Data processing devices in a data center are more easily relocated by consolidating the data and power connections to the data processing devices within a mobile data cabinet. The mobile data cabinet includes an access switch to consolidate communications and connections among computing devices in the mobile cabinet and to consolidate communications to a central communication service through a main communication cable. A single data communication connection through the main communication cable and a single electrical power connection through a power delivery cable to the mobile cabinet reduces and simplifies number and difficulty of the disconnections and connections that must be made to move the mobile cabinet.

Most sizeable business organizations have extensive computer systems for managing large amounts of electronic data. These computer systems typically include a central communication service that is shared by multiple individual data processing devices located in one or more data centers or computing laboratories or which are distributed on a less concentrated bases throughout the business organization. Typically, the data center is either centralized within a building which houses the business organization, or multiple data centers are distributed at different physical locations within the building. Examples of central communication services include, internet protocol (IP) networks, telephony networks, financial services networks, product design services networks, product qualification and test services networks, and marketing services networks, among others. The central communication service is also typically used to link to other communication services outside of the business organization. Examples of data processing devices which may be located in the data center include conventional individual and high-capacity computers or computing devices, computer servers, and data storage servers, among others. These devices may be accessed and controlled by individuals working in the data center itself or over the central communication services by other individuals and computer facilities within the organization. Connection and access to the central communication service by each of the data processing devices in the data center is generally controlled by one or a very few central gatekeeper devices, each of which may be a large port count IP access switch. High capacity data communication cables connect each central gatekeeper with the central communication service to accommodate a high volume of data that may pass through each central gatekeeper. Each data center typically has its own central gatekeeper. The central gatekeeper in each data center also communicates data between the numerous data processing devices within each data center, as well as communicating data to the central communication service. Each data processing device in the data center is therefore individually connected by electrically conducting cables and/or optical cables to the central gatekeeper. Since each data center typically has a relatively large number of individual data processing devices, the central gatekeeper must have a large number of electrical and optical input/output ports and a very high data switching capacity to accommodate all of the data traffic. Large port count gatekeepers are very expensive, on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars each. To minimize expense, data centers are typically organized to use as few of the central gatekeepers as possible.
Minimizing the number of central gatekeepers in a data center requires that each of the data processing devices be connected to the central gatekeeper by individual electrical or optical cables. The electrical cables are typically high data rate twisted pair copper (TPC) conductors (e.g., TPC Category 15 cable) that are connected with conventional electrical connections to the data processing equipment at one end and to the central gatekeeper at the other end. The optical cables are typically clad optical fibers that are terminated at opposite ends by special techniques which transmit the optical signals through the termination connection with minimum loss of light energy. Optical fibers, which are capable of conducting signals at a high frequency or rate, must be specially and individually terminated to avoid light energy attenuation due to insertion losses and to assure the very high frequency signaling rate. The typical termination usually requires a trained technician with relatively extensive special equipment to accomplish the termination. Each termination costs in the order of a few hundred dollars.
The electrical and optical communication cables physically extend from the central gatekeeper to each of the individual data processing devices in the data center. Because each data center typically includes a large number of data processing devices, there are many hundreds of cables which must be routed physically from each data processing device through the space within the data center to the central gatekeeper. The communication cables are typically routed below a raised floor of the data center or hung by supports from the ceiling within the data center. In any event, there are a considerable number of cables in bundles which physically occupy the space within the data center.
The numerous data processing devices within the data center are usually physically supported in racks which extend from the floor to the ceiling, or within cabinets or enclosures which extend from the floor to near the ceiling. It is not unusual for ten to twenty data processing devices to be included in each rack, cabinet or enclosure. Each rack, cabinet or enclosure thereby forms a support structure for a group of data processing devices. The data processing devices of each support structure are connected to the central gatekeeper through a relatively large bundle of cables which are connected individually at their ends to the data processing devices of the support structure and to the central gatekeeper. The support structures are typically located at fixed positions within the data center. Fixing their position in the data center allows the communication cables to be extended and terminated at the fixed location to service the data processing equipment located in each support structure. A typical data center may have tens or hundreds of the fixed-position support structures. It is apparent that each data center therefore includes many hundreds or thousands of individual communication cables of relatively fixed lengths that are bundled together to accommodate each fixed-position support structure.
In addition to the physical restraints imposed by the bundles of specific length communication cables extending to each support structure, electrical power must be made available at the support structure to power the data processing equipment within that support structure. Because the support structure is fixed in position, the electrical power is typically delivered by electrical conductors confined in conduits to electrical power receptacles located at or close to each fixed support structure. The electrical power receptacles are therefore fixed in position within the data center.
The data processing devices of each support structure must also be cooled to prevent destruction or malfunction due to excessive heat. The traditional data center may have a raised floor which provides space below the support structures to distribute cooling air to the data processing devices of each support structure. Constructing a raised floor in a data center is very expensive because of the special structural supports required for the floor, and because of the airflow devices and ducts required to assure an adequate amount of cooling air to each support structure. As an alternative, ducts may be distributed in the ceiling by which to direct the cooling air on to each support structure and its data processing devices. In either event, the cooling capacity within the data center is fixed by the particular distribution of the cooling air ducts which are located to service the data processing devices of the fixed position support structures.
There often arises a need to redistribute the computational capacity of a data center to accommodate new and different projects or services. In such cases, it is desirable to physically move data processing from one location to another in the data center. This need sometimes arises because special projects require increased computational capacity, or because segments of the business organization grow and need additional computing devices, or because computational capacity needs to be redistributed if cooling limitations exist in the data center, i.e. hot spots. In most cases, it is desirable or required that the data processing devices assigned to a particular project or service be closely located in a physical sense. A close physical relationship will usually facilitate a cooperative and productive use of the computing facilities. In those cases where excess space is available in a support structure assigned to a particular project or service, additional data processing devices can be added to the support structure. However, this circumstance is unusual because the usual approach in data centers is to fully occupy each of the support structures before utilizing another support structure.
The need to move a relatively large number of data processing devices from one location to another in a data center has led to the use of mobile support structures. The mobile support structures are not fixed in position within the data center, but instead typically use casters or rollers to allow them to be rolled between different positions in the data center. The mobile support structures allow their data processing devices to be moved together as a group without removing them from the support structures.
However, mobile support structures do not address the problem of relocating and reconnecting the data processing devices caused by the relatively large bundles of electrical and optical conductors which individually connect the data processing devices to the central gatekeeper. The relatively expensive termination of the optical cables and the large number of electrical cables essentially restrict or tie the data processing equipment in position within the data center, except under the circumstance where new cables are extended and terminated at the new location of the data processing equipment. Extending and terminating the new cables is relatively expensive, which discourages movement of the data processing equipment within the data center. In addition to the cost, considerable downtime when the data processing equipment is not available for use also serves as a restriction on the ability to move the support enclosures and the data processing equipment. The requirements for electrical power may not be readily accommodated without extending new electrical power lines to those locations within the data center where the data processing devices may be relocated. A similar circumstance exists with respect to the cooling capacity. The thermal load created by an accumulation of data processing devices at a particular location in the data center may be so great as to limit the cooling capability in that particular location, and because the cooling capacity was originally anticipated to be more distributed. The thermal cooling capability also becomes more important as the size of the electronic equipment becomes more miniaturized, because the amount of heat generated in a given volume of space increases.

Data center with mobile data cabinets and method of mobilizing and connecting data processing devices in a data center using consolidated data communications and power connections


A method of deoxygenation of an oil or a product comprising an oil such as a salad dressing, by adding an effective amount of a laccase to the oil or to the product.

Many food items such as salad dressings, e.g., French dressings and mayonnaise are prepared with vegetable oils, e.g., soybean oil. Soybean oil contains a large amount of linoleic and linolenic acids which readily react with the dissolved oxygen in the product whereby undesirable volatile compounds are produced. It has been reported that the flavour quality of oils could be improved by eliminating dissolved oxygen in the oils (for reference see Journal of Food Science 57(1), 1992, p. 196).
Antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, and propyl gallate have been added to foods containing fats to improve their oxidative stability.
Enzymatic deoxygenation with glucose oxidase has been described to reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in salad dressings significantly (for reference see Journal of Food Science 57(1), 1992, p. 199): 0.5% glucose was sufficient to remove 92% of the dissolved oxygen in the salad dressing during 5 days of storage.
Glucose oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of d-glucose to d-gluconic acid in the presence of molecular oxygen: C.sub.6 H.sub.12 O.sub.6 +2O.sub.2 +2H.sub.2 O->2C.sub.6 H.sub.12 O.sub.7 +2H.sub.2 O.sub.2. As it can be seen a by product of this reaction is H.sub.2 O.sub.2, which can be destructive to the oil product. In order to avoid this problem it has been suggested to add a catalase together with the glucose oxidase; catalase catalyzes the reaction: 2H.sub.2 O.sub.2 ->2H.sub.2 O.sub.2, but then oxygen is produced again!--however, the overall effect of the enzymatic deaeration by using a combination of glucose oxidase and a catalase is removal of 0.5 mole oxygen for each mole of oxidized d-glucose.
It is an object of the present invention to find a simple and effective enzyme system for oxygen removal in an oil or a product comprising an oil, in which hydrogen peroxide is not involved.

