A signal assembly includes a light device connected to a light stick which has three connection hooks extending from an outer periphery thereof. A first connection assembly is mounted to the light stick and includes a first ring and a second ring connected with each other, wherein the first ring has a first flange extending outward from a first end thereof and three notches are defined through the first flange. The connection hooks are removably engaged with the three notches and hooked with the first flange by rotating the light stick relative to the first ring. By this way the light stick is able to be separated from the first connection assembly. Three leg plates are pivotably connected to the first connection assembly.

A conventional signal assembly is disclosed in FIGS. 7–9, and generally includes a tube 50 which includes battery section 52 and a light bulb section 51, a sleeve 71 is slidably mounted to the tube 50 and three leg plates 70 are pivotably connected to the sleeve 71, three extension rods 72 are pivotably connected between the tube 50 and the three leg plates 70, and a light device 60 is pivotably connected between two lugs of a frame 54 which is connected to a base 53 which is connected to a top of the tube 50. Two conductive members 55 are connected to the two lugs of the frame 54 and the light device 60 is electrically connected to the conductive member 55 by two conductive pins 61. The three leg plates 70 can be pivoted and cooperated with a transverse plate 73 to form a warning triangular frame as shown in FIG. 9 and the light device 60 provide illumination. The conventional signal assembly is mainly focused on a stationary waning purpose and is too big to be held by the users when needed.
The present invention intends to provide a signal assembly which includes a light stick that can be separated from the leg plates and can be held by the users conveniently.


Formation of carbon-substituted single crystal silicon layer is prone to generation of large number of defects especially at high carbon concentration. The present invention provides structures and methods for providing low defect carbon-substituted single crystal silicon layer even for high concentration of carbon in the silicon. According to the present invention, the active retrograde profile in the carbon implantation reduces the defect density in the carbon-substituted single crystal silicon layer obtained after a solid phase epitaxy. This enables the formation of semiconductor structures with compressive stress and low defect density. When applied to semiconductor transistors, the present invention enables N-type field effect transistors with enhanced electron mobility through the tensile stress that is present into the channel.

Various techniques for enhancing semiconductor device performance through manipulation of carrier mobility have been investigated in the semiconductor industry. One of the key elements in this class of technology is the manipulation of stress in the channel of transistor devices. Some of these methods utilize a carbon-substituted single crystal silicon (Si:C) layer within a silicon substrate to change the lattice constant of the silicon material in the channel. While both silicon and carbon have identical electronic outer shells and the same crystal structure, that is, "the diamond structure," their room temperature lattice constants are different with values of 0.5431 nm and 0.357 nm, respectively. By substituting some of the silicon atoms in single crystal silicon with carbon atoms, a single crystal structure with a smaller lattice constant than that of pure silicon may be obtained.
To increase the amount of stress on adjoining semiconductor structures, it is necessary to increase the carbon content. In other words, the higher the carbon content in an Si:C layer, the higher the stress on adjoining structures. Incorporation of carbon into a silicon substrate during the manufacture of silicon substrates is very difficult due to the low equilibrium solubility of carbon (3.5×1017/cm3 or 7 ppm in atomic concentration) at the melting point of silicon. Practically, carbon cannot be incorporated into the silicon substrate during the growth of silicon ingot. However, a higher metastable solubility limit up to 7.0×1020/cm3 (1.4% in atomic concentration) was observed during the process of solid phase epitaxy of a carbon implanted silicon layer in bulk silicon wafers according to Strane et al., "Carbon incorporation into Si at high concentrations by ion implantation and solid phase epitaxy," J. Appl. Phys. 79 (2), Jan. 1996, pp. 637-646. In the experiments described in Strane et al., the silicon substrates were first amorphized with a silicon implant and then implanted with carbon atoms. By performing solid phase epitaxy, a carbon-substituted single crystal silicon layer was regrown from the carbon implanted silicon layer. Strane et al., also established that after solid phase epitaxy, the carbon atoms occupy substitutional sites to form an Si:C layer. However, the presence of a band of defects corresponding to the end-of-range defects due to the silicon amorphization implant was also observed as well. Furthermore, at a high carbon concentration of 1.9%, a high level of crystalline defects was observed in the Si:C layer.
Since then, due to the potential benefit of enhancing performance of CMOS transistors, formation of Si:C layers by solid phase epitaxy has been investigated further despite the difficulties of obtaining low defect density Si:C layers. Formation of an Si:C layer with a high carbon concentration between 0.1% and 5%, preferably between 0.5% and 2.0% has been pursued due to the advantageous properties of generating a high level of stress. It has been found that the higher the carbon concentration in the Si:C layer is, the higher the defect density in the resulting Si:C layer. However, a high level of crystalline defect density is detrimental to the CMOS transistor performance since the defects serve as a leakage path for the off-current of the transistor. The defects in the strained single crystal layer also cause stress relief and deleteriously impact the mobility gains from the stress engineering.
A CMOS transistors may be built on a carbon-substituted single crystal silicon layer by utilizing relaxed Si:C layer as a substrate and growing epitaxial silicon on top of it. One method of obtaining an Si:C layer with a smaller lattice constant than that of silicon is to grow a thick Si:C layer with the thickness exceeding the critical thickness for the generation of crystalline defects. An alternative method is to grow an Si:C layer on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate so that the entire Si:C layer on top of the buried oxide layer has a smaller lattice constant than that of silicon. Silicon may be epitaxially grown on the relaxed Si:C layer so that the lattice constant of the silicon material matches that of the underlying relaxed Si:C. In this case, the epitaxially grown silicon is under a biaxial compressive stress in the plane of epitaxial growth. An N-type field effect transistor (NFET) built in such a substrate has enhanced electron mobility and consequently an increased on-current.
Alternatively, CMOS transistors may be built by embedding Si:C layers in the source and drain regions of a field effect transistor that is built on a silicon substrate. The presence of the embedded Si:C layers in the source and drain creates a uniaxial tensile stress in the channel region along the direction of the movement of carriers. Such stress enhances the mobility of electrons in the transistor. Consequently, an N-channel field effect transistor (NFET) built in such a substrate has enhanced mobility and consequently an enhanced on-current.
Therefore, there exists a need for a semiconductor structure and methods for fabricating a low defect, high carbon concentration Si:C layer.
There exists another need for a semiconductor structure and methods for locally incorporating a low defect, high carbon concentration Si:C layer epitaxially into a field effect transistor.

Low defect Si:C layer with retrograde carbon profile

International Business Machines Corporation


A vehicle with a plurality of individually addressable light sources, preferably semiconductor laser light sources or light emitting diodes, each of which produce a beam of light, are optically coupled to a fiber optic waveguide. The laser light sources are grouped together preferably at a single location within the vehicle for easy access and conveniently located within the vehicle. Fiber waveguides distally transmits the beams to the optical loads of the vehicle, including the brake lights, taillights, instrumentation lights and turn signals. Each fiber optic waveguide may be a single optical fiber, such as a multimode fiber, having a numerical aperture large enough to receive illumination from a plurality of light sources. In cases where some optical loads require a larger flux or brightness of light, such as vehicular headlights, which may greater than a single optic fiber can transmit, the waveguide may comprise of a bundle of optical fibers. Multiple light sources to a single optical output load allows switching to another operational light source or increase the intensity of remaining light sources should one light source fail. In this manner, the operational life of the vehicular lighting system is increased. Also disclosed is circuitry for operating applications of the system as well as illustrating the employment of color wavelength laser light sources.

