A multi-color electrophoretic medium contains first, second and third species of particles, the particles having substantially non-overlapping electrophoretic mobilities and bring of three different colors. The particles are dispersed in a fluid having a fourth color. A method for driving such a display is also described.

The present invention relates to multi-color electrophoretic media and to displays incorporating such media.
Traditionally, electronic displays such as liquid crystal displays have been made by sandwiching an optoelectrically active material between two pieces of glass. In many cases each piece of glass has an etched, clear electrode structure formed using indium tin oxide. A first electrode structure controls all the segments of the display that may be addressed, that is, changed from one visual state to another. A second electrode, sometimes called a counter electrode, addresses all display segments as one large electrode, and is generally designed not to overlap any of the rear electrode wire connections that are not desired in the final image. Alternatively, the second electrode is also patterned to control specific segments of the displays. In these displays, unaddressed areas of the display have a defined appearance.
Electrophoretic display media, generally characterized by the movement of particles through an applied electric field, are highly reflective, can be made bistable, and consume very little power. Such displays can have attributes of good brightness and contrast, wide viewing angles, state bistability, and low power consumption when compared with liquid crystal displays. Encapsulated electrophoretic displays also enable the display to be printed. These properties allow encapsulated electrophoretic display media to be used in many applications for which traditional electronic displays are not suitable, such as flexible displays. The electro-optical properties of encapsulated displays allow, and in some cases require, novel schemes or configurations to be used to address the displays. Accordingly, such displays have been the subject of intense research and development for a number of years.
The terms "bistable" and "bistability" are used herein in their conventional meaning in the art to refer to displays comprising display elements having first and second display states differing in at least one optical property, and such that after any given element has been driven, by means of an addressing pulse of finite duration, to assume either its first or second display state, after the addressing pulse has terminated, that state will persist for at least several times, for example at least four times, the minimum duration of the addressing pulse required to change the state of the display element. It is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,170,670 that some particle-based electrophoretic displays capable of gray scale are stable not only in their extreme black and white states but also in their intermediate gray states, and the same is true of some other types of electro-optic displays. This type of display is properly called "multi-stable" rather than bistable, although for convenience the term "bistable" may be used herein to cover both bistable and multi-stable displays.
Nevertheless, problems with the long-term image quality of non-encapsulated electrophoretic displays have prevented their widespread usage. For example, particles that make up electrophoretic displays tend to settle, resulting in inadequate service-life for these displays.
Numerous patents and applications assigned to or in the names of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and E Ink Corporation describe various technologies used in encapsulated electrophoretic and other electro-optic media. Such encapsulated media comprise numerous small capsules, each of which itself comprises an internal phase containing electrophoretically-mobile particles in a fluid medium, and a capsule wall surrounding the internal phase. Typically, the capsules are themselves held within a polymeric binder to form a coherent layer positioned between two electrodes. The technologies described in the these patents and applications include:                (a) Electrophoretic particles, fluids and fluid additives; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,002,728; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0146310;        (b) Capsules, binders and encapsulation processes; see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,922,276 and; 7,411,719;        (c) Films and sub-assemblies containing electro-optic materials; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,178; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0109219;        (d) Backplanes, adhesive layers and other auxiliary layers and methods used in displays; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,116,318; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0035808;        (e) Color formation and color adjustment; see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,017,584; 6,664,944; 6,864,875; 7,075,502; and 7,167,155; and U.S. Patent Applications Publication Nos. 2004/0190114; 2004/0263947; 2007/0109219; 2007/0223079; 2008/0023332; 2008/0043318; and 2008/0048970;        (f) Methods for driving displays; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,600; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0262060;        (g) Applications of displays; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,312,784; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0279527; and        (h) Non-electrophoretic displays, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,241,921; 6,950,220; and 7,420,549.
Many of the aforementioned patents and applications recognize that the walls surrounding the discrete microcapsules in an encapsulated electrophoretic medium could be replaced by a continuous phase, thus producing a so-called polymer-dispersed electrophoretic display, in which the electrophoretic medium comprises a plurality of discrete droplets of an electrophoretic fluid and a continuous phase of a polymeric material, and that the discrete droplets of electrophoretic fluid within such a polymer-dispersed electrophoretic display may be regarded as capsules or microcapsules even though no discrete capsule membrane is associated with each individual droplet; see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,760. Accordingly, for purposes of the present application, such polymer-dispersed electrophoretic media are regarded as sub-species of encapsulated electrophoretic media.
A related type of electrophoretic display is a so-called "microcell electrophoretic display". In a microcell electrophoretic display, the charged particles and the fluid are not encapsulated within microcapsules but instead are retained within a plurality of cavities formed within a carrier medium, typically a polymeric film. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,672,921 and 6,788,449, both assigned to Sipix Imaging, Inc.
Although electrophoretic media are often opaque (since, for example, in many electrophoretic media, the particles substantially block transmission of visible light through the display) and operate in a reflective mode, many electrophoretic displays can be made to operate in a so-called "shutter mode" in which one display state is substantially opaque and one is light-transmissive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,872,552; 6,130,774; 6,144,361; 6,172,798; 6,271,823; 6,225,971; and 6,184,856. Dielectrophoretic displays, which are similar to electrophoretic displays but rely upon variations in electric field strength, can operate in a similar mode; see U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,346. Electrophoretic media operating in shutter mode may be useful in multi-layer structures for full color displays; in such structures, at least one layer adjacent the viewing surface of the display operates in shutter mode to expose or conceal a second layer more distant from the viewing surface.
As already indicated, an encapsulated or microcell electrophoretic display typically does not suffer from the clustering and settling failure mode of traditional electrophoretic devices and provides further advantages, such as the ability to print or coat the display on a wide variety of flexible and rigid substrates. (Use of the word "printing" is intended to include all forms of printing and coating, including, but without limitation: pre-metered coatings such as patch die coating, slot or extrusion coating, slide or cascade coating, curtain coating; roll coating such as knife over roll coating, forward and reverse roll coating; gravure coating; dip coating; spray coating; meniscus coating; spin coating; brush coating; air knife coating; silk screen printing processes; electrostatic printing processes; thermal printing processes; ink jet printing processes; electrophoretic deposition (See U.S. Pat. No. 7,339,715); and other similar techniques.) Thus, the resulting display can be flexible. Further, because the display medium can be printed (using a variety of methods), the display itself can be made inexpensively.
