A method for playing an improved game of Blackjack is set forth. Instead of the traditional 3-to-2 odds or the new 6-to-5 odds, the game of the invention pays different odds for a player's blackjack. The dealer's face-up card is used in determining how much a player's blackjack should be paid. The invention eliminates the need for 50¢ coins, lessens Blackjack's vulnerability to advantage play of card counting and pays higher odds to add excitement. In one of the embodiments the dealer is allowed a maximum of five cards per round.

This invention refers generally to a method of playing a card game and specifically to the game of Blackjack or 21.
Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games in the world today. The majority of all table games in most casinos are Blackjack tables. Even though Blackjack does not have the most generous house advantage, popularity of the game becomes an important factor in the distribution of floor space.
Blackjack is a card game in which players play against the dealer. In traditional Blackjack the player must first place his initial wager, the main bet, before any cards are dealt. The casino management will set the minimum and maximum limits for their establishments. Smaller casinos may have a lower maximum limit than a larger casino. A table sign is posted to let the public know what the limits are on a particular table. Players can vary in the amount bet each round as long as they stay within the boundaries of the table limit.
In traditional Blackjack, after all players have made their bets, each player is dealt two cards from one or more decks of 52 cards, both face-up as seen in multiple deck games or both face-down as seen in single and double deck games. The dealer is also dealt two cards, one face-up and one face-down. The face-up card is called the dealer's up card and the face-down card is the hole card that won't be revealed until all players play out their hands. In some European casinos, the dealer will not receive a second card until all players play out their hands.
Throughout time the rules of Blackjack have pretty much stayed the same. In Blackjack each playing card is assigned a count value. 2s through 9s count as their value, 10s and all face cards count as 10, and aces count as 1 or 11. The object is to beat the dealer's hand by reaching a total count value closest to 21 without exceeding 21. Based upon the initial two cards, the player may stand anytime, hit for more additional cards, double down and get one more card, or split any pair. Although the player may hit his hand until the desired point total has been achieved, if the player's point total goes over 21, the player is said to bust and will lose his bet immediately. Most players use the dealer's up card as a guide to stand or hit. The dealer must hit until his point total is at least 17. When the dealer has acquired 17 or greater, the dealer's hand is final. If the dealer's point total goes over 21, the dealer is said to bust and all players remaining in the game will win. The winning player is paid even money. However, if a player receiving a blackjack or "natural" in his first two cards, he usually is paid 3 to 2 if the dealer does not also have a blackjack. A blackjack is defined as the combination of any ace and any 10-value card in the original first two cards dealt.
Blackjack has been known for its low house edge, which is conducive to its popularity. In traditional Blackjack a player's blackjack is paid 3 to 2 (1.5 to 1) and the house edge is about 0.5%. However, a recent trend is toward paying blackjacks at 6 to 5 (1.2 to 1) odds or even 1 to 1. That raises the house edge to 1.5% or more. The casinos that pay less than 3 to 2 for a blackjack wish not only to increase their profit, but also to thwart card counting since traditional Blackjack can be beat by counting high and low cards as they are dealt out. Although it helps deter card counting, the much higher house edge hurts the majority of the players who don't count cards. Since the advent of the 6-to-5 Blackjack, many gaming experts and Blackjack players have condemned it as a rip-off and therefore have avoided such games.
On the other hand, there also is a drawback to 3-to-2 Blackjack. Since the payoff odds are not integral, 50¢ coins or chips are indispensable in order to pay off a player's blackjack. For example, a $5 bet is paid $7.50. Some casinos even use $2.50 chips in the hopes of expediting the dealing of the game. The 50¢ or $2.50 chips not only add to the casino's cost but also slow the game down. Imagine a dealer paying off a blackjack on a bet of $37.50! Moreover, if the player bets all the 50¢ coins they have received, it will bring the dealer more work because most dealers would try to collect the 50¢ coins when making a payment. For example, if a player bets $7.50 and wins, the dealer would pay the player $10 and take the $2.50 back so that the player cannot bet $2.50 anymore.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,897 discloses a variation of Blackjack wherein a player blackjack in a specified suit pays 2 to 1 and all other blackjacks pay 1 to 1. Also, the player may place a side bet on his getting a blackjack in a designated suit (e.g., diamonds) that pays 300 to 1.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,551 discloses a Blackjack game that provides a player insurance wagering option when a dealer first card is either an Ace or a ten-value card. An additional wagering option is provided when a player first card is either an Ace or a ten-value card that the player two-card total will be 21. Payouts for the respective wagers are varied according to whether the dealer or player first card is the Ace or the ten-value card and whether the two-card twenty-one is comprised of cards of a predefined relation such as same suit or color or cards including a 10-value card of a particular rank.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,565 discloses a method of playing a Blackjack variation wherein the dealer, instead of hitting his hand until it is 17 or greater, will hit until his hand beats the player's or busts. A player's blackjack is paid 1 to 1 unless it is suited, in which case it is paid 2 to 1.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,741 discloses a method of playing a Blackjack variation wherein a player's blackjack is paid 1 to 1, except where the player's blackjack is a one-suited blackjack, which is paid at a rate of greater than 1 to 1.
The aforementioned Blackjack variations either require the player to make an additional wager or introduce more liberal rules to entice more play, such as doubling down on two or more cards, surrender after doubling down and a 6-card automatic winner. These liberal rules do not come without a price, however. As the house edge on traditional Blackjack is very low, typically between 0.2% and 0.6%, player blackjacks must be paid even money instead of 3 to 2 to compensate for the loss of the casino's edge due to the liberal rules. The probability of getting an uncontested blackjack is about, 4.6%. By paying 1 to 1 instead of 3 to 2 on a player blackjack, the house gets an additional 2.3% edge (4.6%×0.5). For every four blackjacks dealt there will be one suited blackjack and for every 16 blackjacks dealt there will be one blackjack of a specific suit, e.g., Diamonds. While paying 2 to 1 for a suited blackjack reduces the house's additional 2.3% edge by ½, paying 2 to 1 for a blackjack of a specific suit only reduces it by ⅛. So, despite the liberal rules added, these Blackjack variations still have a higher house edge than does traditional Blackjack, and they won't mitigate the card counting threat without hurting the majority of the players who don't count cards.
Furthermore, traditional 3-to-2 Blackjack, unfortunately, "helps" make card counting more lucrative. A card counter raises his bet when the remaining deck is in his favor and reduces his bet when it is in the house's favor. The reason card counting for Blackjack works is obvious. When the deck is rich in high cards, even though both the dealer and player have an equal chance of receiving a 20 or a blackjack, (a) a player blackjack is paid 3 to 2, (b) the dealer hand, if not 17 or greater, must draw and can bust easily whereas the player can stand on a 15 and 16, and (c) the player can vary his draw, double and split strategy to take advantage of the situation. Among the rest, the 3-to-2 blackjack payoff contributes vastly to the card counter's profitability.
The present invention not only matches the payback which traditional 3-to-2 Blackjack can yield to give the player a fair shake, but it also:    obviates the need for 50¢ coins or $2.50 chips,    lessens Blackjack's vulnerability to advantage play of card counting, and    pays higher odds up to 6 to 1 to add excitement.


An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit comprises a digital-to-analog (DAC) circuit including at least N+n weighted circuit components, wherein N and n are positive integers greater than zero, and n is a number of repeat bits of the least significant bit (LSB) of the ADC circuit; a sampling circuit configured to sample an input voltage at an input to the ADC circuit and apply a sampled voltage to the weighted circuit components; a comparator circuit configured to compare an output voltage of the DAC to a specified threshold voltage during a bit trial; and logic circuitry configured to perform bit trials for the at least N+n weighted circuit components and adjust one or more parameters for one or more of N bit trials according to values of the n LSB repeat bits.

Successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) typically resolve bits sequentially from most-significant bit (MSB) to least-significant bit (LSB) for each conversion. It can be a challenge to accurately determine the LSBs of a higher accuracy ADC (e.g., such as when the number of bits in the ADC is twelve or greater) and minimize conversion errors. The present inventors have recognized a need for SAR ADCs that are more robust and efficient for the bit trials performed during the conversion phase of the SAR ADCs.

SAR ADC performance optimization with dynamic bit trial settings


An interactive media system includes a broadcasting device for broadcasting TV signals, and a receiving device for receiving TV signals. The TV signals, such as a TV commercial, contain screen related action codes that include device type, action type and other information. The receiving device includes storage for storing the reference address for other home electronic devices, and a button on a remote controller for the users to start interactive with the interactive media system. When the user presses the button, the receiving device will send the action codes to the designated other home device or another TV screen channel, to allow users to perform the action on the other home device instead of performing the action on TV. The system also allows users just use number keys/buttons on the remote controller to navigate web on TV.