Deoxygenation of an oil product with a laccase


In a spark-ignition internal combustion engine in which a protrusion including an intake-side inclined surface and an exhaust-side inclined surface is formed on a top surface of a piston, and a cavity is formed in the protrusion at a position associated with a spark plug, the intake-side inclined surface and the exhaust-side inclined surface are formed in such a way that an inclination angle of the exhaust-side inclined surface is smaller than an inclination angle of the intake-side inclined surface, and a difference in inclination angle between the intake-side inclined surface and the exhaust-side inclined surface is 4 degrees or larger.

In a spark-ignition internal combustion engine having a pent-roof combustion chamber, which is mounted in a vehicle such as an automobile, it is known that a protrusion is formed on a top surface of a piston in order to increase a geometric compression ratio, and a downwardly recessed cavity is formed in a middle of the protrusion and in a position associated with a spark plug. In an internal combustion of this type, it is possible to retard a timing at which an initial flame front interferes with a top surface of a piston after ignition by a spark plug. Thus, flame propagation is increased, and fuel efficiency is increased.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a spark-ignition internal combustion engine as illustrated in FIG. 17. An internal combustion engine 100 illustrated in FIG. 17 includes a pent-roof combustion chamber 101, an intake port 103 and an exhaust port 104 formed in a cylinder head which defines a ceiling surface 102 of the combustion chamber 101, and a spark plug 105 and a fuel injection valve 106 mounted in the cylinder head. The spark plug 105 is disposed on a middle portion of the ceiling surface 102 (between the intake port 103 and the exhaust port 104). The fuel injection valve 106 is disposed at a position offset on an intake side with respect to the middle portion of the ceiling surface 102.
In the internal combustion engine 100 of Patent Literature 1, a protrusion 111 including an intake-side inclined surface 109 and an exhaust-side inclined surface 110 along the ceiling surface 102 of the combustion chamber 101 is formed on a top surface 108 of a piston 107 which defines a bottom surface of the combustion chamber 101. A downwardly recessed cavity 112 is formed in a middle of the protrusion 111 and in a position associated with the spark plug 105. Thus, it is reported that flame propagation is increased and fuel efficiency is increased, while keeping a geometric compression ratio to 13 or larger.
In a spark-ignition internal combustion engine, a so-called tumble port capable of generating a tumble flow (vertical vortex) within a combustion chamber may be employed as an intake port. In a spark-ignition internal combustion engine employing a tumble port, combustion is promoted by turbulence, which is generated by collapse of a tumble flow, as a piston approaches a compression top dead center (in other words, as a combustion chamber is reduced). Thus, fuel efficiency is increased. As illustrated by an arrow 113 in FIG. 17, after flowing downwardly and toward an exhaust side from the intake port 103, a tumble flow has its direction changed along an inner peripheral surface of a cylinder, and flows from the exhaust side toward the intake side along the top surface 108 of the piston 107. Further, after having its direction changed along the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder and flowing upwardly on the intake side, the tumble flow flows from the intake side toward the exhaust side along the ceiling surface 102 of the combustion chamber.
However, in a spark-ignition internal combustion engine employing a piston including a protrusion and a cavity as described in Patent Literature 1, there is a problem that, when a tumble flow flows from an exhaust side toward an intake side along a top surface of the piston, the tumble flow is likely to be decelerated by presence of a protrusion. A deceleration in tumble flow reduces turbulence energy, which is generated by collapse of a tumble flow, and reduces an effect of promoting combustion. This is not preferable in terms of fuel efficiency.

Spark-ignition internal combustion engine


A back-up tong for assembling or disassembling threaded joints of tubing for use in oil and gas wells is provided. The back-up tong has both a first and second gripping mechanism. The first gripping mechanism has a plurality of jaws for engaging the tubing to prevent rotation of the tubing in a clockwise direction and the second gripping mechanism has a plurality of jaws for engaging the tubing to prevent rotation of the tubing in a counter-clockwise direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a back-up tong of the type used in conjunction with a power tong to assemble or disassemble threaded joint connections between successive tubing sections that form the continuous tubing string extending through a well bore into underground deposits. More particularly this invention relates to a back-up tong that provides opposing reactive force to the torque of a power tong without rotating the back-up tong one-hundred eighty (180) degrees when the rotation of the power tong is reversed.
2. Related Art
To interconnect and disconnect tubing that is lowered into oil or gas production wells, two types of tongs are typically utilized to make or break the threaded joint connections between successive tubing sections. The ends of each tubing section are threaded with a male screw thread at one end and a female screw thread at an opposite end. As each tube section is lowered into the well bore, a successive section is screwed to its upper end. Power tongs apply torque to the upper tubing of the joint, while a back-up tong applies opposing torque to the lower tubing of the joint. In this manner, the back-up tong reacts against the torque applied by the power tong to the upper tubing of the joint, as such, the back-up tong keeps the bottom tubing of the joint from rotating when the power tong applies torque to the upper tubing to connect or disconnect threaded joint connections between tubing sections.
Today, power/back-up tong combination devices, such as the tong combination device 100 illustrated in prior art FIG. 1, are utilized to assemble and disassemble threaded joint connections between successive tubing sections that form the continuous tubing string extending through a well bore into underground deposits. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a back-up tong 102 is generally suspended from a power tong 104, so that the reaction torque of one tong is cancelled by the other tong, which eliminates the need to anchor the tongs to the oil rig. Instead, the tong combination device 100 is suspended by a hoist over the well bore. In such arrangements, the tail end 106 of the back-up tong 102 attaches to a structural support 108 on the back end of the power tong 104.
Current designs also feature a swivel and hinge mounting of the back-up tong 102 that allows the back-up tong 102 to be lowered away from the power tong 104 to permit rotation of the back-up tong 102 by one-hundred eighty (180) degrees in relation to the tubing being assembled. The jaws of current back-up tongs 102 only apply torque in one opposing rotational direction. To provide appropriate reactive force to the torque of the power tong 104, the back-up tong 102 must be flipped over according to the direction of rotation of the power tong 104. Accordingly, if rotation must be reversed, for example, from assembling tubing sections to disassembling the tubing sections, the power tong 104 and back-up tong 102 are removed from the tubing connection area and the power tong 104 is adjusted to perform the opposite rotation. The back-up tong 102 is then rotated upside down to react to the reversed torque of the power tong 104 on the tubing T.
An example of a current back-up tong 102 generally used in a power/back-up tong combination device 100, such as the device illustrated in FIG. 1, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,074 and illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a top view of an open-head Foster-style back-up tong 200 having three pivoting jaws 202 in mesh connection with a ring gear 204. A drive cylinder 206 powered by a hydraulic motor engages the outer circumference of the ring gear 204. As illustrated in FIG. 3, rotation of the ring gear 204 in one direction causes each of the jaws 202 to pivot toward the center of the ring gear 204 and grip any tubing placed in the center opening of the back-up tong 200.
While the open-head Foster-style back-up tongs 200 work well, such back-up tongs still require more than one individual to operate. The current open-head Foster-style back-up tongs, of the type illustrated in FIGS. 2-3, only apply torque in one opposing rotational direction. Thus, current back-up tongs still require rotation to provide appropriate reactive force to the torque of the power tong when the rotation of the power tong is reversed.
Accordingly, a need exists for a back-up tong that can provide reactive force to the torque of the power tong when rotation of the power tong is reversed without requiring the back-up tong to be rotated one-hundred and eighty (180) degrees. In other words, a need exists for a back-up tong capable of gripping a pipe for assembling and disassembling pipe joints without rotating the back-up tong (i.e., reversing the back-up tong by turning the back-up tong upside down).