Most prior art electrophoretic media essentially display only two colors. Such electrophoretic media either use a single type of electrophoretic particle having a first color in a colored fluid having a second, different color (in which case, the first color is displayed when the particles lie adjacent the viewing surface of the display and the second color is displayed when the particles are spaced from the viewing surface), or first and second types of electrophoretic particles having differing first and second colors in an uncolored fluid (in which case, the first color is displayed when the first type of particles lie adjacent the viewing surface of the display and the second color is displayed when the second type of particles lie adjacent the viewing surface). Typically the two colors are black and white. If a full color display is desired, a color filter array may be disposed over the viewing surface of the monochrome (black and white) display. Such a color filter array is typically of the red/green/blue ("RGB") or red/green/blue/white ("RGBW") type. Displays with color filters rely upon an area sharing approach with three (in the case of RGB displays) or four (in the case of RGBW displays) sub-pixels together functioning as a single full color pixel. Unfortunately, each color can only be displayed by part of the display area. For example, in an RGBW display, each of red, green and blue can only be displayed by ¼ of the display area (one sub-pixel out of four) and white can effectively be displayed by ½ of the display area (one complete sub-pixel out of four, plus each colored sub-pixel acts as ⅓ white, so the three colored sub-pixels together provide another one complete white sub-pixel). This area sharing approach result in colors less bright than is desirable.
Alternatively full color displays can be constructed using multiple color-changing layers, with at least one front (i.e., adjacent the viewing surface) color-changing layer operating in shutter mode. Apart from being complicated and potentially expensive, such a multi-layer display requires precise alignment of the various layers, and highly light transmissive electrodes (and transistors, in the case of an active matrix display).
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,584 describes an electrophoretic medium having three different types of particles having three different colors in a colored or uncolored fluid, and a method of driving the particles so as to enable each of the three different colors to be displayed. The relevant disclosure from the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,584 is reproduced below with reference to FIGS. 6-9 of the accompanying drawings.
There is still, however, a need for electrophoretic media capable of displaying more colors at each pixel in order that, for example, such media can reproduce the appearance of high quality color printing. Such high quality printing is typically effected using at least four inks, cyan/magenta/yellow/black ("CMYK"). It is often not appreciated that a so-called "four-color" CMYK printing system is in reality a five-color system, the fifth color being the white background provided by the paper (or similar) surface when no ink is applied thereto. Since there is no comparable background color in an essentially opaque electrophoretic medium unless it is being used in shutter mode, a non-shutter mode electrophoretic medium should be capable of displaying five colors (black, white and three primary colors, the three primary colors typically being cyan, magenta and yellow. It has now been realized that by this aim can be achieved by using the electrophoretic medium from the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,584 having three different types of particles in a colored fluid and choosing the colors of both the particles and the fluid carefully.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A sewing machine includes a thread transferring mechanism automatically hooking onto thread hooking sections a needle thread which extends from a thread supply and which is retained in a predetermined thread preparatory path while retaining the needle thread so that the needle thread can be turned over to a needle threading mechanism, and a control unit which controls a thread tension adjusting unit so that tension applied to the needle thread becomes a predetermined tension that correlates with a transfer position of the needle thread transferred by the thread transferring mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sewing machine having an automatic threader that transfers a needle thread drawn from a thread supply by a thread transferring mechanism to pass the needle thread through a plurality of thread passing sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional sewing machine, a needle thread drawn from a thread spool is passed in a predetermined sequence and path and finally transferred to a sewing needle attached to a needle bar. The needle thread is then passed through a thread eye of the sewing needle and is ready to sew. In case the sewing machine is provided with a threading mechanism, an automatic threading is performed so that the needle thread is passed through the thread eye.
Various types of sewing machines have been put into practice wherein the needle thread drawn from the thread spool is manually passed through a plurality of predetermined thread passing sections on starting the sewing process. As opposed to this, sewing machines, in which the needle thread drawn from the thread spool is passed through a predetermined thread preparation path in advance and then automatically transferred by the thread transferring mechanism to be passed through a plurality of thread passing sections sequentially.
In case of passing the thread through the thread tension regulator among the plurality of thread passing sections, the thread tension regulator needs to be opened, that is, a pair of thread tension discs need to be spaced apart from each other. For example, in JP-A-2004-24729(entitled SEWING MACHINE WITH THREAD TENSION CONTROL FUNCTION AND THREAD TENSION CONTROL PROGRAM THEREFOR), a thread cassette accommodating a thread spool is detachably attached to a cassette attachment portion; and a thread tension control mechanism and pulse motor etc. is provided to drive the thread tension regulator to open/close. On detaching the thread cassette, the thread tension regulator is switched to an open state by the pulse motor. On the other hand, in case the thread cassette is attached when the thread tension regulator is opened, the pulse motor is driven after the elapse of a predetermined time period and the thread tension regulator is automatically switched to close.
In the sewing device described in the above-noted publication, on attaching the thread cassette, the thread tension regulator is kept open and automatically switched to close after the thread cassette is attached. That is, the opening and closing of the thread tension regulator associated with the attachment of the thread cassette is performed. On attaching the thread cassette, in case the thread is passed though a plurality of thread passing sections, further in case, passing the needle thread through the thread eye of the needle, the sewing device does not change the thread tension applied by the thread tension regulator accordingly.
Therefore, in case of passing the needle thread through the predetermined thread passing sections or threading the sewing thread, if the tension of the needle thread is loosely set, passing the needle thread through the plurality of thread passing sections and the needle threading are likely to fail. Such being the case, on thread passing or needle threading, the provision of such a high thread tension that does not fail the thread passing or needle threading is a possible solution.
However, when a high thread tension is applied, on passing the needle thread through the needle bar thread guide attached on the sewing needle by the threading mechanism, or threading the sewing needle by the needle threading mechanism, the thread supply from the thread spool is stopped and required thread amount cannot be supplied. This not only interrupts the thread passing operations of the threading mechanism but also the needle threading operations of the threading mechanism, in which case also faces problems such as the lack of reliability in performing the thread hook by the thread hooking mechanism and needle threading by the threading mechanism.


