A process for preparing an urethane compound for medical instruments, characterized by reacting a hydroxyl compound (A) with an isocyanate compound (B) in the absence of a catalyst or in the presence of a reaction catalyst other than an organic tin compound to give an urethane compound (I). According to the process, the urethane compound showing high safety can be easily prepared, in particular, while molecular weight of the compound is controlled.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing an urethane compound for medical instruments. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for easily preparing an urethane compound (macromonomer) showing high safety, which is very useful for a material of medical instruments represented by optical materials such as a contact lens material and an intraocular lens material. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a process for preparing an urethane compound while molecular weight of the compound is controlled.
At present, various urethane compounds such as urethane foam, urethane rubber, adhesives and polyurethane synthetic fiber are industrially used.
In the absence of a catalyst or in the presence of a compound such as an organic metal compound or a tertiary amine, hydroxyl group is reacted with isocyanate group to form urethane bond. Particularly, from the viewpoint of high catalytic activity, the organic metal compounds are generally used. Among them, an organic tin compound is well known.
However, it is considered that the organic tin compound which is generally known as a compound showing high toxicity must not be used as a catalyst for preparation of urethane materials when the urethane materials are applied for medical instruments which are used in living organism or by contacting with living organism. The organic tin compound is recognized as a distraction substance for endocrine (environmental hormone) which is recently topical substance. Accordingly, some catalysts other than organic tin compounds are earnestly necessitated.
From the viewpoint of mechanical strength and excellent oxygen permeability, urethane bond-containing siloxane compounds (macromonomers) have been examined for the use as medical instruments, in particular, optical materials such as a contact lens material and an intraocular lens material (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 22487/1979, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 121826/1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,617 and the like). However, because the siloxane compounds disclosed in these references are prepared by using the organic tin compounds almost, these siloxane compounds are not suitable as medical materials on the basis of the above reasons. Even if purification of the siloxane compound is carried out, the organic tin compounds remain within the siloxane compound.
Usually, the above urethane bond-containing siloxane compounds (macromonomers) have been prepared by finally introducing a polymerizing group in a polyfunctional polysiloxane which is a main chain through urethane bond (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 179217/1986, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 35014/1991 and the like). However, when this method is employed, it is inevitable that the polymerizing group is inestimably and repeatedly introduced in the polyfunctional polysiloxane which is a main chain through urethane bond. As a result, molecular weight of the obtained siloxane compound becomes higher than planned molecular weight. Accordingly, there is a problem that clear understanding for structure of the obtained compound is difficult.
Because the above siloxane compound becomes a high viscous solution according to its molecular weight or kind of reaction components, effective purification methods for the siloxane compound are not developed. So, it is very difficult to remove impurities such as the above catalyst and by-products, and crude siloxane compound is used. Accordingly, the use of the siloxane compounds has been feared from the viewpoint of safety, including the above problems.
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for easily preparing an urethane compound, in particular, while molecular weight of the compound is controlled, in the absence of a catalyst or in the presence of a catalyst showing lower toxicity instead of the conventional organic tin compounds.
This and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a process for preparing an urethane compound for medical instruments, characterized by reacting a hydroxyl compound (A) with an isocyanate compound (B) in the absence of a catalyst or in the presence of a reaction catalyst other than an organic tin compound to give an urethane compound (I).
According to the process of the present invention, an urethane compound showing high safety, which is very useful for a material of medical instruments represented by optical materials can be easily prepared, in particular, while molecular weight of the compound is controlled.
In the process for preparing an urethane compound for medical instruments, as mentioned above, the hydroxyl compound (A) is reacted with the isocyanate compound (B) to give an urethane compound (I) in the absence of the catalyst or in the presence of the reaction catalyst other than the organic tin compound in order to more accelerate this reaction.
In consideration of the use of the urethane compound as a material for medical instruments, preferable examples of the above reaction catalyst are an organic iron compound and an amine compound because of excellent safety.
Examples of the above organic iron compound are, for instance, iron(III) acetylacetonate and the like.
Examples of the above amine compound are, for instance, a cyclic tertiary amine such as triethylenediamine, an aliphatic tertiary amine such as trimethylamine or triethylamine, an aromatic tertiary amine such as dimethylaniline or triphenylamine, and the like.
Because molecular weight of the urethane compound can be more sufficiently controlled, the organic iron compound is particularly preferable.
In order to sufficiently exhibit acceleration effect for the progress of reaction, it is desired that the amount of the reaction catalyst is, on the basis of weight, at least 1 ppm, preferably at least 30 ppm of the total amount of the hydroxyl compound (A) and the isocyanate compound (B). In order to prevent removal of the reaction catalyst from being finally difficult after the finish of reaction, it is desired that the amount of the reaction catalyst is, on the basis of weight, at most 10000 ppm, preferably at most 3000 ppm of the total amount of the hydroxyl compound (A) and the isocyanate compound (B). The amount of the reaction catalyst can be suitably adjusted within the above range according to kind of the hydroxyl compound (A) and the isocyanate compound (B) in urethane reactions (i) and (ii) as mentioned below.
In the present invention, it is desired that the above compound (I) is prepared by, for instance, the following two-step urethane reactions (i) and (ii).
At first, in the urethane reaction (i), at least one member of dihydroxyl compounds (A-2) is used as the hydroxyl compound (A) and at least one member of diisocyanate compounds (B-2) is used as the isocyanate compound (B), so the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) is reacted with the diisocyanate compound (B-2). As a result, at least two urethane bonds are formed between hydroxyl group in the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) and isocyanate group in the diisocyanate compound (B-2).
When 1 mole of the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) is reacted with 2 moles of the diisocyanate compound (B-2), two urethane bonds are formed and a compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends respectively through two urethane bonds is synthesized. On the other hand, when 2 moles of the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) is reacted with 1 mole of the diisocyanate compound (B-2), two urethane bonds are formed and a compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends respectively through two urethane bonds is synthesized.
In the urethane reaction (i), the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) is not limited to one member and the diisocyanate compound (B-2) is also not limited to one member. So, at least two members of each compound can be used with suitable combination. Accordingly, in a compound synthesized in the urethane reaction (i), units derived from at least two members of the dihydroxyl compounds (A-2) and/or units derived from at least two members of the diisocyanate compounds (B-2) can be included.
The urethane reaction (i) may be finished only one time or repeatedly carried out stepwise. When the urethane reaction (i) is repeatedly carried out stepwise, the number of formed urethane bond is increased on the basis of the number of reaction.
Typical examples of the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) are, for instance, a hydroxyl group-containing polysiloxane compound represented by the formula (I):
wherein each of R1 and R2 is independently an alkylene group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, each of R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 and R8 is independently a linear alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl group having 3 to 20 carbon atoms or a cyclic alkyl group having 3 to 20 carbon atoms, which may be substituted with fluorine atom, x is an integer of 1 to 1500, y is an integer of 1 to 1499, and xe2x80x9cx+yxe2x80x9d is an integer of 1 to 1500; and the like.
In the above formula (I), each of R1 and R2 is preferably an alkylene group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms. Each of R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 and R8 is preferably a linear alkyl group which may be substituted with fluorine atom, having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl group which may be substituted with fluorine atom, having 3 to 5 carbon atoms, or a cyclic alkyl group which may be substituted with fluorine atom, having 3 to 5 carbon atoms. Also, x is preferably an integer of 1 to 500, y is preferably an integer of 1 to 499, and xe2x80x9cx+yxe2x80x9d is preferably an integer of 1 to 500.
In addition, as the above dihydroxyl compound (A-2), a dihydroxyl compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends, such as a polyalkylene glycol such as polyethylene glycol or polypropylene glycol; and the like are exemplified.
Typical examples of the diisocyanate compound (B-2) are, for instance, a diisocyanate compound represented by the formula (II):
Oxe2x95x90Cxe2x95x90Nxe2x80x94R10xe2x80x94Nxe2x95x90Cxe2x95x90Oxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(II)
wherein R10 is a linear aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, a branched hydrocarbon group having 2 to 20 carbon atoms, a cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 3 to 20 carbon atoms or an aromatic hydrocarbon group having 6 to 20 carbon atoms; and the like.
In the above formula (II), R10 is preferably a linear aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, a branched hydrocarbon group having 2 to 12 carbon atoms, a cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms or an aromatic hydrocarbon group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms.
Concrete examples of the diisocyanate compound (B-2) are, for instance, ethylenediisocyanate, isophoronediisocyanate, 1,6-hexamethylenediisocyanate, 1,2-toluenediisocyanate, 1,4-toluenediisocyanate, xylylenediisocyanate, bis(2-isocyanatethyl)fumarate, 1,5-naphthalenediisocyanate, cyclohexyl-1,4-diisocyanate, 4,4xe2x80x2-dicyclohexylmethanediisocyanate, diphenylmethane-4,4xe2x80x2-diisocyanate, 2,2,4-(2,4,4)-trimethylhexane-1,6-diisocyanate and the like.
It is considered that the ratio of the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) to the diisocyanate compound (B-2) in the urethane reaction (i) considerably effects for the amount of prepared by-products, the amount of residual non-reacted compounds, and molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the aimed urethane compound.
In the urethane reaction (i), from the viewpoint of reduction of residual non-reacted isocyanate groups, it is desired that the total amount of hydroxyl group in the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) based on 1 mole of isocyanate group in the diisocyanate compound (B-2) is at least 0.4 mole, preferably at least 0.6 mole, more preferably at least 0.8 mole. From the viewpoint of reduction of residual non-reacted dihydroxyl compound (A-2) which not bonds to the diisocyanate compound (B-2) through urethane bond, it is desired that the total amount of hydroxyl group in the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) based on 1 mole of isocyanate group in the diisocyanate compound (B-2) is at most 2 moles, preferably at most 1.5 moles, more preferably at most 1.25 moles.
