One or more implementations of the present specification provide a risk identification model building method, and a risk identification method. From data of a target user, user state records of the target user within a predetermined duration of time are extracted, wherein the user state records include a plurality of user operations and/or a plurality of system events. The user state records are sorted based on corresponding occurrence times. A user state sequence is generated based on sorted user state records. The generated user state sequence is converted into a sequence feature. A risk identification result is generated based on a previously trained risk identification model that takes as input the sequence feature generated from the user state sequence.

In the era of big data, data mining and machine learning technologies are gradually applied to various fields to alleviate practical problems. For example, a model is built based on a large amount of real user data or event data, to predict various unknown situations of new users or new events.
For example, in a risk control scenario of financial industry, by analyzing users participating in risk events with known labels, potential relationships between various user features and risk events can be discovered to form a relationship model between user features and risks, that is, "what kind of user or user behavior is more likely to cause a risk event" is predicted, so that various measures are taken in advance to avoid or reduce occurrence of risk events.

Risk identification model building and risk identification


Disclosed is tilt-sensing means that employs a point source of alternate 1st or 2nd divergent light beams which, after passing through collimating lenses of the Half-Field Dyson projection optics of the stepper, are separately incident on and reflected from a reflective pattern disposed on the surface of a reticle and from a reflective surface of a wafer, together with two-dimensional position detection means responsive to the position of each of the reflected alternate 1st or 2nd divergent light beams, for independently sensing the angular position of the surface of the reticle and the angular position of the surface of the wafer to determine thereby whether or not the surface of the reticle and the surface of the wafer are substantially parallel to one another. This permits adjustment means of the stepper, which is responsive to the respective surfaces having been determined by the tilt-sensing means to be not parallel to one another, to angularly adjust the angular position of at least one of the reticle and the wafer to bring the respective surfaces thereof into a substantially parallel relationship with one another.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for achieving a parallel relationship between a wafer surface and a reticle-pattern surface of a microlithographic stepper employing unit magnification optics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the fabrication of integrated circuits, a microlithographic stepper is used to image each of a stack of successive circuit-patterns on the surface of a silicon or GaAs wafer supported on a movable wafer stage of the stepper. The stepper, in response to control data applied thereto, is capable of precisely moving its wafer-supporting stage so as to bring each of the successively applied circuit-patterns of the stack into substantially perfect alignment with all the underlying circuit-patterns of the stack.
In particular, the wafer-supporting stage of a stepper is moved, with respect to a fixed base, to a particular X, Y coordinate position (in a substantially horizontal plane) in accordance with command position control signals received from a computer-controlled servo means. The computer-controlled servo means, like all servo means, is fed back information as to the then-existing actual position of the wafer-supporting stage, and then uses the error between this then-existing actual position and the command position to control the movement of the wafer-supporting stage in X and/or Y directions so as to reduce this error to substantially zero. However, the servo means, because it is computer-controlled, is capable of accomplishing this and other tasks in a sophisticated manner.
Specifically, the computer-controlled servo means normally includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter (unless the actual position information is already in digital form), a digital computer processing unit (CPU), memory means, and a stored program (which may comprise software) for controlling the operation of the CPU. Actual position information data from the wafer-supporting stage may be directly stored in memory, may be processed by the CPU before being stored in memory and/or may be employed, either before or after such processing, to modify the stored program. Further, the computer-controlled servo means may have manual data input means for selecting any one of different stored programs therein for the purpose of choosing any one of a plurality of separate modes of command-position control operation for the wafer-supporting stage. For example, in addition to including a stored program for implementing its normal operating mode for controlling the movement for the wafer-supporting stage, the computer-controlled servo means also may include a stored program for implementing a certain calibration-mode operation of movement for the wafer-supporting stage. Alternatively, the stored program itself may automatically choose such a calibration-mode operation at certain specified programmed times. In general, the computer control of the servo means permits any desired mode of operation thereof to be realized in determining the command position control signals applied to the wafer-supporting stage and/or in processing the actual position information data received from the wafer-supporting stage.
The wafer stepper includes suitable mechanical means including motor means coupled to the wafer-supporting stage capable of providing the stage with translational motion relative to a fixed base of the wafer stepper with respect to each of the three mutually orthogonal axes X, Y and Z (where the axes X and Y are substantially horizontally oriented and the axis Z is substantially vertically oriented). Further, this motor means is capable of providing the wafer-supporting stage with rotational motion about each of axes X, Y and Z. By coupling the aforesaid computer-controlled servo means to the mechanical means of the wafer stepper, precise control of both translation and rotation of the wafer-supporting stage is achieved.
While it is possible to employ contact printing for imaging a circuit-pattern on the surface of the wafer, it is more practical to employ a projection optical system for this purpose. One type of such projection optical system, now known as a Half-Field Dyson projection optical system, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,705, entitled "Unit Magnification Optical System," which issued Oct. 23, 1990 to David A. Markle, and in its continuation-in-part U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,882, entitled "Unit Magnification Optical System with Improved Reflective Reticle," which issued Aug. 20, 1991 to David A. Markle (both of the aforesaid patents being assigned to the same assignee as the present patent application). The teachings of both of these patents are incorporated herein by reference. Specifically, an advantage of Half-Field Dyson projection optical system is that it is particularly suitable for projecting an image of a reflective reticle integrated-circuit layer pattern, that occupies a relatively large optical field, on the surface of a wafer.
The features of both a reticle integrated-circuit layer pattern and its image on a wafer surface have microscopic dimensions. This means that a high numerical aperture is required of any projection optical system, such as the Half-Field Dyson projection optical system, in order to obtain a high-resolution image of the integrated-circuit layer pattern on the wafer surface. Such a high numerical aperture projection optical system has a microscopic depth-of-focus. Further, the thickness of a wafer varies from one wafer to another. The problem is then to make sure that the surface of a wafer is controllably moved by the stepper to that position where the wafer's surface substantially coincides with the image plane of the projection optical system of the stepper.
Reference is made to the teachings disclosed in the aforesaid cross-referenced copending patent application Ser. No. 993,547. This patent application discloses a technique which makes it possible to precisely position the wafer's surface with respect to the reticle by employing an image of a repetitive diffraction pattern on the reticle which is focused only on a small spot on the wafer's surface (i.e., the small spot itself substantially coincides with the image plane of the projection optical system of the stepper). However, the entire area of the wafer's surface will not substantially coincide with the image plane of the projection optical system of the stepper unless the wafer is also controllably adjusted by the stepper to that position where the wafer's surface is angularly oriented substantially parallel to the reticle's surface. The present invention is directed to apparatus for accomplishing this.

System for achieving a parallel relationship between surfaces of wafer and reticle of half-field dyson stepper


A device for reeling web-like material, in which the roll being formed is held between heads borne on carrier arms, which device reels the roll with a central drive. The drive is provided by direct-current, permanent magnet electric motors maximum power output mounted in the carrier arms, in which motors the stator, is faced with permanent magnets made of samarium cobaltate (SmCo.sub.5).

i. Technical Field
This invention pertains generally to the field of roll-winding apparatus, and pertains more particularly to a high torque drive mechanism useful in paper web winders.
ii. Prior Art
Roll-winding devices are used in various industries for winding web-like material. In the paper industry, such devices are commonly used in connection with roll-slitting machines, in which a roll of paper the width of a paper machine is divided into several narrower rolls by unfeeling the paper from the wide supply roll, cutting the paper web longitudinally, and rewinding the resulting individual, narrower webs into narrower rolls. The longitudinally separated strips or narrow webs are passed around one or two winding rollers, and are individually attached to winding tubes or cores, the lengths of which correspond to the width of the individual strips concerned. The ends of the winding tubes are held in clamping heads, which are located at the upper ends of carrier arms. The clamping heads are driven, and rotate the winding tubes to form the individual narrower rolls from the narrow strips supplied thereto. The narrow rolls can be reeled in such a way that, as they are being wound, the rolls are pressed against the winding rollers with adjustable compressive force; or the rolls can be reeled freely, i.e. , leaving an interval or space between the winding roller and the roll being wound.
As the diameter of the forming roll increases, the carrier arms, the lower ends of which are pivotably mounted on horizontal axes parallel to the winding axis, move away from the winding rollers.
From both theory and practice in the reeling of rolls, it is known that, in order to achieve a well-reeled structure, it is necessary to have the greatest possible center moment. This is especially true for rolls which are large in both diameter and width, i.e., heavy rolls; and for rolls which are formed by so-called free reeling, in which the width of material can be applied over only one central moment per winding station.
The use of hydraulic drives on the carrier arms to rotate the rolls being wound is known. Hydraulic drives provide adequate performance for rolls of certain dimensions. Nevertheless, hydraulic drives are not favored for use in paper winding applications, since there is practically no such thing as a leakproof hydraulic system. The danger always exists that the hydraulic oil will find its way onto the paper, which can lead to extensive product rejection.
The use of electric drives for roll winding devices is also known, and has been favored for its clean operation compared to hydraulic drives, particularly for winding smaller rolls, and lighter materials. In order to achieve the required torque necessary for winding larger rolls and heavy materials such as paper, it has heretofore been necessary to use very large electric motors. The motors are mounted on the outsides of the carrier arms, and, due to the motor overhang, the motor precludes the reeling of rolls narrower than about seven-hundred millimeters (700 mm), since the carrier arms of a roll can not be brought any closer together because of the motors. Nevertheless, it is often desirable to reel rolls narrower than seven-hundred millimeters (700 mm).


