A time interval and event display device depicting a displayed event and a continuous time display informing the viewer of continuous time intervals from the unchanging event to the present time or the remaining time to a future unchanging event.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a time interval and event display device that couples a continuous time display with a visual representation of an important event and continuously informs the observer of the time interval from the represented event to present time, or remaining time to a future represented event.
2. Description of Prior Art
Electronic and mechanical time pieces having the capability to me a sure a and display lapse time from a starting time have been available for many years. These electronic devices use liquid crystal displays or analog display faces of time measurement to indicate lapse time or alternatively to start a signal when a particular time arrives. Mechanical devices are also used with or without some electronics. The only reference is time-lapsed seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years measured from starting time to present time.
Some time pieces may record more than one event, such as explained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,630,935 and 4,303,995. These devices indicate a plurality of dates and relate elapsed time from a starting time of each date or time. All such time devices relate to calendar dates, time periods, and numerical relationships of beginning and ending elapse times.
The original event from which the elapse time is measured is known only to the operator of the time piece. Others observing the time piece have no reference to the starting event or time. The actual event that the referred elapse time measures must be stored separately in human memory, computers, notes, or note books. For long elapsed time periods of months or years, or when a plurality of times are recorded, remembering or finding the relationship of an elapse time indicator to an event becomes difficult.
A camera with an elapsed time indicator (U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,025) photographs a current event. This camera records the event but cannot display the picture. The developed picture does not display continually elapsing time. Additional photographs do not indicate the unchanging first event and only record a fixed and unchanging elapsed time.
Many people display reminders of significant events in their lifetimes to recall achievements, honors, and pleasant events. These include photographs and certificates of marriages, anniversaries, graduations, professional achievements, historical events, child births, animal births, employee recognition""s, retirements, holidays, vacations, sports events etc. However these displays of the represented event do not reflect the increasing time to make the viewer aware of the continual passing of time or approaching time for a future represented event.
People striving to complete work before a future time event often mentally calculate remaining times but are not always aware of periods of time remaining to complete a task. This especially happens when many projects are pursued at the same time.
The present invention displays important events along with an associated continuing time indicator that will immediately remind the viewer of the event, indicate time interval from the event, and continue on in perpetual relation to the displayed event. If the depicted event is in the future, the present invention indicates and reminds the user of the time remaining to the displayed event to assist future planning and scheduling.
The present invention generally relates to a time interval and event display device that will visually and continually indicate to the viewer an accumulating or reducing time interval related to a displayed event. This time interval and event display device provides the viewer with immediate knowledge of the appropriate time span of the chronological measuring device related to an event without referring separately to a time indicator or to the reason the time measurement is being employed. The time interval reference relates to the depicted event and not the normal solar reference of time.
The time interval and event display device couples the time interval timing device having a visual numerical display along with the displayed event. This provides the viewer with a constant reminder of displayed events relative to changing time intervals to assist planning or recall the time intervals from pleasant or pertinent memories.
The time interval and event display device may also have included visual, mechanical, electronic or audible signaling devices programmed for future times to alert the owner of important times related to the displayed event. Alerts may include electronic email, phone calls, electronic pages etc. The time interval and event display device is capable of numerically measuring and displaying seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years separately or in any combination.
The time interval and event display device may be a video monitor with a depicted event displayed with the changing chronological time interval display where a computer or semiconductor microchips are programmed to indicate time intervals from past depicted events or remaining time to future depicted events.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to visually inform or remind the viewer of continuous time intervals between a past event displayed on the device and the present time.
Another object of the invention is to visually inform or remind the user of continuous remaining time intervals between the present time and a future displayed event.
Another object of the invention is to provide programming of visual, audible, mechanical, electronic or any combination of these signals for future time alerts or reminders related to the displayed event.
Another object of the invention is to provide palpable reference of time intervals related to a palpably depicted event to inform or remind sightless people.
Another object of the invention is to use a video monitor as the time interval and event display device with a computer or semiconductor microchips providing the continuous relative time intervals from the present to past or future displayed event or events.


An electric power device for a vehicle has a case that is divided into a first case and a second case. The first case and second case are coupled so as to be separable from each other by the shock of a crash. In the power device, furthermore, a part of the first case and the second case, or a coupling member coupling the first case to the second case, is laminated, and a shock breakage pin to be broken by a predetermined shock penetrates through a laminated portion to couple the first case to the second case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power device for driving a motor mounted on a hybrid car or an electric car and causing a vehicle to run.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automobile such as an electric car running by means of an electric motor or a hybrid car running by means of both an electric motor and an engine mounts a power device accommodating a battery in a case. The power device causes the automobile to run by means of an electric motor. In order to increase an output, therefore, a large number of batteries are connected in series, thereby raising an output voltage. For example, a voltage of an electrical battery to be mounted on an automobile is 12V with few exceptions, and the output voltage of the power device for driving a motor for running is generally 200V or more, which is very high.
In a typical hybrid car on the market, an electric motor output is several tens kW and an output voltage of a power device is set to be 200 to 300V. The power device is designed to be resistant to a high power. Therefore, if an automobile is broken due to a car crash so that a short circuit is caused in an inner part, a very large current flows, which may cause a car fire. In order to prevent this bad effect, a power device has been developed for controlling a state in which an automobile is broken due to a crash.


A structure for attaching a dust collection electrode of a wet electric dust collector that is low-cost and resistant to entire face corrosion, space corrosion, and hole corrosion. An end of a dust collection electrode element is tightened and slung to be supported by a slung beam slung in a lateral direction in a building accommodating a dust collection apparatus. A supporting member made of Hastelloy® is attached to the dust collection electrode element. The supporting member and the slung beam include attachment holes through which the supporting member and the slung beam are tightened together by a bolt and nut. The slung beam and the dust collection electrode element have therebetween the supporting member to sling and support the slung beam and the dust collection electrode plate so that the slung beam and the dust collection electrode plate are separated from each other.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for attaching a dust collection electrode of a wet electric dust collector. In particular, the present invention relates to a structure for attaching dust collection electrodes of a wet electric dust collection apparatus that prevents the corrosion in a low pH environment by the cleaning by cleaning water for removing dust or the like collected and attached as the dust collector operates.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An electric dust collector is designed so that a discharge electrode and a dust collection electrode are alternately arranged so that exhaust gas passes therebetween to electrically-charge microparticles (dust) in the exhaust gas by electric discharge to allow the dust to be trapped by the dust collection electrode. As the dust collector operates, dust or the like is collected and attached around the dust collection electrode of the dust collector. When sulfur components are mixed in exhaust gas passing through the dust collector, a risk is caused where these sulfur components turn into sulfur oxides that are attached to the dust collector to corrode the dust collector. Generally, the trapped dust or the like is removed by spraying cleaning water to the dust collection electrode of the wet electric dust collector. When the cleaning is always performed, the acceleration of the corrosion in the dust collector is prevented by maintaining a high pH of the mist of the cleaning water. When the cleaning is performed intermittently however, the trapped dust is attached to the dust collector for a long time and the dust collector must operate in a harsh corrosion environment where the mist of the cleaning water has a pH value of 0.5.
The wet electric dust collector is also designed so that discharge electrodes are opposed to dust collection electrode plates to which dust or the like is attached. The dust collection electrode plates are arranged in a plane in a longitudinal direction. Upper and lower ends are connected to slung beams via a tightening member to sling and maintain the upper and lower ends. The dust collection electrodes and the slung beams are supported by a structure in which the dust collection electrodes and the slung beams include attachment holes through which bolts are inserted to tighten the upper and lower ends. Due to this supporting structure, spaces and holes are formed among the dust collection electrodes, the slung beams, and the supporting structure. If mist of the cleaning water having a low pH value enters the spaces or the holes, the corrosion is promoted. Thus, this must be prevented effectively. This type of wet electric dust collector for removing dust or the like that is attached to dust collection electrodes is disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H6-154652    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2000-189836
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a structure for attaching a dust collection electrode of a wet electric dust collector according to which spaces and holes located among the dust collection electrodes, the slung beams, and the supporting structure as well as the characteristics of the materials are taken into consideration so that the structure is low-cost and resistant to all kinds of corrosions of entire face corrosion, space corrosion, and hole corrosion.