A method for modulating a symbol in a transmitter of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. The symbol modulation method includes multiplying an input stream of an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) unit by a Twiddling factor for circular-shifting the input stream of the IFFT unit by a Cyclic Prefix (CP) length; performing IFFT on the input stream of the IFFT unit, which is multiplied by the Twiddling factor; buffering data corresponding to the CP length beginning from a front of an output stream of the IFFT unit; and generating an OFDM symbol by forward-copying the buffered data to a back of the output stream of the IFFT unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for modulating symbols in a wireless communication system, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for efficiently modulating symbols in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system, and a transmitter using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the ongoing development of the communication industry and the increasing user demands for packet services, there is an increasing need for communication systems that are capable of efficiently providing the packet services. The conventional communication networks, as they have been developed to mainly provide voice services, have narrower data transmission bandwidths and higher service charges. To solve these problems, extensive research is being conducted on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which is the typical example of the broadband packet transmission scheme.
OFDM, the typical multi-carrier transmission scheme of overlapping multiple orthogonal subcarriers, converts a serial input symbol stream into parallel streams and modulates each of the parallel streams with multiple orthogonal subcarriers before transmission. It is known that the OFDM scheme can provide an efficient platform for high-speed data transmission using its robustness against multipath fading.
The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system recently attracting public attention, which is an OFDM-based multiple access system, divides the frequency domain into subchannels each having a plurality of subcarriers, and allocates the subchannels to the users individually to perform resource allocation taking both the time and frequency domains into account, thereby accommodating multiple users with the limited frequency resources. Herein, the use of the term "OFDM system" will be construed to include the OFDMA system.
The OFDM scheme, as it divides an input data stream into NS subcarriers before transmission, can reduce NS times the relative multipath spread for the symbol period by increasing the symbol interval NS times. Because transmission of the OFDM symbols is processed on a block-by-block basis, while the OFDM symbols are transmitted over multiple paths, the currently transmitted OFDM symbol may receive interference from the previously transmitted OFDM symbol. As is well known, a scheme for inserting a guard interval between consecutive blocks is used to efficiently cancel the inter-OFDM symbol interference, or Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI). The guard interval is selected to be longer than the expected delay spread so that the multipath component from a previous OFDM symbol will not interfere with a current OFDM symbol.
For the OFDM symbols, a Cyclic Prefix (CP) insertion scheme for copying a partial interval of an OFDM symbol and cyclically-concatenating the copy to the guard interval is used to prevent Inter-Channel Interference (ICI). The 'CP insertion' refers to an operation of copying a block of, for example, a length NCP at the back of an OFDM symbol and filling the guard interval with the copied block. Even though a subcarrier delay occurs by the CP insertion, an integer period is maintained in a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) interval, guaranteeing the orthogonality, and only a phase rotation caused by the delay occurs, making it possible to prevent the ICI.
In the OFDM system, a symbol modulation scheme parallel-converts serial input data into a number of parallel data streams equal to the number of subcarriers, and modulates each of the parallel-converted data streams with its associated subcarrier. Subcarrier modulation/demodulation can be realized by Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT). Because the DFT and IDFT have the higher hardware complexity and the higher calculation, they can be realized using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) algorithms, respectively, to perform the high-speed operation while reducing the complexity and the calculation.
The CP insertion is performed in a symbol modulation process of the OFDM system, and for the CP insertion, an output of IFFT is stored in a buffer of a transmitter. In this way, for the CP insertion, the modulation process of the OFDM symbol should store the IFFT output in the buffer until the samples disposed at the back of the IFFT output are output, inevitably causing a delay. In addition, for hardware, there is a need for a buffer for storing all the output of the IFFT. Therefore, a reduction in the delay and the required buffer capacity (or required buffer size), if possible, can improve performance of the transmitter in the OFDM system. That is, for the performance improvement of the transmitter in the OFDM system, there is a need for an apparatus and method capable of reducing the delay and the required buffer capacity.

Method and apparatus for modulating symbols in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system and transmission apparatus using the same


Apparatus and process are provided for arbitrary drawing of planar objects wherein an air current is created in a receptacle, and planar objects, having two opposing faces each having the reproduction of a picture, are introduced into the receptacle. The apparatus includes elements for capturing a planar object in an arbitrary manner, and the captured planar object can be extracted from the receptacle. The receptacle has, on its portion located toward the front, a groove having a trapezoidal section whose width decreases from its upper portion to its lower portion. The base of the groove extends, at its lower portion, beyond the outer surface of the receptacle so as to define a space which is adequate to enable passage of a planar object. The space is blocked by a retractable bar forming the base of the groove for engaging the planar object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a device for the arbitrary drawing of planar objects containing figures thereon, such as those represented on playing cards.
2. Background and Material Information
Apparatus that enable the arbitrary drawing of balls are known in the art. One such apparatus is described in European patent application No. 0 348 281, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This apparatus comprises a spherical receptacle in which the balls are maintained in movement by a carefully oriented air current. To undertake the drawing, the apparatus also comprises a tube capable of crossing the spherical receptacle and wherein a depression can be created so as to suction the ball, which passes in the vicinity of the upper opening of the tube, and of maintains it on the end.
Such a machine is satisfactory and proves that an air current is an appropriate means to agitate and mix objects.
However, a machine of this type does not enable agitation of flat objects such as playing cards, because the air current presses the objects against the wall of the receptacle.
In other words, known machines are not appropriate for pictures or other similar planar objects.
Certainly one could reproduce the pictures on balls and use existing machines, but the visual effect obtained would not be very attractive.

Apparatus for arbitrary drawing of planar objects


Remote method invocation using a generic proxy class. A client machine transmits a call for invocation of a method of a remote object including an identifier for the method object. A server machine receives the identifier and uses generic code to invoke the method object and return an indication of the invoked method along with any relevant parameters.

The present invention relates to a system and method for transmitting objects between machines in a distributed system and more particularly relates to methods for invocation of remote methods in a distributed system.
Distributed programs that concentrate on point-to-point data transmission can often be adequately and efficiently handled using special-purpose protocols for remote terminal access and file transfer. Such protocols are tailored to a specific program and, therefore, do not provide a foundation on which to build a variety of distributed programs (e.g., distributed operating systems, electronic mail systems, conferencing systems, etc.).
While conventional transport services can be used as the basis for building distributed programs, these services exhibit many organizational problems, such as the use of different data types in different machines, lack of facilities for synchronization, and no provision for a limited programming paradigm.
Distributed systems usually contain a number of different types of machines interconnected by communications networks. Each machine has its own internal data types, its own address alignment rules, and its own operating system. This heterogeneity causes problems when building distributed systems. As a result, program developers must include in programs developed for such heterogeneous distributed systems the capability of dealing with ensuring that information is handled and interpreted consistently on different machines.
However, one simplification is afforded by noting that a large proportion of programs use a request and response interaction between processes where the initiator (i.e., program initiating a communication) is blocked waiting until the response is returned and is thus idle during this time. This can be modeled by a procedure call mechanism between processes. One such mechanism is referred to as the remote procedure call (RPC).
RPC is a mechanism for providing synchronized communication between two processes (e.g., program, applet, etc.) running on the same machine or different machines. In a simple case, one process, e.g., a client program, sends a message to another process, e.g., a server program. In this case, it is not necessary for the processes to be synchronized either when the message is sent or received. It is possible for the client program to transmit the message and then begin a new activity, or for the server program""s environment to buffer the incoming message until the server program is ready to process a new message.
RPC, however, imposes constraints on synchronism because it closely models a local procedure call within the calling process, which requires passing parameters in one direction, blocking the calling process until a called procedure of the server program is complete, and then returning a response. RPC thus involves two message transfers, and the synchronization of the two processes for the duration of the call.
The RPC mechanism is usually implemented in two processing parts using the local procedure call paradigm, one part being on the client side and the other part being on the server side. Both of these parts will be described below with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the flow of call information using an RPC mechanism. As shown in FIG. 1, a client program 100 issues a call (step 102). The RPC mechanism 101 then packs the call as arguments of a call packet (step 103), which the RPC mechanism 101 then transmits to a server program 109 (step 104). The call packet also contains information to identify the client program 100 that first sent the call. After the call packet is transmitted (step 104), the RPC mechanism 101 enters a wait state during which it waits for a response from the server program 109.
The RPC mechanism 108 for the server program 109 (which may be the same RPC mechanism as the RPC mechanism 101 when the server program 109 is on the same platform as the client program 100) receives the call packet (step 110), unpacks the arguments of the call from the call packet (step 111), identifies, using the call information, the server program 109 to which the call was addressed, and provides the call arguments to the server program 109.
The server program receives the call (step 112), processes the call by invoking the appropriate procedure (step 115), and returns a response to the RPC mechanism 108 (step 116). The RPC mechanism 108 then packs the response in a response packet (step 114) and transmits it to the client program 100 (step 113).
Receiving the response packet (step 107) triggers the RPC mechanism 101 to exit the wait state and unpack the response from the response packet (step 106). RPC 101 then provides the response to the client program 100 in response to the call (step 105). This is the process flow of the typical RPC mechanism modeled after the local procedure call paradigm. Since the RPC mechanism uses the local procedure call paradigm, the client program 100 is blocked at the call until a response is received. Thus, the client program 100 does not continue with its own processing after sending the call; rather, it waits for a response from the server program 109.
The Java(trademark) programming language is an object-oriented programming language that is typically compiled into a platform-independent format, using a bytecode instruction set, which can be executed on any platform supporting the Java virtual machine (JVM). This language is described, for example, in a text entitled xe2x80x9cThe Java Language Specificationxe2x80x9d by James Gosling, Bill Joy, and Guy Steele, Addison-Wesley, 1996, which is incorporated herein by reference. The JVM is described, for example, in a text entitled xe2x80x9cThe Java Virtual Machine Specification,xe2x80x9d by Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin, Addison Wesley, 1996, which is incorporated herein by reference. Java and Java-based trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
In object-oriented systems, a xe2x80x9cclassxe2x80x9d provides a template for the creation of xe2x80x9cobjectsxe2x80x9d (which represent items or instances manipulated by the system) having characteristics of that class. The term template denotes that the objects (i.e., data items) in each class share certain characteristics or attributes determined by the class. A class thus defines the type of an object. Objects are typically created dynamically during system operation. Methods associated with a class are generally invoked (i.e., caused to operate) on the objects of the same class or subclass.
Because the JVM may be implemented on any type of platform, implementing distributed programs using the JVM significantly reduces the difficulties associated with developing programs for heterogenous distributed systems. Moreover, the JVM uses a remote method invocation (RMI) system that enables communication among programs of the system. RMI is explained in, for example, the following document, which is incorporated herein by reference: Remote Method Invocation Specification, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (1997), which is available via universal resource locator (URL) www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/docs/guide/rmi/spec/rmiTOC.doc.html.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the flow of objects in an object-oriented distributed system 200 including machines 201 and 202 for transmitting and receiving method invocations using the JVM. In system 200, machine 201 uses RMI 205 for responding to a call from object 203 to invoke a method on remote object 204 by converting the call, including an identification of the method and any parameters into a byte stream 207. While machine 201 is responding to the call from object 203, a process running on the same or another machine in system 200 may continue operation without waiting for a response.
Machine 202 receives the byte stream 207. Using RMI 206, machine 202 automatically converts it into executable bytecode to initiate the invocation of the method on object 204. RMI can also be used to transport objects within the distributed system for use in connection with processes executing on remote machines.
In order to perform RMI, these machines use code referred to as stubs and skeletons created by an RMI compiler. A stub resides on a client machine and includes a reference to a remote object and acts as a proxy for the remote object. The skeleton is also a proxy for the remote object but it resides on the server machine containing the remote object. Thus, the stub resides on a client machine making a call for invocation of a method of a remote object, and the skeleton resides on a server machine containing the remote object. In addition, remote objects are referenced via interfaces, which are collections of related constants and methods. The stub and skeleton typically must be type-specific based on the type of remote object involved in the call. Therefore, varying types of stubs and skeletons must exist for RMI involving varying types of objects. Stubs and skeletons are explained in for example, the following document, which is incorporated herein by reference: Jamie Jaworski, xe2x80x9cJava 1.1 Developer""s Guide, Second Edition,xe2x80x9d pp. 371-383, Sams.net Publishing (1997). They are also explained in the Remote Method Invocation Specification identified above.
Accordingly, a need exists for generic code for use in RMI involving varying types of objects.
A first method consistent with the present invention includes receiving a request to invoke a method of an object and determining the method to be invoked using a generic code. The method is invoked based on the determination, and an indication of the invoked method is provided.
A second method consistent with the present invention includes receiving a request to invoke a method of an object of a specific class and determining the method using a common process for all of the classes. The method is invoked based on the determination, and an indication of the invoked method is provided.
A third method consistent with the present invention includes receiving a request to invoke a first method of a first object and a second method of a second object being of a different type from the first object, and determining the first and second methods to be invoked using a common process. The first and second methods are invoked based on the determination, and an indication of the first invoked method and the second invoked method is provided.
A first apparatus consistent with the present invention receives a request to invoke a method of an object and determines the method to be invoked using a generic code. The apparatus invokes the method based on the determination and provides an indication of the invoked method.
A second apparatus consistent with the present invention receives a request to invoke a method of an object of a specific class and determines the method using a common process for all of the classes. The apparatus invokes the method based on the determination and provides an indication of the invoked method.
A third apparatus consistent with the present invention receives a request to invoke a first method of a first object and a second method of a second object being of a different type from the first object, and it determines the first and second methods to be invoked using a common process. The apparatus invokes the first and second methods based on the determination and provides an indication of the first invoked method and the second invoked method.