The present invention pertains to the field of illumination, and more particularly to vehicular lighting systems.
Numerous efforts have been made to increase the safety, reliability and efficiency of motor vehicles and aircraft while reducing the overall cost of manufacturing. The need is driven by increased emphasis on motor vehicle safety and to improve driver awareness of possible dangers relative to vehicles in close proximity, particularly as the number of vehicles on the nation""s highways is rapidly increasing thereby increasing the odds for vehicular accidents. Essential to meeting these efforts is incorporating new and expanding technologies into the manufacturing and development of vehicular lighting systems in their warning capability and reliability. Optical technology has offered many benefits by providing less expensive and more reliable light sources than were previously available. Specifically, efforts have been made to provide improved vehicular lighting systems which substantially reduce the number of lamps or high temperature operated halogen or halide lamps used in a vehicular lighting system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,410 to Hsu et al. is an example of a vehicular lighting system in which a central light source distributes white light, through fiber optic cables, to various areas of a vehicle. The central light source includes high intensity discharge lamps. The fiber optic cables distribute light to various optical loads of the vehicle""s lighting system, including headlamps, tail lights and dome lights. The flux of the light is controlled through mechanical switches that move segments of the fiber optic cables into and out of alignment.
Another example of a vehicular lighting system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,049 to Davenport et al. in which a light bus network distributes high intensity white light from a central light source to various components of a vehicle. The light bus network includes a number of electro-mechanical controls such as shutters, as well as collimating and focusing lenses.
A further example of a vehicular lighting system involving a central light source with light carried by a series of optical fibers to an array of headlight lenses is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,718 to Davenport et al. The ends of the fibers are held in stationary alignment with their respective lenses, while optical wedge lens or rotating flat members are inserted between the fibers and their respective lenses to provide for shifting between high beam and low beam positions.
While the exiting art discloses vehicular lighting systems that have one or more light sources for servicing a plurality of optical fibers as light transmission media, such as disclosed in U.S. patents to Krammer U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,413; Currie U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,225; and Hsu et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,805, these systems either remain complex in system design or still require high power noncoherent light sources that require special treatment due to their high temperature of operation or motor-rotated for providing selective distribution of light to desired fiber outputs adding to the cost and reliability of operation to the system. While U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,413 mentions a possibility of using laser diodes in vehicular lighting systems, there is no disclosure how this might be implemented, taking into consideration the use of high temperature halide lamps in a system housing of this patent adapted for their particular utility and thermal considerations not capable of accommodating a semiconductor laser output. On the other hand, there are vehicular lighting systems disclosing the use of light sources provided at a central location for easy access that have noncoherent lamp outputs coupled to fiber optic waveguides via color lenses that themselves function as the light output device for the system to provide selection between a non-red or a red light output on a single fiber for indication, respectively, of turn signal or brake light signal, as disclosed in the U. S. patent to Currie U.S Pat. No. 5,400,225, mounted along the periphery of the rear window of the vehicle. Moreover, these prior vehicular lighting systems have the disadvantage of requiring numerous mechanical and thermal components to distribute light throughout a vehicle, thereby increasing both the size and expense of the systems.
What is needed is a centrally located vehicular lighting system that can accommodate coherent light sources that provides sufficient output brightness of light for fiber transmission to an optical load comprising the vehicular light output for a particular function such as a running light, turn signal light, backup light or a brake light.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved vehicular lighting system that is compact, lightweight, of simpler design and longer operational life.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved vehicular lighting system that consumes substantially less power with dissipation of substantially less heat and provides for better space utilization with the availability of space in the vehicle compared to those currently suggested.
It is another object of this invention to provide light source redundancy to improve vehicular safety and reliability of the vehicular lighting system.
It is another object of this invention to provide multiple light sources per load for reliability and for providing moving vehicular conditional changes via illumination warning, such as vehicular braking or vehicular turning, in combination with multiple colors per optical load.
It is another object of this invention to provide a vehicular lighting system indicative to others via the same lighting of an applied brake pressure, hazard or other warning condition, or vehicular speed.
It is another object of this invention to provide a vehicle with an encoded light beam output for signaling data or information from a vehicle to roadside information gathering equipment such as a toll booth fee, parking meter fee, or vehicular identification for checking location and vehicular ID number.
These objectives are achieved according to this invention through the provision of a vehicle with a plurality of individually addressable light sources, preferably semiconductor laser light sources or light emitting diodes, each of which produce a beam of light that is optically coupled to a fiber optic waveguide. The laser light sources are grouped together preferably at a single location within the vehicle for easy access and conveniently located within the vehicle. Fiber waveguides distally transmits the beams to the optical loads of the vehicle, including the brake lights, taillights, instrumentation lights and turn signals. Each fiber optic waveguide may be a single optical fiber, such as a multimode fiber, having a numerical aperture large enough to receive illumination from a plurality of light sources. In cases where some optical loads require a larger flux or brightness of light, such as vehicular headlights, which may greater than a single optic fiber can transmit, the waveguide may comprise of a bundle of optical fibers. For purposes of this invention, a waveguide is defined as the transmission media within which light propagates to an optical load and may be comprised of one or more optical fibers or planar optical waveguide structures.
A circuit is electronically coupled to respective light sources to independently activate the source or alter source brightness by adjusting the supplied current. The structure of the laser light sources and the waveguides coupled to them is relatively small and lightweight. In addition, the light sources, such as semiconductor laser sources, consume significantly less power and operate at significantly lower temperatures than conventional incandescent light bulbs, halogen or halide lamps increasing the safety factor in automotive operation as well as increasing the life span of the vehicle""s electrical system and any consequential damage that might occur due to the use of high temperature light sources, such as halogen lamps.
Conveniently locating the origin of the light sources as a single group provides many advantages. The grouping of the light sources facilitates reducing power fluctuations due to temperature variations by abrogating multiple heat transfer devices. Instead, the temperature of the present invention may be held constant by means of a single thermal electric cooler or compartmental heater. Further, as previously indicated, conveniently locating the group of light sources allows easy access for maintenance.
The preferred light sources utilized in this invention are semiconductor laser sources in the form of high power laser diodes or laser diode arrays providing power levels as high as several tens of watts to several hundreds of watts of combined output to an optical load, although light emitting diodes may be employed in some applications. However, laser sources are preferred because of their high brightness and optical power output with lower levels of required heat dissipation compared to the case of the lamps of Currie U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,225, supra, which generate higher levels of heat.
In another embodiment of this invention, multiple laser light sources are associated with each fiber waveguide to provide redundancy at the light source allowing one or more of the laser sources to fail without substantially affecting the level of light intensity supplied to one or more vehicular optical loads. In a further embodiment of this invention, different wavelengths representative of different colors may be mixed to produce different colors to selected optical loads so that different colors can be presented, cw or pulsed, at the same or different optical output loads indicative of different vehicular conditions. The mixing may be accomplished using optic fiber coupling, star coupling or WDM coupling.
In a still further embodiment of this invention, the laser or LED light sources may be modulated at either a low modulation rate, such as, for example, less than 30 Hz, so that pulsation of the light source is detectable by the human eye or are in combination with a higher modulation rate to provide for data modulation and transmission of data signals to off-vehicular light detection and monitoring systems. In this embodiment, the light source or sources may be either centralized or distributed around the vehicle. The light source may also be outside the vehicle with light detection means inside so as to, for example, measure vehicle velocity and report it to a display panel in the vehicle or use the external signal to remotely control the vehicle velocity.
Other objects and attainments together with a fuller understanding of the invention will become apparent and appreciated by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A method of imposition proofing of printing data of a document onto a set of proof sheets is described, the document having one or more sections, each proof sheet having a recto side and a verso side, the printing data including imposing information and printing information for positioning and printing a set of pages onto one or more print sheets, each print sheet having two print sheet sides, a verso print sheet side and a recto print sheet side, each print sheet side having at least four pages. The method includes, for each print sheet in the printing data, dividing the pages imposed on each side of the print sheet into printer spreads of two pages, and determining information referencing the printing data, for defining how each printer spread is printed on each side of a proof sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to preparing documents for printing. In particular, this invention relates to a method for proofing imposed documents, for example books, magazines and brochures, on a proofing medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, modern production techniques for documents such as books, magazines and brochures, can be split into three major stages:
1. Prepress. In the prepress stage of production, media are prepared for a printing device. The output of this stage is an imaged film, plate, cylinder or, in the case of digital printing presses, digital data. One of the steps in the prepress stage is imposition. This step ensures that each page of the document is placed on the proper printing sheet in the correct orientation. PA1 2. Printing. During this stage of production the information produced by the prepress system is duplicated on sheets of output medium using a press, a digital printing system, or some other duplicator of printed material. PA1 3. Finishing. In this stage the printed sheets of output medium are folded, assembled and cut to form the final documents.
Since stages 2 and 3 generally are used for high volume work, the fixed cost of stage 1 and the set up of printing and finishing is very high compared to the variable marginal cost of printing one document. Errors discovered only in the printing or finishing stages tend to be very expensive. Professional printers thus want to see a simulation of the result of stages 2 and 3 before actually performing these processes. They also need to be able to provide proofs that give customers a clear impression of how the actual printed document will look.
Imposition usually is carried out on a computer, using an imposition software program which takes the individual pages of a document and lays the pages out on large sheets ("print sheets"), several pages to a sheet, so that after printing, the print sheets can be folded and cut to generate one or more subsets ("sections") of the document which are then combined to form a complete document. Typical prior art imposition programs generate printing data comprising at least one computer file containing information about the position of the pages on sheets of output medium ("print sheets") as well as the content of these pages. Typically, the printing data might contain references to other files which describe the contents of the individual pages, such other files including, for example, line art images, continuous tone images, text, fonts, etc. Each print sheet includes a recto side and a verso side. At least four pages are imposed on a single side of a print sheet, and some of these pages may be blank.
It should be noted that the words impositioning and impositioned are sometimes used for the words imposing and imposed, respectively.
Up to now, different proofing methods have been used to produce proofs of imposed documents from printing data produced by an imposition program. Known proofing methods produce flats, large sheets containing images for at least four pages in the resulting document. These flats have to be folded in a specific way, possibly after being combined with one or more other flats, and then cut to obtain a simulation of the document to be printed. Folding and cutting the flats is a very labor-intensive process.
Blueprint proofing methods start with film and make one copy of a printed sheet by a photo chemical process. The primary disadvantage of these methods is that they are expensive in consumption of consumables, due to the special paper and chemical products used. Additionally, in these methods, normally only one or two separations are transferred to the paper. By consequence, the resulting proofs cannot be used as a content proof for pages containing more than two separations, for example in four-color printing. Furthermore, these methods can only be used where film is the output of the prepress stage. Nowadays, the printing industry is shifting more and more towards computer-to-plate production, in which film is no longer used, and thus blueprint proofing can no longer be used.
Another prior art proofing method is the use of a short run proofing press. This is a small press which has a lower start up cost than a full scale printing press, the press on which the real printing stage of the document takes place. The proofing press is used to print only a small amount of examples. The same plates are used in the proofing press that are used on the printing press and therefore this method has the disadvantage that the format of the proofing press must be at least the format of the printing press. Furthermore, although smaller costs are to be foreseen for starting up a short run proofing press, a high initial investment is needed for such a press.
A third proofing method involves page proofing and imposition proofing separately. In this method the pages are proofed unscaled on an electronic proofing device. Then the imposed sheets are downscaled to form a "mechanical" proof which shows whether pages are aligned correctly. The imposition proof has to be folded and cut, which again is labor-intensive, although a larger proofer can produce larger imposed sheets that do not require downscaling. The two main disadvantages of this method is that two proofs must be made and checked separately and that a physical model of the document as it will be printed eventually is not available to show to the customer.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method of simulating on a proofing medium the printed results of printing an imposed document, the method avoiding folding and cutting.
One of the problems of proofing is that there is a chance that the printed proof will not be printed with the same data (photographs, text, etc.) as the final printing output. This can come about, for example, by some of the images used being modified during the time between proofing and final printing. Thus there is a need in the art for mechanisms that aid checking for correct placement and for version control in proofing.


