Disclosed is methodology and apparatus for producing a planar inductor having a high quality (Q) factor. The inductor is formed by providing a first, relatively wide coil turn, and at least a pair of relatively more narrow second coil turns, displaced in a different plane from that occupied by the first coil turn. The configuration of such coil turns produces a high value of mutual coupling among the coil turns, resulting in an inductor having a high quality (Q) factor.

Many modern electronic components are packaged as monolithic devices, and may comprise a single component or multiple components within a single chip package. One specific example of such a monolithic device is a multilayer capacitor or capacitor array. Other monolithic electronic components correspond to devices that integrate multiple passive components into a single chip structure. Such an integrated passive component may provide a selected combination of resistors, capacitors, inductors and/or other passive components that are formed in a multilayered configuration and packaged as a monolithic electronic device.
The ongoing development of Integrated Passive Devices or Components (IPDs or IPCs) has recently become more significant in the design of reduced sized electronic devices. Recent developments in the area of IPDs have followed two main development branches. A first development branch has addressed the inclusion of multiple passive components integrated in a chip without having a uniquely defined function. Non-limiting examples of developments along this branch include quadruple capacitors arrays, multiple resistor networks, and multiple varistor arrays. A second development branch has addressed the inclusion of multiple passive components integrated into a chip in order to perform a well-defined function. Non-limiting examples of developments along this branch include resistive voltage dividers, R-2R circuits for D/A conversion, and more complicated devices including filters, matching networks, and complex power handling and feed-back circuits associated with application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
One design challenge associated with the design of reduced sized inductive components, as may be employed as components associated with either of the two previously mentioned development paths, is the achievement of a high quality factor. As understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, quality factor in this context relates generally to the degree of loss experienced with use of an element or device. A high quality factor or high Q as relates to inductive components depends in part on a strong coupling between all the turns forming the inductor. Achieving such strong coupling, especially when the inductor may be or must be configured as a planar device, may become problematic when implementing Integrated Passive Devices.
Various component arrangements and corresponding methodologies are known from issued U.S. patents, including Stengel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,914; Grzegorek et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,456; Liou. U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,773 B1; Liou U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,751 B2; Mizoguchi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,593,841 B1; Chaudhry et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,298 B2; Andoh et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,664,882 B2; Beng et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,112 B2; Kyriazidou, U.S. Pat. No. 6,759,937 B2; Gillespie et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,798,039 B1; Kyriazidou et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,809,623 B2; and Lin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,749 B1; and from publications, including "Fully-Integrated Low Phase Noise Bipolar Differential VCOs at 2.9 and 4.4 GHz" by Ali M. Niknejad and Robert G. Meyer of University of California, Berkeley and Joo Leong Tham of Conexant Systems; "Comparative Investigation on Various On-Chip Center-Tapped Interleaved Transformers" by Shu-Jun Pan, Wen-Yan Yin, and Le-Wei Li, Dec. 27, 2003; Published Abstract entitled: "Spiral Inductors Integrated in MCM-D using the Design Space Concept" by Pieters et al., 1998; "Processing and Microwave Characterization of Multilevel Interconnects Using Benzocyclobutene Dielectric" by Chinoy et al., IEEE Transactions on Components, Hybrids, and Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 16, No. 7, November 1993; "Processing and Electrical Characterization of Multilayer Metallization for Microwave Applications" by Chinoy, ICEMCM 1995; "Integrated Microwave Filters in MCM-D" by Pieters et al., IEEE Multi-Chip Module Conference, Santa Cruz, Calif., Feb. 6-7, 1996; "Integration of Passive Components for Microwave Filters in MCM-D" by Pieters et al., 6th International Conference and Exhibition on Multichip Modules, Denver, Col., Apr. 2-4, 1997. The disclosures of all the forgoing United States patents are hereby fully incorporated into this specification for all purposes by reference thereto.
While various implementations of inductive devices have been developed for use in association with Integrated Passive Devices, no design has emerged that generally encompasses all of the desired characteristics as hereafter presented in accordance with the subject technology.

High Q planar inductors and IPD applications


A torque detecting apparatus according to the present invention includes a first shaft and a second shaft connected coaxially to each other through a connecting shaft, a permanent magnet fixed to the first shaft, a plurality of soft magnetic members having a collar provided therein, fitted by pressing with the second shaft and disposed in a magnetic field of the permanent magnet to form a magnetic circuit, and a detector for detecting magnetic flux generated from the soft magnetic members, wherein the soft magnetic members are integrally molded with a mold body made of synthetic resin, and when a torque is applied to the first shaft or the second shaft, the torque is detected based on an output of the detector. The collar is made of a non-magnetic material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a torque detecting apparatus designed appropriately for use in an electric power steering apparatus for a vehicle or the like and comprising a first shaft and a second shaft connected coaxially to each other through a connecting shaft, a permanent magnet fixed to the first shaft, a plurality of soft magnetic members fitted by pressing via a collar with the second shaft and disposed in a magnetic field of the permanent magnet to form a magnetic circuit, and a detector for detecting magnetic flux generated from the soft magnetic members, wherein the soft magnetic members are integrated by molding with synthetic resin, and when a torque is applied to the first shaft or the second shaft, the torque is detected based on an output of the detector.
The present invention also relates to a torque detecting apparatus designed appropriately for use in an electric power steering apparatus for a vehicle or the like and comprising a first shaft and a second shaft connected coaxially to each other through a connecting shaft, a permanent magnet fixed to the first shaft, a plurality of soft magnetic members fixed to the second shaft and disposed in a magnetic field of the permanent magnet to form a magnetic circuit, and a detector for detecting magnetic flux generated from the soft magnetic members, wherein when a torque is applied to the first shaft or the second shaft, the torque is detected based on an output of the detector.
The present invention further relates to a torque detecting apparatus designed appropriately for use in an electric power steering apparatus for a vehicle or the like and comprising a first shaft and a second shaft connected coaxially to each other through a connecting shaft, a permanent magnet fixed to the first shaft, a plurality of soft magnetic members fixed to the second shaft and disposed in a magnetic field of the permanent magnet to form a magnetic circuit, a plurality of auxiliary soft magnetic members magnetically coupled to the soft magnetic members for inducing magnetic flux from the soft magnetic members, and a detector for detecting the magnetic flux induced by the auxiliary soft magnetic members, wherein when a torque is applied to the first shaft or the second shaft, the torque is detected based on an output of the detector; and an electric power steering apparatus equipped with the torque detecting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric power steering apparatus for a vehicle is known, which drives an electric motor to assist the steering thereby relieving the load to a driver. Such an electric power steering apparatus comprises an input shaft connected to a steering member (a steering wheel or a handle), an output shaft connected via a pinion and a rack etc. to wheels to be steered, and a connecting shaft for connecting the input shaft with the output shaft. A torque detecting apparatus detects a torque applied to the input shaft by a torsion angle generated at the connecting shaft, an electric motor for steering assistance which is worked with the output shaft is controlled and driven in response to the detected torque. The torque detecting apparatus in such a electric power steering apparatus is conventionally constructed using a rotation detecting apparatus such as a magnetic detection resolver for detecting the location of rotation by coils or an optical encoder for detecting the location of rotation by the transmission of light.
Also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-149062 is a torque sensor, as shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG. 1A, a vertical sectional view of FIG. 1B, and a traverse sectional view of FIG. 1C. The torque sensor comprises an input shaft 1 and an output shaft 2 connected coaxially to each other through a torsion bar 3, an annular 24-pole permanent magnet 5 fixed to the input shaft 1, a magnetic yoke 4 fixed to the output 2 and consisting of a plurality of soft magnetic members 4a and 4b disposed in a magnetic field of the permanent magnet 5 to form a magnetic circuit, two magnetism collecting rings 8, 8 magnetically coupled to the magnetic yokes 4a and 4b for inducting magnetic flux from the magnetic yokes 4a and 4b, and two magnetic sensors 6, 6 (Hall ICs) for detecting the magnetic flux induced by the magnetism collecting rings 8, 8. When a torque is applied to the input shaft 1, the torque is detected based on outputs of the magnetic sensors 6, 6.
The applicants of the present invention have proposed a torque sensor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-98821, as shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C, where the magnetic yokes 4a and 4b are integrally molded with synthetic resin while the magnetism collecting rings 8, 8 and the magnetic sensors 6, 6 are integrally molded with synthetic resin with respect to the torque sensor described above.
The torque sensor described above has magnetic yokes 4a and 4b which are integrally molded with synthetic resin and fitted via a not-shown collar with the output shaft 2 by pressing. Since the collar is made of a magnetic material (S43C), the collar may affect the above magnetic circuit. Also, when the output shaft is fitted by pressing with the collar, scraping dusts may generate, which then affect the magnetic circuit.
Also, in the torque sensor described above, two steps are needed for molding the magnetism collecting rings 8, 8, the magnetic sensors 6, 6, and the circuit board with the synthetic resin. More specifically, the first step is conducted to mold the magnetic sensors 6, 6 and the circuit board as electronic components with flexible synthetic resin (for example, hot melt). At the second step, the magnetism collecting rings 8, 8 are molded with rigid synthetic resin (for example, PBT). This relieves the adverse effect of the rigid synthetic resin over the electronic components.
However, the synthetic resin used at the first step fails to provide a desired physical strength of bonding with the circuit board etc. When applied to heat many times and repeatedly expanded and contracted, the synthetic resin will detach from the circuit board etc. and finally a gap 30 will be generated between the synthetic resin and the circuit board 19, as shown in FIG. 2.
Moreover, the torque sensor described above requires a harness and a connector for connection with the controller of the electronic power steering apparatus, thus increasing the component cost and the number of the components.