Methods and apparatus for remote method invocation


Disclosed is fabricating a semiconductor wafer to form a memory array and peripheral area, the array comprising nonvolatile memory devices employing floating gate transistors and the peripheral area comprising CMOS transistors. A first layer of conductive material is applied atop insulating layers. A dielectric layer is applied atop the first conductive layer for use in floating gate transistors within the array. The dielectric layer and first conductive material are etched from the peripheral area, leaving patterned dielectric material and first conductive material in the array. A second layer of conductive material is applied atop the wafer to cover the peripheral area and dielectric layer of the array. The conductive and dielectric materials of the array are patterned and etched separately from the patterning and etching of conductive material of each of the first and second conductivity type CMOS transistors of the peripheral area. As well, the conductive material of the first conductivity type CMOS transistors of the peripheral area are patterned and etched separately from the patterning and etching of each of, a) conductive and dielectric materials of the array, and b) conductive material of the second conductivity type CMOS transistors of the peripheral area. Further, the conductive material of the second conductivity type CMOS transistors of the peripheral area are patterned and etched separately from patterning and etching of each of, a) conductive and dielectric materials of the array, and b) conductive material of the first conductivity type CMOS transistors of the peripheral area.

Read-only-memories (ROMs) are memories into which information is permanently stored during fabrication. Such memories are considered "non-volatile" as only read operations can be performed.
Each bit of information in a ROM is stored by the presence or absence of a data path from the word (access) line to a bit (sense) line. The data path is eliminated simply by insuring no circuit element joins a word and bit line. Thus, when the word line of a ROM is activated, the presence of a signal on the bit line will mean that a 1 is stored, whereas the absence of a signal indicates that a 0 is stored.
If only a small number of ROM circuits are needed for a specific application, custom mask fabrication might be too expensive or time consuming. In such cases, it would be faster and cheaper for users to program each ROM chip individually. ROMs with such capabilities are referred to as programmable read-only-memories (PROMs). In the first PROMs which were developed, information could only be programmed once into the construction and then could not be erased. In such PROMs, a data path exists between every word and bit line at the completion of the chip manufacture. This corresponds to a stored 1 in every data position. Storage cells during fabrication were selectively altered to store a 0 following manufacture by electrically severing the word-to-bit connection paths. Since the write operation was destructive, once the 0 had been programmed into a bit location it could not be erased back to a 1. PROMs were initially implemented in bipolar technology, although MOS PROMs became available.
Later work with PROMs led to development of erasable PROMs. Erasable PROMs depend on the long-term retention of electric charge as the means for information storage. Such charge is stored on a MOS device referred to as a floating polysilicon gate. Such a construction differs slightly from a conventional MOS transistor gate. The conventional MOS transistor gate of a memory cell employs a continuous polysilicon word line connected among several MOS transistors which functions as the respective transistor gates. The floating polysilicon gate of an erasable PROM interposes a localized secondary polysilicon gate in between the continuous word line and silicon substrate into which the active areas of the MOS transistors are formed. The floating gate is localized in that the floating gates for respective MOS transistors are electrically isolated from the floating gates of other MOS transistors.
Various mechanisms have been implemented to transfer and remove charge from a floating gate. One type of erasable programmable memory is the so-called electrically programmable ROM (EPROM). The charge-transfer mechanism occurs by the injection of electrons into the floating polysilicon gate of selected transistors. If a sufficiently high reverse-bias voltage is applied to the transistor drain being programmed, the drain-substrate "pn" junction will experience "avalanche" breakdown, causing hot electrons to be generated. Some of these will have enough energy to pass over the insulating oxide material surrounding each floating gate and thereby charge the floating gate. These EPROM devices are thus called floating-gate, avalanche-injection MOS transistors (FAMOS). Once these electrons are transferred to the floating gate, they are trapped there. The potential-barrier at the oxide-silicon interface of the gate is greater than 3 eV, making the rate of spontaneous emission of the electrons from the oxide over the barrier negligibly small. Accordingly, the electronic charge stored on the floating gate can be retained for many years.
When the floating gate is charged with a sufficient number of electrons, inversion of the channel under the gate occurs. A continuously conducting channel is thereby formed between the source and drain exactly as if an external gate voltage had been applied. The presence of a 1 or 0 in each bit location is therefore determined by the presence or absence of a conducting floating channel gate in each program device.
Such a construction also enables means for removing the stored electrons from the floating gate, thereby making the PROM erasable. This is accomplished by flood exposure of the EPROM with strong ultraviolet light for approximately 20 minutes. The ultraviolet light creates electron-hole pairs in the silicon dioxide, providing a discharge path for the charge (electrons) from the floating gates.
In some applications, it is desirable to erase the contents of a ROM electrically, rather than to use an ultraviolet light source. In other circumstances, it would be desirable to be able to change one bit at a time, without having to erase the entire integrated circuit. Such led to the development of electrically erasable PROMs (EEPROMs). Such technologies include MNOS transistors, floating-gate tunnel oxide MOS transistors (FLOTOX), textured high-polysilicon floating-gate MOS transistors, and flash EEPROMs. Such technologies can include a combination of floating gate transistor memory cells within an array of such cells, and a peripheral area to the array which comprises CMOS transistors.
With floating gate transistors, the floating gate polysilicon (commonly referred to as Poly 1) is positioned in between the overlying word line polysilicon (commonly referred to as Poly 2) and underlying substrate. Two edges of the floating gate poly are lined up directly relative to the word line edge. This factor would make the photo and etch process very difficult if one were to try to completely define the floating gate poly first, and then pattern the word line. This would be due to the problems of photomask misalignment and photo-edge etch effect.
One approach of avoiding the problem is to first define only two edges (instead of all four edges) of the floating gate. The typical two edges patterned first are the Poly 1 floating gate edges which do not coincide with the word line edges. With this completed, a stack poly etch for the word lines during the Poly 2 etch (word line) patterning defines the word line edges as well as the remaining two edges of the floating gate. This approach is not sensitive to any misalignment due to the fact that the word line and corresponding floating gate edges "self-align" relative to each other during the same etching process.
Prior art techniques of processing erasable PROMs are described with reference to FIGS. 1A-5. FIG. 1A is a top view of a wafer fragment at one processing step, with FIG. 1B being an enlarged cross section taken through line 1B--1B of FIG. 1 during the same step. In each of the figures which follow, the "A" figure represents a top view, while the "B" view represents an enlarged cross sectional view at the same step in the described process. FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a wafer fragment 10 which will be defined by a memory array area 12 and an area 14 peripheral to array area 12. Wafer fragment 10 is comprised of a bulk substrate 16, which in the described embodiment is p-type, with peripheral area 14 being provided with n-well 18 for formation of CMOS transistors in the peripheral area 14 and p-well 9 in the peripheral and array area. Field oxide regions 20 and a gate insulating layer 22 are provided atop substrate 16. A first layer 24 of polysilicon (Poly 1) is applied atop insulating layers 20 and 22. A tri-layer 26 of dielectric is applied atop first polysilicon layer 24 for use in floating gate transistors to be formed within array area 12. Tri-layer 26 typically comprises an O-N-O sandwich construction.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, dielectric layer 26 and polysilicon layer 24 are etched away from peripheral area 14, and etched within array 12 to define lines 28. Lines 28 are defined by opposing edges 30a and 30b which will form the first two edges of the floating gate transistors within array 12, as will be apparent from the continuing discussion.
Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, a second polysilicon layer 32 is applied atop the wafer to cover peripheral area 14 and array area 12. As well, a thin higher conductive layer 34, such as WSi.sub.x, is applied atop poly layer 32. Collectively, layers 32 and 34 are considered as the Poly 2 layer.
Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, a layer of photoresist (not shown) is applied and patterned as illustrated to define FAMOS transistor gates 36, 38 within array area 12, and coincident word lines 29 as shown. It is necessary that peripheral area 14 be masked with photoresist during such etch to prevent trenching into the wells of substrate 16.
Referring to FIG. 5, prior art processes next pattern peripheral area 14 to form each of the word line transistor gates 35, 37, 39 and 41 in the same step. (Word lines 35, 37, 39 and 41 are not shown in the "A" figures.) Thereafter, separate photoresist masks must be applied and patterned to enable implanting of the various p and n type dopant materials required adjacent illustrated transistor gates 36, 38, 35, 37, 39 and 41. Spacers as well are formed to produce the configuration shown in FIG. 6. The prior art process from FIG. 5 to produce the construction of FIG. 6 proceeds as follows.
Photoresist is applied and patterned to mask the n-well. A punch-through boron (p-type material) implant is then conducted (typical dose of 5.times.10.sup.12 atoms/cm.sup.2) into each of the unmasked n-channel transistor regions of the array and peripheral area. A conformal layer of oxide, such as TEOS, of approximately 1000 Angstroms thickness is applied atop the wafer. Photoresist is then again applied and patterned to mask the n-well. Phosphorus (n-type material) is then implanted (typical dose of 5.times.10.sup.13 atoms/cm.sup.2) to form LDD regions 11. The photoresist is then removed, and oxide layer is applied and anisotropically etched to form spacers 13. Photoresist is then reapplied and patterned to mask the n-well. Arsenic (n-type material) is then implanted (typical dose of 5.times.10.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.2) to form n+ source and drain regions 15. The photoresist is then removed, and then reapplied and patterned to mask everything but the n-well. Boron (p-type material) is then implanted (typical dose of 5.times.10.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.2) to form source and drain p+ regions 17, and then the photo resist removed.
Such results in high process complexity and numerous photomasks which increase the cost and time to process the wafers. For example from FIG. 3, six photomasks are required by the above process to effect all the desired implants. At least one more photomask would be required were it desirable to optimize or modify the n-channel implants of the array transistors differently from the peripheral n-channel transistors. It would be desirable to improve upon this prior art method.
Further, the above process typically begins with the creation of N-wells and P-wells in a silicon substrate. FIGS. 7-15 illustrate the conventional N-well and P-well formation process.
Referring to FIG. 7, a pad oxide layer 111 is thermally grown on a lightly-doped P-type silicon wafer substrate 112.
Referring to FIG. 8, a silicon nitride layer 113 is deposited on top of pad oxide layer 111.
Referring to FIG. 9, future P-well regions on the substrate are masked with a photoresist layer 114.
Referring to FIG. 10, the wafer is subjected to a nitride etch, which removes those portions of silicon nitride layer 113 that are not subjacent photoresist layer 114. These regions where the nitride is removed correspond to the future N-well regions. A phosphorus implant then creates N-well regions 115, with only one such region being shown in FIG. 10.
Referring to FIG. 11, following a photoresist strip, a silicon oxide masking layer 116 is grown in the N-well regions 115 during a steam oxidization step. It will be noted that the steam well oxidation recesses only the N-well regions 115. The pattern of recessed N-well regions on the wafer is commonly used for the alignment of subsequent photomasks. During the steam oxidization step, the phosphorus atoms in the N-well regions 115 diffuse somewhat deeper into the substrate 112 and under the uplifted edges of nitride layer 113.
Referring to FIG. 12, the wafer is subjected to a boron implant which creates P-well regions 117, with only one such region being shown in FIG. 12. The silicon oxide masking layer 116 prevents the penetration of boron atoms into the N-well regions 115. It will be noted that both the phosphorus implant depicted in FIG. 10 and the boron implant depicted in FIG. 12 were made through pad oxide layer 11. Implanting through an oxide layer tends to partially deflect implanted atoms, and thus eliminates the channeling tendency that occurs when an implant is made directly into a monocrystalline silicon layer. Channeling is the propensity of a high-energy particle to travel through a silicon crystal lattice if it enters the lattice such that it travels between layers of regularly oriented silicon atoms. Small particles, such as boron atoms, are more prone to channeling than larger articles. Because of the more diverse arrangement of molecules in a silicon oxide layer, the layer will tend to deflect implanted particles in a random manner, thus allowing only a small percentage of the particles to engage in channeling.
Referring to FIG. 13, pad oxide layer 111 and masking oxide layer 116 have been removed with a first oxide etch, and a high-temperature drive step has caused the phosphorus atoms in N-well region 115 and the boron atoms in P-well region 117 to diffuse, thereby increasing the depth of each region. During the drive step, a thermal oxide layer 118 is typically grown on top of the N-well region 115 and the P-well region 117.
Referring now to FIG. 14, a second oxide etch has removed thermal oxide layer 118.
Referring to FIG. 15, a pad oxide layer 119 has been grown on both N-well regions 115 and P-wells regions 117. Additional processing is then conducted to complete the desired circuitry.
The process described immediately above is extensively used in the semiconductor industry for creating N and P-wells. The process does have a drawback in the high number of process steps involved.
Aspects of the following disclosed and claimed invention are related to our issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,120.

Method of processing a semiconductor wafer to form an array of nonvolatile memory devices employing floating gate transistors and peripheral area having CMOS transistors


A substrate inspection system of a type that receives substrates disposed within a cassette and inspects a planar surface of the substrates with a read head, where the substrates are inspected while they are disposed within the cassette, and the read head is of a size to fit between adjacent substrates within the cassette. In this manner, the substrates do not need to be removed from the cassette, and no robotic arm is required to do so.

Integrated circuits are often formed on substrates, such as substrates of semiconducting material. Such substrates can hold as few as one or many as thousands of the integrated circuits. As the term is used herein, "integrated circuit" includes devices such as those formed on monolithic semiconducting substrates, such as those formed of group IV materials like silicon or germanium, or group III-V compounds like gallium arsenide, or mixtures of such materials. The term includes all types of devices formed, such as memory and logic, and all designs of such devices, such as MOS and bipolar. The term also comprehends applications such as flat panel displays, solar cells, and charge coupled devices.
Integrated circuits are typically formed in a series of process steps, where materials are first added to the substrate in layers, then patterned, and finally etched or otherwise altered before another layer is added. Typically it is extremely difficult to go back and fix a layer that has been improperly formed, after another layer has been formed on top of the malformed layer. For this and other reasons, the substrates are usually given frequent and thorough inspections, such as optical inspections.
A substrate is typically inspected by removing the substrate from the cassette in which it and other substrates are held, and moving the substrate into an inspection system. This substrate handling is usually performed by a robot arm that has been fitted with a head that can engage the substrate. The inspection system typically includes a motorized stage that moves the substrate around underneath the inspection optics. The inspection optics remain in one place, because they tend to include large glass lenses that—because of their weight, size, and delicate nature—cannot be moved as easily as the substrate. Once the inspection is complete, the robot arm removes the substrate from the stage and places it back into the cassette, from which another substrate is removed, and the inspection process is repeated.
Unfortunately, the robot arms required to move the substrates tend to be rather expensive. Further, moving the substrates around in this manner tends to require an appreciable amount of time.
What is needed, therefore, is a system that overcomes problems such as those described above, at least in part.


The present invention provides a bale feeder for breaking down large cylindrical bales of hay and like animal feeds and spreading it in rows for feeding. The bale feeder comprises a feeder body, a bale lifting means for lifting and positioning a bale within the feeder body, and a bale opening means providing superior dust and mold removal characteristics. The bale feeder is usually towed over the ground behind a vehicle. The bale feeder also includes anti-binding means for reducing the problem of cut twine and hay getting into and binding the cutting means and feed mechanisms.

