A VRAM-based parity engine for use in a disk array controller is disclosed, in which the parity arithmetic operation is carried out in a fast and effective manner, thereby improving the performance of the RAID system. Particularly, the parity data arithmetic operation is not resorted to a processor, but to a VRAM, thereby realizing a high speed operation. In the disk array controller, a VRAM (video RAM) is used, in such a manner that the reading, updating and writing are made to be overlapped during the arithmetic operation, thereby promoting the speed of the arithmetic. Therefore, a relatively large capacity memory can be formed compared with the conventional SRAM, and therefore, a temporary buffer memory within the parity engine is used as a parity cache, thereby doubling the performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a VRAM (video RAM)-based parity engine for use in a disk array controller, in which the parity arithmetic operation is carried out in a fast and effective manner, thereby improving the performance of the RAID system. Particularly, the present invention relates to a parity engine structure and a parity generation method, in which the parity data arithmetic operation is not resorted to a processor, but to a VRAM, thereby realizing a high speed operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In computer systems, the processing speed and reliability have been improved continuously. On the other hand, the performance of the disk storage device has been improved in slow steps compared with the main processing device, with the result that the performance difference between the two devices has been growing more and more. In order to reduce such a performance difference between the two devices, a disk array has been proposed.
In "Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" (Patterson et al., ACM SIGMOD Conference, Chicago, Ill., Jun. 1-3, 1988, pages 109-116), it was designated that the capacity of large scale disks is improved in a fast step, while the performance is improved in a slow step. In this treatise, it was proposed that inexpensive disks are formed into an array so as to use it as a large scale disk. Such redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) not only improves the performance, but also upgrades the reliability of the single large scale disk which was a conventional problem.
In a disk array controller which was devised by John G. McBride, a VRAM which is a dual-port memory is used as a buffer between a disk data path and the array controller, and provided with a counter, thereby giving a programmable capability (John G. McBride, Programmable Disk Drive Array Controller, European Patent Application No. 93110553.0, Jul. 01, 1993). In this array controller, the VRAM is used as a controllable speed matching buffer between the disk and the host interface of the array controller.
In a disk array controller and a disk array operation method which were devised by Robert A. DeMoss and Keith B. Dulac, there is used a bus switch having a parity arithmetic logic capability (Robert A. DeMoss and Keith B. Dulac, Method of operating a Data Storage Disk Array, European Patent Application No. 93308454.3, Oct. 22, 1993). In this array controller, the operation is executed always by reading the data and the parity block from the disk, and a fast parity arithmetic operation is possible on the data path by using a bus switch including a parity arithmetic logic, but the parity block cannot be cached.
In a disk controller which was devised by Dennis J. Alexander, Ryan A. Callison and Ralph S. Perry, there is carried out a parity arithmetic operation for the data which are read from a plurality of disks, by using a transfer controller and a transfer buffer RAM, while the writing performance is improved by using a posted write RAM (Deniss J. Alexander, Ryan A. Callison and Ralph S. Perry, Disk Drive Controller with a Posted Write Cache Memory, European Patent Application No. 93304372.1, Jun. 04, 1993).
In the disk array controllers of the prior art, a buffer or a parity arithmetic logic is provided on the data path, with the result that only a high speed parity arithmetic is possible, or only buffering is possible. As to the structure of the parity engine in the RAID controller of the prior art, there is internally installed a processor separately from the main processor of the controller. Therefore, either the processor carries out a parity arithmetic, or the temporary buffer which is required for carrying out the parity arithmetic includes an SRAM. As a result, the cost is high, but notwithstanding, the performance is inferior.
Further, in the case where the temporary buffer consists of an SRAM, when an XOR arithmetic is carried out for two blocks, first a block is read from the disk cache memory to store it, and then, another block of the SRAM is read, in order that an XOR arithmetic can be carried out for the two blocks. Then a writing has to be carried out into the memory. That is, in all, three accesses are necessary.

VRAM-based parity engine for use in disk array controller

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A telephone and a method for converting sound to image and displaying on a screen thereof are disclosed. Receiver receives a call signal. Storage section stores call sound information. Call sound output section outputs a call sound. Color display device displays a color image. Controller reads out the call sound information when the receiver receives the call signal. Controller generates a call sound through call sound output section in response to read call sound information. Controller analyzes read call sound information in a frame unit and acquires sound analyzed information. Controller displays a corresponding call sound image in response to the sound analyzed information on color display device. Accordingly, the telephone and the method for convening sound to image and displaying on a screen thereof image and display a call sound on a screen to thereby give pleasure to user and improve features of manufactured goods.

Currently, a mobile communication terminal (hereinafter, referred to as "portable phone") such as a portable phone, a PCS phone, or an IMT-2000 phone has been spreading, and various functions of the portable phone have been introduced.
As a market competition between a manufacturer of the portable phone and a communication service company has increased, research and development through marketability and competition of an additional service has been actively undertaken.
Additional functions of the portable phone include a transmission of a character message, various bell sound services, and a game.
Suppose that a plurality of portable phones having the same call sound, that is, the same bell sound, are located in an adjacent area. When a caller tries to call one of the portable phones, each of the portable phone users should confirm whether his/her own portable phone is being called.
In response to a portable phone user's desire to have a specific bell sound, portable phones capable of selecting various bell sounds by a user have been introduced. Further, a portable phone receives and sets a download of a specific bell sound from a bell sound service provider or directly sets a person's voice as the bell sound.
From the beginning, a buzzer sound of a single channel was generally used for the bell sound. Currently, an MIDI chord bell sound according to an SMAF (Synthetic music Mobile Application Format: data format for multi media contents classification provided from YAMAHA in Japan) such as 4poly YAMAHA MA1, 16poly YAMAHA MA2(MMF) has been provided.
A color screen such as a full color moving picture, graphics, an animation, etc. is included in 2.5 generation portable phone of a CDMA 2000 1× and 3 generation portable phone of an IMT 2000.
However, a portable phone user can aurally recognize a bell sound or a call sound of a portable phone but can not visibly recognize it.

Telephone and method for converting sound to image and displaying on screen thereof


Conventional thermal flow measurement devices lack consideration for automobiles in severe environments. A detection element of the thermal flow measurement device according to the present invention is structured by the provision of a planar substrate made of a material having good thermal conductivity, such as silicon or ceramic, with a thin-walled portion (diaphragm). On the surface of the thin-walled portion, the detection element comprises a heat element as a heater heated to a temperature being different to a predetermined extent from the temperature of the air flow to be measured, temperature-detecting resistors as temperature-detecting means on both sides of the heat element, wiring portions formed of electrical conductors that draw signal lines from the heat element and the temperature-detecting resistors and that have a melting point of 2000° C. or higher, and pads.

In convention examples relating to material for a wiring portion of a thermal flow measurement device comprising a heater and temperature detecting means disposed on both sides of the heater, as in a thermal air flow sensor and internal combustion engine control device described in Patent Document 1 mentioned below, a metal having a low melting point, such as aluminum or gold, is used for such wiring portion. Alternatively, polysilicon is used for the wiring portion, as in a thermal air flow sensor and internal combustion engine control device also described in Patent Document 1. As another alternative, a diffused resistor is used for the wiring portion, as in a semiconductor sensor device described in Document 2 mentioned below.
Examples of Patent Documents relating to the above technology are listed below:
Patent Document 1: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-48616 A
Patent Document 2: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-279038 A
When the thermal flow measurement device comprising a heater and temperature detecting means disposed on both sides of the heater is used as a flow measurement device for measuring engine intake air quantity, the environment in which the flow measurement device is disposed is very severe. This is because, in order to allow the thermal flow measurement device to measure air flow quantity, the engine intake air flow needs to come into direct contact with the surface of the detection element of the thermal flow measurement device. Conventional examples using metals having low melting points, such as aluminum or gold, for wiring portions lack consideration with respect to such point.
Engine intake air contains a great deal of dust, and the dust collides with the surface of the detection element of the thermal flow measurement device, resulting in destruction of the protective film on the surface of the detection element. In particular, when a metal material having a low melting point is used for the wiring material, the film quality of such protective film becomes poor and mechanically fragile. Further, an acid, such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, or hydrochloric acid, contained in gasoline melts the protective film, and a metal such as aluminum corrodes when the acid reaches the inner metal wiring from the portion destroyed due to the above-described collision with dust.
On the other hand, conventional examples using polysilicon or diffused resistors for wiring portions are advantageous in terms of the above problems, since silicon has resistance to acid. However, since silicon has higher resistivity than metal, it also has higher wiring resistance. Such wiring resistance decreases the sensitivity of the thermal flow measurement device, and fluctuation in wiring resistance causes difference of characteristics. Still further, unnecessary heat generation is caused, thereby deteriorating the characteristics of the thermal flow measurement device. Further, silicon has a piezoresistive effect and a resistance value fluctuates with the influence of mounting stress, resulting in deterioration of characteristics.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal flow measurement device that can suppress damage to sensor portions even in the above severe use environment and that can reduce wiring resistance.

