Non-volatile memory devices and methods for driving the same are disclosed. An example non-volatile memory device includes a semiconductor substrate; source/drain junctions in a predetermined region of the semiconductor substrate; a main gate oxide layer above a surface of the semiconductor substrate and disposed between the source/drain junctions, a first end of the main gate oxide layer comprising a first bit charge storage unit including a first tunnel oxide layer, a first potential well layer, and a first coupling oxide layer, and a second, opposing end of the main gate oxide layer comprising a second bit charge storage unit including a second tunnel oxide layer, a second potential well layer, and a second coupling oxide layer; and a main gate electrode above the main gate oxide layer.

Non-volatile memory, in which there is no loss of stored data even in the event of a power supply interruption, is widely used for data storage in a variety of devices, including, for example, digital cameras and mobile phones. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art single-transistor stacked cell structure for realizing a non-volatile memory device.
As shown in FIG. 1, a single-transistor stacked cell includes a semiconductor substrate 11; a tunnel oxide layer 12 selectively formed on a predetermined area of the semiconductor substrate 11; a stacked gate structure composed of a floating gate 13, an intergate insulating layer 14, and a control gate 15; an insulating layer spacer 16 disposed on either side of the stacked gate structure; an insulating layer 17 formed between the stacked gate structure and the insulating layer spacer 16; lightly doped drains 18a and 18b formed in the surface of the semiconductor substrate substantially under the insulating layer spacer 16; source/drain junctions 19a and 19b formed in the surface of the semiconductor substrate substantially beyond either side of the insulating layer spacer 16; and a silicide layer 20 formed on the source/drain junctions and on the control gate atop the stacked gate structure.
A single-transistor stacked cell constituted as described above enjoys a small footprint to facilitate device integration. In such a stacked cell, the floating gate 13 is fully enclosed by a dielectric layer and serves as the charge storage unit of the cell. In programming such a cell, hot-electron channel injection is applied to inject electrons into the floating gate 13 and to, thus, raise its threshold voltage (VT). In an erase operation electrons are removed from the floating gate 13 via Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling to lower the threshold voltage (VT).
An over-erase state (i.e., VT≦0V) may occur due to a non-uniformity in semiconductor fabrication, (particularly, due to a non-uniformity in the thickness of the tunnel oxide layer 12), or due to stress being applied to the dielectric layer enclosing the floating gate 13. Here, it should be noted that none of the cells of a given bit line can be read if over erasing occurs in any one of the cells. Therefore, the prevention of over-erasing is a crucial operational requirement. Generally, in a single-transistor stacked cell such as that of FIG. 1, the problem of over-erasing is overcome by detecting over-erased cells and programming the detected cells after increasing their threshold voltages. This process, however, consumes excessive test time, requires a complicated circuit to compensate for the threshold voltages of the over-erased cells, and increases the complexity of the data-erasing process. Furthermore, to address the over-erasing problem, the single-transistor stacked cell is configured to prevent occurrence of the over-erasing state altogether, namely, by narrowing the range (window) of the allowable threshold voltage of the cell. In this regard, when performing the erasing operation in block units of more than several tens of kilobytes, a statistical threshold voltage distribution of an erased block is over-extended, thereby reducing an actual allowable threshold voltage range.
In the above-described non-volatile memory cell, a charge state of the floating gate (i.e., a threshold voltage) corresponds to a memory logic state. For an input voltage of 3.3V, the allowable threshold voltage range of the single-transistor stacked cell is about 1.0V˜5.0V, and the cell current flowing in the single-transistor stacked cell is determined accordingly. For example, if a read voltage of 3.3V is applied to a control gate having a low-level threshold voltage set to 1.0V, the cell current corresponds to the difference (i.e., 3.3V−1.0V). On the other hand, when applying a read voltage of 3.3 V to a cell programmed at 5.0V, the current path in the channel of the cell is blocked. Thus, in a single-transistor stacked cell, when a read voltage is applied, either a current-flowing state or a current-blocking state is detected. These two current states correspond to two logic level states (i.e., a logic "1" and a logic "0"), thereby enabling the storage of one bit of digital data per cell.
In a data read operation, the data read speed of the memory is directly proportional to the cell current. That is, high cell current means high data read speed and vice versa. Therefore, since lower threshold voltages enable higher cell currents, a lower threshold voltage also means a higher read speed. Due to its low cell current, the above-described single-transistor stacked cell has difficulty in improving the data read speed.
Attempts to achieve a further reduced cell size (increased fineness) to meet the specification rule of the single-transistor stacked cell also have negative effects (e.g., poorer cell characteristics and lower cell reliability). For example, in the single-transistor stacked cell arranged in a memory array, a drain is directly connected to a bit line, and a source is connected to a common ground line. As such, when a drain voltage is applied, a drain turn-on or block-transistor punchthrough phenomenon occurs and high leakage current is generated due to the drain's coupling to the floating gate. Therefore, a program current is increased, so that the number of charge pumping circuits must be increased. The drain turn-on, punchthrough, and high leakage current effects are amplified in inverse proportion to the width of the channel. Consequently, it is difficult to reduce the cell size. In addition, the memory array may unexpectedly inject hot electrons into non-selected cells contained in a selected bit line due to the leakage current. Further, the memory array may encounter a charge leakage problem in the non-selected cells due to electric field stress. In addition, a deterioration of a neighboring oxide layer of the floating gate of the storage transistor (cell) may occur when a contact and wiring process is performed with respect to the drain.
Even with the development of microfabrication technology, and although a flash memory cell may have a single-transistor structure, it is still difficult to reduce cell size due to the several problems described above. To solve these problems, the single-transistor stacked cell may include a selection gate transistor connected in series to the floating gate transistor. However, inclusion of such a selection gate transistor requires an allotment of an additional area during cell integration, which counteracts efforts to reduce cell size.
Wherever possible, like reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar parts.


In a mixer system including a mixer engine wherein contents of signal processing can be programmed and a PC that edits the configuration of signal processing, the PC is provided with a display controller that graphically displays the edited configuration of signal processing using components for the signal processing and wires connecting nodes of the components; an accepting device that accepts designation of a node or wire whose signal is desired to be monitored, in a screen thereof; and a directing device that directs the mixer engine to output the signal from the designated node or wire to a monitoring analog signal output in accordance with the designation, and the mixer engine is provided with an outputting device that outputs a signal to the monitoring analog signal output in accordance with the direction separately from the signal processing relating to the edited signal processing configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an audio signal processing system in which an editing device edits contents of signal processing in an audio signal processing device and the audio signal processing device performs the signal processing in accordance with the edited contents, and a program for causing a computer to function as the editing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a well-known audio signal processing device in which an audio signal processing module is composed using a processor operable following a program, and an external computer such as a PC (personal computer) or the like functions as an editing device so that audio signals can be processed based on a configuration of signal processing edited using the editing device. Such an audio signal processing device is called a mixer engine in the present application. The mixer engine stores therein the configuration of signal processing edited by the PC and can independently perform processing on audio signals based on the stored configuration of signal processing. Further, this mixer engine constitutes an audio signal processing system together with the above-described editing device.
For the edit of the configuration of signal processing on the editing device, the components being constituent elements for the signal processing in editing and a wiring status between their input and output nodes are graphically displayed on a display to allow users to perform editing work in an environment where the configuration of signal processing can be easily grasped visually. Then, a user can arrange desired processing components and set wires between the arranged components, thereby editing the configuration of signal processing.
The audio signal processing system described above and the application software for causing a computer to function as the editing device is described, for example, in Owner's Manual of a digital mixing engine "DME32 (trade name)" available from YAMAHA Co., especially pp. 23 to 66 (pp. 21 to 63 in English version).


