When, for example, an acceptance processing unit, among several acceptance processing units, performs acceptance processing of a reservation request, whether or not there is availability in resources of a video chat device assigned to the acceptance processing unit is checked, and if there is availability in the resource, the use of the resource is reserved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chat management system which provides a video chat service.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram illustrating a conventional chat management system, which is shown in JP-A No. 5-233103. In the figure, reference numerals 1, 2 are videophones used for having a video chat with the videophones 2, 1 via a video chat service center 3; reference numeral 3 is the video chat service center that provides video chat service; reference numeral 4 is a video chat device that enables a video chat between videophones 1, 2; reference numeral 5 is a video chat control unit that manages a schedule of the video chat device 4 to control execution of the video chat device 4; reference numeral 6 is a schedule processing unit by which, when an operator of the video chat service center 3 inputs schedule information, the schedule information is stored in a schedule DB or database 7; reference numeral 7 is the schedule DB that stores schedule information; and reference numeral 8 is an execution processing unit for controlling execution of the video chat device 4 according to the schedule information stored in the schedule DB 7.
Next, the operation will be described.
In response to a request from a user of the videophones 1, 2, when an operator of the video chat service center 3 inputs schedule information in which a utilization time of video chat, and the like, are shown, the schedule processing unit 6 of the video chat control unit 5 stores the schedule information in the schedule DB 7.
The execution processing unit 8 of the video chat control unit 5 retrieves the schedule information stored in the schedule DB 7, and then controls the execution of the video chat device 4 according to the schedule information. More specifically, when the utilization time of video chat comes, the execution processing unit 8 starts the execution of the video chat device 4.
As a result, the video chat device 4 originates a call to the videophones 1, 2, or accepts an incoming call from the videophones 1, 2. When a connection to the videophones 1, 2 is made, the video chat device 4 synthesizes voice and video image, which are transmitted from the videophones 1, 2, and then transmits the synthesized voice and the synthesized video image to the videophones 1, 2.
The conventional chat management system is devised as described above. Thus, the conventional chat management system does not have an interface by which a user of the videophones 1, 2 directly operates so that reservations for a video chat are accepted. This produces a problem such that utilization ratio of the video chat device 4 cannot be increased.


A tubing hanger lands in a tubular outer wellhead member and supports a string of production tubing. The tubing hanger has a production passage for communicating with the interior of the production tubing and an annulus passage for communicating with a tubing annulus on the exterior of the production tubing. An access port leads from the annulus passage to an exterior portion of the body for communicating the tubing annulus with the annulus passage. A valve stem is movable along an axis of the annulus passage between a closed position, blocking the access port, and an open position, exposing the annulus port. A pressure equalizing passage extends from the annulus passage above the valve stem to the annulus passage below the valve stem.

An oil or gas well typically has a string of tubing through which the well fluid flows. The tubing is suspended in casing and supported by a tubing hanger at its upper end. The tubing hanger lands in a wellhead member, which may be a wellhead housing, a tubing spool mounted on top of a wellhead housing, or a production tree. For various workover and completion operations, the operator needs to be able to pump fluids down the tubing and back up the tubing annulus surrounding the tubing, or vice-versa.
A tubing hanger has a production passage extending through it for communicating with the interior of the production tubing. One type of tubing hanger has a tubing annulus passage extending through the body of the tubing hanger alongside and parallel to the production tubing. In an offshore well completion, the operator may install a plug in the tubing annulus passage before the production tree is installed. After the tree is installed, the operator retrieves the plug with a wireline retrieval tool.
Alternately, a tubing annulus valve could be installed in the tubing hanger before running the tubing hanger. A valve eliminates the need for a riser having passage through which a wire line tubing annulus plug could be run. The valve may be a spring-biased check valve or a hydraulically actuated valve. A number of designs for tubing annulus valves are shown in the patented art. For various reasons, particularly concerns about the reliability, tubing annulus valves are not in widespread use.


An abnormality in an imaging apparatus configured to generate an image or in an optical member located on an optical path for capturing the image can be accurately determined, irrespective of the environment. An image processing apparatus includes a first receiver configured to receive a first image, a second receiver configured to receive a second image having an imaging range that includes at least a portion of an imaging range of the first image, and a controller configured to determine an abnormality in the first image or the second image based on a common portion in the imaging ranges of the first image and the second image.

Conventionally, techniques of determining fogging of a windshield of a mobile body are proposed. For example, PTL 1 set forth below describes determination that a windshield is dirty or fogged, based on a brightness distribution of an image generated by imaging through the windshield. This technique activates an apparatus for defogging the windshield without an operation by a driver of the mobile body and thus increases the convenience for the driver.

Image processing apparatus, imaging system, mobile body, and image processing method


A transmit antenna switching apparatus and method in a MIMO system are provided. The transmit antenna switching method includes determining modulation orders of users by using reception strengths of user signals with respect to each antenna; summing the determined modulation orders for each antenna; and determining an antenna having the greatest sum of the modulation orders as a transmit antenna. Accordingly, downlink performance can be remarkably improved by transmitting downlink frames through an optimal transmit antenna in accordance with channel environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, and in particular, to a transmit (TX) antenna switching apparatus and method in a MIMO system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication systems are normally designed so a plurality of mobile stations (MSs) can communicate with one another via a single base station (BS). When the BS performs a high-speed data transmission to the MSs, a fading phenomenon occurs due to characteristics of radio channels. To overcome the fading phenomenon, a Transmit Antenna Diversity scheme, which is a kind of a multiple antenna scheme, has been proposed.
The Transmit Antenna Diversity scheme transmits signals using plural TX antennas, instead of a single TX antenna, thereby minimizing a loss of TX data due to the fading phenomenon and increasing a data rate. The multiple antenna scheme is classified into a transmit diversity scheme and a spatial multiplexing scheme. The transmit diversity scheme obtains a transmit diversity by transmitting the same data through two TX antennas, and the spatial multiplexing scheme transmits different data through different TX antennas.
A conventional BS has two antennas where one is used as a receive (RX) antenna for a receive diversity gain and the other is used as a TX/RX antenna. In practice, however, a BS normally uses one fixed TX antenna and uses an RX antenna as a dedicated RX diversity antenna.
In this way, when the fixed TX antenna is used, downlink performance is degraded because a channel environment between the fixed TX antenna and the user is different from a channel environment between the RX diversity antenna and the user.

Transmit antenna switching apparatus and method in MIMO system


A current detection equipment comprises a first coil and a second coil connected in series with the first coil. The current detection equipment is capable of detecting a current flowing through an object which is provided between the first and second coils or provided in a vicinity of the first or second coil. Each of the first and second coils having first conductive patterns provided on a surface of a substrate, a second conductive patterns provided on a back of the substrate and connecting parts which connect the first and second conductive patterns. A semiconductor device including the current detection equipment to measure the current flowing in a semiconductor element is also proposed.

The present invention relates to a current detection equipment and a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a current detection equipment which detects a current flowing through a conductor in a semiconductor device, semiconductor device package or various kinds of electric circuit equipment by a magnetic induction or magnetic field detection, and the semiconductor device using the same.
A current detection equipment for detecting a current from the outside is required in order to measure a current flowing through a lead or a conductor provided in a semiconductor device, or various kinds of electric elements or electric circuits.
For example, the semiconductor device for electric power has evolved into the so-called "module type" with increase in capacity, and the module is becoming larger. However, unevenness of the internal current which originates in parasitic factors, such as an inductance, in a module arises. When the performance of the module is improved, for example by increasing a current capacity or by increasing the operation speed of the module, a destruction of elements in the module may arise owing to the unevenness of the current, and it is becoming a problem.
On the other hand, a current probe cannot be inserted in an inside of the module on the occasion of measurement of the current in a module type semiconductor device. For this reason, unless the internal structure is changed, measurement of current in a module type semiconductor element is practically impossible. On the other hand, if the internal structure of the module is changed in order to provide the conventional measurement equipment such as current transformers, since the inductance itself changes, conditions of measurement also changes and as the results the current to be measured is changed. This leads lower accuracy of measurement. For this reason, a minute current probe for measuring without changing the electrode structure inside a module etc. is being needed.
Conventionally, for detection of a short circuit or for feedback on gate voltage, the current is measured by using an element with a current sensor or by using a current probe called "CT (Current Transformer: current transformer)" etc.
The element with a current sensor has been developed in IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor). This IGBT chip has the structure where the emitter is divided into a divided emitter and a main emitter. In the case of this element, in the state where gate is ON, the current which is flowing through the main element can be estimated by detecting the voltage decrease at the resistance which is inserted between the divided emitter and the main emitter.
However, in this system, since a current sensing part is made as a part of the chip of IGBT, there are the following problems:
(1) Chip structure becomes complicated.
(2) The effective area of the chip becomes smaller.
(3) The output of the voltage decrease from the emitter resistance in the IGBT varies.
(4) The linearity between the current which actually flows, and an output is low.
(5) The output is not insulated.
Chip cost increases as a result of the above (1). The current which can be passed becomes smaller as a result of (2). Measurement accuracy falls as a result of (3). The design of a detection circuit becomes difficult and complicated as a result of (4). Insulating device such as a photo-coupler is required in order to insulate the output as a result of (5). Consequently, the output becomes binary ("1" and "0"), and analog values, such as a current value, cannot be fed back to the control side.
On the other hand, CT convergence the current magnetic flux generated around a conductor with a magnetic core, and detects the current as an electromagnetic induction current produced in a coil. However, the magnetic core has the following problems:
(1) In order to prevent the magnetic saturation in a large current condition, CT is enlarged.
(2) The inductance of the main circuit increases in accordance with the form of the core. As a result, current will increase by forming a current path different form original one when a large core of CT is inserted in the circuit.
Because of these problems, when CT is installed in a small semiconductor device, it is difficult to detect current correctly without affecting the operation of the semiconductor device.
As explained above, it was difficult to measure current correctly and easily, without affecting the operation in insides, of devices, such as a semiconductor device, with the conventional technology.