With the development of technology, especially Internet and digital TV, interactive media has become increasingly popular. Right now, the most widely used interactive media are the web pages or web browsers. In the web pages, there are many hyperlinks embedded. When the users click on the hyperlinks, it may go or submit to the other web pages. By using these embedded hyperlinks, the contents in web pages are interactive, and become more valuable to the users. In order to bring the successful story of Internet to TV, video or movies, many new technologies have been developed to put some things like hyperlinks in the TV programs or movies, allowing the users to interact with the content publishers. Here TV is digital TV. For example, on the TV, there is a toy advertisement. When the users use the mouse or the like to click on the hyperlinks, it brings the users to the buy or detail information page.
However, putting hyperlinks into the contents in TV, video, or game programs usually need broadcasting protocols or standard change. It costs a lot. In addition, the two-way connection is required for the receiving terminal or device. However, most users are just using one-way connection to receive the TV signals, such as regular public TV or Satellite TV. For the existing TV, especially analog TV broadcasting systems, hyperlinks cannot be added into its contents.
When people use PCs or Laptop computers to look for or view information through the Internet, they often use the mouse to click on or scroll the browser. However, when people use TV to view the information from Internet, they need something different than a mouse. Therefore, the so-called smart device has been invented, which is a small computer display device. One of the disadvantage of this kind of smart device is it will add a lot of cost to TV and the like. Another disadvantage of this kind of smart device is it cannot be in a very small size, like regular remote control.
At home, TVs are not the only electronic devices. We may have desktop or laptop computers, PDAs, cellular/regular phones, game consoles, VCRs, DVD players, mp3 players, and singing or karaoke machines. The current interactive media systems are only allow you to interact with the same devices.
When people use TVs to browse on Internet, they have to use a mouse-like device to move the cursor on the big TV screen. However, moving a small cursor on a big screen is not convenient for many people, especially older people. People have watched TV for years by just pressing buttons on a small remote control, and many of them still prefer pressing keys or buttons to browse on Internet on a small remote control or the like. When comparing the regular TV remote control, the so-called smart device is not small enough for the most people.


Methods of animating objects using the human body are described. In an embodiment, a deformation graph is generated from a mesh which describes the object. Tracked skeleton data is received which is generated from sensor data and the tracked skeleton is then embedded in the graph. Subsequent motion which is captured by the sensor result in motion of the tracked skeleton and this motion is used to define transformations on the deformation graph. The transformations are then applied to the mesh to generate an animation of the object which corresponds to the captured motion. In various examples, the mesh is generated by scanning an object and the deformation graph is generated using orientation-aware sampling such that nodes can be placed close together within the deformation graph where there are sharp corners or other features with high curvature in the object.

Computer animation is typically a very time consuming activity requiring computer graphics (CG) expertise and use of specialist software tools and considerable computing power. First a model of an object will be generated in the form of a 3D mesh. A CG animator will then generate and embed a skeleton inside the 3D mesh of the object being animated and paint individual bone weights onto each vertex. At runtime, motion capture data or an inverse kinematics engine drives the bones of the character, which then transforms the mesh. Depending upon the level of experience of the user and the complexity of the object being animated, this process may take hours or days.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known methods of computer animation.


An apparatus and method for forming a duct member having a plurality of adjustable sections which are rotatable relative to one another. The apparatus and method causes relative rotation between individual sections during the manufacturing process, to form a completed duct member in an automated process utilizing a rotating head assembly comprising a plurality of engagement members extendable radially outward of the rotating head body in an engagement position and retractable radially inward to a disengagement position. Accordingly, a 90 degree adjustable elbow can be produced in its 90 degree elbow configuration without requiring the machine operator to manually adjust the adjustable sections.

In general, duct work is commonly used in forced air heating and air conditioning systems for buildings and the like. To facilitate installation of a duct work system, various types of duct members have been developed, including adjustable duct members such as elbow ducts. Elbow ducts typically have a plurality of sections which are independently adjustable relative to one another to form the duct member into a variety of configurations. The adjustability of the elbow allows flexibility in connecting duct systems in a desired manner. Each of the sections of the elbow duct member are coupled to adjacent sections by means of a connective fitting, which allows relative rotation between the sections. In the manufacture of such duct members, the duct is originally manufactured in a straight tubular construction, with the individual sections or gores of the adjustable duct member not being rotated relative to one another. Subsequent to manufacture, and for commercial sale, a worker is required to manually rotate the independent sections or gores of the duct member relative to one another to form the duct into the elbow configuration. With automatic elbow machines capable of producing thousands of elbows per day, such a process is labor intensive, and requires a constant repetitive motion, which can result in repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. It would therefore be desirable to provide in conjunction with the automated manufacture of a duct member, the ability to form the duct member into a final configuration for commercial sale, without requiring the foregoing manual operation.

Apparatus and method for automated production of adjustable duct member


A charging current flows through an insulation for insulating two conductors of an electric apparatus by applying an alternate current voltage thereto. A direct current component of the charging current is detected, and is amplified by biasing a direct current voltage to the alternate current voltage. An insulation deterioration of the electric apparatus is determined by an absolute value of the amplified direct current component.

It has been clarified in the art that an insulation deterioration of a power cable such as a cross-linked polyethylene insulated cable (hereinafter defined CV cable) is mainly caused by the absorption of moisture into the solid insulation material to which a rated line voltage is applied. In the circumstance, water tree is induced in the insulation material, and is then developed therein to finally result in a breakdown of the power cable. Therefore, a method for detecting the insulation deterioration including water tree is required to be established, thereby avoiding the breakdown of an insulation material for a power cable in advance.
A first type of a conventional method for diagnosing an insulation deterioration of a power cable comprises a step of measuring an insulation resistance of the power cable by use of a megger.
In this method, however, there is a disadvantage in that a cable having an insulation deterioration immediately causing the breakdown can not be detected. Therefore, this method is not a sufficiently satisfactory method for dianosing an insulation deterioration of a power cable.
A second type of a conventional method for diagnosing an insulation deterioration of a power cable comprises steps of applying a direct current (DC) high voltage to an insulation of the power cable, and detecting leakage direct current flowing through the insulation, so that the insulation deterioration is diagnosed dependent on a level of the leakage direct current.
In this method, however, there is a disadvantage in that a power cable to which a rated load voltage is applied to supply electric power to actual loads is not diagnosed, because the aforementioned DC voltage of a level which is determined in diagnosis conditions is applied to the power cable. Even worse, there is a further disadvatage in that the insulation deterioration is badly promoted to result in the breakdown of the power cable in some case dependent on a degree of the insulation deterioration, because the diagnosing DC high voltage is applied to the power cable.
In view of these situations, another method of diagnosing an insulation deterioration of a power cable has been proposed to detect water trees generated in a deteriorated insulation of a 6 kV power distribution CV cable. This method comprises steps of detecting a direct current component of a minute level included in a charging current of the CV cable in a state that a 6 kV power distribution voltage is applied to the CV cable to supply electric power to loads of a power distribution system, and diagnosing whether an insulation deterioration has occured in the insulation by checking value and waveform of the direct current component. The detection of the direct current component is carried out by use of a ground wire of the CV cable, through which the direct current component flows.
However, this proposed method is not applied to a CV cable power distribution system having a line voltage of more than 22 KV, because the CV cable is connected to ground at multi-points. Even if the CV cable is not connected to ground at the multi-points, the detection of the direct current component is very hard at an installation site of the CV cable, because much noise is detected to lower a S/N ratio.

Method for diagnosing an insulation deterioration of an electric apparatus


A method includes performing on a computing system a source-to-sink reachability analysis of code of an application. The reachability analysis is performed using a static analysis of the code and determines flows from sources of information to sinks that use the information. The method includes determining scopes for corresponding security sensitive operations using the determined flows, each of the security sensitive operations corresponding to statements in the code and one or more flows. A scope for a security sensitive operation includes a block of statements in the code that correspond to a set of one or more flows ending at a sink. The method includes, for each of one or more selected scopes, moving statements in a corresponding block of statements that are independent of a security sensitive operation in the block to code before or after the block. Apparatus and program products are also disclosed.

This invention relates generally to analysis of application code and, more specifically, relates to mitigating security risks via code movement.
This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. Acronyms that appear in the text or drawings are defined below, prior to the claims.
Web applications, as well as web services, are continuously exposed to security threats. These include (i) injection attacks, where a malicious user injects malicious code into the application through web parameters, database hijacking, and the like, (ii) information leakage, where the application leaks confidential data, and (iii) denial-of-service and other attacks.
A standard way of addressing security vulnerabilities at compile time is to apply static security analysis to the subject application. A static security analysis is performed by analyzing rode of the subject application without executing the subject application. The goal of a static security scanner performing the static security analysis is to report all potential vulnerabilities within the application due to flow of untrusted data into security-sensitive operations (e.g., the value of an HTTP parameter flowing into a database query without first being validated or sanitized).
However, a wide range of security threats typically lie outside the scope of static security analysis, being too complex to reason about statically. These include the following:
1) rare instances of information leakage;
2) complex code-execution attacks;
3) multi-step heap spraying attacks; and
4) the ability to mount insecure direct object reference attacks under certain specific circumstances.
These threats, far from being contrived, find their expression in the wild. For example, WebSphere (which is software for service-oriented architecture environments that enables dynamic, interconnected business processes, and delivers highly effective application infrastructures for all business situations) admits a rare instance of in information leakage:
In rare situations, usually due to application errors, session data intended fix one client might be seen by another client. This situation is referred to as session data crossover. When the DebugSessionCrossover custom property is set to true, code is enabled to detect and log instances of session data crossover. Cheeks are performed to verify that only the session associated with the request is accessed or referenced. Messages are logged if any discrepancies are detected. These messages provide a starting point for debugging this problem. This additional checking is only performed when running on the WebSphere-managed dispatch thread, not on any user-created threads.
As another example, IIS (a web server application and set of feature extension modules) was also found to be vulnerable to a sophisticated remote-code-execution attack that is hard to uncover using static analysis. Other examples abound.
The growing need to protect web applications against threats like the above, which lie outside the scope of existing static security-scanning solutions—where the focus is on unchecked data flows from "sources" (statements reading (untrusted) user-provided input) to "sinks" (security-sensitive operations)—has not yet been addressed by commercial security tools.