A system (method and program for storing the method) for displaying an image, includes a motion object detector for detecting a motion object in image information inputted to the system, a recognizing device for recognizing a moving state in the motion object detected by the motion object detector, a modification information adder for adding modification information to the image information in regard to the motion object detected by the motion object detector based on the moving state recognized by the recognizing device, and a display device for displaying the image information having been added with the modification information by the modification information adder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image display system, an image display method and a program, which are for displaying an image, and more specifically, to an image display system, an image display method and a program that improve quality of an image moving on a display.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, among display devices, a liquid crystal display (LCD) provided with thin film transistors (TFT) has continued to develop greatly from viewpoints of its reduction in weight, thinness, portability, low power consumption and so on. Such an LCD is a display utilizing a property of liquid crystals, in which a molecular alignment is changed by applying a predetermined voltage thereto.
Moreover, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) (also called "an organic EL") has attracted attention as a next-generation display device. The OLED is a device for emitting light by flowing a direct current through a fluorescent organic compound excited by applying an electric field thereto. The OLED is thin, can achieve a wide viewing angle and be used for a wide variety of applications.
For example, though an LCD for use in a PC has been mainly used for displaying a still image heretofore, the LCD has become widely used in place of a cathode ray tube (CRT) such as for displaying a motion picture as a graphics system and displaying a video image as a monitor and the like. In this connection, the technology of displaying a motion picture on the LCD has attracted attention increasingly. Moreover, with the OLED, the necessity of improving motion picture quality is high.
In the case of displaying a motion picture in such a manner, in the display devices other than an impulse-type display such as the CRT, several defects occur with regard to an object in motion due to an effect of a so-called "light-stimulus integration" (properties of an afterglow reflected on a human retina when following a motion picture).
Such defects include a blur of the front edge, a tailing of the rear edge, a lowering of the brightness, and a delay of the perceived position on the front edge or a center position.
Here, the LCD is a hold-type apparatus in which light is continuous for the entire period of a frame, and in terms of the motion picture quality, the LCD cannot follow the CRT as it is.
For example, in a TFT-LCD of a current twisted nematic (TN) mode, the response time of ON/OFF is approximately one refresh cycle (16.7 ms at a 60 Hz refresh rate). Such a response time is much slower than the response time of the CRT, which is almost zero (0).
In this connection, there is a so-called "overdrive technology" as one of the improvements in the response time in the LCD. In order to improve the response characteristics of the LCD to a step input, this overdrive technology applies a higher voltage than a target voltage for the step input in the first frame where the input is changed, and accelerates transition of the brightness. The use of this overdrive technology reduces the response time to one frame or less, and brings the display quality of the LCD close to the quality of a so-called "complete-hold-type" (of which response time is close to zero). The above-described OLED corresponds to this complete-hold-type display.
FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b) are diagrams for explaining the light-stimulus integration in the complete-hold-type display.
FIG. 9(a) shows a state where the object 301 having the brightness V and the width W (pixels) moves at the moving speed S (S pixels per frame) in a screen coordinate system. In this case, the moving speed of the sight that follows the object is also S.
In FIG. 9(a), the axis of ordinates represents times and shows a state where the object 301 moves in the left-to-right direction to the time 0 taking a time for two frames (here, 33.3 ms) and further moves for one frame (16.7 ms) before the start of the next frame. In the example shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b), the moving speed S is larger than the width W. Specifically, the relation W/S≦1 is established.
FIG. 9(b) shows a light-stimulus integration in this case, in which the axis of ordinates represents brightness and the axis of abscissas represents a retinal coordinate system. When the time is zero (0), a brightness of pixels (S−W) among the entire pixels (S+W) is represented as: V·{W/S} with respect to the original brightness V. The brightness gradually increases before the pixels (S+W) and gradually decreases thereafter. The front edge from which the brightness gradually increases becomes blurred, and the rear edge to which the brightness gradually decreases becomes tailed (e.g., tails off). Moreover, there occurs a center delay of S/2 for a position in the screen coordinate system at the time of starting the next frame.
Specifically, even if the complete-hold-type is used, the object with the width W expands to S+W in the retinal coordinate system when moving at the moving speed S. Moreover, there occur the lowering of the brightness, the delay of the perceived position, the blur of the front edge, and the tailing of the rear edge.
Moreover, in order to bring the display device such as an LCD and an OLED close to the impulse type such as the CRT from the complete-hold-type display, a so-called "blanking system" is suitably used, in which light is emitted intermittently for each frame, and a light emitting time is reduced.
However, for example with regard to the OLED, the light emission efficiency is low, and the brightness is lowered if the blanking is employed therefor, thereby lowering the contrast.

System for displaying image, method for displaying image and program thereof

International Business Machines Corporation


A colored orthopedic splinting material comprising a glass fiber substrate and a hardenable resin wherein the individual filaments making up the substrate are colored.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hardenable material which comprises a substrate carrying a hardenable resin, for example which hardens on contact with water. More specifically, this invention relates to a colored orthopaedic splinting material which carries a hardenable resin.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well established to use water hardenable isocyanate functional resins in orthopaedic splint bandages. Such bandages are disclosed in British Patent No. GB2216533.
For some considerable time now it has been desirable to use colored casting materials which includes for example solid colours, prints and multicolored decorations. Methods of colouring casting materials are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,438. However such casts suffer from the disadvantage that the colored prepolymers will readily stain other material with which they come into contact. Methods of overcoming this disadvantage are disclosed in European Patent Application No. 479269 and PCT Application No. WO93104709. Both applications generally relate to the manufacture of colored orthopaedic casts or multicolored orthopaedic casts by printing one or more pigments onto the surface of a knitted substrate which results in the coating or partial coating of some of the yarns but not the individual filaments. In addition, such printing techniques prove to be expensive in manufacture, inter alia, because of the need to clean machinery when changing production from one color to another. It is also a method which does not lend itself well to continuous production and generally requires a batch process.
A preferred material from which casting substrates can be formed are glass fibre yarns. Glass fibre yarns are conventionally manufactured by drawing molten glass through nozzles to form filaments. The filaments are cooled, sized and gathered to form glass fibre strands. The glass fibre strands are subsequently twisted and plied to form glass fibre yarns.


In general, the present invention provides an RF signal amplification system having an improved layout. The size of the MMIC can be reduced without loss of functionality and/or additional functionality can be added to the MMIC without increasing the size of the MMIC. The MMIC is configured with an off-chip bias feed system. The MMIC is configured with landing zones for receiving a bond wire such that on-chip bias circuitry can be reduced and/or eliminated.

Bias circuitry in various integrated circuits ("IC's") undesirably increases the size and complexity of the IC. In this regard, the cost to produce an IC is generally proportional to the size of the IC. Thus, substantial cost savings may be obtained when a mass produced IC is designed with a smaller chip area. Furthermore, complex IC layouts often take longer to design and unduly restrict the layout of the IC and the layout of devices connecting to the IC.
In various IC's, a substantial portion of the circuitry layout comprises bias feed circuitry. Bias feed circuitry may serve as both a DC power supply path, providing biasing current to transistors on the IC, and as a RF block ("bias choke"). Bias circuitry may become undesirably large in IC's that have high current DC bias and/or high frequency signals. The high current may result in large bias circuitry because the current carrying line is configured to be wide enough to suitably carry the current. Additionally, one or more bias feed line may be incorporated into the chip to share the current carrying duty and thus reduce the width of each bias feed line. With regard to performing the RF blocking function, bias feeds typically require a suitable length trace. In order to fit the bias feed on the chip and maintain a suitable length trace, the traces are often laid out with turns and bends. Unfortunately, wider bias feed lines typically use disproportionately large areas to make turns. Therefore, high power/high frequency IC devices typically have large bias feed sections.
These high power/high frequency characteristics exist in some IC's that amplify high frequency radio frequency ("RF") and microwave signals. One such IC is a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier. A MMIC is typically used to amplify high frequency RF and/or microwave signals. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional MMIC high power amplifier ("HPA") 100. As is typical, DC bias circuitry areas 190 occupy about 15% to 20% of the total chip area. DC bias circuitry 110 may function as both a DC power supply path to transistors 120 and an RF block ("bias choke"). In high power applications, such as the MMIC, the DC bias circuitry typically employs wide lines, e.g., 112, to accommodate the large current flow to transistors 120. Furthermore, to reduce the line width and/or supply more current, DC bias circuitry 110 is often fed from two sides, e.g., 101 and 102, splitting the current between two lines, e.g., 112 and 113. In addition to the space used to provide current from two sides of a chip, this technique undesirably places restrictions on the next higher level of circuitry to which MMIC 100 is attached. For example, MMIC 100 may be attached to a motherboard having a pair of power lines to the points of connection with the MMIC for providing power to on-chip bias lines 112 and 113.
On-chip capacitors 130 are configured for providing an RF choke. On-chip capacitors 130 are typically located at a 90 degree phase angle length from a matching and combining structure 140. The high impedance line acts as a virtual open to the RF signals, and the on-chip capacitors are configured to short residual RF signals to ground. Bias feed circuit line layouts often have turns in the lines (e.g., 108) to facilitate a suitable RF choke length between capacitors 130 and matching structures 140. However, turns in wide lines generally involve large turning radiuses and more space on the IC. Therefore, prior art bias injection techniques typically involve a lot of bias feed section space on the IC for high frequency and high current applications.
FIG. 2 illustrates the conventional MMIC 200 of FIG. 1 with DC bond wires 220 connecting DC bias circuitry 210 of MMIC 200 to the circuitry of the next higher assembly 250. For example, bond wire 220 is attached to by-pass capacitor 240.
MMICs and other similar devices are now finding applicability in consumer and manufacturing goods and thus, mass production for applications such as broadband home TV and/or internet satellite transmitters, and lasers is desirable. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the size of the IC layouts and/or to reduce the complexity of IC layouts for more compact applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and devices for providing bias to a monolithic microwave integrated circuit


Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating potential resource capacity in a system where there is elasticity and competition between a plurality of containers. A dynamic potential capacity is determined for at least one container in a plurality of containers competing for a total capacity of a larger container. A current utilization by each of the plurality of competing containers is obtained, and an equilibrium capacity is determined for each of the competing containers. The equilibrium capacity indicates a capacity that the corresponding container is entitled to. The dynamic potential capacity is determined based on the total capacity, a comparison of one or more of the current utilizations to one or more of the corresponding equilibrium capacities and a relative resource weight of each of the plurality of competing containers. The dynamic potential capacity is optionally recalculated when the set of plurality of containers is changed or after the assignment of each work element.