Torque detecting apparatus and electric power steering apparatus


A process for treating a polysaccharide with a dialdehyde in the presence of from 10 to 40 weight percent of water, based on the total weight of polysaccharide and water, is beneficially conducted in a mixing device characterized by a FROUDE number FRw of larger than 11, wherein ωw is the angular frequency in sec-1 and is defined as 2*π*RPM/60, RPM is the rotational speed of the mixing device in revolutions per minute, Rw is the radius of the mixing device in m, and g is the acceleration due to gravity in m/s2.

Water-soluble polysaccharides, such as water-soluble cellulose ethers have found widespread use in many applications, such as binders, thickeners, or protective colloids. The most important properties of cellulose ethers are their solubility combined with chemical stability and non-toxicity. Water solubility and/or organo-solubility can be controlled within wide ranges by different types of ether substituents at the cellulose chain, as well as via the degree of substitution (DS) and the pattern of substitution. Accordingly, cellulose ethers are generally applied, in the dissolved or highly swollen state, to many areas of industry and domestic life, with the spectrum of applications ranging from auxiliaries in large-scale emulsions or suspension polymerization, through to additives for paints and wall paper adhesives, to viscosity enhancers in cosmetics and foodstuffs.
However, introduction of a cellulose ether which is normally in dry powder form into water or aqueous systems is frequently associated with problems, since water-soluble cellulose ethers tend to gel on the surface when added to water, and form lumps. This results in undesirably long dissolution times.
It has been known for a long time that the dissolution behavior of cellulose ethers can be influenced by means of an after- or post-treatment to counteract these problems. One known method is the reduction of the initial dissolution rate, often called "delayed or retarded solubility" to ensure that the cellulose ether is homogeneously distributed in water before starting to dissolve. This delay can be achieved, for instance, by a reversible cross-linkage with glyoxal.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,297,583; 3,997,508 and 5,674,999 for example, describe a process for pretreating cellulose ethers in essentially dry state with lower alkyl aldehydes and lower alkyl dialdehydes, such as glyoxal. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,997,508 and 5,674,999 disclose that the treatment with glyoxal is followed by heating. The glyoxal treatment in U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,999 is conducted in a high intensity mixer. Unfortunately, quite high glyoxal concentrations are typically needed to achieve a sufficiently retarded solubility. Reducing the glyoxal concentrations often results in a solubility which is not sufficiently retarded for many applications. Moreover, the heating step disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,997,508 and 5,674,999 can have a negative impact on the cellulose ether, such as partial degradation or partial discoloration, additional time needed for the heating step and the difficulty in achieving a consistent degree of cross-linking.
British Patent Specification GB 1,080,249 discloses a process wherein powdered methyl cellulose with a water content of 40 to 70% is kneaded at a pH value between 3 and 7 to a homogeneous mass with a water-soluble dialdehyde. U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,139 discloses the treatment of a moist cellulose ether having a water content of 40 to 80% with glyoxal in a twin-screw extruder in the presence of an alkali metal dihydrogen phosphate and a di(alkali metal) hydrogen phosphate. Unfortunately, the high water content has several disadvantages, such as high stickiness of the cellulose ether, which makes its handling during and after glyoxal treatment more difficult. Moreover, the high water content increases the energy demand for drying and grinding the cellulose ether.

Treatment of polysaccarides with dialdehydes

Abstract: Fr    w    =                    ω        w        2                          R        w              g


A method and an associated system for monitoring and instantly identifying faults in a data communication cable are disclosed. A fault monitoring program learns a reference data traffic pattern communicated through the data communication cable by reading inputs from a sensor. The reference data traffic pattern is stored and is used for determining normalcy of data traffic through the data communication cable. The fault monitoring program monitors for a fault in a data traffic, and, if a fault is detected, activates a fault indicator sending out fault signals to notify users of the fault. If the fault is not recovered within a predefined recovery period, the fault monitoring program deactivates the fault indicator and shuts down a power source for later use of the data communication cable.

Conventional data communication cables employed in a computer network environment may fail to transmit data signals. In contemporary computer network environments, there are numerous data communication cables with identical exteriors. To locate a faulty cable, it is necessary to manually track a data communication cable from a suspected computer suffering a communication problem, or, to manually test all suspicious data communication cables if manual tracking is impossible. Also, in manual testing, all computers that are linked through any suspicious data communication cable should also be removed from the network during the test, which results in a costly disruption of a normal operation. These methods for identifying a faulty data communication cable are time consuming, labor intensive, and increase the risk of accidentally causing data communication loss between networked computers.
Thus, there is a need to overcome at least one of the preceding disadvantages of current methods and systems for identifying faults in data communication cables.

Method and system for monitoring and instantly identifying faults in data communication cables

International Business Machines Corporation


A tandem-type image forming apparatus for forming a multi-color image on a sheet transported by an endless transfer/transport belt, by sequentially laying on the sheet images developed in respective image forming stations. The apparatus includes: transfer rollers, each in contact through the transfer/transport belt with an image carrier provided in each image forming station; and a voltage applying device for applying a non-transfer bias voltage to only the transfer rollers that are in contact with the image carriers when a transfer process is not performed, the non-transfer bias voltage having the same polarity as a transfer bias voltage and being lower than the transfer bias voltage.

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming stations.
An electrophotographic image forming process includes a transfer process in which a developed image formed with developer (hereinafter referred to as a developer image) on a surface of an image carrier is transferred to a sheet material transported near the image carrier.
In the transfer process, a transfer bias voltage is generally applied to a transfer electrode which is in contact with a surface of the sheet material, the surface being a reverse side with no image to be formed thereon. Typical examples of the transfer electrode are a transfer roller and a transfer/transport belt. The transfer bias voltage is typically from about +1.5 kV to +4 kV of opposite polarity to the developer.
The transfer bias voltage is usually opposite in polarity to an electric potential of the image carrier. There is thus possibility of the surface of the image carrier being irregularly charged by contact with the transfer electrode where the transfer bias voltage is applied. The irregular charging of the image carrier occurs more likely when there is no sheet material between the transfer electrode and the image carrier and thus the transfer electrode are in direct contact with the image carrier.
This is why some conventional image forming apparatuses have utilized a control method by which a transfer bias voltage is applied to a transfer electrode in a timely manner when a sheet material is transported in between an image carrier and the transfer electrode.
However, it is hard to apply the transfer bias voltage to the transfer electrode in accurate timing with transportation of a sheet material. A slight delay in applying the transfer bias voltage causes the fact that a developer image is not transferred to a front portion of a sheet material. If the transfer bias voltage is applied untimely, the image carrier is charged irregularly, causing image quality deterioration.
In the aforementioned method, moreover, the transfer bias voltage is not applied to the transfer electrode when there is no sheet material between the image carrier and the transfer electrode. Accordingly, the transfer electrode can be negatively charged under the influence of the image carrier having a negative charge. This results in the problem that the transfer electrode cannot be charged appropriately even though the transfer bias voltage is applied thereto.
Thus, in some conventional art methods, when there is no sheet material between an image carrier and a transfer electrode, a voltage of the same polarity as the transfer bias voltage is applied to the transfer electrode, the voltage being very low compared to the transfer bias voltage. The conventional art argues that it can prevent the transfer electrode from being negatively charged while the transfer process is not performed, thereby allowing appropriate application of the transfer bias voltage in the transfer process. The conventional art also argues that it can prevent irregular charging of the image carrier and the transfer electrode even when they are in direct contact with each other.
The foregoing method for controlling the transfer bias voltage is disclosed in JP H02-39181 A (see line 11, upper right column on page 3, to line 8, upper left column on page 4, and FIG. 3), JP H05-150577 A (see paragraphs [0021] to [0023], FIGS. 1 and 2), and JP H10-142893 A (see paragraphs [0044] to [0047], FIG. 1), for example. A power unit for controlling the transfer bias voltage as described above is disclosed in JP H07-181814 A and JP H07-20727 A, for example.
However, in a tandem-type image forming apparatus provided with a plurality of image forming stations, the aforementioned method for controlling the transfer bias voltage sometimes cannot be utilized appropriately. As a typical example of the tandem-type image forming apparatus, let us consider here an image forming apparatus for forming a multi-color image on a sheet material transported by a transfer electrode provided in endless form, by sequentialy transferring onto the sheet material developer images formed in the respective image forming stations.
In this tandem-type image forming apparatus, if the aforementioned method for controlling the transfer bias voltage is used in the image forming stations, the voltage is sequentially applied to the transfer electrode when the transfer process is not performed. Thus, a positive potential of the transfer electrode increases to a higher level than necessary. This causes excessive amount of developer to be transferred to the transfer electrode, resulting in problems such as image quality deterioration and developer wastage. It also causes irregular charging of the image carrier that is in contact with the transfer electrode.