Mitigating security risks via code movement

International Business Machines Corporation


Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for obtaining images of objects with higher resolution than the diffraction limit. In one aspect, a method for collecting evanescent waves scattered from an object comprises electronically configuring a reconfigurable device to operate as a grating for one or more lattice periods using a computing device. Propagating waves scattered from the object pass through the reconfigurable device and a portion of evanescent waves scattered from the object are projected into the far field of the object. The method includes detecting propagating waves and detecting the portion of evanescent waves projected into the far field for each lattice period using an imaging system.

When light strikes an object, visual feature information is transferred to light scattered from the object. The scattered light comprises various wave vectors of propagating and evanescent wave components. The propagating waves carrier large feature information that reaches the far field and can be collected using lenses and an image sensor to reconstruct an image of the object. By contrast, evanescent waves carry more detailed visual information regarding relatively smaller features of the object, but evanescent waves exponentially decay and are confined to the near field of the object. Thus, when a conventional lens is used to collect the light scattered from an object, the evanescent waves are lost before reaching the image plane. This inability to capture evanescent waves scattered from features smaller than half the illumination wavelength is called the "diffraction limit."
FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of the operation of a conventional lens 102. Curve 104 represents propagating waves scattered from an object plane of the object. The propagating waves carry large feature information, pass through the lens 102 and reach the image plane in the far field, where the large feature information of the object are reproduced in an image of the object that can be observed or collected in the far field. On the other hand, curve 106 represents exponential decay of the evanescent waves scattered from the object plane in the near field. Any fine feature visual information contained in the evanescent waves is substantially lost before reaching the lens 102.
In recent years, superlenses have been proposed with the potential to recover lost evanescent waves. This is accomplished by coupling evanescent waves scattered from the object to surface excitations on a slab of negative refractive index material. A superlens compensates for evanescent wave decay in the near field of the object using the strong enhancement provided by the surface excitations, which restore the evanescent wave components. However, typical superlenses are capable of projecting small feature information into the near field of the superlens.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the operation of a metamaterial superlens 202. Propagating waves pass through the superlens 202 into the far field, as described above for the conventional lens 102. However, unlike the conventional lens 102, evanescent waves are magnified within the superlens 202, as indicated by exponentially increasing curve 204. FIG. 2 includes a dashed line that conceptually separates the near field of the superlens 202 from the far field. The superlens 202 projects the evanescent waves magnified within the superlens 202 into the near field of the superlens 202 where the evanescent waves exponentially decay again, as indicated by curve 206.
One disadvantage of metamaterial superlenses is that they typically are capable of projecting small feature information into the near field of the superlens. Thus, fine feature information of the object can only be observed in the near field of the superlens and cannot be practically observed in the far field. A second disadvantage of superlenses is negative permeability u can be difficult to achieve for radiation in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thus, in practice, a slab of plasmonic material with a negative permittivity 8 can be used as a superlens for radiation in the visible spectrum. Such plasmonic-based superlenses are only capable of projecting evanescent waves into the near field of the superlens and only for evanescent waves with transverse magnetic component polarization. Finally, plasmonic materials and metamaterials both exhibit significant loss, which reduces the quality of the image.
Fabricating a perfect lens that captures high resolution images of sub-wavelength features of objects has long been desired by lens makers and microscope manufacturers. Lenses that are capable of projecting evanescent waves scattered from of object into the far field are desired.

Sub-diffraction-limited imaging systems and methods

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The invention relates to a semiconductor configuration in which electrodes are insulated by a gas-filled or evacuated cavity. The semiconductor configuration includes at least two rigid electrodes; body regions; an active zone; a drift path; and an insulating device electrically isolating the at least two electrodes from each another. At least one of the at least two electrodes is a trench electrode electrically connected to the active zone. The insulating device includes a structure selected from the group consisting of at least one insulating or holding layer and a pn junction. The insulating device is further formed with at least one cavity. The trench electrode is isolated from the drift path by the cavity and surrounded by the cavity.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor configuration having at least two rigid electrodes, which are electrically isolated from one another by an insulating device including at least one insulating or holding layer and/or a pn junction, and in particular to a semiconductor configuration having a trench electrode introduced between body regions for the purpose of reducing the on resistance of the semiconductor configuration, the trench electrode being electrically connected to an active zone of the semiconductor configuration and being isolated from a drift path of the semiconductor configuration by the insulating device.
xe2x80x9cRigidxe2x80x9d electrodes are to be understood to mean electrodes as are usually used in semiconductor configurations and are composed, for example, of metal, polycrystalline silicon, etc. By contrast, membrane electrodes as are used in pressure sensors or ink-jet printers are not rigid electrodes.
Semiconductors are to be understood to mean all customary semiconducting materials, such as silicon, silicon carbide, AIIIBV, etc.
As is known, there are publications on high-voltage DMOS transistors for voltages above 200 V, in which the on resistance is reduced by a factor of 2 . . . 3 by introducing a trench electrode between body regions. The trench electrode between the body regions of the cell array of DMOS (Double Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistors decisively reduces the epitaxial proportionxe2x80x94predominant in the case of large breakdown voltages above 200 Vxe2x80x94of the resistance of the DMOS transistors forming a DMOS cell, with the result that the specified reduction of the on resistance can be achieved.
In such a DMOS cell, the trench system formed by the trench electrodes between the body regions is constructed in such a way that the trench electrodes are connected to gate or, if appropriate, also source of the DMOS transistors and are isolated from the drift path of these DMOS transistors by an insulating device. The drift path usually includes an n-conducting epitaxial silicon layer into which trenches are introduced between the body regions of the transistors. These trenches are filled with electrodes made, for example, of n+-conducting polycrystalline silicon in their core and an insulating device which surrounds this polycrystalline silicon and is made, for example, of silicon dioxide. For transistors designed for about 600 V, layer thicknesses of the order of magnitude of 5 to 10 xcexcm are necessary for this silicon dioxide, which can lead to crystal defects on account of the different thermal expansion coefficients of silicon and silicon dioxide.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a semiconductor configuration which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantageous of the prior art semiconductor configurations of this general type. In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved semiconductor configuration of the type mentioned in the introduction such that, the doping of the drift path can be increased further while the dielectric strength remains the same and problems caused by different thermal expansion coefficients are prevented. The intention is that this semiconductor configuration can be fabricated with little outlay.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention a semiconductor configuration that includes: at least two rigid electrodes; and an insulating device electrically isolating the at least two electrodes from each another. The insulating device is formed with at least one cavity and the insulating device includes a structure selected from the group consisting of at least one insulating or holding layer and a pn junction.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, there is provided: body regions; an active zone; and a drift path. At least one of the at least two electrodes is a trench electrode introduced between the body regions for reducing on resistance. The trench electrode is electrically connected to the active zone and isolated from the drift path by the cavity.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, there is provided, an edge termination that includes the trench electrode. The trench electrode has a bearing area. A pn junction is provided for insulating the trench electrode and the bearing area of the trench electrode.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, there is provided, a highly doped region of a first conduction type that shields the trench electrode. The drift path is of the first conduction type.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, there is provided: an edge termination including the trench electrode; and a highly doped region of a first conduction type shielding the trench electrode. The drift path is of the first conduction type.
In accordance with a further added feature of the invention, there is provided, an edge termination including an edge and a plurality of trench electrodes having distances therebetween. The distances between the plurality of the trench electrodes become greater toward the edge.
In accordance with a further additional feature of the invention, there is provided, a plurality of trench electrodes disposed between adjacent ones of the body regions.
In accordance with another further feature of the invention, there is provided, a plurality of trench electrodes routed through the body regions.
In accordance with yet an added feature of the invention, there is provided, an edge termination including a plurality of trench electrodes insulated by a cavity.
In accordance with yet an additional feature of the invention, the cavity is filled with gas.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the gas is hydrogen.
In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, the cavity is evacuated.
In accordance with yet another added feature of the invention, at least one of the at least two electrodes is made of polycrystalline silicon.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, the cavity defines walls that are at least partially covered with a thin silicon dioxide layer.
The present invention thus takes a completely different path from the previous prior art: instead of silicon dioxide and/or silicon nitride as customary insulating device, a gas-filled or evacuated cavity which surrounds the trench electrode is used. Such a cavity has very decisive and significant advantages over customary insulators:
(a) The relative permittivity of a cavity (∈≅1) is significantly lower than the relative permittivity of, for example, silicon dioxide (∈≅4). As a result, the ratio of the permittivity of silicon (∈=12) to the permittivity of the cavity is a factor of 4 greater than the ratio of the permittivity of silicon to the permittivity of silicon dioxide. On account of this significantly larger ratio of the permittivities of silicon and the cavity, an ideally virtually constant field strength can be built up in the drift path in the semiconductor configuration, such as, for example, a high-voltage DMOS transistor for voltages above 200 V. On account of this constant field strength, the length of the drift path can be reduced. The reduced length of the drift path and the charge compensation effect obtained by the trench electrode lead to a considerable reduction of the on resistance Ron.
(b) The problem of crystal defects caused by different thermal expansion coefficients of silicon and silicon dioxide and/or silicon nitride is completely avoided.
(c) The customary possibilities of surface micromachining enable cavity trench structures with a trench electrode insulated by a cavity to be realized relatively simply and without a high outlay.
As will be explained in more detail further below, a cavity advantageously exploits Paschen""s law: according to this, the breakdown voltage increases again as the dimensions of the cavity decrease, since, with these spacings, impact ionization can no longer occur. Thus, breakdown voltages of about 6 kV are achieved for dimensions of the order of magnitude of 1 xcexcm.
The mechanical strength of the trench electrode in a cavity is entirely unproblematic: a bar of polycrystalline silicon having a length of, for example, 30 xcexcm and a cross-sectional area of 1xc3x971 xcexcm2 has a resonant frequency of about 1.5 MHz. This frequency is distinctly above the frequency of switched-mode power supplies, which can be up to 100 kHz. Bending of such a bar by 1 xcexcm requires a bending force of about 1.5 xcexcN at the end of the bar. The tensile stress occurring in the process amounts, however, merely to about 10% of the breaking stress of the bar. The resulting electrical attractive force between the trench electrode and the semiconductor region, in particular an n-conducting epitaxial layer, surrounding the trench electrode via the cavity is practically equal to zero on account of the symmetrical construction with which the semiconductor region surrounds the trench electrode over the entire periphery thereof. A comparable force of 1.3 xcexcN would occur only in the event of voltage differences of about 100 V between one side and the other side of the trench electrode, the voltage differences being caused for example by asymmetries in the geometrical construction. However, such an asymmetrical construction is not manifested in practice.
In order to saturate interface states, the cavity may be completely or partially covered with a thin silicon dioxide layer on its walls.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a semiconductor configuration, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.