An improved direct liquid-feed fuel cell having a solid membrane electrolyte for electrochemical reactions of an organic fuel. Improvements in interfacing of the catalyst layer and the membrane and activating catalyst materials are disclosed.

Organic fuels can be used to generate electrical power by converting energy released from electrochemical reactions of the fuels. Organic fuels, such as methanol, are renewable. Typical products from the electrochemical reactions are mostly carbon dioxide and water. These products are environmentally safe. Therefore, organic fuel cells are considered as an alternative energy source to non-renewable fossil fuels for many applications. In addition, use of fuel cells can eliminate many adverse environmental consequences associated with burning of fossil fuels, for example, air pollution caused by exhaust from gasoline-powered internal combustion engines.
Direct liquid-feed oxidation fuel cells are of particular interest due to a number of advantages over other fuel cell configurations. For example, the organic fuel is directly fed in to the fuel cell. This eliminates the necessity of having a chemical pre-processing stage. Also, bulky accessories for vaporization and humidification in gas-feed fuel cells are eliminated. Thus, direct liquid-feed cells generally have simple cell construction and are suitable for many applications requiring portable power supply.
Conventional direct liquid-feed cells usually use a liquid mixture of an organic fuel and an acid/alkali electrolyte liquid, which is circulated past the anode of the fuel cell. Problems associated with such a conventional direct liquid-feed cell are well recognized in the art. For example, corrosion of cell components caused by the acid/alkali electrolyte places significant constraints on the materials that can be used for the cell; fuel catalysts often exhibit poor activity due to adsorption of anions created by the acid electrolyte; and the use of sulfuric acid electrolyte in multi-cell stacks can result in parasitic shunt currents. As a result, the performance of the conventional cells is limited to about less than 0.3 volt in output voltage and less than about 30 mA/cm2 in output current. In addition, a number of safety issues arise with the use of acidic and alkaline solutions.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed an improved direct liquid-feed cell using a solid-state membrane electrolyte. One of the advantages of the JPL fuel cell is the elimination of the liquid acidic and alkaline electrolyte by the membrane electrolyte. This solves many problems in the conventional fuel cells. A detailed description of JPL's fuel cell can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,638 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/569,452, filed on May 28, 1996, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1 shows a typical structure 100 of a JPL fuel cell with a membrane electrolyte 110 enclosed in housing 102. The electrolyte membrane 110 is operable to conduct protons and exchange cations. An anode 120 is formed on a first surface of the membrane 110 with a first catalyst for electro-oxidation and a cathode 130 is formed on a second surface thereof opposing the first surface with a second catalyst for electro-reduction. An electrical load 140 is connected to the anode 120 and cathode 130 for electrical power output.
The membrane 110 divides the fuel cell 100 into a first section 122 on the side of the anode 120 and a second section 132 on the side of the cathode 130. A feeding port 124 in the first section 122 is connected to a fuel feed system 126. A gas outlet 127 is deployed in the first section 122 to release gas therein and a liquid outlet 128 leads to a fuel re-circulation system 129 to recycle the fuel back to the fuel feed system 126. In the second section 132 of the cell 100, an air or oxygen supply 136 (e.g., an air compressor) supplies oxygen to the cathode 130 through a gas feed port 134. Water and used air/oxygen are expelled from the cell through an output port 138.
In operation, a mixture of an organic fuel (e.g., methanol) and water is fed into the first section 122 of the cell 100 while oxygen gas is fed into the second section 132. Electrochemical reactions happen simultaneously at both the anode 120 and the cathode 130, thus generating electrical power. For example, when methanol is used as the fuel, the electro-oxidation of methanol at the anode 120 can be represented byCH3OH+H2O−CO2+6H++6e−,
and the electro-reduction of oxygen at the cathode 130 can be represented byO2+4H++4e−−2H2O.
Thus, the protons generated at the anode 120 traverse the membrane 110 to the cathode 130 and are consumed by the reduction reaction therein while the electrons generated at anode 120 migrate to the cathode 130 through the electrical load 140. This generates an electrical current from the cathode 130 to the anode 120. The overall cell reaction is:2CH3OH+3O2−2CO2+4H2O+Electrical Energy.
The inventors recognized the advantages and potential of the JPL's membrane fuel cell. Importantly, the inventors have discovered a number of new materials for various components and processing methods that can be used to improve the performance of this type of fuel cells.
One aspect of the present invention describes new material compositions for catalysts with improved efficiency and methods for forming catalyst layers on the membrane electrolyte including transfer of catalyst decals and deposition of catalyst materials onto a backing layer with minimized catalyst permeation.
Another aspect directs to improve catalyst efficiency and reactivity by increasing the surface area thereof.
Yet another aspect is to increase the reactivity of a catalyst by changing the electronic properties of a catalyst layer.
Still another aspect of the invention is construction and processing of the electrolyte membrane to improve coating, bonding, and to reduce fuel crossover.


Disclosed are method(s), system(s), and article(s) of manufacture for implementing an approach to facilitate traceability and tamper detection of electronic designs. This approach allows for tracing and tamper detection at any stage of design and manufacturing, such as during layout generation, post-design, post-mask, and post manufacturing of the electronic designs.

Modern electronics products may include any number of integrated circuits (ICs) that have a large number of electronic components, such as transistors, logic gates, diodes, wires, etc., that are fabricated by forming layers of different materials and of different geometric shapes on various regions of a silicon wafer. The process to create these products start with a design workflow to create an electronic design, where a circuit description is transformed into a geometric description called a layout. The process of converting specifications of an integrated circuit into a layout is called the physical design process.
After a layout has been completed (or "taped out"), a manufacturing process follows to turn that electronic design into a physical product. Often, a semiconductor fabrication process is used to implement a multi-step sequence of mask assembly, photolithographic, and chemical processing steps to create wafers made of semiconducting material, where the wafers are then processed to create the IC chips. The entire manufacturing process may be used to create packaged chips, which are then assembled into a finished electronic product.
One issue that is faced by modern companies is that this manufacturing process typically requires the involvement of multiple parties at different points along the manufacturing and distribution chain. For example, the electronic design of an IC chip developed by a first company may need to be passed from the original owners/creators of the design to at least one or more additional companies to create the masks, to manufacture the IC chip, and/or to perform distribution of the finished products.
The problem is that since the manufacturing process typically requires the electronic design to be shared between multiple distinct parties at multiple different geographic locations, this means that there is often the lack of clear visibility by the owner of the design into the full extent to which that design has been used, modified, manufactured, or distributed as a manufactured part. Therefore, there is the distinct possibility of the design being subjected to some type of misuse or tampering by one of the third parties.
By way of illustration, consider the circumstance where the owner of an IC chip design enters into a contract with a foundry to manufacture a certain number of the IC chips, but the foundry decides to manufacture extra copies of that design, and to then wrongfully sells the extra product on the market without permission of the design owner. As another example, consider if the owner of an IC chip design sends the design to a foundry located in a foreign country for manufacturing, but the foundry and/or foreign agents secretly inserts some malicious content into the chip before manufacturing. These are examples of circumstances where it would be highly desirable for the existence of technology that would allow the design owner to detect such misuse or tampering of the electronic designs.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to implement a solution that facilitates detection of misuse or tampering of electronic designs.

Electronic design tracing and tamper detection using automatically generated layout patterns


The present invention relates to a honeycomb structured body including a honeycomb fired body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween, wherein the honeycomb fired body is an extrudate containing ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles, θ-alumina particles, γ-alumina, and α-alumina fibers, and the honeycomb fired body has a porosity of 55 to 70%.