Image forming apparatus having transfer bias voltage


A processing device for video signals has a memory device suitable to store discrete image elements of a video field and a filtering device supplied by the memory device and suitable to recover errors introduced by the memory device. The filtering device includes a filter, noise detector means, and soft-switch means. The filter has an input supplied with digital signals representative of values of a plurality of discrete image elements and comprises an image element to be examined and neighboring image elements. The discrete image elements is stored in the memory device, and an output supplying digital signals representative of a filtered value of the image element to be examined. The noise detector means operating on fuzzy-logic rules has an input supplied with the digital signals representative of the plurality of values of the image elements and an output supplying a weight signal representative of a degree of erroneousness of the discrete image element to be examined. The noise detector circuit determines the degree of erroneousness by comparing the value of the image element to be examined with the values of the neighboring image elements. The soft-switch means has a first, second and third input and an output. The first input is supplied with the digital signals representative of the value of the image element to be examined. The second input is supplied with the output of the filter. The third input is supplied with the weight signal. The output supplies digital signals representative of a weighted average of the output of the filter and of the digital signals representative of the value of the image element to be examined according to respective weights determined by the degree of erroneousness.

DSP techniques are increasingly used in video applications, and particularly in television (TV) systems, because they allow the quality of the video signal to be enhanced without the need to change the current transmission standard.
Based on such techniques, a number of integrated devices are nowadays available which allow one to add to a normal TV appliance several features, for example line and field frequency doubling, noise reduction, brightness enhancement, and so on. A TV appliance equipped with such devices is referred to as an "Improved Quality TV" (IQTV).
As known, the video signal has a three-dimensional structure, having two spatial dimensions (horizontal and vertical) and a temporal dimension that conveys motion or scene change informations.
IQTV circuits acting on all three dimensions of the video signal, for example filters for scanning rate conversion, such as line frequency or field frequency doubling, require some kind of memory device. Generally, these memory devices are known under the name of field memories, due to the fact that they are capable of storing the image data related to one video field, e.g., 720*288*8 bits for the luminance signal and 360*288*2*8 bits for the chrominance signal, assuming that a 4:2:2 sampling format is adopted.
If, due to some failure in the manufacturing process, some memory cells of the field memory do not work properly, noise is added to the image. In fact, one or more pixels could be wrong and an outline would be visible in the image at the output of the field memory. Depending on the position of the defective memory cell, noise configurations like impulsive noise or salt-and-pepper noise are obtained. This kind of artifact is very annoying because the wrong pixels are always in the same position of the TV screen, causing a sort of dirty window effect. As a consequence, a field memory containing even a single defective memory cell is useless and must be discarded.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that, thanks to the progress in integrated circuit technologies, future field memories will be only a part of a more complex integrated circuit, so that the presence of defective memory cells in the field memory will cause the refusal of the whole integrated device, with a great impact on the yield of the manufacturing process.
As known, particular error-correction coding strategies have already been developed, such as Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), polynomial codes and so on, but all these techniques require extra memory bits in addition to those necessary to store the video signal information. The overhead caused by the additional memory bits negatively affects the overall yield.


The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing semiconductor components having a titanium nitride layer including the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate with a transistor including a gate and source/drain regions, depositing an insulating layer above the semiconductor substrate, etching the insulating layer to form an opening exposing the source/drain region below, depositing an ultra-thin titanium nitride layer having a grainy particulate profile and a thickness of about 0.5 nm to 2 nm around the edge and at the bottom of the opening, depositing a metallic layer over various aforementioned layers, and forming a metal silicide layer by heating the semiconductor substrate to allow the metallic layer to react with silicon on the semiconductor substrate surface.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates in general to a method of manufacturing semiconductor components having a titanium nitride (TiN) layer, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor component suitable for application in shallow junction and self-aligned suicide processes which can lower the formation temperature of C-54 phase titanium silicide (C-54 TiSi.sub.2), and hence increase the stability of components.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional self-aligned silicide processes are commonly applied to the fabrication of very large scale integration (VLSI) products that have a linewidth of less than about 0.5 m. When the level of integration for semiconductor components is increased, resistance in the source or drain region of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) component will correspondingly increase until it is comparable with the resistance of the MOS channel. In order to lower the sheet resistance of the source and drain terminals, as well as ensuring the integrity of the shallow junction between a metal layer and the MOS, self-aligned silicide processes or salicide processes are employed.
FIGS. 1A through 1D are a series of cross-sectional views showing the manufacturing steps of a salicide process. First, referring to FIG. 1A, an MOS transistor having a gate 11, source/drain regions 12, and spacers 13 are formed above a silicon substrate 10. A metallic layer 14 with a thickness of about 200 .ANG. to 1000 .ANG. is then deposited on the surface of the silicon substrate 10 through a magnetron DC sputtering method as shown in FIG. 1B. Subsequently, upon application of a high temperature, part of the metallic layer 14 reacts with silicon above the source/drain regions 12 and polysilicon above the gate 11 of the MOS transistor, thereby forming silicide layers 15, as shown in FIG. 1C. The unreacted residual metal remaining after the reactive process is then removed by a wet etching method, thereby leaving behind the metal silicide layers 15 on the top surfaces of the MOS terminals, as shown in FIG. 1D.
Titanium (Ti) is one of the most commonly used materials for the salicide processes. Other materials utilized include cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and platinum (Pt). The metal suicide layer formed by a conventional salicide process, such as a titanium silicide layer, has two basic structures, a metastable C-49 phase titanium silicide (C-49 TiSi.sub.2) structure, and a thermodynamically more stable C-54 phase titanium silicide (C-54 TiSi.sub.2) structure having a lower resistance. C-49 phase titanium silicide has a resistance of between about 60 .mu..OMEGA./cm to 90 .mu..OMEGA./cm and a formation temperature of between about 400.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. C-54 phase titanium silicide has a lower resistance of between about 14 .mu..OMEGA./cm to 16 .mu..OMEGA./cm, but a rather high formation temperature of between about 700.degree. C. to 750.degree. C. In the manufacturing process, generally the higher resistance C-49 phase titanium silicide will be transformed to a lower resistance C-54 phase titanium silicide through the application of a rapid thermal processing (RTP). However, when a VLSI techniques is used for the production of integrated circuits having linewidths of less than about 0.25 m, the formation temperature of C-54 phase titanium silicide will rise to between about 800.degree. C. and 900.degree. C. due to the linewidth size effects. This so-called linewidth size effect is the relationship between the linewidth and the phase transformation temperature. According to this relationship, as the linewidth gets smaller, the transformation temperature necessary for the change from the higher resistance C-49 phase to the lower resistance C-54 phase increases. If the temperature used in RTP is raised to within the formation temperature of a C-54 phase titanium silicide, the titanium silicide layer so formed will have rather unstable properties and may therefore be unsuitable for small dimensional devices. Hence, how to lower the formation temperature for C-54 phase titanium silicide in small dimensional devices has become a major research topic for both academic institutions as well as semiconductor manufacturers.
Conventional methods for lowering the formation temperature of C-54 phase titanium silicide include the interposition of a heat resisting refractory metallic layer such as a molybdenum (Mo) or tungsten (W), or the use of an ion doped amorphous semiconductor substrate formed below the required metal silicide layer. However, the above methods, while still being in the experimental state, will all increase the complexity of the manufacturing process. Therefore, as to date, such methods cannot be directly applied to the fabrication of wafers.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor components having a titanium nitride layer


A system and method is presented for synthesizing both a design under test (DUT) and its test environment (i.e., the testbench for the DUT), into an equivalent structural model suitable for execution on a reconfigurable hardware platform. This may be achieved without any change in the existing verification methodology. Behavioral HDL may be translated into a form that can be executed on a reconfigurable hardware platform. A set of compilation transforms are provided that convert behavioral constructs into RTL constructs that can be directly mapped onto an emulator. Such transforms are provided by introducing the concepts of a behavioral clock and a time advance finite state machine (FSM) that determines simulation time and sequences concurrent computing blocks in the DUT and the testbench.

Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) are predominantly used to describe integrated circuit designs. Various HDLs exist in the market today such as Very High Speed Integrated Circuit HDL (VHDL), Verilog, and System Verilog. HDL may be used to describe a design at various levels of abstraction. For instance, VHDL supports many possible levels/styles of design description. These styles differ primarily in how closely they relate to the underlying hardware. Some levels focus more on the behavior and dataflow of a design, while other levels focus more on the structural and timing aspects of the design.
For example, integrated circuit designs may be described at the dataflow level of abstraction, often called the register transfer level (RTL). In this intermediate level of abstraction, a design is described in terms of how data moves through the design. At the heart of most digital systems today are registers, and an RTL model describes how information is passed between registers in the design. This movement is synchronized at specific points of time which are indicated by the changes of values of a special design signal commonly known as a clock. Typically, while an RTL model of the combinational logic portions of the design is described at a relatively high level, the timing and operation of registers in the design are described more specifically. RTL is therefore an intermediate level that allows the drudgery of combinational logic to be simplified (and automatically generated by logic synthesis tools) while the more important parts of the circuit, the registers, are more completely specified. Once the design is specified in an RTL model, RTL synthesis tools translate, or synthesize, this model into a still lower level model of abstraction, i.e., into a gate-level structural model. Synthesis refers to the process of transformation of a design model from a higher level of abstraction to a lower level. These transformations typically try to improve upon a set of objective metrics (e.g., area, speed, power dissipation) of a design.
Once a design has been described, the design is typically verified for proper functionality prior to physical fabrication as an integrated circuit chip. While being tested, an HDL model of a design is called a Design Under Test (DUT). This DUT (which is an RTL design model) is simulated using a testbench. The testbench generates a set of input test vectors, or stimuli, and applies the stimuli to the DUT. The testbench also reads a set of output test vectors from the DUT in response to the stimuli. The testbench collects the responses made by the DUT against a specification of correct results. A testbench in its traditional form is described at a behavioral level and defines the environment for the DUT in its target system. Behavioral HDL, which is the currently highest level of abstraction supported in HDL, describes a design in terms of what it does (or how it behaves) rather than in terms of its structural components and interconnection between them. To do so, a behavioral model specifies a relationship between signals within the design as well as inputs to and outputs from the design. When creating a behavioral model of a design, one describes the operation of the design over time. The usage of time is a critical distinction between behavioral descriptions of circuits and lower-level descriptions such as a dataflow level of abstraction.
In a behavioral description, time may be expressed precisely as absolute delays between related events (such as the propagation delays within gates and on wires), or time may be a factor by defining the sequential ordering of events. Synthesis tools currently attempt to transform behavioral HDL models into lower-level HDL models. However, synthesis tools presently do not attempt to maintain the identical behavior in actual circuitry as defined in the behavioral model. In other words, exact time sequencing of the design elements are not preserved in synthesis. Therefore, such synthesis tools can not be used for synthesizing behavioral testbenches.
Design verification may be performed using a variety of methods. For example, software based simulators are the most commonly used verification tools. Software simulators have an advantage in that they can accept HDL at any level of abstraction, such as a behavioral level of abstraction, thus providing a way to simulate both a DUT (in RTL) and its testbench (in behavioral description). However, simulators have a disadvantage in that, for large designs, simulators typically can achieve a speed of not more than a few tens to hundreds of clock cycles per second (cps).
To increase the overall simulation speed, co-simulation approaches have been used, in which the behavioral testbench runs on a software simulator and the RTL DUT is executed onto a reconfigurable hardware platform. The reconfigurable hardware platform may be implemented as, e.g., a plurality of reconfigurable hardware elements, such as a set of general-purpose processors and/or Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).
To execute the DUT on the reconfigurable hardware platform (referred to as an emulator), the RTL model of the DUT is first translated into a structural model using an RTL synthesis tool. This structural model, known as a netlist, describes a circuit in terms of interconnection of gate level components.
The structural level, as mentioned, describes a system as a collection of logic gates and their interconnection to perform a desired function. It is a representation that is closer to the physical realization of a system. Thereafter, the emulator runs the structural level description of the DUT at the actual binary gate levels and is therefore, considerably faster than a simulator being used for the same purpose. However, the testbenches in a co-simulation approach are still written in a behavioral HDL and are run on a software platform/simulator. The emulator and the simulator have to communicate with each other in order to maintain synchronization with each other. Such frequent communication taxes the resources of the emulator and simulator, thus reducing the potential speed at which the system may operate. Because of this limitation, co-simulation speed is typically only 3 to 10 times of the software simulation speed. Co-simulation has another disadvantage that they require memories that have to be re-modeled in terms of the memories available in the emulator.

Method and system for hardware accelerated verification of digital circuit design and its testbench


A method of synchronizing respective state transitions in a group of devices including at least one responding device is disclosed. The group of devices is communicatively coupled to an initiating device via a communication network. The method includes the at least one responding device receiving a trigger message from the initiating device. The trigger message includes a state transition time or a time from which a state transition time is obtainable. The method further includes the at least one responding device jointly making a respective state transition at the state transition time. A responding device, and a system including the initiating device and the responding device are also disclosed.

During testing of a device-under-test (DUT) using a number of measurement instruments, it is sometimes desirable to synchronize tasks on the various instruments so that the tasks are carried out at the same time where necessary. Examples of such tasks are those required for simultaneously measuring the output voltage and output current of a DUT in response to a stimulus signal. To make such measurements in the prior art, a test system including an LXI function generator and two LXI digital multimeters (DMMs) are required. These test and measurement instruments are able to communicate directly with one another via multicast messages to perform time-based measurements. All the instruments will be able to send time-stamped data to one another. With the IEEE 1588 time synchronization protocol, any discrepancies in the clocks in the different instruments can be reduced to less than 50 ns. It is desirable to synchronize operations in these LXI instruments when a DUT arrives at the test system. When the DUT arrives, the function generator outputs a stimulus signal, and when the stimulus signal has settled, the DMMs make their respective measurements. It is important for the DMMs to make the respective measurements at the same time. There are other distributed systems that include interacting devices whose operations are to be synchronized so that, where necessary, at least some of these operations are carried out at the same time.

Method and a system for synchronising respective state transitions in a group of devices


An MRI control system with a user interface which is windows inspired by including toolbars at the upper side of the window, providing active labels related to specific examinations or classes of tasks, each label opening specific windows related to the task again provided with toolbars, active buttons and menus. According to a further aspect the control system is configured for providing a dynamic interaction between the records in a database relating to single cases of the same patient or of different patient, which allows to address the record of a database to which a visualized image or data report belongs by simply clicking on the image or report or by visualizing the said image or report.

