speaker when being operated under a big, high-powered dynamic signal, may breakdown and destroy the power amplifier tube at the final stage of the power amplifier.
During one hundred and thirty years, in face of such a worldwide technical difficulty remaining unsolved in the electroacoustic field, people can but choose a passive technical solution to fetch up this difficulty, namely, reducing the electroacoustic conversion efficiency (i.e. sensitivity) as much as possible on one hand, and meanwhile enhancing the input power of the speaker as much as possible on the other hand, such that the ratio between the absolute value of the back electromotive force and the input audio signal is decreased to thereby limit the distortion caused by the back electromotive force at a commonly acceptable level. It is why some Hi-Fi speakers, even some Hi-end speakers under world-famous trademarks, cannot be promoted by power amplifiers.
Secondly, the other fatal drawback of the transducer with only one magnetic gap and only one coil is high heat generation incurred by a low efficiency.
Even if the adverse factor of back electromotive force is eliminated, the lower efficiency of the speaker is a further worldwide technical deficiency which puzzles the electroacoustic field for a long period of one hundred and thirty years.
For example, a speaker of 2-inch caliber has the electroacoustic conversion efficiency equal to or less than 0.10%. This means that, when the speaker is inputted with an audio power of 5 W, only the electric energy of 0.005 w is converted into the desired sound energy, and the rest 4.99 W is converted into useless and harmful heat and wasted. In this case, the efficiency of the speaker of 2-inch caliber is equivalent to about 1/70-1/80 of the efficiency of an incandescent lamp.
A professional speaker of 15-inch large caliber usually has a SPL-value of 98 dB/1 W/1 m, whose efficiency is 3.89%, less than one half of the efficiency of the incandescent lamp. There are hundreds of billions of speakers in the modern society, and almost all of them are operated at super low efficiencies (only except the "speakers" in the field of thermoacoustic refrigeration). They waste a large amount of energy of the human society, while increase the discharge amount of carbon dioxide drastically.
The third drawback of the transducer with a single magnetic gap and a single coil is that, due to the T-iron structure of the magnetic path, the narrow magnetic gap has a sealed back chamber at the bottom. When the coil reciprocates like a piston in the magnetic gap, the air accumulated in the back chamber forms an airbag damping against the coil, which deteriorates the instantaneous response of the speaker, which enhances the distortion of the speaker, and which decreases the fidelity in the course of electroacoustic restoration. Meanwhile, at the intersection of the T-iron and the lower polar plate, the flux density of the magnetic lines has already been saturated yet is far from being sufficiently utilized, rendering a further waste of the magnetic energy.
The fourth significant drawback of the transducer with a single magnetic gap and a single coil is that, generally, it is impossible to attain a full-range electroacoustic restoration effect by use of only one speaker. It is because that, the speaker has an inductance, whose impedance value is presented as a function of the audio current working efficiency. The lower said efficiency is, the lower the impedance becomes, and vice versa. That is to say, for every traditional speaker, the effective value of the high audio current flowing through the coil is much less than that of the low frequency audio current. Hence, the sound pressure generated by the speaker when being operated at the high audio section obviously decreases with respect to the low audio section. Of course, for a speaker with a caliber no more than 3-inch, it is possible to fetch up this deficiency by technical means as the vibrating quality of the system is relatively light. However, a speaker of relatively small caliber must have a relatively higher Fo, and thus it is hard for the speaker to produce a satisfactory low audio effect. For a speaker with a caliber no less than 3-inch, Fo tends to the low audio section as a result of the increased caliber, such that the low audio electroacoustic restoration quality of the speaker is improved. However, along with the increased caliber, the quality of the vibrating system increases synchronously, rendering a great decrease in the audio section of 5-10 KHz for the output sound pressure in the high audio section of the speaker.