The present invention relates to novel Tenofovir disoproxil hemifumarate salt, which is prepared by dealkylation of Phosphonate esters by using mineral acids followed by esterification and crystallization to give crystalline Tenofovir disoproxil. The Tenofovir disoproxil is further converted to fumarate salts with improved yield.

Tenofovir disoproxil is chemically known as 9-[-2-(R)-[[bis[[(isopropoxycarbonyl)oxy]methoxy]phosphinoyl]methoxy]propyl]adenine represented by the following structure:

The above compound is a highly potent antiviral agent, particularly for the therapy or prophylaxis of retroviral infections and belongs to a class of drugs called Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTI) which blocks reverse transcriptase an enzyme crucial to viral production in HIV-infected people. These are related to Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTI).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,788 discloses the process for the preparation of (R)-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine which involves condensation of (R)-9-[2-(hydroxyl)propyl]adenine and Diethyl p-toluenesulfonyloxy methylphosphonate in presence of Lithium hydride in Dimethylformamide followed by dealkylation with Bromotrimethylsilane in Acetonitrile.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,922,695 discloses the synthetic route for the preparation of (R)-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine by condensation of (R)-9-[2-(hydroxyl)propyl]adenine with diethyl p-toluenesulfonyloxymethyl phosphonate in presence of lithium tert-butoxide in tetrahydrofuran followed dealkylation with bromotrimethylsilane in acetonitrile. Further, Tenofovir disoproxil base is obtained as oil which is further converted to fumarate salt.
US 2004/0018150 discloses a process for the preparation of (R)-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine where diethyl p-toluenesulfonyloxymethyl phosphonate is condensed with (R)-9-[2-(hydroxyl)propyl]adenine in presence of Magnesium isopropoxide or Magnesium tert-butoxide in dimethylformamide medium followed by dealkylation with bromotrimethylsilane in acetonitrile with an overall yield 48%.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,649 discloses a process for the preparation of (R)-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine by dealkylation of (R)-9-[2-(Diethyl phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine with chlorotrimethylsilane in chloroform under pressure.
The above prior art processes describe the processes involves the usage of highly corrosive and expensive reagents like bromotrimethylsilane and chlorotrimethylsilane which require special handling procedures. Such differences provide a compelling basis to develop simple dealkylation procedure for Phosphonate ester with improved yields without using expensive reagents like trialkylsilylhalides.
A number of processes for the preparation of Tenofovir disoproxil have been disclosed. In all the prior art references Tenofovir disoproxil is converted to its fumarate salt without isolating the pure Tenofovir disoproxil base.
The process mentioned above have the disadvantage that it is difficult to separate the intermediates formed during the process, from the end product and, accordingly, extensive purification procedures are required in order to obtain the necessary quality of the end product.
It is also observed that while storing Tenofovir disoproxil in liquid state it is being converted to mono ester of Tenofovir which leads lowering the yield of final product with inferior quality.
It has now been found that base of Tenofovir disoproxil may be obtained as pure and crystalline product, which may be easily handled and conveniently be converted into other pharmaceutically accepted salts.

Process for the preparation of Tenofovir


A method of controlling an adjustable gain of an amplifier is disclosed. The method includes setting an output of a replica amplifier to be equivalent to a precision reference with a control loop, summing an adjustable offset voltage into the control loop, adjusting the adjustable offset voltage until an error offset voltage of the control loop is nulled, and controlling the adjustable gain of the amplifier with an output of the control loop. An apparatus for controlling an adjustable gain of an amplifier is also disclosed. The apparatus includes a control loop for setting the adjustable gain. The control loop includes an adjustable gain replica amplifier. A switch receives an output of the replica amplifier and a precision reference. An error amplifier receives outputs from the switch and generates a control voltage. The control voltage controls an adjustable gain of the replica amplifier and the adjustable gain of the amplifier.

Transceivers of communication systems typically include base-band amplifiers and filters. The base-band amplifiers and filters amplify and filter communication signals before or after transmission. The performance required by the amplifiers and filters is generally determined by the type of wireless communication being supported by the transceivers.
FIG. 1 shows a general prior art receiver chain of a wireless transceiver. An equivalent transmitter chain typically requires equivalent components as the receiver chain. The receiver chain includes an antenna 110, an LNA (low noise amplifier) 120, a frequency mixer 130 an associated LO (local oscillator) signal, a base-band filter 140 and a VGA (variable gain amplifier) 150. As previously stated, the performance required of the receiver chain components is typically determined by the type of wireless communication of the transceiver.
UWB (ultra wide-band) is an evolving wireless communication standard. The Federal Communications Committee (FCC) has mandated that UWB radio transmission can legally operate in the frequency range of 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz, at a transmission power of −41.25 dBm/MHz, having a minimum bandwidth of 528 MHz. Basically, UWB devices provide wide bandwidth transmission at very low signal power levels.
The base-band filter 140 of a UWB transceiver should support, for example, a pass-band of over 528 MHz. Additionally, the base-band filter needs to satisfy linearity, and out-of-channel rejection requirements as specified by UWB transmission. Due to the high-bandwidth requirements of UWB, the base-band filter is more susceptible to inter-modulation caused by amplifier non-linearities.
Discrete or integrated component passive filters having a pass-band of over 528 MHz are prohibitively large and lossy. That is the inductors, capacitors and resistor required to implement a 528 MHz pass-band filter are physically too large and lossy to be implemented or integrated in a UWB transceiver. Presently, active filters are difficult to design having 528 MHz pass-bands. Operational amplifiers of active filters need to have operational bandwidths that are substantially greater than the bandwidths required by the active filters. Therefore, for very large bandwidth active filters the bandwidth of the operational amplifier can be difficult to achieve.
It is desirable have a method and apparatus for providing a wide-bandwidth amplifier that is very linear and provides high out-of-channel rejection.


A unit multiparticulate dosage form for delivering one or more basic, active pharmaceutical ingredients into the body in need of such medications to achieve target PK (pharmacokinetics) profiles is described. The dosage form comprises one or more multicoated drug particles (beads, pellets, mini-/micro-tablets) having a barrier coating and a lag-time coating. Each Timed Pulsatile Release (TPR) bead population exhibits pre-determined lag-time followed by differing release characteristics. The composition and thickness of the barrier coating, composition and thickness of the lag-time coating, ratio of IR beads to one or more TPR bead populations and total dose may be varied depending on the alkalinity, pH-dependent solubility and elimination half-life of the active ingredients to achieve target PK profiles (suitable for a once or twice daily dosing regimen) in patients in need of such medications.

