A processing rack, such as for electroplating, which minimizes shelf areas of an article during processing of the article and during removal of the article from a processing bath and which allows easy mounting of articles on the rack and demounting of articles from the rack includes a frame and a plurality of article mounting fixtures that are each pivotally mounted on the frame and independently pivotable from a first orientation that facilitates mounting and/or demounting of articles, to a second orientation that is most conducive to producing high quality, substantially defect-free plating.

During processing of articles immersed in an electroplating bath, particulate materials may settle on horizontal flat and concave surfaces, referred to as shelf areas. These particles can interfere with the electroplating process and cause roughness in the deposit and visible imperfections that detract from the aesthetic qualities and/or functional qualities of the electroplated article. Also, gas generated at electrodes can accumulate on downwardly facing horizontal flat and concave surfaces. This accumulation of gas may also cause defects. Further, electrolyte solution from the electroplating bath can be carried from the bath by shelf areas of the processed article when the rack carrying the article is removed from the bath. This electrolyte drag-out is undesirable because it depletes the electrolyte in the electroplating bath and wastes process solution.
Accordingly, it is desirable to eliminate or at least minimize shelf areas of an article during electroplating of the article and during removal of the article from the electroplating bath. It is especially desirable to arrange the article in an orientation during electroplating that eliminates or at least minimizes shelf areas of the article that are normally visible during use of the article.
A relatively obvious solution to the problems associated with electroplating articles having shelf areas is to provide an electroplating rack designed to support the articles in an orientation that minimizes shelf areas, especially shelf areas that are visible during normal use of the article. However, in the case of certain articles, such as plastic wheel covers, mounting of the articles on the rack and demounting of the articles from the rack in a most preferred orientation for electroplating can be difficult and time consuming. For example, the preferred orientation of a plastic wheel cover, such as for an automobile, during electroplating is one in which the concave outwardly facing rim surfaces that are visible during normal use of a vehicle are facing downwardly to prevent particulate matter from settling on these normally visible concave surfaces and to prevent drag-out of the electrolyte during removal of the electroplating rack supporting the wheel cover. However, a cylindrical electrode is typically positioned with its axis generally aligned with the central axis of the wheel cover so that the outer cylinder walls are substantially adjacent the normally visible outwardly facing concave rim surfaces of the wheel cover to facilitate production of a uniform, imperfection-free plating on these surfaces. As a result, it is necessary to first mount the wheel cover on the electroplating rack, and then mount the electrode in the recessed hub of the wheel cover. Mounting of the wheel cover in an appropriate inverted orientation, and subsequent mounting of an electrode within the downwardly facing hub recess is difficult and requires substantially more time than mounting the wheel cover in a more conventional orientation in which the central axis of the hub is aligned horizontally, especially when a plurality of vertically closely spaced apart wheel covers are mounted together on a single rack. Similarly, the most desirable orientation for demounting wheel covers from an electroplating rack is with the central axis of the wheel cover aligned horizontally.
Therefore, the most desirable orientation for mounting articles on, and/or demounting articles from, an electroplating rack is not always the same orientation that is most desirable for electroplating the article.


A centrifugal separator for separating a liquid phase from crankcase gases of an internal combustion engine includes a separation chamber, a rotor shaft, a rotor inside the separation chamber, an inlet for crankcase gases, a gas outlet, and a liquid outlet for separated liquid phase. The centrifugal separator also includes a liquid outlet chamber, a check valve, and a rotating member. The liquid outlet chamber forms an individual chamber and is arranged in fluid communication with the separation chamber via a liquid passage. The rotating member is connected to the rotor shaft and is arranged inside the liquid outlet chamber. The liquid outlet forms an outlet of the liquid outlet chamber. The check valve is arranged in the liquid outlet.

Crankcase gases from an internal combustion engine are ventilated from a crankcase of the internal combustion engine. Crankcase gases may be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner instead of being ventilated in untreated form to the atmosphere. For certain types of combustion engines, legislation requires crankcase gases to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
Crankcase gases may comprise inter alia blow-by gases, oil, other liquid hydrocarbons, soot, and other solid combustion residues. In order to dispose of crankcase gases suitably, the gas is separated from a liquid phase, which contains the oil, soot, and other residues. The separated gas may be led to an air intake of the combustion engine or vented to the atmosphere, and the liquid phase may be led back to an oil sump of the combustion engine optionally, via an oil filter for removing soot and other solid residues from the oil and the other liquid hydrocarbons.
A centrifugal separator may be utilised for disposing of crankcase gases. Separation discs of the centrifugal separator, in the form of frustoconical discs, are arranged in a disc stack with small interspaces between the separation discs. The crankcase gases are lead into the rotating disc stack and heavy constituents of the crankcase gases, such as oil and soot, are forced against inner surfaces of the separation discs and form droplets of the liquid phase as they travel along the separation discs towards an outer periphery of the disc stack. The droplets are thrown onto an inner wall of a housing of the centrifugal separator and are lead out of the centrifugal separator via a liquid outlet. The crankcase gases relived of heavy constituents are lead out of the centrifugal separator via a gas outlet.
EP 1880090 discloses an apparatus for purifying crankcase gases from a combustion engine. The apparatus comprises a housing inside which a separator chamber is provided, a rotor arrangement with a rotor shaft which is rotatably mounted in the housing and a centrifugal rotor located in the separator chamber, and a fluid driving device for driving the rotor shaft by means of a driving fluid such a lubricating oil of the combustion engine. A crankcase gas inlet leads into the separation chamber, which also comprises an outlet for gas and an oil collection channel connected to an oil collection basin. The oil collection basin is provided with an outflow opening for leading away separated oil. The driving device is disposed in a driving chamber which is separated from the separator chamber by means of a housing partition, and the rotor shaft extends through a breakthrough in the housing partition. A labyrinth-type seal is provided in the zone of the breakthrough in order to seal the driving chamber from the separator chamber. Pressure may be equalised between the driving chamber and the separation chamber via the labyrinth-type seal.
Depending on the type and condition of a relevant internal combustion engine, the pressure in its crankcase, at least temporarily, may be elevated at a level above the pressure inside the separation chamber of the centrifugal separator. Thus, it may be problematic to feed out the separated liquid phase from the separation chamber back into the crankcase of the internal combustion engine.

Centrifugal separator having a liquid outlet chamber with a rotating member


The application of Lippmann photographs as a unique security device on security documents, such as, e.g. identity cards, passports, credit cards is presented. The recording of such photographs requires a special type of photosensitive film layer in contact with a reflecting layer. Panchromatic photopolymer materials can be used and, after being recorded and processed, laminated to security documents. Lippmann photographs are almost impossible to copy and, certainly, cannot be copied by conventional photography or color copying machines.

This invention relates to the field of photography and, specifically, to a special type of color photographs of the Lippmann type ("Lippmann photography") also known as interferential photography or interference color photography. Lippmann photography is discussed in the following articles, 1) G. Lippmann: La photographic des couleurs. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences 112, 274-275 (1891); 2) G. Lippmann: Photographies colorees du spectre, sur albumine et sur gelatine bichromatees, Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences 115, 575 (1892); and 3) G. Lippmann: Sur la theorie de la photographie des couleurs simples et composees par la methode interferentielle. J. Physique 3 (No.3), 97-107 (1894), each of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. It was the first type of true-color photography, invented by Gabriel Lippmann in 1891. In this type of photography, colors are recorded in a photosensitive layer as a black-and-white interference structure. Such an image can be used as a security device on different types of security documents, such as passports, identity cards, travel documents, drivers licenses, credit cards, etc. The present invention involves the methods of application of Lippmann photography for security and anti-counterfeiting purposes including the technique of recording such photographs, the special recording materials, and the recording and processing devices for this type of photography unique to the security application.