Farmers and ranchers who keep livestock often use large round bales for mass storage of feed. Various bale feeders and bale transporting devices have been developed which shred the bale so that the feed is in a form for delivering as feed to livestock. Some of these devices are mobile and allow for the transportation and spreading of the bale. These devices however often damage the feed by removing the leaves from the stems of the feed as the bale is shredded, and do a poor job of removing dust and mold from the feed which can be harmful to livestock eating the feed.
Some bale feeders utilize cutting knives mounted on a rotor to shred bales of feed. These bale feeders have the problem of feed and twine from the bales becoming wrapped around the rotor axle which can cause the rotor to bind. This can lead to decreased cutting efficiency and increased maintenance time since removal of the hay and twine can be time consuming.
Bale feeders may also employ a traveling bed having slats mounted on sprocket driven chains which feed the bale into the rotor or other cutting means for shredding. The sprockets which drive the chains are usually mounted on rotating shafts. The sprockets and shafts, like the rotor, are also susceptible to binding by twine and feed.
Bale feeders having traveling beds may also have the problem of excessive wear of the sprocket mounting shafts and sprockets, and twisting of the chain. This can result in excessive vibration of the feeder and damage to the chain. This problem can be due to deflection of the shaft caused by chain tensioners located at the ends of one of the shafts which tension the chains by applying a force to the ends of the shaft.


An apparatus and method for accessing a data item from a storage system having a plurality of data storage devices are disclosed. I/O operation requests are submitted to multiple data storage devices for each data item to be accessed. The I/O operation requests are issued to copies of the data items that reside on a plurality of data storage devices. More I/O operation requests are submitted than the number of data items that are to be accessed, written, or updated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing storage and access of data that is mirrored or copied to multiple storage locations.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is directed to a method and system for improving I/O response times for applications that require optimal response times for data access, such as applications directed to storing or retrieving on-demand video or audio. Applications that provide video streams (or audio streams) often store portions of the video data in many locations on many data storage devices. As used herein, the term "data storage device" refers to any device or apparatus utilizable for the storage of data, e.g., a disk drive. For explanatory purposes only and not as an intent to limit the scope of this invention, the term "disk drive" will be used throughout this document instead of the term "data storage device."
To provide video on-demand at the proper display rate, the portions of stored video data are continually being retrieved and displayed at a viewing device. However, different disk drives often provide different momentary response times to I/O requests due to varying system and environmental factors such as disk drive load, number of other requests on I/O request queues, network traffic, and physical disk drive proximity. If the video data is stored on many storage devices, then it is possible for the video data to be delivered out of order if some of the disk drives have momentary response times that are slower (or faster) than other disk drives.
One solution to this problem is to issue an I/O command for a particular piece of video data only when the prior sequential piece of video data has been delivered. Alternatively, the system may buffer data so that even if the video stream arrives out of order, the video data is presented in order on the viewing device. The drawback to these solutions is that the delivered video stream is potentially stopped or constricted if any particular piece of video data has a relatively slow I/O response or delivery time. In other words, this method could produce an unacceptable display rate in the viewing device, resulting in a video stream that appears to have delayed or stopped motion on that display.
Another solution is to allow the video data to continue to stream even if the data arrives out of order, but to ignore any earlier pieces of data in the video sequence that arrive at the viewing device after a later piece of data in the video sequence. The drawback to this method is that gaps may appear in the video stream at the viewing device, resulting in a video stream having a jerky motion on the display.
Another solution is to store the video data (striped or unstriped) in an ordered manner on the disk drives. In this way, the chance of video data arriving out of order is reduced. One drawback to striping data in an ordered manner across disk drives is that it presents problems when new disk drives are added to the system. Adding new disk drives may require wholesale restriping of data across the new configuration of disk drives. Moreover, storing data in an ordered fashion may cause load balancing problems, since the data cannot be randomly scattered across the disk drives.
Thus, there is a need for a method and system for allowing optimal response times for access to data items stored in a storage system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for managing data access and storage of data located on multiple storage devices


A fuser includes a pressure application part that applies pressure to a medium for forming a print image; an annular body rotatably supported for carrying the medium for applying heat to the medium for forming the print image; a fuser part heat generation body arranged for generating heat to apply heat to the annular body; a first temperature detection end arranged in contact with one end part outside a medium carrying corresponding range of a surface of the annular body and detects temperature of the annular body outside the medium carrying corresponding range. The medium carrying corresponding range is a range in which the medium is carried. A heat generation interruption part that, in response to the temperature of the annular body that is detected via the first temperature detection end, interrupts heat generation of the fuser part heat generation body.

In a conventional printer, there is a fuser part for fusing developer on a recording sheet, and a thermistor is provided on a fuser belt, which carries the recording sheet in the fuser part, for detecting temperature of the fuser belt (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2013-73207 (pages 5 and 12, and FIG. 1)).


A two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenide layer is grown by reacting a non- or low-volatile source material with a volatilized halogen or halide compound to produce a volatilized composition comprising at least one reaction product. The volatilized composition is flowed through an open chamber of a tube furnace with a temperature gradient, wherein the temperature changes along a path through which the volatilized composition flows through the open chamber of the tube furnace. Where the temperature along the path in the open chamber is in a reaction-temperature range, the volatilized composition is deposited as a two-dimensional crystalline transition-metal dichalcogenide layer.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are a family of layered materials that show unique properties (different from their bulk counterparts) when thinned down to nanoscale thicknesses. Amongst the TMDs are stable semiconductors (e.g., the 2H phase of MoS2, WS2, and WSe2) that have attracted a lot of attention due to their potential for future electronic, optoelectronic, and valleytronic applications. Other TMDs with stable metallic and semi-metallic phases (e.g., the 1T or 2H phase of TaS2, 1T-TiSe2, 2H-NbSe2, and Td-WTe2) are attractive for investigations of charge density waves (CDW), superconductivity, magnetoresistance, and other topological phases of mater.
Production of TMD monolayers is usually accomplished through top-down micromechanical exfoliation of bulk crystals, as was first explored in graphene. To facilitate increased research throughput and large-scale device fabrication, bottom-up methods of synthesizing high-quality monolayer crystals are required. To date, a few techniques have been explored for growing the more stable disulfides, MoS2 and WS2. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most popular, specifically using elemental sulfur and metal oxides (i.e., MoOx or WOx) as precursors. The use of other precursors have also been reported, including metal chlorides (e.g., MoCl5 and WCl6) or carbonyls [e.g., Mo(CO)6 or W(CO)6] with hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). Although successful, these methods become challenging for TMDs that are less stable due to rapid oxidation (e.g., NbSe2). For these TMDs, it would be advantageous to employ a method that avoids oxygen-containing precursors while growing in an oxygen-free environment.
One commonly reported alternative to CVD is physical vapor deposition (PVD). PVD is simpler than CVD, as PVD uses the bulk form of the desired material (e.g., WS2 powder) as the only precursor. By heating the material under vacuum, a vapor is produced; and the desired mono- to few-layers can be deposited on a cooler substrate. PVD has been used to successfully grow some monolayer TMD crystals, but a variety of limitations exist. For example, it is challenging to grow TMDs that lack a sufficient vapor pressure for transport at high growth temperatures under vacuum.
Therefore, it would be highly advantageous to develop a method combining the benefits of CVD and PVD, namely using the bulk product as a single precursor, while including a chemical process to sidestep the lack of vapor pressure. In fact, for bulk crystal growth, chemical vapor transport (CVT) is widely-used for just this purpose. By adding a reactive and volatile transport agent, often a halogen gas (Cl2, Br2, or I2) or a halide compound, the non-volatile compound can chemically produce products in the gas phase that undergo vapor transport. A temperature gradient is typically established between the source zone and the growth zone in a sealed ampule using values from thermodynamic calculations. As a result, bulk crystals are slowly grown in the zone where formation is favored.
Although CVT is ubiquitously used to synthesize bulk crystals, it was only recently reported that atomically thin TMDs, including WS2, can be grown using CVT in a sealed ampule by carefully controlling mass transport [J. Wang, et al., "Controlled Synthesis of Two-Dimensional 1T-TiSe2 with Charge Density Wave Transition by Chemical Vapor Transport," 13J. Am Chem. Soc. 16216-19 (2016), and D. Hu, et al., "Two-Dimensional Semiconductors Grown by Chemical Vapor Transport", 129 Angew. Chem. 3665-69 (2017)]. While using I2 and metal chlorides as transport agents, the presented closed-tube technique still requires metal oxides and sulfur as precursors, akin to CVD, where stoichiometry is always a consideration.

Chemical vapor transport growth of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides


Disclosed is a novel positive-working chemical-amplification photoresist composition used in the photolithographic patterning works in the manufacture of semiconductor devices capable of giving an excellently patterned resist layer with remarkably small film thickness reduction by the development treatment with an aqueous alkaline developer solution in the areas unexposed to patternwise exposure to light. Characteristically, the resinous ingredient in the composition, which is formulated in combination with a radiation-sensitive acid-generating agent and imparted with an increase in the solubility in an alkaline developer solution, is a ternary copolymeric resin consisting of the monomeric units of (a) hydroxystyrene units, (b) styrene units and (c) 1-alkylcyclohexyl (meth)acrylate units each in a specified molar fraction.