Many therapeutic agents are moss effective when made available at constant rates at or near the absorption sites. The absorption of therapeutic agents thus made available generally results in desired plasma concentrations leading to maximum efficacy, and minimum toxic side effects. Much effort has been devoted to developing sophisticated drug delivery systems such as osmotic devices for oral application. However, there are instances where maintaining a constant blood level of a drug is not desirable. For example, a major objective of chronotherapy for cardiovascular diseases is to deliver the drug in higher concentrations during the time of greatest need, e.g., the early morning hours, and in lesser concentrations when the need is less, e.g., during the late evening and early sleep hours. In addition to a properly designed drug delivery system, the time of administration is equally important. The unique pharmacokinetic profile needed can be calculated from a simulated modeling developed using the pharmacokinetic parameters, knowledge of drug solubility, absorption along the gastrointestinal tract, and elimination half-life.
A timed, pulsatile delivery system capable of providing one or more immediate release pulses at predetermined lag times or at specific sites result in better absorption of the active and more effective plasma profile. However, there are only a few such orally applicable pulsatile release systems due to potential limitations of the dosage form size, and/or polymeric materials and their compositions used for producing dosage forms. Ishino et al. disclose a dry-coated tablet form in Chemical Pharm. Bull. Vol. 40 (11), p3036-3041 (1992). U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,549 assigned to Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company discloses the preparation of a time-controlled explosion system in which rapid-release pulses at predetermined time intervals are caused by explosion of the membrane surrounding the drug cores comprising swelling agents such as disintegrants (e.g., low-substituted hydroxypropylcellulose, crospovidone, crosslinked carboxymethylcellulose, sodium starch glycolate). These systems are rather difficult to manufacture and do not consistently perform.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,152 discloses an explosion-controlled drug delivery system comprising a core containing a drug in combination with a core material (such as a polysaccharide or a crosslinked protein and a disintegrant that swell on exposure to body fluids or water) having a rigid membrane comprising hydrophobic and hydrophilic polymers that bursts rapidly releasing the active when the core swells. The '152 patent discloses specific tablet formulations having lag-times of up to about 12 hours. U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,599 to Burnside et al. discloses a pharmaceutical composition (a tablet formulation) comprising at least one pharmaceutically active agent that has a pH dependent solubility, at least one non-pH dependent sustained release agent and at least one pH-dependent agent that increases the dissolution rate of the active at a pH in excess of 5.5. Such a system exhibits approximately pH independent drug release profile.
However, monolithic drug delivery systems exhibit variable gastrointestinal transit times, and multiparticulate dosage forms containing coated drug particles (beads, pellets or micro-tablets) exhibiting consistent GI transit times are preferred.
The pulsatile burst release times in the above-described delivery systems are controlled by choosing appropriate core material, and by varying the membrane composition and/or thickness. However, it is difficult to consistently manufacture quality products based on such drug delivery systems wherein the drug-release is controlled by a swelling agent, a hydrophobic excipient, an osmotic agent alone or mixtures thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,223, assigned to Eurand Pharmaceutical Limited, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a pulsatile release system consisting of a combination of one or more bead populations, each with a well-defined release profile. A timed, sustained-release profile (i.e., a sustained-release profile over a 12 to 24 hours after a lag-time of about 4 hours (i.e., a period of little or no release) following oral administration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,454, and a biphasic release profile (i.e., an immediate-release pulse and a rapid burst after a tag-time of about 3 hours) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No 6,663,888. Although, a lag-time of greater than 3 hours could be achieved by applying a membrane comprising a water-insoluble polymer such as ethylcellulose (Ethocel Standard Premium 10 cps available from Dow Chemical Company) and an enteric polymer such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate (HP-55 available from Shin-Etsu Chemical Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) on drug-layered beads containing propranolol hydrochloride (56% drug-load coated on 25-30 mesh sugar spheres) at 10-15% weight gain, the same coating composition applied on drug-layered beads containing nizatidine (56% drug-load coated on 25-30 mesh sugar spheres) even as 35-39% by weight resulted in a lag-time of less than 3 hours. It was considered in the prior art that the solubility of therapeutic agent in the dissolution medium and/or the molecular weight of the agent determined the drug dissolution within the coated bead and its diffusion out of the membrane. After extensive investigations, it was surprisingly discovered that apart from pH-dependent solubility of the therapeutic agent, its acidity/alkalinity has a significant effect on the lag-time that could be achieved. Additionally, the impact of a barrier coating (i.e., an intermediate coating applied in between the inner protective seal coat and the outer lag time coating, hereafter referred to as the barrier coat) and/or its composition on lag-time that could be achieved can vary depending on the acidity/alkalinity of the actives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An apparatus to permit or stop the flow of water through a conduit is described as having a microprocessor which contains a real time clock, day of the week indication, and an elapsed time clock. Data relating to the quantity of water flowing at any given moment is supplied by a flowmeter to the microprocessor. Primary and subsetting information is supplied to the microprocessor to determine the maximum allowable quantity of water that may flow over a specified period of time. The subsetting parameters override the primary information if so enabled and supply replacement information for certain periods of time. The elapsed time clock is reset whenever the flow rate becomes zero (no water flowing) or when the predetermined period of time is exceeded prior to exceeding the predetermined quantity of water that is allowed to flow within that period of time. If the flow of the predetermined quantity of water is exceeded within the predetermined (allowable) time frame, a solenoid is energized. The solenoid moves a plunger which interrupts (stops) the flow of water through the valve. After detecting a fault condition (a leak), a latching mechanism is activated which secures the plunger in the "water off" position, until it is manually reset.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general relates to water valves and, more particularly, to devices that shut off the flow of water automatically upon detecting a fault condition.
Water shut-off valves and systems are known. Some of them are based on monitoring a continuous flow of water. The problem with such a system is that eventually an acceptable continuous flow, such as from a leaking valve in a toilet tank, will accumulate until a fault condition is indicated and shut off the flow of water when, in fact, a serious fault condition does not exist.
Also, certain other types of continuous flow systems are more complex and require that a second flow sensor be installed in a drain line and then connected to the system so as to determine when a protracted or excessive flow of water is nevertheless acceptable, because it is not then believed to be accumulating in the house. This is hardly foolproof as considerable damage may be occurring yet the water may eventually find its way to a drain. Also such a system is more complex to install and to maintain.
Still other known systems do not allow for varying conditions, such as occur during seasonal changes when, for example, a lawn is to be watered in the summer and then only on particular days, or for special situations such as when the family is away from the home on vacation. For example, some of these prior systems specifically require that physical installation of the system occur after water has already been acquired for sprinkler use, thereby rendering the system ineffective in detecting leaks involving the sprinkler system.
Other systems are not well suited for use in commercial installations where potentially high flow rates are likely to occur, and when, during normal use, a continuous flow may be present simply due to many users having intermittent requirements that occasionally result in a protracted uninterrupted continuous flow that can be misinterpreted as a fault condition (leak) that results in stopping the flow of water when it is not desired.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a water shut-off valve and leak detection system that is immune to a continuous flow of water provided the quantity used is not excessive, is simple to install, is less expensive to manufacture, has settings that adapt to varying water usage patterns, and is suitable for use in commercial buildings as well as in private residences.
Clearly, such an apparatus is a useful and desirable device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Water shut-off valves and systems are, in general, known. For example, the following patents describe various types of these devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,224 to Olson, Jr., et al, Mar. 19, 1991; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,653 to Tucker et al, Oct. 12, 1993; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,587 to Brown, Dec. 7, 1993; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,884 to Cohen, Feb. 22, 1994; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,037 to Wheeler et al, Apr. 25, 1995; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,038 to Kruto, Nov. 7, 1995; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,175 to Ravilious et al, Apr. 2, 1996.
While the structural arrangements of the above described devices, at first appearance, have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.

Water shut-off valve and leak detection system


The present invention provides a low-dielectric resin composition comprising (A) a urethane resin obtained by reacting a polycarbonate diol and an isocyanate, (B) an epoxy resin, and (C) a filler, wherein the (A) urethane resin has a carboxyl group equivalent weight of 1,100 to 5,700 g/eq; the epoxy equivalent weight of the (B) epoxy resin is 0.3 to 4.5 equivalents per 1.0 equivalent of the carboxyl group of the (A) urethane resin, the (A) urethane resin has a weight-average molecular weight of 5,000 to 80,000; the (A) urethane resin has a polycarbonate content of 35% by mass or lower; the resin composition comprises 50 parts by mass or less of the (C) filler per 100 parts by mass of the (A) urethane resin; and the resin composition comprises substantially no imido group.

In recent years, the higher frequency application in signal is developing along with the speedup of transmission signals in flexible printed circuit boards (hereinafter, referred to as "FPC" in some cases).
Further, it has been demanded so far that FPC be excellent in properties such as close adhesion, heat resistance and circuit embeddability.
Therefore, there have been raised the demands for materials for FPC towards, in addition to the excellence in close adhesion, heat resistance, circuit embeddability and the like, the excellence in low-dielectric properties in the high-frequency region, such as low dielectric constant and low dielectric loss tangent.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a cyanate ester resin composition excellent in dielectric properties and heat resistance and good in flame retardancy, and a prepreg and a metal foil clad laminate using the cyanate ester resin composition.
Patent Literature 2 discloses that a flame-retardant adhesive composition containing as essential components an imide bond-containing urethane resin, an epoxy resin and a flame retardant is excellent in compatibility of adhesion with electric insulation and compatibility of flexibility with heat resistance.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a low-dielectric constant insulating resin composition containing a low-dielectric constant-imparting agent in which a low-dielectric constant-imparting component is embedded in a porous substance, and containing an insulating resin composition.