Secure photographic method and apparatus


A self-sealing cannula assembly for maintaining pressure in a body cavity during insufflatory surgery. A cap made of elastomeric material is fitted to an enlarged portion of a cannula and has means for simultaneous sealing and fastening the cap to the cannula. The endwall of the cap may be apertured to permit entry and exit of a trocar or other surgical instrument without interruption of the seal. Another embodiment provides an elastomeric adaptor cap arranged to be fitted to the exterior circumference of the above-mentioned cap for temporary insertion and withdrawal of instruments of relatively small diameter without removal of the original cap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-sealing cannula assembly used in insufflatory surgery.
2. Background of the Invention
Various types of cannula assemblies have been provided with valves for maintaining a certain gas pressure in a body cavity during insufflatory surgery. Insufflatory surgery involves filling a body cavity with pressurized gas to maintain the cavity under a certain predetermined pressure. A conventional technique of performing the surgery is to first puncture the skin in a predetermined region of the body cavity with a needle including a stylet, and introducing an insufflatory gas into the body cavity.
A trocar is inserted into the bore of the cannula with a sharpened portion extending from the end of the cannula. The protruding end of the trocar is used to enable the end of the cannula to enter the body cavity through an incision made by the trocar in a different locality of the pressurized body cavity. The trocar may then be removed from the cannula. Surgical instruments may be inserted through the cannula to permit required endoscopic procedures. Because the body cavity is under pressure, escapement of the insufflatory gas must be prevented during insertion of the instruments and while the surgical procedure is being performed.
The prior art contains various types of cannula assemblies provided with valves for maintaining gas pressure in the body cavity when the trocar or other surgical instruments are inserted and removed from the cannula.
Of primary interest to the present invention is an assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,814, wherein there is disclosed a self-sealing cannula which maintains insufflation pressure in a body cavity by means of a slotted elastomeric valve positioned in a valve seat with the slots disposed over the cannula valve passage. Separate means are provided to compress the valve against a valve seat to seal the slot or slots.
Other patented cannula assemblies designed to maintain gas pressure within a body cavity include U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,127, which discloses a certain type of perforation formed in an elastic sealing member.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,287 discloses an assembly wherein gas pressure is maintained by means of a flexible ring having an aperture positioned within an annular valve seat. A collar is placed over the ring to seal the sidewalls of the valve seat. The disclosed assembly unfortunately loses it seal when the surgeon removes the instrument, and other sealing means must be provided to maintain gas pressure.
Another cannula assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,049, wherein a trumpet valve is used to maintain pressure. Here, the trumpet valve must be manually regulated by the surgeon while removing the trocar and replacing it with another instrument, such as a laparoscope.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,095 discloses a hemostasis valve to prevent blood leakage. This valve assembly utilizes a snap-on cap which houses at least a pair of separate discs, each having slots for receiving a catheter to prevent backflow of blood.
Another device for introducing a catheter into a body for diagnosis or treatment, as in the case of a vascular balloon catheter, a catheter for angiography or other need for insertion into a blood vessel is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,846.
A seal for use with a cannula assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,383. This disclosure is directed principally to a stabilizer plate to limit the eccentric movement of an instrument relative to the seal, which may inadvertently release the gaseous seal.
A hemostasis valve formed of a longitudinally extended valve housing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,408. An apertured cap is provided for enclosing a first opening of the housing. The cap permits insertion of a catheter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,122 discloses a trocar sleeve provided in a relatively complicated assembly requiring an expanded end of the trocar sleeve in abutting relationship with the inner surface of the abdominal cavity.
A particular configuration of slits formed in a self-sealing gasket for a catheter was disclosed in European Patent Publication 0 344 907 A2.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cannula assembly having positive sealing during entry, use and substitution of surgical instruments and removal of a surgical instruments during the performance of a surgical procedure.
It is among the various objects of the invention to provide a single cap of an elastomeric material, such as silicone, in which the inner circumferential wall surface is provided with a plurality of axially spaced grooves adapted to be received by interfitting, axially spaced lands formed in the outer circumferential wall of an enlarged cuplike portion of a cannula.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a single sealing member for a cannula assembly to thereby eliminate the need for an additional compressing retainer member requiring machined threads and other machined surfaces to receive and compress a sealing valve to thereby insure sealing requirements in prior devices.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a cannula configuration which permits several variations of elastomeric gas-sealing caps or valves adaptable for use with inserted instruments of varying diameters and configurations.
A still further object of this invention is to provide an additional elastomeric adaptor cap to be received by the external surface of a first self-sealing elastomeric cap, whereby the outer cap has a sealing opening for an instrument of relatively small diameter and without requiring removal of the first cap during surgery and which will maintain the seal of the cannula assembly.


The present invention concerns an apparatus, in particular a cover for a rotor (51), for the initiation of the spinning of a thread in an open-end spinning apparatus (1), which apparatus possesses a fiber feed conduit (6) which extends from a disintegrating apparatus (4) to a spin rotor (50), which is installed in a rotor housing (5) in combination with a controllable vacuum source, and which rotor (50) is covered with a rotor cover (51) which also accepts the fiber feed conduit (6), at least partially. The apparatus exhibits further a service wagon (2) for the open-end spinning apparatus (1), which wagon carries a suction line (20) to a connection piece (7) of the open-end spinning apparatus (1). The connection piece (7) is in communication with a connection opening (70) in the fiber feed conduit (6) and is in a break-away sealed connection with the rotor cover (51). The connection opening (70) is surrounded by a surface (700) for contact to a sealing element (731) which is integral with the connection piece (7).

The present invention is concerned with an apparatus for the initiation of spinning a thread on an open-end spinning apparatus and with an appropriate rotor cover therefor.
It is common knowledge, during the initial stages of spinning, to release the fiber band feed to the opening roll, to divert and lead the fibers away from the conventionally followed operational path during the normal spinning procedure, and to do so before said fibers reach the spin rotor. The fibers are only brought back to the spin rotor at an appropriate time. This is done so that, for the initiation of spinning fibers onto a thread end which has been introduced into the spin rotor, the fibers find more faultless conditions for incorporating themselves into a thread in the said spin rotor (WO 86/01235).
For this purpose, there is provided in an encapsulating wall of the housing which contains the opening roll, a suction opening, located in the fiber transport direction toward the opening of the fiber feed conduit. To this said opening, a connection piece is sealingly joined. A suction line can be added to this connection piece by, for example, being brought to the location of connection by a service unit.
The spin rotor is, as a rule, covered with an enclosure. For the maintenance of the open-end spinning apparatus, this enclosure must be swung away, so that, in turn, the spin cover can be opened, thus making the spin rotor accessible. The connection piece must give clearance to the swinging radius of the rotor cover. To this purpose, the connection piece has such a type of break-away sealing with an enclosure fitting, that upon pivoting the enclosure away, said connection piece is lifted from the said suction line.
When the enclosure is again swung back into its operational position, the connection piece is brought again into a tight sealed contact on the suction opening.
Evidence, however, has surfaced, indicating that the suction opening in the enclosure wall of the housing which encapsulates the opening roll, promotes wall deposition of fiber. If this occurs, upon the release of a fiber stream into the spin rotor system, these lump forming fibers carry through and get into the spin rotor where they interfere with the orderly initiation of spinning, that is, obstruct the spinning of a thread. In addition to this, there is the danger that fibers in the narrow zone between suction opening and the connection piece adhere to the walls in a hard deposition. This leads to a break in the sealed security and damage to the sealing means already in place. This impairs the functional and operational ability of the equipment. Beyond the danger that such disturbances are possible, the conventional apparatus is complex in construction and consequently expensive in cost and space.

Apparatus for the initiation of spinning a thread on an open-end spinning apparatus

Rieter Ingolstadt Spinnereimaschinenbau AG


A third party payment system allows a user to conduct transactions through payment accounts stored on the third party payment system. The user can enroll in the third party payment system and create an account with registered payment accounts. The user can access the payment accounts via a mobile device and load the payment data associated with a payment account to the mobile device. The user can then utilize the mobile device to provide payment during a transaction.

A typical consumer may store personal information (payment information, user settings, etc.) in a variety of places, such as third party systems. These third party may include, for example, online websites, user networks, applications, user ecosystems, etc. These "places" may be platforms that comprise payment systems, and can store data relating to payment information (e.g. credit card number, billing address, etc.) for use within the payment system. For example, an online website may keep a record of a consumer's payment information, after the first time the consumer made a purchase with the website. Accordingly, any subsequent purchases may be more convenient for the consumer, as the payment data will not need to be re-entered. Similarly, online social networks, in-person networks and clubs, music stores, etc., often will maintain databases of their user's information.
This user and associated payment information is often not usable outside the specific payment system. Thus, data stored in one online merchant may not be usable in a social network or with another online vendor. A consumer may not be provided a full range of services for the same payment information (rewards, fraud check, notifications, etc.) when utilizing different platforms. Embodiments of the invention address these problems, and allow for integration across various systems. Consumer information may be shared, when appropriate, and the consumer may receive additional incentives or other value added services across platforms.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems, individually and collectively.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A staircase system (2) includes a rail element (40) and multiple stair elements (42). Baluster elements (44) are coupled to the rail element (40) and to the stair elements (42). A center support system (46) is coupled to and supports the rail element (40) and the stair elements (42). The center support system (46) has a stowed state and a deployed state.

The present invention is related generally to staircase systems. More particularly, the present invention is related to stowable staircase systems that enable access to overhead areas of an aircraft.
Space within a crown of a wide body aircraft is typically not efficiently or fully utilized, due to the difficulty in access thereof. In order to maximize storage and seating area within a commercial passenger aircraft, efficient use of space within the aircraft is desired. Efficient use of aircraft space can increase the number of passengers transported per flight and the capability of an aircraft to store more items on board.
Increased efficiency of space usage not only increases physical capacity of an aircraft, but can also increase customer and crewmember satisfaction and revenue per flight. For example, and particularly with respect to long flights, additional space allows for increased storage of food, baggages, and other items of various sizes. Improved efficiency of space usage also provides increased space for passenger and crewmember seating, rest areas, and movement about the aircraft.
In larger aircrafts that are typically used for longer flights, overhead space modules, such as crew rest stations and additional storage compartments, are provided in the space between the curved top portion of the hull of the aircraft and the lowered ceiling of the aircraft. These overhead space modules are typically accessible by use of a fixed stairway module, which is typically a narrow and steep stairway. These fixed stairway modules result in loss of otherwise usable main deck space.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved space efficient staircase mechanism for access to overhead areas of an aircraft that utilizes a minimal amount of space in both a stowed and/or deployed arrangement, that is cost effective to manufacture and implement within an aircraft, and that is easy and convenient to utilize and operate.