A new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant named ‘Pink Double Delight’, characterized by its upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant habit; moderately vigorous growth habit; freely basal branching habit; and large single inflorescences with pink-colored ray florets and darker pink-colored disc florets.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant, botanically known as Echinacea purpurea, and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Pink Double Delight'.
The new Echinacea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Echinacea cultivars with unique inflorescence form and attractive ray floret coloration.
The new Echinacea originated from a cross-pollination in Bovenkarspel, The Netherlands in July, 2003, of a proprietary selection of Echinacea purpurea identified as code number Ec 201-01, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Echinacea purpurea identified as code number Ec 202-01, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Echinacea was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in IJsselstein, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Echinacea by micropropagation in The Netherlands since 2004, has shown that the unique features of this new Echinacea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A thermocompensated susceptor laminate is described comprising a microwave transparent sheet, e.g., paper, paperboard or plastic, having two layers thereon. One layer is a microwave interactive susceptor layer, e.g., a dried dispersion comprising a film-forming vehicle together with microwave interactive particles such as metal, metal oxide, carbon or graphite that absorbs microwave energy to produce heat in a microwave oven. The second layer is an attenuator layer which includes electrically nonconductive thermocompensating particles of a mineral. One mineral attenuator is a hydrate containing bound water and having a dissociation temperature between about 100.degree. F. and 500.degree. F., at which temperature the bound water is released therefrom to prevent overheating of the laminate.

In the prior art, a variety of substances including metal particles, ferrites, carbon or graphite particles, oxides of the metals zinc, germanium, barium, tin, iron and the like have been incorporated into coatings for producing heat in a microwave oven, i.e. to act as a heating susceptor for the purpose of absorbing a portion of the microwave energy and converting it to heat. Various other chemical susceptors such as salts are employed in an aqueous solution for this purpose as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,427, but a quantity of free water must be provided to dissolve the salt so that it is in an ionic form which will interact with the microwave energy to produce heat. This requires that the wet product be placed in a pouch that is sealed at its edges. This wet product has many disadvantages including its bulk, its fluidity and the complexity of the manufacturing operation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,264,668 and 4,518,651 describe coatings containing carbon black. However, it has been found that carbon-containing heat producing coatings, when heated in a microwave oven, can be subject to a runaway heating condition that often produces arcing, sparking, burning or charring of the backing sheet to which they are applied. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,806,718; 4,808,780; 4,810,845 and 4,818,831 describe ceramic devices for microwave heating, primarily green ceramics, which employ a quantity of bound water to produce heating. The ceramic gel itself produces heat.
In developing the present invention it was found that when carbon was used alone with a film former, such as a standard ink base, that burning and uncontrolled temperature rise occurs. Many of the packages burst into flames when heated in a microwave oven. It was also found that when carbon was mixed with an aqueous acrylic dispersion, the resulting susceptor would burn the package. A rapid, uncontrolled temperature rise occurs. Discoloration appears at about 400.degree. F. Then ignition follows almost immediately. The package starts to brown at about 400.degree. F. and then quickly begins to burn which is, of course, unacceptable. Once the package begins to carbonize, this facilitates further heating and accelerates the burning reaction which causes burning to occur at an even faster rate. This can be referred to as runaway heating.
An important objective of the invention is to provide a microwave susceptor layer that can be applied at little or no pressure as a fluid and which, upon exposure to microwave heating, will produce a uniform heat without unacceptable arcing, popping, sparking or burning. It is another objective to obtain uniformity of heating in different portions of the package and also from one sample to another. One preferred susceptor composition should have characteristics that allow it to be applied as a fluid by a variety of methods including roll printing, silk screen printing, spraying, dipping, brushing and the like. The susceptor composition should preferably be useful with gravure printing, one application method found to allow especially good coating weight control. One kind of fluid susceptor, sometimes referred to herein for convenience as "ink," should be capable of being applied directly as one or more coating layers on a backing such as paper, paperboard or the like without the requirement for plastic carrier sheets or high pressure which increase production costs and capital requirements.
When applied by printing, a fluid-type susceptor composition should have all the qualities of a good printing ink including the proper rheological properties: viscosity, dilatency and thixotropy to avoid problems such as misting, splattering or dripping from freshly printed surfaces moving at high speed and must also transfer easily from the supply roll to the printing roll. The susceptor fluids or inks of the present invention should also produce coatings of uniform thicknesses and be able to form both a continuous and interrupted coating, e.g. a coating with a multiplicity of openings or uncoated spots within a coated area.
It is a further object of the invention to control, attenuate or stabilize the heat produced by a microwave interactive susceptor by providing a cooling effect at a selected temperature or at a plurality of temperatures within a selected temperature range to compensate for the heat produced by the microwave interactive material.
A more specific object is to control heating of a susceptor so that it can be used on paper without the paper charring or catching on fire.
When printing is the application method, another object is to enable printing of the susceptor to be accomplished using standard printing equipment at normal speeds, up to 1200 feet per minute. A further object is to provide a susceptor for heating foods which is food safe.
Yet another object is to improve the performance of commercially available microwave susceptors that employ vapor deposited semiconductive aluminum coatings which are applied under vacuum by electrodeposition to a paper or plastic film backing.
Another objective is to find a way of attenuating or modulating the heat produced by a susceptor of the type in which a semiconductive metal-containing layer, e.g., a thin, transparent, vacuum-electrodeposited layer of aluminum, is applied as a coating to a carrier such as a plastic film.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a new structural arrangement between the susceptor (which produces heat) and an attenuator substance which modifies, controls and attenuates the heat produced by the susceptor by providing a unique physicial relationship between the susceptor and the attentuator in which the attenuator and susceptor are not mixed together but nevertheless when the susceptor produces heat during exposure to microwave energy, the attenuator body or layer will attenuate, modulate or cool the susceptor and surrounding structure to thereby reduce or eliminate overheating, charring, burning, sparking, arcing and the like and in that way lessen the chance for the structure to be damaged or catch on fire as heating takes place.
Another object is to provide better temperature control, e.g., for a food that is best cooked at a particular temperature or for a food that is sensitive to exposure to high temperatures.
Another object is to find a way of allowing the application of a greater amount of attenuator material than heretofor or to apply a great enough amount of an attenuator to enhance one or more characteristics of the substrate, such as paper, to which the attenuator is applied; for example, to soften the paper during exposure to microwave energy.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the invention will be apparent in view of the accompanying drawings and specification which set forth by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention that will be apparent to those skilled in the art once the principles described herein are understood

Microwave susceptor with separate attenuator for heat control


A pull assembly that affords users the option of one of at least three positions along an operatively associated drawer or door board, wherein the drawer or the door board provide the conventional manufacturer pair of bore holes spaced apart. The pull assembly provides three pairs of complimentary holes, each pair spaced apart to align with the pair of bore holes of the drawer or the door board. The three pairs of complimentary holes are arranged so that every other hole of the pull assembly defines a pair of complementary holes, wherein two pull assembly holes are adjacent to each other near a middle portion of the pull assembly. The holes on the back of the pull could be four, five or six aligned to the two boring holes of the door or drawer.