A semiconductor device package comprising a semiconductor device and an electrically conductive lead frame at least partially covered by a molding compound. The electrically conductive lead frame includes a plurality of leads disposed proximate a perimeter of the package and a die pad disposed in a central region formed by the plurality of leads. The die pad includes a first die pad surface disposed at the first package face, and a second die pad surface opposite the first die pad surface. The semiconductor device is attached to a central region of the second die pad surface, and a portion of the second die pad surface extending outward from the die is roughened to improve adhesion of the die pad to the molding compound. In other aspects, grooves are disposed in the first and/or second die pad surfaces to further promote adhesion of the die pad and to prevent moisture from permeating into the vicinity of the semiconductor chip. The die pad may further include tie bars extending therefrom, and at least one lip at may extend from a side surface of the die pad to anchor the die pad in the molding compound. The die pad may also include apertures disposed therein for allowing the egress of moisture from the package.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor device packages. More particularly, this invention relates to semiconductor packages having die pads.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor device packages provide environmental protection to integrated circuit devices (dies). Such packages typically include at least one semiconductor device (die) having its input/output (I/O) pads electrically connected to a lead frame type substrate or an interposer type substrate, with a molding compound coating the die and at least a portion of the substrate. Typically, the I/O pads on the die are electrically connected to bond sites on the substrate using either a wire bonding, tape bonding, or flip-chip bonding method. The lead frame or interposer substrate transmits electrical signals between the I/O pads and an electrical circuit external to the package.
In semiconductor device packages having a lead frame type substrate, electrical signals are transmitted between at least one die and external circuitry, such as a printed circuit board, by an electrically conductive lead frame. The lead frame includes a plurality of leads, each having an inner lead end and an opposing outer lead end. The inner lead end is electrically connected to the I/O pads on the die, and the outer lead end provides a terminal for connecting to the external circuitry. Where the outer lead end terminates at a face of the package body, the package is known as a "no-lead" or "leadless" package. Examples of well-known no-lead packages include quad flat no-lead (QFN) packages, which have four sets of leads disposed around the perimeter of the bottom of a square package body, and dual flat no-lead (DFN) packages, which have two sets of leads disposed along opposite sides of the bottom of a package body.
In many semiconductor device packages, the die is attached to a portion of the lead frame that serves to support the die and to transfer heat between the die and an environment external to the package. This portion of the lead frame is known as a die pad (also known as a die pad, die paddle, heat spreader, or heat sink). In certain semiconductor device packages, the die pad is exposed at a surface of the package. With the die pad exposed, heat transfer between the die and the environment external to the package is enhanced. However, because the die pad is exposed at a surface of the package, there is no molding compound to support the exposed surface of the die pad, and steps must be taken to ensure that the die pad does not become dislodged from the package.
One method to prevent the die pad from being dislodged from the package is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,981, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The '981 patent is directed to a package wherein the die pad and the leads have side surfaces that include reentrant portions and asperities to engage the encapsulant. The reentrant positions and asperities enhance the connection of the die pad and tabs to the plastic encapsulating material.
Another method to prevent the die pad from being dislodged from the package is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,568, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The '568 patent is directed to a package wherein the lower surfaces of the die pad and leads are provided with a stepped profile by an etching step that etches partially through the thickness of a peripheral portion of the die pad, and also etches partially through the thickness of portions of the leads. Encapsulant material fills in beneath the recessed, substantially horizontal surfaces of the die pad and leads formed by the above-described etching step, and thereby prevents the die pad and leads from being pulled vertically from the package body.
While the solutions described in the '981 and '568 patents are acceptable for certain applications, they are not without their deficiencies. For example, the half-etched steps or reentrant portions on the side surfaces of the die pad may not be sufficiently robust to retain the die pad within the package under certain conditions or for certain applications. In another example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,406, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, the size or length of this half-etched step or reentrant portion is insufficient to thoroughly prevent moisture from permeating into the vicinity of the semiconductor chip. Thus, much moisture may be collected in the vicinity of the semiconductor chip under the high temperature conditions that exist during the operation of a semiconductor chip. The moisture may then spread widely over the inside of the semiconductor package, resulting in cracking of the semiconductor package or causing protuberances to form on the surface of the semiconductor package.
To cure this deficiency, the '406 patent proposes that a perimeter of both an upper and lower surface of the die pad be half-etched to increase the moisture-permeation path of the finished package, where the moisture-permeation path between the semiconductor chip and the bottom surface of the package along the interface of the die pad and molding compound. While this solution is effective in increasing the moisture-permeation path of the finished package, half-etching the perimeter of both the upper and lower surface of the die pad results in a very thin protrusion (relative to the thickness of the die pad) extending around the perimeter of the die pad, which may break during fabrication or use of the package.
Thus, there remains a need for a package having an exposed die pad that is resistant to being dislodged from the package.

Die pad for semiconductor packages and methods of making and using same

Advanced Interconnect Technologies Limited


A method is described for handling of connections between a client (200) and a server (214) via a communication network. A connection (206) is established over a first access point (202) which is associated with the server (214). At least one further access point (204) associated with the server is defined. A failure of the connection (206) over the first access point (202) is detected and a second connection (208) between the client (200) and the server (214) is established over the further access point (204). A third connection (212) between the client (200) and the server (214) over the first access point (202) is further established. The establishment of the third connection (212) is executed with a delay compared to the establishment of the second connection (208).

A directory is a set of objects organized in a logical and hierarchical manner. An example of a directory is a telephone directory, which consists of a series of names, e.g. of persons or organizations, organized alphabetically, with each name having an address and phone number attached. A directory can be regarded as a tree of entries also known as directory information tree, or simply directory tree, due to the fact that data is represented in a hierarchical tree-like structure. The data in a directory can be managed by directory services.
Modifications and queries in a directory can be made using application protocols e.g. the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). One or more servers may contain the data making up the directory. In case of a distributed directory, regardless of which server a client connects to, it has the same view of the directory; a name presented to a server refers to the same entry it would refer to on another server.
There is an increasing interest on applications, especially in telecommunications networks, which could benefit from the capabilities offered by a central database, hosted on a server. Towards this server more than one client may need to be connected over a communication network. In this case for each client-server pair a dedicated connection is established.
For capacity reasons as well as for geographical redundancy reasons, more than one connection may need to be established from one client towards a given server. The server can offer one or more access points in order to support multiple connections from one client. In this case there is a possibility that not all the access points offer the same capacity even though they belong to the same server. It may also happen that although the access points have equal capacity it may be desirable that a given client uses a specific access point.
If there is not a mechanism to control and handle the connections from a client to the access points, problems like inefficient usage of hardware resources or congestions may occur. For example, due to a temporary connectivity failure, clients may be directed to get connected to another access point which may be the same for all the clients. This access point may not have enough capacity to handle all connections and congestion may occur. Also if many clients try to reconnect to the same access point simultaneously it is probable that the communication network will get overloaded with protocol messages from the clients. It may also happen that, due to a big number of simultaneous connection attempts towards the same access point, all of them will fail if the access point becomes unavailable. On the other hand if the access point is available and all connections succeed, there may again be a message overload.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,206 B2 a solution is described where in case of failure of multiple connections, one of the failed connections is selected and for this connection repeated attempts are made so that the connection is re-established between the client and the server. After this connection is re-established, attempts for re-establishment of the rest of the failed connections are made. Each re-establishment attempt has to be successful before a further attempt is made. This solution does not allow an efficient usage of hardware and may lead to delays since the re-establishment of each failed connection depends on the success of the previous re-establishment attempt.

Method and device for handling of connections between a client and a server via a communication network


An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus main body part and a sheet feed unit installed below the apparatus main body part, which include connector parts electrically connecting the apparatus main body part and sheet feed unit. The connector part at a side of the apparatus main body part includes a window; a first connector main body visible through the window and having an electrical connection port facing to the sheet feed unit; a connector cover covering openably/closably the electrical connection port of the first connector main body; and a biasing member biasing the first connector main body downwardly. The connector part at a side of the sheet feed unit includes a second connector main body positioned below the first connector main body. The first connector main body is pressured downwardly with respect to the connector cover by the biasing member, when the connector cover is closed.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus including a sheet feeding device as an option device installed below an apparatus main body part having an image forming part.
In an image forming apparatus, a sheet feeding device may be added below an apparatus main body having an image forming part. When the sheet feeding device is added, the image forming apparatus becomes possible to deal with various sheet sizes and to feed a large number of sheets.
The apparatus main body and sheet feeding device are not only mechanically connected, but also electrically connected by connectors respectively provided on a bottom face of the apparatus main body and on a top face of the sheet feeding device in order to communicate control signal and to supply power. In such a case, because the connector of the apparatus main body is provided on the bottom face, there are problems that it is hard for a worker to visually confirm a position of the connector and to correctly connect the connector when the sheet feeding device is installed. In general, the connector of the apparatus main body is protected by a connector cover, if the installation of the sheet feeding device were tried by mistake while the connector cover is removed, there are possibilities that a protrusion, such as a guide pin, arranged near the connector of the sheet feeding device hits against the connector of the apparatus main body by mistake, and then, malfunction, such as damage of a connector housing, occurs.
Thereupon, there is an image forming apparatus connecting the connector of the apparatus main body and the connector of the sheet feeding device by interlocking with an action mechanically aligning positions of the apparatus main body and sheet feeding device. Alternatively, there is an image forming apparatus, in which the sheet feeding device includes an aligning pin and the apparatus main body includes an aligning guide guiding the aligning pin, and then, when the apparatus main body is placed onto the sheet feeding device in a state where the aligning pin is engagingly stopped with the aligning guide, the connector of the apparatus main body and the connector of the sheet feeding device are connected.
However, in a case of connecting the connectors by interlocking the aligning of the positions of the apparatus main body and sheet feeding device or by using the aligning pin and aligning guide, because the connecting work is carried out without visually confirming the position of the connector actually, it is hard to grasp whether or not the connection is sure. Moreover, there is a possibility that the protrusion at a side of the sheet feeding device comes into contact with the connector at a side of the apparatus main body when the positions of the apparatus main body and sheet feeding device are aligned.


