A weather strip for use on a vehicle comprises an engaging portion for securing a weather strip to a vehicle and a weather strip body comprising a compressible portion and a magnetic sealing portion. The magnetic sealing portion provides a seal acting in a direction projecting toward a magnetically attractive substrate to provide a sealing interference between the magnetic sealing portion and the substrate when the weather strip is installed on the vehicle and a door closes the opening. The weather strips described herein provide an air and water tight seal without requiring a high compression force, thus improving door operation and reducing closing noise by eliminating the need to slam the door.

The present invention relates generally to weather stripping for motor vehicles and more particularly to weather stripping having a magnetic sealing surface.
Numerous types of weather stripping have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to seal spaces between objects. Weather stripping on automobiles needs to be tightly compressed to eliminate leakage, e.g., due to rain or washing, and to minimize noise due to air entering the vehicle through small gaps. To obtain a sufficient degree of compression, a high degree of force is generally needed to close the automobile door. This results in a high slamming force for closing as well as a high force for opening due to friction on the latching system. It would therefore be desirable to provide improved weather stripping to improve the ergonomics of vehicle door operation by reducing the force needed for opening and closing vehicle doors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a weather strip that provides a sealing engagement between an opening in a vehicle and a vehicle door, or other closing member, and that reduces the force needed for opening and closing the door. By reducing the force needed to close the door, the need to slam the door is eliminated and closing noise is reduced.
The present invention provides a weather strip for use on a vehicle comprising an engaging portion for engaging a portion of the vehicle defined peripherally about an opening provided on the vehicle and a weather strip body comprising a compressible portion and a magnetic sealing portion. The magnetic sealing portion provides a seal acting in a direction projecting toward a member operatively attached to the vehicle for closing the opening, wherein the magnetic sealing portion and the closing member are magnetically attractive so as to provide a sealing interference between the magnetic sealing portion and the closing member when the weather strip is installed on the vehicle and the closing member closes the opening.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides a weather strip for use on a vehicle comprising an engaging portion for engaging a closing member, the closing member operatively attached to the vehicle for closing an opening provided on the vehicle opening, and a weather strip body comprising a compressible portion and a magnetic sealing portion. The magnetic sealing portion provides a seal acting in a direction projecting toward a portion of the vehicle defined peripherally about the opening, wherein the magnetic sealing portion and the portion of the vehicle defined peripherally about the opening are magnetically attractive so as to provide a sealing interference between the magnetic sealing portion and the portion of the vehicle defined peripherally about the opening when the weather strip is installed on the vehicle and the closing member closes the opening.
The magnetically attraction between the sealing surfaces provides an airtight and watertight seal without requiring a high compression force, thus allowing the use of a weather strip that is more readily compressible than conventional vehicle weather strips. Accordingly, the weather strip may thus be produced to have an ease of compressibility so as to eliminate the need to slam the door. Furthermore, reducing the compression force reduces the force needed to operate door latches or other actuators and also allows smaller door latches or actuators to be employed in the manufacture of the vehicle.
In still a further aspect, the present invention provides a method for providing a sealing engagement employing the magnetic weather strip according to the present invention.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.


The present disclosure provides a method comprising identifying at least one of a characteristic and an identity of an item for delivery from an origin to a destination; identifying a plurality of possible routes between the origin and the destination using mapping information, the mapping information including for each of the plurality of possible routes, a characterization of each of a plurality of route segments comprising the possible route; evaluating the plurality of possible routes in view of the identified at least one of the item characteristic and the item identity to select one of the plurality of possible routes; and providing the selected one of the plurality of possible routes to a vehicle, wherein the vehicle delivers the item from the origin to the destination via the identified route.

Fast, efficient, and safe transportation of a delivery from its point of origin to its destination may depend on a number of factors, including the characteristics of the delivery itself (which may include fragile, liquid, or sturdy, for example) and the condition of the road segments that make up the selected route (e.g., smooth, full of potholes, and/or riddled with speed bumps.

Intelligent route selection for autonomous vehicle delivery system


An electronic keyboard having an improved ergonomic design for use with computers and other alphanumeric input electronic devices is disclosed. Repetitive motion stress on a typist's hands, wrists and fingers is substantially reduced by relocating and centering the ENTER and BACKSPACE keys to a location central to the keyboard so as to be index finger activated, with the ENTER key extending up into the home row, thereby reducing wrist flexure. The alphanumeric keys are disposed in an ortholinear array, with substantially vertical columns and substantially horizontal rows and functional keys are grouped into rationally apportioned areas below the alphanumeric keys of the keyboard. Certain of the keys have up to three different functions, depending upon whether the keyboard is in QWERTY mode, Dvorak mode, or numeric keypad mode. The numeric keypad is provided as an “underlay” to the right-hand portion of the alphanumeric keyboard, thereby producing a very compact keyboard with full numeric keypad editing functionality.

Computers and other related electronic devices have become a part of every day life to an extent that would have been unimaginable several decades ago. Computers have become work place necessities and are playing an increasingly important role in personal as well as professional information collection and communication. Axiomatically, in order to communicate with or through a computer system, a user must have an efficient and universally recognizable means by which to enter information, commonly performed with recourse to an alpha-numeric keyboard.
The standard computer keyboard layout is recognized as being a carry-over from the days of mechanical typewriters, when mechanical linkages were required to connect the keys to the internal mechanisms of the typewriter. Much of the keyboard layout was dictated by the limitations of these mechanical linkages. For example, the well known staggering of the rows of keys in the standard keyboard layout (resulting in the well known slanting key columns) originally served to allow the linkages associated with one row of keys to be positioned between the keys of the preceding higher rows. Additionally, the standard "QWERTY" key layout was originally adopted to limit typing speeds and space-out alternating letters to the greatest degree possible, in order to prevent jammed key linkages.
Because of the perception that any changes to the standard keyboard layout would require costly retraining of typists, the standard keyboard layout has survived virtually unchanged to the present day. As new or additional functions have been added to office machines and computers, the additional keys needed to implement these functions have generally been added at the periphery of the standard keyboard layout. That result is the keyboard layout which is known to be inefficient and which could contribute to debilitating injuries from repetitive motion and awkward positions of the shoulders, arms, wrists and hands, during every day use.
The manner in which the keyboard is used has also changed significantly since the days of the mechanical typewriter. For example, keyboard users are no longer required to depress the <ENTER> key at the end of each line, since most software includes the ability to automatically "wrap" text to the next line, obviating the need for a carriage return. Other keys, such as <BACKSPACE>, are now used much more frequently than they were on typewriters, while keys for certain basic computer-type operations such as "navigating" through a document or accessing common operating high-system functions, had no counterparts on conventional typewriters.
It is also now nearly universal for a computer user to use a pointing device, most commonly a mouse, simultaneously with the keyboard as an input device. In order to accommodate both forms of input devices, the user must typically continually move one hand back and forth between the keyboard to the mouse in order to access their particular functions. For right-handed keyboard users (the vast majority), the mouse is often placed to the right of the keyboard, with the distance from the right hand "home" position of a typical desk top keyboard to the mouse often exceeding 20 inches.
Originally adapted for use only on typewriters, keyboards have become ubiquitous as input devices for a vast range of electronic appliances, including notebook computers, personal organizers, e-mail telephone devices, web-TV controllers, game devices, industrial control consoles, and are now appearing as input devices for home appliances. The standard desk top keyboard layout is often not fully suited to these "new" applications, both because of its irrational layout and its elongated shape and footprint. The standard keyboard has often been adapted to new uses by arbitrarily relocating keys around the periphery of the keyboard and/or by overlaying functions on top of the alpha-numeric keys. The result is an increasing number of specialized keyboard layouts, resulting in a variety of purpose-specific systems and the lack of a truly universal standard.
The standard keyboard layout is also generally known to have ergonomic shortcomings which cause fatigue with extended use and which, over time, can result in debilitating injuries from "repetitive stress". Much of the stress placed on the shoulders, arms and wrists when using the traditional keyboard are the result of unnatural hand positions, wherein the hands are placed directly next to one another on the keyboard. This position requires either that the wrists be continually flexed while the arms are held against the body. Additional stress is caused by the need to continually rotate the wrist in order to access commonly used keys such as <SHIFT> and <BACKSPACE>.
Many companies have attempted unsuccessfully over the years to biomechanically solve the stress-related design issues that are inherent in standard keyboard layouts. Unfortunately, the so called "ergonomic keyboards" that have been developed thus far disregard the importance of key position and key layout, reach and extension of a typists' fingers, and the physical size of the key surface. Several manufacturers claim to produce "split hand" keyboards, but in actuality the keyboards are nothing more than "fan" boards in which the hands are angled to a more natural position but remain close to one another. This type of design alleviates some stress on the hands but this stress is merely relocated by having the user position their shoulders and elbows in non-neutral adducted and internally rotated positions. Further, some of these designs position the keyboard surface along a positive slope that extends the wrists into non-neutral postures. Others have complex shapes which add significantly to their cost of manufacture.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, none of the presently implemented "ergonomic" keyboards address the issue of repetitive stress induced injuries resulting from constant rotation and displacement of the wrist by an inappropriate placement of the <ENTER> and <BACKSPACE> keys. It is well understood that the constant wrist rotation and finger extension required to repetitively access these keys may be a major culprit in the most commonly reported repetitive stress injuries by typists.
In addition to these ergonomic deficiencies, conventional keyboards exhibit an inordinately large footprint, particularly when the keyboard is a "full function" keyboard, such as those incorporating a "function", or "editing" pad, along with a numeric key pad, in addition to the standard alpha-numeric key layout. Conventionally, all of these extra functional key portions are disposed linearly across the keyboard and are arranged side-by-side-by-side. This results in a very high length aspect for these keyboards, making them particularly troublesome to use in connection with a small appliance. Given that appliance sizes are being constantly scaled to smaller and smaller footprints, the benefits of reduced appliance area might not be realizable if each appliances' input device, i.e., the keyboard, were an overly large and clumsy apparatus.
Accordingly, there is a strong need for new keyboard designs which reflect the manner in which keyboards are being presently used in connection with modern electronic appliances and which incorporate such appliances' functional keys without distorting or extending the keyboard layout. These new keyboard designs should incorporate a key layout which supports systematic relaxation of a users' posture as well as reducing the amount of repetitive movement of the wrists and fingers. There is also a need for keyboard modules, which include left-hand and right-hand modules, along with editing pad/numeric pad keypad modules, which can be applied to the increasing range of keyboard applications, without the need to reconfigure the basic layouts of the modules for each new application. The keyboard designer should represent a universal standard, and incorporate the functions and an editing pad/numeric key pad within the dimensional footprint conventionally allocated solely to the alpha-numeric portion of the keyboard. This should be done while maintaining the key area at full size.
The new keyboard design should ideally be easy for experienced keyboard users to master as well as being inexpensive to produce.