A substrate processing apparatus and method which employs the so-called batch processing method of processing a plurality of substrates simultaneously, thereby increasing the throughput, and which can carry out processing, such as electroless plating, stably and securely with a relatively simple apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a processing bath (14) for holding a processing liquid (12); and a substrate holder (16) which is vertically movable relative to the processing bath (14) and which includes a plurality of substrate holding portions (40) for holding a plurality of substrates (W) in parallel. Each substrate holding portion (40) has a substrate stage (48) and a substrate presser (54), which can move close to or away from each other and can grip therebetween a peripheral portion of a substrate to thereby hold the substrate with its back surface sealed, and has a heating medium flow passage (62) for passing a heating medium therethrough so as to regulate the temperature of the substrate holding portion (40).

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and method, more particularly, relates to a substrate processing apparatus and method useful for forming embedded interconnects that an electric conductor, such as copper or silver, is embedded in fine recesses for interconnects formed in the surface of a substrate like a semiconductor substrate, and for forming a protective layer for protecting the surface of the interconnects.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electroless plating is such a method that a plated film is formed on a plating surface of a workpiece by chemically reducing metal ions in a plating solution without supplying any electric current from the outside, and the electroless plating is widely used in a nickel-phosphorus plating and a nickel-boron plating for giving a corrosion resistance and a wear resistance, and a copper plating for a printed-wiring substrate.
As an electroless plating apparatus, there has been generally known an apparatus comprising a plating bath for holding an electroless plating solution which overflows during plating process, and a vertically movable holding portion disposed above the plating bath for holding a plating workpiece, such as a substrate, whereby the workpiece held by the holding portion is dipped into the plating solution in the plating bath.
In recent years, as the processing speed and integration of a semiconductor chip becomes higher, there has been a growing tendency to replace aluminum or aluminum alloy with copper having a low electric resistivity and a high electromigration resistance as metallic materials for forming interconnection circuits on the semiconductor substrate. These kinds of copper interconnects are generally formed by filling fine recesses formed in the surface of the substrate with copper. As a method for forming the copper interconnects, CVD, sputtering, and plating are known, but plating is generally used. In any case, after a copper film is deposited on the surface of the substrate, the surface of the substrate is polished to a flat finish by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process.
In the case of interconnects formed by such a process, the embedded interconnects have an exposed surface after the flattening processing. When an additional embedded interconnect structure is formed on such an exposed surface of interconnects of a semiconductor substrate, the following problems may be encountered. For example, during the formation of a new SiO2 interlevel dielectric, the exposed surface of the pre-formed interconnects is likely to be oxidized. Further, upon etching of the SiO2 layer for the formation of contact holes, the pre-formed interconnects exposed at the bottoms of the contact holes can be contaminated with an etchant, a peeled resist, etc. Moreover, in the case of copper interconnects, there is a fear of copper diffusion.
In view of this, in the case of copper interconnects, for example, it may be considered to selectively cover the surface of copper interconnects with a protective layer (plated film) of a Ni—B alloy or the like, having a good adhesion to copper and a low resistivity (ρ). The Ni—B alloy layer can be formed on the surface of e.g. copper selectively by using an electroless plating solution that contains nickel ions, a complexing agent for nickel ions and an alkylamine borane or a borohydride compound as a reducing agent for nickel ions and by immersing the surface of the substrate in the electroless plating solution.
An electroless plating is applied to main filling materials (Cu) for the copper interconnects, the formation of the seed layer on the barrier metal, or the reinforcement of the seed (Cu), further the formation of the barrier metal itself, or the formation of cap material for the copper interconnect (in any case, Ni—P, Ni—B, Co—P, Ni—W—P, Ni—Co—P, Co—W—P, Co—W—B), or the like. In any electroless plating process, uniformity of the film thickness over an entire surface of the substrate is required.
In electroless plating, when a plating surface of a workpiece is brought into contact with an electroless plating solution, a plating metal instantly begins to deposit on the plating surface of the material, and the deposition rate of the plating metal varies depending on the temperature of the plating solution. Accordingly, in order to form a plated film having a uniform film thickness over the plating surface of a workpiece, the temperature of a plating solution is required to be uniform all over the surface of the material from the initial time of contact between the workpiece and the plating solution, and the uniform plating temperature must be kept throughout the plating treatment.
In order to meet this demand, conventional electro less plating apparatuses are generally designed to perform plating in such a manner that the plating surface of a substrate is allowed to be in contact with a plating solution which has previously been heated to a predetermined temperature, and the substrate and the plating solution are heated (kept warm) during plating by means of a heater, a lamp, or the like in order to maintain the plating temperature. Further, with a view to obtaining uniformity of the plating temperature, the conventional electroless plating apparatuses generally employ the so-called one-by-one processing method of processing one substrate in one plating processing. Also with substrate processing apparatuses for carrying out processing incidental to plating, such as pre-plating processing and post-plating cleaning, because of the one-by-one plating processing, the one-by-one processing method has conventionally been employed.
Such conventional substrate processing apparatuses, which employ the one-by-one processing method, necessarily involve the problem of poor throughput. Further, as described above, a conventional electroless plating apparatus needs the provision of a device for heating (keeping warm) substrate or a plating solution. In the case of a pre-plating processing apparatus of a spray type, incidental equipments, such as pressure pump, a nozzle and a pipe, are needed. The conventional substrate processing apparatuses are thus likely to be complicated, leading an increased production cost.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrates preferred embodiments of the present invention by way of example.