Structure for attaching dust collection electrode of wet electric dust collector


The operation of a driving system for a cigarette packing machine, wherein the driving system has a rotary main drive and several slave drives electrically connected to the main drive, is controlled in such a way that any selected slave drive can be disconnected from, decelerated to zero speed, accelerated from zero speed to normal speed and reconnected into the drive system in predetermined angular positions of the main drive. Each slave drive transmits motion to one or more movable parts or units of the packing machine in such a way that the movable parts do not clash even though they are movable and do move relative to each other.

The invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for controlling the operation of driving systems for various types of machines, such as packing machines for cigarettes or other articles of the tobacco processing industry. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for controlling the operation of driving systems of the type wherein a rotary main drive (e.g., an electric motor) is electrically connected with one or more slave drives (e.g., servomotors) each of which can be used to transmit motion to a discrete movable part, or to a group of movable parts, in a machine. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for controlling the operation of driving systems wherein the angular position of the rotary main drive is monitored and the operation of the sleve drive or drives is regulated in dependency on the angular positions of the main drive. The invention will be described with reference to packing machines for articles of the tobacco processing industry with the understanding, however, that the improved method and apparatus can be put to use with equal or similar advantage to control the operation of driving systems for other types of machines, for example, machines for packing articles other than those belonging to the tobacco processing industry, paper sheet forming, stacking and wrapping machines and/or others.
A modern cigarette packing machine is equipped with a number of units each of which has one or more movable parts, and such movable parts are called upon to operate in synchronism while moving relative to each other in order to ensure rapid, reliable and predictable gathering of arrays of cigarettes, introduction of arrays into packets, closing and sealing of the packets, application of revenue labels to the closed and sealed packets, confinement of labelled packets in envelopes of light transmitting plastic material, confinement of groups of packets in cartons and introduction of cartons into boxes for storage or for transport to customers. It is important to ensure that the movable parts will not clash and thus damage each other because any, even short-lasting, stoppage of a modern high-speed packing machine would entail huge losses in output. Furthermore, stoppage of a modern packing machine necessitates stoppage of all other machines in a complete production line which further increases the losses. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the various movable parts of a cigarette packing machine are free to move relative to each other, that such parts are operated in synchronism to guarantee that the machine can turn out large numbers of high-quality packets, cartons and boxes per unit of time, as well as that the moving parts are operated by a compact driving system which can accurately determine the times of operation and idleness of various movable parts.
Examples of movable parts which are utilized in a cigarette packing machine are endless belt conveyors, endless chain conveyors, indexible turret conveyors, prongs, pushers, jaws, tongs, plungers, folding fingers and many others. In certain packing machines, all or a large majority of such movable parts receive motion from a main drive through the medium of transmissions which are operated by the main drive and transmit rotary, reciprocatory and/or other movements to the respective discrete movable parts or groups of movable parts. The transmissions can be used to impart to the respective parts continuous or intermittent, regular or irregular movements, either directly or by utilizing cam and follower units.
It is also known to employ in a cigarette packing machine a driving system wherein a main drive (such as a rotary electric motor) drives a plurality of slave drives and each slave drive transmits motion to one or more movable parts of the machine. The connection between the main drive and the slave drives can be of the type known as an electric or electronic shaft which is preferred in many instances because it ensures that the slave drives are operated in exact synchronism with the main drive when such mode of operation is desirable or advantageous.
A drawback of presently known driving systems of the just outlined character (i.e., systems employing a main drive and a set of slave drives which are electrically connected to the main drive) is lack of sufficient flexibility. Such conventional driving systems operate quite satisfactorily as long as the operation of one or more slave drives need not be interrupted or otherwise altered. On the other hand, it is often necessary to interrupt the operation of one or more slave drives, for example, in order to rapidly or immediately segregate defective arrays of cigarettes so that the defective arrays are expelled prior to undergoing any, or prior to undergoing extensive, additional treatment including introduction into packets, closing and sealing of packets containing defective arrays of cigarettes, the application of revenue labels to closed and sealed packets which contain defective arrays of cigarettes, and so on.

Method of and apparatus for regulating the operation of a driving system for a packing machine


An optical pulse generator includes a light emitting element that emits an optical pulse, and a driver. The driver is configured to apply a pulse driving current to the light emitting element to allow the light emitting element to emit an optical pulse. The driver is also configured to apply a preliminary driving current to the light emitting element prior to starting the application of the pulse driving current. The preliminary driving current is lower than a minimum level that needs to cause a stimulated emission of light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical pulse generator and an optical pulse tester that is operated using the optical pulse generator.
Priorities are claimed on Japanese Patent Applications No. 2006-267992, filed Sep. 29, 2006, No. 2006-267993, filed Sep. 29, 2006, and No. 2007-179505, filed Jul. 9, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
All patents, patent applications, patent publications, scientific articles, and the like, which will hereinafter be cited or identified in the present application, will hereby be incorporated by reference in their entirety in order to describe more fully the state of the art to which the present invention pertains.
An optical pulse tester is a device that is configured to test the performance of an optical fiber such as transmission loss and point of failure. The optical pulse tester is configured to cause an optical pulse to be incident into a test target, for example, an optical fiber, and to detect backscattered light that has been given by the optical fiber, thereby testing the performance of the optical fiber. The optical pulse tester may also be called to as "optical fiber tester" or "optical time domain reflect meter". The optical pulse tester may typically use an optical pulse generator. The optical pulse generator may include a laser diode and a driver circuit. The laser diode is driven by the driver circuit so that the laser diode emits optical pulses.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, No. 2000-283884 discloses a conventional optical pulse tester and an optical pulse generator used for allowing the optical pulse tester to perform the test.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, No. 6-201482 discloses another conventional optical pulse tester and an optical pulse generator used for allowing the optical pulse tester to perform the test.
One of the most important performance factors for the optical pulse tester is the spatial resolution thereof. The spatial resolution is the ability to distinguish the scattering point on the optical fiber with reference to the optical pulse generator. In other words, the spatial resolution is the ability to distinguish the distance of the scattering point from the optical pulse generator over the optical fiber. In general, the spatial resolution is increased by increasing the abruptness of the rising and/or falling edges of a pulse and also by narrowing the pulse width.
The conventional optical pulse generator has a closed-loop connection of a switching transistor, a voltage generator, and a laser diode. The switching transistor is driven to be switched ON and OFF by a pulse control signal. In a case, the switching transistor may be a high speed switching transistor that has high speed switching performance. The high speed switching transistor or the peaking circuit can be used to increase the abruptness of the rising and/or falling edges of an optical pulse and/or to narrow the optical pulse width. However, further increase in the abruptness of the rising and/or falling edges of an optical pulse and/or further narrowing of the optical pulse width are necessary for advanced optical pulse generators.
The conventional optical pulse generator generates optical pulses that have a low peak to peak value of optical pulses, resulting in narrow dynamic range of the optical pulses.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved an optical pulse generator and an improved optical pulse tester that is operated using the improved optical pulse generator. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Optical pulse generator and optical pulse tester


For the purpose of reducing a false report and shortening inspection time, an area to be inspected is locally inspected under optimum inspection conditions. In order to avoid the number of detected defects from increasing explosively, and thereby to facilitate control of a critical defect, general-purpose layout data, which is used for producing a mask of a semiconductor wafer, is accumulated in a design information server 2. With reference to the layout data, an area to be inspected, which is inspected by a pattern inspecting apparatus 1, is divided into partial inspection areas including a cell portion and a non-cell portion. Inspection parameters are set for each of the partial inspection areas. In addition, the defect reviewing apparatus 8 obtains an inspection result of the pattern inspecting apparatus 1. When obtaining a defect image, the defect reviewing apparatus 8 identifies a position, where the defect occurred, from among a cell portion, a non-cell portion, a pattern dense portion, and the like according to layout data. Moreover, the defect reviewing apparatus 8 sets inspection parameters, such as pickup magnification of this defect, in response to a result of the identification to set a control criterion of criticality.