Exhaust gas discharged from internal combustion engines of automobiles and the like contains harmful gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons (HC). An exhaust gas catalytic converter that decomposes such harmful gases is also referred to as a three-way catalytic converter. A common three-way catalytic converter includes a catalyst layer that is formed by wash-coating a honeycomb-shaped monolithic substrate made of cordierite or the like with slurry containing noble metal particles having catalytic activity.
Meanwhile, Patent Literature 1 discloses an exhaust gas catalytic converter including a monolithic substrate containing ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles and θ-phase alumina particles, wherein a noble metal is supported on the monolithic substrate.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a honeycomb structured body as a honeycomb catalytic converter which mainly contains zeolite, wherein the total porosity of the cell walls is 40% or less, the porosity of the pores in the range of 0.005 to 0.02 μm is 5% or more, and the porosity of the pores in the range of 0.05 to 2 μm is 17.5% or more.

Honeycomb structure and production method for said honeycomb structure


This invention relates to a process for producing electron deficient olefins, such as 2-cyanoacrylates, using an iminium salt.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for producing electron deficient olefins, such as 2-cyanoacrylates, using an iminium salt.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
Cyanoacrylate adhesives are known for their fast adhesion and ability to bond a wide variety of substrates. They are marketed as "super glue" type adhesives. They are useful as an all-purpose adhesive since they are a single component adhesive, very economical as only a small amount will do, and generally do not require any equipment effectuate curing.
Traditionally, cyanoacrylate monomers have been produced by way of a Knoevenagel condensation reaction between a formaldehyde precursor, such as paraformaldehyde, and an alkyl cyanoacetate with a basic catalyst. During the reaction, cyanoacrylate monomer forms and polymerises in situ to a prepolymer. The prepolymer is subsequently thermally cracked or depolymerised, yielding cyanoacrylate monomer. This approach has remained essentially the same over time, though various improvements and variants have been introduced. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,245,933, 5,624,699, 4,364,876, 2,721,858, 2,763,677 and 2,756,251.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,142,698, the synthesis of difunctional cyanoacrylates using a Knoevenagel condensation reaction is described. However, the ability to thermally depolymerise the resulting, now crosslinked, prepolymer in a reliable and reproducible manner to produce pure difunctional monomers in high yields is questionable [see J. Buck, J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Chem. Ed., 16, 2475-2507 (1978), and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,975,422, 3,903,055, 4,003,942, 4,012,402, and 4,013,703]. A variety of other processes for producing cyanoacrylate monomers are known, and some of which are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,267 defines a process for producing a 2-cyanoacrylic acid which comprises subjecting a 2-cyanoacrylate and an organic acid to a transesterification reaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,369 defines an improvement in a process for preparing methyl cyanoacrylate, in which methyl cyanoacetate is reacted with formaldehyde to form a polymer that is then depolymerized to the monomeric product, and in which the purity of yield is 96% or better. The improvement of the '369 patent is reported to be conducting the process in a polyethylene glycol) diacetate, dipropionate, or dibutyrate, having a number average molecular weight of 200-400, as the solvent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,848 defines a process for the production of a biscyanoacrylate, which comprises the steps of esterifying a 2-cyanoacrylic acid or transesterifying an alkyl ester thereof to obtain a reaction mixture; and fractionally crystallizing the reaction mixture to obtain the biscyanoacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,059 defines a process for the preparation of monomeric 2-cyanoacrylates comprising the steps of (a) reacting (i) a 2,4-dicyanoglutarate with (ii) formaldehyde, cyclic or linear polymers of formaldehyde, or a mixture thereof, in the presence of between about 0.5 and about 5 mols of water per mol of 2,4-dicyanoglutarate, at an acid pH of about 3 to slightly less than 7, and at a temperature of about 70 to about 140, to form an oligomeric intermediate product, and (b) removing water that is present from step (a) and thermolyzing the oligomeric intermediate product for a period of time sufficient to effect its conversion to monomeric 2-cyanoacrylates.
Commercial production of cyanoacrylate monomers ordinarily relies on the depolymerisation of a prepolymer formed under Knoevenagel condensation reaction conditions, as noted above. Still today the Knoevenagel condensation reaction is believed to remain the most efficient and prevalent commercial method for producing high yields of monofunctional cyanoacrylates. Nevertheless, it would be desirable to not have to resort to thermally induced depolymerisation of a prepolymer produced by the Knoevenagel condensation reaction. This prospect may also enable facile access to highly useful difunctional monomers, such as so-called bis-cyanoacrylates or hybrid materials of cyanoacrylate and other polymerisable or reactive functionality.
In H. Mohrle and R. Schaltenbrand, "Aminomethylierung von 1,3-Diketonen", Pharmazie, 40, 697-701 (1985), reference is made to dialkyl(methylene)iminium chloride salts. Such iminium chloride salts are not protonated, but rather alkylated. The products from the reaction with the so described dialkyl(methylene)iminium chloride salts are protonated Mannich bases.
Absent from the published literature is the use of protonated iminium salts (hereafter referred to as "iminium salt(s)") in the preparation of 2-cyanoacrylates. Until now.

Method of preparing electron deficient olefins


A slide-type input device, a portable device provided with the input device and a method and medium of using the input device, which more freely move a pointer displayed on a screen, and more conveniently and exactly select a specific object, is provided. The slide-type input device includes a slide button movable in a specific direction, a motion control hole providing a movement area of the slide button, a location-detection module detecting location-change information according to the movement of the slide button, and a controller controlling a pointer displayed on the screen based on the location-change information of the slide button, wherein the slide button is moved in the specific direction by an external force applied by a user, and is then returned to an original location by an elastic force when the external force of the user is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide-type input device, a portable device provided with the input device, and a method and medium of using the input device, and more particularly to a slide-type input device, a portable device provided with the input device, and a method and medium using the input device, which can move a pointer displayed on a screen and more conveniently and exactly select a specific object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable devices such as a cellular phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA) are usually provided with an input device called a pointing device. A user of the portable device can move control objects such as a cursor, a pointer, and others, by operating the pointing device.
In case of the portable devices, a pointing device, which moves the control objects using input keys (direction keys) in the plane of a display screen, has been widely used. The pointing device detects a key input operation by the user, and converts the detected key input operation to a movement control command for controlling so that the control object can be moved in the plane of the display screen.
There has been greatly increased a need to be able to freely move the control objects in any direction, because applications of the portable device perform multiple functions. However, the pointing device using the direction keys has not been designed on the assumption that the control objects are to move freely in any direction. Therefore, the pointing device using the direction keys has a disadvantage in that it is not possible for the control objects to be moved in an arbitrary direction on the display screen.
Pointing devices, by which the control object can be moved in an arbitrary direction on the display screen, include stick type pointing devices such as a joy stick, a touch pad, a track ball, a track pointer, and others.
However, in small and thin portable devices, it is not desirable that the pointing device, in which a lever protrudes from a surface of a cabinet, be built in the portable device, respectively. Further, even if the protruded lever is short, the operation ability of the user is decreased, because the length of the lever is short.
Further, the touch pad has the disadvantage that additional equipment (e.g., a stylus pen) is required. The track ball has the disadvantage in that the portable device becomes larger. In addition, pressure operated track points are inconvenient.
Japan Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2004-062447 discloses a point device of a mobile terminal including a rim having a circular shape, a center key configured to be movable in an arbitrary direction of an xy plane, and Hall elements configured to detect the direction and amount of movement of the center key in the xy plane, which can enable a user to operate in an arbitrary direction (i.e., at an angle of 45 degrees) within the rim using the center key.
However, Japan Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2004-062447 measures a location of the central key on the xy plane by detecting the change of a magnetic flux density using the Hall elements.