The invention relates to an MRI apparatus control system, a user interface for managing the said control system and an MRI system comprising the said control system and the said user interface.
Current MRI imaging systems are provided with control systems which are computer implemented devices allowing to manage the settings of the scanner for carrying out the image acquisition process, the image reconstruction process extracting image data from the received signals and reconstructing an image or a sequence of images from the image data, processing the image data and/or the image or images in order to extract information, store the acquired image or images by univocally correlating the images to a patient and or to other data, such as for example a pathology related to the acquired image or images, manage the patient database and other activities such as for example manage a database of scanning protocols, image reconstruction protocols and or image processing protocols.
US2007055135 discloses a diagnostic imaging system, in particular a magnetic resonance imaging system with a user interface. The diagnostic imaging system comprises a control system to control the execution of operational items by the diagnostic imaging system. A user interface is coupled to the control system, the user interface including a scheduler module which forms an ordered selection of operational items. The operational items are executed on the basis of the ordered selection. The ordered selection concerns the order, timing and conditions to be fulfilled to execute the operational items. The control system and the user interface are limited to merely input the settings of the MRI scanner for acquiring an image and for managing the workflow of the image acquisition and reconstruction steps.
Another example of control system for an MRI imaging system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,353,445B1. This document discloses a user interface for interactively exchanging service data between medical diagnostic systems and remote field service facilities. The interface provides a series of user-viewable pages for the display and input of service requests, service reports, messages, protocols. The user interface may further include on-screen input devices, such as graphical buttons, for executing service requests, accessing service messages and reports. The image processing engine cannot be accessed directly by the user of the MRI system, nor the user of the MRI system is able to govern or influence the image processing or CAD processes applied to the image data or to the image.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,161B1 discloses a computer-implemented method and apparatus for workflow configuration and execution in medical imaging. One embodiment comprises the steps of creating and storing a workflow template which comprises a standard form for entering data and activities, filling out the workflow template with data and a sequence of activities, and executing the sequence of activities according to the workflow template. A user interface allows the user to input or select preloaded or pre-set settings for carrying out the said method.
All the above control systems apply only for a specific limited part of the activities connected with acquiring, reconstructing, processing and storing and archiving diagnostic images acquired with an MRI imaging system. The interfaces are directed to highly skilled users and the functions and setting parameter are not expressed in terms of the results to be obtained on the image, but in terms of the mathematical geometrical and physical variables connected therewith. This renders the user interface obscure for many non-specifically trained users and obliges to provide for highly specialised users increasing the costs of the diagnostic imaging process.
Furthermore, also specifically trained and highly specialised users have difficulties in using interfaces of MRI scanners from different producers without a training which is focussed on the specific MRI system
As it appears also from the cited documents which are only some examples of the existing control systems and user interfaces, the image processing tasks such as CAD systems are provided by third parties or delocalized processing servers which are not part of the control system of the MRI system and which provide an user interface which allows merely to request a service to the delocalized Image processing and CAD server without enabling the user to access or control the image processing and CAD tools.
Prior art standard control systems for MRI systems are based on controls, such as menus or buttons identified by icons or text which are not logically correlated to final image appearance or the identification and eventually the interpretation of features which are present in the acquired images. At the end of the process the radiologists are interested in the results of the image acquisition and of the image processing step which is normally identified by the effect applied to the image or image data and not in the specific techniques used for acquiring, reconstructing and processing the images or the image data. In current control systems the user interface is such that it is the operator/user who has to translate his experience/know-how in proper system's settings adapted to the real-time scan needs. The current image end user controls are based on standard workflow setting parameters which are more related to the physics of the imaging process and to the mathematics of the image processing tools or to physiology and biology than to the final appearance of the images visualized on the display. For doctors or paramedical operators which have a limited knowledge of the system workflow and of the physical processes governing the imaging it is often difficult to influence the image appearance by controlling the values of the said standard workflow setting parameters. Furthermore, many different standard workflow setting parameters have an influence on a certain feature of the image acquisition process and/or of the image processing and/or of the image and patient management so that the operator has to control several different setting parameters directed to several different technical and non-technical fields.
As it appears from the current state of the art, User interfaces with the MRI apparatus have a very technical interface which requests a deeper knowledge of the architecture and way of operating the apparatus in order to be understood and navigated.
This is a drawback because it prevents that service persons at paramedical level can use the MRI scanner by correctly choosing the settings for obtaining diagnostically useful images.
Due to the world-wide trend to reduce health costs by avoiding to employ high degree trained persons for carrying out tasks which could be executed by persons having a lower level of preparation it is an important and strategic choice to develop user interfaces which are more and more user friendly and helps the user either intuitively or by simple tutorials to be able to service the apparatus and correctly acquire diagnostic images.
Furthermore, reduction of times from the start of the examination to the evaluation of the examination and the management of the patient files is important since due to the physics of the imaging process the duration of the image acquisition cannot be reduced in a simple way. Thus, dead times of the non-physical steps and tasks are the key criteria for reducing the global time of each examination and thus rendering the MRI system more effective from the point of view of the number of examination per time unit and of the costs.


Provided is a communication device including a communication control unit that inserts, into a destination field of a data packet, intermediate node designation information designating an intermediate node different from a destination node of the data packet on a path to the destination node, and a transmission unit that transmits the data packet into which the intermediate node designation information is inserted.

Recently, a form of communication referred to as machine-type communication (MTC) communication or machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in which a terminal device connected to a communication network independently performs communication without involving human intervention has been widely used. For example, a household gas meter is used as an MTC terminal and the remaining amount of gas is periodically transmitted from the meter to a server of a provider, so that the provider can recognize an amount of gas used in each household without requiring an inspector to perform a meter reading operation. In addition, the MTC communication, for example, can be used for various purposes such as transmission of an inventory quantity from a vending machine, transmission of the remaining amount of toner from a copier, transportation management in the transportation industry, and monitoring for security. The use of the MTC communication is also expected to expand in the future.
When the use of the MTC communication becomes widespread, the number of terminals to be accommodated by a communication network significantly increases. As a result, congestion of traffic within the communication network occurs and a communication failure or deterioration of quality of service (QoS) is likely to be problematic.
The following Patent Literature 1 proposes technology for monitoring a state of a communication node in a mobile communication network and changing a forwarding path of a signal from a terminal when congestion or abnormality has been detected.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communication device, communication control method, and communication system


An embedded optical fiber termination device includes a fiber holder with an inner bore and an outer surface. The inner bore is configured to receive a length of optical fiber therein. A removable armature is positioned about a portion of the outer surface of the fiber holder and is removably positioned around a portion of the fiber holder. A composite structure and a method of using the embedded device are also provided.

The Present Disclosure relates generally to optical fiber termination devices and, more particularly, to a device for positioning an optical fiber embedded in a composite structure.
Composite structures such as panels and beams are used in many applications including the aerospace and automotive industries. In some applications, it is desirable to embed optical fibers within the structure, either as paths for communication or as fiber optic sensors such as for monitoring the strain to which the composite material is or has been subjected. One such type of strain sensor involves embedding an optical fiber having reflective elements, known as a Fiber Bragg Grating ("FBG"), within the layers of the composite material. Shifts in strain may be determined by transmitting a known light source through the FBG and monitoring changes in the wavelength of light reflected back by the FBG.
Composite structures are typically formed of a plurality of sheets or plies of fabric-like material with a bonding agent between or around the plies. During the forming or layup process, the plies are positioned in a desired pattern with the bonding agent between each of the plies and optical fibers may be positioned in a desired location between the layers. Depending upon the process being used, the structure is then typically heated or cured at an elevated temperature, which in some instances may occur at approximately 350° C.
It is often desirable for the optical fibers embedded within the composite structure to exit at an edge of the structure. However, composite panels are often manufactured to a general length and then trimmed afterwards to a specific, desired length. If the embedded optical fibers are cut as the composite panel is trimmed, the optical fibers must be subsequently located and terminated. Cost effective and small sized termination and polishing of the cut optical fibers post-trimming has proven difficult and time consuming. Accordingly, an improved device for positioning and terminating optical fibers along an edge of a composite structure is desired.

Embedded optical fiber termination device


A liquid storage tank can be manufactured with improved efficiency and greater strength by creating bent sheets to form the sides and bottom portions of the tank. The interior corner of the bend is reinforced by an extrusion weld. Two or more of the side/bottom bent sections are then butt jointed together to form a rectangular, t-shaped, or other shaped tank. The tank is completed by two end pieces extrusion welded to the bent side/bottom pieces and a lid extrusion welded to the sides.

Large liquid storage tanks, such as those used on fire engines, etc., have high strength requirements due to the weight of the liquid stored in the tank. Liquid storage tanks for fire engines, for example, can hold a thousand gallons or more of water and must obviously do so with a high reliability.
Such liquid storage tanks have been developed with side, bottom and top pieces welded together to form the tank. Side, bottom and top pieces are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. These pieces were hand welded together by a traditional weld, such as the triple weld shown in FIGS. 2, 3a and 3b, or by the tri-rod weld shown in FIG. 4. In the triple weld of FIGS. 2, 3a and 3b, a side piece 10 and a bottom piece 12, for example, were welded together by a hot tip hand welder guided along the side-bottom seam while " width side 10 and bottom 12 pieces. The welder melted the welding rods 20 and applied them to the interior corner junction between the side piece 10 and the bottom 12. Three such welding rods 20 (FIG. 3b) were placed overlapping each other in the manner shown in FIG. 3a to form the weld 15.
As shown in FIG. 2, the triple welds 15 were used in the junctions formed between the abutting sides 20 and bottom 12. The welds 15 were also used in the junctions formed between the abutting sides 20 and top 14.
An alternative to the triple welds was the triangular rod weld 22, shown in FIG. 4. In the triangular weld embodiment, the side piece 10 was welded to the bottom piece 12 by a triangular welding rod 22 by pushing the rod 22 into the hot tip hand welder as the operator guided the hand welder along the side-bottom or side-top seam.
The triple weld 15 and the triangular rod weld 22 could hold the sides, bottom and top pieces together under the force of the water weight. But, improvements in strength are always desirable in order to increase tank capacities and to reduce material costs.


Novel Shine-Dalgarno (ribosome binding site) sequences, vectors containing such sequences, and host cells transformed with these vectors are provided. Methods of use of such sequences, vectors, and host cells for the efficient production of proteins and fragments thereof in prokaryotic systems are also provided. In particular embodiments of the invention, compounds and methods for high efficiency production of soluble protein in prokaryotic systems are provided.