Reduced resistance thermal flow measurement device


A bed-rail protective cover for protecting a long-term care patient in a bed having a bed-rail from injuries resulting from contact with the bed-rail. The protective cover includes: an inner surface and an outer surface composed of a material, flexible and non-abrasive, material which is substantially resistant to penetration by an appendage of a person with a fill material between the inner and outer surfaces. The cover fill is sufficient to absorb impacts to the cover and reduce risk of injury to a patient resulting from impacting a bed-rail. The cover further includes a top edge of extending sufficiently over a bed-rail to prevent a patient from inadvertently poking an appendage between the bed and the bed-rail or through a gap between two covers. A securing flap extending from the top edge overlaps and fastens to a bottom edge when the cover enfolds the bed-rail. Securing flap fasteners are located where risk of inadvertent contact with them is reduced. Means to inhibit lateral movement of the cover along the bed-rail is also disclosed. One embodiment of the cover includes cut-outs to allow access to bed-rail adjustment mechanisms. Thus allowing the bed-rail to be quickly and conveniently raised and lowered while maintaining the protective cover on the bed-rail. A recessed bed control opening is disclosed, wherein the bed control is sufficiently recessed in the opening to reduce risk of inadvertent contact by a patient.

This invention relates generally to padded covers used to enclose bed side rails. More particularly this invention relates to bed-rails used to improve the comfort and safety of patients in long-term care facilities. Generally, long-term care patients have more fragile bones and skin. Therefore, they generally require greater protection than is provided by standard hospital bed-rail protective coverings. Prior art has generally focused on ease of access for the nurse or doctor as well as on standardizing the shape of covers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,530 (Clark) exhibits a bed-rail cover of plastic or quilted cotton. Clark does not seem to be designed for a movable bed-rail. The configuration does not give adequate protection to a patient entering or exiting the bed-rail side of the bed, with the bed-rail in the down position. The side of the bed-rail which faces out is left generally exposed. This could likely prove hazardous to patients having to be quickly removed from the bed. The outside of the bed-rail would need to be padded for ingress as well as egress of a patient under long-term care.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,544 (Mahoney) describes a bed-rail cover which exhibits the possibility of hard spots which may injure a patient while she gets in or out of the bed. Also, limbs may be flayed against the railing during seizures or `fits`. The potential for injury as a result of impacting a `hard spot` increases as bones become more fragile with time. Fragile bones may be due to decreasing bone density associated with aging, for instance. `Hard spots` are places where a hard substance is felt beneath the protective covering, or where there is no covering, and may lead to injuries to patients with fragile bones.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,545 (Arp) uses pre-formed pipe insulation covered by plastic with a zipper fastener. The Arp design exhibits too many `edges` which may injure a fragile patient; `edges` being any sharp side which may cause lacerations or abrasions to sensitive skin. Arp does not employ, nor suggest, non-abrasive coverings. Nonabrasive coverings would be beneficial in reducing scrapes and `edge` injuries.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,025 (Hunsinger, et al.) displays a slip cover having a portion facing the bed interior padded with a removable bolster to inhibit tossing and turning towards the rail. This design leaves possible hard spots along the railing edge as well as impedes the ability for rapid lowering of the rail in the event of an emergency. Hunsinger seems more appropriate to preventing small children or infants from falling through bed-rails or between a bed-rail and a mattress than use with a long term care patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,550 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,897 (Marra, Jr.) teach a bed-rail cover system which includes a bed-rail and cover positionable over a bed-rail framework. This additionally includes equipment housing means disposed within the cover. This may provide a convenient access to control equipment, but it increases the risk of injury from hard spots or edges particularly to patients of long-term care patients. The design also does not suggest adaptation to a movable bed-rail.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,641 (Montgomery) is an inflatable sheet with elongated strips to provide padding. This may be acceptable for short-term occasional use (the Montgomery specification refers to ease of storage when the rail guard is not in use). This is not acceptable for long-term patient care; it lacks durability and exhibits the potential for too many hard spots as can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 of Montgomery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,817 (Haddock) provides a protective cover for removable placement over bed-rails of a hospital bed. An objective of Haddock is to provide a cover of a standardized size. Haddock is trying to overcome use of a long cover which would require the hospital to carry short as well as long covers. Haddock designs a cover for a half bed-rail which accomplishes the objective of a standardized cover. But, the standardized cover comes at the expense of it being less suitable for long-term patient care which employs full-length bed-rails. For long rails, or full-length bed-rails, Haddock requires axially aligning the covers and affixing the fastener strips of one cover to the fastener strips of the other cover. (See FIG. 5) As can be seen from FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 of Haddock, there exists the possibility of `edge` injury from fasteners when employing a two-cover arrangement. `Poke-through` is also possible. `Poke-through` is the condition of a limb or digit poking through a gap between abutting covers, or sticking out between a bed-rail and a mattress. Because patients of certain illnesses will exhibit, often times intense, thrashing of their limbs, a durable soft protective cover is needed, not a two-piece arrangement with gaps and fasteners facing the interior of the bed.
What is needed, then, is a bed-rail protective cover to provide a safe environment for the recipient of long-term care. The device must protect the patient from `hard spots,` or spots where the hardness of the rail would injure the patient. This `edge` injury, that is injuries due to the skin being abraded, bruised or lacerated on an edge of the cover or fastener must be avoided. Protection from `hard spots` and `edges` should be maintained during egress and ingress to the bed as well as when the patient is in the bed. The covering must reduce risk of `poke-through,` that is, a limb or digit being caught between the mattress and the cover or through the cover itself. The covering should soft, well padded, nonabrasive, cleanable, and should be moisture resistant. The protective cover must not impede rapid lowering of bed-rails. The covering should be quickly and easily attachable and detachable.

Protective padded accessory for use on long-term care bed rails


A multipole switch comprises a plurality of single-pole switch modules arranged side by side in compartments of the insulating case. Each switch module comprises an individual switching bar supporting the movable contact, said bar being formed by a vertical-axis rotary insulating stud having an end-piece for guiding in rotation at one of its ends, and driving means at the other end. A pair of actuating rods is mechanically coupled to the driving means of all the switching bars, and cooperates with connecting rods of the operating mechanism to perform movement of the actuating rods in translation in opposite directions when moving from the open position to the closed position, and vice-versa, said elongate actuating rods extending parallel to one another in a horizontal plane perpendicular to the different rotary studs.

The invention relates to a multipole electrical switch with a parallelepipedic case made of molded insulating material, housing:
an operating mechanism common to the set of poles to bring about opening and closing of the switch, PA1 a plurality of single-pole switch modules arranged side by side in adjacent compartments isolated from one another by separating partitions, each module being equipped with a movable contact in the form of a bridge cooperating with a pair of opposite stationary contacts to generate a double current interruption per pole, PA1 and transmission means designed to move the movable contacts of all the switch modules simultaneously by the action of the operating mechanism. PA1 each switch module comprises an individual switching bar supporting the movable contact, said bar being formed by a vertical-axis rotary insulating stud having an end-piece for guiding in rotation at one of its ends, and driving means at the other end, PA1 and a pair of actuating rods is mechanically coupled to the driving means of all the switching bars and cooperates with connecting rods of the operating mechanism to perform movement of the actuating rods in translation in opposite directions when moving from the open position to the closed position, and vice-versa, said elongate actuating rods extending parallel to one another in a horizontal plane perpendicular to the different rotary studs.
Known transmission means of the movable contacts of the set of poles comprise either a switching slide movable in translation by means of an operating mechanism positioned on the lateral side (FR-A-2,530,373), or a common rotary bar actuated by a rod of a toggle. The use of a slide or a rotary shaft supporting all the movable contacts imposes constraints of positioning and architecture and requires different embodiments according to whether the type is four-pole or three-pole.

Multipole electrical switch having one elementary switching bar per pole


A voltage regulator comprises a first amplifier and a biasing unit. The first amplifier has a positive input, a negative input and an output, wherein the output of the amplifier is connected to the negative input. The biasing unit generates a reference voltage by Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor transistors, wherein the positive input of the first amplifier is configured to receive the reference voltage.

Bandgap references are widely used for Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Transistor (CMOS) on-chip regulators. Bandgap references use the parasitic bi-polar transistors on CMOS process to generate the voltage related to bandgap of silicon. However, bandgap references cannot compensate for the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) variation in process corner and temperature. The process corner refers to the variation of parameter in process. MOSFETs of different chips may exhibit different speed variation within a certain range. When a regulator is used to provide power supply to a digital circuit, the delay time of CMOS gates with different corner conditions will vary dramatically, which makes it harder to achieve the timing convergency for the digital circuit.
With the higher and higher speed achieved on an IC with nano-meter process, the margins for timing tolerance are getting smaller and smaller. It is desirable to design a new regulator with a reference voltage that can compensate for the variation in process corner and temperature of the CMOS.