The present invention relates to a pattern inspecting apparatus for inspecting a defect of an electronic circuit pattern formed on a semiconductor wafer, and in particular, to a defect-inspection control system of an electronic circuit pattern, a defect inspecting system and an defect inspecting apparatus of an electronic circuit pattern, by which man-hours set by inspection parameters (inspection conditions) in a pattern inspecting apparatus are reduced according to design information including layout data, and by which defect information detected by the pattern inspecting apparatus is managed.
While a lifetime of a semiconductor product is being shortened, and while a shift toward a multi-product production system is being performed mainly in a field of system LSI, a demand for early establishment of mass-production process conditions are more and more being increased. A defect inspecting apparatus is extremely important as a tool that inspects appearance in each process of semiconductor production, and that acquires information about a state, in which a defect occurs, to get an instruction to adjust process conditions, or to detect malfunction of a process state. As semiconductor appearance inspecting apparatuses that have already been put into practice, there are an optical foreign-material inspecting apparatus, and an optical or an electron-beam pattern inspecting apparatus, and an optical or an electron-beam defect reviewing apparatus.
As a conventional example in which a defect of an electronic circuit pattern formed on a semiconductor wafer is inspected, for example, an optical wafer defect inspecting apparatus that is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-43505, and an electron beam defect reviewing apparatus that was described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-135288, are known. When inspecting a defect of an electronic circuit pattern using these defect inspecting apparatuses, a user is required to set and adjust various inspection parameters including set conditions of an optical system. After describing an outline of inspection for these inspecting apparatuses, setting of the inspection parameters will be described below.
In the first place, as a first example of the prior art, optical defect-inspecting technology will be described with reference to FIG. 27.
In the figure, to begin with, a semiconductor wafer 121 as an object to be inspected is secured on a stage 120. Then, while moving the stage 120, a surface of the semiconductor wafer 121 is light-scanned. Reflected light from the surface of this semiconductor wafer 121 is detected by a detector 123 through a detection optical system 122. The detected output is then stored in a memory 124 as digital data.
On the semiconductor wafer 121, a chip pattern is repeatedly copied at fixed intervals. After an image of an object point 127 to be inspected on the semiconductor wafer 121 (hereinafter the image is referred to as defect image because it is an image as an object for which a defect is inspected) is detected, and stored in the memory 124 as digital data, an image of a point 128 having the same pattern in an adjacent chip is detected as a reference image, and is stored in a memory 25. A comparator 126 compares the defect image 127 and the reference image 128, which have been stored in the memories 124 and 125, respectively, and then extracts and outputs a defect.
The example described above relates to a case where an image of the same point in an adjacent chip is detected for use as a reference image. However, in a case where a repeated pattern portion such as a memory (hereinafter referred to as cell portion) is inspected, an image, which is shifted by a repeated period, may be used. Usually, in a cell portion, as compared with comparison at the same point on a physically apart adjacent chip, comparison with an area, of which a repeated unit is shifted by one period, enables an inspection with high sensitivity. This is because as regards a difference image between the reference image and the defect image, brightness distribution of a normal portion tends to decrease, as they get nearer physically, which results in a large difference in signal intensity between the defect portion and the normal portion in an image. This can be explained by the fact that a shape gap of a pattern becomes smaller as they get nearer physically, or that a difference in coherent light intensity caused by a surface film becomes smaller as they get nearer physically, or the like.
Usually, a method, in which an image shifted by one repeated period in a repeated pattern portion is used as a reference image, is called a cell comparison method; and a method, in which an image detected at the same point in an adjacent chip is used as a reference image, is called a die comparison method.
FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram illustrating comparison operation in the comparator 126 shown in FIG. 27. Reference numeral 130 denotes a defect image, and 131 denotes a reference image.
To be more specific, comparison logical operation is performed for binarized images 132 and 133, which have been obtained by classification into black and white according to whether or not a brightness value of an image is higher than a fixed value (=binarization threshold value), to get a comparison result 134. In this comparison result 134, not only a defect but also a component 134a caused by dispersion in pattern shape between the defect image 130 and the reference image 131, and a component 134b caused by noise are produced. Usually, detection of a component except such a defect area causes a false report. Therefore, noise removal processing is performed. Noise removal can be achieved by the following: for example, if a diameter is smaller than or equal to a fixed value (hereinafter referred to as a noise removal threshold value) in binarization images, considering it to be noise, and removing the noise. As a result of noise removal processing, as is the case with the processing result 135, only the defect is extracted.
As described above, as regards the die comparison method, noise is produced more easily than the cell comparison method. Therefore, the noise removal threshold value is required to be larger than that of the cell comparison method. This means that the defect that is smaller than a noise removal threshold value cannot be detected.
In the above description, the binarization threshold value and the noise removal threshold value, which have been described above, are called inspection parameters (inspection conditions). Setting of the inspection parameters will be described below.
FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for setting typical inspection parameters.
In the same figure, an inspection-parameter setting screen displays a wafer map 140, which explicitly shows a chip as an object to be inspected, and a cell-area setting screen 141, which magnifies the chip as the object to be inspected for displaying the chip. A user can inspect a cell area in the chip by using an inspection parameter which is different from a non-cell area, by surrounding the cell area (cell portion) 142 with a broken line in the cell-area setting screen 141 to select the cell area. To be more specific, after the cell area 142 is selected, various inspection parameters such as a detection optical system parameter or an image processing parameter in the cell area 142 are directly inputted by the manual operation on GUI, and in succession, inspection parameters of a non-cell area except the cell area is directly inputted by the manual operation on GUI in a similar manner. In the cell area 142, setting a noise removal threshold value to be smaller than the non-cell portion enables an inspection with sensitivity higher than that of the non-cell portion.
Next, procedures for setting a cell area by the manual operation will be described.
The cell area 142 is set by the following operation: placing a cursor at a desired position in a circumferential portion of an area, which is intended for the cell area 142, on the cell-area setting screen 141; clicking a mouse to define the position as a vertex of the cell area 142; and repeating the defining operation for each vertex to define a vertex group of the cell area 142. In this method, there is also a case where cell areas are dispersively located at ten positions or more in a chip area. Therefore, the manual setting is required for each cell area one by one.
Next, an electron beam type defect reviewing apparatus will be described as a second example of the prior art.
In contrast to the pattern inspecting apparatus described as the first example of the technology, which is intended for a wafer where a state in which a defect occurs is unknown, a defect reviewing apparatus detects an image of a defect position again for a wafer, of which a defect position has already been identified by a pattern inspecting apparatus, for the purpose of observing the defect in more detail.
That is to say, in the first place, the wafer is inspected by the pattern inspecting apparatus as described above, and thereby the defect position is detected. Output information of the pattern inspecting apparatus includes simple information about a defect such as a defect position on a wafer and an outline of a size.
Usually, as regards defect detection by the pattern inspecting apparatus, for the purpose of shortening inspection time, an image is not detected with magnification high enough to observe its detail as compared with a size of a defect.
The defect reviewing apparatus picks up an image of a defect position on a wafer, and a reference image corresponding to this image, with magnification high enough to observe a defect in detail using output information of a pattern inspecting apparatus as an input. Image-pickup magnification is one of the inspection parameters, which are predetermined by a user. An image is picked up with specific magnification, which has been predetermined for all defects.
Next, manual parameter-setting procedures in the defect inspecting apparatus will be described.
Such parameters are roughly classified into a parameter (hereinafter referred to as image detection parameter) which sets image pickup conditions, and a parameter (hereinafter referred to as image processing parameter) which sets image processing conditions.
A typical flowchart illustrating manual inspection-parameter setting procedures on the defect reviewing apparatus will be described. To begin with, an area to be inspected is set. The area to be inspected is defined by inputting data such as a chip layout and a chip size on a semiconductor wafer surface. Moreover, as regards some defect inspecting apparatuses, a chip is divided into a plurality of partial inspection areas (such as a cell area, and a non-cell area) for setting.
An area to be inspected is manually set using the following procedures. The above-mentioned partial inspection area, which is divided, is considered to be a rectangular for example. While displaying an image, which has been picked up on a sample surface, on an operation screen, an operator moves a stage, on which a semiconductor wafer is mounted, so that a vertex of a rectangle enters a visual field, in order to specify a rectangular partial inspection area by the manual operation. Then, the user manually specifies a vertex position of the rectangle by using a cursor, or the like on GUI as shown in FIG. 29. Performing similar manual operation for each vertex of the rectangle enables setting of the partial inspection area on the rectangle. If there are a plurality of partial inspection areas, it is necessary to perform the manual setting operation of a rectangular area repeatedly.
Next, the operator manually sets image detection parameters temporarily, detects an image at a position appropriately selected from the area to be inspected, and then judges whether or not image quality is good by a visual inspection on GUI. In this case, if the image quality is not good, the image detection parameters are manually set again.
Next, as regards the image detection parameter, which has been set, the operator manually sets image processing parameters temporarily on GUI, and executes a temporary inspection. After executing the inspection, the operator checks a position of a detected defect, and inspects a state in which the image processing parameters are set. If there are more false reports than expected, this means that sensitivity is too high. Therefore, the sensitivity is reduced. On the other hand, if the number of detected defects is too few, or if a standard defect could not be detected, the sensitivity is increased.
Each manual operation of resetting of the image processing parameters, re-execution of a temporary inspection, and a recheck of an inspection result is executed repeatedly until the parameter adjustment is completed, and until desired conditions for judgment are satisfied as follows: the number of false reports becomes a fixed number or less; or the number of false reports becomes a fixed number or less within a range that a standard defect is found; or the like.
As described as the prior art, including selection which method should be executed (the cell comparison method or the die comparison method), concerning general inspection parameters, even if the operator tries to divide an area to be inspected into many partial inspection areas, and tries to set a different inspection parameter for each partial inspection area, setting of each partial inspection area is forced to depend on manpower, which hinders efficient setting. Division by manual operation into many partial inspection areas of which an inspection parameter is different substantially, and an inspection by manual setting the inspection parameter which is different for each partial inspection area, become impossible substantially. This is disadvantageous in the following points.
Firstly, explosive increase in the number of detected defects cannot be avoided. Depending on pattern density, a size of a fatal defect is different. To be more specific, if pattern density is high, it is important that even a defect having a smaller size can be detected reliably. Nevertheless, if defect detection sensitivity is manually set high enough to be appropriate to an area where a pattern is dense, and if this is applied to an entire surface of an area to be inspected, the number of detected defects will become 1000 or more, resulting in difficult control.
Secondly, inspection parameters cannot be optimized for each position. As an example of inspection parameters, critical parameters as described above are mentioned.
Other than the example, as regards parameters related to image detection conditions, if a defect reviewing apparatus, which has been introduced as the second example of the prior art, is described as an example, a defect size, which is the most important for control, is determined depending on roughness and fineness of a pattern as described above. Image-pickup magnification, which is used when detecting an image, should be set so that a defect having this image size is suited for a pickup image size. However, under present circumstances, because an image is detected at fixed image-pickup magnification, a case where magnification becomes too low or too high as compared with a defect size often arises.
In addition, as regards the conventional procedures, there is a problem that manual setting of an area to be inspected requires great efforts. Conventionally, when a chip area is divided by manual operation into a plurality of partial areas, such as a cell area and a non-cell area, if a number of divisions is large, manual setting of an area to be inspected becomes difficult substantially. Moreover, there is also a problem that manual setting and manual adjustment of parameters for each divided partial inspection area require great efforts.
As described above, it is important to divide an area to be inspected into a plurality of partial inspection areas so that an inspection parameter, which is different for each partial inspection area, is set for an inspection. Or, it is important to set an inspection parameter for a specific pattern in an area to be inspected to inspect the specific pattern. However, conventionally, there was the problem that great efforts are required for realizing it, or that it cannot be realized practically.