Current detection equipment and semiconductor device


Composites for actuating or sensing deformation. In embodiments, the composites have a series of flexible, elongated piezoelectric fibers arranged in a parallel array with adjacent fibers separated by relatively soft polymer. The piezoelectric fibers have a common poling direction transverse to their axial extension. The composite further includes flexible conductive material along the axial extension of the fibers for imposing or detecting an electric field.

Piezoelectric materials are materials that change their shape when they are exposed to an electric field. This phenomenon is caused by the repulsive or attractive interaction of the field with the electric dipoles in the material. The nature of the shape change is dependent on the direction of the electric field with respect to the "poling" direction of the piezoelectric material. The poling direction is the direction of the dipoles in the material, which is assigned as one of the three cartesian coordinate axes.
If the electric field is applied along the poling direction, the material expands or contracts along this axis (depending on the direction of the field relative to the direction of the poling). This is known as the primary or direct piezoelectric effect. At the same time the material is expanding or contracting in the poling direction, it is contracting or expanding along the axes that are orthogonal to the poling direction. These motions are known as the secondary or indirect piezoelectric effect. The amount of motion due to the primary effect is typically greater than the amount of motion due to the secondary effect. The amount of motion due to the secondary effect in the orthogonal axes is typically isotropic.
Another property of piezoelectric materials is that, converse to the application of an electric field to cause mechanical deformation, when mechanical force is applied to the material, it produces an electrical signal. The magnitude of the signal also depends on the poling direction axis, with electrical signal measured along the poling direction axis typically having a greater magnitude than the electrical signal measured along the other axes.
The poling direction of a piezoelectric material is selected during manufacture by subjecting a precursor material, e.g., a specific ceramic or ferroelectric material, to an initial large electrical field that causes the dipoles to become aligned. The material thereafter exhibits the piezoelectric effects described above when it is subject to smaller actuating fields or to mechanical forces.
Monolithic piezoelectric materials have been used in structural control as actuators or sensors. The materials can be bonded to or embedded in structural components, and then actuated by applying an electric field to deform the material and the structural component, or the material may be monitored to sense an electrical signal indicative of a mechanical force applied to the material and the structural component. For example, it has been suggested that piezoelectric materials could be incorporated in aircraft wings to detect and compensate for bending and vibration in the air foil caused by excessive lift and drag.
Many structural components, such as aircraft wings, are made of standard composite materials which are composed of relatively stiff reinforcing fibers, such as glass or carbon, embedded in a tough resin matrix. These composite materials must exhibit high strength, low weight, and resistance to environmental attack.


An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured to with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to at least perform: estimating a signal to noise ratio value for an audio signal; generating a post-filter comprising at least one of: a first formant frequency filter and a second formant frequency filter, wherein the post-filter is dependent on the signal to noise ratio value for the audio signal.

Mobile phone and wireless communication use is continuously expanding. Often mobile phones are used in noisy real life environments and/or in a hands free operation mode which results in degradation of the mobile telephone speech because of the noise found in real life environments. Speech enhancement of audio signals can be applied to improve the quality and intelligibility of speech degraded by noise. An approach to speech enhancement is post processing, where the output of a speech decoded signal is further processed. One example of this is the post-processing block in the adaptive multi-rate (AMR) narrowband codec standard (operating within the 0.3 to 3.4 kilohertz frequency range).
Post-processing can further be used to overcome quantisation noise generated by low bit rate speech encoders. Post-processing can be typically implemented in the form of post-filtering. In other words filtering the decoded speech signal with an adaptive filter in order to reduce the effects of environmental noise and enhancing the perceptual quality of the speech.


A two-part implantable heart valve and procedure are disclosed that allow expansion and positioning of a first part of the implantable heart valve having a temporary or transient valvular structure. A second part of the implantable heart valve is deployed within the first part and attaches thereto. The valvular structure of the second part then acts to function as the heart valve replacement. A tool or system is provided for determining an adequate percutaneous heart valve size for a given stenotic valve. A balloon can be inflated inside the stenotic valve to a desired pressure. When this pressure is reached an angiographic image is taken and the balloon diameter is measured at a waist area created by contact between the balloon and the stenotic valve. The diameter represents the minimum percutaneous heart valve diameter to be implanted.

A percutaneous heart valve implantation (PHV) has been developed by Edwards Lifesciences PVT Ltd. and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,118, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. A primary concept behind using a PHV is implantation inside the stenotic region of a calcified native valve without removing the native valve. The PHV stents the stenotic valve open and uses it as an attachment means for the PHV.
A major design parameter of the PHV is the folded or crimped profile. The crimped profile directly influences the ability to insert the PHV into the femoral artery or vein. Accordingly, a smaller profile allows for treatment of a wider population of patients, with enhanced safety.
Generally, the primary attachment mechanism of the PHV to the native valve is friction. This friction is generated by radial contact forces between the stenotic valve and the metallic frame of the PHV. A proper sizing should provide for secure attachment of the PHV to the native valve and provide good sealing to avoid, for example, paravalvular leaks.
Prior PHV implantation methods and apparatus include Schreck in U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,799, entitled, "MINIMALLY-INVASIVE HEART VALVES AND METHODS OF USE", which describes expandable heart valves for minimally invasive valve replacement surgeries. In a first embodiment, an expandable pre-assembled heart valve includes a plastically-expandable annular base having a plurality of upstanding commissure posts. A tubular flexible member including a prosthetic section and a fabric section is provided, with the prosthetic section being connected to the commissure posts and defining leaflets therebetween, and the fabric section being attached to the annular base. In a second embodiment, an expandable heart valve includes an annular tissue-engaging base and a subassembly having an elastic wireform and a plurality of leaflets connected thereto. The annular base and subassembly are separately stored and connected just prior to delivery to the host annulus. The leaflet subassembly is stored in its relaxed configuration to avoid deformation of the leaflets. The expandable heart valves can be implanted using a balloon catheter. The leaflets of the heart valves are secured to the commissure regions of the expandable stents using a clamping arrangement to reduce stress.
Spenser et al. in U.S. patent application No. 20030153974, entitled "IMPLANTABLE PROSTHETIC VALVE", describes a prosthesis device suitable for implantation in body ducts. The device has a support stent that is adapted to be initially crimped in a narrow configuration suitable for catheterization through a body duct to a target location and adapted to be deployed by exerting substantially radial forces from within by means of a deployment device. The support stent includes a plurality of longitudinally rigid support beams of fixed length, and a valve assembly comprising a flexible conduit having an inlet and an outlet made of pliant material attached to the support beams to provide collapsible slack portions of the conduit at the outlet. When flow is allowed to pass through the valve prosthesis device from the inlet to the outlet, the valve assembly is kept in an open position, whereas a reverse flow is prevented due to the collapsible slack portions of the valve assembly that collapse inwardly to block the reverse flow.
Another known technique for implanting a prosthetic valve is a transapical approach where a small incision is made in the chest wall of a patient and the catheter is advanced through the apex (i.e., bottom tip) of the heart. Transapical techniques are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070112422, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Like the transvascular approach, the transapical approach includes a balloon catheter having a steering mechanism for delivering a balloon-expandable prosthetic heart valve through an introducer to the aortic annulus. The balloon catheter includes a deflecting segment just proximal to the distal balloon to facilitate positioning of the prosthetic heart valve in the proper orientation within the aortic annulus.
Yet another known technique for implantation of a prosthetic in the aortic valve is through the use of a two-balloon catheter. For example, such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,481, entitled "VALUE PROSTHESIS FOR IMPLANTATION IN BODY CHANNELS." Typically, two balloons are fixed on a catheter shaft and are separated by a few millimeters. The first balloon carries a frame for scaffolding a stenosed orifice after initial dilatation and the second balloon carries an expandable valve. The first balloon is sufficiently strong to avoid bursting even at very high pressure. The second balloon does not need to be as strong as the first and can, therefore, be thinner, occupying less space and being easier to expand with lower pressure. The time interval between expansion of the first and second balloons must be short because there is a total aortic regurgitation back through the frame towards the left ventricle. Such a regurgitation is a hemodynamic condition that cannot be maintained for more than a few seconds.
In order to decrease the possibility of aortic regurgitation, U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,916, entitled "METHODS AND DEVICES FOR IMPLANTING CARDIAC VALVES" introduces a temporary valve. However, the temporary valve must be removed after the permanent valve is deployed, which requires an additional surgical step and potential complication.