For this reason, people have to assemble a bass speaker, a middle speaker and a high speaker into a speaker system by a crossover network so as to attain a relatively satisfactory electroacoustic restoration effect. However, the introduction of the crossover network not only accelerates the consumption of electric energy, but also brings forth new higher harmonic restorations within those frequency bands near the crossover points.
Hence, people try to change the structure mode of a traditional speaker with a single magnetic gap and a single coil, and several new technical solutions about a transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils have been proposed.
For example, in the prior art, USA HARMAN Company has proposed, in its invention patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,760 (PCT/US95/14696, WO96/33592), a driver for (a transducer with) double magnetic gaps and double coils using a multifunctional frame. However, it has the following drawbacks: first of all, the front polar plate, the rear polar plate and the neodymium magnet are provided with central axial holes. For the transducers of mini-type and the speakers with small or middle calibers, the effective dimension of the neodymium magnet and its magnetic energy are subjected to unreasonable restraints. Therefore, the invention is unavailable for the widely-applied series of speakers of mini-type and speakers with small or middle calibers. Secondly, the patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,760 is silent to essential contents necessary for attaining a transducer possessed of resistance load characteristics. Thirdly, this patent, when applied in high-power transducers, arranges center plats at the central axial holes of the polar plates and the neodymium magnet for guiding the coil's wire out. This finally loses a direct pneumatic heat-dissipating passage for huge heat generated by the transducer. Fourthly, the electroacoustic conversion efficiencies of the products with the patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,760 (for example, the speaker units in EON voice boxes from USA JBL Company) are not significantly improved in comparison with those traditional speakers using the iron strontium oxide.
UK NXT Company has also proposed, in its patent application PCT/GB00/01484 (CN1347628A), a driver for an inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils. However, it has the following drawbacks: the patent application fails to disclose the entire technical solution for forming a driver with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils. Moreover, it falls into the range covered by the claims of the patent CN2333135Y, and the inventor's patent CN97205593.2 and patent applications PCT/CN98/00306 (WO99/31931) and CN1219834A. In addition, the method of calculating the coil inductance in the speaker with a permanent magnet and an iron-core circuit by use of the Welsby's formula, and its corresponding conclusion, as raised by the above patent application, cannot be established.
The present inventor, in his patent CN200520035371.X and patent applications PCT/CN98/00306, CN99114781.2, US2005/0099255 and CN1741683A, has also proposed several kinds of inner magnetic transducers which have multiple coils and multiple magnetic gaps, and which are possessed of resistance load characteristics, or characteristics similar thereto. However, they have the following drawbacks: first of all, these technical solutions fail to give full definitions upon the technical features in the symmetrical magnetic paths and symmetrical coil circuits of the transducers. Secondly, the bracket made of non-magnetic material encloses the entire magnetic paths from upside to downside, which inevitably increases the weight, the complex of the entire structure and the production cost of the transducer. Thirdly, the patent applications fail to give necessary, sufficient disclosure and description upon how the back electromotive back is eliminated from the transducer. Fourthly, when the two end surfaces of the annular magnetic yoke are flush with the outer polar surfaces of the upper and lower polar plates, as shown in FIG. 12, it is inevitable to increase the asymmetry of the magnetic path and thus enhance the distortion of the transducer accordingly.
JAPAN SONY Company, in its patent application JP2006050245 (CN1735282, US2006029238, DE102005036538), has proposed an apparatus and a method for eliminating the back electromotive force in a transducer. However, in order to eliminate the signal distortion caused by the back electromotive force, it has to add a distortion rectifying circuit consisting of three electronic amplifiers for every speaker.