Method and system for inspecting electronic circuit pattern


A mechanical seal support system may facilitate feeding barrier fluid to a mechanical seal. A predetermined difference in pressure between the barrier fluid at a position before and after passage through the seal is detected. The flow of barrier fluid to the seal may be reduced when the predetermined pressure difference is detected.

A seal support system comprises of a vessel or tank, which generally contains a volume of fluid. The vessel is piped to a sealing device on a pump, mixer or item of rotating equipment. Generally a return pipe is lead back to the vessel from the sealing device, hence closing the "loop". This allows the fluid, contained in the vessel, to enter and exit the sealing device. Such fluid is generally chosen so that it lubricates and cools the components within the sealing device, whilst being compatible with the process fluid.
The industry term for the fluid contained within the vessel, is barrier or buffer fluid.
Mechanical seals generate a tremendous amount of heat due to friction as the seal faces rub against each other. In applications where small heat loads need to be removed, it is common to use a small vessel, which has a seal supply port and a seal return port built into it.
This vessel is usually placed higher than the mechanical seal, and is piped in such a way that the seal supply port is situated at the bottom of the vessel, and the seal return port further up the vessel. This ensures that when the vessel is full of fluid and is piped to the seal, the colder fluid is fed to the mechanical seal, and is warmed up by the seal.
This fluid then 'rises' back up into the vessel, and hence a 'thermal loop' is created. This effect is commonly termed the 'thermosyphon effect'. The fluid in the vessel then cools to the atmosphere and the level of cooling can be increased by factors such as surface area, the use of finned tubing, passing wind over the vessel etc.
However, in some applications the mechanical seal generates too much heat for a thermosyphon system to dissipate. This can be due to a number of factors such as: high heat transfer from the process fluid to the barrier fluid, large mechanical seal sizes, high speed, hard seal faces and high ambient temperatures.
In this case, a forced circulation system may be employed. This type of system ensures that barrier fluid is forced through the seal from a vessel using a pump and motor set and then back into the tank where the barrier fluid cools to the atmosphere.
The AESSEAL PUMPPAC™ is a system which performs this task, and has the ability to pressurise the barrier fluid being supplied to the mechanical seal, ensuing that if there is any leakage across the seal face, it is always the compatible and safe barrier fluid into the product, rather than the product (which may be hazardous to the environment) into the atmosphere/vessel.
It is recommended to set the pressure of the barrier fluid 1 bar above that of the process fluid for this specific reason.
As the mechanical seal wears, the seal begins to 'leak' more barrier fluid into the product, however the PUMPPAC™ system ensures that the pressure of the barrier fluid supplied to the mechanical seal remains constant.
However, should a mechanical seal eventually fail the PUMPPAC™ system continues supplying oil into the product, hence 'watering down' or contaminating the product, which may lead to a product being wasted.
The PUMPPAC™ system may also be used with a double seal, i.e. it can support both the in-board and out-board seal faces. If an in-board seal failure were to occur, this would lead to the same scenario as previously described.
The modular concept of the PUMPPAC™ system ensures that a level switch may be added to the vessel, which would warn an operator of too much loss of fluid. Should the operator need to know that the mechanical seal had failed instantly, the modular concept of the PUMPPAC™ system ensures that a pressure switch may be fitted, which would warn an operator of loss in pressure due to a major leak in the mechanical seal.
If an out-board seal failure were to occur, the standard PUMPPAC™ system would continue pumping the fluid through the seal, but due to the damaged out-board faces, this fluid would then be ejected into the atmosphere. This would continue to occur until the pump was either switched off, or until the vessel would be become empty.
Again, due to the modular concept of the PUMPPAC™ System, level and pressure switches can be added to ensure that operators are warned of any such event.
However, warning systems which require operator input are always subject to 'operator error', and in some cases the operator may not be present at the exact time the fault occurs. Hence, an automated safety system is deemed to be advantageous.
The effects of an out-board seal failure, could potentially be a much more dangerous scenario. If the barrier fluid is for example a fluid with a low ignition temperature (the ignition (sometimes called auto-ignition) temperature of a substance is the minimum temperature required to initiate or to cause self-sustained combustion independent of the heat source. A spark or flame is not necessary for ignition when a flammable vapour reaches its auto-ignition temperature), this type of fluid can cause a fire hazard if the fluid is leaked into the surrounding atmosphere due to an outboard seal failure. In this instance, if there is a delay in the operator shutting down the pump, a serious accident may occur, hence an automated system is even more advantageous.
One approach employed in order ensure that the high level of safety of the PUMPPAC™ System is not compromised is the use of a standard pressure switch, whereby the pressure is simply monitored at the return line from the seal to the PUMPPAC™ System. The switch may be set to be triggered on falling pressure, which can ultimately send a signal to a relay, which ultimately shuts down the motor on the PUMPPAC™, preventing excess barrier fluid loss.
In the present invention the use of an oil safety fuse system ensures that in the event of mechanical seal failure (single seal, double seal, in-board/out-board etc.) the flow of barrier fluid to the mechanical seal is shut off, hence preventing excess barrier fluid loss. This system does not use electrical components and this is particularly advantageous in hazardous areas. Upon the failure of any seal the barrier fluid is safely channeled back into the vessel, bypassing the mechanical seal, and hence preventing excess barrier fluid leakage.