The level of production of a protein in a host cell is determined by three major factors: the number of copies of its structural gene within the cell, the efficiency with which the structural gene copies are transcribed and the efficiency with which the resulting messenger RNA ("mRNA") is translated. The transcription and translation efficiencies are, in turn, dependent on nucleotide sequences that are normally situated ahead of the desired structural genes or the translated sequence. These nucleotide sequences, also known as expression control sequences, define, inter alia, the locations at which RNA polymerase binds (the promoter sequence to initiate transcription; see also EMBO J. 5:2995–3000 (1986)) and at which ribosomes bind and interact with the mRNA (the product of transcription) to initiate translation.
In most prokaryotes, the purine-rich ribosome binding site known as the Shine-Dalgarno (S-D) sequence assists with the binding and positioning of the 30S ribosome component relative to the start codon on the mRNA through interaction with a pyrimidine-rich region of the 16S ribosomal RNA. See, e.g., Shine & Dalgarno, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 71:1342–46 (1976). The S-D sequence is located on the mRNA downstream from the start of transcription and upstream from the start of translation, typically from 4–14 nucleotides upstream of the start codon, and more typically from 8–10 nucleotides upstream of the start codon. Because of the role of the S-D sequence in translation, there is a direct relationship between the efficiency of translation and the efficiency (or strength) of the S-D sequence.
Not all S-D sequences have the same efficiency, however. Accordingly, prior attempts have been made to increase the efficiency of ribosomal binding, positioning, and translation by, inter alia, changing the distance between the S-D sequence and the start codon, changing the composition of the space between the S-D sequence and the start codon, modifying an existing S-D sequence, using a heterologous S-D sequence, and manipulating of the secondary structure of mRNA during the initiation of translation. Despite these changes, however, success in increasing of protein expression efficiency in prokaryotic systems has remained an elusive and unpredictable goal due to a variety of factors, including, inter alia, the host cells used, the expression control sequences (including the S-D sequence) used, and the characteristics of the gene and protein being expressed. See, e.g., Stenstrom, et al., Gene 273(2):259–265 (2001); Komarova, et al., Bioorg. Kbim. 27(4)282–290 (2001); Stenstrom, et al., Gene 263(1–2):273–284 (2001); and Mironova, et al., Microbiol. Res. 154(1):35–41 (1999). For example, efficient expression of soluble B. anthracis protective antigen (PA) has proved difficult in E. coli. See, e.g., Sharma, et al. Protein Expression and Purification 7:33–38 (1996) (indicating 0.5 mg/L at 70% purity); Chauhan, et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.; 283(2):308–15 (2001) (indicating 125 mg/L); Gupta, et al. Protein Expr. Purif. 16(3):369–76 (1999) (indicating 2 mg/L).
Accordingly, there remains a demand in the art for compositions and methods for increasing the efficiency of ribosome binding and translation in prokaryotic systems, thereby resulting in increased efficiency of protein expression. This demand is especially strong for proteins that are difficult to express in existing systems, and for proteins that are desired in large quantity for pharmacological, therapeutic, or industrial use.

Modified shine-dalgarno sequences and methods of use thereof


The returnless regulator includes a housing having a movable diaphragm defining a portion of a fuel regulating chamber. A normally open valve receives pressurized fuel from a fuel pump and lies in communication on its opposite side with the chamber. The diaphragm includes a projection engaging a valve element for moving the valve element away from its seat and enabling increased flow of fuel from the fuel pump through the valve into the chamber in response to fuel pressure in the chamber below a predetermined fuel regulation pressure and enabling the valve member for movement toward the valve seat, thereby enabling decreased flow of fuel from the fuel pump through the valve into the chamber in response to a fuel pressure in the chamber above the predetermined fuel regulation pressure. A retainer ring has recesses registering with openings in the lower housing part in communication with the chamber for flowing fuel to the fuel rail. The retainer ring engages an O-ring seal for sealing the regulator in a socket in the fuel rail. A filter is provided the inlet port for the regulator.

In the returnless regulator system set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,077, of common assignee herewith, a fuel pump supplies a flow of fuel to a pressure regulator adjacent a fuel rail at a constant flow rate for all fuel demand modes, i.e., at all engine or vehicle speeds. The system fuel pressure provided by the fuel pump is maintained at a slightly higher pressure than the pressure in the fuel rail. The function of the returnless regulator is to reduce the pressure supplied by the fuel pump to the predetermined regulation pressure which enables the fuel pressure in the fuel rail and the fuel injectors to deliver the correct amount of fuel to the engine. Thus, the lower fuel rail pressure is determined by the returnless regulator, while the slightly higher system pressure is determined by a pressure relief valve carried within a fuel pump module located with a fuel tank. This enables the pressure regulator to be mounted on the fuel rail closer to the engine as compared to other non-return fuel systems in which a regulator is mounted in the fuel tank. The pressure relief valve enables the excess fuel to be returned to the fuel pump module without a fuel return line from the returnless regulator to the fuel pump module or fuel tank. Also, the returnless regulator can be optionally vacuumed referenced to the intake manifold so that a constant differential pressure across the fuel injectors can be maintained.

Integral returnless pressure regulator for a fuel injection system


In one embodiment, a sheet media input structure includes a sheet supporting surface, a movable pad downstream from the supporting surface, and a pair of stationary pads downstream from the supporting surface at a location where the stationary pads impede a leading edge of sheets fed from a stack of sheets supported by the supporting surface. The movable pad is movable between a first position in which the movable pad impedes a leading edge of sheets fed from the stack and a second position in which the movable pad does not impede the leading edge of sheets fed from the stack.

In many conventional printers, individual sheets of paper or other print media are fed into the printer off the top of a stack of sheets held in a horizontally oriented tray. Typically, a pick roller is rotated against the top sheet to slide the top sheet off the stack and into the printer. Friction between sheets in the stack sometimes causes the top two or three sheets in the stack to stick together as the top sheet is picked from the stack. The next-to-top sheets must be separated from the top sheet to avoid feeding multiple sheets into the printer at the same time. In one conventional input structure for a horizontal feed printer, the next-to-top sheets are separated from the top sheet by driving the sheets across an elastomeric pad positioned at the front of the media input tray. This pad is often referred to as a separator pad because it's function is to separate the top sheet in the stack from next-to-top sheets in the stack so that only the top sheet moves into the printer. In some printers, such as Hewlett-Packard Company's Deskjet® 5150 model injet printer, the separator pad is lifted against the pick roller at the beginning of the pick cycle and then quickly lowered to momentarily increase the separating effect of the pad.
The active separator pad design used in the Deskjet® 5150 works well when media sheets are picked from a horizontal stack, where the separator pad need overcome only the friction force between sheets. If this active separator pad design is used when sheets are picked from a vertically oriented stack, however, gravity can pull multiple sheets into the media path as soon as the pad is moved away from the pick roller, resulting in more than one sheet being fed into the printer.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