Voltage regulator and method of regulating voltage


An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for determining brush contact with a magnetic head. A digitally generated signal is provided in a system and a first gain constant is adjusted without the brush in contact with the magnetic head until the signal achieves unity gain. A second gain constant is adjusted with the brush in contact with the magnetic head until the signal once again achieves unity gain. The difference between the first and second gain constants is calculated. If the difference satisfies a predetermined threshold, a monitoring message is provided indicating insufficient contact between the brush and the magnetic head. The message may serve to warn the user that the brush arm assembly may be inoperative or a failure message indicating that the entire brush assembly needs to be replaced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to detecting electrical characteristics of a read head and more particularly relates to measuring the dampening of cleaning brush bristles in contact with the read head within a tape drive system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recording and playback systems for magnetic mediums are subject to degradation during use as a result of the accumulation of debris which occurs on the magnetic transducer heads of such systems. Transducer heads include magnetic read/write heads and associated read/write elements. Hence, there is a need to periodically clean the magnetic transducer heads. Accordingly, there exist several techniques for cleaning a magnetic transducer head.
One technique utilizes a separate, dedicated "cleaning cartridge" to perform periodic cleaning of the recording transducer. A "cleaning cartridge" contains a supply of unrecorded abrasive tape that is used to clean one or more magnetic transducer heads. For example, the recording heads found on a tape drive can be cleaned with a "cleaning cartridge." In order to utilize a "cleaning cartridge," the recording or playback of the medium must be stopped, the data cartridge removed, and the "cleaning cartridge" inserted. The "cleaning cartridge" is then run within the record or playback system so as to clean the recording transducer. Once cleaning is complete, the "cleaning cartridge" is removed, and a data cartridge is reinserted. However, after the "cleaning cartridge" has been used, a new data cartridge may be loaded into the system in order to evaluate the performance of the magnetic transducer head so as to confirm that cleaning has been successfully completed.
Where magnetic recording/playback system is a tape recording/playback system, the cleaning cartridge includes an abrasive cleaning tape that can cause excessive tape head wear on the magnetic head. The abrasiveness of the cleaning tape can be adjusted in order to tailor its effectiveness. If the cleaning tape is made sufficiently effective to thoroughly remove debris, then the cleaning tape should only be used when it is necessary; otherwise, excessive magnetic head wear will result. Such a problem can occur where a piece of abrasive cleaning tape is provided as a leader on a data tape cartridge such that each time a tape is used the leader is used to clean a read/write head. Furthermore, the provision of an abrasive tape leader within a data tape cartridge eventually results in degradation of the abrasive leader from debris accumulating on the cleaning tape. If the abrasive cleaning tape is effective to thoroughly remove debris from a magnetic head, then a routine must be established to limit use of the cleaning tape only when it is necessary.
Where magnetic tape is used to store computer data, the presence of errors represents a significant problem even if the errors occur infrequently. In certain applications, the loss of data requires that a user be able to perform a cleaning operation in response to recognized drop-out errors, but does not immediately prevent use of the equipment prior to cleaning. In some cases, the loss of a single bit of computer data can be of significant importance, and recovery from such an error must be done in a manner that ensures error-free data storage and retrieval. While error correction is possible via error algorithms, data loss can still present problems to a user.
One form of magnetic storage comprises existing linear and helical scan tape drives that are used for storage and retrieval of computer data. Such tape drives use a single reel in the form of a magnetic tape cartridge to house the magnetic tape media. A special leader or leader block is attached to the magnetic tape media at one end which enables the tape drive to extract the magnetic tape from the magnetic tape cartridge.
"Tape recorder" as used herein refers to one form of magnetic recording/playback system comprising magnetic tape transcription equipment. Such equipment is understood to include standard tape recorders having fixed or movable heads, as well as accurate scan and helical scan transcription equipment as is typically used in analog and digital tape recorders. According to one implementation, a linear transcription head is employed, although the present invention has application in other tape recording environments. As described here, "transcription" is intended to mean read and/or write operations that are performed with a tape recorder, and is not intended to be limited to a particular use or format for data.
Another conventional technique is found on a typical helical scan tape drive wherein a head cleaning device is built into a mechanism of the tape drive. More particularly, a helical scan tape drive forms a recording method that is used on videotape and digital audio tape (DAT) that runs the tracks diagonally from top to bottom in order to increase the storage capacity. A drum containing read/write heads is used to read/write information in diagonal segments from/onto a segment of magnetic tape. A head cleaner is located on an opposite side of the drum than the tape. In this manner, while data is being written/read, the head cleaner can be concurrently cleaning the heads as they pass by on the drum.
One linear tape drive which does have a head cleaner built into the tape drive mechanism is the International Business Machines (IBM) Magstar 3590. The IBM Magstar 3590 has a cleaning brush built into the tape drive mechanism such that the cleaning brush is brought into contact with the read/write heads during a tape threading operation. More particularly, as a leader block on a data tape is pulled back into the tape cartridge, the leader block triggers a lever which engages the brush against the read/write heads. An actuator moves the heads up and down in order to provide scrubbing action between the brush and heads. Generally, there is not a way to determine how well the brush is operating without removing physically examining the brush. In certain tape drives a switch is attached at the arm of the brush to provide notification to a user that the brush may be inoperative. However, the switch does not detect the quality of connection or contact between the brush and the heads. For example, if the bristles on the brush were non-existent, the switch would not detect this error as long as the brush arm activated at the appropriate time.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a need exists for an apparatus, system, and method that determines contact between a brush and magnetic head(s) without additional hardware being required. Additionally, the need exists for an apparatus, system, and method that possesses the increased ability to measure the contact of the brush bristles against the magnetic head during a cleaning operation. Beneficially, such an apparatus, system, and method would allow a user to configure a contact threshold that, if satisfied, the user is notified that a brush and/or brush arm is inoperative and needs to be replaced.

Apparatus, system, and method for determining contact with a magnetic head in a tape drive

International Business Machines Corporation


An ignition plug having a center electrode, a grounding electrode, an insulator, and a metal shell. The center electrode is held by the insulator, and the insulator is held by metal shell. A cavity is formed between the grounding electrode and the center electrode. The grounding electrode is joined to the inner wall surface of the metal shell via a melting portion. In the melting portion, in a predetermined cutting surface MS including a melting deepest point DP and a central axis CX, a percentage ratio MDD of a melting depth MD of the melting portion with respect to a thickness of the grounding electrode is 5% or more, and an area Sm of a portion included in an outer circumferential side of the metal shell is 10% or more of the entire area S.

A spark plug includes a center electrode and a grounding electrode. The center electrode is held by an insulator, and the grounding electrode is fixed to a metal shell which accommodates the insulator. A spark gap, which is a gap for generating spark discharge, is formed between the center electrode and the grounding electrode. The spark plug generates the spark discharge in the spark gap, and thus, ignites gas supplied into a combustion engine of an internal combustion engine.
Like the spark plug, a plasma jet ignition plug is known (for example, refer to JP-A-2009-224345). In the plasma jet ignition plug, the grounding electrode is joined to an inner circumferential surface of the metal shell and is integrated with the metal shell, the spark gap between the center electrode and the grounding electrode is surrounded by the insulator, and a discharge space having a small volume, referred to as a cavity, is formed.
In the plasma jet ignition plug, as described above, the grounding electrode is joined to the inner wall surface of the metal shell. In the plasma jet ignition plug, the joining property of the grounding electrode where it is secured to the metal shell, preferably, at a high level.
In the technology of JP-A-2009-224345, a tip portion of the insulator is strongly pressed to the grounding electrode, and thus, an object thereof is to prevent the insulator from being damaged. Accordingly, in JP-A-2009-224345, a special consideration is not made for the securing of the joining property of the grounding electrode with respect to the metal shell. Not only in the plasma jet ignition plug disclosed in JP-A-2009-224345, but also in a spark plug having a type in which a grounding electrode is welded to an inner wall surface of a metal shell as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,144, there is still room for the improvement of the joining property of the grounding electrode with respect to the metal shell.
The present invention is made to solve the above-described problems, and can be realized according to the following aspects.


A system and method are disclosed that may allow a hybrid application to support persistent login, multilogin, and push notifications. User credentials may be received and utilized to obtain an access token and a refresh token. The refresh token may be stored to persistent storage and the access token may be used to obtain a browser authentication cookie from an authentication server. The web application portion of a hybrid application may be authenticated using the browser authentication cookie.