Modular ergonomic, multi-function, multi-layer, universal standard keyboard


An optical node device includes: a multicore optical amplification unit that amplifies collectively light transmitted along a multicore fiber; a separation unit that inputs the amplified light in each core to each of a plurality of input-side single-core fibers; an optical cross-connect switch that attenuates the light input from each of the plurality of input-side single-core fibers through an optical attenuator, separates the light in accordance with a wavelength, and outputs the separated light to an output-side single-core fiber of a plurality of output-side single-core fibers related to a respective output destination; a plurality of single-core optical amplification units that amplify the light transmitted along the corresponding output-side single-core fibers; and an output unit that outputs the light transmitted along each of the plurality of output-side single-core fibers to a multicore fiber. A control unit controls the optical attenuator and the single-core optical amplification unit based on input signal optical power and output optical signal power.

In order to drastically increase the transmission capacity of an optical transmission system, a multicore optical transmission system including a transmission path formed of a multicore fiber including a plurality of cores in one fiber has been developed. The respective cores of the multicore fiber propagate wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) signals transmitting different information; thus, as compared to the conventional case in which the transmission path is formed of one fiber including one core, the transmission capacity can be drastically increased.
Similarly to the conventional optical transmission system using the single-core fiber as the transmission path, the multicore optical transmission system for a long distance requires a multicore fiber amplifier in order to amplify the signal light because the intensity attenuates in the transmission. As an example of a structure of the multicore fiber amplifier, a cladding pumped multicore optical amplifier including a double-clad rare earth doped fiber and a high-output multimode excitation light source has been reported (for example, see Non-Patent Literature 1). The double-clad rare earth doped fiber includes a plurality of cores doped with a rare earth ion, and a double-clad structure (a first clad on the inside and a second clad on the outside). The refractive index of a first clad material is smaller than that of core glass and larger than that of a second clad material. By the multicore fiber amplifier with such a structure, the lower consumption lower is expected.
When the optical amplifier amplifies the WDM signal, a general WDM system needs gain control in order to obtain the gain with a constant wavelength dependence at any time despite the increase or decrease in WDM signal wavelength number. This similarly applies to a system including the multicore fiber. A cladding pumped multicore fiber amplifier is capable of amplification with fewer excitation light sources, and if a high-output multimode semiconductor laser (LD) is used, the number of excitation light sources may be one. However, since the number of excitation light sources is smaller than that of cores, it has been difficult to independently control the gain and the output optical power of the respective cores. In view of the above, a multicore optical fiber amplifier combining core pumping and clad pumping has been developed (for example, see Non-Patent Literature 2).

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


CIM elements are retrieved from the management definition object and a determination is made as to whether the element is a non-instance element or an instance element. If the element is a non-instance element and a qualifier is found in the management object, then the corresponding name is used. If the qualifier is not found, then the CIM element name is used. If the element is an instance element and a qualifier is found then the name corresponding to the qualifier is used. If there is no qualifier then a determination is made as to the number of non-propagated key properties. If there is one non-propagated key property then the value of the property is used. If there are more than one non-propagated key properties, then a display name is constructed from each non-propagated key property and its corresponding value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for providing interfaces between management models and system consoles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for analyzing generic management models and retrieving display names to communicate to a user using a system console.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an industry trend toward using standardized software engineering tools and techniques to represent the design of systems to manage real world objects. One such approach is using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and a derivative of UML called the Common Information Model (CIM). Using UML and CIM, developers can describe a computer information system that is not bound to a particular implementation or platform. CIM includes both a CIM Specification and a CIM Schema and UML is generally used to show the structure of the schemas.
The CIM Specification includes a language model, naming conventions, meta schema, and mapping techniques used to map the CIM data to other management models including SNMP, MIBs, DMTF, and MIFs. The CIM Schema includes a set of classes with associations that provide a well understood conceptual framework within which it is possible to organize the available information about the managed environment.
The CIM Schema includes three layers. First, the Core Schema includes an information model that captures notions that are applicable to all areas of management. Second, the Common Schema includes notions that are common to particular management areas but independent of a particular technology or implementation. There are generally five Common Schema areas: (1) systems, (2) applications, (3) networks, (4) devices, and (5) physical areas. The third CIM Schema layer is the Extension Schema area which includes technology specific extensions of the Common Schema. The Extension Schema area may be specific to a particular operating environment, such as a UNIX operating environment. The Extension Schema may further describe either a specific-general type of environment (i.e., an MS-Windows™ environment, a UNIX-90 environment, etc.), or a product specific operating environment (i.e., Windows 2000 Professional™, IBM AIX version 3.5, etc.).
While CIM includes notations and conventions that are widely agreed upon in industry, a CIM model does not provide information for product development because a CIM model is implementation independent, meaning that a common CIM model can be used as a design starting point to develop systems in a particular operating environment. A CIM model may be stored in a Managed Object Format (MOF) file, which is an ASCII file that includes a formal definition of the CIM Schema. The MOF is used as input to a MOF editor, parser, and compiler. CIM is produced by designers and developers to model a product. The CIM model is then used by others as input to management systems. However, the process of using a CIM model as input to management software is a resource intensive task. A challenge, therefore, with the prior art is the time and resources needed to design a system using CIM and write programs directed towards a particular operating environment.
CIM models include a number of objects that can be extracted and displayed on a management console. For example, CIM objects can be displayed in a tree view control on a management console. CIM objects may be related so that multiple objects are related to a particular CIM object in one way or another. For example, a database manager may include multiple database management systems, such as DB2 and IMS. Each of these database management systems may include one or more databases. The databases, in turn, can include objects such as tables and views. Using traditional systems, information extracted from a management model was not displayed in a user friendly manner, so the user often had difficulty ascertaining the meaning of often cryptic node names. Additionally, CIM models describe tasks that can be performed with a particular object. The object may be displayed as a node on a tree view within a management console. Traditional systems are challenged in their ability to convey the tasks that can be performed on a particular object.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method to provide user friendly node names displayable on a management console. Furthermore, what is needed is system and method to provide user friendly task descriptions corresponding to various nodes appearing on a management console.

System and method for obtaining display names from management models

International Business Machines Corporation


A harness clip, for use on a child restraint system, which is easily slidable along the harness straps to facilitate positioning of the harness over a child's head, but which can be effectively secured into place relative to the straps when properly positioned near the child's chest. The clip generally comprises a base member for maintaining the two shoulder straps in lateral positioning relative to each other. In addition, the base member is movable relative to at least one of the shoulder straps. The clip further includes a securing device for releasably securing the base member to at least one of the two shoulder straps, to thereby inhibit relative sliding movement between the base member and at least one of the two straps. A method for securing a child in a child restraint system is also disclosed. The method generally comprises the steps of placing the child into the child restraint system, positioning the shoulder straps onto the child with the clip in a first position, moving the clip from the first position to a second position, and securing the clip to at least one of the shoulder straps to thereby substantially prevent relative movement between the clip and the shoulder strap.