To enable a rotary cutter to correspond to an automatic tool exchange apparatus by adjusting, in a peripheral direction, the position of a positioning member in response to an outlet of a chip container and a key and a key seat for receiving the key of a rotary cutter and a machine tool. A chip container having an outlet is mounted on the peripheral area of a cutter body with a bearing therebetween. An arbor of the cutter body is connected to a machine tool such that a key fits into a key seat, and at the same time a positioning pin of the chip container is inserted into a fitting recess of a spindle head. A movable block ring having the positioning pin is mounted on the chip container after adjusting in a peripheral direction, and is fastened with a bolt. Even when a key of the machine tool and a fitting recess differ in a peripheral direction, they can be adjusted. The relative position in a peripheral direction between the outlet of the chip container and the positioning pin can be adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary cutter capable of consecutively recovering chips resulting from cutting when the rotary cutter is surrounded by a chip container. In particular, the invention relates to a rotary cutter which is suitable for a machine tool provided with an automatic tool exchange apparatus, for example, a machining center.
This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application HEI 9-267017 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Discussion of the Background
An example of such a rotary cutter having a chip-repelling mechanism is the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-281114.
The rotary cutter will be described with reference to FIG. 7.
A rotary cutter 1, for example, a face milling cutter, includes a plurality of tips 3 provided at a given distance on the top periphery of a cutter body 2, as shown in FIG. 7. A chip guide section 4 is mounted on the top periphery of the cutter body 2, and the chip guide section 4 faces to the cutting faces of the top cutting edges and the peripheral cutting edges of the tips 3 with a space therebetween. An arbor 5 is fitted into the base of the cutter body 2 and coaxially fixed with a bolt 6. Also, a substantially cylindrical chip container 7 is arranged on the peripheral area of the cutter body 2, and the base of the chip container is mounted on the arbor 5 with a bearing 8 therebetween so as to be relatively rotatable. An outlet 9 for recovering the chips is formed on the peripheral area of the chip container 7.
The arbor 5 connects the cutter body 2 to a main spindle 12 supported by a spindle head 11 of a machine tool 10, and is mounted on the main spindle 12 with a pull-stud 14 being pulled in toward the rear end of the main spindle while its taper shank 13 is fitted into the main spindle 12. A key seat 15 of the arbor 5 is brought into engagement with a key 12a of the main spindle 12, and thus the rotation of the main spindle 12 is transmitted to the cutter body 2. The arbor 5 includes a grip 16 which can be brought into engagement with a tool exchange arm (not shown in the drawing) of an automatic tool exchange apparatus provided on the machine tool 10.
A constrained mechanism 17 which is connected to the bearing 8 is integrally formed on the base of the chip container 7, and the constrained mechanism 17 is provided with a fitting hole 18 which is opposed to the spindle head 11 of the machine tool 10. A positioning pin 20 is slidably inserted within the fitting hole 18 with a compressed spring 19 underneath. The tip of a bolt 22, which is horizontally screwed into the constrained mechanism 17 toward the center of the arbor, protrudes and is retained in a groove 20a of the positioning pin 20, and thus, the moving range of the positioning pin 20 along the axis of the cutter body 2 is restricted.
Also, a fitting recess 23 is formed on the spindle head 11 for receiving a tip 20b of the positioning pin 20 while the arbor 5 is mounted on the main spindle 12. A retainer 20c which horizontally protrudes toward the center of the cutter body 2 is formed in the middle of the positioning pin 20, and the retainer 20c is engageable with a recess 24 provided on the periphery of the arbor 5.
Accordingly, when the arbor 5 is not mounted on the main spindle 12 of the machine tool 10, the positioning pin 20 of the constrained mechanism 17 moves up until the tip of the bolt 22 is brought into engagement with the lower end of the groove 20a by means of elasticity of the spring 19, and the retainer 20c is brought into engagement with the recess 24 of the arbor 5 whereby the relative rotation between the arbor 5 and the chip container 7 (constrained mechanism 17) is resisted. Also, when the arbor 5 is mounted on the main spindle 12, the tip 20b of the positioning pin 20 is inserted within the fitting recess 23 of the spindle head 11, the positioning pin 20 is pushed down into the fitting hole 18 against the force of the spring 19, and the tip of the bolt 22 is brought into engagement with the upper end of the groove 20a. In such a state, the retainer 20c is detached from the recess 24 of the arbor 5, and the cutter body 2 is relatively rotatable toward the fixed chip container 7.
As shown in FIG. 8, a table 27 of the machine tool 10 for placing a material 26 to be cut may include a mechanism having a conveyor 28 for transporting chips in parallel to the material 26 to be cut in the relative feeding direction of the cutter body 2. In such a machine tool 10, the outlet 9 of the chip container 7 is set to face toward the conveyor 28, and cutting is performed while the cutter body 2 (or the material 26 to be cut) is being moved parallel to the conveyor 28.
During the cutting process, while the arbor 5 is mounted on the main spindle 12, if the top cutting edges and the peripheral cutting edges of the cutter body 2 are pressed onto the material 26 to be cut, and are moved, for example, in the direction of an arrow A in FIG. 8 for cutting, the chips produced by each cutting edge are forcibly led into the chip container 7 through a space between the chip guide section 4 and the cutting faces of the tips 3, and then, they are removed toward the inner peripheral area of the chip container 7 by means of a centrifugal force of the rotating cutter body 2, repelled out of the outlet 9 onto the conveyor 28, and received by a recovery box or the like (not shown in the drawing).
In the machine tool 10, the key 12a and the fitting recess 23 of the spindle head 11 are in predetermined positions, and, on the other hand, in the rotary cutter 1, the key seat 15 of the arbor 5 and the positioning pin 20 provided on the constrained mechanism 17 are in predetermined positions. However, the machine tool 10 may include a key 12a and a fitting recess 23 which are arranged in positions that angularly deviate from the predetermined positions of the key seat 15 and the positioning pin 20. In such a case, unless, for example, manually, the retainer 20c of the positioning pin 20 is detached from the recess 24 of the arbor 5 and the chip container 7 is relatively rotated for positional adjustment, the positional pin 20 cannot be fitted into the fitting recess 23 of the spindle head 11 while the key seat 15 of the arbor 5 is fitted into the key 12a of the main spindle 12.
Also, for example, because of the above-mentioned configuration angle, while the positioning pin 20 of the constrained mechanism 17 is fitted into the fitting recess 23 of the spindle head 11, the outlet 9 of the chip container 7 may not face the conveyor 28 for recovering chips on the table 27. In such a case, an efficient recovery of chips by the conveyor 28 cannot be performed.

Rotary cutter having chip-repelling mechanism


In one embodiment, an embedded device is provided which comprises a region of interest defining mechanism to define a region of interest (ROI) within an image. A transformation mechanism of the embedded device applies a nonlinear magnification or pinching transformation to the region of interest such that magnification or pinching within the region of interest varies from a greater amount at a focal point of the region of interest to a lesser amount at an outer border of the region of interest.

The disclosure relates to digital image manipulation in general, and more particularly, to digital image magnification and pinching.
Digital image manipulation describes many different types of modifications and transformations that may be performed on digital images. Examples of image manipulation operations include rotation, magnification, pinching, warping, edge detection, and filtering.
In some applications, operations such as magnification and pinching may help a user to see or appreciate fine details in an image. Rotation may help a user to understand an image from a certain perspective, or may orient an image for a specific use. In other applications, digital image manipulation may be performed for the sake of amusement, for example, pinching or magnifying a portion of an image to change a facial expression in a photograph. Digital image manipulation techniques are also used in industry, in applications including pattern recognition, feature extraction (e.g. in video surveillance and human motion analysis), image restoration, image enhancement, warping/morphing for computer animated sequences, and biomedical image processing.
A number of digital image manipulation techniques are commercially available in the form of photograph editing software. Embedded devices, such as digital cameras and mobile telephones, also have digital image manipulation functionality.