Slide-type input device, portable device having the input device and method and medium using the input device


A liquid recovery device includes: an outer pipe that includes an introduction portion into which a gas-liquid two-phase fluid is introduced; an inner pipe disposed inside the outer pipe at a position where the introduction portion is extended to a downstream side in a flow direction of the gas-liquid two-phase fluid; a double pipe portion that includes a clearance part provided between an inner side of the outer pipe and the inner pipe at a downstream side of the outer pipe in the flow direction; a communication hole that communicates the inner side of the inner pipe with the clearance part; and a drainage portion connected to the clearance part to discharge the liquid-phase fluid flowing into an interior of the clearance part.

A liquid recovery device is disposed in a system using a fluid such as a vapor, a compressed air, or various gases. The liquid recovery device is configured to separate a fluid in a gas-liquid two-phase state into a gas phase and a liquid phase, and recovers the separated fluid in a liquid-phase state for various applications.


The invention relates to a slicing machine (1) for cutting food slices by means of a carriage (2) that can be moved back and forth and a rotating cutting blade (11), wherein the slice thickness can be adjusted by means of a stop plate (12). For cleaning purposes, the carriage (2) can be emptied by tipping the carriage. In order to reduce the risk of injury during cleaning work, a blocking device is provided, which allows the carriage to be emptied by tipping the carriage only in a certain position and while the stop plate is blocked. Said safety feature is provided by means of a blocking slide (41), on which two mechanical safety precaution elements act independently.

Slicing machines are used in actual practice to cut slices of food such as, for instance, cold cuts, meat or cheese. The rotating blade is a true source of danger. For this reason, the goal is to design the slicing machines in such a way that the user can operate the machine as safely as possible. Particularly when the blade is being cleaned, there is a greater risk of injury, so that efforts are aimed at covering the cutting edge of the blade to the greatest extent possible while it is being cleaned.
International patent application WO 9605952 A1 discloses such a slicing machine in which the carriage for the food to be sliced can only be flipped open for cleaning purposes if the cutting thickness setting of the stop plate is less than zero. When the cutting thickness is set to less than zero, the stop plate moves in front of the cutting edge of the blade and covers it. This largely eliminates the risk of injury by the cutting edge. A bolt that can be moved linearly, that is joined to the carriage foot by a guide and that interacts via a pivoting lever having an adjustment dial for adjusting the stop plate prevents the carriage from swinging out. A drawback, however, is that this design is relatively complicated to construct.
An aspect of the invention is based on the objective of creating a slicing machine that has a safe cleaning position in which the cutting edge is covered, that has a simple construction and especially that can be made with just a few parts.


Novel carbamate derivatives which are useful as drugs because of inhibiting activated blood coagulation factor X and thus exerting an anticoagulant effect. Compounds represented by the formula:

It is important to inhibit the formation of a thrombus in preventing and/or treating cardiac infarction, cerebral thrombosis and the like, and various anti-thombotic agents such as anti-thrombin agents and platelet aggregation inhibitors have been developed. Nevertheless, platelet aggregation inhibitors as well as anti-thrombin agents have hemorrhagic side effects and problems in their safety, since these agents possess a platelet aggregation-inhibiting activity in combination with anti-coagulative effect. On the other hand, FXa inhibitors specifically inhibit a coagulation factor, and thus are considered to be useful as anticoagulant.
So far, compounds having FXa-inhibiting effects are disclosed for example in JP 7-112970 A, JP 5-208946 A, WO-96/16940, WO96/40679, WO 96/10022, WO 98/28269, WO 99/37304, WO 99/127, and the like.
Currently, there is a demand for a compound which has a stronger FXa inhibiting activity than that of the above-mentioned compounds having FXa inhibiting activity by oral administration, and is practically excellent as a medicament.

Carbamate derivatives, process for producing the same and use thereof

Abstract: wherein R1 represents a group represented by the formula:

Abstract: (wherein Y1 represents CH═CH, etc.), which may be substituted, etc.; the ring A represents an oxo-substituted nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring which may be further substituted; R2 represents a hydrogen atom, optionally substituted C1-4 alkyl, etc.; R3 represents optionally substituted C1-4 alkyl, etc.; and Z represents an optionally substituted nitrogen containing heterocyclic group, etc., or salts thereof.


A pair of elongated, parallel electrodes (91,92) are insulatively mounted within a tubular housing (111) filled with a laser gas mixture between an arrangement of reflective optical elements (120,150) sealingly mounted at each end of the housing. The electrodes form a rectangular gas discharge area (40) the minimum spacing (A) between which is the diameter of the fundamental free-space mode of the stable, laser resonator (17) formed in the gap when the electrodes are rf excited (13). A multi-pass optical configuration (30,50) uses the full width (B) of the active medium to produce a high power, compact laser (10,200). Deformable support rings (97) are compressed to push the electrodes apart against small cylindrical spacers (99) abutting the inner walls of the housing to maintain the electrodes' spatial relationship. The rf feeds (103) sealingly (112) connected to the electrodes through the housing without disturbing the uniform distribution of forces on the electrodes. Air cooled heatsinks (161,162, 176,177) are held tightly against while being flexibly mounted to the laser tube assembly reducing mechanical and operational torsional distortion, misalignment and instability.

A. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to coherent light generators of the gas discharge laser variety, and, more particularly, to a gas slab laser configured with an improved electrode structure and a multi-pass, non-waveguide, that is, free-space, resonator with improved heat transfer and cooling apparatus.
B. Discussion of Background and Prior Art
There has been a considerable investigation into various forms of waveguide and slab CO.sub.2 lasers. Hobart U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,028 ("the '028 patent") at 1:9-3:13 (Citations are to column and line number).