It is well-known that many standard vehicle restraint systems do not adequately protect children from injury during vehicle collisions. For example, shoulder seat belts often do not adjust sufficiently to accommodate a child, sometimes resulting in the shoulder seat belt being dangerously positioned at the child's neck. To remedy this problem, supplemental child vehicle restraints, such as child car seats, have become an increasingly popular way of properly restraining children during vehicle collisions, thereby reducing injuries resulting therefrom.
Referring to FIG. 1, child car seats 20 typically incorporate a shoulder harness restraint, having two shoulder straps 22, to prevent the child 24 from being thrown around the vehicle during a collision. In use, the child 24 is typically positioned in the car seat 20 with the shoulder straps 22 in a raised position (i.e., above the child's head). The harness straps 22 are then positioned over the child's head, and the lower end of the harness straps 22 are secured to the base of the car seat 20, usually between the child's legs.
To properly maintain the position of the harness straps 22 on the child's shoulders, car seats 20 typically include a harness clip 26, as shown in FIG. 1. The clip 26 is designed to be slidable along the harness straps 22 to facilitate positioning of the harness straps 22 over the child's head. That is, the clip 26 can be slid to the lower end of the straps 22 (FIG. 1) while the harness straps 22 are being positioned over the child's head, and can be slid up to the child's chest to hold the straps 22 together (i.e., in relative lateral positioning) during use. Such positioning of the clip 26 also facilitates use of the car seat 20 for a range of child sizes by always allowing the clip 26 to be properly positioned on the child's chest.
Proper positioning of the clip 26 is important for safety to the child 24. If the clip 26 is positioned too low (FIG. 1), the harness straps 22 may slide off the child's shoulders and could result in the child 24 being thrown from the car seat 20 (i.e., between the harness straps 22) during sudden acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle. Further, with the clip 26 positioned too low, the child 24 may be tempted to crawl out of the car seat 20 through the harness straps 22, resulting in an obviously unsafe condition. With the clip 26 positioned too high, the clip 26 can be uncomfortably positioned around the child's neck, and may dangerously restrict the child's breathing.
Sometimes a properly positioned clip 26 can slide from a proper position to an improper position. For example, the clip 26 may slide down the harness straps 22 due to gravitational forces of the clip 22 itself and/or due to vibration from the vehicle. Also, the child's movements may cause the clip 26 to slide down the harness straps 22. In addition, the child herself may intentionally slide the clip 26 down to make the harness straps 22 more comfortable.


A method of making a semiconductor device (10) includes filling a plurality of trenches (30, 32-34) in a substrate (11) with a first fill material (40, 42-44) and lined with a first liner material (36-39) to form an isolation structure (50) in a first trench (30). The first fill material and the first liner material are removed from a second trench (33) which is then lined with a second liner material (46) and filled with a second fill material (69) to produce a capacitance to the substrate. The first fill material and the first liner material are removed from a third trench (34), which is filled with the second fill material to form an electrical contact to the substrate. The first fill material is removed from a fourth trench (34) and dielectric material (78) is deposited on the substrate to produce a void (83) in the fourth trench.

The present invention relates in general to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to integrated circuits having trench structures formed in a semiconductor substrate.
Integrated circuits currently are implementing various of their component devices as trench structures in order to reduce the die area and cost as well as improve the performance of the integrated circuits. For example, isolation structures for electrically isolating integrated circuit components are formed with trenches to reduce the overall size of a semiconductor die. Other structures, such as substrate contacts, capacitors and low permittivity dielectric regions, may utilize trenches to achieve similar benefits of a reduced die area and fabrication cost and/or improved performance.
Trench structures have a problem in that a number of unique processing steps are needed to form each different type of component device. Previous integrated circuits limit the number of different types of component devices that are formed with trench structures in order to limit the total number of processing steps and maintain a low fabrication cost. As a result, the previous integrated circuits have a larger die size and/or lower performance.
Hence, there is a need for an integrated circuit and method of making multiple types of trench structures on a single semiconductor die that has a lower cost while maintaining a high performance of the integrated circuit.

Semiconductor device and method of integrating trench structures


A piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) device includes a layer of piezoelectric material that is activated and sensed by an electrode and a conductive plane layer. The conductive plane layer may be electrically connected to processing circuitry by a via that extends through the piezoelectric layer. One or more isolation trenches extend through the conductive plane layer to isolate the conductive plane layer from other conductive plane layers of adjacent PMUT devices of a PMUT array.

An ultrasound device such as a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (PMUT) device may be utilized in a variety of applications. The ultrasound device may include a piezoelectric material that provides an electro-mechanical response based on a given input signal. For example, when an electrical signal is applied to the piezoelectric material, the material may exhibit a mechanical response. In response to a received mechanical signal, the piezoelectric material may exhibit an electrical response.
By designing an ultrasound device (e.g., a PMUT device or multiple PMUT devices) in a particular manner, desired signals may be produced and/or sensed. An exemplary sensor that utilizes ultrasound PMUT technology may be an ultrasound PMUT fingerprint sensor. Portions of an array of PMUT devices may be selectively activated by electrical signals to output corresponding ultrasonic signals that are transmitted in the direction of a finger. Portions of the array of PMUT devices may also be selectively activated to sense the reflections of the transmitted ultrasonic signal based on the electrical output due to the mechanical forces exerted by the reflected signals. A suitable number of PMUT devices and arrays may be implemented in order to measure the contours of the user's fingerprint based on the reflected signals.
PMUT devices may be manufactured as PMUT arrays using semiconductor manufacturing processes. In ultrasound sensors, these PMUT arrays may form an ultrasonic transducer array. Different layers of material may be deposited, etched, and processed in a sequential set of operations to build the PMUT array and individual PMUT devices. It may be desirable for adjacent PMUT devices of a PMUT array to have shared or interconnected components constructed from shared layers of material to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process.

Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer device with multi-layer etched isolation trench


The present invention provides a windowframe magnet having an aligned array of paired bedstead coils in mirror symmetry can bend a high aspect ratio ribbon ion beam through angle of not less than about 45 degrees and not more than about 110 degrees, and can focus it through a resolving slot for mass analysis. The long transverse axis of the beam, which can exceed 50% of the bend radius, is aligned with the generated magnetic field. The array of paired bedstead coils provide tight control of the fringing fields, present intrinsically good field uniformity, and enable a manufacture of much lighter construction than other magnet styles conventionally in use in the ion implantation industry.

In the field of ion beam systems, it is sometimes desired to generate purified ion beams in the form of ribbon-shaped beams. These ribbon beams are commonly used in ion implanter apparatus and implantation systems where a workpiece (such as a silicon wafer or flat panel display) is moved through the ion beam. In these instances, the ribbon ion beam will desirably have a high aspect-ratio such that the beam is wider than any size-dimension of the workpiece undergoing implantation; so, that in a single pass through the ion beam, a uniform dose of ions may be implanted onto a surface and into the internal substance of the workpiece. In the performance of these applications, it is also very desirable that the ribbon beam has its ion trajectories moving in parallel and be carefully controlled to present a uniform current density profile suitable for the uniform implantation of ions into silicon wafers or flat glass panels.

High aspect ratio, high mass resolution analyzer magnet and system for ribbon ion beams

Abstract: Within the system of the present invention, the ribbon beam is refocused with low aberration to achieve high resolving power, which is of significant value in the ion implantation industry. System size is further reduced by using a small ion source and a quadrupole lens to collimate the beam after expansion and analysis. There is no fundamental limit to the aspect ratio of the beam that can be analyzed.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for converting the terminal voltage of a battery so that one or more operations (such as shut-down, save-to-disk, and the like) begin at the appropriate point on the discharge curve for various cell chemistries. A control circuit is provided for triggering end-of-discharge operations based on various predetermined points, such as remaining capacity, voltage, temperature, and safety for devices which utilize a predetermined terminal voltage measurement to trigger one or more operations. The control circuit modulates the terminal voltage of the battery to a value which substantially matches the predetermined terminal voltage threshold of the device upon reaching a predetermined point, thereby successfully triggering operations at the appropriate time. The control circuitry also can modulate the terminal voltage to maintain it above the threshold to delay triggering of one or more operations. The method and apparatus of the present invention provides a solution in the electronic circuitry of the battery to allow devices designed for use with cells of a certain chemistry be able to suspend operations without losing data or delay operations to avoid wasting battery capacity when used with cell chemistries different than those for which the devices were designed.

