An improved instruction decoder is described which uses parallel stages which operate in a pipeline fashion. The decoder is particularly useful in a microprocessor which has variable length instructions. The first stage decodes the OP code and register and address mode specifier fields while the second stage directs the sequencing of address calculations. The first two lines of microcode are provided by the first stage as well as a look up to microcode in the microcode memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to instruction decoding apparatuses, particularly those employed in microprocessors.
2. Prior Art
Microprocessors, as well as other computers, must often employ a decoder which decodes macro level instructions. In effect, the instruction is interpreted by the decoder and the decoder determines what must be done in the processor to execute the instruction. In many cases the microprocessor includes a memory for storing micro level instructions (microcode) and the decoder provides a look-up to the microcode.
In some microprocessors, macro level instructions are of fixed length (e.g., 32 bits) while in others, instructions can be of different lengths. It is a much easier task to decode instructions of fixed length, since for instance, the decoder knows where to find certain fields in the instruction. In contrast, with variable length instructions, an immediate data field, for example, may or may not be present and its starting point in the instruction will vary.
The Intel 386 microprocessor (Intel and 386 are trademarks of Intel Corporation) is an example of a microprocessor with variable length instructions. An instruction can be one byte wide, such as some MOVE instructions. Instructions can be up to 8 bytes wide (with no prefix). Moreover, with an instruction prefix or override, the length of the instruction can be substantially longer (e.g., 15 bytes). A single decoder to decode these variable length instructions in a single pass would be relatively complex, and perhaps more importantly, would consume a relatively large substrate area.
In the Intel 386 the variable length instructions are decoded over the course of several computer cycles. First the instruction prefix is examined followed by other fields. Execution of the instructions begins after complete decoding. With many instructions, the Intel 386 requires several cycles for decoding; for example, LOAD requires four cycles for the instruction to be decoded, STORE requires two cycles; JUMP, three cycles to 4.25 cycles. On the average approximately three cycles are required before an instruction is fully decoded. As will be seen with the present invention, these times are greatly reduced because of pipelining and the manner in which the instruction is decoded. Decoding time drops to an average of approximately 1.8 cycles.
The present invention is intended to be used in a microprocessor which is an improved version of the Intel 386 microprocessor. The Intel 386 microprocessor is described in numerous printed publications. The programming for this microprocessor is described in Programming the 80386, by Crawford and Gelsinger, published by SYBEX, 1987.

Decoder for pipelined system having portion indicating type of address generation and other portion controlling address generation within pipeline


An alkyl-containing porous resin with a specific surface area of 50 to 600 m.sup.2 /g, the resin being prepared by polymerizing a monomer mixture of, based on the total weight of the monomers, 15 to 97% by weight of divinylbenzene, 0 to 82% by weight of at least one aromatic monovinyl monomer selected from the group consisting of styrene, methylstyrene and ethylvinylbenzene and 3 to 50% by weight of a vinylbenzyloxyalkane derivative represented by the formula ##STR1## wherein n is an integer of 1 to 18, a process for its preparation and its use.. The porous resin of the invention is capable of fully exhibit its modified functions based on the variations of chemical and structural environments on the surface of resin, the functions being modified by introducing alkyl groups having varying chain lengths.

Porous materials, because of their useful structural and chemical properties, have been heretofore researched, developed and used in various fields for various applications as packings for analytical or preparative columns, carriers for enzymes or catalysts, supports for adsorbing valuable substances such as medicines, and so on. Typical examples are inorganic materials such as porous silica gel and alumina, and synthetic polymer materials such as divinylbenzene-styrene porous resins and divinylbenzene-methacrylate porous resins.
Silica gel, which has high mechanical strengths, is widely used. It is used by itself mainly as a column packing for normal phase systems, and silica gel to which a long-chain alkyl group is introduced by utilizing a silanol group on its surface is used mainly as a column packing for reversed-phase systems. However, silica gel has problems associated with its inherent chemical stability level, namely a low stability in a basic medium, the influence of residual silanol group or the influence of metals in trace amounts cf., e.g., J. Chromatogr. Sci., vol.22, p.386 (1984) and J. Chromatogr. vol.149, p.199 (1978)!.
Divinylbenzene-styrene porous resins are excellent both in mechanical strengths and chemical stabilities, and has been researched and developed in the field of and for the application as column packings cf., e.g., J. Chromatogr. Sci, vol.22, p.386 (1984) and J. Chromatogr., vol.442, p.97 (1988)!. Various kinds of the resins are commercially available as polymer-type column packings for reversed-phase systems. Basic processes for preparing divinylbenzene-styrene porous resins have been long known. For example, according to a known process, a monomer mixture comprising divinylbenzene, styrene, etc. is mixed with an organic solvent, and the obtained solution is subjected to a suspension polymerization in water using a radical polymerization initiator. The organic solvent is what is called a porogen which does not participate in the polymerization, is sparingly soluble in water, is capable of solving the monomer mixture but is incapable of solving the resulting copolymer cf., e.g. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., vol.23, p.927 (1979) and Angew. Makromol. Chem., vol.80, p.31 (1979)!. Generally, this type of porous resin prepared by a suspension polymerization is of the order of .mu.m to mm in the diameter of apparent particles (hereinafter referred to as "secondary particles"). The secondary particles, when externally or internally observed under an electron microscope, are seen to be firm aggregates of finer particles having a size of the order of nm (hereinafter referred to as "primary particles"). Stated more specifically, the interstices between aggregated primary particles are hollows which have been occupied by the organic solvent during the polymerization. The primary particles, which are highly crosslinked resin particles, are insoluble in most of organic solvents and are substantially free from swelling. The porous resins prepared by this process have a large specific surface area, high mechanical strength and high chemical stability, and therefore are widely used as supports in many fields, column packings for analytical or preparative purposes, etc.
However, a column packed with the divinylbenzene-styrene porous resin generally has considerably inferior performance to a column packed with silica gel. In particular, divinylbenzene-styrene porous resins are poor in the chemical or structural variations on their surfaces (such as control of hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties, control of stereostructures, etc.), and thus have problems that they lack flexibility for use as packings or as supports for useful substances.

Alkyl-containing porous resin, process for its preparation and its use


The present invention relates to a novel compound useful as a TRPV4 antagonist, specifically the compound 1-(((5S,7R)-3-(5-cyclopropylpyrazin-2-yl)-7-hydroxy-2-oxo-1-oxa-3-azaspiro[4.5]decan-7-yl)methyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-6-carbonitrile, pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof and pharmaceutical compositions containing the compound.