Inner magnetic transducer with multiple magnetic gaps and multiple coils and preparation method thereof


Packets of data are transmitted over a distributed communications network formed by a number of transceivers. To minimize interference by other signals, the carrier frequency of each transmission is varied compared with the last transmission by that transceiver, for example by using a linearly sliding carrier frequency which varies continuously during periods of inactivity and while transmitting. The receivers scan the band at a rate sufficient to detect a preamble carrier burst preceding each data packet. The transceivers operate asynchronously with low data rate FSK signals, using carrier frequencies between 900 and 950 MHz.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to distributed communications systems, in which relatively short packets of data are transmitted by radio transmissions of very low power, and relatively long periods of time pass between transmissions. Such a communications system is proposed for use in a centralized system for controlling devices located in many places throughout the building. For example, the invention is applicable to centralized control of artificial lighting systems in buildings where each room or area has an individual local control, or to heating and/or air conditioning systems having many individually controllable heating devices, heat pumps (heating or cooling) or heat exchangers; to occupancy-sensing, security, or fire detection systems requiring sensed-data transmission from a multiplicity of sensor locations to a central location, as well as control signals transmitted back to selected locations.
For convenience, this specification refers extensively to a "building" or "building computer." It should be clear that the term "building" should be interpreted as including a portion of a building, or a building complex having two or more structures or portions thereof under common control, and sharing one network; and might be applicable to an amusement park or other outdoor situation.
Other applications not directed at energy conservation might include centralized override of volume or channel settings for an existing hard-wired background music and public address system, and in particular would allow control on a group or zone basis where this had not been provided in the hard-wiring layout.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The need to provide low data rate transmission to large numbers of locations has usually been met by hard-wired systems, because of the value of channels in the radio spectrum. For example, central building control of lighting or ventilating and air conditioning units has been possible for many years, through use of low voltage wiring from a central office or computer to operate relays controlling local power circuits. Such a system is very difficult to retrofit in an existing building. A further difficulty with this type of system is that correction of wiring failures is often difficult because wiring drawings are inaccurate or non-existent, and tracing these low voltage cables is time consuming and expensive.
A low-power radio control system for receivers up to 75 feet away is described in a paper "SONA/ECS, a decentralized environmental control system (for disabled)" published as part of the Proceeding of the IEEE computer Society Workshop on Computing to Aid the Handicapped, Nov. 4-5, 1982.
Another system for building control makes use of the existing AC power wiring in the building to carry control signals. So-called "carrier current" systems for impressing a relatively low radio frequency on AC power wiring have been used for telemetering data in power distribution systems, and for "wireless" intercom or music systems, but have been prone to excessive noise. To reduce cost, 900 MHz radio channels for 2-way communication are described in "900 MHz radio provides two-way path for control and return" is described in Transm. and Distribution, vol. 36, no. 6, pp 33-6 for June 1984. This system had the advantage that it was claimed to be installable and maintainable by the utility's own workforce.
To avoid unreliability due to interfering signals from other users of frequency bands in which unlicensed operation is permitted, systems using high frequency spread spectrum techniques for distributing control signals are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,090,024, 5,263,046, 5,278,862 and 5,359,625. The last of these approximates a swept frequency waveform in which successive square waves are formed by the chirps of the sequence, and the frequency of the square waves is varied over at least a portion of the sequence. This technique is suggested for use in the 900+MHz band.
A control system sold under the name Echelon uses microprocessors for control of direct link communication to each of the individual controls of the network over a common channel. This system caters to a wide variety of applications,, and can have as much as a 1 Mbit/sec communication capacity. This system uses a communication protocol which specifies a packet structure, handshake commands to set up a communication and acknowledge a communication, certain error correction and recovery, and retransmission after a time delay if a communication is lost. Transmission is possible over various media, such as twisted pair, radiated RF, infrared, or high frequency signals carried on the power line, between the central source and each of the nodes, except where a relay may be provided to a group of nodes. As a result, installation of such a system is expensive and requires considerable development time. The Echelon system can be used in the license-free 49 MHz band when power is less than 1 watt. Especially if an RF signal is transmitted over the power lines, this system employs a spread spectrum encoding to provide noise immunity.

Packet hopping system with sliding frequency, and transciever for the system

Philips Electronics North America Corporation


When an optical fiber (1, 1′) is heated by an electrical discharge generated between electrodes (3) thermal light emission from the core and cladding of fiber forms a hot image which can be observed by an optical imaging system (9, 15, 17). Since the concentration of dopants in the core is significantly higher than in the cladding, the light emitted from the core gives a peak structure in the light intensity profile of a hot image. The peak width of the core image increases significantly when dopants diffuse out of the core such as in heating the fiber. The increase of peak width is found to be highly correlated to the expansion of the mode field diameter (MFD) of fiber. This correlation can be experimentally determined at well-defined fusion conditions for any given type of fiber and thereby used to give a measure of the MFD by observing the peak width in hot images. Measures of MFD can be used for improving the quality of estimation of losses in splices of optical fibers.

Equipment and methods for aligning and splicing silica based optical fibers have been developed and improved for many years. It is well known that core/cladding eccentricity, cleave angle, curl, fiber-end contamination and mode field diameter (MFD) mismatch are the main reasons of loss appearing in fusion splices of optical fibers.
Generally, an exact knowledge of the mode field diameter (MFD) of an optical fiber permits determination of various propagation characteristics of light waves guided by an optical fiber, e.g. the coupling efficiency between a light source and an optical fiber, splice losses and chromatic dispersion, etc. The knowledge of the MFD of an optical fiber is usually obtained by the so-called transmitted near field (TNF) method. In this method, light is injected at one end of the fiber and either a magnified image of the other end of the fiber is scanned by a movable detector, or the fiber-end is moved while the detector is stationary. The major disadvantage of the TNF method is that the method is destructive since the fiber has to be cut in order to access the end surface where the MFD is measured. Therefore, the method may not be applicable to handle MFD measurements in dynamic processes, e.g. monitoring variation of MFD during fusion splicing. Furthermore, expensive instrument and highly qualified operators are needed to perform TNF measurements, which are not always available, especially not in the field.
The MFD can generally be considered a function of the diameter of the fiber core, among a lot of other parameters, as appears from e.g. Swedish patents 502374 and 502290. As disclosed in these patents, an image of a heated fiber is captured and analyzed for finding a value of the fiber core diameter. A similar method is disclosed in published Japanese patent application 2000 275469.