In the past, batteries (also known as "dumb" cells) provided an unpredictable source of power, since typically, a user of a device powered by a battery had no reliable advance warning that a battery was about to run out of operable capacity. There was no indication of how much time was left so that a user could, for example, save the data currently being worked on or locate an alternate power source prior to complete discharge of the battery. As a result, a number of electronic products have been specifically designed to use the product's circuitry in an attempt to evaluate the battery's state of charge to determine when to begin back-up operations prior to the battery running out of capacity. This is done, for example, by measuring the terminal voltage of the battery, and, upon reaching a certain lower voltage limit, executing certain end-of-discharge operations, such as providing any necessary alarms or executing save-to-disk ("STD") operations.
This lower voltage limit is generally referred to as the end-of-discharge voltage (EODV) and is typically a constant, set according to the remaining capacity necessary for such end-of-discharge operations and the requirements for safe, efficient use of a cell. However, the discharge profile varies according to cell chemistry. Therefore, if a product's circuitry is designed to begin EODV save-to-disk operations at a set voltage for a certain type of cell, and a different cell with a different discharge curve is utilized to power the product, the EODV save-to-disk operations may be executed too soon resulting in a waste of capacity or, worse yet, too late resulting in loss of data.
An example of two cell chemistries which have different discharge curves are graphite based lithium-ion cells and coke-based lithium-ion cells. A typical graphite based lithium-ion cell can have a discharge profile as sown in FIG. 1. Various cell chemistries have certain lower limits for which they may be safely discharged to without adversely affecting the battery performance. For example, graphite based lithium-ion cells should not be discharged below 2.7 v. Coke-based lithium-ion cells, on the other hand, may be safely discharged to 2.5 v without adversely affecting performance. A typical coke-based lithium-ion cell can have a discharge profile as shown in FIG. 2. The discharge profile for coke-based lithium-ion cells gradually drops (FIG. 2), while the discharge profile for graphite based lithium-ion cells drops rapidly at the end of capacity (FIG. 1). Accordingly, the voltage near the end of capacity in graphite based lithium-ion cells is considerably higher than the coke-based lithium-ion cells. Therefore, if a product's circuitry is designed to begin EODV save-to-disk operations at a set voltage, e.g., 3.0 v for a coke-based lithium-ion cell (which would leave approximately 150 mAh capacity), and a graphite based lithium-ion cell is substituted therefor, when the terminal voltage reaches the preset voltage of 3.0 v, there is not enough capacity (e.g., only 40 mAh) remaining in the battery for such EODV save-to-disk operations and data may be lost. The same problems associated with the coke-based lithium-ion cells and graphite-based lithium ion cells may be recognized in other cell chemistries (e.g., Li-polymer, NiMH, and the like)
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide a way to allow a product, which utilizes terminal voltage measurements to trigger EODV operations, to begin such necessary EODV operations at the appropriate point in the discharge curve regardless of the actual terminal voltage.

Process and apparatus for modulating terminal voltage of battery


A semiconductor memory device having a plurality of memory cells disposed in the form of a matrix with column switch circuits and an address transition detecting circuit. The column switch circuits are each provided for each of said bit line pairs with their one end connected to a corresponding bit line pair and their other end connected to a data line pair for changing the potential difference between the lines of the data line pair according to the potential difference between the lines of the corresponding bit line pair. Each switch circuit is selectively activated according to a column address decoder signal and an output pulse signal of the address transition detecting circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and, in particular, to a semiconductor memory device comprising a plurality of memory cells disposed in the form of a matrix, a plurality of bit line pairs each provided for each column of the memory cells and connected in common to the memory cells of that column and a plurality of column switch circuits each provided for each pair of bit lines to be used for selecting a single bit line pair from among the plurality of bit line pairs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor memory device, for example, a static random access memory (SRAM) or a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), memory cells are disposed in the form of a matrix. In order to enter and emit data to and from a specific memory cell, it is necessary to specify that memory cell by using a coordinate value defined by the row and column. To this end, each memory cell is connected to one of a plurality of word lines, which extend in the direction of the line, and one of a plurality of pairs of bit lines, which extend in the direction of the column. Since the pair of bit lines is used not only for specifying the memory cell, but also for transferring data to be entered and emitted, a sense amplifier and precharger circuit is connected to it. Since a single sense amplifier is generally provided corresponding to the plurality of bit line pairs, it is necessary to select a pair of bit lines connected to the sense amplifier from among these plural pairs of bit lines and, to this end, a column switch is provided for each pair of bit lines.
FIG. 1 is a block wiring diagram of a semiconductor memory device using three NMOS transistors for each column switch circuit. In this semiconductor memory device, addresses A.sub.0 to A.sub.n are entered, and it is arranged so that, in order to access a specific one of the memory cells disposed in the form of the matrix, a specific row is selected by less significant address bits, and a specific column is selected by more significant address bits. Although, in this figure, for the convenience of description, four memory cells 51.sub.1 through 51.sub.4 are shown disposed along 2.times.2 rows/columns, the following description subsists also for semiconductor memory devices of large capacity such as 1 Mbits.
In this semiconductor memory device, there is provided row address decoder circuit 57 to which the less significant address bits are entered, column address decoder circuit 58 to which the more significant address bits are entered and address transition detecting circuit 56 for detecting the transition of the address value. From line address decoder circuit 57, two word lines W.sub.0 and W.sub.1 corresponding to the number of rows are outputted and, from column address decoder circuit 58, two column switch selecting signals S.sub.0 and S.sub.1 corresponding to the number of columns are outputted. Four memory cells 51.sub.1 to 51.sub.4 disposed in 2.times.2 are each connected to one of two word lines W.sub.0 and W.sub.1 and to one of the two pairs of bit lines BL.sub.0 /BL.sub.0 and BL.sub.1 /BL.sub.1. Precharger circuits 52.sub.1 and 52.sub.2 are each connected to one end portion of bit line pairs BL.sub.0 /BL.sub.0 and BL.sub.1 /BL.sub.1. Column switch circuits 53.sub.1 and 53.sub.2 are each connected to the other end of each bit line pair BL.sub.0 /BL.sub.0 and BL.sub.1 /BL.sub.1. These column switches 53.sub.1 and 53.sub.2 are intended to connect one of two bit line pairs BL.sub.0 /BL.sub.0 and BL.sub.1 /BL.sub.1 to the data line pair DL/DL. These switch circuits 53.sub.1 and 53.sub.2 are controlled by column switch selecting signals S.sub.0 and S.sub.1, respectively. One end of data line pair DL/DL is connected to both column switch circuits 53.sub.1 and 53.sub.2 in common, and the other end is connected to sense amplifier circuit 55 via precharger circuit 54. Sense amplifier 55 outputs a binary signal to data bus DB depending on which of two data lines DL and DL, which constitute data line pair DL/DL, is higher in potential. Data latch/output buffer circuit 59 having data output terminal D.sub.out for emitting data to the outside is provided at the output side of sense amplifier circuit 55.
Here, while the bit line pair, word line and column switch selecting signal are generally denoted, their subscript is omitted and represented by BL/BL and W and S, respectively. Bit line pair BL/BL comprises bit lines BL and BL. As can readily be understood by those skilled in the art, when the data is entered or emitted, the potential difference between two bit lines BL and BL, which constitute a bit line pair BL/BL, is changed according to the content of that data.
Column switch circuits 53.sub.1 and 53.sub.2 are each comprised of three NMOS field effect transistors M.sub.1 through M.sub.3. One bit line BL of bit line pair BL/BL is connected to the gate of first transistor M.sub.1, and the drain of this transistor M.sub.1 is connected to one data line DL of the data line pair DL/DL. On the other hand, the other bit line BL is connected to the gate of second transistor M.sub.2, and the drain of this transistor M.sub.2 is connected to the other data line DL. The sources of these two transistors M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 are connected in common and grounded via a channel of third transistor M.sub.3. Entered to the gate of this third transistor M.sub.3 is column switch selecting signal S from column address decoder circuit 58. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, when third transistor M.sub.3 is turned ON, first and second transistors M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 each function as a common source amplifier to form a differential amplifier by these two transistors M.sub.1 and M.sub.2.
As shown in FIG. 2, precharger circuits 52.sub.1, 52.sub.2 and 54 are each comprised of three MOS field effect transistors (MOS FET) M.sub.91 to M.sub.93, to the gate of which precharger circuit activating pulse signal P is supplied from address transition detecting circuit 56. When this pulse signal P is low, each of bit line pairs BL.sub.0 /BL.sub.0. BL.sub.1 /BL.sub.1 or data line pair DL/DL is precharged to a predetermined voltage value.