When computer resources are shared, a scheduler assigns processes to one or more available processors or other resources. Typically, the scheduler assigns work, such as batch jobs, by matching job requirements with the capabilities and capacity of the resource(s). Traditionally, jobs have been assigned directly to physical resources, based on current utilization and fixed capacity. More recently, however, the physical resources are exposed through one or more resource containers (often referred to as "virtual machines"), each providing an abstraction of the underlying resources. The shared physical resources can include, for example, processing cores, storage systems, and network communication resources.
In a multi-container environment, the various containers share and compete for fixed physical resources, such as processor cycles, typically under the supervision of a container manager. The container manager typically assigns the physical resources to containers according to a set of rules or policies. The resource competition between containers adds even greater complexity to the scheduling problem. The evaluation of the resource capacity of the containers is a key step in any scheduling process. In addition, containers may be added, removed, suspended or brought online while work is executing. Planning these actions and assessing the impact on existing containers and jobs is also an important activity. In a multi-container environment, however, the evaluation of the resource capacity is challenging.
A need therefore exists for methods and apparatus for evaluating the resource capacity in a system of virtual containers. A further need exists for methods and apparatus for evaluating the dynamic resource capacity across all virtual containers sharing physical capacity.

Methods and apparatus for resource capacity evaluation in a system of virtual containers


A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a gate disposed over the substrate, a source/drain disposed in the substrate at two sides of the gate, and an insulating layer disposed over sidewalls of the gate and at least a portion of a surface of the source/drain. In some embodiments, the insulating layer includes a first side facing the gate or the source, and includes a second side opposite to the first side. The insulating layer includes dopants, and a concentration of the dopants is reduced from the second side to the first side of the insulating layer.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs in which each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed.
In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the size of the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling-down trend generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and decreasing associated costs. Such scaling-down also produces a relatively high power dissipation value, which may be addressed by using low power dissipation devices such as complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices. CMOS devices have typically been formed with a gate oxide and polysilicon gate electrode. There has been a desire to replace the gate oxide and polysilicon gate electrode with a high dielectric constant (high-k) gate dielectric and metal gate electrode to improve device performance as feature sizes continue to decrease.
One process of forming a metal gate stack is termed a "gate last" process in which the final gate stack is fabricated last, which allows for a reduced number of subsequent processes, including high temperature processing, that must be performed after formation of the gate. The gate last process including forming a metal gate in a trench left by removal of a dummy gate. Additionally, as the dimensions of transistors decrease, the thickness of the gate oxide must be reduced to maintain performance with the decreased gate length. In order to reduce gate leakage, high-k gate insulator layers are used which allow greater physical thicknesses while maintaining the same effective thickness as that provided by a typical gate oxide used in larger technology nodes.

CMOS finFET with doped spacers and method for forming the same

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.


A main shaft side sprocket wheel and a countershaft side sprocket wheel are provided for relative rotation on the shafts with a chain wrapped around and extended between the sprocket wheels. One of the driven gears is a floating gear provided for relative rotation on the countershaft. The countershaft side sprocket wheel is provided for integral rotation with the floating gear. The main shaft includes a main shaft inner shaft which includes the main shaft side sprocket wheel, and an outer pipe disposed coaxially on the outer side of the main shaft inner shaft in a diametrical direction and capable of being placed into and out of integral rotation with the main shaft side sprocket wheel. A reverse transmission gear for meshing with a driven gear is provided on the outer pipe. A reduction gear ratio by the floating gear or the reverse transmission gear is set higher than 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission with a reverse for a vehicle wherein a chain for reversing is provided in a transmission chamber.
2. Description of Background Art
A structure of a transmission with a reverse for a vehicle wherein a driving sprocket wheel is provided on a main shaft and a driven sprocket wheel is provided on a countershaft while a chain for reversing is wrapped around and extends between the sprocket wheels is known. See, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 2-027712. With such a structure as just described, reverse traveling can be carried out without setting an idler gear on an idler shaft for reversing.
Since reverse traveling is carried out such that a vehicle begins to move from a stopping state, high torque is required with respect to rotational input power from an internal combustion engine, and a high reduction gear ratio is required.
In the structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 2-027712, in order to obtain a high reduction gear ratio for reversing, it is necessary to use a greater size difference between the driving sprocket wheel and the driven sprocket wheel. Therefore, also it is necessary to use a long distance between the main shaft and the countershaft. Thus, it is possible that the transmission chamber will increase in size.
Further, if the driving sprocket wheel is increased in size and the distance between the shafts is increased, then the chain is increased in length as well and the deflection region of the chain increases. As a result, the size of the transmission chamber is likely to be increased.


The invention relates to a curing accelerator for a curing resin obtained by reacting a phosphine compound (a) with a compound (b) having at least one halogen atom substituted on an aromatic ring and at least one proton atom which can be discharged, and subjecting the reaction product to dehydrohalogenation, a curing resin composition containing the curing accelerator, and an electronic component device having a device component encapsulated with the curing resin composition. The curing accelerator exhibits superior curability under moisture absorption, flow properties, reflow cracking resistance and high-temperature storage characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a curing accelerator for a curing resin, a curing resin composition using the curing accelerator, suitable for molding materials, laminated sheet materials or adhesive materials, an electronic component device provided with device components encapsulated with the curing resin composition, and a method for obtaining a phosphine derivative used for the curing accelerator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Curing resins such as an epoxy resin are conventionally used in a wide range as molding materials, laminated sheet materials and adhesive materials. Since these curing resins require rapid curability from the viewpoint of the productivity improvement, compounds for accelerating the curing reaction, that is, curing accelerators are widely used. Of the curing resins, especially, epoxy resin compositions are in wide use in the field of the encapsulation of device components in electronic components such as transistors and ICs. This is because the epoxy resin has properties such as molding properties, electrical properties, moisture resistance, heat resistance, mechanical properties and adhesion to component inserts which are well balanced. Especially, the combination of an o-cresol novolak type epoxy resin and a phenol novolac curing agent excels in these balances, and is preferably used as a base resin for the molding material for IC encapsulation. Amine compounds such as a third amine and imidazole and phosphorus compounds such as phosphines and phosphonium are generally used as the curing accelerator in the epoxy resin compositions.
The high density mounting on printed circuit boards of electronic components has been recently advanced, and, therefore, surface-mounted packages have become mainstream in place of conventional pin inserting type packages in the electronic components. In the surface-mounted ICs such as ICs and LSIs, the occupation volume of the component to the package gradually is increased so as to improve the mounting density, and the thickness of the package has been extremely thin. In the pin inserting type packages, after pins are inserted through the wiring board, soldering is performed from the back of the wiring board, and thereby, the package is not exposed directly to high temperatures. On the other hand, after the surface-mounted type ICs are temporarily attached to the surface of the wiring board, the surface-mounted type ICs are treated by a solder bus and a reflow device or the like, and thereby, the surface-mounted type ICs are exposed directly to soldering temperatures. As a result, when the IC package absorbs moisture, the absorbing moisture expands rapidly at the time of soldering, resulting in the package crack, therefore, this has become the great problem.
So as to improve the reflow cracking resistance to the package crack at the time of the soldering, so-called the flow properties crack, epoxy resin compositions containing a lot of inorganic fillers are proposed. However, since the increasing amount of the inorganic filler causes the decrease in flow properties at the time of molding, faulty filling, faulty conduction due to breaking of bonding wires of IC chips, and the performance of molded products may lower, there is a limit in the increasing amount of the inorganic filler. As a result, this technique can not be expected to bring about any remarkable improvement in the reflow cracking resistance. Particularly, when the amine system curing accelerators such as phosphorus type curing accelerators such as triphenylphosphine, amine type curing accelerators such as 1,8-diazabicyclo [5.4.0]undecene-7 are used, the flow properties is low, and thereby this technique can not be expected to bring about any remarkable improvement in the reflow cracking resistance.
So as to overcome such a problem, it is proposed that an addition product of triphenylphosphine with 1,4-benzoquinone be used as a curing accelerator (see, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-157497). When the addition product is used as the curing accelerator, there is a problem in curability when the resin composition is exposed to air, in a word, curability under moisture absorption. When the molding material having poor curability under moisture absorption absorbs moisture from air at the time of manufacturing, transporting and using, troubles such as gate break, chip crack, the reduction of releasability are easily caused. Also, problems exist in that the difference of the air humidity at the time of manufacturing transporting and using, particularly, and the molding performance is not stable due to the difference of the season. Moreover, a problem in that rapid curability is bad, and the resin composition is not cured in a short time when an organic phospholam compound (see, JP-A No. 11-60906) proposed as a curing accelerator having steady curability is used. So as to overcome such a problem, it is proposed that an addition product of a phosphine compound in which at least one alkyl group is bonded with a phosphorus atom and a quinone compound is used as the curing accelerator (see, JP-A Nos. 2002-3574 and 2002-80563).
However, a problem exists in that when a package encapsulated with the curing resin composition used as the curing accelerator is exposed to high temperature, electrical continuity defect is easily generated in the package, that is, the package has poor high-temperature storage characteristics. The present invention was made taking account of the problems discussed above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a curing accelerator for a curing resin which exhibits superior curability under moisture absorption, flow properties, reflow cracking resistance and high-temperature storage characteristics, a method for obtaining a phosphine derivative used for the curing accelerator, a curing resin composition using the curing accelerator, and an electronic component device having a device component encapsulated with the curing resin composition.