The amount of the dihydroxyl compound (A-2) and the diisocyanate compound (B-2) is adjusted within the above range. Then, these compounds are reacted by stirring and mixing with each other.
In the above reaction, reaction temperature and reaction time are not particularly limited and suitably adjusted according to kind and combination of each compound. In order to prevent insufficient reaction, it is desired that reaction time is at least 1 minute, preferably at least 30 minutes, and reaction temperature is at least xe2x88x9230xc2x0 C., preferably at least 0xc2x0 C. In order to prevent polymerization due to polymerizable compounds during reaction, it is desired that reaction time is at most 100 hours, preferably at most 50 hours, and reaction temperature is at most 150xc2x0 C., preferably at most 100xc2x0 C.
Then, in the urethane reaction (ii),
(a) the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends obtained in the above urethane reaction (i) is reacted with at least one member of monohydroxyl compounds (A-1) as the hydroxyl compound (A) to form urethane bond; or
(b) the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends obtained in the above urethane reaction (i) is reacted with at least one member of monoisocyanate compounds (B-1) as the isocyanate compound (B) to form urethane bond. By each reaction, the compound (I) having at least four urethane bonds is prepared.
Because molecular weight of the aimed urethane compound can be controlled and structure of this compound can be exactly clarified, it is desired that the above two-step urethane reactions (i) and (ii) are carried out in the present invention.
In the above reaction (a), the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) to be reacted with the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends is not limited to one member. At least two members of the monohydroxyl compounds (A-1) can be suitably used. In the above reaction (b), the monoisocyanate compound (B-1) to be reacted with the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends is not limited to one member. At least two members of the monoisocyanate compounds (B-1) can be suitably used. As a result, the compound (I) obtained in the reaction (a) or (b) can contain the unit derived from two members of the monohydroxyl compounds (A-1) or the unit derived from two members of the monoisocyanate compounds (B-1).
In accordance that the above urethane reaction (i) is finished only one time or repeatedly carried out stepwise, the number of urethane bond and the number of unit (block) derived from each component in the compound (I) synthesized in the urethane reaction (ii) vary. As a result, for instance, a diblock-type compound (I) is synthesized. Because chain length of each segment in the diblock-type compound (I) is controlled, various different effects can be exhibited.
Typical examples of the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) are, for instance, a compound having hydroxyl group and an active unsaturated group, such as a hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylate, allyl alcohol, vinylbenzyl alcohol, monohydroxyl fumarate, monohydroxyl maleate or monohydroxyl itaconate; and the like.
In consideration of copolymerizability of the aimed compound (I) with the other copolymerizable compound having an active unsaturated group, among the above exemplified compounds, a hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylate is preferable. Concrete examples of the hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylate are, for instance, 2-hydroxyethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl(meth)acrylate, 3-hydroxypropyl(meth)acrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl (meth)acrylate and the like.
Typical examples of the monoisocyanate compound (B-1) are, for instance, a compound having isocyanate group and an active unsaturated group, such as allylisocyanate, vinylisocyanate, vinylbenzylisocyanate or 2-isocyanatethyl(meth)acrylate; and the like.
When the above reaction (b) in the urethane reaction (ii) is carried out, because the number of urethane bond in the compound (I) can be controlled and mechanical strength can be imparted to the compound (I), it is desired that a compound containing a monoisocyanate compound (B-1-1) prepared by reacting the diisocyanate compound (B-2) with the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) is used as the monoisocyanate compound (B-1). It is particularly desired that only the monoisocyanate compound (B-1-1) is used as the monoisocyanate compound (B-1).
In the reaction (a), it is desired that the ratio of the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends to the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) is adjusted so as to react isocyanate groups in the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends with almost neither more nor less hydroxyl groups in the monohydroxyl compound (A-1). For instance, from the viewpoint of reduction of residual non-reacted isocyanate groups, it is desired that the amount of hydroxyl group in the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) based on 1 mole of isocyanate group in the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends is at least 1.0 mole, preferably at least 1.1 moles, more preferably at least 1.2 moles. From the viewpoint of reduction of residual non-reacted monohydroxyl compound (A-1) which not bonds to the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends through urethane bond, it is desired that the amount of hydroxyl group in the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) based on 1 mole of isocyanate group in the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends is at most 2.0 moles, preferably at most 1.5 moles, more preferably at most 1.5 moles.
The amount of the compound having isocyanate groups in its both ends and the monohydroxyl compound (A-1) is adjusted within the above range. Then, these compounds are reacted by stirring and mixing with each other.
In the above reaction, reaction temperature and reaction time are not particularly limited and suitably adjusted according to kind and combination of each compound. In order to prevent insufficient reaction, it is desired that reaction time is at least 1 minute, preferably at least 30 minutes, and reaction temperature is at least xe2x88x9230xc2x0 C., preferably at least 0xc2x0 C. In order to prevent polymerization due to polymerizable compounds during reaction, it is desired that reaction time is at most 100 hours, preferably at most 50 hours, and reaction temperature is at most 150xc2x0 C., preferably at most 100xc2x0 C.
In the reaction (b), it is desired that the ratio of the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends to the monoisocyanate compound (B-1) is adjusted so as to react hydroxyl groups in the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends with almost neither more nor less isocyanate groups in the monoisocyanate compound (B-1-1). For instance, from the viewpoint of reduction of residual non-reacted hydroxyl groups, it is desired that the amount of isocyanate group in the monoisocyanate compound (B-1) based on 1 mole of hydroxyl group in the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends is at least 1.0 mole, preferably at least 1.1 moles, more preferably at least 1.2 moles. From the viewpoint of reduction of residual non-reacted monoisocyanate compound (B-1) which not bonds to the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends through urethane bond, it is desired that the amount of isocyanate group in the monoisocyanate compound (B-1) based on 1 mole of hydroxyl group in the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends is at most 2.0 moles, preferably at most 1.75 moles, more preferably at most 1.5 moles.
The amount of the compound having hydroxyl groups in its both ends and the monoisocyanate compound (B-1) is adjusted within the above range. Then, these compounds are reacted by stirring and mixing with each other.
In the above reaction, reaction temperature and reaction time are not particularly limited and suitably adjusted according to kind and combination of each compound. In order to prevent insufficient reaction, it is desired that reaction time is at least 1 minute, preferably at least 30 minutes, and reaction temperature is at least xe2x88x9230xc2x0 C., preferably at least 0xc2x0 C. In order to prevent polymerization due to polymerizable compounds during reaction, it is desired that reaction time is at most 100 hours, preferably at most 50 hours, and reaction temperature is at most 150xc2x0 C., preferably at most 100xc2x0 C.
When the compound (I) is prepared by the urethane reaction (i) or (ii), in order to prevent active unsaturated groups in each compound from polymerizing with each other, it is desired that a polymerization inhibitor is suitably used.
Examples of the polymerization inhibitor are, for instance, a stable radical compound; an addition inhibitor such as oxygen, a benzoquinone derivative or a nitro compound; and the like. Hydroquinone, p-methoxyphenol and butylhydroxytoluene are preferably exemplified. It is desired that the amount of the polymerization inhibitor based on 100 parts by weight (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cpart(s)xe2x80x9d) of all the compounds having an active unsaturated group is about 0.01 to 1 part.
The hydroxyl compound (A) can be reacted with the isocyanate compound (B) in the absence of a solvent or in the presence of an organic solvent.
Examples of the organic solvent are, for instance, tetrahydrofuran, benzene, toluene, acetonitrile, methylene chloride and the like.
When the organic solvent is used, in order to remove the fear that it becomes difficult to react the hydroxyl compound (A) with the isocyanate compound (B), and so, the yield of the compound (I) is lowered, it is desired that the total concentration of the hydroxyl compound (A) and the isocyanate compound (B) in the organic solvent is at least 0.01 mol/L, preferably at least 0.1 mol/L. That is, the amount (volume) of the organic solvent can be calculated according to the total concentration of the hydroxyl compound (A) and the isocyanate compound (B). A reaction solution composed of the hydroxyl compound (A), the isocyanate compound (B) and the organic solvent is sufficiently stirred or shaken so that the reaction uniformly proceeds.
In accordance with the above steps, the aimed urethane compound (I) can be prepared. After finishing the reaction for preparing the compound (I), it is desired that the compound (I) is purified by removing non-reacted compounds, compounds having lower molecular weight (by-products) and catalysts.
For purification of the compound (I), an organic solvent is preferably used. In addition, the compound (I) can be purified by using a supercritical fluid with referring to xe2x80x9cPolymer Applications, Vol. 43, No. 11, p. 38 (1994)xe2x80x9d.
As the above organic solvent for purification, a solvent which can dissolve the non-reacted compounds, by-products and catalysts or can dissolve the compound (I) is used. Typical examples of the organic solvent are, for instance, methanol, ethanol, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, methylene chloride, hexane and the like. These can be used alone or in admixture thereof. In order to more effectively purify the compound (I), a mixed solvent of hexane and methanol and a mixed solvent of hexane and acetonitrile are preferably used.
In order to sufficiently remove the non-reacted compounds, by-products and catalysts, it is desired that the amount of the organic solvent is, on the basis of the volume, at least {fraction (1/20)} time, preferably at least {fraction (1/10)} time of the amount of the compound (I). In order to prevent the amount of waste fluid from increasing after purification, it is desired that the amount of the organic solvent is, on the basis of the volume, at most 20 times, preferably at most 10 times of the amount of the compound (I).
As the above supercritical fluid for purification, a fluid in the supercritical state, such as carbon dioxide, ethane or propane may be cited.
Condition as to purification with the supercritical fluid varies according to molecular weight and chemical structure of the compound (I). So, the condition cannot be sweepingly determined. For instance, it is desired that treating pressure is 5 to 100 MPa, and treating temperature is 0xc2x0 to 10xc2x0 C.
In order to more effectively extract the compounds having lower molecular weight, an auxiliary for extraction can be used during purification of the compound (I) with the supercritical fluid. Examples of the auxiliary for extraction are, for instance, acetonitrile, methanol and the like.
According to the process of the present invention, the urethane compound showing high safety, which is very useful for a material of medical instruments represented by optical materials can be easily prepared, in particular, while molecular weight of the compound is controlled.