Applications often make use of cookies to store and/or retrieve information about the user and/or the application itself (e.g., resources needed to operate or update the application). For example, a cookie is commonly utilized to establish user credentials on a web site or application. A user may enter login information such as a user name and password. The login information may be verified by an authentication server and, if valid, the server may send one or more cookies to the user. The cookie may contain the user's credentials or an indication that the user's credentials are valid. Each page a user visits on a site may check the cookie to determine the user's identity or to verify the user's presence on the site. In most cases, the cookie is set to expire upon a user closing the browser or application. Cookies are employed on mobile devices, such as smartphones, as a part of applications that may be installed on the devices. Due to different mobile operating systems, some applications contain a web application which may complicate authentication of the application and create a subpar user experience.

Persistent login support in a hybrid application with multilogin and push notifications


A self-standing bag (1) is provided, including: a body portion (10) formed of a body member (10A) in a tubular shape; and a bottom portion (12) formed of a half-folded bottom member (12A), in which each of side ends of the bottom member (12A) is bonded to an inner surface of a rear surface portion (20) of the body portion (10), a lower end of the bottom member (12A) is bonded to a lower end of the body portion (10) on an entire circumference of the body portion (10), on the body portion (10) side of the bottom member (12A), an adhesive film (22) for bonding a side end of the bottom member (12A) to the body portion (10) is laminated to cover the entire bottom member (12A), both side ends of the adhesive film (22) respectively protrude from both the side ends of the bottom member (12A) in a width direction, and bonding of the side end of the bottom member (12A) to the inner surface of the body portion (10) is achieved by the adhesive film (22).

As a soft packaging material made of a plastic film or the like, a hag body having self-standing properties, a so-called self-standing hag, is known. A self-standing bag is know which is formed by, in a state where a folded bottom member with the folding line on the upper side, which is to form a bottom portion, is interposed between the lower ends of two body members, which are to form a body portion, heat-sealing the side ends of the two body members together with the side ends of the bottom member, and further heat-sealing the lower ends over the entire circumference. However, in the self-standing bag, the heat-sealed portion between the side ends of the body members formed at the side edges of the body portion acts as a knife edge, which causes discomfort when the body portion is grasped by hand.
As a self-standing bag that solves the discomfort when the body portion is grasped by hand, a self-standing bag is proposed having a body portion, which is formed in a flat tube shape by folding each of both side end sides of a single body member and bonding the side ends to each other at the rear surface. For example, there is a self-standing bag which includes a body portion formed of a body member in a flat tube shape, and a bottom portion formed of a bottom member, which is half-folded and is attached to the inside of the body portion with the folding line on the upper side, in which both side ends of the bottom member are attached to the inner surface of the body portion by two adhesive films respectively covering the side ends (Patent Document 1).

Self-standing bag and method for manufacturing the same


A method employing a composition of bioavailable minerals directed at supplementing nutritional intake of a living plant. The composition includes the ionic mineral(s) copper and zinc in a ligand complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier including water, H2SO4 and (NH4)2SO4. The composition for use in the method may also include other supporting plant nutrients such as botanical extracts, urea, plant hormones, vitamins and mineral supplements necessary for plant health.

Plants can suffer from mineral deficiencies that result in undesirable states. A variety of methods are known for treating these undesirable states but none have been entirely satisfactory. An improved method for treating mineral deficiencies is therefore desired. The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.


A method for making a collated fastener assembly includes the steps of arranging a plurality of fasteners each having a head and a tip, in a row parallel to one another, the fasteners being arranged in a plane. The plurality of fasteners are preheated to elevate the temperature of the fasteners and a molten polymer material is applied onto the preheated plurality of fasteners. The fasteners, maintained in the plane, are conveyed with the molten polymer thereon between a pair of forming wheels. The molten polymer material is molded onto the preheated fasteners and between adjacent fasteners to form a plastic molding having a collar encircling a shank of each fastener and a connecting portion between adjacent fasteners. A cooling vapor is sprayed onto the fasteners and the plastic molding as the fasteners and the plastic molding exit from between the molding wheels. A gaseous cooling stream is forced over the fasteners and the plastic molding to cool the strip to form the fastener assembly.

The present invention pertains to debris-free fastener collations. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a method for making a debris-free collated nail strip formed with a plastic material for use in a fastener driving tool.
Fast-acting fastener driving tools are in widespread use in the construction industry and used in industries ranging from pre-fabricated housing construction to luxury residential, commercial and industrial construction.
The nails that are used in these tools are assembled in strips that are inserted into a magazine. There are two principal nail strip or nail collation formations—paper tape and plastic. As the name suggests, paper tape collations maintain the nails in a strip by using a strip of tape that is adhered to one or both sides of the arranged nails. Plastic collations use a formed or pre-formed collar-type element to secure the fasteners to one another and parallel in the strip form.
Paper tape has certain advantages, one of which is ease of manufacture. In addition, paper tape collations, which us a glue or adhesive to adhere the tape to the fasteners, tend to be quite rigid, but sufficiently easy to separate one fastener from an adjacent fastener, as when the fastener is driven from the tool into a substrate. While rigidity on the one hand is good for the collation in that it reduces the opportunity for strip corrugation, on the other hand, it tends to require additional force to separate the fastener from the strip. Moreover, paper tape collations also produce a significant amount of debris when the fastener is separated from the strip. This debris can cause increased tool maintenance as well as jamming and increased down-time for tool repair.
Plastic collations use a collar that is molded to or fit around the shank of the fasteners. The collars are connected by bridges that break or separate to permit the fastener to be separated from the strip. One drawback to commonly available plastic collations is that the collation, although molded around the fastener, is nevertheless only superficially affixed to the fastener. That is, although the fastener is supported within and by the collation, the fastener can be rotated within the collar. It may not be loosely held, but can nonetheless be rotated. This has two ramifications.
First, because the fasteners are loosely supported, the collation can be overly flexible. This can result in increased corrugation of the strip in the tool magazine. Second, because the plastic is only loosely affixed to the fastener, it has been observed the plastic collars and bridges fracture as the fastener is driven into the substrate. This has been shown to result in the generation of debris, and in certain instances substantial amounts of debris. At times, it has also been found that the collars collect under the fastener head, thus preventing the fastener from being driven fully into the substrate. This may thus require a user to then drive, by hand, e.g., with a hammer, the fastener the remainder of the way into the substrate. Another drawback to the known plastic collations was that because the collation material was quite brittle, the downstream collation fractured, causing fasteners to become off-centered in the tool, which resulted in tool jams and misfires.
In an effort to eliminate the drawbacks associated with the generation of debris and the accumulation of material under the fastener head, and off-centered driven fasteners, a debris-free fastener was developed that uses an adhesive-modified chemistry for the plastic collation material in conjunction with preheating the fasteners prior to application (molding) of the collation.
It was found that the improved, debris-free collation generated significantly less debris and that the plastic collation material adhered well to the fastener shank. As a result, the plastic material entered the substrate as the fastener was driven from the strip into the substrate. Such a fastener collation is disclosed in Shelton, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/383,032, filed May 12, 2006, Shelton, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/734,684, filed Apr. 12, 2007, and Heskel, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/935,541, filed Nov. 6, 2007, all of which are commonly assigned with the present application and are incorporated herein by reference.
While the above-noted fastener collations overcame many of the drawbacks in prior fastener collations, they were found to be very difficult to manufacture. Using known manufacturing techniques resulted in too much flow of the collation material and thus mis-formed collations, sticking of the collation material to the forming molds, and other manufacturing obstacles.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for forming a plastic collation system for strip-formed fasteners. Desirably, such a method provides a high quality collation formed on the fasteners. More desirably, such a method uses adhesive-modified materials for the plastic collation. More desirably still, such a collation forming method can be carried out in a high speed process with little to no waste or rejection of product. Most desirably, such a method forms a plastic collation formulated from an adhesive polymer such as a polyolefin, such that when the fastener is driven from a driving tool, the collar portion remains adhered to the fastener so that the collar portion penetrates the substrate with the fastener.