Next, the operation of this semiconductor memory device is described. If address signals A.sub.0 to A.sub.n are changed, their change is detected by address transition detecting circuit 56, which, as shown in FIG. 3, outputs word line activating pulse signal XE, sense amplifier activating pulse signal SE and precharge circuit activating pulse signal P according to a predetermined timing. In other words, after the address value is changed, first, word line activating pulse signal XE is outputted (time t.sub.1 ) and, a little later (time t.sub.2), sense amplifier circuit activating pulse signal SE and precharge circuit activating pulse signal P are outputted. After word line activating pulse signal XE drops, at time t.sub.3, the rest of pulse signals SE and P also drop, and all of pulse signals XE, SE and P are returned to their original state.
Column address decoder circuit 58 directly reflects the state of the more significant address bit on column switch selecting signal S. If the more significant bit takes a value indicating a specific column, then selecting signal S corresponding to that column is always high, and selecting signal S corresponding to the other column is low.
If the address is changed and word line activating pulse signal XE is emitted, then row address decoder circuit 57 decodes the less significant bit of address signals A.sub.0 through A.sub.n. Word line W corresponding to the decoded value retains the low state when pulse signal XE is low, and shifts to the high state when pulse signal XE is high. It is obvious that word line W not corresponding to the decoded value remains low. Actually, because of the presence of some time delay, the change of pulse signal XE precedes that of word line W. Here, if the difference between times t.sub.1 and t.sub.2 is preset to equal this delay time, then, if word line W is high, precharger circuit activating pulse signal P is turned high while, if word line W is low, then pulse signal P is also turned low. Since bit lines BL, BL and data lines DL, DL are precharged when pulse signal P is low, they are precharged before word line W is turned high, and no electric charge is supplied to them when word line W is high.
If, in this manner, word line W is turned high and is not precharged, a memory cell corresponding to high word line W is selected, and the data of the selected memory is emitted to bit line pair BL/BL. In this case, the potential of one of bit lines BL, BL is reduced depending on the data stored within the memory cell. Then, when word line W is changed from the high to the low state, precharging is initiated again, and the bit line whose potential has been lowered is also returned to its original potential.
On the other hand, if column switch selecting signal S becomes high by the operation of column address decoder circuit 58, then third transistor M.sub.3 is turned ON at the column switch circuit corresponding to selecting signal S. In this state, since first and second transistors M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 cooperatively function as a single differential amplifier, the difference between the drain potentials of first and second transistors M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 will end up in an amplification of the difference between the gate potentials, that is, the potential difference between bit lines BL, BL. In consequence, the amplified signal of selected bit line pair BL/BL is transmitted to data line pair DL/DL. Since selected signal S is established before word line W is turned high, the above-described amplified potential change of bit line pair BL/BL, which was selected by selection signal S, is transmitted to data line pair DL/DL. This change of data line pair DL/DL is amplified by sense amplifier circuit 55, and is emitted to the outside via latch/output buffer circuit 59 and output terminal D.sub.out. The output of sense amplifier circuit 55 is indicated by DB.
If selection signal S is low, then, irrespective of the signal state of bit line pair BL/BL, third transistor M.sub.3 is cut off without exerting any effect on data line pair DL/DL. Therefore, the data output to the outside does not depend on the state of the non-selected bit line pair BL/BL.
Incidentally, one of the plurality of selection signals S, which is emitted from column address decoder circuit 58, never fails to turn high, and one of the column switch circuits is selected. This selected column switch circuit, any of three transistors M.sub.1 to M.sub.3, is turned ON. Therefore, when the word line is low, that is, precharged, current from precharger circuit 54 of data line pair DL/DL via data lines DL, DL to transistors M.sub.1 to M.sub.3 exists. This current is absorbed into a grounding point connected to transistor M.sub.3.
In this semiconductor memory device, since the column switch is comprised of three NMOS transistors M.sub.1 to M.sub.3 only, the area occupied by the column switch circuit is small, and no layout problem of the device can take place. In other words, it is also possible to dispose the column switch circuit with the same width as that of the memory cell. However, if, as described above, precharging is carried out, since the current always begins to flow from precharge circuit 54 at the side of data line pair DL/DL, current consumption can be increased. As the cycle time is increased, the precharging time occupies a greater ratio. Therefore, the longer the cycle time is, the current flowing from its precharger circuit cannot be neglected. If the bit arrangement which serves as the unit for inputting and outputting the data (the so-called data width) is large, since a plurality of column switch circuits corresponding to that bit arrangement is simultaneously selected, power consumption is further increased.
Therefore, in order to reduce power consumption, it is also conceivable to use a transfer gate for the column switch circuit. FIG. 4 is a block wiring diagram illustrating the arrangement of a semiconductor device which constitutes the column switch circuit with the transfer gate.
This semiconductor memory device, as in the one shown in FIG. 1, comprises four memory cells 71.sub.1 through 71.sub.4 arranged in 2.times.2, precharger circuits 72.sub.1, 72.sub.2, 74, sense amplifier circuit 75, address transition detecting circuit 76, row address decoder circuit 77, column address decoder circuit 78 and data latch/output buffer circuit 79. It is only different from the one shown in FIG. 1 in the arrangement of column switches 73.sub.1 and 73.sub.2 each connected to two pairs of bit lines BL.sub.0 /BL.sub.0 and BL.sub.1 /BL.sub.1.
Each of column switches 73.sub.1 and 73.sub.2 is a known transfer gate comprising two NMOS field effect transistors M.sub.5, M.sub.8, two PMOS field effect transistors M.sub.6, M.sub.7 and inverter M.sub.9. Column switch selecting signal S is entered to the gate of NMOS transistors M.sub.5 and M.sub.8, and selecting signal S inverted by inverter M.sub.9 is entered to the gate of PMOS transistors M.sub.6 and M.sub.7. The channels of transistors M.sub.5 and M.sub.6 are each connected in parallel. To one end of this parallel connection, bit line BL is connected and, to its other end, data line DL is connected. Likewise, the channels of transistors M.sub.7 and M.sub.8 are connected in parallel. At one end of this parallel connection, bit line BL is connected and, at its other end, data line DL is connected. As is apparent from the foregoing description, if column switch selecting signal S is high, then bit line pair BL/BL and data line pair DL/DL are electrically connected and, if selection signal S is low, then BL/BL and DL/DL are electrically cut off.
Next, the operation of this semiconductor memory device is described with reference to the timing chart of FIG. 5. Also in this case, if word line W is turned high, the data of the corresponding memory cell is emitted to bit line pair BL/BL. As in the foregoing description, the time when word line W is changed between the high and low states and the time when precharger circuit activating pulse signal P is changed between the high and low states coincide. If column switch selecting signal S is turned high by column address decoder circuit 78, then each of transistors M.sub.5 to M.sub.8 is turned ON in the column switch circuit corresponding to selecting signal S, and the state of bit line pair BL/BL, which corresponds to that column switch circuit, is transmitted to data line pair DL/DL as is. Since selecting signal S is established before word line W is turned high, the above-described potential change of bit line pair BL/BL, which was selected by selecting signal S, will be transmitted, in the end, to data line pair DL/DL as it is. This change of data line pair DL/DL is amplified by sense amplifier circuit 75, and is emitted to the outside via data latch/output buffer circuit 79 and output terminal D.sub.out.
In this semiconductor memory device, one of the plural selecting signals S from column address decoder circuit 78 never fails to turn high, and the column switch circuit corresponding to high selecting signal S is turned ON. However, since the turned-on column switch circuit is precharged from not only bit line pair BL/BL, but from also data line pair DL/DL except for the time when data is entered or emitted, practically no current passes through this column switch circuit. Therefore, power consumption can be made relatively small. However, since the transfer gate comprising NMOS field effect transistors M.sub.5 and M.sub.8 and PMOS field effect transistors M.sub.6 and M.sub.7 is used for the column switch circuit, it is necessary to allow for a sufficiently large separation width between transistors M.sub.5 to M.sub.8 in order to prevent the latch-up effect. Further, since the diffusion factor of boron, which is used as a P-type impurity, is greater than that of arsenic, which is used as an N-type impurity, the designed size of the PMOS transistor, the length of the channel or the separation interval between the diffusion layers tends to become greater than that of the NMOS transistor. In consequence, this semiconductor memory does not allow the column switch circuit to be made small in size, which causes a layout problem. In other words, it is extremely difficult to dispose the column switch with the same width as the disposing interval between the memory cells.