The present invention provides a delay analysis system which makes it possible to make delay analysis considering circuit logical information in order to give more accurate delay times. In addition to circuit connection information and delay time information on the rises and falls of the input and output terminals of the circuits which are stored in a delay analysis library, the delay analysis system according to the present invention contains, in the library, logical operation information which represents correspondence between the logical values of each input terminal and their output logical values of the circuits. When making the delay analysis of a logic circuit, the system selects, for each circuit included in the logic circuit, a delay time between an input terminal and an output terminal from the delay time information on the rises and falls of the input and output terminals of the basic circuits, stored in the library, according to the logical operation of the circuit in order to calculate the delay time of the circuit.

When calculating a delay in a logic circuit in a conventional delay simulation system, a delay analysis library containing circuit connection information and delay information on the basic elements (such as AND elements) of the circuit is used.
The conventional delay analysis library contains connection information as well as delay information which is composed of the delay time of each rise and fall. But, it does not contain logic information on the circuit.
For this reason, the circuit delay analysis uses the worst delay times stored in the delay analysis library, sometimes preventing the delay analysis from being made correctly.
An earlier patent disclosure dealing with delay analysis is found, for example, in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A No. Hei 1-271869 (1989). In that publication, a propagation delay time calculation method for use in calculating propagation delay times is proposed. In this method, the calculation is made by calculating the load and wiring capacity of the output terminals and the rise time and fall time of each gate.


Multiple processor systems are provided. A first processor is configured to monitor the state of at least one other processor by comparing received signals. When the first processor determines that another processor needs to be reset, the first processor provides a reset signal to a reset pin of the processor that needs to be reset. The first processor may reset itself after providing the reset signal.

While most people appreciate the importance of physical fitness, many have difficulty finding the motivation required to maintain a regular exercise program. Some people find it particularly difficult to maintain an exercise regimen that involves continuously repetitive motions, such as running, walking and bicycling. Electronic devices are increasingly being used to motivate, monitor and track athletic activity. Devices have been used to monitor steps, heart rate and other parameters. Some devices are designed to provide data to mobile phones. As electronic devices have been developed to process more data associated with athletic activity the devices have used more powerful processors and/or multiple processors.
Processors periodically need to be reset when errors occur. A hard reset may include executing a routine that a processor performs when power is initially applied to the processor. A soft reset may include executing an abbreviated reset routine. Soft resets are sometimes preferred because some data may be maintained in memory. The type of reset desired may be a function of the type of error encountered.
It has been common for electronic devices to include a dedicated reset circuit to monitor processors and initiate resets when needed. Dedicated reset circuits can add to space requirements and costs.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for improved systems and method for monitoring and resetting processors.


An input device includes an input circuit including a plurality of key switches connected in parallel to one another, and a control circuit including a key input terminal to which a first terminal of the input circuit is connected, and an interrupt terminal to which a second terminal of the input circuit is connected. When a key switch is turned ON, an interrupt signal is input from the second terminal of the input circuit to the interrupt terminal, whereby the control circuit transitions from a power saving mode to a normal mode. Then, the control circuit determines which one of the key switches is turned ON based on a value of a voltage applied from the first terminal of the input circuit to the key input terminal. Thus, it is possible to realize a power saving mode without having to provide a comparator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input device, and more particularly to an input device operable in a power saving mode in which a microcomputer is shut down in a standby state.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device such as an AV device has an operation state, called a "standby state", where power is supplied only to the microcomputer and to the peripheral circuits thereof so that the power of the device can be turned back ON in response to a user's operation of a key or a remote control even when the power of the device is OFF. Recently, there is a demand for further reducing the standby power consumption, i.e., the amount of power to be consumed in a standby state. In view of such a demand, the microcomputer has a power saving mode in which the microcomputer itself is shut down when the microcomputer has no process to execute. Then, in response to a user's operation of a key, an interrupt signal is input to an interrupt terminal of the microcomputer to exit the power saving mode (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-198169 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-13671). However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-198169 requires the provision of an OR circuit and a general-purpose input terminal for each key switch, thereby complicating the circuit configuration. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-13671, various keys of a key matrix are scanned repeatedly so as to detect a valid key input from the key matrix. However, the scanning signal is a cause of noise, and such a configuration is inappropriate particularly in AV applications.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional circuit 501 with which a microcomputer 2 can determine which one of a plurality of key switches connected in parallel is turned ON with a single key input terminal a. With the circuit 501, when a key switch S2 is turned ON, for example, a voltage of V1×R2/(R1+R2) is input to the key input terminal a of the microcomputer 2. The input voltage is A/D-converted and compared with predetermined voltage values associated with key switches S1 to S5 so that the microcomputer 2 can determine that the key switch S2 has been pressed.
In order to provide the microcomputer 2 of the circuit 501 with a power saving mode, it is necessary to provide a comparator 505 for the transition from the power saving mode to the normal mode. The voltage at the node A is input to one end of the comparator 505, and a reference voltage is input to the other end of the comparator 505. When a key switch is turned ON, the comparator 505 applies an interrupt signal (a low-level voltage) to an interrupt terminal b. With the circuit 501, however, it is necessary to provide a comparator so as to be able to exit the power saving mode, thus increasing the cost. In order to solve the problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-186657 discloses a method in which the microcomputer is operated intermittently using a built-in timer function in a standby state, and the A/D converter is operated periodically, so as to determine which key switch is turned ON. This method eliminates the need for a comparator. However, since the microcomputer is operated intermittently in a standby state, the standby power consumption cannot be reduced sufficiently.


A method of compensating for transmitter instability of a radar system is provided. The method includes the steps of transmitting at least one electromagnetic pulse and directly measuring at least one characteristic of the transmitted pulse. A comparison is made between the at least one measured characteristic of the transmitted pulse to a reference pulse characteristic. The results of this comparison are used to generate a complex weight for the at least one electromagnetic pulse. The weight is applied to the received return of the at least one electromagnetic pulse.

Radar systems used to detect the presence, position, and other characteristics of both natural and man-made objects are critical to both civilian and military operations. These systems typically transmit "beams" or electromagnetic (EM) signals toward targets, and process reflected return signals (or echoes) for object identification and characterization. The presence of clutter in these return signals creates a significant technical challenge in accurately processing return signals. This clutter decreases radar performance by hindering the system's ability to detect targets and/or increases the probability of a false target detection.
The negative effects of this received clutter can be reduced by the radar system's ability to produce multiple coherent pulses. This radar "stability" includes the radar transmitter's ability to generate uniform pulses that have consistent amplitude and phase from pulse to pulse. In particular, in current moving target indicator (MTI) radar systems, for example, pulses received from the target are delayed in time until the arrival of a second pulse. The first delayed pulse is then subtracted from the second pulse. As a result, stationary clutter is cancelled, and a moving target is more readily identifiable. However, the effectiveness of these clutter reduction methods is limited by the degree to which the transmitted pulses within a coherent interval do not perfectly replicate one another (i.e. instability). For example, when a transmitter power supply voltage changes from pulse to pulse (transmitter "push"), phase and amplitude modulations are produced in the signal, thus degrading clutter cancellation. This is particularly the case when the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) changes from coherent interval to coherent interval. This instability is often difficult to detect and isolate. As a result, clutter rejection requirements of modern radar systems can impose very strict pulse-to-pulse stability requirements on the radar system's electronics, which can considerably increase system cost.
Attempts have been made to address these problems by extracting or compensating the pushing factor from large clutter returns. More specifically, amplitude and phase data from these returns obtained from clutter processing are used to create compensation factors which adjust weights applied during Doppler processing. Such techniques have several drawbacks. For example, they utilize average pushing errors, and thus averaged cancellation factors to reduce clutter based errors, target contamination errors, and antenna motion errors, despite the fact that these errors actually vary pulse-to-pulse.
Accordingly, alternative methods and systems for increasing transmitter stability in a radar system are desired.