Process for preparing urethane compound for medical instruments


It is provided an authentication system, comprising: a reader for obtaining identification information assigned to an identification device held by a subject; an authentication device for authenticating the identification information obtained by the reader; a camera for photographing a facial image of the subject; and a management device which is coupled to a terminal for issuing an alarm and which includes an image database in which the facial image photographed by the camera is accumulated, in which the management device is configured to: search the image database by using information obtained by at least one of the reader and the camera on an occasion of the authentication; determine a reliability of the authentication based on a result of analyzing the retrieved facial image; and transmit data for issuing the alarm to the terminal in a case where it is determined that the reliability is low.

This invention relates to an authentication system, in particular, a system for detecting impersonation made by a person entering/exiting from a room.
In recent years, there has been a growing need for security management conducted when people enter/exit a security zone with a growing interest in security issues including an increasing crime rate. Therefore, there is a high demand for more reliable security products. A room entry/exit management system mainly uses a method of reading a non-contact-type card or a contact-type card held by a subject through a card reader. Further, there is also a room entry/exit management system for performing authentication based on a facial image of the subject.
On the other hand, there is proposed a facial image retrieval system in which an image is retrieved with high reliability by using photographing time of the image. For example, JP 2007-102517 A discloses a method of recognizing a face by storing a prediction coefficient corresponding to time passing after a face is registered until the face is photographed and performing an arithmetic operation on a feature amount for predicting the time passing after the face is registered until the face is photographed.
Further, JP 2010-238181 A discloses a technology whose object is to "improve authentication precision for a face" and which includes: "a facial database storing section 5 for storing a plurality of pieces of registrant image data, which are image data on a facial portion of a registrant, by an orientation and a size of the registrant's face within the registrant image data; a face detecting section 1 for detecting the facial portion of a person included in the image data from the obtained image data; a facial feature point extracting section 2 for extracting a feature point of the person's face from the obtained facial image data which is the image data on the detected facial portion of the person; a facial orientation/size estimating section 3 for estimating the orientation and the size of the person's face within the obtained facial image data; a facial authentication section 4 for authenticating whether or not the person's face is the registrant's face from the registrant image data and the obtained facial image data; and an authenticated image updating section 6 for storing the obtained facial image data in the facial database storage section 5 as the registrant image data when the person's face is authenticated as the registrant's face by the facial authentication section 4 (see Abstract of JP 2010-238181 A).
However, the above-mentioned method disclosed in JP 2007-102517 A raises a problem in that precision of verification cannot be enhanced because the verification is performed against previously registered image data instead of against recent facial image data and a problem in that processing time for verification increases as the facial image data increases.
Further, with the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned JP 2010-238181 A, facial images continue to be accumulated in principle excluding a case where there is no free space in a memory area. Therefore, a deviation occurs between a current facial image of a user and the facial images accumulated within a database, or the facial images accumulated within the database have a biased tendency, which may deteriorate the authentication precision. If the authentication precision deteriorates, a risk of impersonation becomes high, which is not desired from the viewpoint of security.
An object of this invention is to issue an alarm to an administrator at high speed and with satisfactory precision based on a result of searching a facial image database in a case where a user uses a card to enter/exit a room.

Hitachi Information & Telecommunication Engineering, Ltd.


Methods and apparatus for improving mechanical properties of a dielectric film on a substrate are provided. In some embodiments, the dielectric film is a carbon-doped oxide (CDO). The methods involve the use of modulated ultraviolet radiation to increase the mechanical strength while limiting shrinkage and limiting any increases in the dielectric constant of the film. Methods improve film hardness, modulus and cohesive strength, which provide better integration capability and improved performance in the subsequent device fabrication procedures such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and packaging.

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for preparing dielectric films for integrated circuits, particularly carbon-doped oxide (CDO) dielectric films. More specifically, the invention employs modulated ultraviolet radiation to increase the hardness and modulus of the film. In preferred embodiments, the film shrinkage and dielectric constant are minimally affected.
Modern integrated circuit manufacturing requires advanced techniques for creating materials having low dielectric constants (low-k materials). Using low-k materials as the inter-metal and/or inter-layer dielectric in integrated circuits reduces the delay in signal propagation due to capacitive effects. The lower the dielectric constant of the dielectric film, the lower the capacitance of the dielectric and the lower the RC delay of the integrated circuit (IC).
Low k dielectrics are conventionally defined as those materials that have a dielectric constant lower than that of silicon dioxide, that is k<4. However, with ever increasing technology demands, present efforts are focused on developing low-k dielectric materials with k less than 2.5. Methods of obtaining these ultra low-k materials include doping silicon dioxide with carbon to create a carbon-doped oxide (CDO), or incorporating air voids within a low-k dielectric to create a porous dielectric material, or a combination of both (i.e., creating a CDO porous dielectric).
Although these approaches of doping and/or introducing air voids into the dielectric will reduce the dielectric constant of films, they can also have detrimental effects on quality of the films, in particular the mechanical strength of the films. Introducing carbon (e.g., methyl groups) or air voids into the dielectric will reduce the density of the film and thereby reduces the mechanical strength of the films. These less dense films may not withstand the mechanical stress of subsequently performed integrated circuit fabrication processes such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and packaging. That is, the films may crack or become crushed internally. In addition, these films tend to poorly adhere to other materials and may delaminate at interfaces with adjacent layers when subjected to the mechanical forces produced by CMP and other fabrication processes.
What are needed therefore are methods of improving the mechanical strength and adhesive properties of low-k dielectric films without substantially deleteriously affecting the desired properties of the low-k films.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method to improve mechanical strength of low-K dielectric film using modulated UV exposure


The present invention provides a system which can automatically switch passages of a fuel supply line and a fuel return line when the pressure in a fuel return line becomes higher than a predetermined pressure. Even when the fuel supply and return lines are incorrectly connected, the present system can prevent the problem of damage to a fuel supply system and fuel leakage which may be caused by an increased fuel pressure.

In a common rail-type fuel supply system of a diesel engine in the related art, fuel from a fuel tank passes through a fuel filter to be supplied to a common rail through a high-pressure pump. In the common rail, fuel that is not injected to an injector returns to the fuel tank via a fuel return line. On the other hand, fuel that is discharged through an outlet of the pump returns to the fuel tank via the fuel return line after lubricating the high-pressure pump.
FIG. 1 shows a realization of the above-mentioned fuel supply system in an actual engine. As shown in FIG. 1, a fuel filter can be improperly assembled. If an operator incorrectly assembles the fuel filter, a fuel supply line and a fuel return line are not to be connected correctly, thereby making the fuel to be retrieved through the fuel return line lose its fluidity and supplying unpurified fuel to the high-pressure pump.
If the engine is operated under the condition mentioned above, pressure in the fuel return line is to increase gradually. When the pressure in the fuel return line is about 2 bar or more, parts forming the fuel supply system tend to deform to cause damages to the fuel supply system and fuel leakage.

System for automatically changing fuel passages


There is provided an internal intermediate pressure multistage compression type rotary compressor capable of reducing a height dimension while reducing the amount of oil to be discharged outside. An electric element and first and second rotary compression elements which are driven by a rotary shaft of the electric element disposed under the electric element are provided in a hermetic shell case. There is provided a refrigerant introduction pipe for introducing refrigerant in the hermetic shell case over the electric element into the second rotary compression element through an outside of the hermetic shell case. There is provided an oil path provided in the rotary shaft for discharging oil through an oil discharge port which is positioned at the upper end of the rotary shaft. The refrigerant introduction pipe is provided such that a part of an inlet of the refrigerant introduction pipe is positioned under the upper end of a stator of the electric element.