Systems and computer-readable medium are disclosed for automatic white balancing of an input image. Accordingly, the system includes a cast detector configured to receive and classify an input image based at least in part on a selection of constituent pixels of the input image. The cast detector is further configured to select the constituent pixels based on a computed reliability of each of the constituent pixels to convey at least one characteristic of a capture illuminant. The system further includes a cast balancer. The cast balancer is configured to perform white balancing of the input image based on the classification of the input image by the cast detector. The cast balancer is further configured to identify the capture illuminant based on at least one characteristic represented by each of the selected constituent pixels.

Typically, characteristics of an image captured by an image-capturing device (e.g. digital camera) depend on a number of factors. The factors include physical content of captured scene i.e. on reflectance properties, intensity, and color of a light source (capture illuminant) and spectral sampling properties of the image-capturing device. In a number of applications, such as object recognition, to digital photography, it is important that the colors recorded by the image-capturing device are constant across an illumination by different type of capture illuminants. An object captured by a camera may appear different in color when it is illuminated with different light sources (or capture illuminants). The object appears different because the color of light reflected from the object changes with the color of the light source.
A Light source (capture illuminant) is generally characterized by its color temperature, which is defined as a variation of color of a black body radiator with temperature. When a white object is illuminated with low color temperature light source, reflection from the object becomes reddish. On the other hand, a high temperature light source causes the same white object appear bluish.
Human visual system (HVS) has the ability to map white colors to a perception of white, even though an object has different surface reflections when it is illuminated with different light sources. However, image-capturing devices, like digital still cameras (DSCs), need to be taught how to map white color under a captured illuminant to white color under a viewing illuminant (illuminant used while viewing an image). The problem of making a white object appear as white under different types of illuminants (capture illuminant, viewing illuminant) is called white balancing. The capability to perform white balancing automatically without any user intervention is referred to as automatic or auto white balancing (AWB).
Existing systems and methods solve this problem by adjusting gains of the three primary colors (red (R), green (G), and blue (B)) of the sensor in the image capturing device. For example, one of the existing auto white balancing method involves controlling a balance of RGB components (red, green and blue) of each pixel in an image in such a manner that the average of the entire image results in an achromatic (gray) color. However, such a method results in color failure if the given image is dominated by one or two colors.
Another white balancing method to overcome color failure includes splitting the image into RGB blocks; finding an average value of each RGB block, and extracting only the blocks the average value of which lies in a predetermined range. Gain control of RGB components is performed so that the RGB average values of the extracted blocks result in an achromatic color. Such methods are effective insofar as the light sources (capture illuminants) were restricted to a certain range of color temperatures and fail to provide good white balance control when the light sources with extreme color temperature (either side from day light) are used for illumination.
In addition, all gray worlds based methods use static thresholds to extract blocks/pixels from an image. Hence, using a fixed threshold will affect robust extraction of blocks/pixels that represent color of the light source. Such gray world based methods may pick colored pixels that do not represent the true color of a light source resulting in calculating gain (of the primary colors) might lead to color failure.
Hence, there is a well-felt need to provide a system and method to perform automatic white balancing that gives images of very high objective and subjective quality while having a computationally simple processing method for easy implementation.

System and computer-readable medium for automatic white balancing


A pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet according to the present invention is a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet in which a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on a base film, in which the base film contains conductive fibers, and in which an electrically conductive path is formed between the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer and the base film. With this structure, an electrical continuity test can be performed even in a condition where a semiconductor wafer or a semiconductor chip formed by dicing the semiconductor wafer is applied, and deformation (warping) and damage of the semiconductor wafer and generation of flaws and scratches on the backside can be prevented in the test.

Conventionally, a semiconductor wafer having silicon, gallium, arsenic, and the like as a material is subjected to a continuity test in a testing step after being manufactured in a condition of having a large diameter. After that, the semiconductor wafer is applied onto a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet for dicing, and each step of a dicing step, a cleaning step, an expanding step, a picking up step, and a mounting step is performed. An example of the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet for dicing is one in which a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer made of an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive or the like is applied and formed onto a base material of a plastic film (for example, see Patent Document 1).
However, in recent years, semiconductor wafers have become increasingly thin with the spread of IC cards and the like, and because of that, there arises a problem that a semiconductor wafer is deformed (warped) or damaged in the testing step or in the step of applying the wafer onto a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet for dicing. As a result, it is difficult to steadily handle the semiconductor wafer in these steps Further, in the case of placing a thin semiconductor wafer onto a stage for the continuity test, there are problems such as flaws and scratches being generated on the backside of the semiconductor wafer and damage (cracks) of the semiconductor wafer being generated by foreign substances, particles, and the like on the stage.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 04-070937

Pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet and process for producing semiconductor device having same


A thin film transistor (TFT) substrate includes a glass substrate, a thin film transistor, an electrode pad, and a conductive bump. The TFT and the electrode pad are formed on the glass substrate, and the electrode pad is used for electrically connecting with the thin film transistor. The conductive bump includes several insulating bumps and a conductive layer. The insulating bumps are formed on the electrode pad dividedly, and the conductive layer covers the top surfaces of the insulating bumps, the inward surfaces of the insulating bumps, and the electrode pad between the insulating bumps for electrically connecting with the electrode pad. The outward side surfaces of the insulating bumps are exposed out of the conductive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a thin film transistor and manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly to a thin film transistor with conductive bumps thereon and the manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In most of the electrical devices, components can electrically connect to the main circuits by an anisotropic conductive film (ACF), for example, a driver integrated circuit is electrically connected with the display panel by an ACF. The ACF is composed of non-conductive resin and conductive particles, and the centers of the conductive particles are polymers whose surfaces are coated by a metal conductive layer, such as gold, nickel, or tin. In addition to the ACF is applied during the manufacturing processes of flat panels, chip on glass (COG) and chip on film (COF) are also applied in bonding a driver integrated circuit onto the liquid crystal display. As for COG, a driver integrated circuit (driver IC) is bonded onto the glass substrate of the display panel directly, and as for COF, the driver IC is bonded onto a carrier, such as TAB, and then the driver IC can be connected with the glass substrate by the carrier.
FIG. 1A is a cross-section view of a conventional semiconductor structure produced by COG. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional semiconductor structure 10 includes a glass substrate 11, a chip 12, and an ACF 16. Several metal electrode pads 13 are on the surface of the substrate 11a, and several aluminum electrode pads 14 are on the surface of the chip 12a. Each one glad bump 15 is on each of the aluminum electrode pads 14. The ACF 16 is connected with part of the surface of the substrate 11a, and part of the surface of the chip 12a. The ACF 16 includes several conductive particles 17, and parts of the conductive particles 17 are for electrically connecting with the metal electrode pads 13 and the gold bumps 15.
When the pitch between two adjoining aluminum electrode pads 14 is decreasing to meet the requirement of small sizes, the pitch between two gold bumps 15 is decreasing as well. However, it is easy to cause electrical short between two adjoining gold bumps 15 when the conductive particles 17 gather together between two adjoining gold bumps 15, as shown in FIG. 1A. As a result, the electrical quality of the semiconductor structure 10 is great affected.
Referring to FIG. 1B, is a cross-section view of a composite bump formed on a chip or substrate disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,697. In FIG. 1B, an aluminum pad 26 is formed on the surface 30a of the chip 30. A passivation layer 28 is formed on part of the surface of the chip 30a and on the surroundings of the aluminum pad 26, the central of the aluminum pad 26 is exposed. A composite bump 31 is on the chip 30, and includes a polymer body 32 and a conductive metal layer 36. The polymer body 32 is formed on the central of the aluminum pad 26. A space is between the polymer body 32 and the passivation layer 28, for exposing part of the aluminum pad 26. The conductive metal layer 36 covers the polymer body 32, part of the aluminum pad 26, and part of the passivation layer 28, for electrically connecting with to the aluminum pad 26.
When the chip 30 with several composite bumps 31 is electrically connected with several electrode pads of a glass substrate by an ACF, the conductive particles of the ACF still gather together between two adjoining composite bumps 31 easily, which causes electrical connecting and electrical short between two adjoining composite bumps 31. Moreover, the heights of the composite bumps 31 on the chip 30 are difficult to be controlled well. The composite bumps 31 on the chip 30 are uneven, so that the surface of the chip 30 cannot be electrically connected with the substrate evenly, and the electrical quality of the chip 30 and the substrate thereon are great affected.

Thin film transistor substrate and manufacturing method thereof


A flashlight includes a barrel, a connecting member, a seat, and an end cap. The connecting member is mounted to a bottom end of the barrel and allows the barrel to move to a desired angle relative to the connecting member. The seat includes a larger chamber, and two smaller chambers. A front leg is slidably mounted in the larger chamber and movable between a retracted position in the larger chamber and an extended position outside the larger chamber. A side leg is mounted in each smaller chamber and pivotable between a retracted position in an associated smaller chamber and an extended position outside the associated smaller chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flashlight. In particular, the present invention relates to a flashlight with a supporting structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bottom end of a flashlight, when placed upright, is placed on a flat surface. However, the flashlight is apt to fall. Further, it is impossible to place the flashlight in a tilted state.