TRPV4 is a member of the Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) superfamily of cation channels and is activated by heat, demonstrating spontaneous activity at physiological temperatures (Guler et al., 2002. J Neurosci 22: 6408-6414). Consistent with its polymodal activation property TRPV4 is also activated by hypotonicity and physical cell stress/pressure (Strotmann et al., 2000. Nat Cell Biol 2: 695-702), through a mechanism involving phospholipase A2 activation, arachidonic acid and epoxyeicosatrienoic acid generation (Vriens et al., 2004. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:396-401). In addition, amongst other mechanisms proposed, tyrosine kinase activity, as well as protein kinase A and C, may also regulate TRPV4 (Wegierski et al., 2009. J Biol Chem. 284: 2923-33; Fan et al., 2009. J Biol Chem 284: 27884-91).
Heart failure results in the decreased ability of the left ventricle to pump blood into the peripheral circulation as indicated by a reduced ejection fraction and/or left ventricular dilation. This increases the left ventricular end diastolic pressure resulting in enhanced pulmonary blood pressures. This places the septal barrier, which separates the circulatory aqueous environment and the alveolar airspaces of the lung, at risk. Increased pulmonary pressure results in the flow of fluid from the pulmonary circulation into the alveolar space resulting in lung edema/congestion, as is observed in patients with congestive heart failure.
TRPV4 is expressed in the lung (Delany et al., 2001. Physiol. Genomics 4: 165-174) and its level of expression is up-regulated in individuals with congestive heart failure (Thorneloe et al., 2012. Sci Transl Med 4: 159ra148). TRPV4 has been shown to mediate Ca2+ entry in isolated endothelial cells and in intact lungs (Jian et al., 2009. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 38: 386-92). Endothelial cells are responsible for forming the capillary vessels that mediate oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange and contribute to the septal barrier in the lung. Activation of TRPV4 channels results in contraction of endothelial cells in culture and cardiovascular collapse in vivo (Willette et al., 2008. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 325: 466-74), at least partially due to the enhanced filtration at the septal barrier evoking lung edema and hemorrage (Alvarez et al., 2006. Circ Res 99: 988-95). Indeed, filtration at the septal barrier is increased in response to increased vascular and/or airway pressures and this response is dependent on the activity of TRPV4 channels (Jian et al., 2008. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 38:386-92). Consistent with these observations, TRPV4 antagonists prevent and resolve pulmonary edema in heart failure models (Thorneloe et al., 2012). Overall this suggests a clinical benefit of inhibiting TRPV4 function in the treatment of acute and/or chronic heart failure associated lung congestion.
Additional benefit is suggested in inhibiting TRPV4 function in pulmonary-based pathologies presenting with symptoms including lung edema/congestion, infection, inflammation, pulmonary remodeling and/or altered airway reactivity. A genetic link between TRPV4 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) has recently been identified (Zhu et al., 2009. Hum Mol Genetics, 18: 2053-62) suggesting potential efficacy for TRPV4 modulation in treatment of COPD with or without coincident emphysema. Enhanced TRPV4 activity is also a key driver in ventilator-induced lung injury (Hamanaka et al., 2007. Am J Physiol 293: L923-32) and it is suggested that TRPV4 activation may underlie pathologies involved in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pulmonary fibrosis (Rahaman et al., 2014. J Clin Invest 124: 5225-38), cough (Bonvini et al., 2016 J Allergy Clin Immunol 138: 249-61) and asthma (Liedtke & Simon, 2004. Am J Physiol 287: 269-71). A potential clinical benefit for TRPV4 blockers in the treatment of sinusitis, as well as allergic and non-allergic rhinitis is also supported (Bhargave et al., 2008. Am J Rhinol 22:7-12).
TRPV4 has been shown to be involved in Acute Lung Injury (ALI). Chemical activation of TRPV4 disrupts the alvelor septal blood barrier potentially leading to pulmonary edema (Alvarez et al, Circ Res. 2006 Oct. 27; 99(9):988-95). In animal models, TRPV4 antagonism attenuates lung damage induced by chemical agents and biological toxins such as HCl, chlorine gas, and platelet activating factor (Balakrishna et al., 2014. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 307: L158-72; Morty et al., 2014. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 307: L817-21; Yin et al., 2016. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 54: 370-83). In addition, TRPV4 is necessary in a process known to cause or worsen ALI in humans (Hamanaka et al, Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007 October; 293(4):L923-32). Overall this suggests a clinical benefit of inhibiting TRPV4 function in the treatment of ARDS and ALI.
Furthermore, TRPV4 has in recent years been implicated in a number of other physiological/pathophysiological processes in which TRPV4 antagonists are likely to provide significant clinical benefit. These include various aspects of pain (Todaka et al., 2004. J Biol Chem 279: 35133-35138; Grant et al., 2007. J Physiol 578: 715-733; Alessandri-Haber et al., 2006. J Neurosci 26: 3864-3874), genetic motor neuron disorders (Auer-Grumbach et al., 2009. Nat Genet. PMID: 20037588; Deng et al., 2009. Nat Genet PMID: 20037587; Landoure et al., 2009. Nat Genet. PMID: 20037586), cardiovascular disease (Earley et al., 2005. Circ Res 97: 1270-9; Yang et al., 2006. Am. J Physiol. 290:L1267-L1276), bone related disorders [including osteoarthritis (Muramatsu et al., 2007. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 32158-67), genetic gain-of function mutations (Krakow et al., 2009. Am J Hum Genet 84: 307-15; Rock et al., 2008 Nat Genet 40: 999-1003) and osteoclast differentiation (Masuyama et al. 2008. Cell Metab 8: 257-65)], itch (Akiyama et al., 2016. J Invest Dermatol 136: 154-60; Chen et al., 2016. J Biol Chem 291: 10252-62), stroke and disorders associated with cerebral edema (Li et al., 2013. Front Cell Neurosci 7: 17; Jie et al., 2015. Front Cell Neurosci 9: 141), inflammatory bowel disorders (Vergnolle, 2014. Biochem Pharmacol 89: 157-61), various diseases of the eye including glaucoma and retinopathy (Monaghan et al., 2015. PloS One 10: e0128359; Jo et al., 2016. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113: 3885-90), and metabolic syndrome including obesity and diabetes (Ye et al., 2012. Cell 151: 96-110; Duan et al., 2015. Mol Genet Genomics 290: 1357-65).
International Application No. PCT/US2012/042622, having an International filing date of Jun. 15, 2012; which also has International Publication Number WO 2013/012500 and an International Publication date of Jan. 24, 2013, describes a group of substituted azaspiro[4.5]decan-7-yl compounds which are indicated as having TRPV4 antagonist activity and which are indicated as being useful in the treatment of various diseases including sepsis, hypertension, inflammation, bone related dysfunctions, heart related dysfunctions, lung related dysfunctions, pain, motor neuron disorders, renal dysfunction, osteoarthritis, crohn's disease, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), celiac disease and lactose intolerance. WO 2013/012500 does not generically or specifically disclose or claim any 7-hydroxy substituted azaspiro[4.5]decan-7-yl compounds. WO 2013/012500 does not generically cover or specifically disclose 1-(((5S,7R)-3-(5-cyclopropylpyrazin-2-yl)-7-hydroxy-2-oxo-1-oxa-3-azaspiro[4.5]decan-7-yl)methyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-6-carbonitrile.
The preference for a 7-methyl substituent on a substituted azaspiro[4.5]decan-7-yl TRPV4 antagonist was presented by: Stoy, Discovery and Optimization of Spirocarbamate TRPV4 Antagonists, Medicinal Chemistry Gordon Research Conference, August 2015.

Abstract: The compound of the invention can be useful in the treatment of a disease state selected from: atherosclerosis, disorders related to vasogenic edema, postsurgical abdominal edema, ocular edema, cerebral edema, local and systemic edema, fluid retention, sepsis, hypertension, inflammation, bone related dysfunctions and congestive heart failure, pulmonary disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, ventilator induced lung injury, high altitude induced pulmonary edema, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute lung injury, pulmonary fibrosis, sinusitis/rhinitis, asthma, cough; including acute cough, sub-acute cough and chronic cough, pulmonary hypertension, overactive bladder, cystitis, pain, motor neuron disorders, genetic gain of function disorders, cardiovascular disease, renal dysfunction, stroke, glaucoma, retinopathy, endometriosis, pre-term labor, dermatitis, pruritus, pruritus in liver disease, diabetes, metabolic disorder, obesity, migraine, pancreatitis, tumor suppression, immunosuppression, osteoarthritis, crohn's disease, colitis, diarrhea, intestinal irregularity (hyperreactivity/hyporeactivity), fecal incontinence, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, intestinal pain and cramping, celiac disease, lactose intolerance, and flatulence.


Stick with cotton buds for hygienic use, which are disintegrable in water and rapidly biodegradable, manufactured from a thermoplastic material obtained from natural polymeric substances which are biodegradable and water soluble when in their thermoplastic state or from biodegradable, water soluble synthetic polymers.

The sticks of plastic material provided with one or two end cotton buds, presently used, constitute a serious problem for water purification facilities because they are often disposed of through the drainage system, causing the obstruction of the filters of such facilities and a visual pollution of water and soil caused by the purified water and active sewage sludges which contain them.
At present, said plastic sticks are obtained by means of an extrusion technology according to which small tubes of approximately 2.5-3 mm of diameter are extruded at extrusion rates of 50-100 m/minute.
The resulting productivity is of approximately 700-1300 sticks per minute. The extruded tube is then calibrated by causing it to run first through a duct, after being sprayed with water, and then through a water bath, before being cut.
This technology is difficultly applied to the preparation of water dispersible sticks based on natural or synthetic water-soluble polymeric substances because water calibration and cooling would become unfeasible and the productivity would furthermore result very limited with air cooling.


A method of improving soft ground, capable of effectively restricting settlement of a peripheral part of ground to be improved involved in improvement of the soft ground. A vertical supply path is formed by placing a vertical drain material in ground in the periphery of ground to be improved, and water containing a water stop material is charged in the vertical supply path to supply the water containing the water stop material to the ground through the vertical supply path. Then the water stop material charged in the vertical supply path follows a water flow and spreads in the periphery of the vertical supply path to form a water stop zone. The water stop zone formed by the water stop material prevents the movement of ground water in the ground and restricts lowering of the ground water in the ground caused by forced drainage from ground to be improved, effectively restricting settlement of the ground involved in improvement of soft ground.

According to conventional methods for improving soft ground, the upper surface of soft ground to be improved (hereinafter referred to as ground to be improved) is coated with an airtight sheet, and the above described ground to be improved is then subjected to vacuum pressure, so that an area of reduced pressure which is separated from the peripheral area of the ground to be improved is created in the above described ground to be improved, and an embankment is laid on the soft ground, and thus, the load of the embankment having high density is applied, and thereby, the soft ground is converted to hard ground.
Concretely, as shown in FIG. 17, vertical draining members 1 are driven into ground to be improved A at predetermined intervals, and then, a horizontal drain 2 is placed on top so as to make contact of the upper end portions la of these vertical draining members 1, and a water collecting pipe 3 which is linked to a vacuum pump 5 is connected to this horizontal draining member 2 via a vacuum tank 4, and furthermore, the upper surface of the ground to be improved A is coated with an airtight sheet 7, together with the upper end portions la of the above described vertical draining members 1, the horizontal draining members 2 and the water collecting pipe 3. After this, the vacuum pump 5 which is connected to the above described water collecting pipe 3 via the vacuum tank 4 is operated.
As a result, vacuum pressure is conveyed from the vacuum pump 5 to the ground to be improved A via the horizontal draining member 2 and the vertical draining members 1 so that the ground in areas surrounding each vertical draining member 1 with the vertical draining members 1 at the center is converted to regions of reduced pressure (hereinafter referred to as reduced pressure regions).
The vacuum pressure is conveyed from the ground surrounding the vertical draining members 1, which has become reduced pressure regions, to surrounding ground further on the outside, and as a result of this, pressure is created in the ground (water pressure, soil pressure) toward the vertical draining members 1.
Pore water included in the ground surrounding the vertical draining members 1 is sucked toward the vertical draining members 1 when this pressure is created in the ground, and water is discharged through the vertical draining members 1, the horizontal draining member 2 and the water collecting pipe 3, which form a water discharging path, and together with this, the ground further around the outside of the ground around the vertical draining members 1 also becomes reduced pressure regions.
In this manner, reduced pressure regions spread to the ground surrounding the vertical draining members 1 with the vertical draining members 1 at the center, and shortly thereafter, the entire region of the ground to be improved A becomes a reduced pressure region, and at the same time, the density and strength increase with the vertical draining members 1 at the center, so that the density and the strength increase in the entire region of the ground to be improved A.
As described above, the ground is converted to hard ground while a mound 6 is created on top of the airtight sheet 7, and thereby, the ground to be improved A is pressed by the load of the created mound 6, so that the density increases and water is removed, and the above described suction of water due to the difference in pressure works together, and thus, the density increases and the ground to be improved A settles (see Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3270968 (see claims 1 and 2, as well as FIG. 7)


A braille reference card for a remote control is provided. The braille reference card includes a base that includes a plurality of regions. Each region of the plurality of regions includes at least one of a surface projection or at least one braille embossed character set of a plurality of braille embossed character sets. A position of the surface projection corresponds to a position of a button on the remote control. The at least one braille embossed character set is one of adjacent to the surface projection or on the surface projection. The at least one braille embossed character set indicates a functionality of the button that corresponds to the position of the surface projection. A surface area of the base is larger than a surface area of the button layout of the remote control. The at least one region corresponds to a multi-function button on the remote control.