A conventional internal intermediate pressure type multistage rotary compressor of this type is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2-294587 (F04C23/00). Such a rotary compressor is provided with an electric element in a hermetic shell case and a rotary compression mechanism which is positioned under the electric element and comprises first and second rotary compression elements which are driven by a rotary shaft of the electric element. When the electric element is actuated to rotate the rotary shaft, refrigerant is sucked into a low pressure chamber of a cylinder through a suction port of the first rotary compression element (first stage) provided under the electric element, and the refrigerant is subjected to compression of first stage by the operation of the roller and a vane and is changed into intermediate pressure refrigerant, which is in turn discharged from a high pressure chamber of a cylinder into the hermetic shell case under the electric element through a discharge port, a noise eliminating chamber, and an intermediate discharge pipe.
Oil is separated from the intermediate pressure refrigerant discharged into the hermetic shell case, and the refrigerant flows into a refrigerant introduction pipe provided under the electric element, and passes through the outside of the electric element, then is sucked into the low pressure chamber of a cylinder 238 through a suction port 261 of the second rotary compression element 234 (second stage) as shown in the left side of FIG. 22, wherein it is subjected to compression of second stage by the operation of the roller 246 and the vane 250, which is in turn changed into high temperature high pressure refrigerant. The high temperature high pressure refrigerant passes through a discharge port 239, a noise eliminating chamber, and is discharged into a refrigeration circuit through the outside of the refrigerant discharge pipe. A cycle of the thus discharged refrigerant is repeated such that the discharged refrigerant flows into a radiator (gas cooler) and the like of the refrigeration circuit, and radiates heats, then it is throttled by an expansion valve and heat thereof is absorbed by an evaporator, and it returns to the first rotary compression element through the refrigerant introduction pipe and is sucked in the first rotary compression element.
In this case, displacement of the second rotary compression element is normally set to be smaller than that of the first rotary compression element.
An oil path is provided in the rotary shaft of such a rotary compressor, and oil stored in the oil reservoir provided at the bottom of the hermetic shell case is pumped up in the oil path by an oil pump (supply means) attached to the lower end of the rotary shaft. The thus pumped up oil is supplied to the rotary shaft and the sliding portions and bearings of the first and second rotary compression elements so as to lubricate therein and seal them, and it is discharged through an oil discharge port provided at the upper end of the rotary shaft so as to cool the electric element in the hermetic shell case and lubricate various sliding portions at the periphery thereof.
In the internal intermediate pressure multistage compression type rotary compressor, the refrigerant compressed by the second rotary compression element is discharged outside as it is. However, the foregoing oil which is supplied to the sliding portions of the second rotary compression element is mixed in the refrigerant, and hence the oil is discharged together with the refrigerant. Accordingly, there arises a problem that a large amount of oil flows in refrigeration circuit of the refrigerating cycle, thereby deteriorating the performance of refrigerating cycle.
Further, with such a rotary compressor, since a pressure (high pressure) in the cylinder of the second rotary compression element is higher than a pressure (intermediate pressure) in the hermetic shell case having the bottom serving as the oil reservoir, it is difficult to supply oil to the second rotary compression element utilizing the difference in these pressures.
Therefore, it is contemplated that the intermediate pressure refrigerant discharged from the first rotary compression element is not discharged into the hermetic shell case, but the high pressure refrigerant discharged from the second rotary compression element is discharged into the hermetic shell case, thereby rendering the interior of the hermetic shell case to be high pressurized. That is, with such an internal high pressure multistage compression type rotary compressor, the refrigerant is sucked through the suction port of the first rotary compression element in the low pressure chamber of the cylinder, and it is subjected to compression by the operation of the roller and the vane and is changed into the intermediate pressure, which is in turn discharged from the high pressure chamber of the cylinder into the discharge port and the noise eliminating chamber. The refrigerant discharged into the noise eliminating chamber passes through the refrigerant introduction pipe, and it is sucked in the low pressure chamber of the cylinder through the suction port of the second rotary compression element, then it is subjected to compression of second stage by the operation of the roller and vane and is changed into a high temperature high pressure refrigerant, which is in turn discharged from the high pressure chamber into the hermetic shell case through the suction port and the noise eliminating chamber.
Although it is configured that the high pressure refrigerant in the hermetic shell case flows into a radiator through the refrigerant discharge pipe, it is expected that the amount of oil to flow outside can be reduced and the supply of oil to the sliding portions can be easily performed.
With such a multistage compression type rotary compressor, when the refrigerant introduction pipe relative to the second rotary compression element is opened to the space under the electric element, the distance between the first rotary compression element and the intermediate discharge pipe for discharging the refrigerant is short so that oil is not sufficiently separated from the refrigerant, and hence excessive oil is sucked in the second rotary compression element. In such a case, since the amount of oil which is discharged from the second rotary compression element into an external refrigeration circuit through the refrigerant discharge pipe becomes large, the lubricating and sealing performance in the hermetic shell case of the rotary compressor is deteriorated, causing a problem of an adverse affect in the refrigeration circuit by the oil.
If the refrigerant introduction pipe relative to the second rotary compression element is opened to the space over the electric element to solve the foregoing problem, there arises another problem that a height dimension of the compressor is enlarged as a whole. Further, there arises still another problem that the oil discharged from the upper end of the rotary shaft is prone to flow into the refrigerant introduction pipe, to induce inconvenience like the foregoing problems.

Internal intermediate pressure multistage compression type rotary compressor, manufacturing method thereof and displacement ratio setting method


A harness apparatus that facilitates proximity control over two or more animals by the animal handler via a single leash. The single leash couples to the harness via a first swiveling connection. Two or more animals may then be attached to the harness via two or more swiveling connections. The swiveling action of each swiveling connection virtually eliminates the possibility of animal entanglement within the harness by allowing the harness to swivel in a direction that tracks the movement of the harnessed animals. The rigidity of a cross member of the harness maintains a minimum separation distance between each animal that is attached to the harness.

Domesticated animals have been a part of society for centuries. What began as a need to utilize animals to perform labor oriented tasks on farms, ranches, etc. has evolved into obtaining ownership of animals for the mere enjoyment and companionship they offer. Thus, pets such as dogs, cats, monkeys, ferrets, horses, etc., have been domesticated to facilitate a mutually fulfilling relationship for both pet and owner.
Domestication of animals for pets, however, adds additional responsibilities to the pet owner. In particular, while the pet owner enjoys the company of his or her pet(s) in a public atmosphere, they must also provide a measure of containment for their pets. One traditional method of containment used by pet owners is to control the movement of their pets with a leash, which allows the pet to freely roam within close proximity to the pet owner. Once the pet has roamed to a maximum distance from its owner, tension in the leash prevents roaming of the pet beyond the maximum distance.
Attachment of the leash to the pet has traditionally been facilitated by a harness, such as a collar or halter. A collar is a device that wraps around the pet's neck and provides a coupling assembly, such as a hook or loop, to facilitate attachment of the leash to the collar. Such an attachment is further facilitated by a clip that is attached to the leash, such that the clip may be mechanically attached to the collar's hook to allow the pet owner to obtain proximity control over his or her pet.
A halter operates similarly, except that the halter mounts to the animal's muzzle, or chest. In such an instance, the pet owner may obtain proximity control without necessarily tugging at the pet's neck. Instead, proximity control may be obtained by applying pressure to the animal's muzzle, or chest, via the attachment of the leash to the halter.
In the past, proximity control over a single pet using a leash/harness assembly has been successful. Many pet owners, however, own two or more pets, which requires a separate leash/harness assembly for each pet, given that the pet owner wishes to establish proximity control over all pets at the same time. Requiring the pet owner to handle multiple pets with multiple leashes can become unwieldy under certain circumstances. If the pets tend to cross each other's path during a walk, for example, then the pet owner is forced to deal with leash entanglement, while at the same time attempting to maintain proximity control over his or her pets.
Some harness/leash assemblies are intended for multiple pets, whereby each pet's leash attaches to a common coupling point. The pet owner may then obtain proximity control over each pet by attaching his or her leash to the common coupling point to create a tandem assembly for multiple pets. Such tandem assemblies, however, are traditionally non-rigid and do not provide a minimum separation distance between each pet. As such, a substantial possibility exists that the pet owner may lose control of his or her pets. A substantial possibility also exists that each pet may become entangled within the tandem assembly.
Efforts continue, therefore, to provide a leash/harness assembly that facilitates proximity control of two or more pets, maintains a constant separation distance between the two or more pets, and substantially eliminates the possibility of entanglement of the pets within the leash/harness assembly.


An audio device having a housing including a first loudspeaker disposed in the housing and oriented to emit sound towards a top of the housing, a second loudspeaker disposed in the housing and oriented to emit sound towards a bottom of the housing, and a third loudspeaker disposed in the housing and oriented to emit sound radially outward from the housing of the audio device. Embodiments may include a microphone array disposed proximate the top of the audio device and encircling the first loudspeaker.