A sampling frequency control method includes a difference calculating step ST1 of calculating the difference between sampled values obtained through sampling of an AC quantity of electricity of a power system at time points that are separated by a prescribed time period of the AC quantity of electricity; an effective value calculating step ST2 of calculating an effective value of the AC quantity of electricity and an effective value of the difference; a ratio calculating step ST3 of calculating the ratio K of the effective value of the difference to the effective value of the AC quantity of electricity; and a control step of controlling the sampling frequency by controlling the sampling period on the basis of the calculated ratio K so that it follows the frequency of the AC quantity of electricity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sampling frequency control method which is applied to, for example, a digital protective relay for protecting a power system from a system failure on the basis of sampled values obtained by sampling an AC quantity of electricity of the power system at a prescribed sampling frequency, as well as to a protective relay in which the sampling frequency is controlled by the above sampling frequency control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional digital protective relays, a sampling frequency control for varying the sampling period so that it follows the frequency of an input AC signal is performed in the following manners. JP-A-2-13220 (FIG. 1 and a related description) discloses a technique that the period of an input AC signal is calculated on the basis of intervals of zero-cross points where the polarity of the input signal changes and the sampling period is corrected on the basis of the calculated period. JP-A-3-230722 (FIG. 1 and a related description) discloses the following technique. In a means for determining a current frequency of a power system and correcting the sampling period according to the determined frequency, zero-cross points of a voltage, for example, are stored as frequency timing and a frequency is determined by comparing current frequency timing with frequency timing obtained a prescribed time before.
In conventional digital protective relays, for example, the sampling frequency is controlled so as to correspond to an electrical angle 30° for a system frequency by calculating the system frequency on the basis of zero-cross points where the polarity of an input AC voltage changes and controlling the sampling timing of the protective relay on the basis of the calculated system frequency. There is a problem that the control may be based on calculation results including errors because zero-cross points are determined through approximation. For example, zero-cross points are determined by performing an interpolation calculation (linear approximation) on digital data obtained by AD-converting an input AC quantity of electricity (JP-A-2-13220).

Sampling frequency control method and protective relay


A divider which multiplies both divisor and dividend by a first multiplier generated from the divisor to compute an intermediate divisor and an intermediate quotient, and iterates such computations by the number of times needed, so that the intermediate divisor approaches a predetermined value, and the intermediate quotient approaches the quotient obtained by dividing the dividend by the divisor. This makes it possible to implement a fast divider with a configuration simpler than that of a conventional divider which feeds back the outputs of multipliers many times depending on the accuracy required, which involves delay times in the multiplication and makes the configuration complicated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a divider for carrying out division using a semiconductor integrated circuit, and particularly to a divider capable of fast division.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, computer graphics techniques have been flourishing with the increase in the performance of computers. Since the computer graphics requires enormous amount of numerical computation, extremely fast numerical processing is needed to implement it. In particular, since the computer graphics carries out division much more frequently than ordinary numerical processing, it requires much faster division by hardware instead of software which is usually employed to carry out division in a comparatively large amount of time.
FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a conventional divider implemented by hardware, which is disclosed in JP-A 1-321517 (1989). In this figure, the reference numeral 123 designates a memory such as a ROM, 125, 126, 127 and 128 designate first, second, third and fourth data bus selectors (MUX), 133 and 134 designate first and second multipliers, 137 designates a two's complementer, and 139 designates an adder.
Its operation will be described. The divider obtains the quotient b.sub.i /a.sub.i by sequentially multiplying both the dividend b.sub.i and the divisor a.sub.i by the same values such that the product of the divisor a.sub.i and these values converge to one. This method is called multiply convergence division, or reciprocal approximate division.
The memory 123 inputs a divisor 1 (a.sub.i) as an address input, and outputs an approximate value of a reciprocal of the divisor 1. The first data bus selector 125 inputs the output 124 of the memory 123 and the output 138 of the two's complementer 137; the second data bus selector 126 inputs the divisor, the output 135 of the first multiplier 133 and the output 136 of the second multiplier 134; the third data bus selector 127 inputs the output 124 of the memory 123 and the output 138 of the two's complementer 137; and the fourth data bus selector 128 inputs the dividend, and the output 136 of the second multiplier 134. The first multiplier 133 inputs the output 129 of the first data bus selector 125 as a first input, and the output 130 of the second data bus selector 126 as a second input, and supplies their product to the second data bus selector 126, the two's complementer 137 and the adder 139. The second multiplier 134 inputs the output 131 of the third data bus selector 127 as a first input, and the output 132 of the fourth data bus selector 128 as a second input, and supplies their product to the second data bus selector 126, the fourth data bus selector 128, and the adder 139. The adder 139 outputs the sum of the outputs of the first and second multipliers 133 and 134 as the quotient.
The conventional divider with such an arrangement has the following problems.
1. The first and second multipliers each have an m.times.m/2 bit structure each, and carry out the multiplication of that scale for each loop of the computation, resulting in rather large delay times. Usually, the multiplier forms a plurality of partial products from a multiplier and a multiplicand, adds the partial products by adders such as carry save adders until the partial products are reduced to two, and finally adds the two partial products by an adder like a ripple carry adder, thereby completing the multiplication. To improve the speed of the multiplication, various ideas are proposed such as reduction in the number of partial products by using the Booth algorithm, fast summing up of the partial products by the Wallace tree, and fast final addition by a carry lookahead adder.
The delay times of the first and second multipliers, however, are still large even if these methods are used. Accordingly, it is unavoidable that the conventional divider takes a substantial delay time proportional to the number of multiplications. In other words, it takes a long division time due to the delay of the multipliers when using the conventional divider including the common multipliers.
2. The division time further increases owing to the two's complementer which is passed through for each computing loop. This is because the two's complementer includes a kind of an adder, and the delay time due to the adder is added to the delay of the multipliers. In addition, the two's complementer increases the amount of hardware.
3. Since the entire circuit is occupied throughout a division operation, the next computation cannot be started until that division has been completed. This makes it impossible to adopt the pipeline processing to increase the speed.

Divider which iteratively multiplies divisor and dividend by multipliers generated from the divisors to compute the intermediate divisors and quotients


A first display region for displaying an optical image of an object and a second display region for displaying information are provided for a finder device. The first display region and the second display region can be observed at the same time through an eyepiece window. On the second display region, an electric image that is photoelectrically converted by an image pickup element is displayed. That reduces failures to take a shutter chance and enables a state of the captured image and auxiliary information to be checked.