Method for making debris-free nail collation


A wiring board according to the present invention includes a mounting region in which memories having different storage capacities can be mounted. The mounting region has: first wires for, when a first memory is mounted, making it possible to access all the addresses of the first memory; and second wires for, when a second memory having a storage capacity different from that of the first memory, making it possible to access to all the addresses of the second memory. For this reason, before an electronic device on which the wiring board is mounted is shipped, a memory mounted in the mounting region can be selected depending on the demand of a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring board having a mounting region for a memory and an electronic device on which the wiring board is mounted.
2. Prior Art
Main circuit parts such as processors (CPU or the like), a main memory, and the like constituting an electronic device such as a computer are mounted on a basic circuit board (wiring board) called a mother board, and the basic circuit board is accommodated in the main body of the electronic device.
The main memory is a RAM (DRAM chip) mainly used as a work area of the CPU, is mounted on a mounting portion (called a xe2x80x9cpadxe2x80x9d), formed on a mother board, for the main memory, and is electrically connected to another circuit through wires connected to the pad.
When an electronic device is to be manufactured, a main memory having a specification (configuration or the like of a storage element constituting a storage capacity and a main memory bank) selected by a maker or a vender such as a seller is mounted on a mother board. On the mother board, necessary electronic circuit parts are mounted. Thereafter, the mother board on which the necessary parts are mounted is mounted on the main body of the electronic device. When the electronic device is in a state in which the electronic device can be shipped, the electronic device is shipped.
As described above, a main memory having a specific specification selected by a vender is mounted (soldered) on the mother board until the electronic device is shipped. A user can expand the work area of the CPU by adding an expanded memory after the electronic device is purchased. For this reason, it is not expected that the main memory is exchanged after the electronic device is purchased by the user.
For this reason, wires (including pads) for a main memory of a mother board are formed such that only a specific main memory can be mounted. More specifically, a main memory has only one specification corresponding to one type of mother board.
With a great variety of computer systems in recent years, users require a great variety of specifications of electronic devices such as computers, and the demands of the users extent to the storage capacities of main memories mounted in a shipping state. For example, a user who wants to make the processing speed of a CPU as high as possible desires that a main memory having a capacity which is as large as possible is mounted. On the other hand, a user who wants to, even slightly, suppress the price of an electronic device desires a reduction in price of the electronic device in place of a reduction in storage capacity of the main memory.
However, only a main memory can mounted on a conventional mother board. For this reason, the conventional mother board can respond to the demand of a user. In addition, if the specification of the main memory is changed in response to the demand of a user, mother boards must be prepared for the specifications of main memories, respectively. High costs and long time are required.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wiring board being capable of supplying an electronic device depending on a demand of a user by making it possible to select the storage capacity of a memory mounted before shipment and an electronic device comprising the wiring board.
The first aspect of the present invention is a wiring board including a mounting region in which memories having different storage capacities can be mounted. The mounting region has: first wires for, when a first memory is mounted, making it possible to access all the addresses of the first memory; and second wires for, when a second memory having a storage capacity different from that of the first memory, making it possible to access to all the addresses of the second memory.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, one of the first memory and the second memory can be mounted in the mounting region. For this reason, the total capacity of the memory mounted in the mounting region, i.e., the total capacity of the main memory can be changed. Therefore, the total capacity of the main memory can be selected depending on a demand of a user.
The memory mounted in the mounting region is a main memory (to be referred to as an internal memory, an internal RAM, a system RAM, or the like) which is mounted before an electronic device having the wiring board of the present invention mounted thereon is shipped by a vender and which is not expected to be exchanged. The memory does not include an expanded memory (expanded RAM) added by a user or the like after the electronic device having the wiring board mounted thereon is shipped. The wiring board of the present invention has a plurality of mounting regions, and at least one of the plurality of mounting regions or all the plurality of mounting regions may have the configurations described above.
In the first aspect, the mounting regions may be formed on both the surfaces of the wiring board. In this manner, the spaces on the wiring board can be effectively used.
In the first aspect, the first memory may be constituted by a plurality of storage elements, and the first wires may be electrically connected to the storage elements constituting the first memory, the second memory may be constituted by a plurality of storage elements, having the same bit configurations as those of the storage elements constituting the first memory, the number of which is equal to that of the storage elements of the first memory, and the second wires may be electrically connected to the storage elements constituting the second memory.
In the first aspect, the first wires and the second wires may have portions which are commonly used for the first memory and the second memory.
The second aspect of the present invention is an electronic device including a wiring board. This wiring board includes a mounting region in which memories having different storage capacities can be mounted. The mounting region has: first wires for, when a first memory is mounted, making it possible to access all the addresses of the first memory; and second wires for, when a second memory having a storage capacity different from that of the first memory, making it possible to access to all the addresses of the second memory.
An electronic device has a wiring board on which a memory conforming to the definition described above is mounted, and is a personal computer, a work station, a mobile computer, or the like.
According to the wiring board according to the present invention and the electronic device including the wiring board, the storage capacity of a memory mounted before shipment can be selected. An electronic device depending on a demand of a user can be supplied to the user.

Wiring board and electronic device having circuit board


To provide a transflective liquid crystal display device that achieves high-contrast, bright display with a wide viewing angle, a liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal layer between a pair of substrates, and also includes dot regions, each having a transmissive display area and a reflective display area. The liquid crystal layer includes negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystals with homeotropic alignment in an initial state. The reflective display area includes an insulation film to form irregularities on a reflective film. The insulation film is also disposed in the transmissive display area and forms irregularities on one of liquid-crystal contact surfaces of the substrates between which the liquid crystal layer is disposed.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and an electronic apparatus, and particularly, to a transflective liquid crystal display device that displays both in reflective and transmissive modes to achieve a high-contrast, wide-viewing-angle display.
2. Description of Related Art
Related art liquid crystal display devices having both a reflective mode and a transmissive mode are transflective liquid crystal display devices. In a transflective liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal layer is disposed between an upper substrate and a lower substrate. Provided on the inner surface of the lower substrate is a metallic reflective film formed of, for example, aluminum having apertures for light transmission. This reflective film functions as a transflector. In the reflective mode, external light incident on the upper substrate passes through the liquid crystal layer and is then reflected by the reflective film disposed on the inner surface of the lower substrate. The reflected light passes through the liquid crystal layer again and is emitted from the upper substrate so as to achieve display. On the other hand, in the transmissive mode, light emitted from a backlight enters the lower substrate and then passes through the apertures of the reflective film. The light passes through the liquid crystal layer and is then emitted outward from the upper substrate to achieve display. Accordingly, the apertures disposed in the reflective film function as transmissive display areas and the other areas function as reflective display areas.
The related art transflective liquid crystal display device, however, is disadvantageous in having a narrow viewing angle for the transmissive display. To prevent parallax error, the transflector is disposed on the inner surface of the liquid crystal cell. For this reason, the reflective display is performed with only a single polarizer provided adjacent to the viewer, leading to a restricted optical layout. To address this problem, a related art type of liquid crystal display device that uses homeotropic liquid crystal alignment is disclosed by "Development of transflective LCD for high contrast and wide viewing angle by using homeotropic alignment", M. Jisaki et al., Asia Display/IDW'01, p.133–136 (2001). The liquid crystal display device of this type has the following three characteristics.
(1) The device uses a "VA (vertical alignment) mode" in which liquid crystals having negative dielectric anisotropy are aligned vertically on the substrate and are tilted when a voltage is applied.
(2) The device uses a "multi-gap structure" in which the thickness of the liquid crystal layer (cell gap) in the transmissive display areas is different from that in the reflective display areas Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-242226.
(3) The device uses a "multi-domain structure". This means that each transmissive display area is octagonal, and the transmissive display area on an opposing substrate has a protrusion at the central area so that liquid crystal molecules are tilted in multiple directions within this area.

Transflective liquid crystal display device having surface roughness in the transmissive area and homeotropic alignment


A photoelectric conversion film laminated color solid-state imaging apparatus comprising: a semiconductor substrate in which a first signal read circuit for a first color among the three primary colors, a second signal read circuit for a second color and a third signal read circuit for a third color are formed by MOS transistor circuits, and in which first and second photodiodes for respectively receiving incident light of the first and second colors are formed; a photoelectric conversion film provided above the semiconductor substrate, for receiving incident light of the third color to generate an optical charge; a longitudinal wiring for connecting a pixel electrode film attached to the photoelectric conversion film separately for each pixel to a contact part formed in the semiconductor substrate; and a potential barrier part between the contact part and the third signal read circuit, being formed on the semiconductor substrate.