Stowable spiral staircase system for overhead space access


Embodiments of the present disclosure provides an array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, a display panel. The array substrate includes: a base; a pixel electrode and a thin film transistor disposed on the base; a passivation layer covering the thin film transistor and the pixel electrode, the passivation layer being provided with a transferring through hole that simultaneously exposes the pixel electrode and a drain electrode or a source electrode of the thin film transistor; a connection electrode disposed on the passivation layer and at the transferring through hole, the connection electrode connected with the pixel electrode, and the drain electrode or the source electrode through the transferring through hole.

A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) has characteristics such as small volume, low power consumption, radiationless, and etc., and has developed rapidly in recent years. A mainbody structure of the LCD includes a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate and a color filter (CF) substrate cell-assembled with each other, liquid crystal (LC) molecules are filled between the array substrate and the color filter substrate and an electric field that drives the deflection of the liquid crystal is formed by controlling a common electrode and a pixel electrode for realizing a gray-scale display. According to the display mode, the LCD may be divided into a twisted nematic (TN) display mode, a in plane switching (IPS) display mode and an advanced super dimension switch (ADS) display mode and the like. The ADS display mode has become a relatively mature display mode, which has advantages of wide view angle, high aperture ratio, high penetration rate, high resolution, fast response speed, low power consumption, and low chromatic aberration and the like.
In recent years, on a basis of the ADS display mode, an IADS (Interchange Advanced Super Dimension Switch) display mode is proposed in the prior art. Study indicates that when a dual-gate pixel architecture is used, the IADS display mode can improve luminous efficiency, thereby improving transmittance of a pixel. The dual-gate pixel architecture can reduce the number of source driving integrated circuit ICs and reduce cost. Therefore, the IADS display mode has been increasingly widely used.

Array substrate and manufacturing method thereof, display panel

CHONGQING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A laser includes a Ti:sapphire gain-medium in the form of a thin-disk. The thin-disk gain-medium is optically pumped by pump-radiation pulses having a wavelength in the green region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The pump-radiation pulses have a duration less than twice the excited-state lifetime of the gain-medium.

Transition-metal-doped gain-media such as Ti:sapphire (Ti:Al2O3), Alexandrite (Cr:Be Al2O3), Cr:LISAF (Cr:LiSrAlF6), Cr:LICAF (Cr:LiCaAlF6), Forsterite (Cr:MgSiO4) chromium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Cr:YAG) and chromium-doped zinc selenide (Cr:ZnSe) provide large wavelength tuning ranges of several hundred nanometers (nm) with relatively large cross-sections for stimulated emission. This enables ultrafast pulse generation with sub-picosecond (ps) pulse durations, down to less than ten femtoseconds (fs)
The most prominent of these transition-metal-doped gain-media is Ti:sapphire, which in the last two decades has found widespread use as a gain-medium in commercial ultrafast solid-state lasers. Titanium exhibits a broad tuning range of the emission wavelength between about 650 nm and about 1080 nm, and a relatively large emission cross-section of about 2.8×10−19 cm2 at the peak-emission wavelength. To date commercial Kerr lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire oscillators provide average output powers of up to 3 Watts (W) at a pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) of about 80 MHz, with typical pulse durations between about 10 and 150 fs. Pulse amplification in Ti:sapphire amplifiers enables pulse energies of up to 15 millijoules (mJ) per pulse at typical repetition rates of between about 1 and 5 kilohertz (kHz).
The gain-medium in all commercial Ti:sapphire lasers and amplifiers is in the form of a rod or slab that is end-pumped by continuous-wave (CW) green (frequency doubled) solid-state lasers with up to 18 W of pump power, or by Q-switched frequency-doubled Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF lasers emitting pulse energies of up to 50 mJ at 527 nm or 532 nm with pulse durations around 100 ns, PRF up to 10 kHz, and average output powers up to 100 W. FIG. 1 is a graph summarizing the performance of mode-locked Ti:sapphire oscillators and amplifiers for different pump power levels. The oscillator data is all at 80 MHz in the lower right of the graph.
Ti:sapphire has a large saturation intensity of 160 kilowatts per square centimeter (kW/cm2). This is a result of the short excited-state lifetime of 3.2 microseconds (μs). Because of this, the pump-laser beam has to be focused very tightly to generate enough gain. In general, the product of pump-intensity times the ratio of pump-wavelength to laser-wavelength (this ratio typically is between 0.66 and 0.9) has to equal the saturation intensity of the gain-medium to achieve a small-signal gain g01 of 1.0.
For many transition-metal-doped gain-media, the pump-intensity has to be greater than 100 kW/cm2 in order to have high enough small-signal gain. In mode-locked Ti:sapphire oscillators, for example, the pump-spot diameter is typically less than 50 micrometers (mm) to achieve a pump-intensity of 200 kW/cm2. This results in strong thermal lensing (up to 200 Diopters) in the gain-medium, and limited power-scaling capability in TEM00 mode operation due to pump-induced thermal aberration. In Ti:sapphire amplifiers, the use of Q-switched green pump-lasers with relatively high pulse energies and pulse intensities allows the increase of the pump-spot diameter to about 1 mm. However, due to a relatively large quantum defect of Ti:sapphire (about 35%) heat generation also limits the power scaling of Ti:sapphire amplifiers.
At present, the maximum average power than can be extracted from a standard Ti:sapphire amplifier is around 15 W. The current technique to further power scale Ti:sapphire amplifiers is to use several amplifiers in series or to apply cryogenic cooling to the Ti:sapphire gain-medium. With liquid-nitrogen cooling, the thermal conductivity can be increased by one order of magnitude and the temperature derivative of the refractive index (dn/dT) is decreased by almost one order of magnitude, resulting in a 50-times decrease of the thermal lensing and a similar decrease of thermal aberration. Cryogenically cooled Ti:sapphire amplifiers have generated up to 25 mJ of pulse energy at 1 kHz, but the cooling equipment adds considerable cost and footprint to the laser system.
There is a need for a more effective Ti:sapphire amplifier architecture that allows improved power scaling without the need for incorporating non-standard cooling techniques. Very similar power-scaling limitations exist for other transition-metal-doped gain-media that have high saturation intensities, such as Cr:BeAl2O3, Cr:LISAF, or Cr:Forsterite, or exhibit poor thermal-lensing properties, like Cr:ZnSe.
It is well know that a thin-disk geometry for a gain-medium provides excellent thermal management due to a small thickness of the disk (of around 150 microns) and a large cooling area in contact with a heat-sink. Thermal management can be further increased by using heat-spreader material, for example, diamond, between the disk and the heat-sink. For high power Yb:YAG thin-disk lasers having a saturation intensity of about 10 kW/cm2, with typical disk thicknesses of between about 100 and 200 μm and pump-spot diameters between 4 and 10 mm, output powers of greater than 5 kW per disk have been demonstrated for pump intensities of up to 20 kW/cm2 and heat generation in the disk of up to 2 kW/cm2. However, the scientific literature clearly states that the thin-disk concept is not well suited for Ti:sapphire gain material or Chromium doped LISAF, because of the above-discussed high saturation intensity in combination with a large quantum defect and poor thermal properties (in case of LISAF).
This statement is certainly true if a pump-laser in CW operation is used. For Ti:sapphire, and an absorbed CW pump-power of 50 W at 532 nm, the pump-spot diameter has to be less than 500 μm in order to generate to generate sufficient small-signal gain (g01=0.2) with each incidence of a pump-beam on the disk. The generated heat per cooling area of about 8 kW/cm2 is a factor of four to five times higher than what is thermally manageable for current thin-disk technology. In addition, a low aspect ratio (pump-spot diameter to thickness) results in temperature gradients perpendicular to the beam propagation direction which further limits the ability to generate a high power TEM00 mode beam.
In order to provide a power scalable Ti:sapphire oscillator and amplifier concept, it will be necessary to overcome the thermal limitations of the current gain-geometries and find design criteria for a thin-disk Ti:sapphire gain-medium that offer improved thermal management without decreasing the gain in the gain-medium. These thin-disk design criteria should also be applicable to other transition-metal-doped gain-media discussed above. All of these gain-media have high saturation intensities, and most have high quantum defects and poor thermal properties which, without proper pumping and cooling designs, make them unsuitable for a thin-disk gain-medium approach.


A method includes directing an X-ray beam to be incident at a grazing angle on a location on a surface of the sample. An X-ray fluorescence excited at the location is measured. A reflection angle of the X-ray beam from the surface and a transmission angle of the X-ray beam are measured. An angle of incidence of the X-ray beam on the surface is evaluated using the measured reflection and transmission angles, and the measured X-ray fluorescence is analyzed using the evaluated angle of incidence.