Conventionally, a remote control of an electronic device (such as a television) may have several buttons. Each button on the remote control may have one or more functions associated therewith. A visually impaired person may face difficulty while operating the remote control, since a majority of the buttons on the remote control feel similar by touch. At best, the visually impaired person may remember one or two primary buttons (such as ON/OFF button), and may not be able to switch channels or control the volume of the television without the assistance of another person. In some cases, the remote control includes a braille character adjacent to the primary button (such as ON/OFF button). However, the visually impaired person may not be able to control the additional functions of the television without the assistance of another person. Manufacturers of the electronic device (such as the television) may not prefer to include braille characters for all the buttons on the remote control, because it makes the layout of the remote control very cluttered for the end user and increases the manufacturing cost.
Limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

Braille reference card for remote control


A time-axis compression/expansion system compresses or expands a multichannel signal at a specified compression/expansion rate. Waveform segments are sequentially cut out from each channel signal. A cutting starting point of a leading end portion of a waveform segment following each preceding waveform segment of the cut out waveform segments is determined commonly between the channel signals, based on two portions of a waveform of a synthesized signal formed by synthesizing the channel signals within a range of predetermined search parameters of the waveform of the synthesized signal. The two portions correspond to a time period over which cross-fading is to be carried out and are most similar to each other. The preceding waveform segment and the following waveform segment cut from each channel signal are spliced together by cross-fading a trailing end portion of the preceding waveform segment and the leading end portion of the following waveform segment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a time-axis compression/expansion method and apparatus for performing time-axis compression/expansion on original digital signals at a desired compression/expansion rate without changing the pitch of the original digital signals, and more particularly to a time-axis compression/expansion method and apparatus of this kind which is suitable for processing multichannel signals.
2. Prior Art
The time-axis compression/expansion technique for time-axis compressing or time axis-expanding a digital audio signal without changing the pitch of the same is utilized e.g. for so-called xe2x80x9ctime length adjustmentxe2x80x9d for adjusting a total recording time period over which the digital audio signal is to be recorded to a predetermined time period, tempo conversion in a karaoke apparatus or the like, and so forth. Conventionally, this kind of time-axis compression/expansion technique includes a cut-and-splice method (as disclosed e.g. in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-282963), an overlap-add method based on pointer shift amount control (Morita and Itakura, xe2x80x9cExpansion/Compression of Sound in Time Product by Using Overlap-Add Method Based on Point Shift Amount Control and Its Evaluationxe2x80x9d, Lectures at the Autumn Conference of the Acoustical Society of Japan Vol. 1-4-14, p. 149, October, 1986), etc.
Time-axis compression/expansion processing by a general cut-and-splice method is performed such that waveform segments are cut out without considering correlation between the waveform segments and then the cut-out waveform segments are spliced together to thereby effect compression/expansion based on a specified compression/expansion rate. According to this method, discontinuities can occur in spliced portions of the cut-out waveform segments, and therefore cross-fading is carried out to smooth the spliced portions of the cut-out waveform segments. The time interval of the waveform cutout is set to such a time period that the human ears cannot sense an echo or doubling of sounds, e.g. approximately 60 msec. Particularly, according to the method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-282963, the cutout length or length of the cutout waveform segment is determined in synchronism with sound timing information. This method is distinguished from other conventional methods in that spliced portions appear at the same repetition period as that of the rhythm of the original waveform, so that tone changes at the spliced portions cannot be easily perceived. Cross-fading between waveform segments which are largely different in phase from each other markedly degrades the tone quality. Therefore, the present assignee has proposed a phase-matching type cut-and-splice method in which cut-out waveform segments which are closest in phase to each other are detected and are then subjected to cross-fading.
On the other hand, the overlap-add method based on pointer shift amount control is performed such that two adjacent segments of the original audio signal closely correlated in waveform and equal in length to each other are extracted, and the two signal segments are overlapped or added together. Then, the two original signal segments are replaced by a new signal segment obtained by the overlapping/addition, or the new signal segment is inserted between the two original signal segments, whereby the total time of the original audio signal is reduced or increased. This method enables smoother splicing of waveforms than the cut-and-splice method. Particularly, this method can achieve higher-quality time-axis compression/expansion of pitch-based sound source signals, such as voice signals and sound signals generated by monophonous musical instruments.
However, the conventional phase-matching type cut-and-splice method and overlap-add method based on pointer shift amount control only deal with monophonic signals. If these methods, which select signal segments identical in phase or signal segments closely correlated in waveform to each other for cross-fading, are directly applied to processing of stereo signals, it may provide an odd auditory localization for the listener, which forms a serious problem. This results from the fact that left-channel and right-channel signals are processed as separate monophonic signals independent from each other so that a disagreement occurs between the cross-faded portions of the signals of the respective channels, causing a difference in phase between tones sensed by the two ears that determines the auditory localization of the stereo signal.
Aside from the time-axis compression/expansion apparatus, there have been proposed pitch conversion devices that perform processing for changing the readout ratio by using the cut-and-splice method (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-297891). According to one of the devices, pitch conversion of left-channel and right-channel signals of a stereo signal is performed such that portions of the left-channel signal most closely correlated to each other are cut out and spliced together by cross-fading, and then portions of the right-channel signal close to the edited point of the left-channel signal and most closely correlated to each other are cut out and spliced together by cross-fading. According to another device, the pitch conversion is performed such that the editing method is switched, as required, according to the correlation between the left-channel signal and the right-channel signal in such a manner that if the correlation between the two channel signals is not high, portions of each channel signal which are most closely correlated to each other are edited on a channel-by-channel basis, while if the correlation between the two channel signals is high, portions of the left-channel signal (or right-channel signal) which are most closely correlated to each other and portions of the other channel signal corresponding to the portions of the left-channel signal (or right-channel signal) are both edited.
However, these proposed devices had the disadvantage that cross-fading is not fully synchronized between the left and right channel signals, which may cause a difference in phase between tones sensed by the two ears and hence provide an odd auditory localization for the listener. Such a transient odd auditory localization that is sensed is generally more conspicuous to the ears than improper splicing of waveform segments by cross-fading, which forms a problem to be solved.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a time-axis compression/expansion method and apparatus for multichannel signals, which is capable of performing time-axis compression/expansion on a multichannel signal without causing a disagreement between cross-fading points of the channels of the multichannel signal, to thereby ensure that a normal auditory localization is provided for the listener.
To attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a time-axis compression/expansion method for time-axis compressing/expanding a multichannel signal comprising a plurality of channel signals at a specified compression/expansion rate, which comprises the steps of sequentially cutting out waveform segments from each of the channel signals, determining a cutting starting point of a leading end portion of a waveform segment of the cut out waveform segments following each preceding waveform segement of the cut out waveform segments, commonly between the channel signals, based on two portions of a waveform of a synthesized signal formed by synthesizing the channel signals within a range of a predetermined search starting point to a predetermined search ending point of the waveform of the synthesized signal, the two portions corresponding to a time period over which cross-fading is to be carried out and being most similar to each other, and splicing together the preceding waveform segment and the following waveform segment cut from each of the channel signals based on the determined cutting starting point, by cross-fading a trailing end portion of the preceding waveform segment and the leading end portion of the following waveform segment.
According to this method, when cut-out waveform segments are to be spliced together by cross-fading, a cutting starting point of a waveform segment following each preceding waveform segment is determined based on a synthesized signal formed by synthesizing all the channel signals constituting the multichannel signal, and waveform segments are sequentially cut out from respective channel signals based on the cutting starting point thus determined, and spliced together by cross-fading. Therefore, the cutting starting point can be made identical between all the channel signals, and at the same time, set to an averaged point of the optimum cutting starting points of all the channel signals (when one channel is dominant, it is set to a point mostly dependent on the dominant channel). Therefore, it is possible to carry out time-axis compression/expansion without degrading tone quality at the spliced portions of waveform segments, and at the same time preventing displacement of cross-faded portions between the channel signals, thereby ensuring a natural auditory localization for the listener.
Preferably, the cutting starting point of each of the channel signal corresponds to a starting point of a following one of the two portions of the waveform of the synthesized signal which are most similar to each other.
Preferably, the length of each of the waveform segments to be cut out from each of the channel signals is set according to the specified compression/expansion rate.
Preferably, as the specified compression/expansion rate is farther from a value of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, the time period over which the cross-fading is to be carried out is set to a longer time period.
Preferably, a frequency of calculating a degree of similarity of the two portions of the waveform of the synthesized signal is set according to the time period over which the cross-fading is to be carried out.
To attain the above object, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a time-axis compression/expansion apparatus for time-axis compressing/expanding a multichannel signal formed of a plurality of channel signals at a specified compression/expansion rate, which comprises a plurality of waveform segment-cutting sections that each sequentially cut out waveform segments from each of the channel signals, a cutting starting point-determining section that determines a cutting starting point of a leading end portion of a waveform segment of the cut out waveform segments following each preceding waveform segment of the cut out waveform segments, commonly between the channel signals, based on two portions of a waveform of a synthesized signal formed by synthesizing the channel signals within a range of a predetermined search starting point to a predetermined search ending point of the waveform of the synthesized signal, the two portions corresponding to a time period over which cross-fading is to be carried out and being most similar to each other, and a splicing section that splices together the preceding waveform segment and the following waveform segment cut from each of the channel signals based on the determined cutting starting point, by cross-fading a trailing end portion of the preceding waveform segment and the leading end portion of the following waveform segment.
The time-axis compression/expansion apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention can provide substantially the same effects as described as to the time-axis compression/expansion method according to the first aspect of the invention.
To attain the above object, according to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a storage medium storing a program which can be executed by a computer, for realizing a time-axis compression/expansion method for time-axis compressing/expanding a multichannel signal formed of a plurality of channel signals at a specified compression/expansion rate, the program comprising a waveform segment-cutting module that sequentially cut out waveform segments from each of the channel signals, a cutting starting point-determining module that determines a cutting starting point of a leading end portion of a waveform segment of the cut out waveform segments following each preceding waveform segment of the cut out waveform segments, commonly between the channel signals, based on two portions of a waveform of a synthesized signal formed by synthesizing the channel signals within a range of a predetermined search starting point to a predetermined search ending point of the waveform of the synthesized signal, the two portions corresponding to a time period over which cross-fading is to be carried out and being most similar to each other, and a splicing module that splices together the preceding waveform segment and the following waveform segment cut from each of the channel signals based on the determined cutting starting point, by cross-fading a trailing end portion of the preceding waveform segment and the leading end portion of the following waveform segment.
The storage medium according to the third aspect of the invention can provide substantially the same effects as described above as to the time-axis compression/expansion method according to the first aspect of the invention.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Time-axis compression/expansion method and apparatus for multichannel signals