As this type of image capture apparatus, a camera having an optical finder and a digital finder that can be switched therebetween and enabling a user to easily check a reproduced image without changing the user's posture when taking an image, has been known (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-357123). The camera has a first finder system for optically directing an object image passed through a photographing lens into a finder, and a second finder system for digitally directing an object image into a finder through an image pickup element and a display device into a finder. The camera also has a finder switching section for switching a valid state of both of the finders. The camera also has a mode switching section for switching a recording mode and a reproduction mode, and a control section for switching both of the modes.
In the camera, when the control section switches from the recording mode to the reproduction mode, the finder switching section forcibly switches the finder system into a valid state of the second finder system. When the control section returns the switched mode to the record mode again, the finder switching section automatically returns to the finder system that was valid in the original recording mode.
A camera that enables a user to recognize the proportion of a calculated appropriate exposure value and exposure values before and after the calculation on the capturing screen only by looking into a finder is also known (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H06-282004). The camera is adapted to indicate an object image on a focusing screen in the finder, and also indicate such exposure conditions as a luminance distribution of the object, a shutter speed and an iris on a display device nearby. The camera divides the object image into a two-dimensional lattice, measures luminance for each square, and processes the luminance in a CPU therein. Then, the camera displays the number of squares with luminance appropriate for the designed exposure conditions on the center, the number of squares with higher luminance on the right side, and the number of squares with low luminance on the left side of the display device as a histogram.
The image capture apparatus however has problems below. In the camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-357123, only the first finder that optically directs the object image through the photographing lens into a finder and the second finder that digitally directs the object to the finder through the image pickup element and the display device are simply switched, when the mode is switched into the reproduction mode. Therefore, when the second finder is used, a user cannot observe the object image and sometimes fails to take a good shutter chance.
In the camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H06-282004, a user can check a proportion of a calculated appropriate exposure value and exposure values before and after the calculation on the capturing screen through a finder, but not various conditions required for taking a good photograph. For example, the user cannot check such conditions as whether an appropriate white balance are set or not, whether the object is well focused or not, whether a composition does not match an intended composition as a result of vibration proof of the image pickup element or not. Nor the user checks such conditions as whether a foreign matter such as a dust is on an optical low-path filer or not and whether the color mode is unexpectedly set to the monotone mode or not while the user wishes to take a color photograph.

Image capture apparatus with optical finder


A method of fabricating quantum features on a substrate from a layer of material selected from materials identified in the III-V periodic groups (e.g., silicon (Si), InP, Si—Ge, and the like) uses sequentially two patterned masks, each mask includes an elongated mask pattern disposed substantially orthogonal to the elongated pattern of the other mask. In one embodiment, the method forms on a semiconductor wafer a plurality of quantum dots having topographic dimensions of about 30 nm or less. In another embodiment, the invention may be halted after a first etch process to form quantum lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for fabricating devices on semiconductor substrates. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of fabricating quantum features on a semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Microelectronic devices are generally fabricated on a semiconductor substrate as integrated circuits wherein various conductive layers are interconnected to one another to facilitate propagation of electronic signals within the device. An example of such a device is a storage element in silicon nano-crystal based nonvolatile memories.
In such memories, the charge is stored in an array of spaced apart small islands (or quantum dots) of silicon. The array of such quantum dots forms a floating gate that may be embedded in a gate dielectric of a gate structure of a field effect transistor. Generally, about 500-700 quantum dots are used to form one floating gate. A quantum dot is generally a silicon structure having topographic dimensions on order of 10's of nanometers.
Quantum features are also used as semiconductor lasers. Recently, such quantum dots, when released from the substrate, have also found a use in non-semiconductor applications, for example, as carriers of precursors, inhibitors, and the like in chemical reactions performed between liquid phase reactants.
In a floating gate field effect transistor fabrication process, a lithographically patterned mask is used during etch and deposition processes that form the gate structure of the transistor. As topographic dimensions of transistors continue decreasing in advanced integrated circuits, conventional lithographic techniques become unable to accurately define components of the gate structure and, specifically, the quantum dots of the floating gate of the gate structure of ever-smaller transistors.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved method of fabricating silicon quantum dots and other forms of quantum features.


A diagnostic imaging system includes a Compton camera (14) disposed on a gantry (16). The camera (14) includes linear detectors (30a, 30b) for detecting radiation emanating from a subject to be imaged. A data processor (32) collects and processes radiation data in accordance with the detected radiation. Position and energy resolving circuitry (34) determines positions and energy deposited by photons striking the detectors. A cone projection generator (40) generates cone projection data or cone integrals based on the collected data which determine a possible location of a gamma source of the detected radiation. A conversion processor (41) converts the cone projection data into plane projection data. The conversion processor (41) includes a line integral processor (42) which determines line integrals representing the cone projection data and applies a spherical harmonic expansion to the line integrals. A plane integral generator (43) generates plane integrals such as Radon projection planes based on the line integrals. A reconstruction processor (44) reconstructs an image representation of a region of interest from the subject from the plane projection data using filtered back projection.

The present invention relates to the art of diagnostic imaging. It finds particular application in conjunction with nuclear or gamma cameras and will be described with particular reference thereto. It is to be appreciated, however, that the present invention will also find application in other non-invasive investigation techniques and imaging systems such as single photon planar imaging, whole body nuclear scans, positron emission tomography (PET), digital x-ray computed tomography and other diagnostic modes. It is to be further appreciated that the present invention will also find application in other Compton-based systems such as Compton-type telescopes used for astronomy.
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been used to study a radionuclide distribution in a subject. Typically, one or more radiopharmaceuticals or radioisotopes are injected into a patient subject. The radioisotope preferably travels to an organ of interest whose image is to be produced. The patient is placed in an examination region of the SPECT system surrounded by large area planar radiation detectors. Radiation emitted from the patient is detected by the radiation detectors. The detectors have a mechanical collimator to limit the detector to seeing radiation from a single selected trajectory or ray, often the ray normal to the detector plane.
Typically, the detector includes a scintillation crystal that is viewed by an array of photomultiplier tubes. The relative outputs of the photomultiplier tubes are processed and corrected, as is conventional in the art, to generate an output signal indicative of (1) a position coordinate on the detector head at which each radiation event is received, and (2) an energy of each event. The energy is used to differentiate between emission and transmission radiation and between multiple emission radiation sources and to eliminate stray and secondary emission radiation. A two-dimensional projection image representation is defined by the number of radiation events received at each coordinate.
The mechanical collimator used in conventional gamma cameras, such as an Anger camera, localize the gamma emitters. This type of collimator, however, leads to low efficiency because only a fraction of the radiation passes through the collimator. Furthermore at any given time, only one view of an object of interest is obtained. Thus, the camera needs to move or rotate relative to a subject in order to collect all the data necessary for image reconstruction. Further, the collimators are fabricated of lead. Typically, each collimator is of sufficient weight that it must be connected to and removed from the head by mechanical, rather than human means. Not only is handling inconvenient, but the supporting structure for the detectors must support the detector head and hundreds of kilograms of collimator stably and without vibration.
A new type of gamma camera for SPECT relies on Compton scattering for gamma source localization and is known as a Compton camera. This camera has been proposed as an alternative to the conventional Anger camera and is advantageous because it uses electronic rather than mechanical collimation. Electronic collimation provides both high geometric efficiency and multiple image views. A proposed example of image reconstruction from data collected by a Compton camera is described in "Towards direct reconstruction from a gamma camera base on Compton scattering," by M. J. Cree and P. J. Bones, IEEE Trans. Med. Imag., Vol. 13, pp. 398-407, 1994. Although some progress has been made toward image reconstruction from a Compton camera system, at present, an acceptable filtered backprojection algorithm has proved elusive.
The present invention provides a new and improved reconstruction algorithm for a Compton camera which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.