Various X-ray techniques, such as grazing-incidence X-ray fluorescence (GIXRF), are used for materials characterization in many fields, including in semiconductor devices. Examples of prior art techniques are provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,303, to Vu, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an X-ray micro-analyzer for thin films, which irradiates a spot having a dimension less than 500 μm on a surface of the sample. A first X-ray detector captures fluorescent X-rays emitted from the sample, responsive to the irradiation, at a high angle relative to the surface of the sample. A second X-ray detector captures X-rays from the spot at a grazing angle relative to the surface of the sample. Processing circuitry receives respective signals from the first and second X-ray detectors responsive to the X-rays captured thereby, and analyzes the signals in combination to determine a property of a surface layer of the sample within the area of the spot.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,829,327, to Chen, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an improved total-reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) apparatus using a doubly-curved optic for use in detecting foreign matter on surfaces, such as, on semiconductor wafers.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,039,158, to Janik, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a thin film analysis system which includes multi-technique analysis capability. Grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry (GXR) can be combined with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) using an electron beam to excite X-rays that are measured with a wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (WDX) detectors to obtain accurate thickness measurements with GXR and high-resolution composition measurements with XRF using WDX detectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,398, to Mazor, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an X-ray fluorescent analyzer and method for analyzing a sample, including an X-ray beam generator, which generates an X-ray beam incident at a spot on the sample, and creates a plurality of fluorescent X-ray photons. There are a plurality of semiconducting detectors arrayed around the spot so as to capture the fluorescent X-ray photons and in response produce a plurality of electrical pulses suitable for analysis of the sample.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,062,013, to Berman, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for inspection of a sample that includes a first layer having a known reflectance property and a second layer formed over the first layer. The method includes directing radiation toward a surface of the sample and sensing the radiation reflected from the surface so as to generate a reflectance signal as a function of elevation angle relative to the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,485, to Nakano, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an X-ray thin film inspection apparatus including a sample table on which an inspection target such as a product wafer or the like is mounted, a positioning mechanism for moving the sample table, a goniometer having first and second swing arms, at least one X-ray irradiation unit that are mounted on the first swing arm and containing an X-ray tube and an X-ray optical element in a shield tube, an X-ray detector mounted on a second swing arm, and an optical camera for subjecting the inspection target disposed on the sample table to pattern recognition.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,036, to Hossain, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes Depth profile metrology using grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence. A series of X-ray fluorescence measurements are performed at varying small angles and analyzed for depth profiling of elements within a substrate.
Further theory and details of GIXRF are provided by Klockenkämper, in "Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence Analysis," John Wiley & Sons, 1997, chapters 2-4, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Documents incorporated by reference in the present patent application are to be considered an integral part of the application except that to the extent any terms are defined in these incorporated documents in a manner that conflicts with the definitions made explicitly or implicitly in the present specification, only the definitions in the present specification should be considered.

Angle calibration for grazing-incidence X-ray fluorescence (GIXRF)


The invention provides a valve-acting metal sintered body for anode of a solid electrolytic capacitor, having a high capacitance, well impregnated with cathode material, and exhibiting excellent properties particularly when having a large volume, a capacitor having a low ESR, an excellent tan δ value and good long-term reliability such as moisture resistance and heat resistance by using the sintered body, and a production method therefor comprising the following steps: coating/printing/shaping a granulated product of a mixed dispersion containing a pore-forming agent, an organic binder and a primary powder or secondary aggregated powder of at least one member selected from valve-acting metal, a valve-acting metal compound and a valve-acting metal alloy or a granulated powder thereof, and a solvent, or compressing and shaping the granulated product of a mixture obtained by removing the solvent from the dispersion; sintering the shaped article containing a pore-forming agent; and removing the pore-forming agent from the sintered body.

The capacitor for use in electronic devices such as cellular phone and personal computer is demanded to have a large capacitance with a small size. Among these capacitors, a tantalum capacitor and a niobium capacitor have a large capacitance for the size and also have good performance and therefore, these capacitors are being preferably used. In recent years, electronic devices are demanded to be driven at a low voltage and a high frequency with low noises and in order to cope with this, the solid electrolytic capacitor is also demanded to have higher capacitance, lower ESR (equivalent series resistance) and enhanced tan δ property.
The anode generally used in the capacitor using valve-acting metal is a sintered body of valve-acting metal powder. For example, a niobium powder is granulated by mixing the niobium powder with a liquid binder and then shaped by press-shaping and after implanting an anode lead thereto, the shaped article is sintered at a high temperature in a high vacuum to obtain an electrode called a sintered body. The inside of the sintered body takes a three-dimensional complicated form such that the powder particles are electrically and mechanically connected with each other. After a dielectric film is formed on the surface including the surfaces of inside voids of the sintered body, the sintered body is impregnated with a material working out to a counter electrode, thereby fabricating a capacitor. Microscopically, the capacitance of the produced capacitor greatly depends on the contacting state between the counter electrode material and the dielectric film layer as long as the dielectric film layer is uniformly attached to the surfaces inside and outside the sintered body.
In order to increase the capacitance of such a valve-acting metal capacitor, the mass of the sintered body must be increased or a sintered body increased in the surface area by finely pulverizing the valve-acting metal powder must be used.
The method of increasing the mass of the sintered body is disadvantageous in that the shape of the capacitor is inevitably increased and the demand for downsizing cannot be satisfied. On the other hand, the method of increasing the specific surface area by finely pulverizing valve-acting metal powder has a problem that the pore diameter of the valve-acting metal sintered body decreases or the number of closed pores increases at the sintering step to make it difficult to impregnate the sintered body with a cathode material in a later step.
Assuming that the capacitance realization ratio (also called an impregnation ratio of cathode material) is 100% when an aqueous phosphoric acid solution is used as the counter electrode material and complete contact state between the dielectric film layer and the cathode material is formed, for example, a capacitance realization ratio of 100% is difficult to attain in a case where an electrode material having large viscosity, especially a solid electrode material is used. In particular, when the average particle size of the valve-acting metal powder is small or when the sintered body produced from the valve-acting metal powder has a large shape, the difficulty increases. In an extreme case, only a capacitance realization ratio of less than 50% results. In such a case where only a low capacitance realization ratio can be attained, it is needless to say that a valve-acting metal capacitor having high capacitance cannot be produced and moreover, reduction of ESR, satisfactory tan δ property and sufficiently high humidity resistance cannot be obtained.
One of techniques considered to solve these defects in the valve-acting metal sintered body having high capacitance is a capacitor using, as the electrode, a sintered body where pores of the sintered body are enlarged to enhance the impregnation property of the counter electrode material having large viscosity, especially a cathode material which is a solid electrode material, and thereby enable the realization of high capacitance, low ESR, low tan δ value and long-term reliability.
JP-A-48-25859 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") discloses a method for producing a porous electrode for capacitors, where a compound having an evaporation point lower than the sintering temperature is added to a metal powder such as tantalum or niobium and the compound evaporates and disperses at the time of sintering, thereby forming pores. Powders of aluminum fluoride, bismuth fluoride, zinc fluoride, lead fluoride and cadmium fluoride are described as examples of the compound added. It is stated that this compound is gradually transpired in the sintering step and completely transpired at a predetermined temperature. The pores formed after the transpiration of the compound shrink by being exposed to a high temperature of 1,500° C. and therefore, the resulting pores do not remain to effect a high capacitance. As a result, the produced capacitor is caused to have a very small capacitance of 10 to 16 μF and a very large tan δ of 7 to 9%.
JP-A-56-45015 discloses a method for producing an anode, where a substance having a melting point lower than a valve-acting metal powder such as tantalum and niobium is added to the powder, and the substance added is transpired by exposing it to a high temperature in a vacuum, thereby forming pores. Zinc and aluminum metals are described as examples of the substance added. In this method, the transpiration also takes place during sintering and therefore, due to shrinking caused by high temperature, the pores cannot remain to effect a high capacitance, as a result, the produced capacitor have a very small capacitance of 2.4 to 2.5 μF and a very large ESR of 140 mΩ.
JP-A-10-275746 discloses a method for producing a sintered body for capacitors, where vacancies are caused to remain by sintering a valve-acting metal powder having mixed therewith a granular binder of 50 μm or less in a vacuum at a high temperature of about 2,000° C. Polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl butyrate, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene carbonate, methyl methacrylate, polyethylene-based resin, polyester-based resin and methacrylic resin are described as examples of the granular binder. These binders are organic polymers and decomposed and dissipated through a reaction such as depolymerization during sintering, which does not allow the pores to remain effective to achieve a high capacitance.
JP-A-11-181505 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,914) discloses a method for producing an anode sintered body for solid electrolytic capacitors, where an aggregated or granulated powder of a valve-acting metal such as tantalum, niobium and aluminum is shaped in combination with a solid organic material and the shaped article is sintered at a high temperature in a high vacuum. It is stated that a PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)-based or acrylic solid binder or camphor is preferred as the solid organic material. These solid organic materials are compounds of the same kind as the binder described in JP-A-10-275746, which are decomposed and dissipated through a reaction such as depolymerization during sintering and therefore, the pores cannot effect a high capacitance. As a result, although some improvement is seen in the ESR, the ESR of the sintered body is still as high as about 150 mΩ.
JP-A-9-74051 discloses a method for producing a sintered body for solid electrolytic capacitors, where a fiber comprising a methacrylic acid ester polymer, a polyethylene carbonate, a polypropylene carbonate, a polybutylene carbonate or the like after processing into a string shape is added and mixed to a valve-acting metal powder such as tantalum, titanium, niobium or aluminum and then the powder is shaped and sintered at a high temperature in a vacuum. These compounds are compounds of the same kind and have the same properties as the binder described in JP-A-10-275746 except for having a fiber shape, these compounds are decomposed and dissipated through a reaction such as depolymerization during sintering, and the pores cannot effect a high capacitance.
JP-A-6-252011 discloses a method for producing a porous sintered body for capacitors by shaping and sintering a valve-acting metal powder, where a thin sintered body is produced so as to shorten the vacancy path and a large number of the sintered bodies are stacked. In this method, more steps are required to stack a large number of thin sintered bodies for a capacitor unit than in a method where a single sintered body constitutes a capacitor, and this is economically disadvantageous, and at the same time, the capacitance efficiency is inferior, and a capacitor having a large capacitance cannot be produced.
JP-A-4-136102 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,491) discloses a technique where a liquid binder is mixed with a tantalum powder for electrolytic capacitors and the resulting granulated powder is graded to a particle size of 20 to 400 μm to obtain good flowability, then shaped and sintered. By grading the particle size, fine particles are removed and the void between granulated powder particles is once enlarged. However, this void becomes small due to compression at the shaping and a void almost the same as in the case of not performing the grading results. Therefore, the physical properties such as ESR cannot be improved.
JP-A-2001-345238 discloses a method for producing a porous sintered body, where a powder obtained by reducing potassium tantalum fluoride at 850° C. is ground by a bead mill to obtain a tantalum power having an average particle size of about 2 μm, the tantalum powder is mixed with a camphor emulsion, atomized and dried, the resulting granulated powder having a weak aggregating power is heated at 1,100° C. to produce a hard aggregated powder, the hard aggregated powder is mixed with magnesium chips and subjected to a deoxidation reaction at 800° C. to form vacancies of 1 to 20 μm, and the resulting tantalum or niobium aggregated powder is press-shaped to have a density of 4.5 to 5.0 g/cm3 and then sintered at 1,000 to 1,400° C. to obtain a porous sintered body having a pore peak in the ranges from 0.08 to 0.5 μm and from 1 to 20 μm, with 5 vol % or more of the entire vacancy volume having a vacancy size of 1 to 20 μm. In Examples, a sintered body where from 7 to 9 vol % of the entire vacancy volume has a vacancy size of 1 to 20 μm is disclosed, however, vacancies of 1 μm or less occupy 90 vol % or more of the entire vacancy volume and these are very small vacancies having a vacancy peak top in the range from 0.08 to 0.5 μm. Therefore, the sintered body cannot be sufficiently impregnated with the cathode material and for example, a sintered body of 99,000 to 101,000 μFV/g produced in this method is caused to have a very high ESR of 550 to 600 mΩ. Furthermore, the method involves steps of exposing the sintered body to a high temperature of 800° C. or more as many times as four and the more times the sintered body is exposed to heat, the more the CV may disadvantageously decreases.
International Publication WO 02/092864 discloses a method for producing a niobium sintered body having a pore diameter distribution where two peak tops are present, one in the range from 0.2 to 0.7 μm and the other in the range from 0.7 to 3 μm, and the latter peak top has a large relative intensity. It is stated that the niobium sintered body having these two peaks can be produced by adjusting the applied pressure at the shaping to a specific applied pressure value. In this method, when the applied pressure value is decreased, the adhesive strength between the lead wire as the electrode wire and the shaped article sometimes decreases to increase the LC. Furthermore, in the case of a large sintered body having a volume exceeding 25 mm3, the impregnation ratio of the cathode material does not reach 80% in some cases due to insufficient formation of pores and high capacitance and low ESR cannot be achieved at the same time.
JP-A-6-128604 discloses a method for producing a dense sintered member, where a metal working out to a matrix, such as tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, chromium, cobalt, rhenium, iron, nickel and copper, is mixed with an oxide having an oxide-producing free energy lower than that of the matrix metal and having an oxygen amount lower than in the stoichiometric composition and then sintered. This method utilizes the activity of an oxygen-deficient oxide acting as a reducing agent. Aluminum and yttrium are described as examples of the oxygen-deficient oxide. In the sintered member produced by this method, the relative density is from 93 to 99% and almost no vacancy is present. Therefore, the sintered member cannot be impregnated with the cathode material and a capacitor having high capacitance and low ESR cannot be produced.
Under these circumstances, the present invention has been created and an object of the present invention is to provide a valve-acting metal sintered body for use as the anode of a solid electrolytic capacitor, mainly comprising valve-acting metal, a valve-acting metal compound and/or a valve-acting metal alloy, and a production method of the sintered body. The sintered body of the present invention, which can be sufficiently impregnated with cathode material and realizes a high capacitance with a low ESR and good tan δ property, enables production of a capacitor ensured with excellent long-term reliability such as humidity resistance and high-temperature loading. In particular, the sintered body is a high-capacitance sintered body having a CV value exceeding 40,000 μF·V/g, especially a large sintered body having a volume of 10 mm3 or more.
The method for producing a sintered body for solid electrolytic capacitors of the present invention, which comprises a step of compressing and shaping a valve-acting metal powder for capacitors to form a shaped article and a step of sintering the shaped article at a high temperature, is characterized in that the shaped article is formed from a granulated product comprising a mixture containing a pore-forming agent, an organic binder and a primary powder or secondary aggregated powder of valve-acting metal or a granulated powder thereof, and that the pore-forming agent is removed after sintering the shaped article. Alternatively, the shaped article can be formed by coating and printing dispersion liquid of the granulated product comprising the mixture. Fine pores can be obtained in the sintered body by conducting the sintering with a pore-forming agent which is unremovable at the sintering temperature and removing the pore-forming agent remaining in the sintered body after sintering is completed. The position, number and amount of pore peaks optimal for the cathode material used can be adjusted by controlling the kind, average particle size and amount added of the pore-forming agent, thereby enhancing impregnation degree of the cathode material.
According to the method of the present invention, the position, number and amount of peaks in the pore diameter distribution of the sintered body used as the anode can be controlled. Particularly, in a large sintered body having a volume of 10 mm3 or more and a porosity of 55 vol % or more, the volume of pores of 1 μm or more occupies 10 vol % or more of the entire vacancy volume. Therefore, a solid electrolytic capacitor, enhanced in impregnation of cathode material, having high capacitance, low ESR, good tan δ property and long-term reliability can be produced.