The present invention discloses a locating structure for slide rail, comprising a guide rail which is a rectangular plate disposed with a respective inward-turn slide groove on both sides of its bottom plate, wherein at least two locating holes at the predetermined locating positions are machined to form on the surface of the bottom plate; a slider which is a short frame whose slide plate on top extends to form a respective slide wing on its both sides corresponding to the slide grooves to form a socketingly connection, wherein a respective receiving hole is manufactured to form on both sides of the slide plate, a spring frame, disposed on the bottom of the slide plate and manufactured to form a ball hole on its bottom to socketingly connected with a rolling ball, extends upward an predetermined length from its both sides, respectively, and then bends inward to form a turn portion, respectively, one of which connects downward with a spring plate whose bottom contacts with the rolling ball and the other of which maintains a gap with the spring plate; when the slider slides, the two slide wings slide along the two slide grooves, respectively, and thus the rolling ball compresses the spring plate and moves along the bottom plate until the rolling ball reaches the locating hole to stretch the spring plate, such that the rolling ball falls into the locating hole to form a snapping engagement.

A drawer is an object that uses a locating structure for slide rail to replace the flip top structure. Two components can then be moved to the overlaying or extending position. Mobile phone, for example, has a flip top structure, i.e. a cover may be flipped open or close relative to the body through a rotating shaft or a hinge.
Consequently, related industries after numerous developments have successfully applied the slide structure on objects with a cover, mobile phone for example, to enable its upper cover to slide overlaying the body and thus shield the operation panel to be in a close mode. Alternatively, when the upper cover slides to extend and thus reveal the operation panel to be in an operating mode. Certainly, it is possible to have a close mode when extending and an operation mode when overlaying.
Take the slide rail used in current flip cover mobile phones for example; the slide rail is a U-shape bottom plate with a respective locating hole on its opposing side walls. Both ends of the bottom plate are machined to form a start hole and an final hole, respectively. A cast slider is disposed on the bottom plate whose center is protrudingly disposed with a protruding rod which is machined to form a spring groove on its bottom. A spring is disposed into the spring groove whose entry is connected with a steel ball such that the steel ball may move freely in the spring groove. Furthermore, the protruding rod is disposed with a connecting rod for screws on its respective side to connect with the cover. The other opposite U-shape top cover covers the bottom plate such that the respective protruding fasten tenon on both sides are snappingly engaged with their snapping holes. The long slide groove on the top provides the out extending of the three prisms of the slider part to limit the slide motion. In addition, a friction plate is disposed between the bottom surface of the slider and the bottom plate. Consequently, the slider may move along the slide groove to render the steel ball compressing the spring and rolling on the bottom plate, such that when the steel ball reaches the start or final hole, the steel ball is snappingly engaged into the holes for locating as a result of spring stretching.
Although the aforementioned slide rail may have a locating function, its drawback includes the slider is formed by casting, which is characterized by lack of precision. Furthermore, the dimension of the slider part is rather small and thus the spring is very fine and delicate, such that the assembling of the spring and steel ball is complicated and difficult. In addition, the slider rail comprises a bottom plate and a top cover, leading to an enhanced manufacturing cost and complicated assembling process. Consequently, it is necessary to design a new slide rail to overcome the shortcomings described above.


A process for preparing an aromatic carbonate polymer by an interfacial polymerization reaction by first forming an aliphatic chloroformate and then reacting the bischloroformate with a dihydroxy phenol such as bisphenol-A. The resulting polymer consists of alternating units of the reaction residue of the dihydroxy phenol and the aliphatic chloroformate.

It is known to prepare polymers from certain cyclobutanediols and aromatic dihydroxy compounds such as 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane, commonly referred as bisphenol-A (BPA). The polymers prepared therefrom employ solvents and high temperatures. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,326,855; 3,313,777; 3,546,331; 3,546,332; 3,541,200; 3,375,210 and 3,674,623 disclose polymers prepared from tertrahalobutanediol and particularly tetramethylcyclobutanediol (TMCBD). As disclosed therein, TMCBD, for example, can be reacted with other reactants such as aryl dihydroxy compounds usually at elevated temperatures and in the presence of organic solvents. Several of the references are also directed to methods of surface crystallization of copolymers prepared from TMCBD and dihydroxy co-reactants. The reactions disclosed therein do not employ aliphatic haloformates, which in the instant invention are prepared prior to the reaction thereof with an aryl dihydroxy reactant. Otherwise, if an aromatic haloformate is produced instead of forming an aliphatic haloformate, the reaction with an aliphatic diol will not produce a polymer of alternating aliphatic and aromatic species.

Interfacial polycarbonate polymerization process and product


A system including:                an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator apparatus that includes a high magnetic field section in which a hydrogen heat transfer fluid can flow from a cold side to a hot side through at least one magnetized bed of at least one magnetic refrigerant, and a low magnetic field or demagnetized section in which the hydrogen heat transfer fluid can flow from a hot side to a cold side through the demagnetized bed;        a first conduit fluidly coupled between the cold side of the low magnetic field or demagnetized section and the cold side of the high magnetic field section; and        a second conduit fluid coupled to the first conduit, an expander and at least one liquefied hydrogen storage module.

It is well known that several types of liquefiers use compression and expansion of the same gas as the internal heat transfer gas and the process gas. For example, in a simple Linde cycle liquefier, a gas to be liquefied is compressed to high pressure near room temperature followed by rejection of the heat of compression into an ambient heat sink. The compressed gas is cooled in a counter-flow heat exchanger to a colder temperature near but higher than the liquefaction temperature of the gas before it is isenthalpically expanded to a low pressure such that a portion of the gas liquefies. The vapor fraction of the cold gas is returned through the counterflow heat exchanger to the suction side of the compressor. The liquid yield in the Linde cycle is relatively small and its FOM, a measure of liquefier efficiency, may only be about 0.10. The mass flow of the gas that is liquefied is made-up at the suction side of the compressor by a feed gas supply input. Other more efficient liquefier designs such as the Claude-cycle or Collins-cycle are significantly more complex than the Linde cycle and can achieve FOMs as high as 0.35 by using the working gas both as the heat transfer gas and the process gas. There are several gas cycle refrigerators that are used as liquefiers where the heat transfer gas or working gas producing the cooling is separate from the process gas that is different from the heat transfer gas. A good example is a pulse tube refrigerator with helium gas as its working refrigerant gas and internal heat transfer gas which is also used to cool and liquefy process gases such as nitrogen or hydrogen through external, separate process gas heat exchangers. To date active magnetic regenerative refrigerators (AMRRs) for cryogenic liquefaction use separate heat transfer gas and process gas. For example, in previous magnetocaloric hydrogen liquefier designs, helium gas is used as the heat transfer gas and hydrogen gas is the process stream. Multiple other gases have been suggested as suitable heat transfer gas for higher temperature cryogens. The distinction between working heat transfer gas and process gas is much more obvious in a magnetic cycle because the working refrigerants are solid magnetic materials instead of a gas.