Substrate processing apparatus and method


A device and a method for transmitting a MAC service data unit (MSDU) in a network system are disclosed. The MSDU has a plurality of pieces of frame data. The method includes receiving the pieces of frame data of the MSDU; and when finishing receiving each piece of frame data, even if not all of the pieces of frame data of the MSDU have been received, converting the received piece of frame data into a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) and outputting the MPDU.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a network device and a method thereof for transmitting data in a network system, and more particularly to a network device and a method thereof for transmitting a MAC service data unit (MSDU) in a network system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In today's modern information-age society, networks allow large amounts of data, information, multimedia and knowledge, in the form of digital electronic signals to be transferred and exchanged. This promotes greater interpersonal communication, accumulation of experience, knowledge exchange, and technological advancement. Thus, networks have already become a foundation of the modern information-age society. Wired networks already having broad and almost universal acceptance, wireless networks are now also rapidly being developed. Wired networks are typically more stable and can ensure safety and privacy of information. Wireless networks, on the other hand, break free from the chains of wired transmission, allowing users to access information sources at any time and in any place, in a mobile and portable way. As wired and wireless networks each have their respective advantages, it has become a priority of information technologists to allow users to access both types of networks at a lower cost and with more effective resources for a networked device.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a wireless network device 20 connected to a terminal 10 according to the prior art. A terminal 10 connects with the wireless network device 20, which is a device following the WLAN specification of IEEE 802.11, such as a wireless network adapter or an access point. The wireless network device 20 comprises a buffer 22 for storing data, a control circuit 24 for controlling operations of the wireless network device 20, and an antenna 26 for wirelessly transmitting and receiving data.
During the period when the terminal 10 transmits data to other wireless device via the wireless network device 20, first data is transmitted to the wireless network device 20 to be processed. When the wireless network device 20 receives the data from the terminal 10, the control circuit 24 controls the antenna 26 to convert the received data into radio signals so that the data from the terminal 10 can be wirelessly outputted. According to the IEEE 802.11 specification, a MAC service data unit (MSDU) is the fundamental unit for transmitting data. Therefore, during the period when the terminal 10 transmits data to the wireless network device 20, the terminal 10 first converts data into a plurality of MSDUs and then transmits the MSDUs to the wireless network device 20. Moreover, because of the noise of wireless communication, it is improper for the wireless network device 20 to transmit any MSDU having an excessively long data length. Thus, when the control circuit 24 detects too much noise of the communication environment, the control circuit 24 separates each received MSDU into a plurality of MAC protocol data units (MPDUs), each MPDU having a shorter data length than the MSDU. By using the MPDU format, data can be transmitted more easily.
Please refer to FIGS. 2-3. FIG. 2 shows how the wireless network device 20 shown in FIG. 1 converts a MSDU 28 received from the terminal 10 into a plurality of MPDUs 32a-32c. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing how the wireless network device 20 processes the MSDU 28. The MSDU 28 comprises a plurality of pieces of frame data 30a-30c. The terminal 10 appends a header to the MSDU 28, where the header includes source MAC address and destination MAC address, along with other relevant data. When the wireless network device 20 receives the MSDU 28 from the terminal 10, the wireless network device 20 stores the received MSDU 28 in the buffer 22 (steps 40 and 42). While receiving the MSDU 28, the control circuit 24 of the wireless network device 20 determines whether all pieces of frame data 30a-30c of the MSDU 28 have been received completely (step 44). The wireless network device 20 will not stop receiving the MSDU 28 until the MSDU 28 has been completely received. After completely receiving the MSDU 28, if the control circuit 24 detects excessive noise in the communication environment, the control circuit 28 separates the MSDU 28 stored in the buffer 22 to generate a plurality of MPDUs 32a-32c according to corresponding pieces of frame data 30a-30c (step 46). For instance, the control circuit 24 respectively converts the pieces of frame data 30a, 30b, and 30c into MPDU 32a, MPDU 32b, and MPDU 32c. After the pieces of frame data 30a-30c are converted into MPDUs 32a-32c, the control circuit 24 controls the antenna 26 to transfer the MPDUs 32a-32c into corresponding radio signals and to output the radio signals (step 48). After the antenna outputs the radio signals, the transfer of the MSDU 28 is finished (step 50).
Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a timing diagram shows how the buffer 22 and control circuit 24 shown in FIG. 1 process the pieces of frame data 30a-30c. As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit 24 does not convert any piece of frame data 30a-30c stored in the buffer 22 into the MPDUs 32a-32c until the control circuit 24 completely receives all the pieces of frame data 30a-30c of the MSDU 28. Therefore, if any piece of frame data 30a-30c is not received by the wireless network device 20, the control circuit 24 does not start to convert the pieces of frame data 30a-30c into MPDUs 32a-32c. As shown in FIG. 4, the control circuit 24 starts to convert the pieces of frame data 30a-30c into the MPDUs 32a-32c after all pieces of frame data 30a-30c of the MSDU 28 have been stored in the buffer 22. However, because the control circuit 24 does not separate the MSDU 28 into the MPDUs 32a-32c until the wireless network device completely receives the MSDU 28, the processing of the wireless network device 20 for transmitting MSDU 28 is limited.

Device and method thereof for transmitting a MAC service data unit in a network system


A method of stabilizing a normally solid polyalkylene carbonate resin against thermal and hydrolytic decomposition, including the step of adding a cyclic amine selected from the group consisting of imidazole and 2-ethyl 4-methylimidazole at a wt. % of 5 to 45% of the normally solid polycarbonate resin. And, a method of producing tough coatings with excellent adhesion to both ferrous and non-ferrous metals, including the steps of: a) dissolving polyalkylene carbonate resin and a cyclic amine selected from the group of consisting of imidazole and 2-ethyl 4-methylimidazole at a wt. % of 5 to 45% of the normally solid polycarbonate resin in a solvent selected from the group consisting of methyl ethyl ketone and propylene glycol mono methyl ether acetate by mechanical mixing so as to form a solution; b) coating the ferrous or non-ferrous metals with the solution so as to form a coated metal; c) air drying the coated metal to evaporate the solvent so as to form an air-dried coated metal; and, d) curing the air-dried coated metal for a time selected from the group consisting of at least 12 hours at ambient temperature and 15 minutes at 150° C.

A. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the present invention relate to a normally solid polyalkylene carbonate resin, and more particularly, the embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of stabilizing a normally solid polyalkylene carbonate resin against thermal and hydrolytic decomposition for at least producing tough coatings with excellent adhesion to both ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Poly(alkylene carbonates) are coploymers of carbon dioxide and 1,2-epoxides. They are easily prepared by reacting an aliphatic or epoxide, e.g., ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, isobutylene oxide, in a solvent under pressure of 100 to 700 psig of carbon dioxide using an organometallic catalyst, typically zinc carboxylate, for up to 40 hours at 25° C. to 110° C.
These polymers can also be prepared by reacting a diol having at least 4 carbons separating the hydroxyl groups with a diester of carbonic acid in the presence of a catalyst selected from tertiary amines, alklyammonium salts, pyridinium salts, and basic ion-exchange resins containing active alkylammonium or tertiary amino groups. The end groups are either hydroxyls or carbonate esters.
According to Stevens (in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,248,414; 3,248,415 and 3,248,416, poly(alkylene carbonate) polyols are prepared by reacting (a) carbon dioxide and 1,2-epoxides; (b) cyclic carbonates, such as ethylene carbonate; or (c) cyclic carbonates and 1,2-epoxide. A minor amount of a polyol is used as an initiator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,415 to Stevens discloses that certain polyamines can be used as initiators in reactions with alkylene carbonates or alkylene oxides and carbon dioxide. These polyamines include: other organic compounds having at 2 active hydrogens, usually from 2-4 active hydrogens are used. By active hydrogen is meant a hydrogen linked directly to a nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen atom, such as is found in hydroxyl, non-tertiary amino, mercapto, carbamate, and carboxyl groups. Each active hydrogen is linked to a different nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen atom in the compound.
Polyamines, especially diamines in which the amino groups are primary or secondary, are suitable organics containing 2 active hydrogens. Piperazine and like polyamines wherein each of the nitrogens has one hydrogen linked thereto (secondary amino nitrogens) are preferred, according to Stevens.
Residual catalyst fragments in poly(alkylene carbonates) have a detrimental effect on the stability of these polymers by catalyzing depolymerization reactions ("unzipping"). The higher the temperature, the higher the rate of depolymerization. Even the terminal hydroxyl groups adversely affect the stability of these copolymers and stability is improved by reacting the free hydroxyl groups with a hydroxyl reactive phosphorus compound as disclosed by Dixon et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,525.
Prior in U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,364 it is stated that the presence of alkaline catalysts remaining in polyalkylene carbonate polyols adversely affect the performance and that these fragments must be removed. In addition, water (moisture) has a detrimental effect, hydrolyzing the polyalkylene carbonate.
Poly(propylene carbonate), for example, decomposes to polylene carbonate by an unzipping mechanism and scission of the carbonate linkage via hydrolysis. Unzipping starts at the end of the chain and continues to proceed by producing more cyclic monomer (propylene carbonate) as the length of the chain decreases. This is an equilibrium reaction where depolymerization and subsequent polymerization occur.
The propylene carbonate produced acts as a plasticiser for the polymer and thus the product as received by the customer becomes clumped together. Pellets of Qpac (Empower Materials, Inc., Newark, Del.) polyalkylene carbonate become stuck together and very difficult to separate; similarly, powered product becomes one solid mass. This is why the additional processing described above (removal of catalyst residues and reacting the terminal hydroxyl groups) is required.

Method of stabilizing a normally solid polyalkylene carbonate resin against thermal and hydrolytic decomposition for at least producing tough coatings with excellent adhesion to both ferrous and non-ferrous metals


Provided is a substrate transferring method which is capable of accurately mounting a substrate at a desired rotation angle. In order to eliminate a misalignment of a wafer W in a rotational direction in a vacuum process chamber, which is caused by a variation in a transfer distance of the wafer W, the wafer W is mounted on a stage while being offset from the center of the stage in a load lock chamber and an angle of rotation of the wafer W with respect to a fork when a transfer arm receives the wafer W is changed.