Valve acting metal sintered body, production method therefor and solid electrolytic capacitor


A flat tire (2) according to the present invention includes a load support layer (12) positioned on an inside in an axial direction of a sidewall (6). The tire (2) further includes a belt (14) constituted by an inner belt ply (40) and an outer belt ply (42), and a full band (16) substantially covering a whole surface on an outside in a radial direction of the belt (14). The full band (16) is formed by a cord and a topping rubber. When a tensile load of 50N is applied, the cord has an elongation of 3.0% or less. The tire (2) may include a center band which has a smaller width in the axial direction than the width of the full band (16) and is laminated on the full band (16) in the vicinity of an equator (CL).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a run flat tire which can run some distance also in a state in which it punctures.
2. Description of the Related Art
A profile of a tire (a shape of a tread surface which is obtained on the assumption that a groove is not provided) influences the basic performances of a handling stability, a ride comfort and the like. It is necessary to determine a proper profile corresponding to the concept of the tire. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-301916 has disclosed a method of determining a tread profile using an involute function. In the profile determined by this method, a radius of curvature of the tread surface is gradually decreased from an equator of the tire toward a tread end. This profile is referred to as a CTT profile. By employing the CTT profile, it is possible to enhance various performances of the tire.
In recent years, a run flat tire comprising a load support layer on an inside of a sidewall has been developed and spread. The run flat tire is referred to as a side reinforcing type run flat tire. When the side reinforcing type run flat tire punctures so that an internal pressure is reduced, a weight of a vehicle is supported by the load support layer. The run flat tire can run some distance also in the case in which it punctures. In a vehicle having the run flat tire attached thereto, it is not necessary to always prepare a spare tire. By employing the run flat tire, it is possible to avoid the exchange of the tire in an inconvenient place. A side reinforcing type run flat tire comprising the CTT profile has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,672,351 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-80320).
In a general tire, a tread and a sidewall are flexed during running. In case of the side reinforcing type run flat tire, however, the flexure of the sidewall is suppressed by the influence of the load support layer. In the run flat tire, a tread is mainly flexed. The amount of flexure of the tread of the side reinforcing type run flat tire is larger than that of a general tire. The excessively great flexure of the tread inhibits a handling stability and an abrasion resistance.
In a general tire, a dimension is gradually increased by running. The dimension is increased over both a tread and a sidewall. In other words, the increase is generated in both an axial direction and a radial direction. In case of the side reinforcing type run flat tire, however, the increase in the axial direction is suppressed by the influence of the load support layer. In the run flat tire, the increase in only the radial direction is mainly generated. In the run flat tire, the profile of the tread is permanently distorted by the influence of the deviated increase. As described above, the profile of the tread greatly influences various performances of the tire. In the side reinforcing type run flat tire, various performances in the early stage of use are maintained with difficulty. When the profile is distorted in a tire employing the CTT profile, particularly, the intended performance cannot be exhibited.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a side reinforcing type run flat tire in which an excessively great flexure of a tread during running and a permanent distortion of a profile of the tread are suppressed.


A dual thyrointegrin antagonist and a method for treating an angiogenesis-mediated disorder and/or a hyperthyroidism disorders by introducing the dual thyrointegrin antagonist into animals (e.g., mammals, human beings). The dual thyrointegrin antagonist includes a chemical structure having a thyroid hormone antagonist and αvβ3 integrin antagonist in the same molecule.