The present invention relates to door/drawer pulls and, more particularly, a re-positional door/drawer pull that can be positioned across a range of positions, and thus be selectively optimized by an end user without special tools with only requiring two mounting holes.
There is only one set of (two) boring holes centered on each door or drawer in order to allow the manufacturer to have non-handed drawers at the factory, thereby providing convenience to the manufacturer in terms of being able to manufacture universal and non-handed parts. This saves the manufacturer on stockkeeping units/unnecessary inventory of doors/drawers board in handed/unsymmetrical locations.
This dictated placement of a pull on the drawer or the door front, however, may be in an inconvenient or wrong location when installed. This can result in post-installation problems, such as egress-related issues for the user—for instance, if the pull is too far from the user this makes it difficult to open the door or drawer. Moreover, the post-installation problem may be visual in nature when, for example, the designer desires to have the pulls justified to the right or left but cannot achieve this because the pull can only be installed in one location, predetermined by the manufacturer of the drawer or door.
Currently, pulls are designed to be in a fixed, predetermined location at the time the drawer or door is manufactured. This does not allow for choice or the ability to move the pull for optimum ergonomics or preferred design location, without modifying the underlying drawer or door, which can result in unsightliness. Even if the pulls are currently in the proper position, re-positioning/re-configuring the case (a common practice) will often result in the pulls being in an undesirable location. Unfortunately, current pulls on the market do not allow for their relocation after production and/or manufacturing.
As can be seen, there is a need for a re-positional door/drawer pull that can be positioned and thus optimized by an end user across a range of position without special tools with only requiring two mounting holes.
The present invention has multiple bored holes on the back side of the pull which affords the installer or the end user the choice of pull location—right, left or center—at the time of installation or re-positioning. Furthermore, if the pulls are pre-installed before shipment, the pulls can easily be relocated on site.
The present invention allows for relocation without effecting the conventional two boring hole arrangement preferred by manufacturers, while affording the end user with a choice of location without any modification or additional prefabrication to the case or the pull or the use of any specialized tools. In short, the present invention is an improvement to what currently exists as all other pulls have a predetermined location that is fixed once the hole borings are set as no variation is allowed. The pull embodied in the present invention can be re-located left, right or center from only one set of centered mounted bored holes on the door or drawer—a choice of three locations at the factory, at installation, or by the end user after initial installation.


A cosmetic preparation containing a crosslinkable silicone rubber emulsion comprising (A) 100 parts by weight of a straight chain or branched organopolysiloxane containing at least two hydroxyl groups bonded to the silicon atom per molecule prepared by ring-opening polymerization of a cyclic organosiloxane in the presence of an alkoxysilane or its partial hydrolytic condensate or an α,ω-dihydroxy or dialkoxy siloxane oligomer by using a catalyst selected from citric, lactic, and ascorbic acids and an anionic surfactant emulsifier; and (B) 0.5 to 20 parts by weight of a reaction product of an amino group-containing organoxysilane and an acid anhydride.

Aqueous emulsion of a silicone rubber resin has been known in the art, and various products are on the market including those intended for the cosmetic preparation. However, almost all such commercially available products for the application of cosmetic preparation are silicone rubber resins emulsified and dispersed in water by using a silicone oil or the like, and these products can not be regarded as a product in an aqueous system. JP-A H10-175816 discloses the system wherein silicone rubber particles are synthesized, dried, and again emulsified and dispersed, and this process requires the steps of drying and emulsification in addition to the step of the polymerization. Another known products are aqueous dispersions of the silicone rubber by addition reaction of a hydrogen polysiloxane and a vinyl polysiloxane. These products, however, tend to undergo separation, and because of such separation, almost all of these aqueous dispersions were used in the form of powder after separation and they were rarely used in the cosmetic preparation in the form of an aqueous dispersion. In another method, the silicone rubber produced, for example, by solution polymerization is dissolved again in a silicone oil, and then subjected to mechanical emulsification (JP-A H08-245881). This method is economically disadvantageous.
Silicone emulsions capable of forming a film by crosslinking have also been disclosed in JP-A 2007-51236, and these products are in the market since their high strength and softness as well as water repellency were highly evaluated. These are products prepared by simple emulsion polymerization using a siloxane for the starting material, and thus economically advantageous. These products, however, contained surfactants and acids unsuitable for cosmetic products.
JP-A H11-71522 discloses a polyorganosiloxane emulsion prepared by emulsion polymerization of a silanol group-endcapped polydiorganosiloxane in the presence of (B) an unsaturated aliphatic sulfonate and/or sulfonate methyl hydroxide formed in the reaction system of a sulfonate salt and an acid and (C) water. This polyorganosiloxane emulsion, however, uses sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, formic acid, and sulfonic acid in its production. These acids are mostly strong acids under the restriction of Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act and other laws, and their use in the application of cosmetic preparation is unsuitable. Formic acid which is not a strong acid is also under the restriction of Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act as a deleterious substance when used at a high concentration, and its use in the application of cosmetic preparation is also unsuitable.
JP-B S44-20116 discloses an emulsion polymerization method of an organosiloxane and a silanol group-containing disilcarbane in an aqueous medium in the presence of a sulfonic acid catalyst having surfactant activity selected from benzene sulfonic acid substituted with an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, naphthalene sulfonic acid, aliphatic hydrocarbon sulfonic acid, and silylalkylsulfonic acid, which is most typically an alkylbenzene sulfonic acid such as dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid. However, these are silicone oils, and they are used in a manner clearly different from the silicone rubber. As in the case of literatures as described above, the acid used is a strong acid which is unsuitable for use in the application of cosmetic preparation.
Such polymerization also inevitably involves use of an anionic surfactant such as sodium laurylsulfate or sodium laureth sulfate. However, these compounds, are irritant and under the restriction of Law concerning Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (hereinafter also referred to as PRTR). Also, these compounds may be toxic to human and environment (aquatic life), and accordingly, they are not suitable as a material used in cosmetic preparations.
In addition, properties such as high spreadability, lighter texture, and softer touch are expected for a preparation used in cosmetic applications.

Cosmetic preparation containing crosslinkable silicone rubber emulsion and its production method


A steering column includes a steering shaft connected to a steering wheel; a block, housing the steering shaft; a column tube, housing the block; a main housing, mounted at an exterior of the column tube, and including a telescoping guide hole for a telescoping operation, and a fixing portion for pressing the column tube; a tilt bracket mounted on the main housing and including a tilt guide hole for a tilting operation; a fixing unit combined with the block through the tilt bracket and the main housing, for fixing a position of the column tube; and an operation lever for controlling an operation of the fixing unit, the operation lever being disposed at an exterior of the tilt bracket and connected to the fixing unit.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering column of a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a steering column of a vehicle that reduces the chance of serious injury to the knees of a driver in the case of an accident.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Typically, a bracket for a telescoping operation of a steering column is disposed at a lower portion of the steering column. Therefore, when an accident occurs, there is a high possibility that the driver's knees hit the bracket, causing serious injury to the knees.
To solve such a problem, a foam plastic has been mounted on a shroud that covers the steering column. However, there may not be sufficient space in the shroud, and production costs are increased.
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.


The present invention relates to a paper cup, and more particularly, to a foldable paper cup in which a volume of a container is variable, and a method of manufacturing a side paper of the foldable paper cup. The method of manufacturing the side paper of the foldable paper cup includes: a first step of forming a cutting part for dividing a portion of a continuous side paper source paper into upper and lower portions of the side paper; a second step of providing a release part to which the side paper source paper and a film do not adhere on a portion of the upper portion of the side paper so as to laminate the film and the side paper source paper; a third step of cutting a film on one end of the release part and separating the side paper from the side paper source paper in a fan shape; and a fourth step of rolling up the side paper around a forming mechanism to form a container sidewall having a cone shape. A curling part is formed on the entire circumference of an upper end of the side paper of the foldable paper cup manufactured so that upper and lower portions of the container are separated so as to fold a boundary between the upper and lower portions. Here, a bottom paper support part, for supporting a bottom paper inserted into the entire circumference of the lower end of the side paper, is formed. Thus, in the method of manufacturing the foldable paper cup of the present invention, an additional process is performed prior to an existing manufacturing process to utilize the existing process of manufacturing the paper cup as-is. Also, since the manufacturing processes are simplified, additional costs required for manufacturing the foldable paper cup may be inexpensive. In the foldable paper cup of the present invention, the volume of a container of a cup ramen may be reduced to reduce distribution costs in stages of distribution. Also, the foldable paper cup may be easily portable. When the foldable paper cup is used, the foldable paper cup may provide a container having a large volume similar to that of the container of a conventional cup ramen and may also be firm.