Phosphine-protonated haloaromatic compound accelerator with curing resin and curing agent


A package for storing and shipping semiconductor wafers or memory disks is disclosed. The carrier includes a bottom, a cover and a cassette. An improved closure arrangement is provided that not only secures the cover to the bottom, but also compensates for pressure differentials between the inside and outside of the package and provides for improved drainage during washing operations.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packaging. More particularly it relates to packaging for storing and transporting semiconductor wafers or memory disks.
II. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of packages have been developed and used for storing and transporting semiconductor wafers and memory disks. One such package is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,284 owned by Empak, Inc. of Chanhassen, Minn. This patent describes a three-part package. The package includes a bottom member, a top member and a separate wafer carrier designed to be enclosed within the top and bottom portions of the package. Packages of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,284 have been successfully used by a number of different semiconductor manufacturers.
A review of the '284 patent describes a number of different features associated with the package. All of these features are intended to hold and protect the fragile semiconductor wafers from damage. Such damage can arise not only from jilting and jarring of the wafers, but also from particulate contamination. The various cushions shown in the '284 are designed to safely and securely hold the wafers in place. Likewise, the various seals and the ability to tape the interface between the top and bottom covers serve to protect the wafers from contaminates.
The present invention builds on the success of the device shown in the '284 patent. Improvements relate to the ability of the container to protect the wafers, the ability of the container to be used with robotic equipment, and the ability to quickly and effectively clean the container.


The present invention comprises a compact optical see-through head-mounted display capable of combining, a see-through image path with a virtual image path such that the opaqueness of the see-through image path can be modulated and the virtual image occludes parts of the see-through image and vice versa.

Over the past decades, Augmented Reality (AR) technology has been applied in many application fields, such as medical and military training, engineering design and prototyping, tele-manipulation and tele-presence, and personal entertainment systems. See-through Head-Mounted Displays (ST-HMD) are one of the enabling technologies of an augmented reality system for merging virtual views with a physical scene. There are two types of ST-HMDs: optical and video (J. Rolland and H. Fuchs, "Optical versus video see-through head mounted displays," In Fundamentals of Wearable Computers and Augmented Reality, pp. 113-157, 2001.). The major drawbacks of the video see-through approach include: degradation of the image quality of the see-through view; image lag due to processing of the incoming video stream; potentially loss of the see-through view due to hardware/software malfunction. In contrast, the optical see-through HMD (OST-HMD) provides a direct view of the real world through a beamsplitter and thus has minimal affects to the view of the real world. It is highly (preferred in demanding applications where a user's awareness to the live environment is paramount.
Developing optical see-through HMDs, however, confronts complicated technical challenges. One of the critical issues lies in that the virtual views in an OST-HMD appear "ghost-like" and are floating in the real world due to the lack of the occlusion capability. FIG. 1 shows a comparison illustration of the augmented view seen through a typical OST-HWID (FIG. 1a) and the augmented view seen through an occlusion capable OST-HMD (OCOST-HMD) system (FIG. 1b), In the figure, a virtual car model is superimposed on a solid platform which represents a real object. Without proper occlusion management as shown in FIG. 1a, in a typical AR view, the car is mixed with the platform and it is difficult to distinguish the depth relationship of the car and the platform. On the contrary, with proper occlusion management as shown in FIG. 1b, the car blocks a portion of the platform and it can be clearly identified that the car seats on the top of the platform. Adding occlusion capability to the AR display enables realistically merging virtual objects into the real environment. Such occlusion-enabled capability may generate transformative impacts on AR display technology and is very appealing for many augmented-reality based applications.
An OCOST-HMD system typically comprises of two key sub-systems. The first is an eyepiece optics that allows a user to see a magnified image displayed on a microdisplay; and the second is a relay optics that collects and modulates the light from an external scene in the real world, which enables the opaqueness and occlusion control on the external scene when presenting to the viewers. The key challenges of creating truly portable and lightweight OCOST-HMD system lies in addressing three cornerstone issues: (1) an optical scheme that allows the integration of the two subsystems without adding significant weight and volume to the system. (2) a proper optical method that maintains the parity of the coordinate system of the external scene; (3) an optical design method that enables the design of these optical subsystems with an elegant form factor, which has been a persisting dream for HMD developers. Several occlusion-capable optical ST-HMD concepts have been developed (U.S. Pat. No. 7,639,208 B1—Kiyokawa, K., Kurata, Y., and Ohno, H., "An Optical See-through Display for Mutual Occlusion with a Real-time Stereo Vision System," Elsevier Computer & Graphics, Special Issue on "Mixed Realities—Beyond. Conventions," Vol, 25, No. 5, pp. 2765-779, 2001. K. Kiyokawa, M, Billinghurst, B. Campbell, E. Woods, "An Occlusion-Capable Optical See-through Head Mount Display for Supporting Co-located Collaboration," ISMAR 2003, pp, 133-141). For example, Kiyokawa et. al. developed ELMO series occlusion displays using conventional lenses, prisms and minors. Not only because of the number of elements being used, but also more importantly due to the rotationally symmetric nature of the optical systems, the existing occlusion-capable OST-HMDs have a helmet-like, bulky form factor. They have been used exclusively in laboratory environments due to the heavy weight and cumbersome design. The cumbersome, helmet-like form factor prevents the acceptance of the technology for many demanding and emerging applications.

Apparatus for optical see-through head mounted display with mutual occlusion and opaqueness control capability