The thyroid hormone antagonist such as tetrac (compound 8, FIG. 1) has been shown to inhibit angiogenesis through weak affinity binding to cell surface receptor αvβ3 [Rebbaa A, Chu F, Davis F B, Davis P J, Mousa S A, Novel function of the thyroid hormone analog tetraiodothyroacetic acid: a cancer chemosensitizing and anti-cancer agent, Angiogenesis, 2008, 11: 269-76]. However, tetrac translocates into the cell nucleus interfering with thyroid hormone nuclear function leading to undesirable side effects.
Thus there is a need for a thyroid hormone antagonist that does not interfere with thyroid hormone nuclear function.

Compositions of dual thyrointegrin antagonists and use in vascular-associated disorders


A waste gas stream containing toxic NF.sub.3 and optionally other gases, such as acidic fluoride gases, for example, HF, SiF.sub.4, MoF.sub.6 and WF.sub.6 is first treated with particles or ribbons of a Cr-containing Fe alloy at about 300-600.degree. C. to remove the NF.sub.3 content and, if desired, subsequently with an alkaline neutralizing agent in the form of pellets to remove the acidic fluoride contents, if any; said alloy containing preferably about 16-26% Cr and being used in a form of bed packed with said ribbons

This invention relates to treatment of waste gases contaminated with nitrogen trifluoride, NF.sub.3. In particular, the invention relates to a process for treating a gaseous stream comprising NF.sub.3 and optionally other acidic gaseous fluoride substances and to a reducing agent comprising an Fe--Cr-containing alloy useful for destroying NF.sub.3 in such a process.
Nitrogen trifluoride, NF.sub.3, has been very useful as an oxidizer for high-energy fuels used in rocketry or the like and as a fluorine source for a certain type of chemical laser. Recently, NF.sub.3 has been conveniently employed as a dry-etching gas as well as a cleaning gas in the very large scale integration (VLSI) industry, because it does not leave any harmful residues after etching and cleaning treatments.
Normally, NF.sub.3 is present as a nonflammable gas that is very stable and nonreactive with water, acids and aqueous alkalis at normal temperatures. However, it is a toxic substance having a threshold limit value, TLV, of 10 ppm. Therefore, it is necessary to treat hazardous NF.sub.3 -containing gases to eliminate or substantially reduce the toxicity before releasing the used gases into the environment. For this purpose, the following two methods have been proposed.
i) Method for treating the contaminated gases with hot metals:
In this method, NF.sub.3 is allowed to react with a metallic material at raised temperatures to produce a metal fluoride. If the fluoride is a solid substance forming a coating on the surface of the metallic material, the reaction is inhibited by growth of the coating so that the capacity of decomposing the NF.sub.3 contaminant becomes seriously hindered after a short period. On the other hand, if a powdery or flaky fluoride is produced by the reaction between NF.sub.3 and the metal, then the powder tends to block the treatment vessel and pipings. If the product fluoride is gaseous, the gas should be subjected to an appropriate secondary treatment, such as physical absorption, scrubbing or the like, requiring a larger apparatus as a whole and incurring additional operation costs. The gaseous fluoride product may generally be corrosive to the treatment apparatus, giving rise to another serious problem.
ii) Method for treating the contaminated gases with active carbon at raised temperatures:
When this method is carried out above 400.degree. C., the contaminant NF.sub.3 can be decomposed relatively effectively, but this is accompanied with a large proportion of a by-product dinitrogen difluoride, N.sub.2 F.sub.2, which itself is highly toxic and also detonative. In order to inhibit formation of the by-product N.sub.2 F.sub.2, the period during which NF.sub.3 contacts with the active carbon should be extended and also the reaction temperature should be raised to 500.degree. C. or higher. However, even under these conditions it is impossible to completely prevent the formation of the by-product. Further in this case, fluorocarbons such as CF.sub.4, C.sub.2 F.sub.6 and the like could be formed also as by-products, which will provide a hazardous mixture with any residual NF.sub.3. The mixture tends to detonate sympathetically with N.sub.2 F.sub.2. If the gases to be treated contain O.sub.2, the active carbon can be burnt therewith under the process conditions.
The above prior art methods thus do not appear to be feasible in commercial practice.
In industrial applications, NF.sub.3 is used in various concentrations appropriate for respective applications. When diluted, an inert gas, typically N.sub.2 is used as a diluent.
Depending upon the applications, the waste gases may contain, in addition to any residual NF.sub.3, other gaseous substances, for example, acidic fluoride such as HF, SiF.sub.4, WF.sub.6, MoF.sub.6 or the like that are by-products from the respective applications. For example, HF and SiF.sub.4 are usually found in waste gas streams from the NF.sub.3 -dry-etching processes in the VLSI industry.
The prior art methods could not be applied successfully to sweeten the waste gases containing NF.sub.3 in combination with acidic gaseous fluoride substances, such as HF, SiF.sub.4, MoF.sub.6, WF.sub.6 or the like.
The present invention seeks to overcome the problems experienced in the prior art methods.


An array of M.times.N electrostrictive actuated mirrors for use in an optical projection system is prepared by using a relatively thick (100-150 .mu.m) electrostrictive ceramic wafer whose mechanical properties remain intact, which in turn facilitates the manufacturing process, comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a ceramic wafer made of an electrostrictive material, having top and bottom surfaces; (b) providing on the top surface of the ceramic wafer M vertically oriented first trenches; (c) filling the M trenches with an electrically conductive material; (d) providing N-1 horizontally oriented grooves; (e) covering the top surface, including the N-1 grooves thereon, with a layer of a dielectric material; (f) mounting the ceramic wafer on an active matrix; (g) providing a metallic layer on the bottom surface of the ceramic wafer; (h) forming a photoresistive layer on top of the metallic layer; (i) forming on the ceramic wafer N-1 horizontally oriented cuts, thereby forming an array of M.times.N actuating members; (j) forming on the ceramic wafer M vertically oriented second trenches; (h) removing the photoresistive layer; (l) placing an array of M.times.N hinges; (m) forming a mirror on each of the M.times.N hinges; and (n) making electrical connections to thereby form an array of M.times.N electrostrictive actuated mirrors.

Among the various video display systems available on the art, an optical projection system is known to be capable of providing a high quality display on a large scale. In such an optical projection system, light from a lamp is uniformly illuminated onto an array of, e.g., M.times.N, actuated mirrors such that each of the mirrors is coupled with each of the actuators. The actuators may be made of an electrodisplacive material such as a piezoelectric or an electrostrictive material which deforms in response to an electric field applied thereto.
The reflected light beam from each of the mirrors is incident upon an aperture of a baffle. By applying an electrical signal to each of the actuators, the relative position of each of the mirrors to the incident light beam is altered, thereby causing a deviation in the optical path of the reflected beam from each of the mirrors. As the optical path of each of the reflected beams is varied, the amount of light reflected from each of the mirrors which passes through the aperture is changed, thereby modulating the intensity of the beam. The modulated beams through the aperture are transmitted onto a projection screen via an appropriate optical device such as a projection lens to thereby display an image thereon.
In FIG. 1, there is shown a cross sectional view of an M.times.N electrodisplacive actuated mirror array 10 for use in an optical projection system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,720, comprising: an active matrix 11 including a substrate 12 and an array of M.times.N transistors thereon; an array 13 of M.times.N electrodisplacive actuators 30, each of the electrodisplacive actuators 30 including a pair of actuating members 14, 15, a pair of bias electrodes 16, 17, and a common signal electrode 18; an array 19 of M.times.N hinges 31, each of the hinges 31 fitted in each of the electrodisplacive actuators 30; an array 20 of M.times.N connecting terminals 22, each of the connecting terminals 22 being used for electrically connecting each of the signal electrodes 18 with the active matrix 11; and an array 21 of M.times.N mirrors 23, each of the mirrors 23 being mounted on top of each of the M.times.N hinges 31.
In the above mentioned copending, commonly owned application, there is also disclosed a method for manufacturing such an array of M.times.N electrodisplacive actuated mirrors, employing a ceramic wafer having a thickness of 30 to 50 .mu.m.
There are a number of problems associated with the above-described method for manufacturing an array of M.times.N electrodisplacive actuators, however. First of all, it is rather difficult to obtain a ceramic wafer having a thickness of 30 to 50 .mu.m; and, furthermore, once the thickness of the ceramic wafer is reduced to a 30 to 50 .mu.m range, the mechanical properties thereof are likely to degrade which may, in turn, make it difficult to carry out the manufacturing process.
In addition, in mounting the ceramic wafer on the active matrix, the above process utilizes an electrically conductive paste to thereby connect, electrically and mechanically, each of the common signal electrodes with each of the M.times.N connecting terminals. However, it is possible that the conductive paste may spread to neighboring actuators, which may, in turn, cause short circuits between them.

Electrostrictive actuated mirror array and method for the manufacture thereof


Message translation systems and methods are provided. In one embodiment, a method for translating messages comprises reading a first sequence of one or more message elements from a first interface, wherein the message elements are structured based on a first protocol; converging on a message mapping node based on the first sequence of one or more message elements, wherein the message mapping node is defined by a protocol metadata schema; performing one or more conversion operations on the first sequence of one or more message elements to construct a second sequence of one or more message elements, wherein the one or more conversion operations are based on the message mapping node; and writing the second sequence of one or more message elements to a second interface.

Complex systems often comprise multiple data processing devices that input and output message data using any number of messaging protocols. Often, two devices with the need to communicate data to each other cannot do so directly because each communicates using incompatible message protocols. For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for deciphering information from one message protocol and translate the information into another message protocol.