A disposable paper cup is cheap and can be simply managed after use, and thus the disposable paper cup can be used in various fields. Particularly, the disposable paper cup is widely used as a cup ramen container.
A conventional cup ramen container is generally formed in a cone shape having a narrow bottom surface and includes a cone-shaped container side wall and a curling part circularly wound to the outside in an upper end portion of the side wall, and a bottom paper support shaping portion that is coupled to enclose the downward bent portion by bending a lower end portion of a side paper to the inside in a state in which a bottom paper having a downward bent portion in which an entire circumference of an outer circumferential surface is bent downward is inserted into the lower end portion of the side paper.
A dry ramen and soup are housed at the inside of the container and by covering an upper portion thereof with a lid, the container is sealed, and for waterproof and strength reinforcement, the inside of a paper cup is laminated. However, due to a capacity of hot water that pours in order to cook the ramen, the cup ramen container should have a capacity larger than that of contents. Due to a large volume of the cup ramen container thereof, a much cost is requested for distribution such as packing, storage, and transportation and while traveling, a quantity of cup ramen containers in which a consumer can carry is limited.
In order to solve such a problem, there have been various attempts for reducing a volume of a container. Korean Registered Utility Model No. 20-0271843 suggests a method of manufacturing a side wall of a container into wrinkles. The above invention appropriately performs a function of reducing a size of the container. However, when hot water is poured into the container, the invention is weak on a function of maintaining a height and a shape of the container in order to prevent hot water from flowing to the outside, and a paper is inappropriate when manufacturing the container in a wrinkle form, and plastic is appropriate when manufacturing the container in a wrinkle form but is an expensive material.

Method of forming side paper of a foldable paper cup, and foldable paper cup


A degradable cigarette filter includes a filter element of a bloomed cellulose acetate tow, a plug wrap surrounding the filter element, and either a coating or a pill in contact with the tow. The coating and/or pill may be composed of a material adapted to catalyze hydrolysis of the cellulose acetate tow and a water-soluble matrix material. The material may be an acid, an acid salt, a base, and/or a bacterium adapted to generate an acid. The coating may be applied to the tow, the plug wrap, or both. The pill may be placed in the filter element. When water contacts the water-soluble matrix material, the material adapted to catalyze hydrolysis is released and catalyzes the hydrolysis, and subsequent degradation, of the cellulose acetate tow. The foregoing is also applicable to articles made of cellulose esters.

Cigarette filters are made of bloomed cellulose acetate tow. Specifically, the cellulose acetate tow is a cellulose diacetate with a Degree of Substitution (D.S.) in the range of 2.0 to 2.6. The cigarette filter includes a filter element formed from the tow and wrapped with a plug wrap. Later, the cigarette filter may be attached to the wrapped tobacco column of a cigarette.
After the cigarette has been smoked, the cigarette filter (or butt) is discarded. If the butt is discarded improperly (e.g., thrown on the ground), it becomes an unsightly piece of litter. In recent years, more cigarette smokers have been forced to move outside to smoke. This effort has increased the amount of improperly discarded butts.
Cellulose acetate used in cigarette filters will degrade over time; the time to degrade, however, can be long (e.g., >4 year). Therefore, there is a need to accelerate the degradation of the cellulose acetate in butts.
Prior attempts have been made to accelerate the degradation of cigarette butts. These prior attempts to accelerate degradation involved adding a degradation promoting agent into the cellulose acetate tow during its manufacture. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,491,024 and 5,647,383, a photo-degradation agent, ultra fine titanium dioxide (TiO2), is added into the cellulose acetate tow during its manufacture. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,571,802 and 6,739,344, biodegradation promoting (or decomposition accelerating) agents and/or reaction controlling agents are added into the cellulose acetate tow during its manufacture. The biodegradation promoting agents include oxygen acid of phosphorus, oxygen acid of sulfur, oxygen acid of nitrogen, a partial ester of hydrogen salt of the foregoing acids, carbonic acid and its hydrogen salt, a sulfonic acid and a carboxylic acid.
There is still a need for degradable cigarette filters in which the degradation agents are not added into the cellulose acetate tow during its manufacture.


Concepts and technologies of network service control for remote access to wireless radio networks are provided herein. In an embodiment, a client network can be provided by a network access point that can include a processor that is configured to detect a guest user equipment and determine whether the guest user equipment is a recognized device. In response to determining that the guest user equipment is not a recognized device, the processor can create an identity verification request message that seeks approval from a host device to allow the guest user equipment to access the client network. The processor can provide the identity verification request message to the host device and receive a trigger response message. The processor can create a network access package that provides the guest user equipment with access credentials to access the client network and provide the network access package to the guest user equipment.

Local area networks, including wireless local area networks, are becoming more prevalent both in residential and commercial environments. In a local area network, at least one router is usually employed to route messages among various devices. In some instances, a router can be communicatively coupled to a wide area network, such as the Internet and/or a provider network, and the router can route messages to and from the wide area network. Routers can provide authenticated network access to user devices based, at least in part, upon one or more conventional authentication mechanisms, such as, for example, user-provided login credentials (local or browser-based) and automated setup mechanisms (e.g., Wi-Fi Protected Setup ("WPS")), or some combination thereof. The conventional authentication mechanisms typically require efforts by both the network provider and a user intentionally making a request to access the network by initiation from the guest user device. For example, a browser-based login might require the network provider to setup and maintain a login portal so that users can sign up with the network provider, remember his or her login credential, and then sign-in using the login credentials prior to gaining access to a network.
In some situations, it may be desirable to provide a guest with temporary access to a local area network and/or a wide area network via an access point, such as a router. Conventionally, the network owner and/or provider may print or email login credentials to guest users. However, this practice can be highly insecure. In addition, the manual entry of login credentials by guest users can be prone to user error. Moreover, conventional automated setup mechanisms simply require a router be physically accessible so that the guest user can force connect their device, such as via WPS. Yet this requirement of physical access exposes a security flaw that allows anyone with physical access to the router the ability to gain access to the local area network. Further, in situations where the guest is to be granted only temporary access, the conventional mechanisms may limit the guest's capacity to control other devices that are also connected to the network for fear of malicious use by the guest. Thus, conventional authentication mechanisms can exhibit usability concerns, security flaws, and/or the denial of a guest user's request to access the network.

Network service control for access to wireless radio networks


A display device including a case including a front case and a rear case, a main display panel and a sub display panel disposed inside the case, a protective member disposed on a front surface of the main display panel and protecting the main display panel, and a support frame disposed inside the case and supporting both the display panel and the protective member. The support frame includes a first support part contacting a lower surface of the main display panel and a second support part supporting a lower surface of the protective member.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly to a display device having an improved support structure, that is, simple and includes a small thickness.
(b) Description of the Related Art
The rapid development of semiconductor technology has led to the rapid increase in demand for lightweight and compact display devices having improved performance, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
The LCD has advantageous characteristics such as a small size, light weight, and low power consumption. Accordingly, the LCD has replaced the conventional cathode ray tube (CRT). Recently, the LCD has been widely used in information processing apparatuses and middle-sized and large-sized display apparatuses, for example, television sets and monitors, as well as small-sized display apparatuses such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
A mobile phone, for example, is manufactured in a folder type for convenience of a user, and a dual display device in which two display panels are attached to the front and rear surfaces of a folder of the mobile phone is widely used.
However, when the two display panels are used, the overall thickness of the mobile phone increases and thus portability deteriorates. Accordingly, the display device must decrease in both size and weight.
In general, the mobile phone includes a casing forming an appearance of the mobile phone and a display device disposed in the casing. In a conventional mobile phone, a protective window for protecting a display panel of the display device is attached to the casing. Accordingly, the protective window and the display panel are separated from each other by at least 1 mm, which prevents the mobile phone from being reduced in thickness.
In order to reduce the gap between the protective window and the display panel, a support structure for supporting the protective panel and the display panel may be changed, which in turn complicates or weakens the device.