Homes are becoming more connected with the proliferation of computing devices, such as desktop and laptop computers, tablets, entertainment systems, and portable communication devices. As these computing devices continue to evolve, many different ways have been introduced to allow users to interact with the computing devices, such as through touch, gestures, and speech. With speech interaction, the computing devices may be operated essentially "hands free."
To implement speech interaction, the computing devices are commonly equipped with a microphone to receive voice input from a user and a loudspeaker to emit audible responses to the user. However, existing computing devices often sacrifice sound characteristics for a compact form factor.


A technique for concurrently detecting a repetitive occurrence of a bit pattern in a bit string. Successive bits of the bit string are separated into bit groupings and the combined bits are analyzed for the presence of the bit pattern. The logic for subsequent analysis to reduce the number of groupings is achieved by the use of a hierarchically decreasing logic array. At each level of the hierarchy, the bit analysis is reduced until a final output is reached. This final output provides state and address outputs for identifying the detection of the bit pattern occurrences and the address where the bit patterns occur.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computing and, more particularly, to a technique for concurrently detecting the multiple occurrence of a bit pattern.
2. Background of the Related Art
In data processing, operations that perform pattern detection are utilized to identify the presence of a predefined pattern. One such detection scheme detects the presence of a certain bit or bit sequence in a bit string and, often times, identifies the location of the detected pattern. Detection of such bit patterns allows other operations to be performed, based on the results obtained from the detection. In one scheme, leading one ("1") detection is utilized for detecting the occurrence of the very first "1" bit in a bit string and its associated position (bit location or address) within the bit string. Processing devices, implementing such leading "1" detection circuitry, then utilize the results of the "1" detection to perform other tasks.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,142 (in which the inventor is the same as the inventor in the present application), a technique for detecting the occurrence of a leading "1" is disclosed. Leading "1" detection is implemented to resolve proper normalization of floating point computations. It is also implemented in queuing processor access in a multiple processor computer system. In these instances, the bit location of the leading "1" bit provides the information necessary to perform the task.
However, there are instances in which the detection of the occurrence of the second and subsequent "1" bit is desirable. For example, in a processor architecture where processors execute variable length instructions, the byte length will not be constant for all of the instructions. When these instructions are stored sequentially, the instruction boundaries will not reside at set multiples of a byte address. Thus, in order to identify the start of an instruction boundary, each byte is accessed to determine if it is an opcode, since opcodes are located at the beginning of an instruction. As a further extension to this scheme, instructions are at times pre-decoded, marked as to the instruction boundaries and stored in an instruction cache. Accordingly, to process the variable length instructions, additional time is required to find the instruction boundaries.
As noted above, one technique is to pre-decode and mark the instruction boundaries, so that the instructions can be issued. For example, a "1" bit is utilized to mark the start of each instruction and a scan for the "1" bit will find the start of an instruction. That is, identification of the location of the first "1" identifies the start of the first instruction and the identification of the location of the second "1" identifies the start of the next instruction, etc.
The rapid detection of instruction boundaries allows the processor to find and fetch the next instruction much more quickly and has significant advantages in superscalar processors which use pipelining. It is especially useful for multiple instruction issue, when two or more instructions are to be issued concurrently. The present invention provides a scheme in which the occurrence of the first "1" bit and the second "1" bit can be detected concurrently, so that one application of the invention permits two instruction boundaries to be identified concurrently. The concurrent "1" detection can be extended to locate the occurrence of subsequent "1"s as well. Furthermore, the detection technique can be utilized to detect other bit patterns and is not limited to the detection of a single bit.

Technique for concurrent detection of bit patterns


Systems and methods for generating customized electronic advertisements are disclosed. A request for an advertisement is received. Viewer data is received and analyzed to determine current viewer features, characteristics, attributes, and/or interest(s). Product data can be extracted from publicly accessible electronic data generated by an ad source organization. The product data can be compared to the current viewer interest(s) to determine which product of the plurality of products most closely aligns with the current interests of the viewer to select a product to be advertised. A customized advertisement can be generated specifically for the viewer using at least a portion of the extracted product data for the product to be advertised.

The Internet and World Wide Web have provided a new platform for industries to market their products and services (hereafter referred to collectively as "products"). These products may be marketed through various types of internet based advertisements (hereafter referred to as "ads"), which may include text based ads, banner ads, and audio and video ads. These products may also be marketed through other types of electronic advertisements, including advertisements to mobile computing devices (e.g., push ads via mobile aps), to electronic signs, and any electronic device coupled to a network. Typically an ad is general in nature since little is known about the viewer of the ad. Internet search engine websites often provide ads based on search terms (also referred to as keywords), which may allow some level of customization.
Presently available systems and methods may deliver ads based on retargeting, which is limited to presenting a viewer with an ad based on a website or product that the viewer previously viewed. These retargeting ads are generally generic, or static in nature (or limited to a finite set of content), and are not unique to an individual person, such that each person that views that same website or product may see the same ad. In other words, presently available systems provide generic ads, and merely aim to better target these generic ads. Presently available systems and methods simply do not produce ads that are uniquely generated and/or customized for a given viewer.
Presently available systems may also be limited to providing ads from a limited set of ad content that is disconnected or independent from an inventory (e.g., actual products offered for sale) of an ad source organization (e.g., business, company) that is trying to advertise (e.g., market its product, services, event, etc.). For example, an ad source organization may develop ad content and that ad content may, at the time created, be relevant to a product the ad source organization wants to sell. However, the ad source organization may run out of that product, or determine that the price needs to be adjusted. Presently available systems and methods may also be incapable of automatically generating ad content based on the change in inventory or a change to information about a product. In other words, the burden of creating, updating, and transferring the digital ads to the various presently available internet-based marketing companies is solely on the organization trying to advertise its products. Presently available systems simply cannot generate ads that are uniquely generated for a given viewer and customized based on present or even updated information about the product being advertised.
Moreover, presently available systems and methods fail to consider more particular aspects (e.g., location, short term pricing specials, method of sale, etc.) of the ad source organization trying to advertise. For example, several organizations may offer the same or similar products but the ad source organization may offer financing and presently available systems and methods may fail to consider this aspect of the ad source organization.

Systems and methods for generating customized advertisements


The present invention discloses a collapsible shelter to be used in conventional truck beds. The shelter is comprised of a horizontal base that straddles the truck bed and a frame that pivots about an axis that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the truck bed. The frame is comprised of a rear A-shaped frame, a front support post and a ridge pole. The apparatus has bunks slidably, or hingedly, attached to the base that move from a first position on top of the base to a second position whereby they extend horizontally out and away from the side walls of the truck. Angled support members support the bunks in their horizontal position. A shell stretches over the frame and around the bunks. Quick erection of the shelter is facilitated by the pivoting frame.

The present invention relates to a collapsible shelter apparatus for use in a truck bed.
Pick up trucks are increasingly being used for a variety of outdoor activities including camping. As such there is a need for shelters that can be mounted in, or upon the back of pick up trucks that enables the occupants to sleep comfortably while being sheltered from the weather and the exterior environment. A number of such shelters have been developed. Most common are variations of a hard-bodied camper with a fiberglass or aluminum shell that is bolted or chained to the truck bed. Such hard-bodied campers are complex and expensive, and heavy making removal and storage inconvenient. These hard-bodied campers also remove the ability for any form of cargo storage in the truck bed. Another common form of shelter involves a fixed fiberglass or aluminum roof over the sidewalls of the truck bed. These forms of shelter are heavy and are difficult to remove and they limit the sleeping space to the width and length of the truck bed.
Other forms of collapsible shelter have been developed, some of which employ the use of a central frame with a canvas or fabric cover. However, such shelters generally offer limited sleeping space, are complex and awkward to raise, and are difficult to remove and store when not in use.
There is need in the art for a lightweight collapsible shelter that is economical to produce, that is easy and convenient to erect, that offers generous sleeping space, and which is easy to install and remove when it is not being used.