Organic esters of chlorine-containing or bromine-containing phosphorus acids and BIS-GMA, and organic esters of phosphorus acids having chlorine or bromine bonded directly to phosphorus (are described), the organic radical of said esters containing at least one polymerizable functional group. Also described are dental line, restorative, composite, and adhesive compositions containing such organic esters, as well as methods for using such compositions to repair or veneer dental tissue.

Practitioners in the field of dentistry have long sought polymerizable compositions which would adhere well to dentin. One of the first attempts at bonding to dentin was recorded by Buonocore et al, utilizing a polymerizable mixture containing glycerophosphate dimethacrylate (I): ##STR1## see M. Buonocore, W. Wileman, and F. Brudevold, J. Dent. Res., 35, 846 (1956), and M. Buonocore and M. Quigley, J. Amer. Dent. Assoc., 57, 807 (1958).
Anbar et al have reported dentin adhesives containing vinyl phosphonic acid (II) or vinylbenzyl phosphonic acid (III): ##STR2## see M. Anbar and E. Farley, J. Dent. Res., 53, 879 (1974) and E. Farley, R. Jones, and M. Anbar, J. Dent. Res., 56, 943 (1977).
Various phosphoric acid and phosphonic acid esters have been described as having good adhesion to dentin in patent applications and patents, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,182,035, 4,222,780, and 4,235,633, O.L.S. No. 2711234, and Japanese laid-open application Nos. 77-113089, 78-30193, 78-39331, 78-67740, 78-69494, 78-110637, 78-113843, 78-134037, 78-144939, 78-138441, 79-21438, and 79-28339. Also, there has been introduced in Japan a dental liner composition, under the name "Clearfil", utilizing a two-part resin system. The first (catalyst) portion of such resin system contains a polymerizable phosphoric acid of undetermined structure. The second (universal) part of such resin system contains an ethanolic solution of sodium benzene sulfinate and N,N-dihydroxyethyl-p-toluidine (the latter compound will be referred to hereafter as "DHPT"). It has been recommended that the use of this composition be preceeded by acid etching of the exposed dentin (e.g., with ortho-phosphoric acid) prior to application of the liner composition. However, the long term physiological affects of such acid etching are unknown, and the efficacy of acid etching of dentin has been questioned by practitioners, see, e.g., M.G. Buonocore, "The Challenge of Bonding to Dentin", The Acid Etch Technique, L. M. Silverstone and I. L. Dogon, Eds., Proceedings of an International Symposium at St. Moritz, Switzerland, Dec. 16-18, 1974, North Central Publishing Co. (St. Paul, 1975). Also, acid etching is a somewhat difficult procedure to carry out, since the highly corrosive acid is injurious to the soft tissues of the mouth. In addition, commercial products containing ortho-phosphoric acid are, in some jurisdictions, subjected to special transportation requirements which increase the costs of shipping dental supplies (e.g. restoration kits) which contain vials of ortho-phosphoric acid.
A non-phosphorus acid compound which is said to possess bonding capability to dentin is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,220. The preferred compound in said patent is 2-N'-allylamino-4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazine (IV): ##STR3##
Organic esters of monofluorophosphoric acid having the formula (V): ##STR4## wherein R is an unsaturated addition polymerizable group have been described as having good adhesion to hard tooth tissues in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,882,600 and 3,997,504, although no indication regarding the adhesion to dentin of such esters of monofluorophosphoric acid is given in said patents.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,187 there are described various adducts for use as dental resins, made by combining diglycidyl methacrylate of Bisphenol A (hereafter referred to as "BIS-GMA") and isocyanate or diisocyanate. Phosphorus-containing adducts are not described in said patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,674,590 describes various poly-condensation products in which phosphorus atoms are linked to two chain-forming aromatic esterifying groups and to one branched aromatic esterifying group containing a diphenyl group. U.S. Pat. No. 2,871,263 describes various phosphoric dihalides in which phosphorus is bonded to two halogen atoms, is doubly bonded to an oxygen atom, and is singly bonded to a monovalent aromatic hydrocarbon radical containing at least one olefinic double bond and having at least one halogen atom attached to a carbon atom therein. U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,933 describes phosphorus and halogen containing polymers prepared by reacting a halogenated derivative of bis(hydroxyethyl) terephthalate with a halogen-containing phosphorus monomer, the resulting polymer having repeating units in which halogen is not bonded directly to phosphorus.
A dentin adhesive composition should desirably offer good adhesion to both dentin and tooth enamel, as well as adhering well to other restorative and composite resins, crowns, and/or orthodontic brackets currently in use ("restorative" and "composite" will be used essentially interchangeably herein, in recognition of the fact that due to differing standards currently in effect throughout the world, an individual dental adhesive composition might be regarded as a "restorative" in some jurisdictions and as a "composite" in others). Also, a dentin adhesive composition should desirably reduce the need for detailed cavity preparation such as undercutting. In addition, a dentin adhesive coinposition should withstand repeated thermally-induced expansion and contraction while minimizing marginal leakage between the adhesive composition and adjacent tooth tissue or restorative or composite materials. Also, it would be desirable if a dentin adhesive composition offered sufficiently strong bonding to dentin and enamel that the acid etching technique currently used for most dental restorations could be eliminated.


Then, in order to achieve the above-described object, in the optical disk of the present invention, while micro-hologram layers 7 and 8 made of plural layers are provided in an inner portion of a plate body 2 along a thickness direction of the plate body 2, dimensions of micro-holograms 4 along the thickness direction of the plate body 2, which configure the micro-hologram layer 7 formed on the side of one surface of the plate body 2 within the micro-hologram layers 7 and 8 constructed of the plural layers, are made smaller than dimensions of micro-holograms 3 along the thickness direction of the plate body 2, which configure a micro-hologram layer 8 formed on the side of an inner layer of the plate body 2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk, a recording/reproducing method of the optical disk, and an optical disk apparatus with employment of the optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Very recently, various sorts of technical ideas capable of recording on recording media in a multi-layer manner have been proposed in order to increase recording capacities of the recording media.
In other words, in the recording media, micro-hologram layers constructed of plural layers are formed in inner portions of plate bodies along thickness directions of the plate bodies. Since the micro-hologram layers are made in the multi-layer structures, recording capacities of the recording media become extremely large (refer to, for instance, below-mentioned publication 1).
Patent Publication 1: U.S. Pat. No. 7,388,695
In the above-described conventional techniques, an NA (numerical aperture) of a lens employed so as to form the micro-hologram layers made of the plural layers in the inner portions of the plate bodies is made small in order that light may reach the inner portions of the plate bodies.
Then, while this lens is employed, micro-holograms having the same dimensions are formed in a micro-hologram layer provided on the side of a plate body, and furthermore, in another micro-hologram layer provided on the side of an inner layer of this plate body.
However, as previously explained, as to the micro-holograms formed in the respective micro-hologram layers by employing the lens having such a small NA, dimensions of these micro-holograms along a thickness direction of the plate body become longer. As a result, a large number of the above-described micro-hologram layers cannot be formed within the plate body, which may impede that recording capacities thereof are increased.

Optical disk, recording/reproducing method thereof, and optical disk apparatus with employment of optical disk


A mobile weighing scale is disclosed. The mobile weighing scale comprises a column; a weighing platform for supporting an object to be weighed; and a plurality of load cells for computing weighment of the object are connected to the weighing platform, wherein the plurality of load cells are mounted internal to the top of a base tubing, wherein the base tubing is attached to the weighing platform. Further, the mobile weighing scale may comprise a vibrator, removably attached at a proximal end of the weighing platform, for producing vibratory forces on the weighing platform to densify a material within the object to be weighed. The mobile weighing scale may further comprise an electronic indicator, attached to the column, for displaying the computed weighment of the object.

Generally, objects to be weighed are carried to weighing scales for measurement. The objects may be, for example, barrels, cylinders, or other heavy objects. These objects may be heavy and difficult to transport to the weighing scales. The scales used in the industry have a platform to carry the objects. However, these platforms have a gap from the ground, which makes it necessary for the object to be lifted up before placing on the platform. As a result, lifting mechanisms such as beaks or clamps or other devices are used to lift the object before weighing.
Moreover, the object once placed on the platform of the weighing scale have to be placed back on the ground before transporting it to another location. Therefore, transporting the objects while on the weighing scale is difficult.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a mobile weighing scale capable of weighing an object at or near where the object is stored and or weighing the object and transporting the weighed objects to its storage location.


A method of authorizing use of a computer program only able to be used when an authorized message is received from an authorizing system. The method includes providing an authorization system, making a request to use a computer program, signalling the request to the authorization system, the authorization system recording the use of the computer program and providing the authorization message to the computer program upon receipt of the authorization message the computer program may be used.

There is an increasing need for securing and protection of computer programs and other digital products. This is reflected in an increasing demand for a "pay as you use" payment arrangement for licensed use of computer software. It is known for a server to provide application software to a plurality of client's machines. Under this model it is possible to provide a "pay as you use" method of software licensing. Current pricing models used for the payment of software applications are based on per user and seat licensing agreements that are complex, restrictive and inefficient, especially for client server and application service provider software delivery. "Pay as you use" pricing is demanded by software users for its simplicity, cost effectiveness and flexibility.
There is therefore a need for an alternative method of providing a software licensing system that allows for each user of the software to correspond a payment for that use. The licensed software needs to be able to be prevented from use unless authorised, to allow for inter alia payment for using the software.


A vibration damping actuator including: a cup-shaped housing; an output member disposed spaced apart from an opening end of the housing; a guide rod disposed on the output member and positioned inserted into a guide hole; a coil member provided to one of the housing and the output member; an armature disposed on an other of the housing and the output member, the armature being adapted to exert actuating force on the output member; an annular fixing member arranged about the output member; a support rubber plate disposed between the annular fixing member and the output member; and a positioning projection formed at an inside peripheral edge of the fixing member by projecting the inside peripheral edge of the fixing member in cylindrical configuration in an axial direction towards an inside of the housing. The positioning projection is disposed at a location situated inward by a predetermined distance from the opening of the housing for positioning the fixing member relative to the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a vibration damping actuator for use as an active vibration damping apparatus and to an active vibration damping apparatus employing the same, and particularly to a vibration damping actuator suitable for use in a vibration damping apparatus such as an automobile engine mount, body mount, damper, or the like, and to an active vibration damping apparatus employing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to reduce vibration in an automobile body or other component that is very expected to be vibration-damped, there have been employed vibration damping devices that typically utilize vibration attenuating means, such as a shock absorber or rubber elastic body, or alternatively vibration isolating means that utilize the spring action of a coil spring, rubber elastic body, or the like. However, all of these vibration damping devices exhibit only passive damping action, resulting in the problem of an inability to exhibit adequate damping action in instances where, for example, the vibration to be damped has a characteristics such as frequency, that varies; or in cases where advanced vibration damping is required. Accordingly, in recent years, there have been developed and researched a number of active vibration damping devices that actively and in an offsetting manner reduce vibration to be damped, by means of exerting oscillating force on the component to be damped or the vibration damping device. Examples include those disclosed in Citations 1–4 listed hereinbelow.
In such active vibration damping devices, an actuator is needed in order to generate oscillating force, and the actuator needs to have highly controllable frequency and phase as regards the oscillating force generated thereby. A vibration damping actuator appropriate for use in an active vibration damping device may employ a coil, controlling electromagnetic force or magnetic force generated by means of controlling current flow to the coil.
More specifically, as taught inter alia in Citations 1–4, a suitable design for such a vibration damping actuator typically has a guide hole extending on the center axis of a cup-shaped housing; an output member disposed spaced apart from the opening end of the housing, with the output member connected to the housing by an elastic connecting rubber part, and a guide rod disposed on the output member inserted into a guide hole; a coil member provided to either the housing or the output member; and an armature including a ferromagnetic body and/or permanent magnet disposed on the remaining housing or output member. By supplying electrical current through the coil, oscillating force is exerted on the output member by the armature, causing the output member to undergo oscillating displacement in the center axial direction of the housing, on the basis of the guiding action of the guide rod by the guide hole.
In order to actuate vibration of an output member in a high frequency range of several tens of Hz or greater, it is appropriate to employ a guide mechanism for guiding the output member in the actuation direction, and to ensure that the gap between the opposed faces of the coil member and the armature has size that is small and controlled with a high degree of accuracy.
However, where a guide rod guide mechanism relying on a guide hole, and a tiny gap structure for the output portion is employed, components on both the output member side and the housing side should be assembled with a high degree of accuracy. Therefore, when assembling the housing equipped with either the coil member or armature, and the output member affixed to the remaining coil member or armature by inserting the guide rod of the output member into the housing in the axial direction, it is necessary to take extreme care in positioning of the members in a direction perpendicular to an axis direction of the housing (hereinafter refereed to as the "axis-perpendicular direction"), leading to a tendency of increasing difficulty in assembling operation. Even after assembly, a high degree of accuracy in relative positioning of the housing and output member (guide rod, etc.) is also required in order to efficiently obtain consistent output characteristics, which has the problem of being difficult to achieve.
[Citation 1]                JP-A-9-49541
[Citation 2]                JP-A-9-89040
[Citation 3]                JP-A-10-231886
[Citation 4]                JP-A-2001-1765