Transmitter pushing compensation for radar stability enhancement


An example exhaust duct assembly includes a front liner, an intermediate liner and a rear liner. Each of the front, intermediate and rear liners include an inner liner exposed to combustion gases and an outer liner spaced radially apart from the inner liner. An air passage defined between the inner liner and the outer liner provides cooling air utilized for insulating an inner surface of the exhaust duct assembly. A closeout member is provided between the inner and outer liner and defines a portion of an air passage between the closeout member and the inner liner. Air flowing through the air passage is injected into a joint to provide cooling. The closeout member includes a horizontal leg that is bendable in a radial direction to accommodate relative movement between the inner liner and the outer liner.

This invention relates generally to a dual wall exhaust liner for a gas turbine engine. More particularly, this invention relates to a dual wall exhaust nozzle and/or duct closeout.
A gas turbine engine typically includes a plurality of turbine blades that transform energy from a mainstream of combustion gasses into mechanical energy that rotates and drives a compressor. The combustion gases exit the gas turbine engine through an exhaust nozzle. The exhaust nozzle assembly typically includes a hot side liner exposed to hot combustion gases and a cold side liner spaced radially apart from the hot side liner. The space between the hot side liner and the cold side liner defines a passage for cooling air. The cooling air is provided along the hot side liner to protect against the extreme heat generated by the combustion gases.
The hot side liner will often include a plurality of openings for communicating cooling air along an interior surface of the exhaust nozzle. The cooling air forms an insulating layer along the interior surface of the exhaust nozzle that protects the hot side liner. The hot side liner operates at a temperature much greater than that of the cold side liner. Accordingly, the cold side liner and hot side liner expand and contract differently in response to thermal conditions. The relative thermal expansions and contractions can generate stresses and strains in the hot side and cold side liner.
Further, it is known to provide for both stationary and articulating exhaust nozzle and ducts. Articulating exhaust nozzles and ducts allow for selectively directing combustion gases. The articulated exhaust nozzle and ducts includes several segments movable relative to each other. The interface between each segment requires that the air passage defined between the hot side and cold side liners be closed off. Further, it is desirable that the interface is cooled and sealed to contain combustion gases within the exhaust nozzle. Closing off the air passage at each interface joint complicates localized cooling between movable segments. The dynamic nature of the interface between movable segments creates a challenge to cooling of the hot side liner.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a dual wall exhaust liner closeout that accommodates differing thermal expansions and provides cooling airflow at an interface between movable segments of an exhaust nozzle and or duct assembly.


A solar receiver (10; 110) for a solar thermal power plant comprises an elongated supply chamber (16; 118) for a heat carrier medium flowing in the supply chamber (16; 118) at a small loss of pressure, an elongated absorber (13; 113), the inlet areas (21; 119) thereof extending in a longitudinal direction and limiting the supply chamber (16; 118), and a drain chamber (18; 125) extending in a longitudinal direction and being contained in the supply chamber (16; 118) for the heated heat carrier medium and being limited by at least one outlet area (22; 124) extending in a longitudinal direction, the inlet area (21; 119) and the outlet area (22; 124) being offset against each other in a transverse direction. This is why the heat carrier medium flows in a transverse direction to the absorber (13; 113) so that the flow causing a loss of pressure is limited on a relatively short path and the heat carrier medium being heated flows towards the increasing intensity of incident radiation.

The invention relates to a solar receiver for a solar thermal power plant having trough-shaped concentrators for focusing incident solar radiation onto a solar receiver.
In solar thermal power plants, the incident solar radiation is amplified multiple times by being focused by concentrators onto a solar receiver absorbing the concentrated solar radiation and releasing it to a heat carrier medium, such as air or water. The heated heat carrier medium is then put to use, for example by being provided to a turbine for driving a generator.
In solar thermal power plants having trough-shaped concentrators, the solar receiver usually is tubular and arranged concentrically to the concentrator, which is mostly provided in the shape of a parabolic trough. The solar receiver can be formed either as a directly absorbing receiver in which a colored water carrier medium flows through the receiver tube allowing the solar radiation to pass therethrough, which medium then directly absorbs the incident solar radiation, or be formed as a volumetric receiver in which a porous absorber is arranged in the interior of the receiver tube and absorbs the incident solar radiation, the heat carrier medium flowing therethrough and being heated convectively. Usually, liquid media, such as water or thermal oil, are used as the heat carrier medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,851 describes a surface concentrator comprising multiple supply and drain chambers extending longitudinally, being arranged next to one another and being connected to an absorber arranged above the chambers. The heat carrier medium flows through the absorber in a transverse direction, i.e. from a supply chamber to a drain chamber. In the chambers, the heat carrier medium flows in a longitudinal direction. This solar receiver is not adapted to be employed in a trough concentrator, as it comprises too large an area to be arranged in the small concentration area of a trough concentrator. Additionally, the construction of the solar concentrator requires the use of an insulation material which has to be heated whenever the solar thermal power plant starts operating. Especially in the case of trough concentrators where a relatively small concentration factor is obtained, this leads to a noticeable deterioration of efficiency.
In the case of elongated solar receivers for trough concentrators, the heat carrier medium flows through the porous absorber in the longitudinal direction; thus, it has to be transported through the entire length of the absorber. In the case of the usually cylindrical solar receivers, it is an objective to select the cross section thereof to be as small as possible to minimize the surface and thus the loss by dissipation. However, this leads to an increase in the speed of the heat carrier medium resulting in an increased loss of pressure of the heat carrier medium, as the loss of pressure within a porous absorber increases quadratically to the speed of the heat carrier medium. To counteract this loss of pressure, energy for compressing the heat carrier medium has to be employed, which reduces the efficiency of the installation. In the case of usual solar receivers of this kind, a less than optimum compromise has to be achieved between the size of the tube, which should be as large as possible in the area of the incidence of radiation for receiving the radiation, and as small as possible in the area opposite the radiation for reducing the loss due to emission, and the speed of the flow the loss of pressure depends on.
For the pressure not to decrease too far, the heat carrier medium is introduced into the absorber at a high pressure of up to 30 bars. The operation of such installations has shown that occasional leaks cannot be avoided. This led to a number of security and environmental requirements which can makes the construction of such an installation considerably more expensive.

Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.