A drapery tieback system comprising a drapery, a drapery tieback mounting assembly, a cord having a hook on each end and a plurality of beads slidingly strung therebetween on the cord. The cord and beads are structured to be wrapped around the drapery with the hooks attached to the tieback mounting assembly, thereby maintaining the drapery in folds to at least one side of an opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to draperies or curtains and, more particularly, a drapery tieback system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tiebacks are commonly used with draperies to gather and retain the drapery towards the side(s) of an opening, most often a window. The benefits of such tiebacks are twofold, The first, and most obvious benefit, is that they retain the drapery away from the center of the window so that people inside the room can see outside and so that the outside light can pass into the room. The second benefit, and, for the reasons stated below, most likely the more important benefit to the drapery user, is that the resultant appearance when the drapery is retained by the tiebacks is aesthetically pleasing and often an important design feature of the room.
The prior art tieback devices focus on the apparatus or structure attached to the wall to which the drapery is tied. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,022,415, 4,559,988, 4,903,370, 4,912,829, 5,078,199, D341,311 and D348,166 all disclose assemblies comprising some sort of bracket which is affixed to a wall adjacent the window and to which the drapery is tied.
However, when evaluating drapery accessories, such as ties, it is important to recognize that draperies or curtains are often chosen by those seeking to obtain a certain look or appearance when decorating a room. If they were merely seeking to cover a window, other more conventional, less expensive and maintenance free coverings would probably be selected. It is for this reason that draperies and other designer window coverings are now commonly referred to as window "treatments" and not merely window coverings. Thus, the overall appearance created by the draperies and their ancillary accessories are usually important to people who choose draperies as their window treatment.
With this in mind, applicant has discovered that conventional tiebacks have severe limitations which adversely effect the resultant appearance of draperies. Conventional ties are comprised of a fabric or cord having an appearance matching or enhancing the design of the drapery. Such fabrics and cords have inherent deficiencies which limit their functionality and aesthetic appearance. Specifically, the fabrics and cords must be adjusted to achieve the desired balance, that is, so that they rest at the same height and retain the drapery at the same position on both sides. This is a difficult balance to achieve and often requires significant trial and error similar to trying to balance a picture on a wall. Additionally, many fabrics and cords, because of their material, naturally create static, resistance and friction when in contact with the drapery, thereby causing them to become twisted or creasing the draperies and any pleats thereon. Furthermore, many fabrics and cords are not water resistant and, in fact, certain fabrics, such as silk, may be ruined if they become wet. Also, cleaning most fabrics and cords requires washing and drying or dry cleaning, which takes time, costs money, may result in the fabric or cord shrinking, stretching or otherwise becoming damaged and results in the loss of use of that fabric or cord for a period of time.
The prior art fails to recognize these problems and, consequently, there is no suggestion or motivation for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify any of the prior art devices in the manner disclosed by applicant's invention or in any other manner which might address these problems. Such lack of disclosure, suggestion or teaching in the prior art supports the conclusion that part of applicant's invention is the discovery of the problem, that is, the need for a drapery tie which addresses the many deficiencies of the prior art ties discussed above.
Accordingly there is a need in the art for a drapery tie which quickly and easily finds a natural equilibrium position, thereby requiring little adjustment, which creates less resistance and friction when in contact with the drapery, thereby preventing twisting and creasing, which includes means for preserving any pleats on the drapery and which is water resistant and easy to clean. The present invention is particularly suited to overcome those problems which remain in the art in a manner not previously known.


The present invention is directed to the use of injection molding to form polymeric interlayers directly between two rigid substrates that are positioned so that after injection of the melted polymeric material and after cooling, the resulting multiple layer panel functions as a safety panel that can be used in any appropriate conventional safety glazing application. Methods of the present invention utilize a relatively low molecular weight polymer, multiple injection points, mold compression, and/or a heated substrate in order to facilitate the injection of polymer into the relatively narrow space between glazing substrates that is typically found in safety glazings.

Safety glass is used in many glass applications for which improved impact resistance and glass retention is desirable. A prominent example of safety glass use is as a windshield for motor vehicle applications.
Safety glass is available in many configurations. Commonly, safety glass is composed of a polymeric interlayer disposed between two layers of glass. The polymeric interlayer can be, for example, a single sheet or multiple sheets. The polymeric material is typically a plasticized poly(vinyl butyral) that functions in an accident to both absorb energy and retain fragmented glass.
Safety glass is typically made by initially assembling a sheet of polymeric interlayer between two panes of glass. The assembly is then fed to a de-air oven where heat and force are applied to tack, or partially bond, the interlayer to the glass. The prelaminate thus formed is then placed in an autoclave, where temperature and pressure are applied in order to finish the bonding process and create an optically clear, impact resistant safety glazing.
While well known and straightforward, this conventional lamination technique is replete with procedural difficulties that are labor intensive, time consuming, and pose safety concerns. For example, during the initial assembly of the components, the interlayer sheet is typically larger than the bounding glass and is usually trimmed flush with the edges of the glass. This operation typically requires manual labor, often limits throughput, and poses a safety concern.
Further, the conventional lamination process is energy intensive and time-consuming, both of which increase the cost and production time for laminated glass. For example, the three main steps—assembly, de-air, and autoclave—each require significant amounts of time, resulting in a total fabrication process that can easily add up to 8 hours from start to finish. Furthermore, much of the energy supplied to one process, such as the thermal energy supplied to the de-air process, is typically not carried over to the following autoclave step, which requires additional thermal energy.
One proposed solution to the limitations inherent in conventional lamination techniques is disclosed in European Patent Application 0908287 (Komatsu)(see also U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,296,799, 6,669,890, and 6,368,537) which discloses the injection of resin into a glass insert, followed by compression of the mold cavity.
What are needed in the art are methods of producing glass panels, and other glazing panels, that do not require extensive fabrication procedures and that allow for the rapid and inexpensive formation of multiple layer glazings.

Injection molded multiple layer glazings


The glue application unit comprises side glue application members which have a pair of scrapers (7, 7) and can engage with the back margins (s) of the book block (P). The scrapers consist of elastic rod-like bodies (7a) and scraping portions (7b) provided at leading ends of the bodies. The scrapers obliquely extending in a direction of movement of the book block from the outside of the path of the downwardly protruding portion of the book block into the path in such a way that the scrapers contact each other in an inverted V shaped configuration. The scraping portions engage with the back margins of the book block by the elastic biasing of the bodies while the downwardly protruding portion of the book block passes between the scrapers.

One of perfect binding machines which are well-known in the prior art is provided with a series of binding units and at least one clamp unit serially moving through the binding units, wherein a book block is held between a pair of clamp plates of the clamp unit and then, while the book block is conveyed by the clamp unit along the series of binding units, the perfect binding is performed (cf. for example, Patent Document 1).
FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing the configuration of the conventional perfect binding machine. Referring to FIG. 6, the perfect binding machine comprises a series of binding units (a milling unit B, a glue application unit C and a cover attachment unit D) which are arranged along a conveying path F, a single clamp unit 31 arranged for reciprocal movement along the conveying path F, and a drive mechanism (not shown) moving the clamp unit 31 along the conveying path F. The clamp unit 31 has stationary and movable clamp plates 31a, 31b, and a motor M1 for moving the movable clamp plate 31b in directions toward and away from the stationary clamp plate 31a.
When the perfect binding is started, at a book block insertion position A, a book block (not shown) is inserted between the pair of clamp plates 31a, 31b of the clamp unit 31 and placed on an alignment plate 31c with its back face downwardly facing. Then the book block is held between the clamp plates 31a, 31b in such a way that back margins, which are located at both sides of the back face of the book block, protrudes downwardly from the clamp unit 31, and then conveyed by the clamp unit 31 toward the milling unit B along the conveying path F.
The milling unit B has a milling cutter 32a, a pair of stationary and movable guide plates 32b, 32c, and a motor M2 for moving the movable guide plates 32c in directions toward and away from the stationary guide plate 32b. While the book block moves through the milling cutter 32a, both sides of the book block protruding between the pair of clamp plates 31a, 31b passes between the pair of guide plates 32b, 32c. Thus the back face of the book block is cut while the book block is supported by the pair of guide plates 32b, 32c at the both sides thereof. After that, the book block is conveyed to the adhesive application unit C by the clamp unit 31.
The glue application unit C has a glue tank 33a filled with glue, a glue applying roller 33b, stationary and movable side glue applying rollers 33c, 33d, a motor M3 for moving the movable side glue applying roller 33d in directions toward and away from the stationary side glue applying roller 33c, and a roller 33e wiping off an excessive adhesive. When the application of glue is completed, the book block is conveyed to the cover attachment unit D by the clamp unit 31.
The cover attachment unit D includes a bottom plate 34c, stationary and movable nip plates 34a, 34b, and a motor M4 for moving the movable nip plate 34b in directions toward and away from the stationary nip plate 34a.
A cover supply unit E includes a tray on which a cover Q is placed, and a cover feed mechanism conveying the cover Q from the tray onto the bottom plate 34c and the pair of nip plates 34a, 34b of the cover attachment unit D.
The cover feed mechanism has a pair of fold line forming rollers 35a, 35b for forming fold lines at predetermined positions on the cover Q. The fold line forming rollers 35a, 35b are composed of a stationary fold line forming roller 35a and a movable fold line forming roller 35b. The movable fold line forming roller 35b is moved by a motor M5 in directions toward and away from the stationary fold line forming roller 35a.
The perfect binding machine includes a thickness measurement unit 36 for measuring a thickness of the book block. Prior to the start of the bookbinding operation of the machine, a thickness of the book block is measured by an operator through the use of the thickness measurement unit 36. Thus, a gap between the pair of clamp plates 31a, 31b, a gap between the pair of guide plates 32b, 32c of the milling unit B, a gap of the pair of side glue applying rollers 33c, 33d of the glue application unit C, a gap between the pair of nip plates 34a, 34b of the cover attachment unit D and a gap between the pair of fold line forming rollers 35a, 35b of the cover feed mechanism E are adjusted by a controller 37 based on the measurement value of the thickness of the book block.
Thus the book block is held between the pair of clamp plates 31a, 31b of the clamp unit 31 and then, while the book block is conveyed by the clamp unit 31 along the series of binding units B-D, the perfect binding is performed.
According to the glue application unit C of this perfect binding machine, prior to the start of the bookbinding operation of the machine, the gap between the pair of side glue application rollers 33c, 33d is adjusted such that the gap corresponds to the thickness of the book block to be bound. Therefore, if the back of the book block is undulated in its length direction although the book block is nipped between the pair of clamp plates 31a, 31b, the side glue application rollers 33c, 33d cannot engage with the back margins of the book block while being pushed against the back margins at a constant pressure throughout the length of the back margins during the passage of the book block over the glue application unit C, which causes a problem that the glue is unevenly applied to the back margins of the book block and the quality of the bookbinding is reduced.
Furthermore, in this glue application unit C, the gap between the pair of side glue application rollers 33c, 33d is adjusted by moving the movable side glue application roller 33d against the stationary side glue application roller 33c through the use of the motor M3, which complicates the gap adjustment mechanism, thereby raises the manufacturing cost of the glue application unit C and becomes a factor of growing the unit C in size.