Active vibration damping actuator and active damping apparatus using the same


In an aspect, a system for dynamic data injection is presented. A system includes a computing device. A computing device is configured to receive at least a digital media file. A digital media file includes at least a segment comprising a plurality of display quanta. A computing device is configured to select a portion of at least a segment of at least a digital media file as a function of a randomization engine. A computing device is configured to encode identifying data in a selected portion of at least a segment. Encoding includes modifying at least a display quanta of a plurality of display quanta of a selected portion of at least a segment. A computing device is configured to display at least a segment to a user.

Digital media files, such as videos, are prone to piracy. Modern methods of injecting data into video files, such as watermarking, commonly degrade the quality of the video and require a production of an entirely separate video file from the original. As such, modern systems and methods of injecting data into digital media files can be improved.

System and method for dynamic data injection


A slew drive with mounting structure includes a slew drive having a housing with a bottom side. A mounting structure includes a plate assembly coupled to the bottom side of the housing. A bottom surface of the plate assembly is formed as a convex surface forming a sphere section. A base plate has a concave top surface adjustably receiving the sphere section of the bottom surface of the plate assembly and a convex bottom surface. A post coupling is carried by the base plate for coupling the base plate to a post. A clamp ring has a central opening receiving the post coupling therethrough and has a concave top surface adjustably receiving the convex bottom surface of the base plate. Fasteners couple the plate assembly and clamp ring and are movable between a clamp position and an unclamped position.

In the field of drive systems, and in particularly slewing drives, the ability to attach a slew drive to a post is needed. The problem often encountered with mounting a slew drive is to make sure the drive is mounted square and level or aligned with multiple other slew drives. This can be difficult, requiring the base to which the drive is attached to be square and level itself. Posts or pillars carrying a slew drive must therefore be formed or positioned with great precision. This can be difficult and time consuming during the installation process, increasing complexity, installation time and cost.
Field misalignment of a slew drive creates tension in the entire system. The tension will cause fatigue and result in damage to the system over a reduced period of time. Furthermore, installation time for work crews trying to align post for slewing drives to solar array in the field is greatly increased. Alignment and/or leveling of drives is typically accomplished by the machining of specialty adjustment pieces such as ovular holes, shims, washers, and other incremental fit-up pieces.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved slew drive with spherical adjusting mount.
Another object of the invention is to provide a slewing mechanism mount which allows for making adjustments to square and level or align a mounted slew drive.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a slew drive mount which can be adjusted so that posts can be driven into the ground quicker without as much time spent on assuring their perpendicularity to the ground.

Slew drive gearbox with spherical adjusting mount


[Problem] To contribute to SDGs by making it possible to provide a (semi-)transparent clear file with sufficient durability

A clear file (also referred to as "clear folder"), which is a (semi-)transparent storage tool, is widely used as a storage tool for storing items to be stored, the items being exemplified by documents and/or slips of paper. Use of a clear file makes it possible to both store items to be stored together and to perceive at least some of the stored items from outside of the storage tool.
A clear file is entirely made of (semi-)transparent plastic. However, careless disposal of plastics by littering or the like not only impairs scenery, but also affects the environment or ecosystems, such as living creatures dying from mistakenly swallowing plastics, or the like. Hence, as sustainable development goals (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs), it is advocated to realize new industrial promotion and economic growth while overcoming environmental problems caused by heavy use of fossil fuels.
For example, if a plastic clear file can be switched to a paper-made clear file, it may allow for contribution to SDGs by reduction of fossil fuel consumption and plastic waste. Although it is a technology to allow for visual confirmation of an address on an envelope, causing a resin composition to permeate absorbent paper and then curing the resin composition with active energy rays is proposed as a technology to make paper transparent. (Patent Literature 1). The resin compositions described in Patent Literature 1 include a polyfunctional acrylic modified oligomer (A), a polyfunctional acrylic monomer (B) other than (A), and a photopolymerization initiator (C), and the compositions have a viscosity at 25° C. of higher than 500 mPa·s and 3,000 mPa·s or lower.
According to the invention described in Patent Literature 1, it is possible to apply a resin composition on an opaque envelope or the like, cure the resin composition with active energy rays such as ultraviolet rays or the like, and process a part or whole of paper so that the paper will be translucent and underlying printed matters or patterns can be seen through.

Abstract: [Means for Solving] A (semi-)transparent clear file of the present invention comprises (semi-)transparent covering paper P in which at least one surface of raw material paper R is covered with a cured product of a resin composition L. The resin composition L contains an energy ray polymerizable (meth)acrylic monomer and/or oligomer having a viscosity at 25° C. of 100 mPa·s or less, and glass transition temperature Tg of the cured product of 50° C. or higher. A basis weight of the paper is 65 g/m2 or more and 100 g/cm2 or less. The paper has a thickness of 80 μm or more and 100 μm or less. A proportion of the paper to 100 pts. mass of the covering paper P is 50 pts. mass or more, and a proportion of the cured product is less than 50 pts. mass. The monomer and/or the oligomer are/is preferably alkali-soluble, and also preferably contain/contains an inert resin. The raw material paper R is preferably uncoated paper.


A condensation drain trap for a drain outlet of an air conditioner for draining of condensate waste water. The drain trap has a diaphragm divided by cuts into a plurality of sections to permit the diaphragm to deform, upon the air conditioner being first turned on and a negative pressure being generated inside the air conditioner, to allow passage of air, in a controlled fashion, through the drain trap and into the air conditioner. The diaphragm is designed to retain a column of waste water in the drain trap to balance the negative pressure inside the air conditioner, while the cuts are such that when the column of waste water exceeds a predetermined height or volume, the excess waste water drains out through the diaphragm to maintain the column of waste water at the predetermined height or volume.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a condensate drain trap for an air conditioning system.
2. Background Information
In the operation of a typical air conditioning or refrigeration system, moisture from the air is condensed on an evaporator coil and accumulates in a drain pan situated below the coil. A typical drain pan has a tube or threaded connection for connecting an external pipe to carry the water to a safe location for disposal. Air is drawn over the evaporator coil by a blower which causes a negative pressure in the blower compartment, where the drain pan is located. Air conditioning manufacturers specify installing a U-shaped drain trap in the drain line to balance atmospheric pressure with the negative pressure in the drain pan. Condensate water will not drain from the drain pan unless this U-shaped drain trap is installed in the drain line. However, this system has inherent problems. The U-shaped drain trap must be or should be primed before water can flow out of the drain pan. If the U-shaped drain trap is not primed, the velocity of the air blows condensate into the interior of the blower compartment causing corrosion and algae to form. Other problems with the U-shaped drain trap is it, by nature of its design, traps dirt and algae, eventually blocking the flow of condensate. In the winter season, water in the U-tube freezes and cracks, damaging the trap.

Condensate drain trap for an air conditioning system


A system for NOx reduction in combustion gases, especially from diesel engines, incorporates an oxidation catalyst to convert at least a portion of NO to NO2, a particulate filter, a source of reductant such as NH3 and an SCR catalyst. Considerable improvements in NOx conversion are observed.

The technique named SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) is well established for industrial plant combustion gases, and may be broadly described as passing a hot exhaust gas over a catalyst in the presence of a nitrogenous reductant, especially ammonia or urea. This is effective to reduce the NOx content of the exhaust gases by about 20-25% at about 250.degree. C., or possibly rather higher using a platinum catalyst, although platinum catalysts tend to oxidise NH3 to NOx during higher temperature operation. We believe that SCR systems have been proposed for NOx reduction for vehicle engine exhausts, especially large or heavy duty diesel engines, but this does require on-board storage of such reductants, and is not believed to have met with commercial acceptability at this time.
We believe that if there could be a significant improvement in performance of SCR systems, they would find wider usage and may be introduced into vehicular applications. It is an aim of the present invention to improve significantly the conversion of NOx in a SCR system, and to improve the control of other pollutants using a SCR system.