The present invention relates to a novel positive-working photoresist composition used in the photolithographic patterning process for the manufacture of electronic devices or, more particularly, to a positive-working chemical-amplification photoresist composition exhibiting a great change in the solubility in an aqueous alkaline developer solution by exposure to actinic rays and capable of giving a patterned resist layer with high contrast and good pattern resolution and wide focusing depth latitude.
It is a progressive trend in recent years in the manufacturing process of a variety of electronic devices by utilizing a photoresist composition that a photolithographic patterning process capable of giving a patterned resist layer with pattern resolution as fine as 0.25 xcexcm or even finer is rendered to practical application to be in compliance with the increasing demand for semiconductor devices having a higher and higher degree of integration. In this regard, intensive investigations are now under way for the development of a photolithographic patterning process by utilizing KrF excimer laser beams as the actinic rays for exposure of the resist layer with an object to accomplish pattern resolution of 0.15 to 0.22 xcexcm fineness as a next-generation process.
The feasibility of the above mentioned photolithographic process of high pattern resolution naturally depends on the performance of the photoresist composition used therefor. For example, Japanese Patent Kokai 7-209868 and 10-186665 disclose a positive-working chemical-amplification photoresist composition of which the resinous ingredient is a ternary copolymer consisting of hydroxystyrene or hydroxy-xcex1-methyl-styrene units, styrene units and tert-butyl (meth)acrylate units.
As compared with the positive-working photoresist compositions using a resinous ingredient consisting of polyhydroxystyrene substituted for a part of the hydroxyl groups by acid-dissociable solubility-reducing groups, the above mentioned ternary copolymer is advantageous in respect of small film thickness reduction in the unexposed areas by the development treatment with an aqueous alkaline developer solution to give a patterned resist layer having an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile. This advantageous behavior of the ternary copolymer in development, however, is still far from sufficient in respect of the contrast of patterning, i.e the solubility change in an aqueous alkaline developer solution by exposure to light, when the above mentioned extremely fine pattern resolution of patterning is targeted.
On the other hand, a photoresist composition is proposed in Japanese Patent Kokai 8-101509 by utilizing a homopolymeric resin of a 1-alkylcycloalkyl acrylate or a binary copolymeric resin thereof with hydroxystyrene. The photoresist composition proposed there, however, is defective due to the relatively large film thickness reduction in the unexposed areas by development not to give an excellently patterned resist layer.
Further, Japanese Patent Kokai 9-73173 discloses a positive-working photoresist composition for exposure with ArF excimer laser beams, in which the resinous ingredient is imparted with an increased acid-dissociability by utilizing an acid-dissociable group having an alkyl group substituting the carbon atom at which an ester group and a cyclic hydrocarbon group are bonded together. Japanese Patent Kokai 10-161313 proposes a positive-working photoresist composition for exposure with ArF excimer laser beams imparted with sensitivity improved still more by using an acid-dissociable group having an alkyl group of at least two carbon atoms introduced into a carbon atom similar to the above. These photoresist compositions, however, are not suitable for exposure with KrF excimer laser beams due to the absence of hydroxystyrene units in the resinous ingredient and also have a problem of relatively low resistance against dry etching when the acid-dissociable group is a cyclohexyl group.
The present invention accordingly has an object, in order to overcome the above described disadvantages in the conventional photoresist compositions, to provide a novel positive-working chemical-amplification photoresist composition suitable for exposure with KrF excimer laser beams and capable of giving a resist layer exhibiting a large change in the solubility in an aqueous alkaline developer solution by exposure to light and giving a patterned resist layer having high contrast and high pattern resolution as well as large focusing depth latitude.
Thus, the positive-working chemical-amplification photoresist composition provided by the present invention comprises, as a uniform solution in an organic solvent:
(A) a resinous compound capable of being imparted with an increase in the solubility in an aqueous alkaline solution by interacting with an acid and consisting essentially of (a) hydroxystyrene units or hydroxy-xcex1-methylstyrene units, (b) styrene units and (c) 1-alkylcyclohexyl (meth)acrylate units represented by the general formula
in which R1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R2 is an alkyl group having 1 to 5 or, preferably, 2 to 4 carbon atoms in molar fractions of 40 to 80%, 10 to 40% and 2 to 30%, respectively; and
(B) a radiation-sensitive acid-generating agent capable of releasing an acid by irradiation with actinic rays.
It is preferable that the resinous ingredient as the component (A) is a combination of two different resinous compounds each falling within the definition of the component (A) but being different in the molar fractions of the monomeric units (b) and (c).
It is also preferable that the photoresist composition further comprises (C) an aliphatic tertiary amine compound and/or (D) a phosphorus-containing oxoacid or an ester thereof each in a specified amount.
The invention further provides a positive-working chemical-amplification resist composition comprising:
(A) a resinous compound capable of being imparted with an increase in the solubility in an aqueous alkaline solution by interacting with an acid and consisting essentially of (a) hydroxystyrene units or hydroxy-xcex1-methylstyrene units, (b) styrene units and (c) 1-alkylcyclohexyl (meth)acrylate units represented by the general formula
in which R1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R2 is an alkyl group having 1 to 5 or, preferably, 2 to 4 carbon atoms; and
(B) a radiation-sensitive acid-generating agent capable of releasing an acid by irradiation with actinic rays, and capable of forming, on a substrate surface, a layer of which the rate of thickness reduction by dissolution at 23xc2x0 C. in a 4.5% by weight aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide is in the range from 0.01 to 100 nm per second or, preferably, from 1 to 30 nm per second.


In a chain transmission, vibration reduction is improved by an elastic member, sandwiched between an inner hub of a sprocket and a toothed outer circumferential member, in combination with a sprocket tooth configuration in which two or three different tooth form pitch angles are arranged irregularly along the sprocket's pitch circle.

Chain transmissions, in which a chain is engaged with a driving sprocket and one or more driven sprockets, have been widely used as timing transmissions in automobile engines for driving valve-operating cam or cams from the engine crankshaft.
Recent demand for higher power automobile engines, coupled with public consciousness of environmental problems, has led to the development of engines that produce high levels of noise and vibration, and to efforts toward reduction of that noise and vibration. The principal source of timing transmission noise is the engagement sound generated as the chain engages the sprockets. Attempts have been made to reduce noise and vibration by utilizing vibration-proofing materials to absorb radiated sound. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a sprocket 40 is provided with an annular elastic member 44 sandwiched between an inner circumferential member 46, which has a keyed hole 46a by which the sprocket is fixed to a shaft, and an outer circumferential member 42. on which the sprocket teeth are formed. Examples of sprockets having sandwiched elastic members are shown in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 59-35765, and in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 9-264400.
When the sprocket 40 engages with a standard roller chain 60, as shown in FIG. 11, and the sprocket rotates clockwise, a following roller 62 moves relative to the sprocket in an arc centered on the center O1 of a preceding roller 62, which has been seated on a tooth gap bottom. The arc has the chain pitch p as its radius. Accordingly, the following roller moves in its arcuate path relative to the sprocket, and collides with a tooth gap bottom, near the center thereof, substantially at a right angle. The kinetic energy of the roller is transmitted to the tooth gap bottom without being buffered at the beginning of engagement. As a result, a large engagement impact is transmitted to the sprocket shaft. The performance of the elastic member 44 in shutting out vibration has been found to be insufficient. Moreover, when excessive impact force is applied to the elastic member 44, the endurance of the elastic member 44 is reduced.
Since the chordal tooth form pitch pa of the sprocket 40 is equal to the pitch p of a standard roller chain 60, the respective following rollers 62 abut the teeth of the sprocket 40 at the same abutment position t, as shown in FIG. 11. The abutment position in each case is at the point intersection of a radial center line X and a tooth gap bottom. Therefore, the engagement of a roller or bushing always engages the sprocket 40 at the same engagement point, and vibration and noise having an order determined by the number of sprocket teeth are increased. The elastic member has been found to be incapable of reducing these noises and vibrations adequately.
The standard roller chain shown in FIG. 11 is a power-transmitting roller chain defined by the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) or by the International standards (ISO), and has a uniform chain pitch p (The distance between the centers O1 of the respective rollers 62). A standard bushing chain may be used in place of the standard roller chain 60. In such a case, the elements 62 in FIG. 11 can be regarded as bushings.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a chain transmission in which a roller of a standard roller chain, or a bushing of a standard bushing chain, engage with a sprocket tooth, in which the vibration-reducing performance of an elastic member incorporated into the sprocket is improved, and in which the endurance of the elastic member is improved


Assemblies are arranged in such a manner that the diesel particulate filter device of one of the assemblies, the selective catalytic reduction device of the one assembly, the selective catalytic reduction device of the other assembly, and the diesel particulate filter device of the other assembly are located next to each other in this order as seen in a plan view. An exhaust pipe is located within a region made up of a region where the selective catalytic reduction device in the one assembly is arranged, a region where the selective catalytic reduction device in the other assembly is arranged, and a region between the selective catalytic reduction device in the one assembly and the selective catalytic reduction device in the other assembly, and located on an end side in the longitudinal direction, as seen in a plan view.

A bulldozer is mounted with an exhaust gas treatment device. As examples of the exhaust gas treatment device, there exist diesel particulate filter (DPF) device, diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) device, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) device, and the like.
A work vehicle mounted with an exhaust gas treatment device is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 8,191,668 (see PTD 1).
A wheel loader configured as a work vehicle and shown in FIG. 9 of the above-referenced document has a plurality of exhaust gas treatment devices. The plurality of exhaust gas treatment devices are arranged so that the longitudinal direction of each exhaust gas treatment device is along the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle.