A member joining structure for a differential device, the member joining structure includes a ring gear including a helical tooth extending in a rotation axis direction; a differential case that is rotated with the ring gear; and a first support that is disposed in a first position at a back surface corresponding to one end of a rotation axis of the ring gear and that connects the differential case and the ring gear, and a second support that is disposed in a second position at a back surface corresponding to another end in the rotation axis direction of the ring gear and that connects the differential case and the ring gear; wherein the first support and the second support are spaced apart from each other with a cavity therebetween.

The present disclosure relates to a member joining structure for a differential device, and particularly relates to a joining structure between a ring gear and a differential case that is rotated with the ring gear.
Conventionally, there is known a differential device including a ring gear and a differential case that is rotated with the ring gear. This type of differential device is disclosed in, for example, International Publication No. 2011/089706 (WO 2011/089706).
WO 2011/089706 discloses a welded structure between members, namely, a differential case that is included in a differential device of an automobile and a ring gear that is joined to the differential case. In the cross-sectional structure of this welded structure, a single flange-shaped connecting portion projects from a center area along the rotation axis on the back surface of the ring gear opposite to a tooth portion thereof toward the differential case (radially inwardly). These members are welded to each other while the distal end of the connecting portion abuts the gear joining portion of the opposing differential case.
The ring gear is formed of a helical gear having a helical tooth trace that has a predetermined helical angle. Accordingly, a thrust load in the rotation axis direction of the ring gear is continuously applied to the ring gear while the ring gear meshes with an output gear that transmits torque from the engine. As a result, the ring gear is sometimes tilted in the rotation axis direction about a portion welded to the differential case as a fulcrum (the ring gear swings) due to the thrust load continuously applied to the ring gear, and thus is deformed. In conventional cases, to suppress such a deformation, the connecting portion on the back surface of the ring gear is formed to have a certain level of thickness in the rotation axis direction of the ring gear.

Member joining structure for differential device


A wave enhancer of this invention may be employed with a wave power collection system. This system converts the movement of ocean waves into useful energy. In order to convert the energy of the ocean waves into useful energy, the wave power collection system may have a float that floats on the surface of the ocean. Coupled to the float may be a mechanism for converting the movement of the float into another form of energy. This mechanism may be a hydraulic system that causes the up and down movement of the float to pressurize a hydraulic fluid. This pressurized hydraulic fluid can be used to power a prime mover, which in turn can drive a load, such as an electrical generator.. The wave enhancer of this invention increases the amplitude of a given wave. This increase in amplitude causes a corresponding increase in the amount of energy that can be extracted from a given wave. In a preferred embodiment, the wave enhancer includes a plate that is disposed on a cylinder of the wave power collection system. The plate is preferably disposed below the ocean surface, and the cylinder extends upward and is coupled to the float. Preferably, the wave enhancer is disposed in a predetermined angular relationship with the direction of motion of the waves. As the waves contact the plate a vertical lifting force is created. This lifting force causes the amplitude of the waves to be enhanced.

This invention relates to wave enhancers for enhancing the amplitude of ocean waves so that an additional amount of energy corresponding to the increase in the amplitude of the waves from the wave enhancers can be extracted from the waves. This invention also relates to wave power collection systems and methods of employing wave power collection systems that have wave enhancers.
Wave power collection systems have been developed to extract energy from ocean waves based on the rise and fall of the ocean waves. Such systems generally harness the energy from the ocean waves and convert it into useful energy. For example, the energy captured from the ocean waves may be used to produce electricity. In order to capture the energy form the ocean waves, wave power collection systems typically employ a plurality of floats that float on the surface on the ocean and rise and fall with the waves. Attached to these floats are mechanisms that convert the vertical motion of the floats into useful energy.
A variety of mechanisms have been developed that convert the movement of floats into useful energy. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,786 entitled "Wave Power Collection Apparatus," which is hereby incorporated by reference and, which was also invented by the same inventor as this invention and owned by the assignee of this invention, a wave power collection system is described that generates electricity from the movement of the waves and uses this electricity to power an electrolysis means that breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen and stores the hydrogen and oxygen. In this system, the hydrogen and oxygen can then be used to produce useful work.
By way of further example, the floats of a wave power collection system may include an air compressor that is driven by the vertical movement of the floats in response to the waves. In this type of system, the air compressor produces compressed air. The energy in this compressed air can be extracted and converted into useful work. A wave power collection system of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,601 entitled "Compressed Air Producing, Tidal And Wave-Power Collection Apparatus For Installation in Large Bodies of Water," which is hereby incorporated by reference and, which was also invented by the inventor of the invention disclosed in this application.
As described above, the amount of energy that is extracted from an ocean wave depends on the energy the ocean wave has and in particular, the amplitude of the ocean wave. Thus, ideally such energy converting systems are employed in areas where the ocean waves have the greatest magnitude. However, these ideal areas are often located geographically in areas where it is not practical to employ an energy converting system. For example, it is preferable to employ the energy converting systems near the coast line, to reduce transmission losses and transportation costs. Often the waves produced along the coast lines are not great enough in magnitude to generate the requisite amount of energy. Therefore, there exists a need for a wave enhancer that will enhance the amplitude of the waves, so that energy converting systems may be located in areas that typically have relatively small waves.
Furthermore, it is preferably to increase the magnitude of the amplitude of waves that may be large enough already to drive an energy systems. By increasing the amplitude of these waves, more energy can be extracted from the waves and the system can produce more energy.
The system of this invention includes a wave enhancer and wave power collection systems that employ the wave enhancer of this invention.

Wave enhancer for a system for producing electricity from ocean waves


A polymerization process is provided comprising contacting under polymerization conditions a catalyst, a taming agent, ethylene and optionally a comonomer, wherein the catalyst comprises chromium oxide, titanium oxide and an inorganic refractory oxide, wherein the taming agent is selected from the group consisting of water, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, and organic acids and mixtures thereof. The process is especially suited for polymerizing ethylene resins suitable for blow molding use.

The polymerization of ethylene and ethylene copolymers using various methods and catalysts is known in the art. For blow molding applications, it is important for the polyethylene resin to exhibit a relatively high melt flow ratio. Melt flow ratio as used herein is the ratio of high load melt index to melt index. The melt index in g/10 min. at 190.degree. C. is run according to ASTM method D-1238 65T using a weight of 2.16 kg. The high load melt index in g/10 min. at 190.degree. C. is run according to ASTM method D-1238 65T using a weight of 21.6 kg.
Melt flow ratios can be increased by various compounding methods. However, these methods increase the final cost of the resin, require additional steps and adversely affect certain desired properties of the resin.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a simple economical polymerization process capable of preparing ethylene homopolymers and copolymers having a high melt flow ratio while still maintaining other desired properties.


A method and structure for transferring e-mail folders and files of a sender obtains sender input regarding which folders and files are to be transferred, and a list of recipients of the folders and the files. The invention automatically copies selected folders and selected files into a separate database and notifies the recipient of the transfer. The invention automatically creates, upon acknowledgment of the recipient, new folders in the recipient's e-mail files and copies the selected files into the new folders.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the ability to transfer information saved in folders and more particularly to an improved system that provides an automatic transfer of e-mail folders from one user to another user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Historically, information was passed by "criers" who would travel from town to town and spread news and information orally. With the advent of regular postal delivery systems and an increasing literate society, written letters became the predominant means of communication. In turn, modern technology has placed e-mail as the favored instrument for communicating the written word. The term e-mail (or electronic mail) simply comprises the transmission of messages by computer from one person to another. Messages are generally saved until the recipient chooses to read them.
In addition, most advanced e-mail systems such as Lotus Notes mail available from Lotus Corp. Cambridge Mass., USA, provide the ability to store e-mail messages in "Folders". Folders are subdirectories within a computer storage system. Directories are generally areas on a storage disk where the names and locations of files are stored. Folders are a way of logically classifying files and are generally represented as tree structures or boxes within boxes. Folders allow e-mail to be stored in logical files so that the e-mail can be easily retrieved using such logical organization.
However, a problem exists when a user accumulates a large volume of e-mail messages and folders which need to be transferred to another user. Systems such as Lotus Notes mail do not allow the transfer of folders and their content to another Lotus Notes user mail file automatically. More specifically, e-mail systems do not allow two mail files to be opened simultaneously because each mail file requires a separate password/identification to be in effect while it is open and, for security reasons, only one user identification can be in effect at one time. Therefore, such folders must be transferred manually. The impact on time and productivity of such a manual process is substantial. For example, when a user leaves his/her current assignment and someone else has to take over, they need to transfer specific—if not all—mail folders to the new person in charge. To transfer the folders manually, the user has to create these folders in their mail file, copy the e-mails from the previous user and paste them in his/her mail file. Then the user must select the pasted e-mails, and move them to the appropriate folder in their mail file. It is common for a single user to have over 100 folders and such a volume of folders may take many days to manually transfer. Since the frequency of employees changing jobs or assignments is high in most companies, moving e-mail folders from one user to another has a big impact. The invention described below avoids this manual process and provides an automated secure system to transfer such e-mail folders.