An electrophotographic photosensitive member has a photosensitive layer formed on a support. A surface layer (or the outermost layer) of the photosensitive layer contains a fluorine-modified organic silicone resin represented by the following average unit formula: EQU {F(CF.sub.2).sub.a1 -Q.sub.1 -R.sub.1.m1 SiO.sub.(3-m1)/2 }.sub.X1 {F(CF.sub.2).sub.a2 -Q.sub.2 -R.sub.2.m2 SiO.sub.(3-m2)/2 }.sub.X2 . . . {F(CF.sub.2).sub.ap -Q.sub.p -R.sub.p.mp SiO.sub.(3-mp)/2 }.sub.Xp {R.sub.1 '.sub.n1 SiO.sub.(4-n1)/2)}.sub.y1 {R.sub.2 '.sub.n2 SiO.sub.4-n2)/2 }.sub.y2 . . . {R.sub.q '.sub.nq SiO.sub.(4-nq)/2 }.sub.yq. where R.sub.1 -R.sub.p and R.sub.1 '-R.sub.q ' are each an alkyl or aryl group; Q.sub.1 -Q.sub.p are each an alkylene group; m1-mp are each an integer of 0 to 2; n1-nq are each an integer of 0 to 3; a1-aq are each an integer; x1-y1 are each a number larger than 0; and X2-Xp and Y2 are each respectively a number of 0 or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photosensitive member widely used for copying machines, printers, engraving systems, and the like apparatuses. The present invention also relates to an electrophotographic apparatus and a process cartridge employing the above electrophotographic photosensitive member.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, an electrophotographic photosensitive member is subjected directly to electric or mechanical action in the processes of electric charging such as corona charging and roller charging, development, image transfer, cleaning, and so forth, and is required to be resistant to the above actions.
Specifically, the electrophotographic photosensitive member should be resistant to abrasion and scratching by friction on the surface, and to electrical deterioration. In particular, in a charging system like a roller charging system utilizing electric discharge, the photosensitive member should be durable against high energy arc discharge.
Further, the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member should have higher cleanability in repeated toner development and toner cleaning without causing toner sticking to the surface.
To satisfy the above requirements for the photosensitive member surface, a surface protection layer mainly composed of a resin is provided. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-30843 suggests a protection layer in which resistance is controlled by adding a particulate metal oxide as electroconductive particles.
Besides the protection layer, the incorporation of additives into the charge-transporting layer is studied to improve the properties of the photosensitive member surface. For example, silicone resins having a low surface energy are disclosed as below:
silicone oil (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-132954), polydimethylsiloxane, silicone resin powder (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-324454), crosslinked silicone resin, poly(carbonate-silicone) block copolymer, silicone-modified polyurethane, and silicone-modified polyester.
The typical polymers of a low surface energy includes fluoropolymers. The fluoropolymers below are useful as additives for the photosensitive layer: powdery polytetrafluoroethylene, and powdery fluorocarbons.
However, a surface protecting layer containing a metal oxide or the like, which has a higher hardness, tends to have a higher surface energy to result in lower cleanability and other shortcomings. A silicone type resin, which is advantageous as additives in lowering the surface energy, is less compatible with other polymers, so that it is liable to agglomerate in the photosensitive member to cause light scattering, or to bleed out of the surface to render unstable the properties of the photosensitive member. A fluoropolymer typified by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has a low surface energy, but is insoluble in solvents and less dispersible, producing a less smooth surface of the photosensitive member. Further, the fluoropolymer has a low refractive index, causing generally light scattering and deterioration of the latent image thereby.
High polymers like polycarbonate, polyacrylate esters, polyesters, and polytetrafluoroethylene are generally less resistant to arc discharge, and readily deteriorate by fission of the polymer main chain by electric discharge.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member, and electrophotographic apparatus and process cartridge employing the same


There provided is a low-cost, high performance sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus which achieves both a low delay characteristic required for conversational voice data and high quality required for audio data in a concurrent manner. A first digital signal processing section outputs conversational voice data, which requires the low delay characteristic, in accordance with a sampling frequency of an output terminal (111). A second digital signal processing section outputs audio data, which requires the high quality, rather than the low density characteristic, in accordance with the sampling frequency of the output terminal (111). An adder section (107) adds the conversational voice data outputted from the first digital signal processing section and the audio data outputted from the second digital signal processing section and outputs the added data from the output terminal (111).

In the wake of an evolution of digital devices in recent years, a variety of signal processing circuits, which had been conventionally realized by analog circuits, have been realized by digital signal processing.
In digital signal processing, various processes are realized by using a digital signal sequence which is obtained by sampling upon discretization an input signal to be quantized by digital values. In a linear time invariant system which is commonly used in general, because a sampling time interval is assumed to be constant, digital signal sequences whose sampling time intervals vary cannot be equally processed.
The sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus (or resampling system) is an apparatus for converting a sampling time interval of a digital signal sequence. A conventional sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus comprises an interpolation processing section for narrowing a sampling interval (an inverse number is referred to as a "sampling frequency") to one integer-th thereof and a decimation processing section for lengthening a sampling interval to an integral multiple thereof (for example, refer to patent document 1). FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the conventional sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus. In FIG. 15, the conventional sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus comprises an input terminal 301, an interpolation processing section 302, a signal line 303, a decimation processing section 304, and an output terminal 305.
A digital signal sequence inputted to the interpolation processing section 302 is outputted from the signal line 303 as a signal whose sampling interval is narrowed to one integer-th thereof through interpolation processing. In the digital signal sequence which has been interpolation-processed, a data amount of a sample point is increased by a multiple of the narrowed sampling interval. In order to decimate the increased data amount, the decimation processing section 304 adjusts the data amount by lengthening the sampling interval of the digital signal sequence to an integral multiple.
By performing a series of these processes, the conventional sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus converts a sampling interval with a rational number ratio for the digital signal sequence inputted from the input terminal 301 and outputs from the output terminal 305 the digital signal sequence obtained after the conversion.
Patent document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-46484

Sampling rate conversion calculating apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The principles of the present invention provides for using directional antennas to mitigate the effects of interference in a wireless network. An antenna device includes an omni-directional antenna and at least one directional antenna. Each directional antenna (e.g., an electronically steered phased array antenna) can have one or more feeds for directing beams at wireless devices. The antenna device utilizes the omni-directional antenna to send and receive control data that facilitates locating wireless devices and determining when a wireless device is to send program data to or receive program data from the antenna device. The antenna device utilizes directional antennas to send program data to and receive program data from wireless devices. Since directional antennas use directional beams, directional antennas can be tuned channels with reduced interference based on the location of wireless devices relative to the antenna device.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless networks, and more specifically, to using directional antennas to mitigate interference in wireless networks.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Computer systems and related technology affect many aspects of society. Indeed, the computer system's ability to process information has transformed the way we live and work. Computer systems now commonly perform a host of tasks (e.g., word processing, scheduling, and database management) that prior to the advent of the computer system were performed manually. More recently, computer systems have been coupled to one another to form both wired and wireless computer networks over which the computer systems can communicate electronically to share data. As a result, many tasks performed at a computer system (e.g., voice communication, accessing electronic mail, electronic conferencing, web browsing) include electronic communication with one or more other computer systems via wired and/or wireless computer networks.
For example, a number of computer systems can be coupled to a data hub through corresponding wired connections (e.g., category 5 cable) to form a wired network (e.g., an Ethernet segment). Similarly, a number of wireless computer systems (commonly referred to as "stations") can be coupled to a wireless access point ("AP") through corresponding wireless connections (e.g., resulting from appropriate communication between radio transmitters and receivers) to form a wireless network (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 network). Further, a data hub and/or an AP can be connected to other data hubs, APs, or other network devices, such as routers, gateways, and switches to form more complex networks (including both wired and wireless connections).
When computer systems communicate electronically, electronic data will often pass through a protocol stack that performs operations on the electronic data (e.g., packetizing, routing, flow control). The Open System Interconnect ("OSI") model is an example of a networking framework for implementing a protocol stack. The OSI model breaks down the operations for transferring electronic data into seven distinct "layers," each designated to perform certain operations in the data transfer process. While protocol stacks can potentially implement each of the layers, many protocol stacks implement only selective layers for use in transferring electronic data across a network.
When data is received from a network it enters the physical layer and is passed up to higher intermediate layers and then eventually received at an application layer. The physical layer, the lower most layer, is responsible for converting electrical impulses, light, or radio waves into a bit stream and vice versa. On the other hand, when data is transmitted from a computer system, it originates at the application layer and is passed down to intermediate lower layers and then onto a network. The application layer, the upper most layer, is responsible for supporting applications and end-user processes, such as, for example, electronic conferencing software, electronic mail clients, web browsers, etc.
An intermediate layer incorporated by most protocol stacks is the Data Link layer. The Data Link layer decodes data packets (received from higher layers) into bit streams for use by the physical layer and encodes bit steams (received from the physical layer) into data packets for use by higher layers. A sub-layer typically included in the Data Link layer is the Media Access Control ("MAC") layer, which implements protocols for moving data packets onto a shared channel (e.g., an Ethernet segment or an IEEE 802.11 channel).
However, to access a medium a computer system must be able to sense the medium. In a wireless environment, sensing a wireless medium (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 channel) can be difficult, and at times impossible, depending on how a station and an access point are physically separated. Access points typically include an omni-directional antenna that essentially results in spherical region around the access point. When a station is within a particular range of the access point (e.g., within the spherical region), the omni-directional antenna enables the access point to meaningfully send data to and receive data from the station. That is, within the particular range, transmitted radio signals have sufficient signal strength such that a physical layer can convert the radio signals into a bit stream.
Many wireless devices communicate in unlicensed frequency bands (e.g., in the 2.4 GHz band). Communication between wireless devices operating in unlicensed bands can be degraded do to transmissions from other devices that operate in the same unlicensed band. For example, some cordless telephones, some microwaves, BlueTooth devices, a wide variety of control devices, and IEEE 802.11b devices all operate in the 2.4 GHz band. Thus, cordless phones, microwaves, BlueTooth devices, and control devices (hereinafter referred to as "interfering devices") can interfere with communication between an IEEE 802.11b station and an IEEE 802.11b access point.
IEEE 802.11b effectively has three channels that can be used for communication between an IEEE 802.11b access point and IEEE 802.11b station. Thus, when there is increased interference one IEEE 802.11b channel, interference can potentially be reduced by switching to another IEEE 802.11b channel. However, since there are effectively only three channels, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to find a channel that has reduced interference at every location within a spherical region surrounding an IEEE 802.11b access point. A first channel may have increased interference on one direction, a second channel may have increased interference in a second direction, and a third channel may have increased interference in a third direction. Unfortunately, as typically implemented an omni-directional antenna can only be tuned to one channel at a time. Thus, if an IEEE 802.11b station is located in each of the first, second, and third directions, there would be virtually no way for an omni-directional antenna to select a channel such that each IEEE 802.11b station could communicate with reduced interference.
Interference from interfering devices can degrade the speed and reliability of data transferred between an IEEE 802.11b station and an IEEE 802.11b access point. For example, interference from an interfering device at or near an IEEE 802.11b station can cause the IEEE 802.11b station to communicate at a significantly reduced data rate (and, if the interfering device has high gain, potentially make communication impossible). Further, when an interfering device is at or near an IEEE 802.11b access point, communication with a number of associated IEEE 802.11b stations can be degraded. Signal degradation due to interference may result in an omni-directional antenna being able to detect that radio waves are being received but may make it impossible to determine what data is being represented by the radio waves. That is, a physical layer may not be able to generate a bit stream from the degraded radio waves. Therefore systems, methods, and computer program products for mitigating the effects of interference during wireless communication would be advantageous.