The present invention provides, among other things, a sensor system, having (1) a sensor implanted in a body part of the subject, wherein the sensor has a first antenna, and (2) a sensor reader worn on the subject's body part, wherein the sensor reader has a band housing a second antenna, which is inductively coupled with the first antenna, for enabling the sensor reader to communicate with the sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wristband or other type of band having an adjustable antenna, and, more specifically, to a wristband or other type of band having an adjustable antenna for use with an external sensor reader that is designed to be worn on a user's wrist or other body part and communicate wirelessly with an implanted sensing device.
2. Discussion of the Background
U.S. Pat. No. 6,400,974 (the "'974 patent"), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference, discloses an implantable sensor and a sensor reader. The sensor reader is configured to communicate wirelessly with the implanted sensor through a local radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. For example, the sensor reader wirelessly supplies power to the sensor, as well as collects data from the sensor. Because the sensor reader communicates wirelessly with the implanted sensor, the sensor reader is typically required to have an antenna.
As used herein, the term "antenna" should be construed broadly to encompass any device that is used in the wireless communication of information and/or the wireless provision of power from one point or device to another point or device. For example, the term antenna is intended to encompass, among other things, one or more components (e.g., one or more pieces of wire and/or other passive or active components) that can be used to generate an electric and/or magnetic field and/or respond to an electric and/or magnetic field.

Wristband or other type of band having an adjustable antenna for use with a sensor reader


A method and corresponding circuit for determining a final result for a desired series of multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations are based on counting the occurrence of products in the desired series of MAC operations, multiplying the counts by their corresponding products to obtain partial sums, and adding the partial sums to obtain the final result. MAC processing as taught herein can be applied to a wide range of applications, such as received signal processing in wireless communication for computationally efficient (and high-rate) generation of interference correlation estimates and/or equalization filter values for a received communication signal.

The present invention relates generally to numeric processing, such as used in communication signal processing contexts, and particularly relates to multiply-and-accumulate operations.
A multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operation multiplies two numbers and adds the result to a saved value or, more generally, to an accumulation register. Useful results, such as signal filtering in the digital domain, are obtained by repeating this operation for a series of number pairs.
A conventional approach to performing a desired series of MAC operations requires performing a full precision multiply operation and a full precision addition operation for each number pair in the series. The implementation of conventional MAC operations in software may result in undesirable performance penalties. Performance can be significantly improved by providing dedicated MAC hardware in the form of appropriately interconnected adders/multipliers and control logic. However, performing MAC operations at high rates, such as those associated with digital signal processing in the wireless communication domain, requires very high-speed adders and multipliers. Such hardware may be impractical, at least for some integrated circuit processes, or may be prohibitively expensive or power hungry.

Method and apparatus to perform multiply-and-accumulate operations


The present invention is directed to a production method for a nitride compound semiconductor element including a substrate and a multilayer structure 40 supported by an upper face of the substrate. First, a wafer 1 to be split into individual substrates is provided. A plurality of semiconductor layers composing the multilayer structure 40 are grown on the wafer 1. By cleaving the wafer 1 and the semiconductor layers, a cleavage plane in the multilayer structure 40 is formed. In the present invention, a plurality of voids are arranged at positions in the multilayer structure at which a cleavage plane is to be formed. Thus, cleavage can be performed with a good yield.

A band gap of a nitride compound semiconductor whose composition is expressed by the general formula InxGayAlzN (where x+y+z=1, 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦z≦1) may have a size corresponding to blue light or ultraviolet light through adjustment of the mole fraction of each element. Therefore, there have been vigorous research activities directed to light-emitting devices, e.g., semiconductor lasers, that comprise a nitride compound semiconductor as an active layer.
FIG. 1 shows the crystal structure of a nitride compound semiconductor. As shown in FIG. 1, a nitride compound semiconductor has a crystal structure of a hexagonal-system. Therefore, when fabricating a semiconductor laser which is constructed so that its upper face (principal face) is the (0001) plane and its resonator end faces are the M-plane (1-100), cleavage is likely to occur not along an A-plane which is perpendicular to these planes, but along a crystal plane which is tilted by 30° from the A-plane. As a result, there is a problem in that, not only when performing cleavage along the A-plane, but also when forming cleavage along the M-planes (1-100) to form the resonator end faces, miscleavage (end-face cracks) is likely to occur in a direction which is tilted by 60° from the M-plane (1-100).
Due to this problem, it has conventionally been very difficult to fabricate a nitride compound semiconductor element having smooth resonator end faces.
A sapphire substrate, which has conventionally been widely used as a substrate for nitride compound semiconductor elements, is not capable of cleaving. Therefore, when forming a semiconductor laser having a sapphire substrate, it has been practiced to perform scribing along the M-plane from the side of a nitride compound semiconductor layer that is grown on a sapphire substrate to thus form a scratch in the nitride compound semiconductor layer, this being an attempt to facilitate the formation of a cleavage plane.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method which involves performing an edge scribing for a nitride compound semiconductor layer, and thereafter performing a cleavage through breaking.
Similarly in the case of cleaving a semiconductor laser comprising a GaN substrate, which is being used in the recent years, it has been practiced to form scribing grooves along the M-plane from the side of a nitride compound semiconductor layer that is grown on the GaN substrate, this being an attempt to facilitate cleavage. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of, after linearly forming scribing grooves in a nitride compound semiconductor layer, performing a cleavage through breaking.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-058972
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-17791

Nitride compound semiconductor element and method for manufacturing same


Method, apparatus and system for receiving coins and generating a certificate for depositing the sum of received coins in a banking account. The user may redeem the certificate in an already existing bank account or may enroll into a new banking account and receive immediate access to the funds redeemed.

It is estimated that billions of dollars in coins are idly sitting in American households. This "loose change" would be better served if stored in a bank account accruing interest and/or readily available to the user, for example, when the user attempts to retrieve cash from an automated teller machine (ATM).
Currently, there are coin machines available in grocery stores that receive coins and generate a coupon for use at the grocery store or a gift certificate for use at a predetermined store. However, such machines are not desirable for use by a certain segment of the population. Teenagers, for example, might not be interested in gathering loose change around the house to just to receive a coupon for purchasing groceries or products located in that particular store. Moreover, organizing and wrapping coins in coin sheets for deposit at a bank is time consuming and inconvenient, and certain users may find that the cost to travel and the time expended to deposit the coins may be greater than any value received by depositing the coins into a bank account. Some individuals without bank accounts may find the traditional method of depositing coins even more cumbersome and time-consuming and if they must first travel to a bank, and open an account before they are able to deposit their change. What is needed is a convenient way for individuals with or without bank accounts to deposit change for immediate use.

Deposit of coins into a financial account


Methods and arrangements to configure power management systems for integrated circuits are provided herein. A group of IC components that are functionally distinct or have mutually exclusive and/or quasi-mutually exclusive, (ME/QME) operating patterns (i.e. alternate or partially overlapping duty cycles) can be powered with a single power cell. An integrated circuit design tool can identified components in an integrated circuit design that have the ME/QME operating patterns. These cells can be collocated in close proximity to each other and power management system components can be placed in this area such that a multiple signal processing cells can share a single power line and a single power cell. Such a configuration can greatly reduce the size of a power management system for an integrated circuit.