A wire harness securing structure secures a wire harness to a panel using a wire harness clip having a plate portion and a latch portion provided at the plate portion to be press-fitted to a hole of the panel. The latch portion includes a post extending from the plate portion and a pair of latch pieces extending from an end of the post toward the plate portion and having an end which engages with an edge of the hole. The plate portion and the wire harness are covered and secured by the self-adhesive sheet. A surface of the self-adhesive sheet facing the panel contacts with the end of the latch piece before the latch portion is press-fitted. When the latch portion is press-fitted and latched to the hole, the adhesive sheet between the plate portion and the panel is compressed and contacts firmly with an outer periphery of the hole.

FIGS. 24A to 24C illustrate a wire harness securing structure for securing a wire harness to a secured member using a conventional wire harness clip.
The wire harness securing structure shown in FIGS. 24A to 24C is arranged to secure a wire harness 202 to a secured member 201 such as a body, various devices and a panel of a vehicle and is provided with a wire harness clip 203 arranged to be latched to a latch hole 201a of the secured member 201 and a securing film 204 retaining the wire harness clip 203.
The wire harness clip 203 is made of synthetic resin or the like and is provided with an anchor portion 203a to be latched to the latch hole 201a of the secured member 201 and a plate portion 203b formed into a rectangular-plate shape.
A first latch piece 203c and a second latch piece 203d are provided at a distal end of the anchor portion 203a. When the anchor portion 203a is inserted into the latch hole 201a of the secured member 201, the first latch piece 203c and the second latch piece 203d are elastically deformed and compressed, and when the anchor portion 203a has passed through the latch hole 201a, the first latch piece 203c and the second latch piece 203d are restored and latched to the latch hole 201a.
The securing film 204 is a heat-shrinkable film made of polyolefin resin or vinyl chloride resin or the like and is provided with a through hole 204a through which the anchor portion 203a is passed.
When securing the wire harness 202 to the secured member 201 using the above-described wire harness clip 203 and the securing film 204, firstly, the anchor portion 203a of the wire harness clip 203 is inserted into the through hole 204a of the securing film 204, as shown in FIG. 24A, so that the wire harness clip 203 is retained to the securing film 204 with the plate portion 203b being abutted on the securing film 204.
Next, as shown in FIG. 24B, the wire harness 202 is placed on a middle portion of the securing film 204, and the securing film 204 is folded forward to wrap the wire harness 202. Then, the overlapped portion of the securing film 204 is bonded, welded or subjected to thermal compression bonding, followed by heating and shrinking the securing film 204, thereby securing the wire harness clip 203 and the wire harness 202 to each other.
Then, as shown in FIG. 24C, the anchor portion 203a of the wire harness clip 203 is latched to the latch hole 201a of the secured member 201, thereby securing the wire harness 202 to the secured member 201 (refer to Patent Literature 1).
FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing another conventional wire harness clip. FIG. 26 is a cross sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 25. FIG. 27 is a cross sectional view showing a latch portion of the wire harness clip shown in FIGS. 25, 26 which is press-fitted and latched to a hole of a panel.
A wire harness clip 300 shown in FIGS. 25 to 27 is arranged to secure a wire harness formed by bundling a plurality of electric wires to a panel 3 (refer to FIG. 27). The wire harness clip 300 includes a clip main body 301 made of synthetic resin and a packing 302 attached to the clip main body 301.
The clip main body 301 is formed into an elongated plate shape and is provided with a plate portion 310 to be placed along the wire harness, a latch portion 311 to be press-fitted and latched to a hole 3a of the panel 3 and a vane portion 315 to which the packing 302 is attached.
The latch portion 311 includes a support post 312 extending from a central portion of the plate portion 310 and a pair of latch pieces 313 extending from a distal end of the support post 312 toward the plate portion 310. A step-like latch shoulder portion 314 is formed at a distal end of each latch piece 313. The latch portion 311 is press-fitted to the hole 3a of the panel 3 from the side of the distal end of the support post 312, and the respective latch shoulder portions 314 of the pair of latch pieces 313 are engaged with an edge of the hole 3a, by which the latch portion 311 is latched to the hole 3a.
The vane portion 315 is arranged around a proximal end portion of the support post 312 in a dish-like shape and has elasticity. Also, as shown in FIG. 26, the vane portion 315 is shaped so as to extend toward the panel 3 as it extends from a central portion to an outer edge portion.
The packing 302 is attached on a surface of the vane portion 315 facing the panel 3 and is provided with a hole 320 which is formed at a central portion arranged to pass the latch portion 311 therethrough. When the latch portion 311 is press-fitted and latched to the hole 3a of the panel 3, this packing 302 is in close contact with an outer periphery portion of the hole 3a, thereby preventing water or dust from entering from the hole 3a into an inner side of the panel 3 (i.e. the side of the plate portion 310 in FIG. 27).
When securing the wire harness to the panel 3 using the above-described wire harness clip 300, firstly the plate portion 310 is placed along the wire harness, and then the plate portion 310 and the wire harness are wrapped and secured by a tape. Then, the latch portion 311 is press-fitted and latched to the hole 3a of the panel 3, thereby securing the wire harness to the panel 3.
However, the wire harness securing structure which uses the above-described wire harness clip 203 has a problem as described below. That is, the securing film 204, i.e. the heat-shrinkage film, typically has small elasticity, thus it is difficult to make the securing film 204 in close contact with the outer periphery portion of the latch hole 201a. Thus, this wire harness securing structure cannot be used when sealing performance for the latch hole 201a is required.
Furthermore, the wire harness securing structure which uses the above-described wire harness clip 300 has a problem as described below. That is, in the wire harness clip 300, when the latch portion 311 is press-fitted and latched to the hole 3a of the panel 3, the amount of compression of the packing 302 which is in close contact with the panel 3 decreases toward the central portion of the vane portion 315 from the outer edge portion of the vane portion 315. Thus, the amount of compression of the packing 302 is not uniform, possibly causing water or dust to enter from the hole 3a into the inner side of the panel 3. Moreover, if the packing 302 is attached to the vane portion 315 in a manner such that a center of the packing 302 is displaced with respect to a center of the latch portion 311, then there will be less surface area of the packing 302 which is in close contact with the outer periphery portion of the hole 3a, possibly causing water or dust to enter from the hole 3a into the inner side of the panel 3.
FIG. 28 is a cross sectional view of another wire harness securing structure which uses a conventional wire harness clip. In FIG. 28, a reference sign W indicates a wire harness which is formed by bundling a plurality of electric wires, and a reference sign 400 indicates a wire harness clip, and a reference sign 406 indicates a vehicle body panel.
The wire harness clip 400 includes a first dish-shaped portion 401 formed into a circular dish-shape, a wire harness securing piece 402 extending from the first dish-shaped portion 401 and arranged to be placed along the wire harness W, a latch portion 403 arranged at a central portion of a back face of the first dish-shaped portion 401 and arranged to be press-fitted and latched to a hole 407 of the vehicle panel 406, and a second dish-shaped portion 404 formed into a circular dish-shape around the latch portion 403 at the back face of the first dish-shaped portion 401. The second dish-shaped portion 404 is made of resin which is softer than the first dish-shaped portion 401 and is integrally formed with the first dish-shaped portion 401, the wire harness securing piece 402, and the latch portion 403.
An outer periphery portion of the first dish-shaped portion 401 is curved so as to extend outward at a slant toward the back face to form a first stabilizer 411.
The second dish-shaped portion 404 has a dimension that is smaller than the dimension of the first dish-shaped portion 401, and has a bottom portion which is formed integral with a bottom portion of the first dish-shaped portion 401. Similar to the outer periphery portion of the first dish-shaped portion 401, an outer periphery portion of the second dish-shaped portion 404 is curved so as to extend outward at a slant toward the back face to form a second stabilizer 441. This second stabilizer 441 is positioned at an inner side of the first stabilizer 411.
The latch portion 403 includes a support post 431 projecting from the central portion of the back face of the first dish-shaped portion 401 and a pair of latch pieces 432 extending from a distal end of the support post 431 toward the first dish-shaped portion 401. A step-like latch shoulder portion 421 is formed at a distal end of each latch piece 432.
Next, a method for securing the wire harness W to the vehicle body panel 406 using the above-described wire harness clip 400 is explained. Firstly, the wire harness securing piece 402 is placed along the wire harness W, and then the wire harness securing piece 402 and the wire harness W are wrapped and secured by a tape or the like. Then, the latch portion 403 is press-fitted to the hole 407 of the vehicle body panel 406, and the latch shoulder portion 421 is engaged with the edge of the hole 407. By doing so, the first stabilizer 411 and the second stabilizer 441 are contacted firmly with the outer periphery portion of the hole 407. As a result, the vehicle body panel 406 is elastically sandwiched between the pair of latch pieces 432 and the first stabilizer 411, thereby attaching the wire harness clip 400 to the vehicle body panel 406 and securing the wire harness W to the vehicle body panel 406.
In addition, in the wire harness securing structure which uses the above-described wire harness clip 400, the second stabilizer 441 is in close contact with the outer periphery portion of the hole 407, thereby maintaining good sealing performance for the hole 407 (refer to Patent Literature 2).
However, the above-described wire harness clip 400 has a problem as described below. That is, in the wire harness clip 400, the second dish-shaped portion 404 is made of a soft material which is different from the material of the first dish-shaped portion 401 to improve the sealing performance for the hole 407. Thus, a special facility is needed to manufacture the wire harness clip 400, causing an increase in cost.