A method of fabricating an organic film is provided. A non-reactive carrier gas is used to transport an organic vapor. The organic vapor is ejected through a nozzle block onto a cooled substrate, to form a patterned organic film. A device for carrying out the method is also provided. The device includes a source of organic vapors, a source of carrier gas and a vacuum chamber. A heated nozzle block attached to the source of organic vapors and the source of carrier gas has at least one nozzle adapted to eject carrier gas and organic vapors onto a cooled substrate disposed within the vacuum chamber.

Molecular organic compounds are employed as active materials in a variety of applications, including organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), photovoltaic cells, and thin films. Typically, these thin (˜100 nm) film devices are grown by thermal evaporation in high vacuum, permitting the high degree of purity and structural control needed for reliable and efficient operation (see S. R. Forrest, Chem. Rev. 97, 1793 (1997)). However, control of film thickness uniformity and dopant concentrations over large areas needed for manufactured products can be difficult when using vacuum evaporation (see S. Wolf and R. N. Tauber, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era (Lattice, 1986)). In addition, a considerable fraction of the evaporant coats the cold walls of the deposition chamber. Over time, inefficient use of materials results in a thick coating which can flake off, leading to particulate contamination of the system and substrate. The potential throughput for vacuum evaporated organic thin film devices is low, resulting in high production costs. Low-pressure organic vapor phase deposition (LP-OVPD) has been demonstrated recently as a superior alternative technique to vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE), in that OVPD improves control over dopant concentration of the deposited film, and is adaptable to rapid, particle-free, uniform deposition of organics on large-area substrates (see M. A. Baldo, M. Deutsch, P. E. Burrows, H. Gossenberger, M. Gerstenberg, V. S. Ban, and S. R. Forrest, Adv. Mater. 10, 1505 (1998)).
Organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD) is inherently different from the widely used vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE), in that it uses a carrier gas to transport organic vapors into a deposition chamber, where the molecules diffuse across a boundary layer and physisorb on the substrate. This method of film deposition is most similar to hydride vapor phase epitaxy used in the growth of III-V semiconductors (see G. B. Stringfellow, Organometallic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy (Academic, London, 1989); G. H. Olsen, in GaInAsP, edited by T. P. Pearsall (Wiley, New York, 1982)). In LP-OVPD, the organic compound is thermally evaporated and then transported in a hot-walled reactor by an inert carrier gas toward a cooled substrate where condensation occurs. Flow patterns may be engineered to achieve a substrate-selective, uniform distribution of organic vapors, resulting in a very uniform coating thickness and minimized materials waste.
Using atmospheric pressure OVPD, Burrows et al. (see P. E. Burrows, S. R. Forrest, L. S. Sapochak, J. Schwartz, P. Fenter, T. Buma, V. S. Ban, and J. L. Forrest, J. Cryst. Growth 156, 91 (1995)) first synthesized a nonlinear optical organic salt 4′-dimethylamino-N-methyl4-stilbazolium tosylate. In a variation on this method, Vaeth and Jensen (see K. M. Vaeth and K. Jensen, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 2091 (1997)) used nitrogen to transport vapors of an aromatic precursor, which was polymerized on the substrate to yield films of poly (s-phenylene vinylene), a light-emitting polymer. Recently, Baldo and co-workers (see M. A. Baldo, V. G. Kozlov, P. E. Burrows, S. R. Forrest, V. S. Ban, B. Koene, and M. E. Thompson, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 3033 (1997)) have demonstrated apparently the first LP-OVPD growth of a heterostructure OLED consisting of N,N-di-(3-methylphenyl)-N,N diphenyl-4,4-diaminobiphenyl and aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3), as well as an optically pumped organic laser consisting of rhodamine 6G doped into Alq3. More recently, Shtein et al. have determined the physical mechanisms controlling the growth of amorphous organic thin films by the process of LP-OVPD (see M. Shtein, H. F. Gossenberger, J. B. Benziger, and S. R. Forrest, J. Appl. Phys. 89:2, 1470 (2001)).
Virtually all of the organic materials used in thin film devices have sufficiently high vapor pressures to be evaporated at temperatures below 400° C. and to then be transported in the vapor phase by a carrier gas such as argon or nitrogen. This allows for positioning of evaporation sources outside of the reactor tube (as in the case of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (see S. Wolf and R. N. Tauber, Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era (Lattice, 1986); G. B. Stringfellow, Organometallic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy (Academic, London, 1989)), spatially separating the functions of evaporation and transport, thus leading to precise control over the deposition process.
Though these examples demonstrate that OVPD has certain advantages over VTE in the deposition of organic films, especially over large substrate areas, the prior art has not addressed the special problems that arise when depositing an array of organic material. Recent successes in fabricating organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have driven the development of OLED displays (see S. R. Forrest, Chem. Rev 97, 1793 (1997)). OLEDs makes use of thin organic films that emit light when voltage is applied across the device. OLEDs are becoming an increasingly popular technology for applications such as flat panel displays, illumination, and backlighting. OLED configurations include double heterostructure, single heterostructure, and single layer, and a wide variety of organic materials may be used to fabricate OLEDs. Several OLED materials and configurations are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,745, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
As is the case for fabrication of arrays using VTE, to adapt OVPD to OLED technology, a shadow mask delineating the shape of the desired pixel grid is placed close to the substrate to define the pattern of deposition on the substrate. Control of the shadow mask patterning is a critical step, for example, in the fabrication of full-color OLED-based displays (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,630, Burrows, et al.). Ideally, the resultant pattern on a substrate is identical to that cut into the shadow mask, with minimal lateral dispersion and optimal thickness uniformity of the deposited material. However, despite the overall advantages of OVPD in depositing organic layers, the use of the shadow mask in OVPD has certain disadvantages including: significant lateral dispersion compared to VTE; material waste; potential for dust contamination on the film from the mask; and difficulty in controlling the mask-substrate separation for large area applications.

Process and apparatus for organic vapor jet deposition


A method for forming a staircase structure of 3D memory, including: forming an alternating layer stack comprising a plurality of dielectric layer pairs disposed over a substrate; forming a first mask stack over the alternating layer stack; patterning the first mask stack to define a staircase region comprising a number of N sub-staircase regions over the alternating layer stack using a lithography process and N is greater than 1; forming a first staircase structure over the staircase region, the first staircase structure has a number of M steps at each of the staircase regions and M is greater than 1; and forming a second staircase structure on the first staircase structure, the second staircase structure has a number of 2*N*M steps at the staircase region.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to three-dimensional (3D) memory devices and fabrication methods thereof.
Planar memory cells are scaled to smaller sizes by improving process technology, circuit designs, programming algorithms, and the fabrication process. However, as feature sizes of the memory cells approach a lower limit, planar process and fabrication techniques become challenging and costly. As a result, memory density for planar memory cells approaches an upper limit.
A 3D memory architecture can address the density limitation in planar memory cells. 3D memory architecture includes a memory array and peripheral devices for controlling signals to and from the memory array. A typical 3D memory architecture includes a stack of gate electrodes arranged over a substrate, with a plurality of semiconductor channels through and intersecting word lines into the substrate. The intersection of a word line and a semiconductor channel forms a memory cell.
The 3D memory architecture requires an electrical contact scheme to allow the control of each individual memory cells. One electrical contact scheme is to form a staircase structure to connect to word lines of each individual memory cells. Staircase structures have been used to connect more than 32-word lines along a semiconductor channel in a typical 3D memory device.
As semiconductor technology advances, 3D memory devices, such as 3D NAND memory devices, keep scaling more oxide/nitride (ON) layers. As a result, the existing multi-cycle trim and etch processes used to form such staircase structures suffer a low throughput and are expensive.