Glue application unit for perfect binding machine


A board edge connector to which a board is inserted along an oblique direction relative to its fixed posture includes a main body, a plurality of contacts arranged in juxtaposition on the main body along a direction perpendicular to an insertion direction of the board, and a cover member covering the main body. The main body includes a base portion on which the multiple contacts are juxtaposed and a pair of arm portions extending from the base portion along opposed lateral edges of the board which assumes a fixed posture. The cover member includes an attaching portion covering the base portion and a pair of arm members covering lateral faces of the pair of arm portions, the pair of arm members being formed integral with the attaching portion.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a board edge connector to which a board is inserted along an oblique direction relative to its fixed posture.
Description of the Related Art
An example of the above-described board edge connector (to be referred to simply as "edge connector" hereinafter) is known from the Japanese Utility Model Registered No. 3117605. This edge connector is fixed as a pair of retaining members having a function of engaging portions or elastic pieces are inserted to slits of a pair of guide arms.
However, with such edge connector above, it is necessary to provide a fixing mechanism for fixing the retaining members to the guide arms. So, there is possibility of increase of the size of the connector. This becomes problematic in particular in case the number of contacts is small.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described issue. One object of the invention is to provide a compact board edge connector.
Further, as another example of the edge connector described above is known from the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-250238. This edge connector includes a guide member for allowing insertion of a board at a predetermined angle. When the board is to be retained by being pressed down, the guide member is pivoted downwards by an elastic force to a board mounting surface to be fixed.
However, with this edge connector, the board is fixed with the guide member being kept elastically deformed. Hence, when the fixed state continues, there is possibility of resilience of the guide member being lost. In such case, guiding of the board at the predetermined angle becomes impossible, so that the edge of the board may come into contact with the contacts, thus damaging them.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described issue also. Another object of the invention is to provide a board edge connector capable of preventing damage to the contacts at the time of insertion of the board.
Further, another example of the above edge connector is known from the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-250238, which includes retaining portions for preventing spring-up phenomenon of the board. These retaining portions are provided in a pair of arm portions. In operation, when the board is pressed into the fixed posture, the edge of the board comes into contact with the upper faces of the retaining portions, thus spreading these retaining portions apart to the right and left sides. And, under the fixed state of the board, the lower faces of the retaining portions contact the upper face of the board for preventing its spring-up.
However, with such edge connector as above, although the spring-up phenomenon is prevented as the board is fixed from its upper face by the retaining portions, there is possibility of inadvertent withdrawal or detachment of the board.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described issue also. Still another object of the invention is to provide a board edge connector capable of effecting restriction of float-up of the board and restriction of withdrawal at a same time.
Further, still another example of the edge connector described above is known from the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-16646. In this edge connector, a pair of arms are provided with fixing pieces that are to be fixed to a mount board by e.g. soldering. Further, the arms include retaining pieces disposed adjacent the fixing pieces for retaining the board. At the time of fixing of the board, the edge of the board will be brought into contact with the upper faces of the retaining pieces to push them apart from each other.
However, with such edge connector above, in the course of the pressing operation of the board or the retention is released by pressing the retaining pieces apart from each other to the left and right sides, the contacts may be inadvertently detached from the mount board due to the leverage with the fixing pieces acting as pivots.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described issue also. Still another object of the invention is to provide a board edge connector having high resistance against removal from the mount board.


Examples described herein generally relate to generating, from a listing of source code, a plurality of basic blocks for compiling into intermediate language, determining, for a first basic block of the plurality of basic blocks, first heuristics related to applying a first plurality of optimizations to the first basic block, determining, for a second basic block of the plurality of basic blocks, second heuristics related to applying a second plurality of optimizations to the second basic block, and applying, based on the first heuristics and the second heuristics, one of the first plurality of optimizations to the first basic block to schedule first instructions for the first basic block and one of the second plurality of optimizations to the second basic block to schedule second instructions for the second basic block.

Use of computing devices is becoming more ubiquitous by the day. Computing devices range from standard desktop computers to gaming systems to wearable computing technology and beyond. Programming languages can be used to develop software for computing devices, and typically provide an environment for drafting source code instructions. The source code instructions are compiled, using a compiler, into an intermediate language that can be understood by a computing device operating system or processor for performing instructions based on the source code. In compiling the source code, the compiler can group intermediate language instructions representative of the source code into basic blocks of instructions that are executed in sequence without a branch. When the compiler encounters a branch statement in the source code, such as a loop, a conditional clause, function or procedure call, etc., the compiler can generate another basic block of instructions for that branch, and so on until all of the source code is compiled. The basic blocks of instructions for the program can then be scheduled within the intermediate language to generate the compiled software code, which can be executed on the computing device operating system or processor.

Techniques for scheduling instructions in compiling source code


Software that may be implemented using a circuit is disclosed. The software may include an Application Programming Interface (API) to receive a request from an application relating to a key-value pair for a Key-Value Solid State Drive (KV-SSD). The key-value pair may include a key and a value; the application may be executed by a processor. The software may also include combiner software to combine the key with an index to produce an indexed key, and execution software to execute an operation on the KV-SSD using the indexed key and the value.

Key-value stores are the simplest form of database management systems. They may store pairs of keys and values, as well as retrieve values when a key is known. These simple systems are normally not adequate for complex applications without additional features. For example, these systems do not support appending values to keys.
A need remains to support append operations for key-value stores.


A burner is provided with a central fuel outlet and a plurality of oxygen outlets shaped and positioned for creating a converging, rotating stream of oxygen which intersects with any fuel issuing from the fuel outlet. Such oxygen/fuel interaction results in two zones of combustion and a recirculation effect which assists in the complete or substantially complete combustion of undesirable exhaust gas components.

The present invention relates to a burner and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to a burner having low NO.sub.x emission and one employing a gas swirling technique to assist with complete or substantially complete combustion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,740 discloses an oxygen-fuel burner of the rocket burner type comprising a cylindrical combustion chamber having an open discharge end and a burner plate with separate oxygen and fuel ports constituting the opposite end of the chamber; the projected longitudinal axis of the oxygen ports extending in converging directions towards the longitudinal axis of the chamber but being in off-set, non-intersecting relation thereto, so that points on the respective axes that most closely approach the chamber axes define a transversely positioned plane between the burner plate and the chamber exhaust; the projected longitudinal axes of the fuel ports being substantially parallel to the chamber axes for mixing of oxygen and fuel at and beyond the plane of closest approach, and means for adjusting the longitudinal position of the burner plates on the chamber axes and thereby locating the plane of closest approach in relation to the chamber exhaust for determining the pattern of the burner discharge flame. Such a burner also includes a cooling water jacket which extends towards the tip of the burner thereby to cool said tip during operation of the burner. Whilst this burner is capable of producing a number of different flame patterns, these patterns tend to be turbulent and are therefore not suitable for certain applications. It is also noted that this burner is designed for complete mixing of the oxygen / fuel so that hot fully combusted flame gases will leave the burner. Consequently, the tip of the burner will require cooling and hence the overall burner efficiency will be reduced as part of the combustion will be lost to the cooling fluid in the cooling jacket. Additionally, this burner is comparatively noisy because of the high mixing rate and the fact that any noise will be amplified in the burner body.


A check detector is provided for the neck and finished portions of a bottle which comprises a rotating means which is capable of rotating an inspection bottle; a plurality of emitters and a plurality of receivers arranged on an approximately hemispherical fixture arranged around the neck and finished portions of an inspected bottle as a center; means for obtaining N.times.M data per single scan against the inspected bottle, wherein N is a number of emitters, and M is a number of receivers; means for assorting the data obtained; and means for differentiating the data. Setting of job change depending on bottle types can be conducted automatically, and detecting checks in the neck and finished portions of a bottle can be conducted overall with no relation to the portion and type of defects. Detecting of a bubble, a contaminant, a chipped and unfilled thread and deformation which are known defects in the neck and finished portions of a bottle can be achieved. Further, assorting defects into both portions and type can be achieved to improve the quality control.