Using directional antennas to mitigate the effects of interference in wireless networks


A support structure for mooring a vertically extending floating wind turbine or the like body has a ring of tether attachment points for connecting respective tethers running down to the seabed. The ring is spaced from the body by a ring of inclined struts running diagonally downwardly and inwardly from the plane of the attachment points.

This invention relates to tension leg moored structures and particularly, though not exclusively, to offshore wind turbine structures. Tension leg moored oil platforms are known, and it has been proposed to use tension leg moored structures for supporting wind turbines. Examples are disclosed in GB2365905, DE10101405, WO2008/122004, WO2009/064737 and WO2004/61302.
Such structures comprise a floating surface element moored to the sea floor by tethers. They allow operation in deeper waters (for example they are used at more than 200 meters in depth) than would be feasible using a rigid platform.
Particularly acute problems arise when seeking to stably anchor tall and narrow columnar upright floating structures such as wind turbines. In such structures, the wind turbine vertical shaft (supporting either a horizontal axle turbine mounted at its upper end or a vertical axle wind turbine around it) has a floating body centred around it, with (typically six or eight) radial outrigger arms at its lower end, beneath sea level. The outrigger arms are typically horizontal. The outer ends of the radial outrigger arms are interconnected by a horizontal ring of struts so as to provide rigidity to the outriggers against out-of-plane loading. Rising diagonally upwardly and inwardly from the outer ends of the radial outrigger arms are respective diagonal spars which meet the central vertical shaft. The outrigger structure thus provides a rigid upper connection platform from which a plurality of tethers (typically one coupled to each outrigger arm for eight or more outriggers; two, three or more per arm for fewer outriggers) run down to anchor points on the sea bed. Each diagonal spar thus lies on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle with a horizontal base provided by the outrigger arm and a vertical side provided by the centre axis of the wind turbine. The diagonal spars are maintained in tension by the downward force exerted by the tethers on the outrigger arms and the upward force exerted by buoyancy on the central body.
The tethers are below surface level. The tether top connection points define a surface centrally within which is the centroid of the forces acting on the tethers. When they are accurately aligned, the buoyancy of the floating body tensions all tethers equally. A change in depth of the surface structure varies the tension in the tethers equally. A horizontal force in the plane of the tether centroid increases the tension in all tethers equally. An overturning moment about the tether centroid on the outrigger structure increases the tension in some tethers and reduces it in others. If the tension in a tether is reduced to zero, it goes slack and tends to be subject to high dynamic snatch loads when re-tensioned.

Support structure for an offshore wind turbine


A cartridge for histological specimen slides includes a generally enclosed body and a slide holder. The body is configured for removable insertion into a specimen slide printer, and includes a slide holder receiving opening and a slide feed opening. The slide holder holds a plurality of specimen slides and is configured to be positioned within and removed from the body through the slide holder receiving opening. When loaded in the body the slide holder positions and presents the slides to the slide feed opening in the body. A memory chip for storing information relating to the slides can be mounted to the holder, and is located adjacent an access opening in the body when the holder is positioned in the body.

The invention is a cartridge for holding histological specimen slides.
Printers for printing information on containers such as slides used to process histological specimens (e.g., tissue biopsies) are generally known and commercially available. Tubes or trays are sometimes used to contain the slides loaded into the printers.
There remains a continuing need for improved containers for specimen slides used in histological slide printers. In particular, there is a need for containers that are efficient to use and operate, that are capable of storing the slides in a debris-free environment, and that enable information to be accurately printed on the slides.

Cartridge for histological specimen slides


Embodiments of circuits and methods for starting a crystal oscillator are disclosed herein. In one example, an oscillation circuit is disclosed. The oscillation circuit includes a multi-phase oscillator, a control circuit, a phase selection circuit, a drive circuit, and a crystal oscillator. The multi-phase oscillator is configured to generate candidate clock signals of multiple phases. The phase selection circuit is coupled to the multi-phase oscillator and configured to select a clock signal from the candidate clock signals. The drive circuit is coupled to the phase selection circuit and configured to inject the selected clock signal to the crystal oscillator for a period of time determined by the control circuit. The control circuit is coupled to the phase selection circuit and the drive circuit and is configured to control the on and off of the drive circuit and output a plurality of injections signals.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to circuit and method to start a crystal oscillator.
In portable electronic devices, power consumption greatly affects the user experience of electronic devices due to limited battery power. The electronic device is not always in working mode but will wake up periodically; during the time that it is not awake, it is in a low-power sleep mode. The average power consumption of the device is mainly determined by the power consumption at wake-up, the length of time needed for wake-up, and the power consumption of sleep mode. The wake-up time is divided into the time needed for the crystal oscillator to stabilize and the operation time of the system. As a result, the shorter the time it takes for the crystal oscillator to stabilize, the shorter the system needs to wake up, and the lower the average power consumption of the system.
There are a few methods of accelerating the startup: one is to select the right current at startup to achieve the optimal drive circuit negative resistance. Thus, the optimal driving capacity will accelerate the startup. But the maximum negative resistance is limited by the crystal oscillator and its load capacitance. Therefore, this method has a limited capacity.
Another is to drive the two ends of the crystal oscillator directly at the startup time with a clock signal with a frequency close to the frequency of the crystal oscillator, hence rapidly enhancing the initial oscillation current of the crystal oscillator by injecting the clock signal into the crystal oscillator. However, this method requires that the driving clock signal has a frequency very close to the frequency of the crystal oscillator. Otherwise, the driving effect will be greatly reduced. Due to process bias, temperature, voltage, and other factors, it is not possible to ensure that the frequency of the driving clock signal is always very close to the frequency of the crystal oscillator. Therefore, the effect of this method can not be guaranteed.

Circuit and method to start a crystal oscillator


A support apparatus is disclosed including a support structure for holding a printed circuit board module, a heat sink thermally coupled with the printed circuit board module, and a capture bar secured to the support structure. The support apparatus includes a holding member with extension members for securing the holding member to the main printed circuit board. The heat sink has a projection extending from one surface, and the capture bar frictionally engages with the projection. Standoffs are disposed between the main printed circuit board and a chassis surrounding the main printed circuit board. A method for cooling the printed circuit board module is also disclosed. The method comprises coupling the printed circuit board module with the holding member, and thermally coupling the heat sink with the printed circuit board module. The capture bar is coupled with the projection of the heat sink and is secured to the holding member. Standoffs are disposed under the main printed circuit board. The extension members of the holding member are secured to the main printed circuit board and to the chassis.