Staircase formation in three-dimensional memory device


An apparatus for detecting a phishing website based on website icons is disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus includes a parser to locate a first website icon corresponding to a first website, an icon hasher to generate a first hash of the first website icon, and a hash checker to determine whether the first hash matches a second hash of a second website icon corresponding to a second website in an icon hash database, the hash checker to, in response to the first hash matching the second hash, determine whether a first portion of a first Uniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding to the first website matches a second portion of a second URL corresponding to the second website, the hash checker to, in response to the first portion not matching the second portion, identify the first website as a phishing website.

In recent years, phishing websites disguised as legitimate websites have been used to convince Internet users to unknowingly divulge personal information (e.g., bank account numbers, social security number, etc.). Detection and/or blocking of such phishing websites can protect Internet users from privacy breaches. However, phishing websites can be difficult to detect because they often appear very similar or identical to a known legitimate website.
The figures are not to scale. Instead, the thickness of the layers or regions may be enlarged in the drawings. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. Connection references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and joined) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a collection of elements and relative movement between elements unless otherwise indicated. As such, connection references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other.
Descriptors "first," "second," "third," etc. are used herein when identifying multiple elements or components which may be referred to separately. Unless otherwise specified or understood based on their context of use, such descriptors are not intended to impute any meaning of priority, physical order or arrangement in a list, or ordering in time but are merely used as labels for referring to multiple elements or components separately for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor "first" may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as "second" or "third." In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for ease of referencing multiple elements or components.


In order to provide an improved pipe washing apparatus guaranteed to be free of the wearing and/or breaking of nozzle shaft, it is provided with a nozzle support to be fixed to the end of a washing hose, which is to be inserted in a pipe to be washed inside, a cylindrical nozzle rotatably fixed to the nozzle support and a nozzle guide member fixed to the forward end of the nozzle for guiding the nozzle along the inner circumference of the pipe. The nozzle support has a longitudinal water channel made along its center axis and closed at its forward end, and lateral jet outlets extending from the longitudinal water channel to open on the cylindrical circumference of the nozzle support. The cylindrical nozzle has a circumferential water chamber made on the inner circumference of the cylinder to communicate with the lateral jet outlets, first, circumferentially oblique jet outlets for rotating the nozzle and second, backward oblique jet outlets for driving the pipe washing apparatus forward, and a lubricating water channel is delimited between the nozzle support and the nozzle to communicate with the circumferential water chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in or relating to a pipe washing apparatus for use in cleaning for instance, drain ducts, which pipe washing apparatus is capable of running forward and circumferentially in the pipe while scrubbing and washing away the scales thus removed.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional pipe washing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent 4-200781(A). As shown in FIG. 6, it comprises a nozzle support 1 fixed to the end of a washing hose H, which is to be inserted in a pipe B to be washed inside, a nozzle 2 attached to the nozzle support 1 and a slender nozzle guide member 3 extending from the nozzle 2. The nozzle 2 has a first radial water-jet throttle 2a directed radially to the inner circumference of the pipe B. The nozzle support 1 has second oblique water jet throttles 1c directed obliquely backward for driving the pipe washing apparatus forward.
Japanese Patent 2-207879(A) shows another pipe washing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 7, it comprises a nozzle support 1 fixed to the end of a washing hose H, which is to be inserted in a pipe B to be washed inside, a nozzle 2 rotatably attached to the nozzle support 1 and a slender nozzle guide member 3 extending from the nozzle 2 forward. The nozzle support 1 has orifices (second water jet throttles) 1c. The nozzle 2 has a radial water-jet throttle (first water-jet throttle) 2a. The orifice 1c of the nozzle support 1 is smaller than the water-jet throttle 2a of the nozzle 2. The slender nozzle guide member 3 extends aside from the center axis of the longitudinal channel of the nozzle 2.
As for the pipe washing apparatus shown in Japanese Patent 4-200781(A) the nozzle 2 is fixed to the cylindrical end 1d of the nozzle support 1 via an associated bearing 6, and the guide member 3, which is composed of a slender stem 3a having a ball 3b fixed to its end, is fixed to one side of the nozzle 2. The massive spherical end 3b of the slender stem 3a is put aside from the center of rotation about which the nozzle 2 is rotated. This cantilever-like support structure is disadvantageous to the rotating of the nozzle 2 while jetting water to the inner circumference of the pipe B for scraping; such cantilever-like support structure burdens undue load on the nozzle shaft 2e , causing an increased bending moment to be applied to the nozzle shaft 2e. This is the main cause for the significant wearing or breaking of the nozzle assembly.
As for the pipe washing apparatus shown in Japanese Patent 2-207879(A) this has a similar cantilever-like support structure to hold a nozzle guide member, the stem of which is even longer than the nozzle guide member in the pipe washing apparatus shown in Japanese Patent 4-200781(A). To assure that undesired vibration caused by the rotating nozzle guide 3 is prevented the bearing 6 of the nozzle shaft must be mounted deep in the hollow nozzle support 1. Thus, extra manufacturing cost is involved.


An electronic device and a sound capturing method are described. The electronic device includes at least one first bone conducting unit, which is operable to detect vibration produced by an object in contact with the first bone conducting unit, and to generate an alternating current signal based on the detected vibration to capture a sound produced by the vibration; and a processing unit, which is operable to receive the alternating current signal and to perform an audio processing on the alternating current signal.

This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 201210534037.3 filed on Dec. 11, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The embodiments of the present disclosure relates to an electronic device and a corresponding sound capturing method.
With the development of communication technology, various portable electronic devices such as the tablet computer, the smart phone, the game machine, and the portable multi-media player or the like, are widely used. However, the user generally needs to hold the electronic device by hand and keep a certain gesture to operate the electronic device or view the content displayed on the electronic device, when using the current portable electronic device. This makes the user difficult to perform other actions when operating the electronic device. Besides, after a time period of operation, the user may easily feel tired in some parts, such as the hand, the shoulder and the neck or the like.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a new portable electronic device to free both hands of the user, to change the operation gesture of the user, and to bring a better usage experience to the user while reducing the occupied space.

Electronic device and sound capturing method


A CNC device 10 and servoamplifiers SA1, SA2 are connected in the manner of a daisy-chain. The positions of the servo motors M1, M2 detected by pulse coders P1, P2 are read in synchronization at the same point in time. In such circumstances, the synchronizing signal for the command to read the positions is propagated from the CNC device 10 to the servoamplifiers SA1, SA2 by means of transmission lines L1, L2. Propagation delay is generated, but synchronization is achieved by correcting this propagation delay time, so that the positions of the servo motors M1, M2 are detected at the same point in time.

In a system consisting of a numerical control device (hereinafter referred to as CNC device), a robot-controller and its peripheral devices or similar industrial device, it is sometimes necessary to link a plurality of devices by means of serial communication for the purpose of ensuring that they operate in synchronization with one another. For instance, machine-tools which are driven and controlled by CNC devices must be synchronized in order to detect the current position of the individual feed shafts at the same point in time. Similarly, the individual shafts have to be moved in synchronization. Signals for the purpose of implementing synchronization of this sort are transmitted by way of serial communication.
For instance, FIG. 13 illustrates a system where two machines (master and slave) are connected by communication. One method of controlling the slave machine by synchronizing it with the aid of serial communication to the master machine involves emitting from the master machine to the slave machine a signal requesting transmission of a synchronizing signal with a predetermined cycle from a timer at a time which is to form the basis for synchronization, transmitting a packet (frame) on a transmission control circuit identifying it as a synchronizing signal, and transmitting this packet after conversion to a serial signal by means of a parallel-serial converter. Each time the reception control circuit of the slave machine receives this packet by way of a serial-parallel converter, it either operates its own internal sequencer or controls its own internal timer in such a manner as to make it conform to the timer of the master machine. This method is well known.
The packet which is transmitted from the master machine for the purpose of synchronization may be for exclusive use. Provided that a request for the transmission of data from the master machine is generated with synchronous timing, this data packet itself is sometimes treated as synchronization information. FIG. 14 illustrates an example of this packet. The slave machine may treat reception of either the whole packet or just the header section of the packet as a synchronization information.
When a packet is transmitted by serial communication, there is a discrepancy equivalent at least to the length of the serial data between the timing with which the transmitting side begins transmitting and that with which the receiving side finishes receiving the data.
FIG. 15 is a diagram which elucidates this discrepancy in timing for the example shown in FIG. 13. In FIG. 15 only the header section is treated as synchronization data (synchronizing signal). It is assumed that a request for transmission is generated cyclically in accordance with an internal timer in the master machine, and that now at a given time (reference time t0) such a request for transmission has been generated from the timer of the master machine. The transmission control circuit transmits a packet of the type illustrated in FIG. 14 to the parallel-serial converter, where it is converted into a serial signal and transmitted to the slave machine. There is a delay D1 from the time at which this signal requesting transmission was generated until the packet is transmitted to the transmission line. The reception of this packet by the slave machine entails further delays in the forms of the propagation time on the transmission line Dp and the time D2 required for synchronization. Inasmuch as the slave machine becomes aware of the arrival of the header section only after a fixed interval D3 from the completion of its reception, the synchronizing signal (header detection signal) generated by the slave machine is subject to a delay equivalent to the total of the delays (D1+Dp+D2+D3) from the time t0 at which the request for transmission was generated by the master machine.
Conventionally, the propagation delay time Dp during which the signal propagates along the transmission line has been regarded as capable of being ignored. The remaining delay times D1, D2 and D3 are always constant and can be determined without difficulty from the circuitry configuration which was adopted at the time of designing the master and slave machines. Thus, when synchronizing in the conventional manner by the internal timer in the slave machine, the delay (D1+D2+D3) determined from the circuitry configuration is previously set in the slave machine as a correction value. When the slave machine detects the synchronizing signal (header detection signal), it sets the correction value as the initial value in the internal timer to activate the timer. The timer takes `time up` (the time when the internal timer in the master machine has measured the value obtained by subtracting the correction value from the time beginning with the reference time t0 and ending with synchronization time T) as the synchronization time, thereby accomplishing desired synchronization by making correction corresponding to the delay. The opposite method is also used, whereby the delay is corrected by advancing the timing with which transmission begins from the master machine by the known amount of the delay and controlling the internal timer in the slave machine, by regarding the time at which the synchronizing signal (header detection signal) is detected as reference time.
The higher the communication rate (bit rate), the more accurate synchronization control of serial communication becomes. For example, an accuracy of approximately 1 ms at 1 Mbps rises to about 10 ns at 100 Mbps. At such a degree of accuracy it is no longer possible to overlook the time Dp which is required in order for the signal to propagate the serial communication. The time it takes for the signal to propagate along the transmission line is roughly 5 ns/m in the case of optical fibres, so that a delay of 50 ns is generated in propagating 10 m.
Nor is it possible to overlook the propagation delay even where the communication rate (bit rate) is slow if the transmission line is long.