A metallic article is fabricated by providing a die and a piece of a bulk-solidifying amorphous metallic alloy having a glass transition temperature. The bulk-solidifying amorphous metallic alloy is heated to a forming temperature of from about 0.75 T.sub.g to about 1.2 T.sub.g and forced into the die cavity at the forming temperature under an external pressure of from about 260 to about 40,000 pounds per square inch, thereby deforming the piece of the bulk-solidifying amorphous metallic alloy to a formed shape that fills the die cavity. Preferably, a pressure is applied to the piece of the bulk-solidifying amorphous metallic alloy as it is heated, and the heating rate is at least about 0.1.degree. C. per second. The die may be a male die or a female die. When the die has a re-entrant comer therein, the formed shape of the bulk-solidifying amorphous metallic alloy is mechanically locked to the die.

This invention relates to the solidifying of metals, and, more particularly, to the die solidifying of amorphous metals.
Metallic articles are often formed to final or near-final shape by a die-forming operation using either an open or a closed die. In open-die forming, platens squeeze or pound a metal preform, which is allowed to expand laterally without limit. In closed-die forming, the metal preform is pressed between two dies, at least one of which is shaped in a manner so that the metal preform expands laterally to fill the die.
The present inventors have determined that bulk-solidifying amorphous metallic alloys are potentially amenable to the use of die-forming techniques. Such materials exhibit an amorphous metallic structure in thick sections in the solid state. However, their constitutive relations and deformation properties differ from those of crystalline metals. The techniques that are used for the die forming of crystalline metals may not be applicable to the die forming of amorphous metals, or may require modification or optimization when applied to the die forming of bulk-solidifying amorphous metals.
Accordingly, there is a need for an approach for the die forming of bulk-solidifying amorphous metals that is selected to take advantage of the properties of these metals. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.

Die-formed amorphous metallic articles and their fabrication


Methods of superalloy article repair are provided. In some embodiments, a method for repairing a nickel-based superalloy article comprises providing a layered assembly over a damaged region of the nickel-based superalloy article, the layered assembly comprising a nickel-based superalloy preform, an infiltration alloy preform and a melting point depressant component. The layered assembly is heated to form a nickel-based filler alloy metallurgically bonded to the damaged region, wherein primary carbide and secondary carbide phases are present in the nickel-based filler alloy in a combined amount of 0.5 to 10 vol. %.

Components of gas turbines, including blades and vanes, are subjected to harsh operating conditions leading to component damage by one or more mechanisms. Gas turbine components, for example, can suffer damage from thermal fatigue cracks, creep, oxidative surface degradation, hot corrosion and damage by foreign objects. If left unaddressed, such damage will necessarily compromise gas turbine efficiency and potentially lead to further turbine damage.
In view of such harsh operating conditions, turbine components are often fabricated of nickel-based or cobalt-based superalloy exhibiting high strength and high temperature resistance. Employment of superalloy compositions in conjunction with complex design and shape requirements renders gas turbine fabrication costly. A single stage of vanes for an aircraft turbine incurs a cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. Moreover, for industrial gas turbines, the cost can exceed one million dollars. Given such large capital investment, various methods have been developed to repair turbine components, thereby prolonging turbine life. Solid state diffusion bonding, conventional brazing, transient liquid phase bonding (TLP) and wide gap repair processes have been employed in turbine component repair. However, each of these techniques is subject to one or more disadvantages. Solid state diffusion bonding, for example, requires expensive jigs for alignment, application of high pressure and tight tolerances for mating surfaces. Such requirements increase cost and restrict turbine locations suitable for repair by this method. Conventional brazing results in a weld of significantly different composition than the superalloy component and is prone to formation of brittle eutectic phases. In contrast, TLP provides a weld of composition and microstructure substantially indistinguishable from that of the superalloy component. However, TLP is limited to structural damage or defects of 50 μm or less. As its name implies, wide gap repair processes overcome the clearance limitations of TLP and address defects in excess of 250 μm. Nevertheless, increases in scale offered by wide gap repair are countered by the employment of filler alloy compositions incorporating elements forming brittle intermetallic species with the superalloy component. Wide gap methods additionally suffer from sintering shrinkage wherein the filler alloy separates from the damaged area of the superalloy article. Such separation can produce cracking that is fatal to the repair.

Layered assemblies for superalloy article repair


A method of channel routing. The method includes receiving an incoming connection, determining an amount of processing resources required to handle the incoming connection, and selecting a remote access server to handle the incoming connection, responsive to the determined amount of processing resources.

Many providers of communication services employ a plurality of remote-access servers, such as modems, Fax handlers and voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services connected to telephone switches. A channel router receives incoming communication requests and determines which remote-access server is to handle each incoming request. Some remote access servers are multi-channel servers which have a capacity to handle concurrently a plurality of connections up to a predetermined maximal number. In addition, some remote-access servers which are implemented mainly in software, such as the Surf Multi-access Pool (SMP) from Surf Communication Solutions Ltd., and servers 3Com, Ascend, Access, ADI, Connexent, Telogy, and Hothaus, can handle different types of connections concurrently.
When an incoming connection is received by the channel router, the router finds a remote-access server which can handle the type of the incoming connection and which is handling less than the maximal number of connections of its capacity. If no such server is found, a busy signal is returned in response to the incoming connection.
The processing power required for handling a single connection depends on the type of the connection. For example, handling a modem connection usually requires more processing power than a Fax connection, and therefore a multi-channel multi-connection-type remote access server can handle concurrently different numbers of connections according to the types of the connections. In some cases, the exact processing power needed to handle a connection is not known until the handling of the connection actually begins. In order not to overload a server beyond its capacity, existing channel routers usually assume conservative numbers for the number of channels which can be handled concurrently by a multi-channel server, for example, assuming that all the connections the server handles require a maximal processing power required by any connection. This causes waste in the usage of the multi-channel remote access servers in a multi-service system. This waste, however, provides additional assurance that the servers will be able to handle the connections they are assigned.


A CCD and manufacturing method thereof is disclosed including: a first conductivity-type substrate having a convex portion; a first conductivity-type charge transmission domain formed on the substrate excluding the convex portion; a light detecting domain formed on the convex portion of the substrate and having a convex top surface; a second conductivity-type high-concentration impurity area formed on the top surface of the light detecting domain; a gate insulating layer formed on the substrate excluding the light detecting domain; a transmission gate formed on the gate insulating layer; a planarization layer formed on the substrate including the transmission gate; and a microlens formed on the planarization layer above a photodiode.

The present invention relates to a charge-coupled device (CCD), and more particularly, to a CCD and method of manufacturing the same which prevents smear and improves sensitivity.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are sectional views of a conventional CCD. Referring to FIG. 1A, in the conventional CCD first and second p.sup.- type wells 11 and 12 are formed on an n type substrate 10. An n.sup.+ type photodiode 14 and n.sup.+ type vertical charge coupled device (VCCD) 15, which is the charge transmission domain, are formed on first and second p.sup.- type wells 11 and 12. A p.sup.++ type surface isolation layer 16 is formed on n.sup.+ type photodiode 14. A third p.sup.- type well 13 is formed to surround n.sup.+ type VCCD 15. A p.sup.+ type channel stop 17 is formed to insulate pixels therebetween.
A gate insulator 18 is formed on the overall surface of the substrate. A transmission gate 19, interlevel insulator 20 and light-shielding layer 21 are formed sequentially on gate insulator 18 above VCCD 15. A passivation layer 22 is formed on the overall surface of the substrate.
A first planarization layer 23 is formed on passivation layer 22. A color filter layer 24 is formed on first planarization layer 23 above photodiode 14. A second planarization layer 25 is formed on first planarization layer 23 including color filter layer 24. A microlens 26 is formed on second planarization layer 25 above color filter layer 24.
In the conventional CCD, light coming through a camera lens is converged by microlens 26 and passes through color filter layer 24. Light selectively passing through color filter layer 24 is incident upon photodiode 14, and photoelectrically converted into charges. These charges produced from the photodiode through photoelectric conversion are transmitted to VCCD 15 and then vertically to a horizontal charge coupled device (HCCD) by a clock signal of VCCD 15. The charges transmitted to the HCCD (not shown) are horizontally transmitted by a clock signal of the HCCD. The horizontally transmitted charges are detected as a voltage due to the device ends' floating diffusion. The voltage is amplified to be transmitted to the peripheral circuits.
As shown in FIG. 1B, in the conventional CCD, light incident upon the center of the microlens comes into photodiode 14 to be photoelectrically converted into signal charges. However, light incident on the periphery of the microlens enters VCCD 15 and is photoelectrically converted into smear charges. These smear charges cause the smear phenomenon. In case of long-wavelength light, the light incident on microlens 26 passes through the photodiode and enters first p.sup.- type well 11, producing undesirable signal charges. In addition, the step height in the photodiode and VCCD becomes high.

Method of making charge-coupled device with microlens


Components of the fuel delivery device can be connected with each other or with the internal combustion engine (14) by the fuel line (16). The fuel line (16) is embodied as a pipe and is fastened on a connector (20). The pipe (16) has a contact bead (36) on its exterior circumference near the connector (20). By severing the pipe (16), it is possible to create a new connector by its rest (16a), which has the contact bead (36) and remains on the connector (20), on which it is possible to again fasten a new fuel line, for example in the form of a flexible hose. The preparation of the pipe (16) with the contact bead (36) makes the easy removal of the fuel line or of the components connected therewith possible.