1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to photoelectric conversion film laminated color solid-state imaging apparatus that receives the incident light of one color among the three primary colors with photoelectric conversion films laminated on a semiconductor substrate and receives the incident light of the remaining two colors transmitted by the photoelectric conversion film with a photoelectric conversion device formed on the semiconductor substrate, and in particular to photoelectric conversion film laminated color solid-state imaging apparatus that provides good color balance between a color signal obtained from the light received with the photoelectric conversion film and that obtained from the light received with the photoelectric conversion device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Single board type color solid-state imaging apparatus represented by a CCD type or CMOS type image sensor arranges in a mosaic three or four types of color signal filters on an array of pixels to undergo photoelectric conversion. This outputs a color signal from each pixel corresponding to each color filter. Through signal processing of these color signals, a color image is generated.
In the color solid-state imaging apparatus where color filters are arranged in a mosaic, almost two-thirds of the incident light is absorbed by the color filters in case the filters are of the primary colors. This worsens light use efficiency and lowers sensitivity. Another problem is that only a single color signal is obtained for each pixel. Thus, the resulting resolution drops and false colors appear conspicuous.
In order to overcome such problems, imaging apparatus that laminates three layers of photoelectric conversion film on a semiconductor substrate on which a signal read circuit is formed have been studied and developed (for example, refer to JP-T-2002-502120 and JP-A-2002-83946). The imaging apparatus includes for example a pixel structure in which are laminated photoelectric conversion films generating a signal charge (electron, positive hole) from blue (B) light, green (G) light and red (R) light sequentially from an incidence plane. Further, for each pixel, there is provided a read part capable of independently reading a signal charge generated from light at each photoelectric conversion film.
In the case of the imaging apparatus including such a structure, almost all light undergoes photoelectric conversion and read out which means that the use efficiency of visible light is nearly 100 percent and that the color signals of three colors R, G, B are obtained for each pixel. This generates an image with high sensitivity and high resolution (with inconspicuous false colors).
Imaging apparatus described in the JP-T-2002-513145 provides a triple well (photodiode) for detecting an optical signal in a silicon substrate. Depending on the depth of the silicon substrate, signals of different spectrum response (peaked at the wavelength of B (blue), G (green) and R (red) from the surface) are obtained. This takes advantage of the fact that the distance of entry of the incident light into the silicon substrate depends on the wavelength. This imaging apparatus, same as those described in JP-T-2002-502120 and JP-A-2002-83946, obtains an image with high sensitivity and high resolution (with inconspicuous false colors).
The imaging apparatus, described in JP-T-2002-502120 and JP-A-2002-83946 must laminate three layers of photoelectric conversion film on a semiconductor substrate in order and form longitudinal wiring connecting a signal charge per R, G, B generated on each photoelectric conversion film to a signal read circuit formed on the semiconductor substrate. The problem is that this type of imaging apparatus is difficult to manufacture and the corresponding manufacturing yield is low, which results in a higher cost.
In the imaging apparatus described in JP-T-2002-513145, blue light is detected by a photodiode at the shallowest part, red light by a photodiode at the deepest part, and green light by a photodiode at the intermediate part. For example, an optical charge is generated from green light or red light by the photodiode at the shallowest part. Thus, separation of the spectrum response characteristic of R signal, G signal and B signal is not sufficient enough and the resulting color reproducibility is low. Moreover, it is necessary to add or subtract the output signal from each photodiode in order to obtain the true R signal, G signal and B signal. This addition or subtraction process degrades the S/N ratio of the image signal.
In order to solve the problems with the imaging apparatus described in JP-T-2002-502120, JP-A-2002-83946 and JP-T-2002-513145, there has been proposed imaging apparatus described in JP-A-2003-332551. The imaging apparatus is a hybrid type of the incident light described in JP-T-2002-502120 and JP-A-2002-83946 and that described in JP-T-2002-513145. The imaging apparatus includes a single layer of photoelectric conversion film sensitive to green (G) on a semiconductor substrate and receives the incident light of blue (B) and red (R) transmitted by the photoelectric conversion film on a photodiode formed in the semiconductor substrate, same as a related art image sensor.
Since this type of imaging apparatus uses only one layer of photoelectric conversion film, the manufacturing process is simplified thus avoiding an increase in cost and a decrease in the yield. Green light is absorbed by the photoelectric conversion film so that separation of the spectrum response characteristic of the photodiodes for blue light and red light in the semiconductor substrate is improved. This improves color reproducibility and the S/N ratio.
While hybrid type imaging apparatus described in JP-A-2003-332551 is advantageous in terms of reduction of manufacturing cost and improvement of color reproducibility and the S/N ratio, it is accompanied by the problem described below.
As a signal read circuit provide on the semiconductor substrate of the hybrid type imaging apparatus, a CCD type signal read circuit (including a signal transfer path and a transfer electrode) and a CMOS type signal read circuit (including a MOS transistor and signal wiring) are available. In this example, the CMOS type signal read circuit is described.
(1) The photoelectric conversion characteristic of a photoelectric conversion film greatly varies with the electric field in the film (or voltage across terminals of photoelectric conversion film). In case light of the same intensity is incident, it is desirable to accumulate signal charges at a constant rate. In reality, as the signal charges are accumulated in the film, the voltage across the terminals of the film drops thus decreasing the rate of the amount of charges accumulated in the film.
As a result, the proportional relationship between the light intensity and the output signal is lost and the linearity of the photoelectric conversion characteristic is degraded. On the other hand, a photodiode provided on a semiconductor substrate does not present such a problem. Thus, in the hybrid type imaging apparatus, it is difficult to strike a balance between the red light and blue light detected by the photodiode and the green light detected by the photoelectric conversion film, which results in a lower picture quality.
(2) The light transmitted by the photoelectric conversion film includes red (R) light and blue (B) light since green (G) light is absorbed. In case R light and B light are received by a double-layered photodiode formed in a semiconductor substrate, the absorption coefficient of the semiconductor with respect to B light is greater than that of semiconductor with respect to R light. Thus, a photodiode closer to the surface of the semiconductor substrate has a relatively higher sensitivity to B light while a photodiode at a deeper part has a relatively higher sensitivity to R light.
Because the light incident on each photodiode contains no G light, color separation between R and B is improved although color separation is not good enough as far as the difference of the light absorption coefficient of a semiconductor substrate is used. For example, red light incident on a photodiode for blue color generates an optical charge thus failing to obtain acceptable color reproducibility.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Photoelectric conversion film laminated color solid-state imaging apparatus


Herein is disclosed a slack distribution system comprising one or more sensors, configured to deliver sensor data to one or more processors in a first vehicle; a wireless communication circuit, configured to wirelessly transmit to a second vehicle; one or more processors, configured to determine from at least the sensor data, during first vehicle deceleration, a slack distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; and when the slack distance is less than a predetermined threshold, to cause the wireless communication circuit to transmit to the second vehicle a slack request message, wherein the slack request message is a request to change the slack distance.

Where multiple vehicles traveling along a roadway must suddenly brake, many factors influence the success of collision avoidance attempts, as well as the resulting distance between vehicles upon coming to rest. In a line of vehicles following a deceleration, it is conceivable that, despite efforts at decelerating, one vehicle may collide with another. However, within the same line of vehicles, a nearby vehicle may come to rest with at least some distance between it and an adjacent vehicle.


Apparatus for lifting and transporting drywall panels has a pair of panel-supporting legs of square tubing attachable to side rails of a lift platform. Each leg is connected to the rails by an upper bracket at the top of the leg and a lower bracket at a middle location. A panel-receiving U-shaped channel is located on the opposite side of the legs, away from the rails. The lower bracket has a standoff member projecting the bottom of the leg outward at an angle. A roller at the base of the channel provides low-friction rolling contact with an inserted panel, and a groove in this roller serves to guide the panel. Rollers at the tops of the legs and elsewhere are placed to keep panels from being damaged by contact with the legs.

Handling of building panels such as drywall or "Sheetrock" panels has presented difficulties, especially for large panels being installed in commercial buildings at heights above a first floor level. drywall panels for such applications may be as large as four feet by twelve feet and weigh one hundred pounds or more. It is readily apparent that any improvement in equipment and procedures for lifting such panels to a required elevated location would be welcomed by installers.
Use of scissors-type lift machines has become a common practice at commercial building sites. These devices have sets of paired extendable arms mounted on a wheeled and powered chassis and a work platform supported by the arms. For safety reasons the platforms have horizontal rails around their outer edges supported by upright posts. The rail structure generally includes an upper rail some three feet above the platform floor and a lower rail halfway between the floor and the upper rail. The rails generally take the form of square or round metal tubing. Lift platforms of this type may be eight feet by three feet or larger in size and provide space for two to three workmen. Such machines are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,550, issued Dec. 12, 2000 to Arnoldy, which patent is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
Attempts have been made to use existing lift machines for lifting large panels along with the workmen to an elevated working level, with the panel being supported by measures such as placing the panel on edge on a workman's foot extending outside of the platform at each end. This approach is dangerous and difficult to maintain for the period of time required to move the machine from a stack of panels to a desired final location. Other approaches such as placing the panel on top of the platform rail are not effective for large panels owing to a lack of space, and may result in damaging the panel when it comes into contact with metal surfaces or corners.
Desirable features for a panel-supporting device include a bottom channel adapted to allow a panel to be slid on edge into transporting position under conditions avoiding exposure of the panel to scraping or tearing, a means to restrain the panel from sliding out during transport and a means to facilitate movement of the panel when lifted by workmen off the device and into position for installation.