An approach is disclosed for providing item-to-item recommendations. The approach receives data for an item. The approach generates recommended candidate item data for the data of the received item. The approach generates feature data of the recommended candidate item data and the data of the received item. The feature data may include one or more similarities between the data of the received item and data corresponding to a respective recommended candidate item. The approach generates ranked recommended candidate item data based on the generated feature data and at least one weight determined for candidate test item data. The candidate test item data may include data corresponding to the recommended candidate item data.

In some cases, when a customer purchases an item on an e-commerce website, the customer may select and add the item to the customer's online shopping cart. The e-commerce website may display the item on, for example, an add-to-cart page, and recommend items that complement the item added to the online shopping cart. In other cases, when a customer views an item on the e-commerce website, the website may display and recommend similar items to the item that the customer is currently viewing.
The e-commerce website may utilize conventional navigational models to recommend the complementary and/or similar items, and help customers discover more items for sale on the website. For example, for a given item A, a conventional navigational model may leverage various features of the item A and retrieve candidate items that are viewed and/or purchase with item A. The navigational model may rank these candidate items, and may recommend these candidate items to the customer. However, a typical catalog of items for sale on an e-commerce website may include about 80% cold start items. Cold start items may include items that are new and do not include user interaction data, such as co-view data and/or co-purchase data, or items that do not have enough user interaction data to recommend complimentary or similar items. As such, conventional navigational models may only recommend about 20% of the items within the catalog.


A light guide and various vehicular lamp assemblies using the same are presented herein. In one embodiment, the lamp assembly includes a light source, such as an LED module. A light coupler is operable to receive light from the light source, and distribute the light in a first direction. The light guide includes an elongated, curvilinear body with first and second longitudinal end faces, and opposing light-emitting and light-guiding surfaces extending between the two end faces on a respective side of the body. The first end face communicates with the light coupler to receive light therefrom. The light guide body transmits light generated by the light source along the longitudinal expanse thereof. The light-guiding surface includes an array of longitudinally-spaced optical grooves configured to refract light generated by the light source in a second direction. The depth of preselected optical grooves is varied along the length of the light guide.

Current production motorized vehicles, such as the modern-day automobile, are originally equipped with a lighting system to provide interior and exterior illumination for the vehicle operator. Such lighting systems include an array of lamp assemblies that are mounted or integrated to the front, sides and rear of the vehicle. The purpose of these lamp assemblies is to provide exterior illumination for the driver to safely operate the vehicle in low-light conditions, such as nighttime driving, and to increase the conspicuity of the vehicle. Such lighting systems also display information about the vehicle's presence, position, size, direction of travel, as well as providing signaling functions to indicate the operator's intended maneuvering of the vehicle.
All automobiles must be equipped with rear brake lights that illuminate upon actuation of the vehicle brake system to indicate that the vehicle is slowing or stopping. Generally fitted in multiples of two, symmetrically at the left and right edges of the vehicle rear, the brake lights are red, steady-burning lamps that are activated when the driver applies pressure to the brake pedal. Many automobiles are also equipped with a central brake lamp that is mounted higher than the vehicle's traditional left and right brake lamps. The central brake lamp is known as a center high-mounted stop lamp, or "CHMSL" (pronounced chim-zul). The CHMSL is intended to provide a deceleration warning to following drivers whose view of the vehicle's regular stop lamps is blocked by interceding vehicles.
In addition to the above-mentioned brake light assemblies, current production automobiles are also equipped with front-mounted headlamps. With a similar arrangement to the rear brake lights, an individual headlamp assembly is typically mounted at both the front-left and front-right corners of the vehicle. The headlamp is generally designed to provide forward illumination in two different settings: a "low-beam setting, which provides adequate forward and lateral illumination for normal driving conditions with minimized glare, and a "high-beam" setting, which provides an intense, center-weighted distribution of light that is primarily suitable for driving scenarios where on-coming drivers are not present.
Headlamp assemblies, in addition to forward illumination, may include multiple lamps to provide various features. Daytime running lamps, also known as daylight running lamps (or "DRL" for short), are provided to increase the conspicuity of the vehicle during daylight conditions. DRLs automatically switch on when the vehicle is shifted into drive. These may be functionally-dedicated lamps incorporated into the vehicle design, or may be provided, for example, by the low- or high-beam headlamps. Similarly, nighttime standing-vehicle conspicuity to the front is provided by white or amber light emitted from front position lamps, more commonly known as "parking lamps".
Conventional lamp assemblies include numerous internal parts, such as brackets, reflectors, bulbs, internal adjuster mechanisms, and, in some cases, a projector lamp. Traditionally, the entire lamp assembly is pre-assembled into a protective lamp housing prior to integration with the vehicle. A protective outer lens is also necessary to shield the internal lamp componentry from external debris, weather, and the like. The complexity of such prior art lamp assemblies adds to the cost of manufacturing the assembly, which in turn adds to the cost of the automobile.
More recently, some vehicular lamp assemblies have replaced the traditional filament-type light bulb with a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs offer certain advantages over their conventional bulb counterparts, including reduced power consumption, improved shock resistance, minimal heat generation, and a longer operational life expectancy. Individually, though, an LED does not have sufficient luminous output to replace other lamp formats (e.g., incandescent, tungsten halogen, fluorescent, and high intensity discharge). As a result, the LEDs in prior art lamp assemblies are normally grouped into strings or clusters to accumulate sufficient light output. In addition, the light emitted by such LED clusters generally diverges into an uncontrolled light spread distribution, which is unsuitable for certain lamp configurations, such as DRLs and turn signals.


A system and method for detecting a shaft break in a turbofan gas turbine engine includes sensing fan rotational speed and sensing turbine engine rotational speed. A rate of change of rotational speed difference between the sensed fan rotational speed and the sensed turbine engine rotational speed is determined in a processor, and a determination that a shaft break has occurred is made in the processor based at least in part on the rate of change of the rotational speed difference.

Although highly unlikely, it is postulated that the shaft connected to the fan of a turbofan gas turbine engine could break. For turbofan gas turbine engines, the control system controls the fan speed to match the speed set point by adjusting the fuel flow. Thus, in the highly unlikely, yet postulated event that the shaft connected to the fan were to break, a turbine overspeed condition could occur. This is because the fan would no longer load the corresponding turbine and, because the broken shaft would decouple the fan from the turbine, the rotational speed of the turbine would rapidly increase.
As may be appreciated, a turbine overspeed can have deleterious effects. Thus, most turbofan engines include shaft break detection systems. Unfortunately, many presently known shaft break detection systems can be relatively unreliable, and relatively expensive.
Hence, there is a need for a system and method for detecting a shaft break in a turbofan gas turbine engine that is relatively reliable and relatively inexpensive. The present invention addresses at least this need.