Active magnetic regenerative processes and systems employing hydrogen as heat transfer fluid and process


A rake receiver having a shared moving average filter that is operable in a multiplexed manner to receive and filter outputs from a plurality of pilot signal correlators.

Radio telecommunications systems using code division multiple access (CDMA) transmit multiple channels simultaneously in the same frequency band.
As shown in FIG. 1, a baseband signal 2 for transmission, which as used herein includes digital signals which may have been processed by a processor 4 to compress them, is modulated 6 using a modulation scheme such as Quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) so as to define a sequence of "symbols" that are to be transmitted.
The symbols which have both an in phase and imaginary component occur at a rate known as a symbol rate. The symbols from the modulator undergo two further processing operations prior to transmission.
The symbols are processed with a spreading code 8 so as to spread the data from each symbol. The spread data is then further multiplied by a scramble code 10 which is specific to the cell that the mobile or base station is operating in. The result of these processes is to generate "chips" which are then transmitted following up-conversion 12 to the desired transmit frequency.
The spreading codes are selected such that they make the symbols mutually orthogonal. This condition applies whilst all of the chips are in time alignment (which is easy to achieve at the transmitter) but the occurrence of multiple transmission paths in the propagation channel between the transmitter and receiver can result in multiple versions of the same transmit sequence of chips arriving with different time delays and amplitudes at the receiver, as schematically shown in FIG. 2. To put this in context, the chip rate for UMTS systems is 3.84 M bits per second. This means that the radio wave carrying the chip propagates a little over 75 meters in one chip period. Consequently any path differences in excess of 75 meters enables two completely different chips to arrive at a receiver at the same time.
In reality the multi-path distortion may introduce time delays up to three hundred or so times the chip period.
As the chip rate is defined, the user/transmission system can trade off data rate with the length of the spreading code used to spread the data. Thus shorter spreading codes can be used to achieve higher data rates, but with the possibility of higher bit error rates occurring in the data transmission.
In order to recover the transmitted data it is known to use a rake receiver architecture to seek to re-align the various time displaced versions of the original signal.
A rake receiver is schematically shown in FIG. 3. It comprises a plurality of individual processing channels 30-1, 30-2 to 30-N, known as fingers. Each finger allows the relative time alignment between the received signal and a de-spreading code to be adjusted. This enables signal power from each significant transmission path to be recovered and brought into time alignment.
In prior art rake receivers, each finger comprises a plurality of correlators so as to integrate the correlation product of the incoming signal with the de-spreading and descrambling code.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the functionality within known fingers of rake receiver. Each finger comprises several correlators. The correlators act to correlate the down converted and digitised signal RxI and RxQ provided by a radio frequency front end with descrambling signals provided by a local descrambling code generator which is known to the person skilled in the art and need not be described in detail here. The scrambling and de-scrambling codes are selected in a known manner and have the property that their autocorrelation function is very large if the codes are in correct temporal alignment and substantially zero otherwise.
Each finger has its delay set up by a process of estimating the channel response. Once set up, the finger uses a closed loop control to make sure that it is properly time aligned to within ½ chip with the signal it is seeking to receive.
Three correlators are provided with versions of the input signal, each slightly offset in time. An "early" correlator 40 receives an input directly from the RF front end. A delay of ½ chip is provided by a first delay element 42 and the output of the delay element is provided to an "on time" correlator 44 and data extraction correlators Data-0, Data-1 to Data-N. The output of the delay element is further provided to a second ½ chip delay element 46 who's output is provided to a "late" correlator 48.
Thus, when compared to the "on time" correlator the "early" correlator sees a time advanced version of the input and the late correlator sees a time delayed version of the input.
The "early", "on time" and "late" correlators examine the data to identify a known sequence called the common pilot channel (CPICH) which is also used in the process of characterising the communications channel. By correlating with the CPICH and filtering it the receiver can use the relative values of the early, on time and late correlators to check that it is properly aligned with the time delayed version of the signal that the particular finger has been assigned to, and to adjust its timing if necessary by modifying the timing of the de-spreading sequence with respect to an internal reference time.
The data could be decoded by a single channel but in a terminal conforming to the high speed data packet access category 6 standard the data could be in any one of twelve data channels. To ensure data recovery the fingers include a correlator for each of these twelve channels.
A time multiplexed pilot is used and as this is only carried on one physical data channel the correlator for this channel can be succeeded by two further correlators arranged to detect the A and B pilots, respectively, used in transmit diversity systems.
It can be seen that each rake finger itself consists of seventeen correlators data 0 to data 11, early, on time and late correlators for detecting the CPICH and correlators for detecting TMP A and TMP B.
This architecture repeated across several fingers of the rake receiver can take up significant space on a silicon die.
Filters 50, 52 and 54 following the early, on time and late correlators are moving average filters that filter the CPICH symbols over 512 chips. Filters are also provided in the time multiplexed pilot TMP A and TMP B blocks 60 and 62, and act to form a moving average over the length of a multiple of slots.
In the rake finger context, the pilot (CPICH and TMP) symbols are used for phase rotation. Filtering provides a less noisy version of the pilot symbols. To account for variations in the speed of the mobile device, filtering can be done over 2 pilot symbols (fast moving) or 16 pilot symbol (slow moving). In the path searcher context, filtering is not required. However, it needs to be a running accumulation of all the CPICH symbols. This would suffice since the symbols are being more for power detection than phase detection.
As the filters only receive a symbol every time a spreading code length of chips has been received, it can be seen that the filter is updated only infrequently.

Shared filter design for pilot symbol averaging in rake fingers in WCDMA systems


An saddle pad for use beneath a Western saddle that prevents the pad from slipping, shifting and riding out from under the saddle. The saddle pad is constructed with a substantially rigid peripheral restraint adjacent the pad's forward edge and projecting from the top surface of the pad to function as a restraining abutment should the saddle slip or shift. The peripheral restraint is constructed of an inner reinforcement member, preferably a braided nylon rope, which does not yield or collapse when the saddle is pushed against it and additionally provides a recess that mates with and securely engages the forwardmost edge of the saddle to lock the pad in place beneath the saddle. The pad is dimensioned to extend outwardly beyond the outer edges of the saddle, providing the saddle with limited freedom of movement relative to the pad.

Saddle pads are widely used underneath saddles for the comfort and safety of the horse. The saddle pad provides a protective layer between the saddle and the body of the horse that is intended to produce a cushioning effect and also eliminate irritation due to chafing movement of the saddle.
Generally, there are two types of saddles; Western and English. Conventional saddle pads for Western-type saddles tend to slip or shift under the saddle causing the very discomfort and irritation the pad is intended to prevent. Attempts to solve this problem have been met with little success. For example, some Western-type saddle pads have been provided with regions made of material having non-slip properties such as neoprene. This has proven to be counterproductive because perspiration from the horse's back is not absorbed and an undesirable build-up of moisture tends to occur, causing the pad to slip.
Corona-style Western-type saddle pads have raised borders for decorative purposes. These raised borders are typically made of rolled or quilted fabric which have no rigidity and thus offer no resistance to slipping and shifting of the pad.
The provision of raised, non-rigid borders has been proposed for English-type saddle pads. U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,287 to Hilmer describes an English-type saddle pad having resilient edges extending both upwardly and downwardly from the two faces of the main portion of the pad. When in position under the saddle, the pad's resilient edges are aligned with the edges of the saddle and are tightly gripped between the body of the horse and saddle. This creates an air space between the saddle and the main portion of the pad for ventilation purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,397 to Ricken suggests use of a quilted border roll for an English-type saddle pad to snugly hold the saddle in place.
The foregoing patents do not address the unique problem associated with Western-type saddle pads of slipping and shifting underneath the saddle. Those English-type saddle pads are designed and intended to fit snugly with the saddle so there is no freedom of movement between the pad and saddle such as is desirable in Western-type saddle pads. As a consequence, movement of the saddle causes undesirable movement of the saddle pad as well. Moreover, because the raised borders proposed in these patents for English-type saddle pads have no substantial rigidity, they would not prevent slipping or shifting if incorporated into Western-type saddle pads.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a Western-type saddle pad that does not slip, shift or ride out from under the saddle. It is a further object to provide such a saddle pad which provides limited freedom of movement between the pad and the saddle.


This invention provides oligonucleotide based arrays and methods for speciating and phenotyping organisms, for example, using oligonucleotide sequences based on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis rpoB gene. The groups or species to which an organism belongs may be determined by comparing hybridization patterns of target nucleic acid from the organism to hybridization patterns in a database.