A substrate processing system for performing a predetermined process, for example, a film forming process or a plasma-based etching process which is a high temperature process, on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as "wafer") as a substrate includes a plurality of process chambers and a transfer chamber connected to the process chambers. The wafer is loaded into and unloaded from each process chamber by a transfer arm disposed in the transfer chamber. Each process chamber includes a mounting table on which the wafer is mounted. In the following description, a portion integrally moving between nodes (inflection points) in the transfer arm will be referred to as a link, and a leading end of the transfer arm will be referred to as an end effector. Incidentally, a two-link type transfer arm refers to a transfer arm having two links, and a one-link type transfer arm refers to a transfer arm having a single link.
A conventional substrate processing system uses a two-link scalar type transfer arm or a frog leg type transfer arm. These transfer arms include a fork serving as an end effector for gripping a wafer, and two arm portions as links. The fork and the arm portions are provided independently of each other.
By the way, in recent years, as a process temperature of a wafer increases, the wafer is sometimes heated up to 700 degrees C. to 800 degrees C. inside a process chamber. In such a case, a fork and arm portions of a transfer arm are heated by heat radiated from the wafer heated at the high temperature, and bearings and driving belts built in the arm portions may be damaged by heat. In order to improve heat resistance by eliminating the bearings and the driving belts, a one-link type transfer arm including an end effector in which a fork and an arm portion are formed as a unit has been proposed by the present inventors (for example, see Patent Document 1). In such a one-link type transfer arm, the end effector transfers the wafer while gripping the wafer. When the transfer arm is extended, the end effector is rotated. Thus, the wafer held by the end effector is also rotated. In the meantime, in the substrate processing system, in order to accurately perform a predetermined process on a wafer, it is necessary to accurately mount the wafer on a mounting table at a desired rotation angle.

Substrate transporting method and substrate processing system


A pillow for increased comfort while sleeping which is stuffed with a fibrous filling in which are embedded capsules impregnated with a volatile substance. The volatile substance may be either a fragrance, a medicinal agent or a sanitizing agent. The capsules are held within the pillow in such a way as to prevent them from migrating through the filling. Devices for preventing such migration include strips of porous fabric with one or more compartments formed therein. The compartments retain individual groups of capsules in spaced apart relationship to each other within the pillow. Alternately, the fibers of the filling are pretreated with a volatile agent which is adsorbed on the fiber surfaces, preventing the agent from migrating within the filling. In pillows with a filling otherwise capable of releasing volatile agent(s) but having a non-breathable, air impermeable ticking of vinyl or the like, small vents are formed in each corner of the ticking to allow such agent(s) to escape. A compartmentalized strip holding capsules impregnated with a volatile substance can also be secured within a pillowcase, generally establishing the position of the capsules relative to any pillow which might be placed within the pillowcase.

The prior art teaches the manufacture and certain uses of preformed synthetic resin carriers impregnated with volatile matter. As taught by Engel in U.S. Pat. No. 3,688,985, issued on Sep. 5, 1972, such carriers come in several forms: as sheets, webs, film, threads, and variously shaped hollow and/or solidly formed articles including granules. Depending upon the volatile matter impregnating the carrier, it can release a medicinal agent, a fragrance, a flavor, or a sanitizing agent or a combination thereof to the surrounding environment gradually over a considerable period of time.
The prior art further teaches that a preformed synthetic resin carrier impregnated with a volatile medicinal agent should be placed, in use, so that as the agent volatilizes, it can be readily inhaled by a patient for its therapeutic effect. One preferred placement of such a carrier, according to Engel, is under a patient's pillow. Unfortunately, a carrier so placed can accidentally come into direct contact with the patient's body causing possible allergic reactions among chemically sensitive persons.


The present invention relates to a castable heat resistant aluminum alloy for high temperature applications such as components in combustion engines, in particular for the manufacturing of highly loaded cylinder heads, the alloy comprises the following composition: .Si: 6.5-10 wt %.Mg: 0.25-0.35 wt %.Cu: 0.3-0.7 wt %.Hf: 0.025-0.55 wt % Optionally with the addition of: .Ti: 0-0.2 wt %.Zr: 0-0.3 wt %, the balance being made of Al and unavoidable impurities including Fe.

Aluminium alloys used for the manufacturing of cylinder heads are generally from the AlSi family with silicon typically ranging from 5 to 10%. In addition to the lowering of the melting point, silicon addition in the aluminium provides the required casting ability, necessary for the manufacturing of parts with ever increasing geometrical complexity. Most widely used casting alloys for cylinder heads belong to 2 main families for which silicon is ranging between 5% and 10% and copper between 0 and 3.5% (depending on the specifications, and using conditions). The first family relates to AlSi7Mg type of alloys (for example A356 in SAE standard) generally T7 heat treated (complete treatment) alloys, well-known for their excellent castability, good damage tolerance and mechanical properties, except at high temperatures. The second family relates to AlSi 5 to 10% Cu3Mg (for example 319 in SAE standard) generally T5 (aging treatment only) alloys, well-known for their economic interest, mechanical resistance at high temperature but poor damage tolerance.
In both cases, the temperature range in which these alloys can be used is limited to 280° C., as their mechanical properties, in particular yield strength, decrease brutally after a few hours (see for example FIG. 1).
From DE 10 2006 059 899 A1 is known a heat resistant aluminium alloy comprising 4.5-7.5 wt % Si, 0.2-0.55 wt % Mg, 0.03-0.50 wt % Zr and/or 0.03-1.5 wt % Hf, maximum 0.20 wt % Ti, <0.3=wt % Fe, <0.5 Mn, 0.1-1.0 wt % Cu, <0.07 wt % Zn, with the rest Al and impurities maximum 0.03 wt %. This reference appears to be concerned with the Cu content to improve the heat resistance of the alloy in combination with relatively large ranges of Zr and/or Hf. The optimum combination is, however not further verified or documented.
US 2006/0115375 relates to a high strength, thermally resistant and ductile cast aluminium alloy comprising 5.5-7.5 wt % Si, 0.20-0.32 wt % Mg, 0.03-0.50 wt % Zr and/or 0.03-1.50 wt % Hf, 0-0.20 wt % Ti, <0.20 wt % Fe, <0.50 wt % Mn, <0.05 wt % Cu and <0.07 wt % Zn. The objective with this known alloy is to retain its strength values at temperatures equal to or above 150° C. and obtain lower thermal expansion through a reduction of phase formation and thus enhanced thermo-mechanical stability at temperatures up to 240° C. The alloy contains very low amount of Cu (close to zero) and relatively high range of Hf (up to 1.50 wt %) which is very expensive.


The present disclosure provides a method for processing a video signal by using a linear relationship between transform types, the method comprising the steps of: determining a transform group on the basis of a prediction mode of a current block; parsing a transform combination index from the video signal, wherein the transform combination index indicates one of a plurality of transform combinations in the transform group; deriving a transform combination corresponding to the transform combination index, wherein the transform combination includes a horizontal transform and a vertical transform and includes DST-1 or DCT-5; performing inverse transform of the current block on the basis of the transform combination; and reconstructing the video signal by using the inverse-transformed current block.

Next-generation video content will have characteristics of high spatial resolution, a high frame rate, and high dimensionality of scene representation. In order to process such content, it will lead to a tremendous increase in terms of memory storage, a memory access rate, and processing power.
Therefore, there is a need to design a new coding tool for processing the next-generation video contents more efficiently. In particular, when transform is applied, there is a need to design more efficient transform in terms of coding efficiency and complexity.
Matrix computation should be performed in order to perform transform compression of DST-1, but a multiplication operation of (N)×(N) with respect to an input signal having an N×N block size. This means that as the block size increases, a computation amount drastically increases and causes a drastic computation amount to increase in an environment such as hardware SoC.
However, there was, in the past, no case where a research of performing low-complexity computation through matrix decomposition without performing complex matrix computation even though DST-1 makes a significant contribution to next-generation coding compression performance. Since a DST-1 kernel is not directly mathematically related to DFT, there is a difficulty that Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) methods of fast performing computation of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) may not be applied.
In addition, even in the case of DCT-5, Fast computation algorithm does not exist and complexity of the Fast computation algorithm is very large by simple matrix computation. Accordingly, a technique for low-complexity computation is required.

Method and apparatus for performing low-complexity computation of transform kernel for video compression

INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, CHOSUN UNIVERSITY


An abnormal oil pressure reduction determining device has an oil pressure sensor which detects a real oil pressure, a sensor which detects a vehicle running state, and a controller which sets an oil pressure command value for an oil pressure control mechanism. The controller computes the lower limiting oil pressure which is possible in the present vehicle running state, and when the real oil pressure is less than this lower limiting oil pressure and the pressure difference between the real oil pressure and oil pressure command value exceeds a reference value, determines that there is an abnormal pressure reduction due to a fault in the oil pressure control mechanism. Even if the oil pressure of the transmission has dropped abnormally due to some reason, the abnormal oil pressure reduction determining device determines the situation without fail.

In the prior art, the operation of a vehicle transmission is controlled by oil pressure. For example, in a belt type continuously variable transmission (CVT), torque capacity is adjusted by controlling the oil pressure supplied to a pulley. Torque capacity is the maximum torque which can be transmitted without causing the belt slip of the CVT. Tokkai-Hei 05-240331 published by the Japanese Patent Office in 1993 discloses a belt type CVT wherein, in a transient state where the accelerator pedal stroke (TVO) of the vehicle changes, or a speed change is performed, the oil pressure which adjusts torque capacity is controlled consistently.