Turbofan gas turbine engine shaft break detection system and method


A road surface μ is updated with time on the basis of a present value (an estimation value E) of the road surface μ estimated to estimate the road surface μ. In this case, if there is acquired road-surface information in a vehicle travel direction that is detected by a road-side infrastructure, a specifying unit 11 specifies a road-surface friction coefficient based on the road-surface information. An estimating unit 12 sets the road surface μ (μinf) thus specified as an initial value, resets the present value of the road surface μ to the initial value, and then starts estimation of the road-surface friction coefficient based on this initial value. Accordingly, estimation precision of a road-surface friction coefficient is enhanced by using an initial value having high reliability in autonomous estimation of the road-surface friction coefficient.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a road-surface friction coefficient estimating device and a road-surface friction coefficient estimating method, and particularly to a method of estimating a road-surface friction coefficient by using an adaptive control theory.
2. Description of the Related Art
A road-surface friction coefficient is used for calculation of control parameters in vehicle control such as traction control, brake force control, torque distribution control or the like. In order to surely perform such control, it is necessary to precisely detect the road-surface friction coefficient. For example, a JP-A-08-2274 and a JP-A-11-64128 that have been already filed by the applicant of the present application disclose technology estimating a road-surface friction coefficient from a steering angle, a vehicle speed and a yaw rate by using an adaptive control theory. According to the JP-A-08-2274, a yaw motion or slide motion of a vehicle is modeled, a yaw motion of an actual vehicle and a modeled yaw motion are compared with each other, and a tire characteristic is momentarily estimated, thereby estimating a road-surface friction coefficient. Furthermore, according to the JP-A-11-64128, a road-surface friction coefficient serving as a base for estimation of a road-surface friction coefficient is set to a predetermined initial value in accordance with a travel environment or a state of a vehicle, whereby the road-surface friction coefficient can be estimated with high precision.
Furthermore, for example, a JP-A-2002-19489 discloses a vehicle-speed controlling device that sets the upper limit value of a vehicle speed smaller as a road-surface friction coefficient decreases, in accordance with the road-surface friction coefficient transmitted from an infrastructure set on a road.
However, with respect to the JP-A-11-64128, the predetermined initial value is properly used according to the situation, however, this initial value may not coincide with the present road-surface friction coefficient. In order to enhance the estimation precision of the road-surface friction coefficient, it is preferable to use an initial value closer to the present road-surface condition, that is, an initial value having higher reliability. Furthermore, the JP-A-2002-19489 discloses control of the vehicle speed by using a road-surface friction coefficient transmitted from an infrastructure, however, it does not disclose any method of autonomously estimating the road-surface friction coefficient by using this value.

Road-surface friction coefficient estimating device and road-surface friction coefficient estimating method


A polishing method enables to initiation a second polishing step of a workpiece with an optimal thickness of an uppermost-layer film to be polished. The polishing method comprises: measuring a thickness of an uppermost-layer film, and then carrying out a first polishing step to polish the uppermost-layer film partway and a second polishing step to polish the remaining uppermost-layer film and a next-layer film; determining the polishing rates of the uppermost-layer film in the first and second polishing steps; and measuring a thickness of an uppermost-layer film of a predetermined nth workpiece and setting a processing time for the first polishing step of the nth workpiece or a next predetermined nth workpiece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polishing method and a polishing apparatus which are useful for polishing and flattening a surface (surface to be polished) of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the formation of integrated circuits on a surface of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, it is a general practice to deposit an insulating film, a conductive film or a semiconductive film, etc. on the surface of the substrate, and form integrated circuit interconnects in the deposited film. For the formation of such interconnects, lithography of an integrated circuit pattern with light or electron beams is carried out. In order to form fine interconnects, it is necessary to make the width of a lithography pattern as narrow as possible, which requires a shallower focus depth. This necessitates flattening of a surface of a semiconductor wafer on which lithography is to be carried out. As a method for the flattening, polishing by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus is generally practiced. A multi-stage CMP process is known which comprises polishing a laminate of films formed in a surface of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, in a plurality of process steps.
For example, a substrate W to be polished, as shown in FIG. 6A, is prepared by forming trenches 302 in an insulating layer 300 and forming a barrier film 304 of, e.g., SiN on a surface of the insulating layer 300, and then depositing an oxide film 306 on a surface of the barrier film 304 while filling the oxide film 306 into the trenches 302. In an exemplary multi-step CMP process, a first polishing step of the surface of the substrate W is carried out to polish the oxide film 306 partway, and then a second polishing step is carried out to polish the remaining oxide film 306 and a predetermined amount (to a target value) of the barrier film 304, as shown in FIG. 6A. In this case, the first polishing step may be carried out by using a polishing liquid (slurry) which has a high polishing rate for the oxide film 306, though low in its surface irregularities-eliminating property for the oxide film 306, and then the second polishing step may be carried out by using a polishing liquid which has a high surface irregularities-eliminating property for the oxide film 306, though low in the polishing rate for the oxide film 306, so as to increase the polishing amount of the oxide film 306 in the first polishing step and to thereby shorten the overall polishing time.
As shown in FIG. 6A, when the oxide film 306 is deposited on the insulating layer 300 in which the trenches 302 are formed, depressions are formed in those portions of the surface of the oxide film 306 which correspond to the trenches 302 provided in the insulating layer 300. In order to increase the throughput, it is desirable to polish the oxide film (uppermost-layer film) 306 as much as possible in the first polishing step using a polishing liquid having a high polishing rate for the oxide film 306 and to minimize the polishing of the oxide film 306 in the second polishing step using a polishing liquid having a low polishing rate for the oxide film 306. However, the first polishing step using a polishing liquid having a low surface irregularities-eliminating property cannot flatten the depressions in the surface of the oxide film 306, and the depressions need to be eliminated by the second polishing step. It is therefore necessary to terminate the first polishing step when the oxide film (uppermost-layer film) 306 is partly left.
On the other hand, the overall polishing time becomes longer if the second polishing step is initiated when the oxide film (uppermost-layer film) 306 remains in excess. Further, since a polishing liquid used in the second polishing step generally has low polishing ability for the lower-layer barrier film 304, the second polishing step needs to be carried out over a considerably long time. When the second polishing step is thus carried out over a long time, excessive polishing may occur in the surface of the oxide film 306 in the trenches 302, forming a depression having a depth "d", as shown in FIG. 6B, which may cause dishing or erosion. Thus, the second polishing step should desirably be initiated with an optimal thickness of the oxide film 306 to be polished.
However, a thickness of a film to be polished, like the oxide film 306, forming an uppermost surface layer of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, generally varies among substrates. In addition, the polishing rate of an uppermost-layer film can decrease, e.g., due to deterioration of a consumable member of a polishing apparatus. It has therefore been generally difficult to make a thickness of an uppermost-layer film constant at the start of the second polishing step.

Polishing method and polishing apparatus


A bathing water pre-mix system, for attaching to an existing plumbing system and supplying temperature regulated water to a user. A mixing tank has a hot water inlet and cold water inlet that is attached to the existing plumbing system. The mixing tank has at least one outlet for dispensing water from the mixing tank, preferrably through a shower head. A desired temperature control allows the user to set a desired water temperature. A pair of solenoid valves control water flow at the hot water inlet and cold water inlet in an attempt at achieving the desired water temperature within the mixing tank. A water level indicator informs the user about the water level within the mixing tank. When a sufficient volume of water is present in the mixing tank at the desired temperature, water flow into the tank is halted, and the water in the mixing tank is dispensed to the user through the outlet. The mixing tank and outlet may be configured so that the mixing tank is not normally fully depleted, but leaves a reserve supply which may be accessed in the event of an emergency.