An illumination apparatus for a microscope and an image processing apparatus using the illumination apparatus include a light source, a semi-transmissive mirror splitting a light beam from the light source into two beams of the first and second irradiation light, two excitation filters selecting the wavelengths of the first and second irradiation light, a semi-transmissive mirror synthesizing individual beams of the first and second irradiation light whose wavelengths are selected, into a single beam, a dichroic mirror directing a light beam synthesized by the semi-transmissive mirror toward a specimen and transmitting light from the specimen, an objective lens, cameras imaging fluorescent light from the specimen after being separated into fluorescent light excited by the first and second wavelengths, and an image processing section processing fluorescent images formed by imaging elements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an illumination apparatus for a microscope in which a plurality of wavelengths of light can be arbitrarily chosen, their intensities can be independently adjusted, and a specimen can be irradiated with the light at the same time, and to an image processing apparatus using this illumination apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, fluorescence microscopes are widely used for the purpose of detecting proteins and genes in which fluorescence labeling is applied to living tissues and cells in the fields of medicine, biology, and others. In recent years, a multiple fluorescence detection technique that a specimen stained with a plurality of fluorescent dyes or a specimen revealing a plurality of fluorescence proteins is observed at a time has particularly exercised its power for the analysis of genes and the solution of intracellular structures. In the multiple fluorescence detection technique, in order to excite a multiple fluorescence specimen, a means for irradiating the specimen with illumination light of a plurality of wavelengths has widespread use. Here, important factors governing the accuracy of observation data are that time intervals of irradiation with individual wavelengths are short and the intensity distribution of irradiation light of each wavelength on the surface of the specimen remains unchanged in terms of time and space.
As conventional means for irradiating the specimen with the illumination light of the plurality of wavelengths in order to excite the multiple fluorescence specimen, an apparatus using a filter switching means to time-divide the wavelengths of excitation light (see, for example, Japanese Pat. Kokai No. Hei 09-005243) and an apparatus using two independent light sources (see, for example, Japanese Patent Kokai No. Hei 07-056092) are proposed. In addition, an apparatus dividing light from a single light source to irradiate a specimen with divided light (see, for example, Japanese Patent Kokai No. Hei 10-090608) is proposed.
The apparatus disclosed in Kokai No. Hei 09-005243, as shown in FIG. 1, is constructed so that a living tissue to be measured is previously processed with fluorescent light of a plurality of wavelengths; a filter switching means 151 in which a plurality of filters 151a for excitation light selection are set at a predetermined place in a rotary disk 151b and a filter switching means 152 in which a plurality of filters 152a for fluorescent light selection are set at a predetermined place in a rotary disk 152b are used; by synchronously rotating these disks, the living tissue is irradiated with the first excitation light and the second excitation light by time division; the first fluorescent light and the second fluorescent light, produced from the living tissue, are recorded in turn; and, for example, changes in intracellular ion concentration and in membrane potential are measured at substantially the same time.
The apparatus set forth in Kokai No. Hei 07-056092, as shown in FIG. 2, is constructed so that two light sources 161A and 161B for white light, such as xenon lamps, are used; light from the lamps, after being collected through collector lenses 162A and 162B, is transmitted through excitation filters 163A and 163B which have different transmission wavelength regions, and wavelengths are selected; and light of selected wavelengths is synthesized by a dichroic mirror 164 and is introduced into an observation optical system 165. According to this apparatus, a specimen can be illuminated with light of desired wavelengths by properly replacing the excitation filters 163A and 163B.
The apparatus set forth in Kokai No. Hei 10-090608, as shown in FIG. 3, is constructed so that irradiation light emitted from a light source 171 for irradiation is split through a splitting optical system 172 and different parts on a specimen 173 are irradiated with split light beams A and B.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Illumination apparatus for microscope and image processing apparatus using the same

The Institute of Physical & Chemical Research


While a dielectric film is set to have a ground potential, a fixed electrode is set to have a different potential from the ground potential. Thereafter, ions produced by corona discharge are allowed to pass through a plurality of acoustic holes formed in the fixed electrode and reach the dielectric film, thereby electretizing the dielectric film.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electretization methods and apparatuses for dielectric films of condenser microphones formed using a micromachining technique for silicon.
(2) Description of Related Art
Electret condenser microphones (ECMs) are small acousto-electric transducers in which the need for a direct-current bias of a condenser is eliminated by detecting, as an electrical signal, a variation in the capacity of the condenser arising from an acoustic wave and utilizing an electret film possessing a semipermanent electric polarity.
An electret film (at least partially polarized dielectric film) of an ECM is made of, for example, an organic dielectric film, such as fluoroethylene propylene (FEP), and formed by injecting electric charges into this dielectric film and fixing the injected electric charges in the dielectric film. A potential difference is produced between both electrodes of a condenser, between which the dielectric film is interposed, by an electric field formed of the electric charges injected into the dielectric film. The process of injecting electric charges into a dielectric film and fixing the injected electric charges in the dielectric film is called "electretization".
A dielectric film (electret film) is formed of a thin film made of FEP or any other material, and a metal, such as gold and nickel, is deposited on the outer surface of the thin film by evaporation or any other method.
Known methods for injecting charges into a dielectric film to form an electret film includes methods illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 56-58220).
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a principal part of a known apparatus for electretizing a dielectric film by causing corona discharge using a needle electrode.
In the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 6, a FEP thin film 4 is placed on a ground electrode (metal tray) 5, direct current corona discharge is caused by a needle electrode 6 connected to a high voltage power source 7, and resultant ions are injected into the FEP thin film 4 to fix the injected ions in the FEP thin film 4, thereby electretizing the FEP thin film 4.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a principal part of a known apparatus for electretizing a dielectric film by causing corona discharge using a wire electrode. In FIG. 7, the same components as those in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 7, a FEP thin film 4 is placed on a ground electrode (metal tray) 5, direct current corona discharge is caused by a wire electrode 21 connected to a high voltage power source 7, and resultant ions are injected into the FEP thin film 4 to fix the injected ions in the FEP thin film 4, thereby electretizing the FEP thin film 4. Since in the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 7 the wire electrode 21 extends two-dimensionally, it has an advantage that ions can be extensively applied to the FEP thin film 4.
In view of the above, ECMs are generally fabricated in consideration of mass productivity in the following manner. A plurality of FEP thin films (dielectric films) are arranged on a metallic tray, and corona discharge is caused by the apparatus in FIG. 7, thereby electretizing a large number of FEP thin films at once. Since this method, however, may prevent ions from being uniformly applied to the FEP thin films, the FEP thin films may have different amounts of electret charges according to their locations on the tray. As a result, microphones have different sensitivities. Furthermore, in some cases, microphones have different sensitivities not only due to differences in the amount of electret charges among FEP thin films but also due to differences in parasitic capacitance and the capacities of field effect transistors (FETs) among microphones and other factors.
In the above-mentioned known example, a dielectric film itself to be electretized is taken out and then electretized. Such a known art can be said to be an art based on an ECM constructed by assembling mechanical parts.
On the other hand, in recent years, a technique has been suggested in which an ultrasmall condenser microphone is formed by micromachining a silicon substrate without assembling mechanical parts (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-88992, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-20411 and Published Japanese translation of a PCT application No. 2000-508860).
A condenser microphone of silicon fabricated by a technique for fabricating a so-called micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) element is referred to as a "silicon microphone (or silicon mic)". A method for fabricating a silicon microphone using the technique for fabricating a MEMS element has received attention as a technique for fabricating an ECM for being incorporated into a cell phone terminal or the like whose reduction in size and thickness has been progressing (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-88992).
Since the silicon microphone is fabricated by processing a silicon substrate using a semiconductor process technique, this prevents a fabrication process for a silicon microphone from being able to include electretization that is not associated with a semiconductor process. In other words, it is impossible that a dielectric film alone is taken out and separately electretized.
In view of the above, a silicon microphone disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-20411 is a condenser microphone without an electret film.
However, it is not impossible that dielectric films of silicon microphones are electretized. For example, in a silicon microphone disclosed in Published Japanese translation of a PCT application No. 2000-508860, a dielectric film can be electretized.
More particularly, the silicon microphone disclosed in Published Japanese translation of a PCT application No. 2000-508860 includes a first silicon substrate (microphone film) including a dielectric film formed on the first silicon substrate and a second silicon substrate (microphone back plate) bonded to the first silicon substrate. The dielectric film is electretized in the last process step of a fabrication process for the first silicon substrate, and thereafter the first silicon substrate is bonded to the second silicon substrate.
According to a silicon microphone and a method for fabricating the same which are disclosed in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2006/311248, in a silicon microphone formed of a single silicon substrate and having an unexposed dielectric film, the dielectric film can be electretized.
More particularly, an electretization method for the silicon microphone disclosed in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2006/311248 is a method for electretizing dielectric films that are components of condenser microphones after mounting, on a substrate for packaging, chips for condenser microphone use which are formed by micromachining a silicon substrate. Each of condenser microphones is separately subjected to at least one corona discharge using a single needle electrode, thereby electretizing an associated dielectric film.
According to an electretization method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-282360, when corona discharge is to be caused, a grid electrode is placed between an electrode used for corona discharge and an object to be electretized, thereby electretizing the object while controlling the motion of ions. In this way, the amount of electret charges can be controlled.


A digital attenuator circuit for attenuating RF frequencies implemented as an MMIC having series microstrip transmission lines between an RF input terminal and an RF output terminal and having at least one shunt path comprised of a series combination of a MESFET able to be switched between a conducting state and a nonconducting state and a thin-film resistor, wherein the circuit employs a distributed topology whereby when the MESFET is in the conducting state the impedance of the microstrip transmission lines matches the impedance of the shunt elements thereby enabling the circuit to operate over a wide bandwidth.