1. Copyright Notice
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the xerographic reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the identification and characterization of microorganisms.
3. Background of the Invention
Multidrug resistance and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infections are factors which have had a profound impact on the tuberculosis problem. An increase in the frequency of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to one or more anti-mycobacterial agents has been reported, Block, et al., (1994) JAMA 271:665-671. Immunocompromised HIV-1 infected patients not infected with M. tuberculosis are frequently infected with M. avium complex (MAC) or M. avium-M. intracellulare (MAI) complex. These mycobacteria species are often resistant to the drugs used to treat M. tuberculosis. These factors have re-emphasized the importance for the accurate determination of drug sensitivities and mycobacteria 6 species identification.
In HIV-1 infected patients, the correct diagnosis of the mycobacterial disease is essential since treatment of M. tuberculosis infections differs from that called for by other mycobacteria infections, Hoffner, S. E. (1994) Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Inf. Dis. 13:937-941. Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria commonly associated with HIV-1 infections include M. kansasii, M. xenopi, M. fortuitum, M. avium and M. intracellular, Wolinsky, E., (1992) Clin. Infect. Dis. 15:1-12, Shafer, R. W. and Sierra, M. F. 1992 Clin. Infect. Dis. 15:161-162. Additionally, 13% of new cases (HIV-1 infected and non-infected) of M. tuberculosis are resistant to one of the primary anti-tuberculosis drugs (isoniazid [INH], rifampin [RIF], streptomycin [STR], ethambutol [EMB] and pyrazinamide [PZA] and 3.2% are resistant to both RIF and INH, Block, et al., JAMA 271:665-671, (1994). Consequently, mycobacterial species identification and the determination of drug resistance have become central concerns during the diagnosis of mycobacterial diseases.
Methods used to detect, and to identify Mycobacterium species vary considerably. For detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, microscopic examination of acid-fast stained smears and cultures are still the methods of choice in most microbiological clinical laboratories. However, culture of clinical samples is hampered by the slow growth of mycobacteria. A mean time of four weeks is required before sufficient growth is obtained to enable detection and possible identification. Recently, two more rapid methods for culture have been developed involving a radiometric, Stager, C. E. et al., (1991) J. Clin. Microbiol. 29:154-157, and a biphasic (broth/agar) system Sewell, et al., (1993) J. Clin. Microbiol. 29:2689-2472. Once grown, cultured mycobacteria can be analyzed by lipid composition, the use of species specific antibodies, species specific DNA or RNA probes and PCR-based sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene (Schirm, et al. (1995) J. Clin. Microbiol. 33:3221-3224; Kox, et al. (1995) J. Clin. Microbiol. 33:3225-3233) and IS6110 specific repetitive sequence analysis (For a review see, e.g., Small et al., P. M. and van Embden, J. D. A. (1994) Am. Society for Microbiology, pp. 569-582). The analysis of 16S rRNA sequences (RNA and DNA) has been the most informative molecular approach to identify Mycobacteria species (Jonas, et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 31:2410-2416 (1993)). However, to obtain drug sensitivity information for the same isolate, additional protocols (culture) or alternative gene analysis is necessary.
To determine drug sensitivity information, culture methods are still the protocols of choice. Mycobacteria are judged to be resistant to particular drugs by use of either the standard proportional plate method or minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) method. However, given the inherent lengthy times required by culture methods, approaches to determine drug sensitivity based on molecular genetics have been recently developed.
Table 1 lists the M. tuberculosis genes with which when mutated have been shown to confer drug resistance (other genes are known, e.g., the pncA gene). Of the drugs listed in Table 1, RIF and INH form the backbone of tuberculosis treatment. Detection of RIF resistance in M. tuberculosis is important not only because of its clinical and epidemiological implications but also because it is a marker for the highly threatening multidrug resistant phenotype (Telenti, et al. (1993) The Lancet 341:647-650). Of the drug resistances listed in Table 1, decreased sensitivity to RIF is the best understood on a genetic basis.
TABLE 1M. tuberculosis Genes with MutationsWhich Confer Drug ResistanceDrugGeneSize (bp)Gene ProductRIFrpoB3,534β-subunit of RNA polymeraseINHkatG2,205catalase-peroxidaseINH-ETHinhA810fatty and biosynthesisSTRrpsL372ribosomal protein S12rrs1,46416S rRNAFQgyrA2,517DMA gyrase A subunit
Because resistance to RIF in E. coli strains was observed to arise as a result of mutations in the rpoB gene, Telenti, et al., id., identified a 69 base pair (bp) region of the M. tuberculosis rpoB gene as the locus where RIF resistant mutations were focused. Kapur, et al., (1995) Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 119:131-138, identified additional novel mutations in the M. tuberculosis rpoB gene which extended this core region to 81 bp. In a detailed review on antimicrobial agent resistance in mycobacteria, Musser (Clin. Microbiol. Rev., 8:496-514 (1995)), summarized all the characterized mutations and their relative frequency of occurrence in this 81 bp region of rpoB. Missense mutations comprise 88% of all known mutations while insertions (3 or 6 bp) and deletions (3, 6 and 9 bp) account for 4% and 8% of the remaining mutations, respectively. Approximately 90% of all RIF resistant tuberculosis isolates have been shown to have mutations in this 81 bp region. The remaining 10% are thought possibly to involve genes other than rpoB.
For the above reasons, it would be desirable to have simpler methods which identify and characterize microorganisms, such as Mycobacteria, both at the phenotypic and genotypic level. This invention fulfills that and related needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Chip-based speciation and phenotypic characterization of microorganisms


One-part, curable compositions that have a soft feel when applied as a coating/film and cured, may include a) at least one isocyanurate tri(meth)acrylate or derivative thereof; and at least one of components b)-e), wherein: b) is at least one urethane diacrylate; c) is at least one monofunctional or difunctional reactive diluent; d) is at least one solvent; and e) is additives. The one-part, curable compositions are advantageous with respect to softness and tailorability of softness as well as other properties such as mar resistance, abrasion resistance, stain resistance and chemical resistance. Due to their advantageous properties, embodiments of the one-part, curable compositions described herein are viable for a wide range of coating applications including automotives, aeronautics, cosmetics, small appliances, packaging and consumer electronics. Methods of making and using the one-part, curable are also described herein.

Products with a soft feel coating or soft touch coating are desirable due to their soft and warm feeling which provide a more pleasing, luxurious feel to plastic, metal or other hard substrates. Conventional soft feel coatings have been based upon solvent- or water-borne two-part systems with isocyanate based chemistry. While such coatings are advantageous with respect to feel, such coatings suffer from drawbacks including handling free isocyanates in coating (safety and exposure questions), limited shelf-life, long curing times and poor protective properties such as stain, chemical, abrasion and mar resistance. Electronics, consumer goods and vehicle manufacturers are some of the largest consumers of soft feel coatings. Apart from their unique tactile feeling, soft feel coatings also should present other aspect of properties to function constantly when frequent interactions between users and the coating surface happen. The aforementioned properties include robust adhesion to the substrate, improved chemical resistance such as to human sweat and personal care products, excellent scratch resistance and non-yellowing, especially when used as a coating.
CN 102850922 discloses a curable pigmented coating that can be used on electronics. The curable pigmented coating has an oligomer portion that is linear, mono or difunctional, at 32-37 wt % and monomer at 4-6 wt %.
DE 202012012632 discloses a curable soft feel coating for pen grips obtained with a mixture of difunctional oligomers and monofunctional monomers.
JP 5000123 discloses a curable soft feel coating using trifunctional urethane acrylate based on a caprolactone triol with a molecular weight (Mw) of 2500-4500 g/mol. This document also discloses formulating with other trifunctional monomers, such as with tri-and quad-functional polyols.
JP 4778249 discloses a curable leather pitch finish using a polymerizable silicone oligomer, crosslinked resin beads and a urethane acrylate oligomer containing polyester and caprolactone structure.
Two-part soft feel coatings based on solvent-borne polyurethanes using polyester or polyether polyols and isocyanates have been utilized. However and aside from the aforementioned drawbacks, increasing demand of more environmentally friendly coatings has pushed coating suppliers to provide new generation of water-borne two-part polyurethanes dispersions.


A wind powered apparatus (or wind turbine) comprising a stator blade assembly and a rotor blade assembly wherein said stator blades assembly and said rotor blade assembly have counter rotating blades. Both sets of blades assemblies are connected to a generator and are operable to rotate the stator and rotor thereof in opposite directions relative to one another due to the blade arrangement between assemblies. The blades assemblies comprise a hub connected to an outer ring, wherein said outer ring comprises inward blades. The win turbine, more particularly the blade arrangement co-operates to improve performance of the apparatus by affecting its orientation and the rotational speed of the blades.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a wind powered apparatus having two sets of counter rotating blades. More particularly, the invention relates to a wind powered apparatus equipped with an electricity generating means having a stator blade assembly and rotor blade assembly that rotates in opposite directions relative to one another. The wind turbine is further equipped with an inner and outer blade arrangement to improve performance by orienting the apparatus into the wind and/or affecting the rotational speed of the blades.
2. Discussion of the Background
Some well-known wind powered apparatus include a rotor connected to several blades, wherein said rotor is combined with a stator to convert rotational motion, produced by the wind as the primarily force, into electrical energy. However, a problem encountered by wind turbines is the need to prevent unacceptably high rotational speeds during extreme wind conditions. Although one method of accomplishing this is by adding brake systems to the apparatus, this just adds more elements to the wind turbine introducing mechanical complexity. Therefore it is desirable to improve performance by providing a method for operating the apparatus that includes limiting the maximum rotational speed of the blades.
Further, another problem encountered with electricity generating wind power apparatus is the relatively high minimum speed that is required before electricity generation can begin without stalling the apparatus.
Therefore, it would be desirable to improve performance by lowering the minimum wind velocity required for a given electrical output from the apparatus and method for limiting the maximum rotational speed of the blades that overcomes the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art.

Wind powered apparatus having counter rotating blades


A foldable hand tool having a blade holder mounted with a handle for movement from folded and unfolded positions. The blade holder has an opening adapted to receive blades of different sizes. The foldable hand tool further has a locking mechanism to lock the holder in an open position. A blade holder lock engages a resilient arm formed in the side wall of the handle.