A vacuum insulated cabinet structure includes first and second cover members having pre-deformed portions and perimeter portions. The perimeter portions of the first and second cover members are disposed along first and second planar levels and the pre-deformed portions of the first and second cover members include portions thereof extending outwardly relative to the first and second planar levels. A thermal bridge interconnects the first cover member and the second cover member at the perimeter portions thereof to define an insulating cavity therebetween. The insulating cavity is a sealed cavity having a vacuum drawn therefrom. The pre-deformed portions of the first and second cover members move inwardly towards the first and second planar levels under a force of the vacuum within the insulating cavity.

The present device generally relates to insulated structures, and in particular, to vacuum insulated refrigerator cabinets that include vacuum cavities disposed between an exterior wrapper and a liner.
Various types of insulated refrigerator cabinet structures have been developed. One type of insulated cabinet structure includes an exterior wrapper and a liner. The wrapper and liner are generally spaced-apart to form an internal cavity. The cavity is generally filled with an insulating material or a polyurethane foam. In vacuum insulated cabinet structures, the cavity formed between a wrapper and a liner may include a vacuum and an insulating material to form a vacuum insulated structure. Sidewalls of the liner and exterior wrapper are often subject to deformation when drawing a vacuum on the vacuum cavity due to the vacuum pressures involved in such a process. Vacuum insulated structures having repeatable and consistent outer parameters are desired for a clean aesthetic of the wrapper and the liner in a vacuum insulated refrigerator structure.

Vacuum insulated panel for counteracting vacuum bow induced deformations


Embodiments of the invention provide a chamber for a bioreactor, the chamber having a fluid inlet aperture and a fluid outlet aperture disposed at respective different locations of a wall of the chamber, with respect to a normal upright orientation of the chamber the chamber being provided with an upper wall portion defining an upper boundary of the chamber. The upper wall portion has an internal surface having a first portion that is vertically displaced with respect to a second portion. The internal surface of the upper wall portion is arranged to promote expulsion of trapped gas bubbles through the outlet aperture, the first and second portions of the upper wall portion each comprising a sloped portion.

It is known provide a bioreactor having a culture chamber and means for passing a flow of culture medium through the chamber in order to enable a wide range of studies of biological materials. By way of example, the biological material under investigation may be a monolayer cell culture, scaffold culture or tissue slice. WO2005/123258 discloses a bioreactor for studying the effects of imposed stimuli on cellular activity.
A number of problems are associated with known culture chambers. For example known chambers exhibit non-uniform flow patterns that can result in turbulent flow and the formation of bubbles and/or foam within the chamber. Known chambers are also not easy to assemble and disassemble. These factors can lead to problems in successfully seeding and growing cells within the chambers.
An aim of the present invention is to at least partially mitigate at least one of the above mentioned problems.


The aircraft comprises a rotor with a vertical axis arranged in a housing for generating a lift exceeding the weight of the aircraft. The housing is essentially shaped as a circular wing. A first way of guiding air is provided for controlling the air stream generated by the rotor, by means of which the position of the aircraft can be controlled in hovering flight. From hovering flight, the aircraft can be moved into a cruise flight, where the lift of the aircraft is generated aerodynamically by the circular wing of the housing and its forward thrust by a propeller. For the transition between hovering flight and cruise flight, a second way of guiding air is provided for controlling the pitch of the aircraft. The structure for the second way of guiding air is arranged outside a zone defined by the air stream of the rotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to an aircraft comprising a housing shaped as a substantially circular wing, means for generating a horizontal thrust, at least one rotor arranged in said housing, first air guiding means for controlling the air flow generated by said rotor, and second air guiding means for controlling the pitch of the aircraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
An aircraft of a similar kind has been discussed in the published European patent application EP-0393410. This aircraft comprises a vertical, ducted fan or rotor for generating a lift exceeding the weight of the aircraft in hovering flight. This rotor is arranged in a circular housing and provided with air guiding means for controlling the air flow it generates. Experiments with this type of aircraft have shown that the maximum velocity of flight in a forward direction is limited to a comparatively low value. At higher velocities an interaction between the horizontal air flow around the housing and the air flow generated by the rotor occurs, which leads to instabilities.
The air flow patterns on circular wings are not very well known and even less data is available for circular wings housing a ducted fan.

Aircraft with a ducted fan in a circular wing


A single-piece cardboard sheet into which slots and tabs are advantageously cut to permit its folding into a carton for packaging a pair of stirrups. The unfolded cardboard carton is substantially symmetrical. A first pair of structural segments projects in opposite directions along the longitudinal axis of the carton, each segment comprising an elongated tab with a distal end sized to fit within a slot in the top section. Two lateral cuts are provided in each elongated tab. A second pair of structural segments projects in opposite directions along the transverse axis of the carton, each segment comprising a separation section with a distal slit cut along its axis. The stirrups are packaged by folding the tabs downward, inward and upward through the slot in the top section, thereby wrapping around the stirrups, folding the separation section between the stirrups, and latching the slits in the separation sections to the lateral cuts in the elongated tabs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related in general to the field of packaging and displaying of commercial articles. In particular, the invention consists of a novel cardboard carton for packaging and displaying stirrups.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is desirable to package and market products so that they are visible and easily placed on a shelf, preferably hanging from a display hook. In addition, it is desirable to package products in a relatively inexpensive container or carton. In the case of stirrups for horse-back riding, it is also useful if the packaging makes it possible for a potential buyer to touch and feel the stirrups, and try them on the footwear for which they are intended. Accordingly, it is important that the package be suitable for easy opening and removal of the stirrups, and further for easy reassembly into an undamaged package.
Products are often packaged in folded cardboard structures especially designed for the task at hand. Typically, the carton is produced by shaping a flat cardboard sheet to fit the dimensions of the article to be packaged and by cutting appropriate tabs, slits and slots to form the carton around the article. The present invention relates to a novel cardboard structure for packaging stirrups.
A stirrup is a frame or ring attached to a riding saddle by a strap for receiving the foot of a rider and used to aid in mounting and as a support while riding. Typically, stirrups have a lower, flat foot-tread or foot-pad portion connected to the ends of two branches of a curved, inverted U-shaped structure that completes the ring attached to the strap. An eye or slot is provided at the top of the curved structure for receiving the supporting strap of the saddle. Because stirrups come in pairs and are made of heavy, solid metal, they are not easily packaged in convenient form. They are usually displayed in plastic bags or loosely on a rack.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an inexpensive and practical packaging cardboard structure for containing and displaying a pair of stirrups visibly on a shelf. This invention is directed at a simple device for achieving that purpose.

Folded cardbord article for packaging stirrups

Eastwest International (Taiwan) Enterprises


A wireless device (105) for managing reporting of channel quality is configured to communicate with a mobile radio communication network (102). The wireless device (105) identifies (404) there being no downlink activity between the wireless device (105) and the mobile radio communication network (102). The wireless device (105) reduces (406), in response to the identification, a level of channel quality reporting when there is no downlink activity. In a multi Radio Access Bearer (RAB) scenario this supports reduction of a higher drop rate of multi-RAB, e.g. speech and data, compared to e.g. stand-alone speech RAB.

Communication devices such as wireless devices may be also known as e.g. user equipments (UEs), mobile terminals, wireless terminals and/or mobile stations. A wireless device is enabled to communicate wirelessly in a cellular communications network, wireless communications system, or radio communications system, sometimes also referred to as a cellular radio system, cellular network, cellular communications system or simply cellular system. A typical example of such system or network, depending on terminology used, is a telecommunications system for mobile communications. The communication may be performed e.g. between two wireless devices, between a wireless device and a regular telephone and/or between a wireless device and a server via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more core networks, comprised within the cellular communications network. The wireless device may further be referred to as a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, laptop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), tablet computer, just to mention some further examples. The wireless device may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as another wireless device or a server.
The cellular communications network covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area is served by at least one base station, e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which sometimes may be referred to as e.g. "eNB", "eNodeB", "NodeB", "B node", or BTS (Base Transceiver Station), depending on the technology and terminology used. The base stations may be of different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, home eNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. A cell is the geographical area where radio coverage is provided according to a Radio Access Technology (RAT) and at a carrier frequency by the base station at a base station site. The base station may support one or several communication technologies, such as RATs. Cells may overlap so that several cells cover the same geographical area. By the base station serving a cell is meant that the radio coverage is provided such that one or more wireless devices located in the geographical area where the radio coverage is provided may be served by the base station. One base station may serve one or several cells. When one base station serves several cells, these may be served according to the same or different RATs, and/or may be served at same or different carrier frequencies. The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with one or more wireless devices within range of the base stations.
In some RANs, several base stations may be connected, e.g. by landlines or microwave, to a radio network controller, e.g. a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and/or to each other. The radio network controller, also sometimes termed a Base Station Controller (BSC) e.g. in GSM, may supervise and coordinate various activities of the plural base stations connected thereto. GSM is an abbreviation for Global System for Mobile Communications (originally: Groupe Special Mobile). In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), base stations, which may be referred to as eNodeBs or eNBs, may be directly connected to other base stations and may be directly connected to one or more core networks.
Wireless communication systems following Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) technology, were developed as part of Third Generation (3G) Radio Systems, and is maintained by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS is a third generation mobile communication system, which evolved from the GSM, and is intended to provide improved mobile communication services based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) access technology. UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is essentially a radio access network using wideband code division multiple access for wireless devices. High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), defined by 3GPP, that extends and improves the performance of existing 3rd generation mobile telecommunication networks utilizing the WCDMA. Moreover, the 3GPP has undertaken to evolve further the UTRAN and GSM based radio access network technologies, for example into evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) used in LTE. One example of a cellular communications system is UMTS WCDMA.
The expression downlink (DL) is used for the transmission path from the RAN, typically from a base station thereof, to the wireless device. The expression uplink (UL) is used for the transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. from the wireless device to the RAN, typically to a base station thereof.
In a multi Radio Access Bearer, multi-RAB, e.g. speech and Packet Switched (PS) data uses the same RAB. In a situation where speech is configured on a Dedicated Channel (DCH) and the PS part is configured on Enhanced Uplink (EUL) and HSDPA, live network statistics has shown that it has a significantly higher drop rate than the stand-alone Speech RAB.