The invention is based on a fuel line for fuel delivery devices of motor vehicles.
Such a fuel line is known from DE 42 24 981 A1. In this case components of the fuel delivery device are connected with each other or with the internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle by means of the fuel line. Here the fuel line can be fastened on a connector on the components of the fuel delivery device or the internal combustion engine. In general, fuel lines can be embodied as a flexible hose or as a pipe. Pipes are more advantageous in respect to cost compared with fuel-resistant hoses, but have the disadvantage that for fastening them on the connector either elaborate connection means are required, or their direct fastening on and release from the connector is only possible by means of special mounting or dismounting devices, so that the removal of components of the fuel delivery device or of the fuel line is not possible in a simple manner.

Fuel line for fuel delivery devices of motor vehicles


A light-weight upright shaft (14) supports cotton harvester doffers (12). An internally threaded mounting end (36) receives a bolt (38) which is stretchable to a greater degree than the shaft to provide a reliable shaft preload condition that prevents the doffers from spinning relative to the shaft. The shaft may be hollow and may have a diameter greater than conventional shafts to reduce weight and increase the stiffness and thereby increase critical speed. The preload structure does not require a nut and has increased thread engagement.

Previously available doffers for spindle type cotton pickers include a stack of doffers, or pads, supported on a solid shaft. Some pads are in the shape of a flat disk with spacers inserted between each pad. The disks are sandwiched between the spacers, and a nut threaded on external threads at the end of the solid shaft tightly clamps the disks and spacer for rotation of the pads and spacers in unison with the solid shaft. Examples of such structures are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,415. Alternatively, the doffers may include integral axially extending hubs of cast aluminum in place of the separate spacers, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,502. If there is insufficient tensioning preload on the assembled doffer, the doffer can spin relative to the shaft. Once the pads begin to spin, the pads further loosen on the shaft, and the entire doffer column usually must be rebuilt.
The threaded stub shaft at the bottom of the doffer column receives a tensioning nut to provide the preload that sandwiches the doffers and spacers or hubs for rotation together with the doffer shaft. The small amount of mounting space at the lower end of the column usually requires a relatively thin nut with a minimal amount of thread engagement.
The doffer columns normally operate near the critical operating speed. If the doffer shaft is operated in an over-speed condition for even a short period of time, the shaft may bend. Therefore, increasing the critical operating speed of the doffer columns helps to eliminate shaft bending.

Reduced mass high speed doffer column with improved shaft preload


A method of generating bubbles of a first fluid in a second fluid, the method comprising: flowing a stream of the second fluid through a microfluidic channel; injecting a stream of the first fluid into the microfluidic channel through an aperture such that bubbles of the first fluid form in the second fluid; and sonicating the microfluidic channel with ultrasound so as to cause the bubbles formed at the aperture to divide.

Microbubbles (micron-scale bubbles—bubbles of a fluid having a diameter less than 1 mm) have many applications, particularly in the field of medicine.
For example, gas-filled microbubbles stabilised by a phospholipid or polymer coating are routinely used in medical imaging as ultrasound contrast agents, being capable of enhancing ultrasound backscatter from blood by several orders of magnitude. The microbubble usually comprises a core of a high molecular weight gas (i.e., perfluorocarbon or sulphur hexafluoride) to enhance sample stability both in vivo and during handling or storage. In clinical formulations, the outer coating usually comprises saturated phospholipids or denatured albumin. Moreover, the microbubble coating can be employed as a scaffold for transporting biologically active compounds or targeting agents in the haematic circulation, which has opened the way for the use of microbubble as a vehicle in therapeutic applications such as drug delivery or gene therapy.
The acoustic response and therefore the clinical utility of microbubbles are profoundly influenced by their physical characteristics, including size, size distribution, and mechanical/rheological properties of the coating layer. These have been observed to depend on the chemical formulation of the microbubble coating and on the production technique.
Various methods and apparatuses for generating microbubbles are known. Methods developed for batch production of microbubbles include sonication, high shear emulsification, membrane emulsification, and coaxial electro-hydrodynamic atomisation.
Bulk sonication is the most commonly employed method in both academic and industrial laboratories, and involves dispersing gas or liquid in a suspension of a coating material using high intensity ultrasound. The size distribution of microbubbles obtained from bulk sonication is however relatively broad, which makes it necessary to perform additional, time-consuming post-production procedures (i.e., fractionation or filtration) in order to remove any large bubbles which could cause vascular occlusion after intravenous injection. Furthermore, the lack of process automation makes this technique highly operator dependent and difficult to reproduce faithfully over multiple iterations. WO-2011/025893 discloses an example of using bulk sonication to produce microbubbles.
More recently, microfluidic-based techniques have been proposed as an alternative to batch methods for producing relatively monodisperse microbubbles. A typical microfluidic device consists of a cross-flow (i.e., flow focusing) or T-junction architecture, in which gas and fluid streams are forced to flow into a confined microenvironment where break-up of the gas stream into individual microbubbles occurs. Depending on the geometrical properties of the microenvironment and the fluid dynamic field, different microbubble production regimes have been demonstrated. However, the narrower size distribution is frequently accompanied by low production rates, the need for chemical additives to adjust fluid viscosity and surface tension, and in some cases lower microbubble stability. These factors have hindered the adoption of microfluidics as a viable technology for industrial production of microbubbles for clinical usage. US-2015/0125400 discloses an example using a microfluidic based technique to produce microbubbles.
The present invention has been developed to at least partly address some of the problems discussed above.

Method and apparatus for generating bubbles


There is provided a speech encoding system that receives a speech signal. The speech encoding system comprises a frame processor for processing a frame of the speech signal, where the frame processor includes a pitch gain generator that derives unquantized pitch gains, and a first vector guantizer that receives the unquantized pitch gains and generates quantized pitch gains. The speech encoding system also comprises a subframe processor that begins subframe processing after the pitch gain generator has derived the unquantized pitch gains and the first vector quantizer has generated the quantized pitch gains.

The field of the present invention relates generally to the coding of speech in voice communication systems and, more particularly to an improved code-excited linear prediction coding system and method of coding the gain quantization parameters of a speech signal with fewer bits.
To model basic speech sounds, speech signals are sampled over time and stored in frames as a discrete waveform to be digitally processed. However, in order to increase the efficient use of the communication bandwidth for speech, speech is coded before being transmitted especially when speech is intended to be transmitted under limited bandwidth constraints. Numerous algorithms have been proposed for the various aspects of speech coding. In coding speech, the speech coding algorithm tries to represent characteristics of the speech signal in a manner which requires less bandwidth. For example, the speech coding algorithm seeks to remove redundancies in the speech signal. A first step is to remove short-term correlations. One type of signal coding technique is linear predictive coding (LPC). In using a LPC approach, the speech signal value at any particular time is modeled as a linear function of previous values. By using a LPC approach, short-term correlations can be reduced and efficient speech signal representations can be determined by estimating and applying certain prediction parameters to represent the signal. After the removal of short-term correlations in a speech signal, a LPC residual signal remains. This residual signal contains periodicity information that needs to be modeled. The second step in removing redundancies in speech is to model the periodicity information. Periodicity information may be modeled by using pitch prediction. Certain portions of speech have periodicity while other portions do not. For example, the sound "aah" has periodicity information while the sound "shhh" has no periodicity information.
In applying the LPC technique, a conventional source encoder operates on speech signals to extract modeling and parameter information to be coded for communication to a conventional source decoder via a communication channel. One way to code modeling and parameter information into a smaller amount of information is to use quantization. Quantization of a parameter involves selecting the closest entry in a table or codebook to represent the parameter. Thus, for example, a parameter of 0.125 may be represented by 0.1 if the codebook contains 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, etc. Quantization includes scalar quantization and vector quantization. In scalar quantization, one selects the entry in the table or codebook that is the closest approximation to the parameter, as described above. By contrast, vector quantization combines two or more parameters and selects the entry in the table or codebook which is closest to the combined parameters. For example, vector quantization may select the entry in the codebook that is the closest to the difference between the parameters. A codebook used to vector quantize two parameters at once is often referred to as a two-dimensional codebook. A n-dimensional codebook quantizes n parameters at once.
In CELP (Code Excited Linear Prediction) speech coding, there are two types of gain. The first type of gain is the pitch gain GP, also known as the adaptive codebook gain. The adaptive codebook gain is sometimes referred to, including herein, with the subscript "a" instead of the subscript "p". The second type of gain is the fixed codebook gain GC. Speech coding algorithms have quantized parameters including the adaptive codebook gain and the fixed codebook gain. Once coded, the parameters representing the input speech signal are transmitted to a transceiver.
At the transceiver, a decoder receives the coded information. Because the decoder is configured to know the manner in which speech signals are encoded, the decoder decodes the coded information to reconstruct a signal for playback that sounds to the human ear like the original speech.
Therefore, transmitting the coded modeling and parameter information to the decoder requires a certain amount of valuable communication channel bandwidth. In order to increase the efficient use of the bandwidth, improvements to the manner in which modeling and parameter information is coded are needed. Coding algorithms need to reduce the amount of information in bits that must be transmitted over the communication channel. However, there is a countervailing need for a coding algorithm that not only reduces the amount of information in bits that must be communicated over the channel, but also maintains a high quality level of the reproduced speech.

Gain quantization for a CELP speech coder