Advances in semiconductor technology are creating increasing heat dissipation problems in electronic components and systems. Because electronic components have a relatively large amount of electrical current flow within an extremely small area, the components generate a relatively substantial amount of heat. In particular, microprocessors tend to generate a significant amount of heat.
The effect of the heat generated is intensified by the close spacing of the components on printed circuit boards and the close spacing of printed circuit boards within electrical devices. Some printed circuit boards are vertically mounted to the main printed circuit board, thereby adding to the number of electronic components in a limited area. The amount of heat generated has increased as electronic components get smaller and more powerful. As a result, more heat is generated in a smaller, more confined area. Excessive heat in a small area degrades system performance and reliability since high temperatures can damage circuitry and adversely affect performance. Thus, heat dissipation methods and devices are critical in the electronics industry.
A variety of well-known methods and devices for dissipating heat are available. These include various finned heat sinks which dissipate heat from the surfaces of metal fins. The finned heat sinks are attached to the electronic component to be cooled and are often used in computer systems with electric fans that drive air over the fins to enhance their cooling effect.
For cooling a heat producing component, the heat sink is thermally coupled with the heat producing component. For vertically mounted printed circuit boards, this creates support problems. The heat sinks have been difficult to mount to a heat producing component due to the weight and size of the heat sink.
One attempt at supporting and cooling a printed circuit board module is by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. In this approach, as shown in FIG. 1, the printed circuit board module is supported by a plastic card holder that is attached to the main printed circuit board. A finned heat sink is secured to the printed circuit board module, in part, by screws through the heat sink to the module. A bracket, as shown in FIG. 2, is secured to the main printed circuit board and encompasses the bottom row of fins on the heat sink. One disadvantage with this approach is that the mass of the heat sink puts stress on the printed circuit board module and the main printed circuit board.
Accordingly, what is needed is a better way to provide support for cooling devices for electronic components. What is further needed is a way to support the cooling devices without damaging surrounding components.


A children""s play ride includes an elongated rigid vertical pole having an exterior surface and an elongated tubular housing with an inner surface snugly encircling the pole, the housing being moveable along the pole between an upper position and a lower position. The housing includes a support for a child and co-acting parts on the pole and the housing cause the housing to rotate about the pole only when the housing is moved from the upper position toward the lower position.

This invention relates to a children""s play ride. It relates especially to a ride which is adapted to be associated with a children""s swing set, play gym or the like.
A typical children""s swing set or gym set usually includes a variety of different play rides such as swings, slides, rings, glide-rides, see-saws and the like which involve up and down and back and forth movements of the children using the various rides. To our knowledge, the swing and gym sets on the market today do not include any rides which produce a helical spinning motion. It would be desirable, therefore, to be able to offer a swing set with a ride which will accommodate at least one child standing up and automatically helically spin that child about a vertical axis.
Accordingly it is in object to the present invention to provide a children""s play ride which can automatically rotate at least one child about a substantially vertical spin axis.
Another object of the invention is to provide a spinner ride of this type which is gravity operated.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a spinner ride which is especially adapted to be connected to a more or less conventional children""s swing or gym set.
Another object of the invention is to provide a children""s spinner ride which is relatively easy to manufacture and to assemble.
Other objects will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will. be exemplified in the following detailed description, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
Briefly, our spinner ride comprises a rigid elongated pole whose upper end is adapted to be connected to the cross bar of a children""s gym set and whose lower end is arranged to contact the ground so that the pole stands erect. The pole is formed with at least one, and preferably a plurality, of depressions or pockets at an elevated location on the pole, the plurality of depressions being distributed around the pole and being offset along the pole. Slideably engaged on the pole is a spinner comprising an elongated tubular housing having handles at the upper end of the housing and a footrest at the lower end thereof. A lengthwise segment of the housing is formed with an internal spiral groove and a relatively large ball bearing is positioned in each pocket of the pole. The bearings, pockets and grooves are specially dimensioned and shaped so that when the housing is lifted up on the pole, the ball bearings are situated entirely within their pockets so that there is clearance between the ball bearings and the inner wall of the housing allowing the housing to be raised up on the pole until the lower end of the grooved segment of the housing is opposite the ball bearings.
On the other hand, when there is no upward force exerted on the housing, the ball bearings under gravity tend to repose at the bottoms of their pockets so that when a downward force is applied to the housing, portions of the ball bearings project into the housing groove whereby the housing is caused to rotate about the pole as the housing moves downward on the pole.
Thus, after a child lifts the spinner on the pole as described above, he/she may step on the footrest while holding onto the handles. The weight of the child combined with the engagement of the ball bearings in the housing groove will cause the spinner and the child to rotate about the pole until spinner reaches the bottom of its downward excursion on the pole.
Our spinner ride is capable of accommodating one or two children. While it is described herein as being associated with a children""s swing set, it could just as well be supported vertically by another type of support structure.
Also as will become apparent hereinafter, the spinner ride is a relatively simple structure which can be made and assembled quite easily. Therefore, it should prove to be a very marketable item of play equipment.