Transfer of mail folders between e-mail users

International Business Machines Corporation


An embodiment of the invention is a particular arrangement of permanent magnets that generates a higher strength and more uniform magnetic field than existing permanent magnet arrangements for a voice coil motor. The permanent magnet arrangement of an embodiment is based on the Halbach arrangement of permanent magnets. The increased magnetic field strength and uniformity allows for a voice coil motor that is both capable of higher frequency actuations as well as more uniform force over the full stroke of the actuation.

Speed, efficiency, and accuracy, among other criteria, are manufacturing floor benchmarks. In an ever increasingly competitive manufacturing market, the firm that can fabricate higher quality parts in less time with a more efficient utilization of resources will succeed versus its less capable counterparts. One such industry is the semiconductor industry. Engineers in the semiconductor industry, particularly those involved with wafer and die processing and control equipment, have many devices from which to choose for motion control apparatuses. One such device is a voice coil motor, also called a voice coil actuator.
Originally used in loudspeakers, voice coil motors are limited motion devices that utilize a coil within a permanent magnetic field to produce a mechanical force proportional to the current applied to the coil. The motors are either linear or rotary motion, the latter of which generally has performance measured in torque versus force. Characteristic of either orientation is high acceleration (e.g., 50 gravities or more) and high frequency actuation.
The voice coil motors can be controlled by either a closed loop or open loop control system. In a closed loop system, a position sensor can provide feedback to the motor drive electronics to control the actuation of the voice coil motor. In the open loop system the actuation of the voice coil motor is controlled simply by altering the current applied to the coil, where it is generally known that, for example, a particular current results in a particular actuation, force, or torque. For either arrangement, uniformity and controllability are important.
Voice coil motors in the semiconductor industry frequently appear to control z-axis (i.e., normal to the plane containing the surface of the semiconductor wafer) in wirebond machines. Operating in a manner similar to a sewing machine, a wirebond machine connects integrated circuit die between and among other integrated circuits, circuit elements, and circuit substrate features with very fine conducting wires (e.g., generally 0.001 inch diameter or less).
As semiconductor device sizes decrease and device density increases, it is becoming more important that the wirebond machines are simultaneously highly position accurate and fast. Further, as the layers onto which the wirebond machine adheres wire interconnects become thinner and often more fragile, the z-axis control is critical so as to properly adhere, through for example applied force, ultrasonic vibration, and heat, the wire to the semiconductor device without damaging the surface of the device. The controllability, speed, and efficiency, among other features, (i.e. "performance") of the voice coil motor depends in part on the configuration of the permanent magnets and resulting permanent magnetic field in which the coil operates.


Improved feed line networks for antenna arrays operating at millimeter wave frequencies are provided for constructing planar antenna arrays printed on the surface of a dielectric substrate. A planar antenna array includes an array of planar radiator elements interconnected through a feed line network of planar coplanar transmission lines that enable high-efficiency operation, at millimeter wave operating frequencies. For example, a feed network may be formed with a network of coplanar strip line transmission lines including one or more coplanar strip line (CPS) and one or more coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line, which are interconnected using balun structures, to enable high efficiency operation at millimeter wave frequencies.

In the wireless communications industry, market demands for ubiquitous network access to information and services has been met with rapid and widespread development of wireless network applications for wireless PAN (personal area network), wireless LAN (local area network), wireless WAN (wide area network), cellular networks, and other types of wireless communication systems. Moreover, recent advances in semiconductor technologies and microwave and millimeter-wave planar antenna circuit technologies have made it possible to combine the solid-state devices with the planar antennas to produce more compact, reliable and wide-band microwave and millimeter-wave devices.
In general, micros trip antenna technologies are commonly used for integrated RF solutions as microstrip antennas (or printed antennas) such as microstrip patch antennas (or patch antenna) allow for low profile, low cost and reliable antenna designs. As is well known in the art, a patch antenna is typically fabricated by patterning an antenna radiator element on one side of an insulating dielectric substrate that has a continuous metal layer (ground plane) on the opposite side of the substrate. A single patch antenna provides a maximum directive gain of around 6-9 dBi. For applications such as wireless USB, where the operating distance is limited to about a meter, a single patch antenna with about 7 dBi of gain at an operating frequency of 60 GHz will provide the necessary antenna gains. However, for distances of 10 meters or more or other point-to-point applications, antenna gains as high as 40 dBi are needed depending on the application. To achieve such high gain, antenna arrays with as many as 256 radiating elements are typically required.
Planar antenna arrays are generally designed with 2D array of radiating elements, such as microstrip patches, dipoles, folded dipoles, slots, etc., that are interconnected using a microstrip feed line network such as a corporate feed network, a series feed network or a combination of corporate and series feed networks. By way of example, FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional architecture of a microstrip patch antenna array (100) having a 2D array (4×4) of 16 microstrip radiator patch elements (110) are uniformly arranged in two rows of four patch elements (110). It is assumed that the array (100) is a formed on one side of a dielectric substrate having a ground plane disposed on an opposite side thereof. The array of patch elements (110) are interconnected using a corporate structured feed line network comprising successive divisions of plurality of microstrip lines (120˜123) to connect each patch element (110) to a common feed point node (FP) in parallel. The corporate feed structure comprises a central main microstrip line (120) and a plurality of interconnecting branch lines (121, 122 and 123) that connect the main line (120) to each of the patch elements (110). The branch lines (121) are connected to the ends of the main line (120) and extend at right angles to the main line (120). The branch lines (122) are connected to the ends of the branch lines (121) and extend at right angles to the ends of the branch lines (121). The branch lines (123) are connected to the ends of the branch lines (122) and each branch line (123) feeds a pair of patches (110). Each patch element (110) is feed by the branch line (123) in the array on the same side edge at a center point of the side.
In the conventional corporate-structured microstrip feed line structure of FIG. 1, the RF signal input/output point (FP) is located at the center point along the main feed line (120) in the central region of the array (100). As shown in FIG. 1, the feed point (FP) is shown located at the origin of orthogonal dotted lines X-X and Y-Y. The array (100) is arranged to be a mirror image about line Y-Y, and a substantially symmetrical about line X-X, for purposes of providing an equal transmission line path length from the common feed point FP to each of the individual radiator patches (110) along portions of the lines (120-121-122-123). With this arrangement, all patches (110) are fed in a common phase and the power of the RF signal is split at each juncture between branches. Conventional impedance matching techniques are utilized at each juncture and at each connection point with an individual radiator patch (110) to minimize reflection. Moreover, the spacing Dx between patch elements (110) in the row direction are typically selected so that the elements are electrically separated by a one-half of the free-space wavelength or some value less than one free-space wavelength. Similarly, the spacing Dy between the feed edges of the patch elements (110) in the column direction is typically selected to be one-half of the free-space wavelength. This arrangement ensures that current delivered to each patch (110) from, the feed point FP has the same amplitude and phase to thereby enhance the distribution/combination of microwave power to/from the patch element (110) at the feed point (FP) and to avoid grating lobes.
Although FIG. 1 illustrates an array of 16 patches, in certain wireless communication applications, a large number of radiating patch elements (e.g., 256 patches) are needed to achieve high gain, resulting in large arrays. As the size of the antenna array increases (and size of microstrip network) or as the operating frequency increases, the use of microstrip feed line networks are problematic. However, as the number of patches used in a microstrip antenna array increases, it may be difficult to obtain the desired gain characteristics dues to large feeding losses that result from the antenna feed network. Indeed, a corporate microstrip feed network, like any feed network, will result in a certain amount of loss of antenna efficiency and gain, due to losses in the microstrip lines, undesired radiation from, the lines, and mutual coupling between patches via surface waves. In this regards, the architecture of the feed network is a critical factor in the design process, especially for large arrays.
Moreover, it is well known that a microstrip antenna structure having a microstrip feed network and patch array on the same level (on the same substrate surface) cannot be optimized simultaneously because the requirements for microstrip antennas and microstrip transmission lines are different. For microstrip patch antennas, the relative permittivity and thickness of the substrate largely determines the electrical characteristics of the antenna a low dielectric constant substrate enhances the radiation efficiency of the antenna while a thicker substrate increases antenna bandwidth. However, lower dielectric constant substrates and thicker substrates can result in spurious radiation from microstrip line and step discontinuities. For applications at operating frequencies lower than millimeter wave frequencies (e.g., less than about 30 GHz), microstrip feed lines can be readily implemented on printed circuit board (PCB) with substrate as thin as 300 microns. For low frequency application, microstrip lines are well behaved and have acceptable electrical characteristics, e.g., acceptable dispersions, relatively constant characteristic impedance over operating band of interest, and low coupling between feed lines and radiating elements (due to weak, fringe fields).
However, for applications at millimeter wave operating frequencies and beyond, microstrip patch antenna arrays cannot be easily implemented on a substrate as thin as 100 um or thinner due to mechanical reliability and limitations of the manufacturing process, as is understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. As a result the substrate is usually too thick for microstrip lines operating at mmWave and higher frequencies. Due to the too thick substrate thickness, microstrip line impedance changes significantly with frequencies due to dispersion. In addition, the microstrip line fringe field is very strong because of the lower ratio of the microstrip line width to the substrate thickness. Under these conditions, the microstrip line does not properly operate as a feed line, but operates as a radiating element as well. Therefore, for millimeter wave frequencies and beyond, it is virtually impossible to design efficient planar antenna arrays with coplanar microstrip lines, even for small arrays with, e.g., four elements.