Magnification and pinching of two-dimensional images


An X-ray detecting device and a fabricating method thereof that is capable of preventing breakage of a transparent electrode. In the device and method, a contact hole passing through a protective film is formed centering around a contact hole passing through a storage insulating film. Accordingly, step coverage of a transparent electrode provided on the protective film can stabilized to prevent breakage of the transparent electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an X-ray detector, and more particularly to an X-ray detecting device and a fabricating method thereof that is capable of preventing breakage of a transparent electrode.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, an X-ray imaging system for photographing an object using a non-visible light ray such as an X-ray, etc. has been used for medical, science and industry applications. This X-ray imaging system includes an X-ray detecting panel for detecting an X-ray passing through an object to convert the X-ray into an electrical signal.
As shown in FIG. 1, the X-ray detecting panel includes a photo sensitive layer 6 for detecting an X-ray, and a thin film transistor array 4 provided on a substrate 2 to switch and output the detected X-ray signal from the photo sensitive layer 6. The thin film transistor array 4 includes pixel electrodes 5 arranged in a pixel unit, and thin film transistors (TFT's), each of which is connected to a charging capacitor Cst, a gate line 3 and a data line (not shown). On the upper portion of the photo-sensitive layer 6 is provided a dielectric layer 7 and an upper electrode 8, which is connected to a high voltage generator 9. The photo-sensitive layer 6 made from a selenium with a thickness of hundreds of micrometers μm detects an incident X-ray to convert it into an electrical signal. In other words, the photo-sensitive layer 6 produces an electron-hole pair when an X-ray is incident thereto and separates the electron-hole pair when a high voltage of several kV generated from the high voltage generator 9 is applied to the upper electrode 8. Holes separated from electrons are charged in the charging capacitor Cst by way of the pixel electrode 5, and a portion of the holes is accumulated on the surface of the pixel electrode 5. This results in the number of holes accumulated in the charging capacitor Cst being reduced. In order to prevent such a reduction, a charge blocking layer 11 is formed on the pixel electrode 5. The thin film transistor (TFT) responds to a gate signal inputted over the gate line 3 to apply a voltage charged in the charging capacitor Cst to the data line. Pixel signals supplied to the data line are applied to a display device via a data reproducer, thereby displaying a picture.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a conventional X-ray detecting device and illustrates a thin film transistor part and a storage capacitor part.
Referring to FIG. 2, the substrate 2 of the X-ray detecting device is provided with a gate electrode 12, a semiconductor layer 34 formed with having the gate electrode and a gate insulating film 32 therebetween, a source electrode 14 and a drain electrode 16 separately formed on the semiconductor layer 34. In order to protect such a thin film transistor part, a storage insulating film 38 and first and second protective films 40 and 36 are provided. A first drain contact hole 15a passing through the storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40 are provided on the storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40, whereas a second drain contact hole 15b passing through the second protective films 36 is provided. The drain electrode 16 electrically contacts a transparent drain electrode 27 provided on the first protective film 40 via the first drain contact hole 15a. Further, the transparent drain electrode 27 electrically contacts the pixel electrode 5 provided on the second protective film 36 via the second contact hole 15b. Thus, the drain electrode 16 is in electrical contact with the pixel electrode 5 via the first and second contact holes 15a and 15b.
The charge capacitor part Cst consists of a storage electrode 25, and the pixel electrode 5 positioned over the storage electrode 25 with the second protective film 36 therebetween. A ground line 22 for resetting residual charges of the charging capacitor Cst contacts the lower portion of the storage electrode 25. The ground line 22 and the storage electrode 25 are in electrical contact with each other via a storage contact hole 17 through the storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40.
FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G are section views showing a method of fabricating the X-ray detecting device shown in FIG. 2, and illustrate the thin film transistor part and the storage capacitor part.
First, the gate electrode 12 is formed by sequentially depositing first and second gate metals 12a and 12b onto the substrate 2 and then patterning them as shown in FIG. 3A.
As shown in FIG. 3B, the gate insulating film 32, an active layer 34a and an ohmic contact layer 34b are formed by depositing an insulating material and first and second semiconductor materials onto the entire surface of the substrate 2 provided with the gate electrode 12 and then patterning the first and second semiconductor materials.
After formation of a semiconductor layer 34, as shown in FIG. 3C, the source 14, the drain electrode 16 and the ground line 22 are formed by depositing a data metal onto the gate insulating film 32 and patterning it as shown in FIG. 3C. The storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40 are formed by depositing first and second insulating materials on the substrate 2 provided with the source electrode 14, the drain electrode 16 and the ground line 22. The first drain contact hole 15a and the storage contact hole 17 are defined by patterning the storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40 as shown in FIG. 3D.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3E, a transparent drain electrode 27 and a storage electrode 25 in contact with the drain electrode 16 and the ground line 22 are formed by depositing a transparent conductive material on the first protective film 40 and then patterning it.
As shown in FIG. 3F, the second protective film 36 and the second drain contact hole 15b are formed by depositing an insulating material onto the first protective film 40 and patterning it in such a manner to cover the transparent drain electrode 27 and the storage electrode 25.
Finally, as shown in FIG. 3G, the pixel electrode 5 electrically connected to the transparent drain electrode 27 via the second drain contact hole 15b is formed by depositing a transparent conductive material onto the second protective film 36 and then patterning it.
The first drain contact hole 15a and the storage contact hole 17 of the conventional X-ray detecting device are formed by simultaneously patterning the storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40 using a dry etching technique. In this case, the storage insulating film 38 and the first protective film 40 are formed from an inorganic insulating material and an organic material having a different etching rate, respectively. This forces an etching rate of the storage insulating film 38 to be faster than that of the first protective film 40 to over-etch the storage insulating film 38 in comparison to the first protective film 40, thereby causing an undercut phenomenon. This undercut phenomenon allows the transparent conductive material deposited on the first protective film 40 to have a poor step coverage, thereby causing a problem of a breakage of the transparent drain electrode 27 and the storage electrode 25.

X-ray detecting device and fabricating method thereof


A device that records information on an optical disc and a method for recording the information on the optical disc, so as to maintain a constant recording quality when the information is recorded on the optical disc using a constant number of the rotations to control the speed. The recording device includes a linear velocity detector detects a linear velocity which is a velocity of a spot of a light, which is irradiated to record the information on a surface of the optical disc, in a tangential direction of a circumference of the optical disc, and an optical power controller controlling the optical power of the light to record the information on the surface of the optical disc based on the linear velocity detected by the linear velocity detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device that records on an optical disc, and more particularly, to a device that records information on an optical disc and a method to control the laser used to record the information.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical disc using a dye-polymer recording material such as a CD-Recordable (CD-R) and the like operates to record the necessary information with a constant linear velocity (CLV). The optical disc provides the advantage that maintaining the recording quality is easy, because the time the laser is on to record is a constant even though the position on the optical disc being recorded may vary.
However, there is a problem in that a circuit rotating the optical disc or a spindle motor can heat up and the power used can fluctuate. Thus, the number of rotations per unit time can rapidly increase or decrease due to differences in temperature and power consumed. These variations can be as large as 2.5 times the target speed, depending on the position of the recording laser on the radius of the optical disc. Further, the problems caused prevent the recording process from happening at higher speeds.
To solve the problem, related optical recording devices control the angular velocity by controlling the number of rotations per unit time. This method results in an approximation of a constant angular velocity (CAV). However, there is still the drawback that the recording quality is not maintained by varying the irradiating time depending on the recording position, since the constant linear velocity differs depending on the position in the radius of the optical disc.

Device that records on an optical disc and method thereof


A method and system is provided for accelerating the conversion process between encryption schemes. The system includes a board in a gateway. The board includes a controller to receive security parameters and data encrypted according to a first encryption scheme and control the transmission of the data. The system includes a hardware device coupled to the controller to decrypt the data and encrypt the data according to a second encryption scheme. The data is then transmitted to the controller to be forwarded out of the gateway.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of network security protocol conversion. In particular, the invention relates to the conversion between the Wireless Transport Layer Security and Secure Sockets Layer protocols.
2. Background Information and Description of Related Art
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) defines a set of protocols for wireless applications. The Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) is the security layer of the WAP and provides privacy, data integrity, and authentication for WAP services.
WTLS is based on the Transport Layer Security (TLS), a security layer widely used in the Internet, with modifications to accommodate bandwidth, datagram connection, processing power, memory capacity, and cryptography limitations typical in wireless communications.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol for transmitting private documents via the Internet. Currently, SSL is not directly compatible with WTLS. Hence, it is not possible to convert between WTLS encrypted data and SSL encrypted data without decrypting the data.
The common method of converting between SSL data and WTLS data uses software executing inside a WAP gateway. Wireless messages travel through the air to a carrier's receiver, where they are received and passed to the gateway. If the message is WTLS encrypted, the encrypted message is decrypted, then encrypted using SSL. If the message is SSL encrypted, the encrypted message is decrypted, then encrypted using WTLS. Then, the encrypted message is transmitted out of the gateway.
The data is decrypted and stored in the memory of the WAP gateway temporarily, allowing a period of time when the message is unencrypted and unprotected in the WAP gateway. This creates a security vulnerability. Furthermore, since the conversion is done using software, a considerable amount of CPU resources are consumed and a latency in the response to a client request may be experienced.

Method and system for accelerating the conversion process between encryption schemes


The disclosed method provides a way to fabricate a powder metal compact implementing a top fill through one or more of the upper tool members. The top fill step allows for pre-compaction chamber, defined at least in part by at least one of the upper tool members, to be filled with a powder metal after the upper tool member is initially lowered, but before compaction of the powder metal. The manner in which the pre-compaction chamber is filled allows for the formation of complex geometries in powder metal compacts that are not obtainable using conventional lower tool powder transfer motions and further minimizes or avoids unacceptable variations in powder fill to final part ratios across the powder metal compact.

This invention relates to powder metal components and the process used to make them. In particular, this invention relates to a method of making parts having complex shapes using powder metal compaction.
Powder metallurgy provides a method of forming metallic parts. Making a part from powder metal typically includes the steps of filling a tool and die set with a powder metal powder, uni-axially compacting the metal powder using the tool and die set to form a powder metal compact, and sintering the powder metal compact to bond the particles of the powder metal compact together to form a final powder metal part. Although the final powder metal part is usually less than fully dense, a powder metal part has exceptional dimensional accuracy in comparison to parts made using other metal fabrication techniques.
To form the top side features in a powder metal compact, between the fill and compaction step, powder metal from the lower portion of the die is transferred upward by the relative movement of the lower tool members. If properly done, this powder transfer moves the powder to the appropriate location within the die cavity for compaction while simultaneously maintaining a powder fill to final part ratio of approximately 2:1 over the different vertical columns of the die cavity in the direction of compaction. If the powder fill to final part ratio is not maintained across the various features of the part, then the final part may have unacceptable variations in density.
Even though some parts having complex shapes can be made using powder metallurgy, certain geometries cannot be produced as a single part using the above-described techniques. To make powder metal parts having these geometries, two or more sections of the part need to be separately compacted and then joined together after compaction. However, two or more separate compaction steps and a joining step is time consuming, costly, and is likely to require significant post-sintering secondary operations.
Hence, a need exists for a way to form powder metal parts having complex geometries.