The performance of electronic equipment such as computers and communication devices continues to improve. Generally, designers strive to decrease the size and power consumption of such equipment, while increasing the speed and functionality of this equipment. Decreasing power consumption is a major technical issue facing the semiconductor industry. Two areas of power consumption that have been targeted by designers are losses due to device switching and losses associated with quiescent power consumption commonly referred to as "leakage power." Curtailing leakage power plays an important role in the design process. Leakage power is emerging as a new critical challenge in the design of high performance integrated circuits (IC)s.
More specifically, the portion of total power consumption of very large scale integration (VLSI) circuits that is caused by leakage currents is increasing dramatically as technology generations transition to processes that create smaller devices. This evolution is often referred to as technology scaling. Currently, power dissipation created by device switching encompasses a significant portion of total power consumption for ICs while leakage power accounts for another significant portion of the overall power dissipation within ICs. Leakage power is particularly important during standby operation of battery-powered, handheld devices and densely populated devices that have heat related problems.
Technology scaling relies on the use of low threshold voltage switching devices, such as transistors, to increase chip densities, where over a million transistors can be placed on an integrated circuit. Low threshold voltage switching devices are devices that generally can operate at lower supply voltages, dissipate less power during switching and operate at higher switching speeds than traditional devices. A significant drawback to these low threshold voltage devices is the relatively large leakage currents. In fact, as devices get smaller and smaller leakage currents increase at an exponential rate.
Leakage power is mainly comprised of gate and sub-threshold leakage currents. Gate leakage involves current that tunnels through the gate oxide to the drain and/or source of a transistor and sub-threshold leakage refers to current that flows between the drain and source terminals when a signal at the controlling gate has the transistor turned off. As technology continues to reduce the size of these low threshold voltage devices, leakage currents are expected to increase leakage power toward 40% to 50% of total power consumption, making leakage power a dominant source of power consumption for many integrated circuits.
Most designers utilize computer aided design (CAD) tools to create new ICs that have reduced power consumption. These tools have design "libraries" that provide a defined set of circuits components commonly referred to as cells that are building blocks utilized to create an IC design. During the design process designers may select cells of varying functions, shapes and sizes the library, place the cells into location in a grid format and connect the cells to create the integrated circuit design. Each cell can provide specific circuit functions, such as signal handling functions and when combined with other building blocks such a power system components, the designer can create a functional system. In such a configuration power system components can be distributed throughout an IC. Common design tools include Physical Compiler from Synopsys™ and First Encounter™ by Cadence Inc. To address power consumption issues, distributed power conservation systems have been incorporated into IC designs. Power conservation systems can control power delivery to portions of the IC when these portions are inactive. In particular, contemporary power conservation systems comprise transistors that are integrated into the design of the IC as headers and footers to isolate sections of an IC from power sources when these sections are inactive. Power transistors can be configured either as a header on the supply side of the power delivery system or as a footer on the return side of the power delivery system (i.e. between a ground plane and the cell). In some configurations both a header and a footer are utilized to control power to a section of an IC.
However, implementing such a system creates significant challenges and problems. One challenge involves integration of the transistors into the IC design without adversely affecting the operation of the IC and without exceeding the available space on the IC. In addition, designers must determine when to turn sections of the IC on and off such that the speed of operation of the IC is not significantly impacted.
Another challenge is to design a power delivery system that does not result in increased power consumption. A typical power conservation system can require hundreds of power transistors (i.e. headers and footers), numerous control circuits, and hundreds of power lines. The power conservation system can consume a significant amount of power and, due to the area required by the power conservation system, increase the average lengths of conductive lines in the IC. Increasing the average lengths of the lines not only increases power consumption of the IC but can slow down the speed of operations within the IC. Designers must also carefully locate components of such a bulky system to control interference and provide efficient operation of the IC.
In addition to locating the additional devices and lines, there is a delicate balance between the area of the IC utilized for functionality and the area utilized by the power management system. Space on the IC is limited, and the area utilized by the power management system is not available to efficiently implement functionality. Historically, the actual benefits provided by power management systems are small when compared to the penalties incurred by implementing such a system.
Many electronic products or devices have functional systems on a single microchip or IC. This configuration is often referred to as a "system on a chip" (SoC). A SoC may have circuits such as static random access memory (SRAM), registers, branching logic, multiplexers, and decision logic that accept an input and create an output. Other circuits commonly found on microchips include pipeline circuits and a "one hot property" configuration where flip flops are chained in series and the "one hot" bit advances from flip flop to flip flop. In such configurations not all portions of the circuits operate concurrently during a specific time interval.
Additionally, banks of SRAM cells may share a read path, a write path and/or control lines and such a configuration requires specific portions of SRAM to be inactive when other portions are active. Reducing current to the inactive banks of SRAM can significantly reduce power consumption within an IC. This active-inactive dichotomy also occurs in register files multiplexers, and branching logic.

Methods and arrangements for enhancing power management systems in integrated circuits


Embodiments of systems, apparatus, and methods to support the simulation of a shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) operation are disclosed. One embodiment is a tip assembly that includes an elongate mock electrode tip having a proximal end, a distal end, and a locking sleeve near the proximal end. A compression spring is configured to interface with the proximal end of the electrode tip. A locking cup is configured to encompass the compression spring and the locking sleeve. A housing, having an orifice, is configured to receive the electrode tip, the compression spring, and the locking cup into an interior of the housing by accepting the distal end of the electrode tip through the orifice up to the locking sleeve. The locking sleeve and the locking cup are configured to be rotated with respect to each other to allow changing between a locked position and an unlocked position.

In certain weld joints (e.g., SMAW pipe welding), the process of welding requires the user to feel the welding joint of the workpiece via the electrode being used. There is an ideal pressure that is to be applied to the weld joint to find the proper arc distance. Current professional welders feed the electrode into the joint beyond first contact to obtain proper arc length and weld deposition rate. Simulating a SMAW pipe welding process for training welding students can be difficult. With today's simulated/virtual welding training systems, an artificial electrode tip provided as part of a mock SMAW tool tends to be rigid. This results in an unrealistic simulation of the SMAW operation. For example, electrode slippage can occur at the welding coupon, there is an absence of a pressure-based welding technique, and there is a lack of proper disposition. A way to more realistically simulate a SMAW pipe welding process is desired.

Spring-loaded tip assembly to support simulated shielded metal arc welding


A vibration detector is disclosed. The vibration includes a ring (2) closed at its opposite ends by two ring ends (3, 4), that is externally covered with a sheath (11) made from an elastic material transparent to vibrations, two supporting plates (5) with a flexible central part (6) and a reinforced peripheral part (7) resting on the two ring ends. An inner cavity (8) between the two plates (5) is filled with liquid communicating through ports (10) and sheath (11) with the outside environment. Two sensitive elements (9) such as piezoelectric disks for example are fastened to the flexible central parts (6) on their faces of the interior of the cavity (8). The sensitive elements (9) are well protected from the outside environment and their sensitivity is not substantially influenced by variations in the static pressure. The invention has an application for detection of acoustic or seismic waves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration detector usable notably for the reception of acoustic or seismic waves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are well-known vibration detectors comprising at least one sensitive element of piezoelectric type or of another type, fastened to a flexible wall of a housing. This wall is for example the central part of a plate whose peripheral part is reinforced and rigid. The housing can be defined by two analogous plates resting against one another by their thicker peripheral parts and each bearing a sensitive element. The electrodes of the two sensitive elements are interconnected electrically so as to ensure a compensation of the parasitic effects due to accelerations. When the outside static pressure increases, the two plates bend until they rest against one another. The space between them is so selected that their maximum deformation remains within their elastic deformation limits when they are pressed against one another. The detector is thus protected against accidental overpressures.
The sensitive elements can be fastened outside the housing, which gives them a sensitivity that varies little (less than 10% for a static pressure of 10 MPa for example) with the hydrostatic pressure variations. The sensitive elements are generally covered with a protective coating (such as a varnished araldite coat) so as to maintain a sufficient electric insulation between the electrodes. This layout provides very sensitive detectors at a relatively low cost, but their reliability may sometimes deteriorate as a result of the direct exposure of the sensitive elements and of their possible protective coating to the outside environment.
According to another well-known layout, the sensitive elements can be fastened to the plates on the inner faces thereof and therefore inside the housing, which ensures them a better protection against the outside environment. However, with this layout, the piezoelectric sensitive elements, which are sintered ceramic disks and therefore relatively fragile, can be easily damaged by crushing when the increase in the hydrostatic pressure causes them to be pressed against one another by bending the plates. It has been observed that their sensitivity decreases substantially with the hydrostatic pressure increase as a result of a phenomenon linked with the fastening thereof on a face that becomes convex.
Various piezoelectric detectors are described for example in the assignee's French patents 1,556,971 and 2,122,675 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,639.