An attenuator circuit is a network used to reduce the power level of a signal without introducing any appreciable distortion. As used in conventional monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's), attenuator circuits are used to decrease the magnitude of radio frequency signals. Attenuator circuits, conventionally known as attenuators can be active or passive devices. Attenuators are well known in the art. See H. Kondoh, "DC-50 GHz MMIC Variable Attenuator with 30 dB Dynamic Range," IEEE MTT-S Digest, 1988; G. B. Norris, et. al, "A Fully Monolithic 4-18 GHz Digital Vector Modulator," IEEE MTT-S Digest, 1990, pp. 789-792; Y. Hwang, et. al, "A Microwave Phase and Gain Controller with Segmented-Dual Gate MESFETs in GaAs MMIC's," IEEE 1984 Microwave and MM-Wave Monolithic Circuits Symposium, 1984, pp. 1-5; R. Gupta, et. al, "A 0.05 to 14 GHz MMIC 5-bit Digital Attenuator," Proc. GaAs IC Symposium Digest, 1987, pp. 231-234; McGrath and Pratt, "An Ultra-Broadband DC-12 GHz 4 -bit GaAs Monolithic Digital Attenuator," Proc. GaAs IC Symposium Digest, 1991, pp. 247-250; and F. Ali, et. al, "Low-Loss, High-Power, Broadband GaAs MMIC Multi-bit Digital Attenuators with On-Chip TTL Drivers," Proc. GaAs IC Symposium Digest, 1991, pp. 243-246. Analog variable attenuators are able to achieve broadband performance. However, linearization for attenuation v. control voltage is required for such devices, and performance can vary according to the operating temperature.
Conventional digital attenuators may include the following circuit topologies to achieve broadband performance: segmented dual-gate active attenuators; binary weighted attenuators connected by transfer switches; and field-effect transistor (FET) based "non-distributed" attenuators. The disadvantages of these designs include: low attenuation accuracy and die-to-die variation for the dual-gate active attenuators; high insertion losses for the transfer switch approach; and limited frequency and attenuation range for the "non-distributed" attenuators.
It is an object of this invention to provide a digital attenuator circuit which employs a "distributed" topology implemented as an MMIC, wherein the impedance of the shunt elements of the circuit are matched with high-impedance transmission lines, to achieve broadband performance without any of the aforementioned limitations found in conventional attenuators.


A solid state image pickup device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a well formed in a surface layer of the semiconductor substrate; a light reception region formed in the well and including a plurality of charge accumulation regions formed in a matrix shape and a plurality of vertical CCDs formed along each column of the charge accumulation regions; a horizontal CCD formed in the well and coupled to ends of the vertical CCDs; a peripheral circuit formed in the well in partial regions of the light reception region and the horizontal CCD; a shield layer formed on the semiconductor substrate including a partial area above the peripheral circuit, made of conductive material and surrounding the light reception region, the shield layer being electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate; a support disposed above the shield layer and made of conductive material; and a translucent member placed on the support.

1. A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid state image pickup device and an endoscope using a solid state image pickup device.
1. B) Description of the Related Art
Various structures and manufacture methods are known for a solid state image pickup device (semiconductor chip) whose light reception region is protected with a protective glass (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-6834).
FIGS. 7A to 7G are schematic cross sectional views illustrating a solid state image pickup device using a wafer level chip size packaging (CSP) process.
Reference is made to FIG. 7A. A protective glass 57 and a silicon substrate 55a are bonded together with adhesive 56 of, for example, an ultraviolet ray curing type. Spacers are formed by using the silicon substrate 55a in the next process.
Reference is made to FIG. 7B. Resist patterns are formed on the silicon substrate 55a by photolithography in the areas where spacers are to be formed. The silicon substrate 55a is then etched to form spacers 55.
Reference is made to FIG. 7C. The regions between spacers 55 excepting the regions between devices are filled with resist 58, and the protective glass 57 is etched to a predetermined depth.
Reference is made to FIG. 7D. The etched region of the protective glass 57 constitutes an inter-device groove 60. Adhesive 54 of, for example, a thermosetting type is coated on the bottoms of the spacers 55. With the processes shown in FIGS. 7A to 7D, a sealing cover glass is formed.
Reference is made to FIG. 7E. Next, a solid state image pickup device substrate is formed.
First, a cut groove 69 is formed in the surface layer of the silicon substrate 51 by etching or the like, in the area corresponding to a dicing line for separating the substrate into each semiconductor chip. Next, a solid state image pickup device 68 is formed by ordinary silicon processes. A wiring layer is formed on the substrate surface, and pads 59 of metal material for external connection are formed.
Reference is made to FIG. 7F. Position alignment is performed and the sealing cover glass is placed on the solid state image pickup device substrate. The sealing glass cover and substrate are integrally bonded with heated adhesive 54. This process is preferably executed in a vacuum state, a nitrogen gas atmosphere or an inert gas atmosphere, or in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas or inert gas mixed with some air.
Reference is made to FIG. 7G. The upper side of the protective glass 57 is removed down to the inter-device groove 60 by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The bottom side of the silicon substrate is removed up to the cut groove 69 by CMP to separate the substrate into each semiconductor chip.

Solid state image pickup device and endoscope


A conditional instruction end facility is provided that allows completion of an instruction to be delayed. In executing the machine instruction, an operand is obtained, and a determination is made as to whether the operand has a predetermined relationship with respect to a value. Based on determining that the operand does not have the predetermined relationship with respect to the value, the obtaining and the determining are repeated. Based on determining that the operand has the predetermined relationship with respect to the value, execution of the instruction is completed. The obtaining the operand, the determining whether the operand has the predetermined relationship, the based on determining that the operand does not have the predetermined relationship with respect to the value, repeating the obtaining and the determining, and the based on determining that the operand has the predetermined relationship with respect to the value, completing execution of the instruction are performed as part of a single instruction having one operation code.

One or more aspects relate, in general, to multiprocessing computing environments, and in particular, to transactional processing within such computing environments.
In a computing environment that implements a transactional execution facility (also known as "transactional memory"), a transaction provides the means by which a program can issue a plurality of instructions and the storage accesses of those instructions either (a) appear to occur as a single concurrent operation, or (b) do not appear to occur, as observed by other central processing units (CPUs) and the input/output (I/O) subsystem. A transactional access made by one CPU is said to conflict with either (a) a transactional or nontransactional access made by another CPU, or (b) a nontransactional access made by the I/O subsystem, if both accesses are to any location within the same cache line, and one or both of the accesses is a store.
The current nature of conflict detection has made it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for a program executing on one CPU to influence the execution of a program executing on a different CPU when one or both CPUs is in the transactional-execution mode. Any store to a memory location that is accessed by both CPUs is likely to be treated as a conflict situation, resulting in the aborting of transactional execution.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A furniture member includes a frame, a slide member, first and second bars, an axle, and first and second leg members. The frame includes a chair portion movable relative to a base among nominal, reclined and lift positions. The slide member is connected to the motor and displaceable relative to the base. The first bar is connected to the slide member and the chair portion. The first bar moves the chair portion among the nominal, reclined and lift positions. The axle is mounted to the base portion. The leg members are attached to the axle and include fore and aft feet. The second bar is connected to the chair portion and slidably connected to the axle. The second bar rotates the axle in a first direction in response to movement into the reclined position and rotates the axle in a second direction in response to movement into the lift position.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Power lift chairs can provide a motor-operated transition from an occupant's seated position to a lift position which provides the occupant with approximately 50 percent or more of a transition from a seated position to a standing position. Such a feature may be particularly beneficial for occupants who have difficulty directly standing from a fully seated position.
Known power lift chair designs can impede placement of the occupant's feet in a position close to the center of gravity of the occupant and, therefore, require greater that necessary leg strength of the occupant to stand even when at a full lift position of the chair. In addition, known power lift chair designs have complicated operating mechanisms that are expensive to build and therefore result in a high cost of purchase. Further, known power lift chair designs do not provide for multiple chair positions or range of motion that maximize occupant choice of seating and/or leg rest positions.

Furniture member and power recline and lift mechanism