Effects of synchronization control errors on subsequent processes are reduced when such synchronization control errors occur in a scanning type (e.g., step-and-scan) exposure apparatus. A reticle stage controller that controls the driving of a reticle stage, a focus controller that controls a focusing position on a wafer, a blind controller that controls a shape of an aperture formed by a movable blind, and an exposure controller that controls the intensity of light incident on the wafer are controlled with as much precision as is possible, but typically have synchronization control errors. Synchronization control errors for each controller are determined, e.g., by each controller, and are supplied to a main control system that can be, e.g., a higher rank controller. The main control system displays, e.g., through a warning apparatus, shot areas in which the synchronization control errors exceed an allowable range. Such shot areas are referred to as poor shots. The poor shots are eliminated from being exposure targets in subsequent exposure processes (e.g., for layers applied above the layer causing the poor shot) and also are eliminated from being used as sample shots in subsequent alignment processes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exposure apparatus and methods used in photolithographic processes to produce, for example, semiconductor elements (e.g., chips), liquid crystal display elements, image pick-up elements (e.g., camera CCDs), thin film magnetic heads, and the like. The present invention is particularly applicable to scanning type exposure apparatus using a so-called step-and-scan method that successively exposes patterns on a mask onto each shot area on a photosensitive substrate while simultaneously moving (scanning) the mask and the substrate in synchronization in predetermined scanning directions.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a batch exposure type projective exposure apparatus, such as a stepper, has been used to manufacture semiconductor elements or the like using a photolithographic technology. Such apparatus expose images of patterns on a reticle used as a mask through a projective optical system and onto each shot area on a wafer (or a glass plate) on which photoresist or the like. has been applied. Typically, these projective exposure apparatus have used a so-called step-and-repeat method in which the entire pattern from the reticle is exposed onto the wafer shot area (i.e., the area where one chip. is formed) in one shot. The wafer is then stepped to the next position, and this process is repeated until the requisite number of shot areas on the wafer have been exposed. This process typically is repeated many times, using different reticle patterns to build up the various circuits, for example, on the plurality of chips formed on the wafer.
Difficulties have risen in using the step-and-repeat method due to the trend in the semiconductor industry to produce chips having larger sizes. Due to the larger size chips, the reticle patterns, and the resulting image that is exposed through the projective optical system, also has been made larger. This requires the exposure field of the projective optical system to be made larger, which causes the projective optical system to become more complicated in order to maintain aberrations within an allowable range throughout the entire exposure field. This increases the already high manufacturing cost, and causes the projective optical system to become large, which results in the entire body of the apparatus becoming too large.
In order to respond to the demand for increasing the area of the transferred pattern without enlarging the exposure field of the projective optical system, a scanning exposure type projective exposure apparatus using the so-called step-and-scan method has been developed. The step-and-scan method successively transfers and exposes patterns on a reticle onto each shot area on a wafer by scanning the reticle and the wafer synchronously with respect to the projective optical system so that, at any instant in time, a portion of the pattern of the reticle is projected onto the wafer through the projective optical system.
In the projective exposure apparatus, the patterns on the reticle are successively transferred to each shot area of the wafer by synchronizing and controlling a substrate (or wafer) stage that determines the position of the substrate and a reticle stage that determines the position of the reticle. Additionally, synchronizing and controlling of the substrate stage, an automatic focus (AF) system, a movable field diaphragm (a movable blind) in the illumination optical system, an exposure amount controlling mechanism, and the like are also performed. Any error that remains during exposure after performing the synchronization control (referred to hereafter as xe2x80x9ca synchronization control errorxe2x80x9d) causes a degradation of the transferred images or a registration error (i.e., an alignment error between a recently exposed image and an underlying image). Therefore, the various systems of the scanning exposure type projective exposure apparatus need to be dynamically controlled in parallel so that they are synchronized with respect to time (i.e., the timing by which they operate) and space (i.e., their position).
In the conventional scanning projective exposure apparatus, the patterns on the reticle are transferred onto each shot area on the substrate by synchronizing and dynamically controlling the reticle and substrate stage driving mechanisms, the automatic focus mechanism, the movable blind mechanism, the exposure amount control mechanism, and the like. However, small spatial and time synchronization control errors occur due to response speeds of the control systems that dynamically drive these various mechanisms, disturbances, and the like. Conventionally, an observation (that is, monitoring and storing) of the synchronization control errors that might occur during exposure is not specifically accomplished. When a shot area on which the pattern of the reticle is not accurately transferred due to an occurrence of a synchronization control error (referred to hereafter as xe2x80x9ca poor shotxe2x80x9d) occurs, the procedure simply moves to the next process (e.g., exposure of the next shot area) without recording the poor shot. Additional exposure (e.g., with different mask patterns) are performed, and the resulting chip is ultimately determined to be a poor chip, for example, after the chip is tested. Therefore, there is an inconvenience in that unnecessary exposures are performed on the poor shot area until the resulting chip is tested and determined to be a poor chip.
Moreover, the above poor shot could be selected as a sample shot when performing alignment in accordance with an enhanced global alignment (EGA) method, which creates further problems. As is known, the EGA method calculates arrangement coordinates of all shot areas on the wafer by using an alignment sensor that detects a position of an alignment mark on the wafer to measure a position of a plurality of sample shot areas selected from all shot areas on the wafer, and then statistically processes the measurement results. If the poor shot is selected, there is a possibility that position data of all shot areas will be significantly affected.
It is an object of embodiments of the present invention to provide a scanning type exposure apparatus that can reduce adverse effects to subsequent processes even when synchronization control errors occur.
In order to achieve the above and other objects, and to address the shortcomings in the prior art, a scanning exposure apparatus and method according to embodiments of the invention stores positional information relating to one or more areas on a substrate (e.g., a wafer) where one or more synchronization errors are detected to be greater than a predetermined value. The areas where the detected synchronization errors are greater than the predetermined value can then be eliminated from further exposure processing. Accordingly, throughput (productivity) is improved because time is not wasted exposing areas on the substrate that ultimately would yield defective devices (e.g., chips). Additionally, the areas where the detected synchronization errors are greater than the predetermined value can be eliminated from being used as sample areas during subsequent alignment processes, thereby avoiding the problems that can arise when such poor shot areas are used for alignment.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a scanning. exposure apparatus includes an illumination system a projection optical system a scanning system an error detecting system and a memory. The illumination system is located between a light source and a mask illuminated with light from the light source The projection optical system is located between the mask and a substrate and projects an image of an illuminated pattern from the mask onto the substrate. The scanning system synchronously moves the mask and the substrate so as to expose each of plural areas on the substrate with the pattern. The error detecting system detects an error in synchronous scanning of the mask and the substrate for each area. The memory stores positional information relating to one or more areas on the substrate where the detected error is more than the predetermined value.
The scanning system can include a mask stage that moves the mask relative to light from the light source, and a substrate stage that moves the substrate relative to light from the illuminated pattern. In such a case, the error detecting system can detect a positional error in synchronous movement of the mask stage and the substrate stage during scanning exposure of each area.
The scanning exposure system also can include an optical sensor that outputs a signal corresponding to a difference between an imaging plane of the projection optical system and the substrate in a direction along an optical axis of the projection optical system. For example, the optical sensor is part of an auto-focussing systems. In such a case, the error detecting system can also detect a focussing error in accordance with the signal output by the optical sensor.
The illumination system can include a stop member that is driven in response to movement of the mask relative to light output from the light source during scanning exposure. In such a case, the error detecting system can also detect an error in driving of the stop member.
The scanning exposure system also can include a light detector that outputs a signal corresponding to an intensity of light output by the light source and incident on the substrate. In such a case, the error detecting system can also detect an illuminance error in accordance with the signal output by the light detector.
The scanning exposure system also can include a display that indicates the one or more areas to be distinguished from other areas on the substrate. Additionally, a warning device can be provided that indicates when the errors exceed the predetermined value. for example, the warning device can indicate the location(s) of the area(s) on the substrate where the error(s) exceeded the predetermined value.
The memory can also store the synchronization control errors in correlation with the locations of the areas on the substrate the synchronization control errors were detected to be greater than the predetermined value
Another aspect of embodiments of the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a device using the scanning exposure apparatus. Such a method includes the steps of: synchronously moving a mask and a substrate so that each of plural areas on the substrate is exposed with a pattern from the mask; detecting an error in the synchronous moving of the mask and of the substrate for each of the areas; and exposing areas on the substrate for which the error is less than a predetermined value with another pattern, while eliminating areas on the substrate for which the error is greater than the predetermined value from exposure with the another pattern. The method can include the step of storing identifying information of one or more of the areas on the substrate for which the error is greater than the predetermined value so that, e.g., those areas can be eliminated from further processing. The error can include at least one of a positional error between the pattern and the substrate, an error in movement of a field stop that defines an illumination area on the mask, and an error in a light intensity in the illumination area. The error can also include a positional error between each area and the pattern, at least one of a focussing error in a direction along an optical axis of the projection optical system, and an alignment error in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis.

Scanning type exposure apparatus and method