The invention relates to a bathing water pre-mixing system. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for combining hot and cold water, and mixing the same to a desired water temperature desired by the user, before it is released to the user for bathing.
People have different preferrences with regard to the temperature of the water that they bathe in. Some people like the water dispensed from their shower head to be lukewarm. Others prefer to take a shower with very hot water. Whatever temperature is desired, it must be obtained by mixing cold water and scalding hot water.
Usually the mixing is done by adjusting the hot and cold water taps, until the desired temperature is achieved. Part of the mixing process always involves running the hot water tap until the water obtained therefrom is very hot. This involves allowing cooled down water sitting in the hot water pipes to run off, until only hot water fresh from the source is available at the tap. While the user waits for the water from the tap to become hot, and then experimentally adjusts the mix with the cold water to obtain the desired temperature, all water is wasted down the drain.
In addition to the wastefullness of the present system as described, it can also surprise the user with a sudden burst of hot or cold water, causing discomfort or injury. Before the hot water being dispensed is obtained directly from the hot water source, it can oscillate between hot and warm. Thus, one might believe that the hottest water is currently being dispensed and adjust the temperature accordingly, only to be surprised moments later when the hot water suddenly reaches its true maximum temperature. In addition, in some low pressure plumbing systems, a toilet flush or any other use of cold water in the household can confront the shower user with a suddenly stream of scalding hot water.
Further, conventional plumbing systems generally have no provisions for storing water for an emergency. In the event of an emergency such as an earthquake or fire, it is quite likely that the water supply will be interrupted. When the water supply is suddenly interrupted, very little water can be obtained from the household plumbing before the lack of pressure prevents further water retrieval.
In addition, it has been discovered that high pressure water from a standard showerhead can help hair loss progress. The high pressure water can irritate the scalp. In addition, the water leaving the showerhead is not always uniformly mixed. Thus, Alternately hot and cold water droplets leaving a standard showerhead can damage the scalp.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,177 to Cashmore discloses a fluid flow and temperature control apparatus, for supplying a liquid at a constant temperature. Cashmore employs computer controlled valves for regulating the output water temperature in real time. A mixing chamber is provided which does not store water, but which simply constitutes a place where the hot water and cold water pipes are joined. Cashmore does not prevent water waste, since the water must still be "run off" until the required temperature is obtained.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,499 to Neumann discloses a temperature sensitive shower diverter valve and method for diverting shower water. Neumann is aimed at preventing a sudden burst of hot water from reaching a person while showering. To accomplish the same, Neumann employs a diverter valve at the shower head which automatically diverts the water away from the user when a sudden change in temperature is detected. Neumann simply interrupts the shower spray when the water is too hot, it does not help achieve an optimum shower water temperature for the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,780 to Pollack describes an automated bathroom system. The system regulates water temperature and injects cleaning solutions and bath additives into the water stream. This system is wastefull, since it directs water to the drain if it is outside of a predetermined temperature range.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,688 to Puccerella discloses a water saving system which employs return lines, which return water to the water heater when the water in the pipes falls below a predetermined temperature. This system requires a complex network of pipes to operate, and cannot be easily installed in a conventional plumbing system simply having a hot water and cold water supply.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.


An improved wall system comprising a plurality of blocks formed at least partially of a masonry material, a layer of an insulative material, and a layer of a curable or settable material interposed between the blocks and the layer of insulative material. The blocks may provide the wall with a masonry external surface or an exterior surface that is substantially aesthetically completed upon arrangement of the blocks and prior to the pouring of the layer of curable or settable material. In an alternate embodiment, ties may extend between a pair of blocks to form a construction unit that can be assembled in a factory or other location and then transported to a work site. The construction unit may be configured to include a space between spaced apart blocks into which a layer of an insulative material and a layer of a curable or settable material may be received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to in situ poured wall systems and associated methods and, more particularly, to such a wall system that includes at least one masonry external surface, or a substantially aesthetically completed external surface, along with an associated method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Poured wall systems and associated methods are well known in the relevant art. Such poured wall systems typically involve the use of some type of mold into which a curable or settable material is poured and which, after curing or setting, forms a finished wall. Such wall systems have been used successfully to form subterranean and/or above-ground walls of structures such as houses and the like and for other purposes.
One type of known wall system employs reusable form panels that are manually assembled to form a mold into which a material such as uncured concrete is poured and permitted to cure. After curing, the reusable form panels are manually removed, thus leaving a finished wall of the exemplary material concrete.
In the simplest form of the aforementioned system, the resulting wall is a solid block of the construction material which, in the example provided, is concrete, and may additionally include reinforcement structures such as so-called rebar extending therethrough. It is known, however, that concrete has relatively poor thermal insulative properties. Additionally, the labor involved in initially assembling and ultimately removing the reusable form panels can be significant. Moreover, the external appearance of a poured wall can be less than fully aesthetically pleasing. In this regard, it is noted that applicable building codes may require the covering of exposed concrete walls.
In an effort to overcome the thermal shortcomings of concrete walls, it has been known to add a layer of insulating material, such as a sheet of expanded polystyrene, to the wall by disposing the layer of insulating material against one of the form panels prior to pouring the uncured concrete into the space between the layer of insulating material and the other form panel. Again, however, the exposed layer of insulating material has been known to be aesthetically unsatisfactory.
A need thus exists for an improved wall system and associated method that provides at least one aesthetically pleasing external surface, that incorporates an insulative material that enhances the insulative character of the resulting wall, and/or that is relatively easy to use according to the associated method. Such a wall system and method may allow for the incorporation of one or more appropriate reinforcement structures.
Such an improved wall system and/or associated method may involve the use of blocks or other structures into which a curable or settable material such as uncured concrete can be poured to form an in situ wall, wherein the blocks each include a substantially aesthetically completed exterior surface. The substantially aesthetically completed exterior surfaces of the blocks or other structures may together provide a substantially aesthetically completed exterior surface for the wall.
Another type of known wall system employs blocks formed of an insulative material such as expanded polystyrene formed with a cavity extending therethrough. A large number of such blocks are assembled together such that the individual cavities thereof together combine to form a single coextensive cavity extending throughout the array of assembled blocks. The blocks including the coextensive cavity together form a mold into which a curable or settable material such as uncured concrete can be poured to form an in situ wall of which the original blocks of insulative material are an integral part. The resulting in situ wall includes external surfaces formed by the insulative material, which often are less than fully aesthetically pleasing.
It is thus desired to provide an improved wall system and associated method that provides a wall formed in situ that includes a relatively aesthetically pleasing external surface. Such an aesthetically pleasing external surface may be a masonry external surface.

Wall system with masonry external surface and associated method


An embedded memory device structure, and a method for making the embedded memory device structure having self adjusting pre-charge delay characteristics. The method includes selecting a desired memory array having a dummy column of cells. Coupling a pre-charge detect circuit to the dummy column of cells. The pre-charge detect circuit is configured to measure an activation and pre-charge response time of cells contained within the dummy column of cells. Transferring the activation and pre-charge response time to an address transition detect unit. The method further includes generating a custom clock timing signal in response to the activation and pre-charge response time of cells contained within the dummy column of cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly to clock timing circuitry for use in memory devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most integrated circuit devices are required to have some type of memory device for storing information, and there is a growing trend to integrate embedded memory arrays directly onto the a chip, such as, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Typically, when a memory device is embedded into a chip, the memory device (e.g., an Asynchronous SRAM) is provided with circuitry for writing and reading the data. By way of example, such common circuitry typically includes Y-decoders, X-decoders, sense amplifiers, output buffers, address transition detectors (ATD's) and clock buffers. Therefore, to produce a memory device that has fast access times and quick recoveries after a read/write operation, each of the components of the common circuitry must be tuned to eliminate delays or inefficiencies.
With this in mind, FIG. 1 shows a prior art block diagram of a memory 100 created from a generator that may be embedded into an integrated circuit design. The memory 100 is shown having a memory array 102, which is the main memory array having a plurality of memory cells that are arranged in a row and column format. Typically, memory 100 is provided with a row decode 104, a column decode 106, control circuitry 105, an address transition detect (ATD) 110, and sense amplifiers and output buffers 107. It is these circuit components that are used to facilitate the writing and reading of data to or from selected cells in the memory array 102.
When the memory has an address transition detect (ATD) circuit 110, the memory is typically considered to be an asynchronous memory device. This is because the address transition detect (ATD) 110 will produce a clock input signal that is analogous to that produced by a synchronous memory device. By way of example, a synchronous memory device will have a "clock input" signal that identifies a read or a write operation when a transition from LOW-to-HIGH (i.e., a rising edge) occurs, and commence a pre-charge operation when a transition from HIGH-to-LOW (i.e., a falling edge) occurs. As shown in a waveform 120, a time lapse between the falling edge and the next rising edge (i.e., when the next read or write operation occurs), is the time needed by the memory 100 to prepare itself for a next read or write operation. In this example, the ATD 110 is shown receiving an address transition input that provides information of when a memory address in the memory array 102 is to be accessed for a read or write operation.
Although the address transition detect (ATD) 110 is optimized to provide a clock input signal waveform 120 for a specific memory array 102, when the memory array 102 is replaced with a different size memory array produced by the memory generator, the ATD 110 will continue to produce the fixed clock input signal waveform. The possibility of interchanging different size memory arrays is not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, many companies implement what are known as core libraries, wherein the core libraries may include a plurality of memory arrays from which to pick an choose from. However, this increased flexibility may cause an integrated circuit design, e.g., a memory and ATD circuit to be improperly matched. That is, the fixed clock input signal waveform 120 that was well suited for a single memory size 100 may not be well suited for different size memories.
By way of example, if the new memory array is larger than the memory array that was previously produced by a memory generator, the pre-charge delay may be too short due to increased loading. Of course, when the pre-charge delay is too short, the more loaded memory array may not be ready to perform the next read or write operation. On the other hand, if the memory array 102 is replaced with a smaller sized memory array, then the fixed pre-charge delay may be too long, thereby causing a slow down in the rate at which a read or a write operation may be performed. In either case, the ATD 110 for a given memory will also have to be replaced and tuned at an increased cost each time the memory array 102 is modified.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a memory that has built-in circuitry for adjusting its clock input signal waveform in response to a change in memory size.