Antenna array feed line structures for millimeter wave applications


A rappelling apparatus providing controlled constant speed to a cable unwinding from a rotating spool in frictional engagement with a stationary arcuate surface. Rotations of the spool are responded to by a centrifugal brake acting in inverse proportion to the rotations. An addition brake is provided for selective actuation by a person using the apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention, in general, relates to an apparatus for moving an object from an elevated position to a lower one and, more particularly, to an apparatus for moving an object from an elevated to a lower position at a controlled rate of speed.
2. The Prior Art
Apparatus of the kind here under consideration are well-known and are used, for instance, as emergency escape devices which permit persons in distressful situations to escape from high buildings, mountains and other elevated structures. One such apparatus has been disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,038 issued 18 Nov. 1986 to Stancato. It uses two cascading or series-connected centrifugal brake mechanisms the effective braking rate of which must be determined and set manually by a person compelled to act under hazardous or dangerous circumstances when he is least likely to act rationally. Moreover, the brakes are actuated by a relatively complicated gear train of a plurality of gears any one of which may malfunction or jam in circumstances in which reliability is of the utmost importance.


A system for connection channel adaption using robotic automation is provided. The system comprising a first processing device configured to: establish a first communication channel with a user device associated with the user; receive, via the first communication channel, a first user input from the user on the user device for interacting with an entity platform; train a robotic process automation module based on the first user input, wherein the robotic process automation module is trained to execute the first user input on the entity platform via one or more communication channels; based on detecting the termination of the first communication channel, automatically establish the second communication channel with the user device; and execute the first user input on the entity platform, wherein the robotic process automation module simulates the first user input with a user interface by interacting directly with a presentation layer of the entity platform.

With an increasing dependence on technology, computer systems, devices, and communication networks are relied upon to complete various tasks to increase user and/or process efficiency. However, difficulties such as program crashes, operating errors, and network communication disconnections can present themselves and interrupt typical operation of a system, device, or channel. Therefore, there is a need for a tool for adapting said systems, devices, and networks to overcome said difficulties and alleviate related inconvenience.

System for connection channel adaption using robotic automation


An apparatus to protect a wear surface of a vehicle, the apparatus having a resilient layer and a fabric layer bonded to the resilient layer, wherein the fabric layer is configured to be bonded to the wear surface of the vehicle. Other embodiments include an apparatus to protect a vehicle wear surface, the apparatus having a plurality of liner sections, wherein each liner section is configured to cover and be adhered to a portion of the vehicle wear surface, each of the plurality of liner sections including a resilient layer bonded to a fabric layer, wherein the fabric layer is configured to be adhered to the vehicle wear surface. Other embodiments include a method to protect a vehicle wear surface, the method including covering the vehicle wear surface with a plurality of liner sections wherein each liner section has a resilient layer and a fabric layer, adhering the fabric layer of each liner section to the vehicle wear surface, and joining adjacent liner sections together.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to liners for pickup truck beds, sport utility vehicles, vans, and trailers. Specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a hybrid truck bed liner, encompassing benefits of both drop-in and spray-in liners.
2. Background
Bed liners are commonly used to protect the bed or cargo area of a vehicle from detrimental physical impacts, surface abrasion, or corrosion due to reactive chemicals. Liner products have been used in SUV or van cargo areas, cabinets (such as for the storage compartments of a fire engine or a boat), and, most commonly, in the beds of pickup trucks. As such, liners commonly used in pickup trucks generally include "spray-in" and "drop-in."
Drop-in liners are a pre-formed rigid plastic component that form-fits the bed to be protected. Drop-in liners are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,692,054, 6,237,980, 4,575,146, 4,540,214, 4,181,349, RE32,198, and others. Spray-in liners are formed by spraying a polymer coating into the truck bed or vehicle cargo area and then curing the polymer coating. Spray-in liners are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,613,389, 6,533,189, and 6,126,999, among others.
Although serving to protect the cargo areas covered, the above described liners also have drawbacks. For example, spray-in liners generally require professional installation including an initial scuffing or sand-blasting of the surface prior to installation to ensure the formation of a permanent bond between the liner and the truck bed. Other negative aspects of spray-in liners may include overspray, health issues (such as from the use of isocyanates), poor consistency of the finished product, masking of the truck bed, the need for complex equipment, and the overall appearance of the final product. Additionally, the permanence of the installation means that if any damage, fading ("chalking"), or staining of the liner occurs, an expensive liner removal process may be necessary to restore the liner's appearance.
Drop-in liners also have various drawbacks. For example, drop-in liners often require the drilling of holes in the body of the bed for installation, thus exposing portions of bare metal in the bed and possibly imparting rust-initiating stress in the metal. Further, drop-in liners typically have slick surfaces, allowing unwanted sliding of cargo in the bed. Furthermore, water, salt, sand, and grit may get under the bed liner, causing damage (e.g., rust), and vibration of a poor-fitting drop-in liner may also damage the bed of the truck. Moreover, the bulky drop-in liners, tailored for each pick-up truck model, are difficult and costly for manufacturers and retailers to store and ship. Additionally, among other drawbacks, drop-in liners may crack or warp. Drop-in liners, due to their removable nature, have also reportedly blown out of the beds of pickup trucks at high driving and wind speeds.
Several of these drawbacks are acknowledged in previous attempts to minimize their impact. For example, bed mats have been proposed to minimize the movement of cargo on the liner during use, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,988,723 and 5,695,235, or to minimize the rubbing between the liner and the cargo bed, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,629. Multi-piece or flexible bed liners have been proposed to minimize the storage and shipping of bed liners, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,909, 4,986,590 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20020149223. And, removable bed liners, such as liners magnetically attached to the truck bed, or liners temporarily attached using suction cups, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,909 and 4,279,439, respectively. A composite bed liner formed from spray-in and drop-in components is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,093,875 and 6,840,559. However, each of these solutions may result in additional installation cost, may be ineffective at preventing impact or corrosive damage, or may itself result in further damage to the bed.
Furthermore, the touted benefits of the various liners are often used to persuade the end-user (customer) in their choice of bed liners. For example, drop-in liners, in comparison to spray-in liners, better distribute the force of impacts, are better at protecting the surface from dents, are less expensive than spray-in liners, may be removed, and may be installed by a vehicle owner after market. Spray in liners, in comparison to drop-in liners, seal the bed surface, preventing water, salt, sand, and grit from getting between the liner and the surface, causing damage. Thus, there is a desire in the industry for a bed liner that encompasses the benefits of both drop-in and spray-in liners.


A novel hand held individually customized interactive integrated circuit device for nutrition and exercise management. Featuring built in Random Access Memory (RAM) Storage of extensive food lists with associated caloric and fat contents. The device also incorporates RAM storage of exercises with associated activity caloric values or rates. The basic unit utilizes the individual's personal characteristics such as sex, age, weight, height, frame size, life style and goals with programmed calculations to derive optimum suggested weight, metabolic rate, daily caloric/fat intake targets, exercise targets and exercise/daily calorie burning rates. The personalized hand held calorie computer tracks daily and historical individual caloric input/output, fat input, and weight which can be viewed in the form of charts and graphs. Alarms are provided in a variety of tones, sounds, and tunes which alert the individual to breach of prescribed optimum daily caloric/fat intake or signal special events such as times for medication, special eating intervals, and appointments. Additionally, it can be used with optional wireless activity sensing and odometer attachments already available in the market to automatically track/deduct burned calories from total daily caloric intake when walking, running, riding a bicycle, or performing other activities. The device is intended for use by individuals interested in increasing, decreasing or maintaining their body weight for personal or medical reasons. Optional medical programs take into consideration special dieting, medication and exercise requirements of patients with diabetes, high cholesterol, heart ailments, hypoglycemia and other diseases. Confidentiality is assured by use of a Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is selected and changed at will by the individual user. The device will be available in various languages. Other functions include a four function calculator and a clock/calendar.

This invention relates generally to hand held computers and, more specifically, to a totally new way such a device with food and exercise listings in its memory is programmed to utilize personal characteristics and activity sensing devices to individually custom tailor physical and dietary parameters such as optimum weight, daily/exercise calorie burning rates, daily caloric/fat input targets, and caloric inputs/outputs in a comprehensive nutrition and exercise management system.