Cutting devices, such as utility knives, have been developed for use in various applications, such as, for example, construction, packaging and shipping, carpet installation, as well as other purposes. Those who use these tools as a knife may also require other tools, such as, for example saw blades, and knife blades of varying shapes and thickness. Some multi-purpose utility tools with several individual tools have a wide cumbersome handle with a cavity formed between two side walls so that all the tools fold in between the walls. Each tool then rotates outward and locks into place. The locking mechanism is typically formed of several moving parts including a spring.


A system and method of intelligent agent management within a vehicle intelligent agent system includes a host system, an overseer agent, and an agent that are all in communication via a communications network. The system includes an executable overseer agent management program that uses the identification code of the agent to determine if the agent identification code has been copied and deletes the agent from the intelligent agent system if the agent identification code has been copied. If the agent identification code has not been copied, the agent gathers new information, and the information in the agent knowledge database is updated using the new information and the updated information is transferred from the agent knowledge database to the overseer agent knowledge database. The overseer agent checks the validity of the transmitted information, and agent is deleted and a new agent is generated if the learned information is not valid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer-assisted vehicle diagnostics and, more specifically, to a system and method of intelligent agent management using an overseer agent for use in vehicle diagnostics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicles, and in particular motor vehicles, frequently incorporate monitoring systems that function to monitor the status of various vehicle components. An on-board diagnostic system (OBD) is frequently utilized in monitoring the engine, emissions, transmission or other key vehicle systems. The information obtained by such a monitoring system may be useful in detecting a vehicle condition, such as a malfunction, or other such abnormal operating condition. A key feature of the on-board diagnostic system is the ability to notify the vehicle operator of the detected vehicle condition. Early detection, diagnosis, or notification of a malfunction is important to the continued operation of the vehicle.
While the on-board diagnostic systems work well, they may not provide information regarding causation. Intelligent agent diagnostic systems are known to collect and transfer data within an electronic system that may be relevant to causation. An example of a multi-agent diagnostic system for a vehicle that can detect and isolate a fault is described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/629,035, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The above-described system works well for fault isolation. A system and method of intelligent agent identification is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/282,925, which is incorporated by reference. This patent application provides security concerning the ingress and egress of an agent to the system. Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method of intelligent agent management for an intelligent agent system that improves the security of the intelligent agent system by searching for a malicious agent using an overseer agent.

System and method of intelligent agent management using an overseer agent for use in vehicle diagnostics

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A cup holder comprises a collar and a handle. The collar comprises a loop of flexible sheet material which extends, in use, around and engages the outer surface of a cup. The handle comprises an elongate strip of flexible sheet material whose ends are connected to the collar at positions which are in use, diametrically opposed. Each end portion of the handle has first and second preformed fold lines formed in it. The first fold line extends perpendicular to the length of the handle along the line where the handle meets the collar. The second fold line extends transversely across the handle at an angle of substantially 45° to its length from a first point where one side edge of the handle meets the collar to a second point spaced from the collar on the other side edge of the handle.

Such cups are very advantageous because they are cheap and effective and they can readily be formed into nested stacks and thus require relatively little storage space. They are also biodegradable, in contrast to cups made of plastic material. However, they are not very easy to carry due to the fact that they are flexible and structurally weak and spillages therefore frequently occur. This problem is exacerbated when the beverage to be served is hot because the thermal insulation properties of such cups are relatively poor. Purchasers therefore frequently burn their fingers when carrying such cups filled with the hot beverage and this is not only uncomfortable but also increases the problem of spillages occurring.
In order to obviate these problems, it is known to use a holder or tray of folded cardboard material, which defines a number of recesses for accommodating cups. This largely obviates the problem of burning one's fingers when the cups are filled with a hot beverage but the trays have to be manually folded from flat cardboard blanks and this is quite time-consuming. Further more, the tray blanks have to be stored and many retail outlets simply do not have the storage space available for such relatively bulky articles. Finally, the trays are generally disposed of after being used only once and this means that they add considerably to the overhead expenses of the retail outlet in question and also represent an unacceptable environmental burden in that they must all be subsequently disposed of in a landfill or alternatively recycled.
The above problems are at least partially overcome by the cup holder disclosed in GB2471872. This cup holder comprises a collar and a handle and the collar is a continuous loop of flexible sheet material in which two opposed holes are formed and which, in use, extends around and engages the outer surface of a cup. The handle comprises an elongate strip of flexible sheet material, integral with each end of which are two elongate lugs which extend divergently. The maximum distance between the outer edges of the lugs is greater than the maximum dimension of the holes in the direction of the length of the collar. The width of each lug is less than the said maximum dimension of the holes. The two ends of the handle are pivotally received in respective holes with the two lugs on one side of the collar and the adjacent portion of the handle being on the other side of the collar. Such a cup holder is associated with a considerable advantage by comparison with the known holder or tray referred to above, not least because it is considerably less bulky and therefore occupies very much less storage space and maybe disposed of more simply and cheaply. However, this known cup holder comprises two separate components and these have to be assembled. This is done by folding one of the lugs at each end of the handle over onto the other lug, passing the two lugs together through the associated hole in the collar and then unfolding the two lugs. The fact that the width of the two lugs in the unfolded state is greater than the diameter of the whole means that the handle is pivotally retained on the collar. However, the assembly process must in general be performed in the retail outlet, this is to say only shortly before the cup holder is used, because it is not readily possible to store such cup holders in an assembled state.


A method of improving post-combustion heat recovery in a vessel containing a charge of molten ferrous metal and slag includes the use of a lance for the introduction of oxygen gas into the charge. The method includes blowing oxygen into the charge through at least one first nozzle of the lance for refining the molten metal into steel. Oxygen is blown through at least one second nozzle of the lance from at least one location spaced above the first nozzle at an oxygen flow rate effective to produce foamy slag in an amount for obtaining a post-combustion heat transfer efficiency of at least about 40% without appreciable overflow of the slag from the vessel. The oxygen flow rate from the second nozzle is at a minimum at about a starting point of a peak decarburization period of the charge. Iron oxide containing pellets may also be added to the charge. In this case, the oxygen flow rate from the first nozzle may be reduced while the iron oxide containing material is being added, and the reduced oxygen flow may be replenished with an inert gas.

Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steelmaking produces, among other things, large amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) gas above the molten metal bath. This so called "off-gas" contains more potential heat than the total heat generated in the steel/slag bath by oxidation reactions. If this so called "post-combustion" heat, generated by the burning of CO to CO.sub.2 above the bath, can be recaptured by the steel bath, significant energy and cost savings can be achieved. By effectively recapturing the post-combustion heat larger amounts of scrap can be charged to the bath, which would result in higher steel production yields in hot-metal-limited BOF shops. Similarly, it would enable the refining of lower cost iron ore to decrease BOF steel costs in hot-metal-rich BOF shops. Unfortunately, with current BOF practices most of the potential heat energy from the off-gas is wasted due to inefficient heat transfer between the gas and the bath. Previous attempts to capture the post-combustion energy within the BOF vessel have typically resulted in premature vessel lining failure.
In addition to the various off-gases, BOF steelmaking practices also have the tendency to generate a foamy slag. While a small amount of foamy slag can have beneficial effects on the metallurgical reactions in the BOF, foamy slag is, by its nature, potentially hazardous and generally avoided. When large amounts of foam are produced, slopping of the foam from the BOF vessel can become uncontrollable, causing yield loss as well as environmental and safety hazards. As a result, there have been many efforts made to control or minimize the production of foamy slag. Despite the numerous problems associated with foamy slag, it has nevertheless been found that it can provide a good heat transfer medium between the post-combustion heat generated by the combustion of CO to CO.sub.2 and the bath. The percentage of heat generated by combusting CO gas to CO.sub.2 gas that is returned to the bath is known as the heat transfer efficiency.