Self adjusting pre-charge delay in memory circuits and methods for making the same


A radiator includes a core for cooling a fluid, and a tank connected to the core having a side surface with a depression extending between the front and rear surfaces adapted to receive a hose and a plurality of integral ribs formed on the tank external surfaces. The radiator further includes an elongated support member having a body portion removably connected to the core and extending along a side thereof, an end portion removably connected to the tank, and a flexible expansion portion permitting relative movement between the body and end portions to reduce stress during thermal expansion and contraction of the core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat exchangers and, in particular, to radiators employed with internal combustion engines used in motor vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
Radiators used for automobiles and other motor vehicles are subject to stresses as the components thereof thermally expand and contract between ambient and operating temperatures. Weight and space restrictions also place constraints on the radiator's performance in cooling the engine coolant. These factors place great limitations on original equipment components specially designed for the motor vehicle. For aftermarket radiators, which are often installed to enhance engine performance and distinctiveness, these limitations place even greater design and manufacturing hurdles, particularly where the design must accommodate different vehicles.
Accordingly, there is a need for high strength and increased cooling ability in aftermarket or replacement engine cooling radiators.


In a massively parallel computing system having a plurality of nodes configured in m multi-dimensions, each node including a computing device, a method for routing packets towards their destination nodes is provided which includes generating at least one of a 2m plurality of compact bit vectors containing information derived from downstream nodes. A multilevel arbitration process in which downstream information stored in the compact vectors, such as link status information and fullness of downstream buffers, is used to determine a preferred direction and virtual channel for packet transmission. Preferred direction ranges are encoded and virtual channels are selected by examining the plurality of compact bit vectors. This dynamic routing method eliminates the necessity of routing tables, thus enhancing scalability of the switch.

A well known topology for massively parallel computer data networking systems, is the 3D torus. a 3D torus is generally a cubic grid of compute nodes that has a ring network at every level. Supercomputing massively parallel systems, such as the system described in the Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/271,124, use the 3D torus topology to provide the minimal path route, i.e. the shortest path for communications between hundreds or thousands of nodes. One problem with this topology in a massively parallel system is the inefficient delivery of messages over an interconnection network, particularly when Ethernet or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switches are used.
More specifically for example, Ethernet or ATM switches do not generally provide low latency, high throughput, and error free delivery of packets, since these switches typically lose packets if there is not enough buffer space, i.e., holding areas for input and output processing, to hold the packet. Additionally, the problem of contention, i.e., a conflict that arises when two or more requests are made concurrently for a resource that cannot be shared, such as a communication link, must be overcome if the switching network is to be scalable to the size of tens of thousands of nodes.
Typically, contention issues have been dealt with by employing some sort of arbitration algorithm which mediates which transmitters on a network can transmit packets subsequent to a packet collision detection. Unfortunately, the related art has not addressed the need for a collision detection/arbitration method which is ultra-scalable, thus suitable for massively parallel systems. Additionally, current routing techniques are not suitable for scaling up to massively parallel systems because the routers typically have tables that must be maintained. Overhead for table maintenance becomes unduly burdensome as the number of nodes reaches the tens of thousands.
As stated above, the three-dimensional (3D) torus topology is known. For example, the Cray T3E uses this 3D torus topology. However, the Cray uses routing tables stored in each switch element, an approach that does not scale well to tens of thousands of nodes. Other known technologies are the "Bubble" escape virtual channels (VC's), (Puente et al., "Adaptive Bubble Router: A Design to Balance Latency and Throughput in Networks for Parallel Computers", In Proceedings of the International Conference on Parallel Processing, ICPP '99, September 1999), which provide fully dynamic routing that does not require routing tables.
Another known technique is the use of multiple virtual channels to reduce "head-of-line" blocking, as employed in the SP2 and the Cray computers. The use of a two-stage arbitration approach has been taught by the MIT Reliable Router (William J. Dally, Larry R. Dennison, David Harris, Kinhong Kan, and Thucydides Xanthoppulos, "Architecture and Implementation of the Reliable Router," In Proceedings of HOT Interconnects II, pp. 122-133, August 1994).
Another related art technology uses virtual cut-through routing in an attempt to optimize throughput and latency. See P. Kermani and L. Kleinrock entitled "Virtual Cut-Through: A New Computer Communication Switching Technique", Computer Networks, Vol. 3, pp 267-286, 1979, incorporated herein by reference.
However, the related art references do not adequately solve the problem of packet contention and queueing delays along a selected packet direction of travel and virtual channel, particularly when a switch is scaled up to handle tens of thousands of nodes.
In a related disclosure, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/271,124 entitled "A Novel Massively Parallel Supercomputer", therein is described a semiconductor device with two electronic processors within each node of the multi-computer. Within the supercomputer, there is a plurality of high-speed internal networks, and an external network employing Ethernet. These networks are expected to service over 64,000 nodes.
While there is no known prior art that attempts to scale a network switch to tens of thousands of nodes for fast, error-free operation, there remains the need for a scalable arbitration method that enables error-free, "low latency, high bandwidth (throughput) data communications, to enhance the message-passing capability for a massively parallel system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


Techniques for enhancing or replacing host operating system functionality by leveraging guest operating system functionality are disclosed. Incoming data is received from a computing resource of a host operating system, and, before the incoming data is transmitted to a higher-level module in the host operating system, the incoming data is intercepted by a set of one or more leveraged guest modules in a guest operating system. After intercepting the incoming data, the leveraged guest modules perform one or more operations on the incoming data. The leveraged guest modules may provide more advanced support and capabilities to perform these operations than any counterpart functionality in the host operating system. In addition to performing these operations, the leveraged guest modules also determine whether or not to return the incoming data to the host operating system.

Operating system virtualization enables a number of different operating systems to execute on a single host computing device, thereby expanding the number of applications that can be executed on the host computing device and expanding the capabilities of the host computing device. In an operating system virtualization environment, the host computing device includes a host operating system that runs directly on the physical hardware of the host device. To achieve operating system virtualization, the host operating system may execute an emulator program that creates an environment sufficient to run another operating system, which is referred to as a guest operating system. For example, a game console computing device may execute a host game console operating system such as the Xbox operating system from MICROSOFT Corp. of Redmond, Wash. Through emulation, the game console may create an environment adequate to execute a guest operating system, such as the Windows operating system also from the above mention MICROSOFT Corp.
One problem that occurs in the operating system virtualization context relates to computing resources such as data storage devices, data input and output devices, networking devices, etc. Because each of host computing device's multiple operating systems may have different functionality, there is a question as to which computing resources should be apportioned to which of the multiple operating systems. For example, a virtualized host computing device may include only a single network interface card (NIC) that enables the host computing device to communicate with other networked computers. This scenario raises the question of which of the multiple operating systems on the virtualized host should be permitted to interact with and control the NIC.
One potential solution to this problem is to simply grant the host operating system exclusive access and control over the host computing device's resources. While this solution is relatively straightforward, it is disadvantageous because it restricts the host computing device's capabilities to the capabilities of the host operating system. This may not be problematic when the host operating system offers the most advanced capabilities for using a particular resource. However, when a guest operating system offers more advanced capabilities for using a resource than does the host operating system, it becomes wasteful to not leverage the guest's capabilities.
To illustrate this concept, consider the above example of a host game console with a host game console operating system and a guest PC operating system. PC operating systems may include advanced computer networking capabilities such as support for advanced Internet addressing protocols such as IPv6 and security protocols such as IPSec. By contrast, because they are not specifically developed for general-purpose network use, game console operating systems may not include advanced networking capabilities such as those described above. Thus, if the host game console includes only a single NIC card, and the host game console operating system is granted exclusive access and control over the single NIC card, then the advanced networking capabilities of the PC operating system may not be available to the user of the game console. Rather, the game console may be restricted to the limited networking capabilities of the game console operating system.
Another potential solution to the problem of allocating computing resources is to attempt to increase the number of resources available to a host computing device. For example, a game console that executes two operating systems could be equipped with two NIC's. While this is another straightforward solution to the problem, it is also disadvantageous because it raises the cost of the host computing device. Moreover, additional access to computing resources may not always be available to all of the virtualized operating systems on a virtualized computing device.
Thus, what is needed is a way to allocate computing resources between a host operating system and a guest operating system in an efficient and cost effective manner such that the host computing device is not necessarily limited to the capabilities of the host operating system.

Enhancing or replacing host operating system functionality by leveraging guest operating system functionality