Personalized hand held calorie computer (ECC)


Some embodiments relate to a device and method for a band pass filter with a reduced cost, area penalty, and manufacturing complexity relative to current solutions. An integrated passive device chip includes a plurality of capacitors embedded in a common molding compound along with a transceiver chip. The integrated passive device chip and the transceiver chip are also arranged within a polymer package. An ultra-thick metallization layer is disposed within the polymer package and configured to couple the integrated passive device chip to the transceiver chip. The ultra-thick metallization layer also forms a plurality of transmission lines, wherein the combined integrated passive device chip and transmission lines form a band pass filter with improved frequency response, noise immunity, and cost and area as compared to conventional solutions.

Band pass filters are used extensively in mobile communications systems such as cellular phones and Wireless LAN to suppress unwanted noise and produce signals with enough gain and narrow frequency range to meet desired specifications. Previous constructions have employed surface acoustical wave (SAW) filters which utilize piezoelectric materials to convert electrical signals into mechanical waves, as well as printed circuit board (PCB) methods. However, these do not always fall into the desired specification range of a given mobile communications system application. Additionally, the cost, die area, and manufacturing complexity of these solutions have failed to keep pace with the rate of miniaturization of other components in mobile communications systems. As such, their relative cost and area penalty have increased.

Band pass filter for 2.5D/3D integrated circuit applications

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A liquid crystal display device and a phase compensation method for the same are provided. The liquid crystal display device includes: a lower substrate, an upper substrate opposed to the lower substrate, a first polarizer assembly located on a surface of the lower substrate, a second polarizer assembly located on a surface of the upper substrate and a liquid crystal layer located between the upper substrate and the lower substrate; the first polarizer assembly including a first polarizing plate and a first optical retardation thin film; the second polarizer assembly including a second polarizing plate and a second optical retardation thin film; wherein, the first polarizer assembly further includes a first wave plate; the second polarizer assembly further includes a second wave plate.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a liquid crystal display device and a phase compensation method for the same.
With their small volume, light weight, low power consumption, no radiation, good display effect and other advantages, liquid crystal display devices have got rapid development in recent years, and among them, a Twisted Nematic (TN) mode is most mature. However, a liquid crystal display device of the TN mode has its own defects. When light rays emitted from a backlight source pass through a liquid crystal display panel, the intensity of light transmitted by the display varies due to difference in the angle of the incident light rays at different viewing angles, and the display effect brought about by it also varies.
Because the viewing angle of a liquid crystal display device results from the optical anisotropy caused by the anisotropy of liquid crystal molecules fundamentally, the viewing angle characteristic of the LCD may be improved so long as a thin film with optical anisotropy is added to a surface of the liquid crystal display device to reduce a light-leakage phenomenon upon display in a dark state. This method is called as an optical compensation film mode of liquid crystal display devices. This method is considered as a simple, effective and lower-cost method because it does not change the process flow of production in prior art and has been applied widely.
However, upon display of the liquid crystal display device in a dark state, there may be two kinds of light leakage: light leakage caused by a positive liquid crystal layer of a liquid crystal cell in the liquid crystal display device and light leakage caused by a polarizer. The light leakage caused by the positive liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal cell is usually compensated by way of superposing a negative optical film that is symmetrical to the liquid crystal layer in prior art, and for more details, please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a structure of the polarizer that is commonly used in liquid crystal display devices. In FIG. 1, the polarizer is mainly divided into two parts: a polarizing plate 10 and an optical retardation thin film 20. As for a specific structure of the polarizing plate 10, there are a protective film, a low reflective layer, an antiglare layer, a supporting layer of cellulose tri-acetate (TAC), a polarizing layer of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and a supporting layer of TAC in sequence from top to bottom, where, what serves a polarizing function chiefly is the polarizing layer of PVA; the chief function of the optical retardation thin film 20 is to compensate light leakage caused by the liquid crystal cell, and its material may be a double-optical-axis optical layer, and may also be a plate with negative optical anisotropy, for example, C-plate or a negative, non-toxic and liquid-crystal optical compensation layer (WV DLC). Light leakage of liquid crystals is compensated by the optical retardation thin film 20, and if the birefringence effect of the positive liquid crystal cell is to be compensated fully, then the retardation effect of the optical retardation thin film 20 has to coincide with the positive liquid crystal cell, namely,(ne−no)cdc+(ne−no)LCdLC=0where ne and no are refractivities of the optical retardation thin film to an e light and an o light, respectively, dc is thickness of the optical retardation thin film, and dLC is thickness of the liquid crystal cell. Here, a linearly polarized light is vertically incident onto a wafer, such as the optical retardation thin film or the liquid crystal cell, so that the incident light is decomposed with oscillation into two components, i.e. an o light perpendicular to an optical axis (an o oscillation) and an e light parallel to the optical axis (an e oscillation). The o light and the e light propagate along the same direction, but have different propagating speeds (owing to different refractivities), so that an optical path difference of (ne−no)d is generated between the two kinds of light after they passing through the wafer, where d is thickness of the wafer, and, ne and no are refractivities of the wafer to an e light and an o light, respectively. The e light and the o light are generally combined into an elliptically polarized light.
Although light leakage caused by the positive liquid crystal cell can be eliminated through addition of the optical retardation thin film 20, light leakage may be caused by the polarizer itself as well. When the light ray is deflected from the vertical direction, due to a polarizing function of the polarizer, the fast-axis light and the slow-axis light coexist upon it enters the liquid crystal layer, and the phase difference between them is directly proportional to the optical path difference Δnd. In this case, the phase difference makes a linearly polarized light that is obliquely incident turn into an elliptically polarized light after it passes through the birefringent liquid crystal layer, and it cannot be absorbed by the polarizer on the other side completely after it exits. Thus, a light leakage phenomenon occurs, leading to problems that the contrast of display units is degraded, the viewing angle is narrowed, the display effect becomes worse, and so on. In the state of some large viewing angles, a situation that transmittance in a dark state is greater than transmittance in a bright state might also arise, namely inversion of the contrast, which is a problem in viewing angle caused by the anisotropy of liquid crystal molecules. Therefore, light leakage caused by the polarizer cannot be ignored.

Liquid crystal display device and phase compensation method for the same

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A head drum assembly for use in a video cassette recorder includes a rotary drum having a through hole and a threaded hole, a video head composed of a head chip for recording/reproducing signals on a magnetic tape, and a base plate divided into a fixed portion and a mounting portion for mounting the head chip, wherein the fixed portion of the base plate is formed with an aperture corresponding to the threaded hole of the rotary drum in such a way that the video head is installed on a lower surface of the rotary drum by engaging a fastening screw therethrough, and is formed with a slot, and a deformable member inserted into the slot in such a way that, when the deformable member is impinged by a laser beam, the head chip mounting portion of the base plate moves downwardly by a volume expansion of the deformable member.

Positioning of a video head is an important factor in determining the quality of the information that can be written on a magnetic tape. Especially, when a plurality of video heads are used for recording, each of the video heads should be positioned at a precise location so as not to adversely influence each other. For example, in a VCR of a video home system (VHS) incorporating therein two video heads, each of the video heads is located in a symmetric position with respect to the central axis of a rotary drum and on the same plane perpendicular to the enteral axis. If any one of the video heads deviates from the plane by some amount, the preceding magnetism pattern is overwritten by the following magnetism pattern, or a large gap is formed between tracks. In both cases, the recorded magnetism pattern is unevenly formed on a videotape, resulting in a degradation of the signals reproduced from the recorded magnetism pattern.
In FIG. 1, there is shown one of the head drum assemblies employing a conventional video head. The head drum assembly 1 includes a rotary drum 3, a video head 5 composed of a head chip 7 and a base plate 9 for mounting the head chip 7 thereon (see FIG. 2) and a stationary drum 11.
The rotary drum 3 is provided with a base plate fixing screw 13 for fixing the base plate 9 to a lower surface thereof and a set screw 15 for adjusting a vertical position of the head chip 7. The rotary drum 3 is fixed to a flange 17 by a rotary drum fixing screw 21. The flange 17 is provided with a rotor transformer 19a fixed by an adhesive or the like on a lower surface thereof and a rotating shaft 23 closely fitted thereinto. On the other hand, a stator transformer 19b is fixed on a top surface of the stationary drum 11 in such a way that a gap is created between the rotor and the stator transformers 19a and 19b.
In assembling the prior art head drum assembly 1, as shown in FIG. 2, the base plate 9 is fastened to the lower surface of the rotary drum 3 through the rotary drum fixing screw 21 so that the outer side of the head chip 7 may protrude beyond past the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3 by a predetermined length. Then, the set screw 15 is fastened from top of the rotary drum 3 through a threaded hole 25 formed at the rotary drum 3, to thereby adjust the vertical position of the head chip 7.
In such a head drum assembly, however, it is difficult to adjust the vertical position of the head chip precisely, since it is manually adjusted.

Head drum assembly for use in a video cassette recorder