It is disclosed a method of forming fine patterns comprising: covering a substrate having photoresist patterns thereon made of a photoresist composition which is sensitive to high energy light rays with wavelength of 200 nm or shorter or electron beam radiation, with an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns, applying heat treatment to cause thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened by the resulting thermal shrinking action, and removing the over-coating agent substantially completely. The present invention provides a method of forming fine patterns whereby fine patterns having pattern width or diameter of 100 nm or shorter and being excellent in uniformity (in-plane uniformity), etc. can be formed by ultrafine processing using high energy light rays with wavelength of 200 nm or shorter or electron beams.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of forming fine patterns in the field of photolithographic technology. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of forming or defining fine patterns, such as hole patterns and trench patterns, that can meet today's requirements for higher packing densities and smaller sizes of semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacture of electronic components such as semiconductor devices and liquid-crystal devices, there is employed the photolithographic technology which, in order to perform a treatment such as etching on the substrate, first forms a film (photoresist layer) over the substrate using a so-called radiation-sensitive photoresist which is sensitive to activating radiations, then performs exposure of the film by selective illumination with an activating radiation, performs development to dissolve away the photoresist layer selectively to form an image pattern (photoresist pattern), and forms a variety of patterns including contact providing patterns such as a hole pattern and a trench pattern using the photoresist pattern as a protective layer (mask pattern).
With the recent increase in the need for higher packing densities and smaller sizes of semiconductor devices, there is a growing demand for still finer patterns. Following the current tendency, use is made of short-wavelength radiations such as KrF, ArF and F2 excimer laser beams and electron beams (EB) as the activating light necessary in the formation of mask patterns. Further, active R&D efforts are being made to find photoresist materials as mask pattern formers that have physical properties adapted to those short-wavelength radiations.
In recent years, particular attempts have been vigorously made to develop ultrafine processing techniques with the use of high-energy light rays having wavelength of 200 nm or shorter (for example, ArF or F2 excimer laser beams) or electron beams and it is an important problem to be solved to form finer and more precise photoresist patterns using such photoresist materials adapted to ultrashort-wavelength radiations.
Existing pattern formation methods with the use of these photoresist materials adapted to ultrashort-wavelength radiations are typified by a method which comprises coating such a photoresist composition adapted to ultrashort-wavelength radiations on a silicon wafer, drying to form a photoresist layer, irradiating the photoresist layer selectively with high energy light rays having wavelength of 200 nm or shorter or electron beams, and then developing with an alkaline developer to thereby form patterns.
By the existing method as described above, however, it is very difficult to form fine patterns having pattern width or diameter of 100 nm or less. Even though such fine patterns as having pattern width or diameter of 100 nm or less can be formed, the obtained fine patterns frequently suffer from variations in the pattern dimensions and thus have troubles in uniformity (in-plane uniformity), etc. Accordingly, these patterns are unsuitable in practice for the production of semiconductors in most cases.
JP 2001-281886A discloses a method comprising the steps of covering a surface of a resist pattern with an acidic film made of a resist pattern size reducing material containing a water-soluble resin, rendering the surface layer of the resist pattern alkali-soluble, then removing said surface layer and the acidic film with an alkaline solution to reduce the feature size of the resist pattern. JP-2002-184673A discloses a method comprising the steps of forming a resist pattern on a substrate, then forming a film containing a water-soluble film forming component on said resist pattern, heat treating said resist pattern and film, and immersing the assembly in an aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide, thereby forming a fine-line resist pattern without involving a dry etching step. However, both methods are simply directed to reducing the size of resist trace patterns themselves and therefore are totally different from the present invention in object.


An electronic device is provided, including an input output expander, at least one electronic device and a control module. The input output expander outputs a power source to a peripheral device by at least one output terminal The electronic device is coupled to the input output expander in a daisy chain configuration. The control module adjusts current powers of the electronic device and the peripheral device according to real time powers of the electronic device and the peripheral device, a maximum output power and parameters, thereby preventing power outputted by the input output expander from being larger than the maximum output power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic systems, and in particular relates to electronic systems having thunderbolt interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, computers and networks have made many innovative functions more effective. New peripheral devices, such as internet units and external storage units, can easily be connected to computers or notebooks. However, the management of performance (power) and temperature of the peripheral devices is not effective. Thus, there is a need for an electronic system and a power management method thereof to increase the stability of hosts and peripheral devices and decrease the power consumption of the peripheral devices.

Electronic systems and power management methods thereof


A method synchronizes a transmit clock of a transmitter with a receive clock of a receiver in a wireless communications network. Times t1, t2, t3, and t4 of the transmit clock corresponding times t1′, t2′, t3′, and t4′ of the receive clock. A synchronization message is generated in a media access control layer of the transmitter at the time t1. The time t1 is inserted in the synchronization message when the synchronization message is passed from the media access layer to a physical layer at the time t2. Then, the synchronization message including the time t1 is broadcast. The synchronization message is received from the physical layer in the receiver, at which time the time t3′ is obtained. The received message is passed to a media access control layer of the receiver, and the receive clock is adjusted by adding the time t1′−t3′ to the current time of the receive clock.

Wireless personal area networks (WPAN), as specified by the IEEE 802.15.3 and 802.1.5.4 standards, can transfer data between devices either directly or indirectly. It is expected that the devices will use cheap clocks that are subject to drift. For example, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard allows drift as large as 40 ppm, and the IEEE 802.15.3 standard allows 25 ppm of drift. In addition, the clocks of various devices may drift at different rates. Therefore, it is extremely important that the clocks of the devices are synchronized globally, for several reasons.
Often, the device use superframes, which can include one or more guaranteed time slots (GTS). In order to correctly determine boundaries of the GTS, the clocks used by the devices must be synchronized to avoid packet collisions and missed packets.
Because many WPAN devices are battery operated, global synchronization is also crucial for maintaining low duty cycles in WPANs. That is, the devices should be in 'sleep' mode most of the time, and synchronize when they are 'awake' for data transfers. If the awake times are unsynchronized, then the propagation of packets among the devices is delayed. If the devices include sensors, then it is important that sensed data includes the correct global time so that a chronology of events can be determined. Clock synchronization is also required for network authentication protocols, such as Kerberos, that generate time-stamped authentication tickets.
Clock synchronization protocols, such as NTP and SNTP, are well known for traditional networks, such as the Internet and distributed systems, see D. Mills, Z. Yang, T. Marsland (Eds.), "Internet Time Synchronization: The Network Time Protocol (NTP) Global States and Time in Distributed Systems," IEEE Computer Society Press. 1991, D. Mills: "Internet Time Synchronization: The Network Time Protocol", Global States and Time in Distributed Systems. IEEE Computer Society Press, 1994, C. Liao, M. Maronosi, D. Clark: "Experience With an Adaptive Globally-Synchronizing Clock Algorithm," Eleventh Annual ACM Symposium on Parallel Algorithms and Architectures (SPAA), 1999, pp. 106-114, K. Arvind: "Probabilistic Clock Synchronization in Distributed Systems," IEEE Trans. parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 475-487, May 1994, "Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP)," IETF RFC 2030, and the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard. However, those complex protocols are inappropriate for WPANs due to their high resource requirements, such as power, processing, and network bandwidth.
Several clock synchronization protocols are described for wireless sensor networks, J. Elson, L. Girod and D. Estrin: "Fine-Grained Network Time Synchronization using Reference Broadcasts," Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation, December 2002. Elson et. al. describe reference broadcast synchronization (RBS), where devices periodically broadcast beacon messages. The arrival times of the beacon messages serve as a reference point to determine drift in the clocks of the devices. That method is also resource demanding because a large number of messages are required to achieve accurate clock synchronization.
Other clock synchronization techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,739, November 1989, Richard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,510, January 2004, Syrjarinne et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,506, April 1995, Mincher et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,680,932, January 2004, Hsuan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,004, March 2003, Sawyer, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,674,730, January 2004, Moerder et al.

Synchronizing clocks in wireless personal area networks

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for detecting malfunctions of computing devices causing outputs of video content. Partially or fully static content frames may be detected, and, indications may be generated based on the static content frames. The indications may be analyzed to identify computing devices with degraded performance. Diagnostic tests may be run by the identified computing devices and/or other actions performed based on a determination of static content frames.

Content providers may deliver content to users via set-top boxes (STBs). STBs are generally used to receive and process signals for content items, and display on a display device (e.g., a television) a series of content frames. An STB with degraded performance may cause display of "frozen" or "jittery" content frames. Objects in frozen content frames remain static, resulting in a prolonged display of a single image. Jittery content frames comprise one or more regions that are static. The STB may also cause the output of static content frames with objects that are intentionally static and not the result of any degraded performance of the STB.

Method and system for video quality monitoring


A clamp for use with a cutting machine, the clamp comprising: a clamp frame; a low profile clamp head operatively connected to the clamp frame, wherein the clamp head has a clamping surface for pressing on a work surface of a work piece to hold said work piece; and a fixing element, operatively connectable to the clamp frame, for providing a clamping force to the clamp head by fixing the clamp to a support base for the work piece. In embodiments, the clamp head may have a low profile clamp head, made of plastic to prevent damage to a cutting bit.

There are a variety of cutting machines commonly in use. Among them are lathes, mills, routers and grinders. More recently, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, which are computer controlled for high precision have recently risen in popularity. Such machines typically operate continuously, relying on the computer control. Such machines, and other machines, involve a bit or other cutting tool cutting repeatedly into a work piece.
It is typical for the work piece to be clamped in place to permit precision cutting of the work piece. The work piece is, in the example of CNC machines, typically clamped to a wasteboard. A wasteboard is a piece of material under the work piece, to which the work piece is clamped, which may be incidentally cut during cutting of the workpiece. It will be appreciated, however, that the work piece may be clamped in other configurations, to other kinds of support bases.
Two typical kinds of wasteboards are threaded insert wasteboards, and T-track wasteboards. Both kinds of wasteboards are configured to facilitate attachment of clamps to the wasteboards, to provide the clamping force for holding the workpiece on the wasteboard. In the most typical configuration, a clamp is fixed to the wasteboard, and the clamp presses down on the work piece to hold it in a fixed position on the wasteboard.
One problem that sometimes arises with such clamps is that the user misjudges the position of some of the cuts to the workpiece, with the result that the machine bit cuts into the clamp, thus damaging the bit.

Work material clamp for use with cutting machines