Abnormal oil pressure reduction determination device for vehicle transmission


An optically retro-reflecting sphere includes an inner sphere and an outer concentric spherical shell, and can be coupled to a reflective surface. Light entering the optically retro-reflecting sphere from an incident direction is reflected by the sphere generally towards an exit direction, where the exit direction is parallel and opposite to the incident direction. The inner sphere and outer shell have different refractive indices, selected so that the reflected light is reflected with a non-uniform angular distribution about the exit direction.

The present invention relates generally to optical lenses. More particularly, the present invention relates to optical retro-reflectors.
Retro-reflective surfaces prove useful in a variety of applications, including projector screens, highway signs, road markings, safety marking, and surveying instruments. For example, by modifying the retro-reflectance properties of a projector screen, brighter images can be obtained at desired viewing angles without increasing the output power of the projector.
One known way to provide a retro-reflective surface is to coat the surface with a large number of small glass spheres or "micro-spheres." These micro-spheres typically have dimensions of about 1 micrometer to 50 micrometers, and a refractive index relatively high as compared to air. The micro-spheres are typically attached to the surface using a reflective binder. The performance of micro-sphere based retro-reflectors can be poor, however, due to low reflection efficiency or limited viewing angles. Although a theoretically ideal spherical lens, known as a Luneburg lens, can provide excellent properties, practical fabrication of such a lens has proven elusive.
One problem with projector screens is that the screen can reflect both the desired projected light and undesired ambient light. Unfortunately, there can be tradeoffs between providing high reflectivity (sometimes called "screen gain"), wide viewing angle, and ambient light rejection (sometimes called "contrast"). Various manufacturers have gone to great lengths to improve these various screen particles. For example, one approach uses a combination of spherical and ellipsoidal particles to enhance the viewing angle.
Hence, what is needed is an improved technology for providing a highly reflective surface with desired retro-reflectivity properties.


The present invention refers to a topical formulation containing natural latex or fraction thereof, for topical application, aiming to provide skin regeneration. It particularly refers to a formulation comprising latex from plants of the families Euphorbiaceae, such as Hevea brasiliensis, Apocinaceae, such as guava and sorb, Compositae such as guayule, Caricaceae such as papaya, or one of its fractions, whose topical application provides the skin with regeneration benefits, such as whitening or elimination of senile spots, increase in turgor, improved texture, shine and resilience.

Skin is the human body largest organ, having an important protective and sensorial function between the organism and the external environment. It protects the organism against dehydration, loss of fluids and proteins, maintains and dissipates heat, avoids the entrance of microorganisms such as bacteriae, viruses, fungi and parasites, and of harmful chemicals.
Ageing signals are easily noted on the skin, such as the appearance of wrinkles, lines of expression, lentigoes (senile spots), malasma and chloasma (pregnant women), loss of resilience, texture, shine, reduction in thickness, higher rigidity and drying up.
Besides the age of the person, sun exposure is a key factor inducing skin ageing. Among the means used to repair damages caused by early ageing, there are surgical treatments, dermal abrasion, chemical peelings, chemical cauterization, criosurgery, filling injections with collagen, metacrylates and hyaluronic acid, botulinic toxic, laser application etc. Although these procedures show good results, chemical treatment methods for aged skin or its prevention are still rare. The main products with huge popular consumption are those absorbing ultraviolet rays, commercialized as sun protectors.
The skin contains an intricate net of elastin fibers which is responsible for its elastic properties. Under excessive solar exposure, the elastic fibers becomes hyperplastic, unorganized and interrupted. This process is known as actinic elastosis and is the main cause of wrinkles, decoloration and lack of energy. As new fibroblasts, endothelial cells and keratinocytes are formed, skin tends to regenerate, but this route gets slower with ageing, the dermis-epidermis junction becomes plain, resulting in less general mechanical resistance, and there is a reduction in the number of cells and vessels supplying the skin. As a result, the skin becomes thinner, less resilient, providing the appearance of wrinkles and more opaque aspect.
In view of the above, regenerating or anti-skin ageing products have been proposed. Usually, solutions have been to use various additives in common cosmetic compositions, so as to efficiently provide energy to an aged skin, such as polyhydric alcohols (e.g. glycerin or sorbitol), hyaluronic acid, collagen, elastin, humidifying agents (amino acids, salts of lactic acid, sodium pyrrolidone carboxylate or urea), intercellular lipids (sphyngolipids, phospholipids or cholesterol), lipid simulators (olive oil, jojoba oil or squalene); cell activating agents (vitamins A, C, E or their derivatives, vitamin F or linoleic acid, vitamin H or glutathione), animal extracts (placenta liquid or royal jelly), etc. The use of titanium powder or talc powder is also known in surface treatment formulations, to make malasma or wrinkles less evident by mere make-up.
Specifically concerning skin coloring, the use of whitening agents is known, such as L-ascorbic acid and its derivatives, hydroquinone, glutathione and colloidal sulfur derivatives, aiming to eliminate or prevent abnormal deposition of melanine pigments. They are however deficient due to their weak inhibitory effect over melanine production, the presence of odors and precipitate formation. Therefore, their individual use in cosmetics brings a whitening effect with low efficiency.
The search for solutions for skin ageing, as we can be seen, is an activity in full development. Within this context, the present invention provides and efficient and simple topical formulation, providing regenerating and healing effects to the skin, differently from what is currently known.

Topical formulation containing latex of fraction thereof, and cosmetic treatment method


A small easily carried contact lens storage container having a hinged top cover for its main storage compartment. Within this main compartment a mirror, two contact lens storage compartments and two bottles with lens care fluids may be stored. The bottles' tops may be color coded to indicate the particular fluids therein. Exterior of the main compartment are additional two screw-on lens compartments. A clip on the container allows attachment to a user's clothing much like a phone pager.

The present invention relates to a storage container for contact lenses and related lens care products. Stored within a single container are: two contact lenses, two extra lenses, two refillable bottles for lens disinfectant and cleaner and a mirror. This small container is a convenient size that is easily accessed with a user attachment clip.


A sump liner comprising a liner wall joined with a base member, the liner wall extending about the periphery of the base member, the liner wall comprising a primary reservoir portion and a secondary reservoir portion, with a weir extending from the base member and the inside surface of the liner wall. The weir divides the sump liner interior into a primary reservoir and a secondary reservoir, with a primary pump to remove water from the primary reservoir and a secondary pump to remove water from the secondary reservoir. The primary reservoir receives drainage water through an inlet pipe. The secondary reservoir receives drainage water that flows over the weir in the event the primary pump in the primary reservoir fails, in which case the secondary pump in the secondary reservoir pumps out the water. The weir may have an inverted V-shape. A sump liner and with a vented lid bolted to it to form an airtight seal. The vented lid comprising a body defining a vent opening, electric cable openings, and a drain pipe opening. A drain connects to the vented lid and a drain pipe extends from the drain and into the sump liner, the drain pipe having a submersed end for being submerged in water in the sump liner and for forming a seal with water in the sump liner so that gas from inside the sump liner cannot exit the sump liner through the drain.