Methods and arrangements for managing reporting of channel quality


A flush regulator for retrofit use in a toilet tank for regulating the outflow therefrom through an outlet, said regulator including a flap valve without buoyancy, said flap valve adapted to close said outlet, a rod connected at one end to said flap valve and a body of buoyancy at another end of said rod above said flap valve, said flap valve adapted to close said outlet when the water level in said tank reaches the upper edge of said body of buoyancy and said buoyancy and flap valve fall to close said outlet.

Many existing toilet tanks and flush systems presently existing in North America have been designed and installed many years ago when the supply of fresh water was not much of a concern as it is in the present day. Generally speaking the supply of fresh water and its purification is a concern in today's society including the volume of water being flushed. This concern is even more acute for those organizations such as hotels, government bodies and other large organizations having many toilets used by many people. Such organizations are concerned with the volume of water being used for environmental reasons as well as the cost of its use.
Accordingly there have been a variety of systems and mechanisms heretobefore been designed to address this issue.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,359 relates to a dual-mode flush valve assembly.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,995 relates to a water saving device for a flush tank which includes a floating body, a guide track on which the floating body is slideably mounted by a bracket, and a clip mounted to the guide track for snap fit around the stand pipe of the tank.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,710 also relates to a water saver being used in a toilet tank and which includes a discharge control and flapper tank ball for controlling the flow of water from the tank or reservoir to the bowl and with the water saver having a generally cylindrical configuration with an open top and a closed bottom defining a water retaining chamber.
These and other devices and methods present relatively complicated structures.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved regulator for a toilet tank which is simple to install and use.


An method for the fabrication of an improved polysilicon buried contact is described. The contact is formed within a trench etched into the silicon substrate. The effective area of the contact is thereby increased over the conventional planar buried contact by an amount equal to the area of the trench walls. For sub-micron sized buried contacts and trenches 1000 to 3000 Angstroms deep this area can be twice that of the conventional planar buried contact. Contacts formed in this fashion are particularly beneficial in the manufacture of static-random-access memory, devices (SRAMs) through their application with local-interconnects. They afford a lower contact resistance, manifested by the greater effective contact area, as well as a much reduced risk of open or high resistive contacts due to photomask mis-alignment. The presence of the trench also results in a higher junction capacitance which affords a reduction in soft-error-rates, a notable concern for memory devices.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to processes for the manufacture of semiconductor devices and more particularly to processes for forming buried contacts.
(2) Description of Prior Art
Very large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) technology comprises the formation of isolated semiconductor devices within the surface of silicon wafers and interconnecting these devices with wiring layers above the surface. This interconnection system usually consists of two or more levels of interconnection metallurgy, separated by insulation layers. The first level of interconnection is used to define small fundamental circuits, for example, a simple TTL gate comprised of two bi-polar transistors and two resistors. The basic CMOS inverter requires that the gates on the NMOS (n-channel MOS field-effect-transistor) and the PMOS (p-channel MOS field-effect-transistor) devices be connected together. Memory cells, in particular, require several such local interconnections.
The progressive need for higher densities of memory cells has fueled the development of that segment of interconnection technology which has become known as "Local Interconnects" (LI). The success and extensive use of polysilicon as the MOSFET gate material has played a dominant role in this development and, in the sub-micron technology of today, it has become the most important material used for forming these connections. Previous technology used an aluminum alloy for short wiring runs such as from a gate electrode to an adjacent drain. These links were referred to as butted contacts because the contact window was opened to expose both the polysilicon gate and the adjacent drain. With the buried contact, direct contact is made between polysilicon and the substrate. When in-situ doped polysilicon is deposited over a thin gate oxide layer to form a transistor gate it can simultaneously be deposited into an opening in the gate oxide over a nearby drain diffusion, for example, to make a contact between the gate and the drain region. Subsequent annealing then forms a stable ohmic contact to the diffused region.
Several major designs for Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) arrays have been developed using both NMOS and CMOS technology. All make abundant use of local interconnects with buried contacts. The earliest, NMOS SRAMs, contained six n-channel MOSFETs (MOS field-effect-transistor) per cell. Three local interconnects using buried contacts were used in this cell to connect polysilicon gates to substrate diffusions.
Other SRAM designs, such as full CMOS SRAMS and poly-load SRAMs, rely upon local interconnects made with buried contacts. These interconnects contribute to a reduction in cell size, allowing an increase in memory density.
A conventional sequence of steps for forming a gate-to-drain LI using a polysilicon buried contact is shown in FIG. 2. Referring first to FIG. 1A, a p-type silicon wafer 10 is provided having a field isolation region (FOX) 16 and a gate oxide 12. A thin layer of about 450 to 550 Angstroms of un-doped polysilicon 14 is deposited using Low-Pressure-Chemical-Vapor-Deposition (LPCVD). Photoresist 18 is applied and openings for the buried contacts are patterned in the resist. Using Reactive-Ion-Etching (RIE) with chlorine, the polysilicon is etched to the underlying the gate oxide which is then removed with dilute hydrofluoric acid or by RIE with tetrafluoromethane (CF.sub.4).
Referring next to FIG. 1B, the wafer is first implanted with boron using the Large-Angle-Tilt-Implanted-Punchthrough-Stopper (LATIPS) process. The implanted boron 24 prevents punchthrough below the channel region and also acts as a channel-stop under the field isolation 16. Next a normal implant of phosphorous of about 1.times.10.sup.15 to 3.times.10.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.2 forms the region 26 within the silicon where the LI contact is to be made. A second layer of polysilicon 20 is then deposited by CVD (FIG. IC). This layer is in-situ doped with phosphorous and will form the body of the LI as well as the gate electrode for the device. A second layer of photoresist 22 defines the LI as well as the gate electrode.
Again, using RIE with chlorine, the excess polysilicon is etched away forming the completed LI 34 and the gate electrode 32 (FIG. 1D-E). Connection of the LI 34 to the gate shown 32, or to another gate can occur over the field oxide region 16 where additional connections may also be formed. In FIGS. 1D and 1E there is shown the effect of a slight mis-alignment of the photomask which defines the LIs and gates with respect to the photomask which defines the buried contact opening. When the polysilicon is etched back, the subjacent silicon oxide layer 12A acts as an etch stop for the chlorine RIE. A mask mis-alignment can present a small portion of exposed silicon where the oxide had been previously etched away to expose the buried contact. The result is a penetration of the silicon surface 28 during the second polysilicon 20 etch. This penetration has the potential of causing an open or highly resistive contact, especially in shallow implanted devices. Note: if an oxide spacer 36 is used to create lightly-doped-drain (LDD) regions for the transistor, the region at the notch 28 will be even more jeopardized by the lack of dopant at the defect. (The LDD profile is denoted by the dashed portion in FIG. 1E).
The source and drain regions 30 as well as the polysilicon gates 32 are next implanted with phosphorous in the usual manner to complete the formation the self-aligned-polysilicon-gate MOSFETS. A subsequent thermal anneal fuses the contacts and activates the implanted dopants.
FIG. 1E shows the complete implanted drain region which consists of the implants 26 and 30. The actual contact area between the polysilicon LI 34 and the implanted region is smaller than the overall n+ region in the silicon. As device geometries shrink, this area becomes so small that contact resistances increase to unacceptable levels. Additionally, the hazards of mis-alignment become more serious with shallow junction active areas.
This invention describes a method whereby the contact area of the LI to the silicon wafer can be substantially increased without sacrificing planar device design area. Additionally, mis-alignment is made conspicuously more tolerable.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.