The present invention is directed to a check detector in the neck and finished portions of containers such as bottles in a bottle manufacturing or filling line. The invention more specifically concerns such a method which can readily be automated.
Conventionally, in a bottle manufacturing or filling line, detection of checks in neck and finish portion of a bottle was primarily carried out by visual inspection, or by setting visually emitters (a) and receivers (b), according to the types of bottles and defects or checks.
The emitters (a) and receivers (b) occupy a plurality of inspection stations depending on the portion to be inspected.
Further, in another system, detection of checks in neck and finished portions of a bottle was carried out by using a plurality of fixed light to illuminate the neck and finished portions of bottle, and making a known window to the inspected portions by a CCD camera.
However, it is impossible to accurately visually detect defects. In the above method of setting visually a plurality of emitters depending on the type of checks, it is impossible to detect where the defects exist. Further, it is impossible to detect all kind of checks in neck and finished portions of a bottle. Further, in changing a job of detection of a molded bottle, it takes a long time to set emitters and receivers, etc.
There is a further problem in the above conventional inspection method by a CCD camera. Although the conventional method is effective in detecting vertical checks, horizontal checks along the horizontal screw of a bottle result in the detection sensitivity below. Further, in changing the detection job, re-setting of cameras, lights and sensitivities is required.

Check detector in neck and finished portion of molded bottle


Detection electrodes 82D and 82E are formed at positions that include an antinode of a flexural oscillation mode. The strain of flexural oscillation reaches a maximum and the effects on the phase difference in the longitudinal oscillation mode can be cancelled out. The detection electrodes 82D and 82E are formed at the positions of drive electrodes 82B and 82C used to excite the flexural oscillation mode. A phase difference in the flexural oscillation mode opposite in sign relative to the longitudinal oscillation mode is created making it is easy to classify based on the phase difference between a frequency at which the longitudinal oscillation mode is dominant and a frequency at which the flexural oscillation mode is dominant. Thus, reliable control can be achieved based on the oscillation behaviors at each frequency ensuring a satisfactory drive force based on oscillation in the longitudinal oscillation mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a piezoelectric actuator. More specifically, the present invention relates to a piezoelectric actuator for driving a driven member by the oscillation of a piezoelectric element, and a device containing this piezoelectric actuator.
2. Background Information
Piezoelectric actuators that utilize the oscillation of piezoelectric elements have few structural elements, can be reduced in size to be suitable for micromachining, and are used as drive sources for miniature lens drive mechanisms, date display drive mechanisms, and other such small devices.
Piezoelectric actuators drive rotors and other driven members that contact a piezoelectric element of the actuator as a result of oscillation. For example, in a piezoelectric actuator that utilizes both a longitudinal oscillation mode and a flexural oscillation mode, a contact section is moved elliptically to drive a rotor. At this time, when the contact section is moved elliptically with the longitudinal oscillation mode as a primary oscillation mode, the rotational speed and torque of the rotor reach their maximum points.
The longitudinal oscillation mode and the flexural oscillation mode have different resonance frequencies (frequencies at which displacement is at its maximum); therefore, the contact section can be made to move in the optimum elliptical pattern by oscillating the piezoelectric element at the optimum drive frequency between the resonance frequencies.
However, piezoelectric actuators have different individual optimal drive frequencies due to nonuniformities in their shapes. Therefore, the drive frequency of each piezoelectric actuator must be controlled in order to drive reliably the piezoelectric actuator in a stable manner. The optimal drive frequencies also vary depending on the surrounding temperature and other such factors.
Known methods in conventional practice include a method wherein a detection electrode is provided at the position of the piezoelectric element in which strain is most likely to be induced by the force from the rotor, which is the driven member. Further, the drive frequency is controlled by utilizing the fact that the frequency at which the voltage detected at this position reaches its peak, and the frequency at which the rotational speed reaches its peak are in substantial agreement with each other. In an alternate method, the phase difference between the drive signal and the detection signal is determined and the drive frequency is controlled, as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-291264, especially pages 9–10 and FIG. 15. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-291264 is hereby incorporated by reference.
Further, a detection electrode may be provided at the position at which the detection voltage of the longitudinal oscillation mode and the detection voltage of the flexural oscillation mode both increase, and both of the detection voltages are determined. In another known method, the drive frequency of the piezoelectric actuator is controlled using a similarity between the frequency at which the multiplied value of the detection voltages (root-mean-square value) reaches its peak and the frequency at which the rotational speed of the rotor reaches its peak, as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-304693, especially pages 6–8 and FIG. 12. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-304693 is hereby incorporated by reference.
However, in the aforementioned prior art documents, the method of controlling the drive frequency on the basis of the detection voltage value has problems in that this voltage value fluctuates in size depending on whether the force from the rotor acts on the piezoelectric actuator, and is also susceptible to noise.
Also, No. 2002-291264 discloses a method of utilizing the phase difference between a detection signal and a drive signal, but in the frequency characteristics of the phase difference between the drive signal and the detection signal at the position of the detection electrode shown therein, the phase difference that originates in the longitudinal oscillation mode and the phase difference that originates in the flexural oscillation mode have the same sign (either positive or negative) and substantially the same magnitude.
For example, FIG. 15 shows the phase difference characteristics of the piezoelectric actuator in No. 2002-291264 in relation to the drive frequency. The piezoelectric actuator has a longitudinal oscillation mode extending in the longitudinal direction of the piezoelectric element, and a flexural oscillation mode in which bending occurs in the direction substantially orthogonal to the oscillation direction of the longitudinal oscillation mode. Further, the phase difference increases near the resonance frequencies f1 and f2 of oscillation in each oscillation mode, as shown in FIG. 15. Therefore, a plurality of drive frequencies (three drive frequencies fb1, fb2, and fb3 in FIG. 15) exist in relation to the phase difference θ0 to be controlled.
In such cases, the drive frequency is controlled so that the phase difference is brought to a specific value θ0, but it is sometimes impossible to set the drive frequency to a single value and the appropriate oscillation component ratio of the oscillation modes cannot be obtained, which compromises the reliability of the drive performance of the piezoelectric actuator.
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 piezoelectric actuator and device. 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.


The present invention relates to the chip testing field. A method for testing a plurality of transistors in a target chip is provided, characterized by automatically selecting a plurality of pre-defined transistors on the target chip and adding a connection layer to the key layers of each transistor such that the transistor to be tested is connected with and measured by an outside tester. Through automatic generation of the test structures and automatic wiring, the present invention greatly shortens the design cycle of test chips for target transistor testing, and greatly reduces the error probability in the process of designing test chips for target transistor testing, and improves the testing relevancy.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the chip testing field, in particular to a method for testing a plurality of transistors in a target chip.
2. Description of Related Art
As microelectronic technology evolves, the integrated circuit industry now has entered an ultra-deep submicron phase. The critical dimensions of electronic devices become smaller and smaller and the chips bigger and bigger. Tens of millions of transistors and circuits can be integrated onto a single chip. The current state of the art semiconductor process node is 28 nm. The minimum line width of the corresponding layout becomes smaller and smaller, while the chip scale gets bigger and bigger and complexity higher and higher. At present, the mainstream lithographic technique is 198 nm lithography. During production of system chips, many factors have direct effects on the yield. Those factors include various short-circuit and open-circuit situations in the manufacturing process. It can be seen that, quantization of those factors is very important for improving the yield. Therefore, how to reduce defects in the manufacturing process and improve the yield is a severe problem in front of the semiconductor design and manufacturing company.
At present, methods for improving the yield mainly include:
(1) Optical proximity correction technology: The optical proximity effect is more obvious in the advanced process. The patterns on a wafer generated through a lithography machine are different from the layout practical_layout, thereby causing defects. Thus, before the lithography steps, the patterns on the mask were corrected through optical proximity correction technology, so the finally produced patterns are consistent with the original layout.
(2) Test chip technology: aiming at the problem that any process links of the semiconductor production may cause defects, this technology improves the yield by the following steps: test structures_proceeding tremendous data experiment design through using test structures, designing a test chip layout, manufacturing the test chip, testing this chip, and analyzing the testing data to find out causes of the defects in the process line. The test chip is of course designed to detect the causes of defects in the process line, comprised of a large number of test structures. Two methods for designing the test structures are as follows: (1) designing the parameterized units, and data experiment design; (b) finding out the positions required to be tested in the exiting chip layout.
(3) Design for Manufacturability (DFM): introduce some manufacturing rules in the process of chip design, and consider manufacturability. Reduce system defects to improve the yield.
Among the above three methods, the test chip technology is the most common one. Manufacturing the test chip requires creating test structures. At present, the method adopted in the industrial field is referring to the positions and patterns required to be noted in the product chip layout. Those positions and patterns include factors with effect on the yield that will be researched by users. Then, the test structures and the testing template are generated manually. Finally, the test chip template is electrically tested with instruments.
Generating the test structures manually requires to cut the chip layout_manually or to edit a layout_including areas of the positions required to be tested in a layout editor. A great number of positions with effect on the yield are required to be tested, so generating the test structures manually has the following shortcomings: (1) the product has a great number of positions required to be tested, even thousands, so it costs a lot of time in the manual generation mode; (2) generating the test structures manually is easy to get wrong.
Generating the test chip template manually is to arrange the pads in an array. The test structures are placed among the pads. After manual placement and wiring, the testing machine performs electric testing through the pads. Generating the test chip template manually has the following shortcomings: (1) there are tremendous test structures and may be thousands or tens of thousands, so it costs a lot of time to generate the test chip template through manual placement and wiring; (2) manual placement and wiring are easy to get wrong; (3) the utilization ratio of the area is very low, causing very high testing cost.
In conclusion: it is necessary to invent a new method for generating a test chip layout to solve the mentioned problems.

Method for testing a plurality of transistors in a target chip