Foamy slag process using multi-circuit lance


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first insulating film having a first thickness in a first region on a semiconductor substrate, forming a first gate electrode on the first insulating film, and forming a second insulating film having a second thickness different from the first thickness on the semiconductor substrate and the first gate electrode. Then, the method includes forming a conductive film on the second oxide film and forming a first resist pattern and a second resist pattern respectively on the conductive film in the first region and on the conductive film of a second region different from the first region. Then, the method includes removing the conductive film by using the first resist pattern as a mask to form a second gate electrode covering the first gate electrode via the second insulating film and removing the conductive film by using the second resist pattern as a mask to form a third gate electrode on the second insulating film of the second region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and, particularly, to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having multiple gate oxide films.
2. Description of a Related Art
In an IC, such as a PDP (plasma display panel) driver and an LCD (liquid crystal display) driver, a semiconductor in which transistors having different threshold voltages are mounted in a mixed manner on the same substrate may sometimes be used. Such a semiconductor device is provided with, for example, two transistors, i.e., a transistor having a relatively low threshold voltage (hereinafter referred to as "a low-voltage transistor)" and a transistor having a relatively high threshold voltage (hereinafter referred to as "a high-voltage transistor.)" In manufacturing such a semiconductor device, it is necessary to form a thin gate oxide film for a low-voltage transistor and a thick gate oxide film for a high-voltage transistor. Such multiple gate oxide films having different film thicknesses are hereinafter referred to as "multiple gate oxide films." A semiconductor device having multiple gate oxide films is hereinafter referred to "a multigate semiconductor device."
FIG. 1A to FIG. 1I are each a sectional view that shows a conventional process for manufacturing a multigate semiconductor device. In FIG. 1A to FIG. 1I, an element region in which a low-voltage transistor is formed is denoted by the reference character "L" and an element region in which a high-voltage transistor is formed is denoted by the reference character "H."
First, a field oxide film 31 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 30 by a selected oxidation process (LOCOS: local oxidation of silicon), whereby element isolation is performed. Subsequently, a dummy oxide film 32 is formed on the whole surface, and a nitride film 33 is formed on this dummy oxide film 32. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 1A is obtained.
Next, by performing the patterning of a photoresist, a pattern 34 having an opening in a region in which a gate electrode of a high-voltage transistor (an electrode formation region) is formed on the nitride film 33. Subsequently, by performing dry etching in which this pattern 34 is used as a mask, the nitride film 33 and the dummy oxide film 32 in the above-described electrode formation region are removed. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 1B is obtained.
Next, the pattern 34 is removed. Subsequently, by a selective oxidation method in which the nitride film 33 is used as a mask, a gate oxide film 35 of a high-voltage transistor is formed in the above-described electrode formation region. In this step of selective oxidation, a thin oxide film 36 is formed on the nitride film 33. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 1C is obtained.
Next, the oxide film 36 and the nitride film 33 are removed by performing wet etching. On that occasion, also the surface of the gate oxide film 35 of a high-voltage transistor is subjected to wet etching treatment. Furthermore, the dummy oxide film 32 is removed by performing wet etching, and the surface of the semiconductor substrate 30 in the element region L of a low-voltage transistor is exposed. Also on that occasion, the surface of the gate oxide film 35 of a high-voltage transistor is subjected to wet etching treatment. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 1D is obtained.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1E, a gate oxide film 37 for a low-voltage transistor is formed on the semiconductor substrate 30.
Next, polycrystalline silicon 38 is formed on the whole surface. Subsequently, by performing the patterning of a photoresist, a pattern 39 and a pattern 40 are formed respectively on the electrode formation region of a low-voltage transistor and the electrode formation region of a high-voltage transistor. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 1F is obtained.
Next, by performing dry etching in which these patterns 39, 40 are used as masks, the above-described polycrystalline silicon 38 is selectively removed. After that, the patterns 39, 40 are removed. As a result of this, as shown in FIG. 1G, a gate electrode 41 of a low-voltage transistor and a gate electrode 42 of a high-voltage transistor are formed.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1H, by performing impurity ion implantation in which the above-described gate electrodes 41, 42 are used as masks, an LDD (lightly doped drain) is formed in the semiconductor substrate 30. Subsequently, impurity ions are implanted in source-drain regions of the low-voltage transistor and high-voltage transistor. Source-drains of the low-voltage transistor and high-voltage transistor are formed by causing the impurities to diffuse thermally.
Next, the gate oxide film 37 is removed by using the above-described electrodes 41, 42 as masks. In this way, as shown in FIG. 1I, a multigate semiconductor device in which a low-voltage MOS transistor and a high-voltage MOS transistor are mounted in a mixed manner on the same substrate is completed.
According to the above-described manufacturing method, the surface of the gate oxide film 35 of a high-voltage transistor is subjected to wet etching treatment while the semiconductor device is being worked from the condition shown in FIG. 1C to the condition shown in FIG. 1D. For this reason, the film quality of the gate oxide film 35 deteriorates, posing the problem that the reliability of the gate oxide film 35 of a high-voltage transistor decreases.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-196639 discloses another process for manufacturing a multigate semiconductor device. FIG. 2A to FIG. 2H are each a sectional view that shows the manufacturing process disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-196639. In FIG. 2A to FIG. 2H, an element region in which a low-voltage transistor is formed is denoted by the reference character "L" and an element region in which a high-voltage transistor is formed is denoted by the reference character "H."
First, a field oxide film 51 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 50 by a selected oxidation process, whereby element isolation is performed. Subsequently, a dummy oxide film 52 is formed on the whole surface. After that, by performing the patterning of a photoresist, a pattern 53 having an opening in a source-drain region of a high-voltage transistor is formed. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 2A is obtained. And by performing impurity ion implantation in which this pattern 53 is used as a mask, an LDD is formed in the semiconductor substrate 50. After the removal of the pattern 53, a pattern (not shown) having an opening in a channel region of a high-voltage transistor is formed. And by using this pattern as a mask, channel ions are implanted in the semiconductor substrate 50 through the dummy oxide film 52. After that, the pattern is removed.
Next, a nitride film 54 is formed on the whole surface. Subsequently, by performing the patterning of a photoresist, a pattern 55 having an opening in an electrode formation region of a high-voltage transistor is formed on the nitride film 54. Furthermore, by performing dry etching in which this pattern 55 is used as a mask, the nitride film 54 and the dummy oxide film 52 in the electrode formation region are removed. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 2B is obtained.
Next, after the removal of the pattern 55, by a selective oxidation process in which the nitride film 54 is used as a mask, a gate oxide film 56 of a high-voltage transistor is formed in the above-described electrode formation region. In this step of selective oxidation, a thin oxide film 57 is formed on the nitride film 54. Subsequently, polycrystalline silicon 58 is formed on the whole surface. And by performing the patterning of a photoresist, a pattern 59 is formed in the electrode formation region of a high-voltage transistor. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 2C is obtained.
Next, by performing dry etching in which this pattern 59 is used as a mask, the above-described polycrystalline silicon 58 is selectively removed. After that, the pattern 59 is removed. As a result of this, as shown in FIG. 2D, a gate electrode 60 of a high-voltage transistor is formed.
Next, the oxide film 57 is removed by performing wet etching, and furthermore the nitride film 54 is removed by performing dry etching. Subsequently, a pattern 61 which covers an element region H of a high-voltage transistor is formed. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 2E is obtained. And using the pattern 61 as a mask, channel ions are implanted through the dummy oxide film 52 into the semiconductor substrate 50 in an element region L.
Next, the pattern 61 is removed and the dummy oxide film 52 is removed by performing wet etching. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 2F is obtained.
Next, a gate oxide film 62 for a low-voltage transistor is formed on the whole surface. Subsequently, polycrystalline silicon 63 is formed on the gate oxide film 62. Furthermore, by performing the patterning of a photoresist, a pattern 64 is formed in an electrode formation region of a low-voltage transistor. As a result of this, the structure shown in FIG. 2G is obtained.
Next, by performing dry etching in which the pattern 64 is used as a mask, the above-described polycrystalline silicon 63 is selectively removed. As a result of this, as shown in FIG. 2H, a gate electrode 65 of a low-voltage transistor is formed.
Next, the above-described LDD portion of a high-voltage transistor is covered with a prescribed pattern (not shown), and impurity ions are implanted in source-drain regions of the low-voltage transistor and high-voltage transistor. Sources-drains of the low-voltage transistor and high-voltage transistor are formed by causing the impurities to diffuse thermally. And the gate oxide film 62 is removed by using the above-described electrodes 65, 60 as masks. In this way, a multigate semiconductor device in which a low-voltage MOS transistor and a high-voltage MOS transistor are mounted in a mixed manner on the same substrate is completed.
According to the manufacturing method disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-196639, after the formation of the gate oxide film 56 of a high-voltage transistor, the polycrystalline silicon 58, is subsequently formed (see FIG. 2C). In the succeeding steps, the exposure of the surface of the gate oxide film 56 of a high-voltage transistor does not occur, and it might be thought that the film quality of the gate oxide film 56 does not deteriorate due to etching.
Also, according to the manufacturing method disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-196639, in order to form the gate electrode 65 of a low-voltage transistor, the polycrystalline silicon 63 is selectively removed by performing dry etching in which the pattern 64 is used as a mask (see FIGS. 2G and 2H). On that occasion, the polycrystalline silicon 63 which covers the gate electrode 60 of a high-voltage transistor is also removed. However, it might be thought that the structure after this removal step is in actuality the structure shown in FIG. 3, and not the structure shown in FIG. 2H. That is, the polycrystalline silicon 63 on the side surface of, the gate electrode 60 of a high-voltage transistor is not completely removed, and that as shown in FIG. 3, the polycrystalline silicon 63 which has not been removed remains as residual polycrystalline silicon on the side surface of the gate electrode 60. When this residue polycrystalline silicon 66 exfoliates, it becomes scrap, causing the worsening of yield.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device having multiple gate oxide films


A noise blocking earmuff is described, which has a better noise blocking ability and which is more comfortable than prior earmuffs. The earmuff includes a cup-shaped shell (20), a cushion (22) that surrounds the open inner end of the shell and which presses against the head of the wearer, and an inside sound-absorber (26) lying in the shell. The cushion is formed of slow recovery material which has a rebound of no more than about 10 percent, to more comfortably and completely conform the cushion to the area of the wearer's head that the cushion presses against. The inside sound absorber includes a layer (50) of resilient felted foam for blocking higher frequency sounds, and a layer (52) of unfelted foam for blocking lower frequency sounds, to obtain a better overall noise blocking capability.

Noise blocking earmuffs include a pair of earmuffs that are pressed against opposite sides of the wearer's head by a band. Each earmuff includes a cup-shaped shell with an open inner end, and with a largely ring-shaped cushion that receives the middle and upper portions of the outer ear of the person. A sound absorber lies in the shell. Both the cushion and sound absorber are generally formed of ordinary resilient foam. Two factors that are of great importance are the comfort of the person wearing the earmuffs, and the noise blocking ability of the earmuff. The noise blocking ability is generally rated with an NRR number given by an independent testing laboratory, with a higher NRR number (Noise Reduction Ratio, measured by a standard procedure of American National Standard 53.19-1974) representing better noise blocking ability. The highest NRR number for earmuffs that applicant knows of is 30. An earmuff with an even higher NRR rating number, which was also very comfortable for the wearer, would be of value.