Groundwater has been and continues to be a significant problem for buildings, especially for buildings with basements and crawl spaces. The floor of a basement typically comprises a several-inch-thick slab of concrete, poured upon a layer of crushed stone. If the surrounding water table stays below the crushed stone layer there may not be water problems in the basement. However, when the groundwater rises above the crushed stone it begins to adversely affect the building. The basement floor and basement walls become damp and/or leak. This is very undesirable. The past and present solutions to this problem are to simply collect and remove enough groundwater to keep hydraulic forces at an acceptable level. Typically, a sump located at the lowest point in a building's foundation drainage system, and a pump employed to evacuate the sump, discharging the water far enough from the building to be of no further concern.
Usually the sump is excavated at the time of the building's construction. The sump is basically a reservoir into which a cylindrical liner is placed; the liner is closed at the bottom and open at the top, and is typically constructed of polyethylene or other plastic resins. The liner defines ports along its cylindrical sidewall through which groundwater flows and collects in the reservoir. The sump liner is installed such that its open end will be flush with the adjacent finished floor. Sumps excavated subsequent to construction of the floor require removal of a sufficient amount of the floor along and underlying material to receive the liner. Then, concrete is poured around the sump liner to seal it in.
Most sump liners have inlet ports and/or are perforated for receiving drainage water from about the building's foundation footing tile drainage system through it and from groundwater beneath the basement floor. Drainage water then collects in the liner. When sufficient water has thus accumulated, a pump installed in the sump, commonly called a sump pump, is actuated and evacuates most of the water in the sump into a sewer or to a location outside the building.
Sump pumps are electromechanical in nature and consist of an impeller driven by an electric motor, all of which is contained within a housing. A float switch that closes when the water level rises to a point in the sump that would justify the energy expenditure to remove it controls operation of the pump. These switches are either separate from or integrated with the pump. The switch opens and pumping stops before the water in the sump reaches the level at which the pump can no longer function due to ingestion of air at the pump's intake. Therefore, in normal cycle duty of the sump-pumping system the pump is always at least partially immersed in water. The discharge water from the pump enters a drainage pipe or hose that leads to a location outside the building such as a field, lawn, or storm sewer.
However, as many homeowners have learned to their chagrin, sump pumps are not infallible. When a sump pump fails the first event that occurs is the sump liner overfills and floods the basement floor. The water level in the basement continues to rise until equilibrium is established, meaning the water level in the basement rises until it equals the level of the surrounding water table. This results in numerous problems for the building owner including: severe flooding inside the building, damaged or destroyed property, disagreeable odors that permeate the building, structural damage to the building, and temporary loss of use of the basement. Then, even after the basement is pumped dry, longer-lasting problems may take root including: shifting of the building's foundation, malodorous problems throughout the building, and the unhealthful growth of molds, mildews, and bacteria in the basement. All of these longer-lasting problems result in increased expense to make the building and basement habitable again and may result in decreased property value.
That every sump pump manufactured to date will fail is a statistical certainty, and therefore no pump can be depended on to function as originally designed for and unlimited amount of time. The reasons for eventual pump failure are manyfold, and include at least the following: wear from friction; corrosion and electrolytic action caused by being immersed in contaminated water for its entire life, wreaking havoc on metallic surfaces; failure of seals and O-rings which results in the admission of water to components that must remain dry; accumulations of silt and other debris in the sump that can clog the pump intake, resulting in its inability to pump at the required rate, if it can pump at all; and obstructions in the discharge pipe that will disable a sump pump. Additionally, manufacturer defect in design or assembly must be recognized as a cause of pump failure.
Attempts to solve the problems associated with sump pump failure include use of a backup pump. However, the present use of backup sump pumps is not without problems. A sump liner provides for a relatively small diameter hole/opening, and to place a second pump internal to the sump is a difficult task. Additionally, complicated structural arrangements are called for when a backup sump pump is provided for in a sump liner, which necessitates use of a plurality of parts, some of which are small and intricate. There is also the high risk that separate floats for the separate pumps will become entangled, disabling both pumps. These parts must then be regularly maintained and examined since they can quickly deteriorate and become nonfunctional. Another way in which a backup pump has been used is to position a backup utility pump on the basement floor adjacent to the sump, instead of placing it within the sump liner. This also is not a satisfactory solution because not only does this arrangement present major problems in providing a reliable way to operate the pump when needed, but the backup pump is exposed to all the activities being carried out in the basement, such as people working in the basement, curious children exploring/playing in the basement, pets, and so forth. There is a high probability that one or more of these factors will conspire to render the backup pump inoperative without the knowledge of the building owner. If this happens, the backup sump pump will be of no use if the primary sump pump fails. In addition, such an exposed backup pump is constantly visible and is therefore aesthetically unappealing.
Additionally, there exists another problem related to basements which has recently received much attention. This problem is related to the seepage of radon gas into homes through sump holes, and through cracks and openings in basement walls and floors. Radon gas is radioactive and occurs naturally in the earth. However long term exposure to radon gas may result in cancers of the lung and throat. Nevertheless buildings/houses need sump pumps to remove excess water. If the sump pump is sealed in the sump to prevent the escape of radon into the house, then there is no means to rid the house of excess water in the event of a water pipe bursting or a the sewer backing up. This is because the water never enters the sump because of the seal. Thus, the unavailability of a discharge path for this water exacerbates the situation. There is a thus a need to overcome these problems.
Hence, there is a need for a better sump liner, methodology, and system for preventing flooded basements and the damage associated therewith that is reliable and easy to use, yet overcomes the numerous problems and shortcomings associated with the above-described sump pump arrangements. There is also a need for a way in which to reduce radon gas build up in basements and sump basins.


An optical sensor element for detecting organic compounds, particularly hydrocarbon. The sensor element permits the selective detection of substances by use of units which produce spectral displacements. This is realized by employing a spectral band filter, which comprises at least one layer of variable optical thickness of .lambda./4 and .lambda./2, respectively, or a multiple thereof, and said layer exhibits hydrophobic properties and includes organic affinity groups, the selection of which is adaptable to the substances to be detected.

The invention relates to an optical sensor element for detecting organic compounds, particularly hydrocarbon, which can be utilized, for example, in environmental and health protection.
Hydrocarbon may pollute the environment and may be harmful to human health. Hence, the measurement of hydrocarbon is an important task. Conventional methods for detecting hydrocarbon are chromatography, IR-absorption methods, acousto-optic measuring methods, heat conductivity measurements, heat effect measurements of the catalytic decomposition of the hydrocarbons, or electrolytic conductivity measurements.
The first three measurement methods use expensive equipment and only permit application in laboratories. The other methods are suited for embodying measuring feelers which can be installed at different places in the environment or industrial processes. Their lifetime is short when subject to corrosive ambiance. Since their function relies on electrical principles they are, when used in an explosive environment, only applicable with explosion-protective measures. The measuring and amplifier electronic, respectively, has to be installed in the direct vicinity of the measuring feeler. In contrast thereto, fiber-optical sensors conventionally do not require any additional explosion-protective measures and they permit greater distances, up to the kilometer range, between the measuring location and the signal evaluation (remote sensing) due to the extremely interference-safe and low attenuated measuring signal transmittance via light cable. Thus, in contrast to electronic sensors, applications become feasible even under adverse environmental conditions and at measuring places difficult to access. Recently, solutions of fiber-optical sensors have become known for detecting hydrocarbon.
So it has been proposed, for example, to make light cables out of porous glass and, in a next step, to secure a chemical species, which is sensitive towards the substances to be detected to the glass surface [M. Tabacco et al: "Chemical Sensors for Environmental monitoring"; SPIE Vol. 1587 Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Fiber Sensors III (1991) 271]. However, a such prepared porous fiber is scarcely suited as a sensor in practical use since it is very fragile. Furthermore, with this sensor principle, the intensity measurements on light conducting fibers are an ill suited means to ensure a stable and quantitatively reliable detection of the concentration of the substances to be detected since. Any variation of the light intensity of the light source or of the fiber feed to the sensor distort the measuring signal.
Other examples use a light conducting fiber which is composed of a quartz glass core and an optical coat made of silicon [J. P. Conzen, et al: Characterization of a Fiber-Optic Evanescent Wave Absorbance Sensor for Nonpolar Organic Compounds"; Applied Spectroscopy Vol. 47, 6 (1993) 753 or C. Ronot, et al: "Detection of chemical vapours with a specifically coated optical fibre sensor"; Sensors and actuators B, 11 (1993) 375-381]. The silicon coat protects the fiber core against water and other polar substances. Organic compounds, however, such as hydrocarbon compounds, are able to diffuse into the silicon coat. Refractive index variations, swelling and optical absorption variations may result. These variations affect the transmission of the light conducting fiber, since a definite portion of the light conducted in the light conducting fiber also enters into the optical coat as a so-called evanescent wave where it is subject to the variations. Sensors based upon these effects mostly require light conducting fibers of several meters to ensure a sufficient sensor sensitivity and, hence, some space, since the evanescent light portion only makes a small part of the entire light conducted. In this case, it is also true that the principle of transmission measurement on light conducting fiber sensors is disadvantageous with respect to the stability and reproducibility of the sensors. Such disadvantages may deteriorate the advantages otherwise inherent in optical fiber sensors, such as explosion safety, immunity to electromagnetic interference fields, optimal electric potential splitting or bridging of great distances between measuring place and the location of the electronic signal evaluation and, thus, may prevent practical use.
It is further known that a safe and non-distorted transmission of optical sensor signals is feasible with light conducting fibers, even over wide distances, when the measuring information is transmitted as a spectrally encoded optical signal wherein the variations of the measuring information are rendered measurable as spectral displacements of maxima or minima of the light intensity. An example of such a principle is a fiber-optical moisture sensor [EP 0 536 656 A1] and associated method for signal evaluation [EP 0 538 664 A2]. The proper moisture-sensitive element of the fiber-optical moisture sensor is an optical narrow-band filter constituted of a stack of sandwiched optical layers selected from inorganic dielectric material with alternating high and low optical refractive index. The optical layer thickness always is a multiple quarter and a multiple half, respectively, of an adjustable mean working wavelength of the measuring light. It has been known that such layers, when manufactured by vacuum deposition, are porous and, in the presence of water vapor in the ambiance, can take up water [H. Koch: "Optische Untersuchungen zur Wasserdampfsorption in Aufdampfschichten" phys. stat. sol. 12 (1965) 533-543]. The optical refractive indexes of the individual layers vary with the absorption of water and the filter spectrum is displaced towards longer wavelengths.
The spectral displacements of the filter spectra are very precisely measurable even over wide light conducting fiber paths and fiber optical moisture sensors provided with such sandwich stacks permit a very reliable evaluation.
However, such layers according to the state of the art are only sensitive with respect to water vapor, apart from small undesired transverse sensitivities of other vapors such as, for example, alcoholic vapor or ammonia.
It is an object of the invention to provide an optical sensor element for detecting organic compounds, particularly hydrocarbon, that permits the selective detection of the latter by use of units which produce spectral displacements.

Institut fuer Physikalische Hochtechnologie e.V.