A system is provided for the throttle control of a multi-combination vehicle operable by a driver where said vehicle includes at least two engines each engine operable by an independent throttle. One of the throttles is controlled by a standard throttle pedal, the other by a hand-controlled throttle. Under conditions of severe braking the second throttle is caused to be disregarded by the second engine that is forced to an idle position. Further, the second throttle can only become operable when the second throttle has been manually reset to a pre-determined position, generally the idle position. The system is appropriate in cases where the driver may be forced to apply emergency braking and is not able to control the hand throttle to ensure that the second engine does not continue to drive the vehicle. A further improvement to the invention lies in the fact that under emergency braking the transmission system coupled with the second engine, generally automatic, is forced to convert mode to protect the transmission from damage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a throttle control system of a secondary engine in a multi-combination vehicle where there are at least two engines, each engine being controlled by a separate throttle control. Typically the multi-combination vehicle includes a truck and a power trailer. A standard pedal throttle provides the throttle control for the truck engine whilst the throttle for the power trailer engine is provided by a separate throttle control, typically a hand throttle. The present invention is particularly useful in the case where the transmission systems of the truck and the power trailer may not be matched, such as the case where the truck transmission is a manual one and the power trailer transmission an automatic one. It is to be understood that the above invention is not limited to a multi-combination vehicle, it may also equally well apply to any vehicle having two or more engines even if it is only one vehicle having two engines.
2. Related Art
Operators of heavy haulage products, such as mines, are constantly searching for ways to reduce the costs associated with hauling their product, in this case ore. One of the most significant costs in operating a mine is transporting the mined material from the ore face to a processing plant. This is exacerbated when the mined payload is of low grade, that is, the desired mineral or metal is only a small percentage by weight and/or volume of the mined ore so that substantial amounts of ore have to be handled to extract a small percentage of desired material. A further problem that occurs is where the ore has to be handled several times.
There are several ways that ore can be transported from the ore face to the processing plant, depending on the type and configuration of the mine.
Underground mines typically have a central lifting or winding shaft to bring the mined ore to the surface. These shafts require a dedicated receival point. To get the ore to that point mines typically have a dedicated rail system that is level and route specific. Underground mine haulage or dump trucks are used to transport the ore from various mining levels both above and below the rail haulage level to the dedicated rail system that then transports the ore to the lifting shaft receival point. The trucks are always a single unit that is either rigid or pivot steered. This type of arrangement has a number of distinct disadvantages.
The dump trucks cause a significant amount of hot air per ton of ore hauled to be exhausted into the mine. Cold ventilation air has to be continually pumped into the mine via ventilation shafts, and one of the major costs in establishing underground mines is the construction and drilling of ventilation shafts. Because of the limitation of currently known dump trucks, the time that they can operate underground is limited, particularly due to excess heat they produce. To reduce the heat, the dump trucks have to move relatively slowly.
A railway system, especially one underground, is relatively expensive to install and operate due to the cost of acquiring the locomotive and installing the fixed railway system and the associated maintenance costs. Furthermore the underground railway system being route-specific is not flexible to changes in route without incurring the expense of installing additional railway tracks. As each new mining area opens, it is necessary to incur the cost of installing new track for the railway system, or to use the dump trucks as described above whose efficiency decreases with the increasing distances they have to travel.
The central lifting or winding shaft is quite expensive, the cost running into tens of millions of dollars and is of a fixed location. As the mine expands the distance from the ore face to the central shaft becomes important in the cost of operating the mine.
In some instances mines have utilized conveyor belts instead of the railway system and/or the lifting shaft. The difficulty with conveyor belts is that once again they are route specific, and are quite expensive to install and maintain. Miners are also concerned that the belts may catch fire and starve the area of oxygen.
In some instances the dump trucks may be used to transport the ore directly above ground. Because of the limitations described above, especially low speed and the heat they produce, and with the inclination within underground mines generally being constant, the depth of a mine that can be realistically accessed by these dump trucks is therefore limited, typically to a depth of hundreds of metres.
When the ore has been transported to the surface, or in the case of an above ground mine, it is then necessary to transport the ore to a central processing plant.
One of the ways that this may be accomplished is by using conventional off-highway dump trucks than can either be a single rigid, pivot steer unit or an articulated vehicle consisting of a very short wheelbase earthmoving type of tractor unit coupled to a single hauled or carrying unit and virtually job specific. These units are designed to be a link in the chain of the actual mining, digging or producing the product. Their main function is to move product from the ore face to a receival point through the shortest possible distance, and they are not route-specific. The shorter the route the more economical they are. The ton of ore transported per distance costs increase dramatically over longer routes. They are therefore not suitable for hauling ore great distances, thereby limiting the distance that ore can be transported at a reasonable cost. As such, these trucks are not suitable when there may be satellite mines, that is, mines that are some distance away from the processing plant. In particular, these trucks have never been designed to be a transportation system for various reasons including the following:                (a) Their axle loadings are extreme and require appropriate roading and bridging. Wheeled or articulated dump trucks with large tires carry a significant loading per axle, up to 33 tons per axle.        (b) These types of trucks are designed for hauling loads over relatively short distances and rough terrain, have relatively large tires for relatively slow speed operation and are relatively expensive to operate and maintain due to fuel and tire costs.        (c) They produce too much heat in both their drive trains and tires. Furthermore they have poor power-to-weight ratios and low operating efficiencies.        (d) Their mass requires a large vehicle cross-section both in height and width.        (e) Their discharge methods are either: direct end-tip (non-captive) where the centre of gravity is always raised, or bottom-dump in the single articulated hauling vehicle that keeps the center of gravity down but is discharge-captive.
An alternate way of transporting the ore to a central processing plant includes conventional transportation systems such as conveyor belts systems and rail systems, both routes being captive. Problems with these systems have been discussed above.
Another way of transporting the ore is by using highway-type road vehicle combinations or multi-combination vehicles. These vehicles are limited by their horsepower, tractive or braking efforts or capacities, manufacturers' ratings of various componentry, directional stability behaviour, swept path characteristics, gradability and startability.
As a result, currently known systems for the extraction of ore from mines set limits on the commercial usefulness of mines simply due to the cost of transporting the ore.
As discussed above, multi-combination vehicles such as over-the-road vehicles are known. They include a truck coupled to a plurality of trailers and converter dollies. Until recently these vehicles have included a single power source, generally a diesel engine, with the vehicles being limited to a payload of some 170 tonnes, and a gradient not exceeding 5%. These multicombination vehicles, commonly referred to as "road-trains", have been in use for some time, particularly in Australia, for the purpose of hauling mined products, or the commodities of other industries, over aboveground roadways. Conventional above-ground road-trains are typically designed for use at relatively high speed and on relatively flat ground. They are limited by their horse power, tractive or braking efforts and their capacities that are defined by manufacturers ratings, directional stability behaviour, swept path characteristics, gradability and startability. Accordingly they have limited uses for operation in mines.
The location of the mechanical couplings between each adjacent pair of vehicles in a multi-combination vehicle as described above is positioned to maintain the side-to-side sway, or yaw, of the last vehicle within acceptable limits for above-ground, over-the-road applications. The location is not compatible for operation within an underground mine due to the relatively low operating speeds as well as the relatively narrow tunnels and small radius bends found in underground mines.
Specially configured multi-combination vehicles have been developed recently which have a significantly reduced swept path width as compared to conventional aboveground road-trains. This enables these vehicles to be used to transport various payloads such as mined ores, over the roadways existing in an underground mine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,801 issued on May 16, 2000 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,269 issued on Mar. 26, 2002, each expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describe these specially configured multi-combination vehicles which may be used in underground mines. The vehicles can operate in a tunnel system with restricted height, width, swept paths and directional path and can comply with a predetermined behaviour pattern obviating the need for the rail or conveyor system.
Even after the advent of the foregoing specially configured multi-combination vehicles, various operational problems remained to be solved with regard to the transport of mined ores in both underground and above-ground applications. For instance, due to the heavy loads of the road-train combination, the traction provided by the powered wheels of a road-train, usually provided to two rear axles, was insufficient to satisfactorily negotiate the gradients associated with the declines providing ingress and egress to and from some underground mines. Alternatively, these declines into underground mines would have to be constructed at a much gentler slope leading to excessively long tunnels. In addition, the relatively low speed of the road trains underground due to the size of the tunnels and safety considerations results in road-trains travelling underground for a significant length of time, even up to an hour in some cases. This places strain on the road-train cooling system, which is typically designed for aboveground road-trains travelling at significant speeds, generally around 80 km/h. The engines are prone to overheating.
Also, before the introduction of multi-combinational vehicles incorporating a power trailer (i.e., one having a source of motive power), which are subsequently discussed in detail, multi-combination vehicles for dedicated road haulage such as mineral concentrate haulage operated at a 170 ton payload, as noted previously. However, there is a practical limit to the payload of the multi-combination vehicle with a single truck. Since the cost of haulage is determined mainly on weight, if one can increase the total haulage that can be moved by a single vehicle that does not require additional operators, the cost benefit is substantial. This is especially so if ore can be hauled directly from within a mine to a processing plant without needing to be reloaded onto another transport system.
In order to further improve multi-combination vehicles and provide even greater advantages to the operators using these vehicles, multi-combination vehicles have been developed which utilise a truck and an additional motive power source advantageously located within the chassis of a trailer and which include a unique cooling system that enables operation of the multi-combination vehicle at low speeds, on steeper gradients and with a greater payload than previously known. International Patent Application No. PCT/AU01/01154, expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a multi-combinational vehicle including a power trailer having an engine that overcomes the foregoing problems of traction and cooling of such multi-combination vehicles. International Patent Application No. PCT/AU01/01568, also expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses various features that may be incorporated in the drive trains of multi-combination vehicles of this type. These multi-combination vehicles, which have the ability to traverse different mining levels, have removed the need for conventional dump truck haulage from the ore face to the rail head, and also have enabled the vehicle to haul ore directly from the ore face from any underground level via an access tunnel directly to a processing plant, thereby eliminating the need for the lifting shaft. Furthermore, these types of multi-combination vehicles coupled with specifically configured power trailers, typically B-double trailers, can be used above ground to transport ore directly to a processing plant eliminating the need for other dump trucks, increasing the total payload from some 170 tons to 270 tons whilst staying within the manufacturer's rating and at the same time increasing the general behaviour pattern, thereby creating a safer multi-combination vehicle.
Use of a multi-combination vehicle using a truck and a power trailer provides a further significant advantage over conventional single-engine dump trucks, and over multi-combination vehicles having only a truck. Even if one of the engines and/or transmissions fails there is the potential to use the second engine to at least move the multi-combination vehicle out of the way or even bring it to the surface for analysis and repair. As known in the art, in the event of engine and/or transmission failure it is more than a simple exercise to retrieve a single-engine dump truck from the depths of an underground mine that is then blocking the underground road from use by other trucks. A similar problem may exist with multi-combination vehicles powered only by a single truck, or in some instances a single prime mover.
International Patent Applications PCT/AU02/00667 and PCT/AU02/00668, disclose various features in a multi-combination vehicle of the type having two engines that enable at least one engine or transmission to operate and provide propulsion to the vehicle even if the other were to fail. These two applications discuss an arrangement whereby control of both of the engines is provided by a central control system, such as the throttle control pedal used by the driver. Accordingly they rely on the two engines and transmissions systems being generally of the same capacity and type, such as having identical automatic transmissions.
However, there may be instances where it may be desirable to provide a multi-combination vehicle combining a power trailer with an automatic transmission system to an existing truck running a manual transmission system. This is especially so if one considers that the majority of current trucks that are used in road-trains are ones utilising a manual transmission system.
One of the difficulties in such an arrangement is that the power trailer engine needs to be controlled by a separate control system rather than the truck throttle pedal. Coupling a power trailer running an automatic transmission to the existing truck throttle would not work. Every time the driver changed up a gear as the truck is accelerating they would remove throttle from the truck and trailer With no fuel received by the trailer engine the automatic transmission would gear down whilst the truck transmission would be geared up. When the truck higher gear is then engaged, the trailer transmission is in the completely wrong gear causing undue stress on the trailer engine and the transmission.
For that reason it is necessary to provide for a separate trailer engine control that is operable by the driver independently of the truck engine.
However, having an independent control for the trailer engine is in itself a problem if for some reason the truck engine powers down very quickly or the driver applies heavy or emergency braking. In an emergency the normal procedure is for the driver to apply the foot brake. However, the power trailer engine continues to operate according to its throttle position independent of the application of the foot brake by the driver. This causes the power trailer engine to keep applying propulsion even where the driver has initiated emergency braking.
The inventor is unaware of any multicombination vehicle having a manual transmission truck and a powered trailer, whether it is for above ground or underground use of the type described above, where the throttle control for each engine is independent and where the power trailer engine throttle is disengaged or bypassed when the driver applies braking, in particular emergency braking.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages and limitations associated with known load-carrying vehicles, a commercial need exists for an improved load-carrying vehicle combination for use both aboveground and in underground mines that overcomes at least some of the abovementioned problems or provides the public with a useful alternative.

System for the control of multiple engines in a multi-combination vehicle having independent throttle controls when under emergency braking