Image reconstruction for compton camera including spherical harmonics


In a wet agitating ball mill, a shaft 5 rotated and driven by a motor is hollow at its axial center at an upper portion, a discharge route 9 communicating with a slurry discharge port is provided, and a rotor 11 is affixed at the lower portion of the shaft. A separator 4 is composed of a pair of disks 21 and a blade 22 for coupling both disks to form an impeller, and by its rotation, a centrifugal force is applied to the slurry and media getting in the separator 4, and by the difference in specific gravity of the two, accordingly, the media having the heavier specific gravity is expelled and separated in the radial direction, while the slurry of the lighter specific gravity is discharged through the discharge route 9 of the shaft 5 in a state free from kinetic energy.

A wet agitating ball mill of the friction grinding type is generally composed of a cylindrical enclosed stator, a rotor of the pin, disk or annular type disposed in the axial center of the stator to be rotated and driven by the motor, and the mill is filled with a media such as zirconia, glass beads, titanium oxide, steel balls or zirconia silicate, and the raw slurry in a material tank is supplied into the mill through a material pump, and the rotor is rotated and driven to agitate and mix the media and slurry, thereby grinding the slurry. The ground slurry is discharged out of the mill after separating the media by the separator, and is returned into the material tank. This operation is repeated and grinding is promoted. When reaching a desired product particle size, the mill is stopped, and the slurry in the material tank is transferred and collected in a product tank. After stopping the mill, the product slurry left over in the mill remains in the mill, but if it can solidify to disturb the next operations, the inside of the mill was cleaned by feeding cleaning water while operating the mill, and the slurry, diluted by the cleaning water and discharged from the mill, was discarded.
The media used in this type of mill were reduced in diameter as the product grain size became smaller according to the requests of customers and it was not rare to use media with a diameter of about 0.1 mm. One of the problems that must be solved in the mill for such fine pulverizing is the separation technology for separating the media efficiently from the slurry. As the separator for separating media from the slurry, hitherto, the screen and slit machines were used, but in the former screen type, it is extremely difficult to drill innumerable holes smaller than the media diameter, and if fabricated, the pressure loss is large, and clogging is likely to occur. In the latter slit mechanism, a representative example is composed of a disk fixed on a stator and a disk to be rotated fixed on the shaft and forming a slit which does not allow media to pass against the fixed disk by keeping a specific clearance to the fixed disk, and the media is separated in the slit between the disks, and the slurry is discharged through the slit, but it is extremely difficult to manufacture a slit width of about 0.1 mm, and if manufactured, the media are likely to be caught in the slit, and the disk is damaged easily. Additionally, since the slit width is narrow, there is limited slurry discharge amount, that is, grinding treating capacity of slurry.
As a separator capable of solving these problems, Japanese Laid-open Patent 4-61635 discloses a separator having two disks disposed parallel at a specific interval on the shaft, and coupling both disks by a spiral blade in an impeller form. This separator is designed to apply a centrifugal force to the media and slurry, and scatter the media having the greater specific gravity radially outward by making use of difference in specific gravity between the media and slurry, while discharging the slurry of the smaller specific gravity from a discharge route around the shaft and, therefore, since the same centrifugal force acts on the same diameter between the disks, the spacing of the disks can be widened and the treating capacity may be increased, and by widening the spacing of the disks, biting or clogging of the media in the disks can be avoided. Hence, the separation performance does not change with time and a stable operation is realized for a long period, and the media can be separated if the diameter is small, and micro media can be used, and fine pulverizing is hence possible, but in spite of these benefits, on the other hand, the slurry discharged from the discharge route around the shaft has a kinetic energy given by the rotation of the separator, that is, the action of centrifugal force, which means the kinetic energy is released wastefully, and unnecessary power is spent.
This separator is usually made of metal, but considering the contamination and wear by metal, it is preferred to use a ceramic. In the case of ceramics, it is extremely difficult to fabricate an integral body. Manufacturing the disks and blade separately, they can be assembled by adhering with an adhesive, but when the raw slurry comprises an organic solvent, the adhesive may fuse to have adverse effects on the quality of product slurry, or the separator may disassemble into individual parts.
Other problems occurring in the mill for fine pulverizing are the inaction of a mating ring or loss of function of a mechanical seal, in the mechanical seal as shown in FIG. 5 provided for shaft sealing of the shaft bearing portion, as the slurry and media get in and solidify in the clearance between the lower side of the fitting groove to which the O-ring is fitted and the mating ring.
It is a first object of the invention to present a method of recovering product slurry remaining in the mill after grinding, and it is a second object to present a grinding method capable of grinding efficiently by a mill.
It is a third object of the invention to decrease the power of operating a mill using the separator of the above impeller type, and it is a fourth object to avoid loss of function of the mechanical seal by preventing clogging by media and slurry that may impede the function of mating ring of mechanical seal. It is a fifth object to assemble easily the separator with disks and blades without using an adhesive.


A transceiver and method for communicating over a communications channel having a plurality of subchannels are described. In particular, the transceiver is capable of dynamically switching between communicating data for a first active application set and communicating data for a second different active application set. An active application set is defined as the set of one or more active applications for which the transceiver is currently communicating data. As part of communicating data for the first active application set, the transceiver allocates the subchannels to the one or more applications in the first application set. The transmission requirements of the first active application set defines a first communication state of the transceiver. When the transceiver dynamically transitions to communicating data for the second different application set, the transceiver reallocates the subchannels to the one or more applications in the second different application set. The transmission requirements of the second different active application set defines a second communication state of the transceiver. In one embodiment the transceiver modifies the data rates of subchannels in the Bit Allocation Table according to the transmission requirements of the application whose data is being transmitted on the particular subchannel. In another embodiment, the transceiver is capable of dynamically switching from transmitting data for an Internet access application to transmitting data for a voice telephony application in addition to the Internet access application. In a further embodiment, the ABCD voice telephony signaling bits can be transmitted with either the data from the Internet access application or the data from the voice telephony application.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology provides high-speed transport of digital information over twisted pair phone lines. The typical DSL system uses a multicarrier modulation format that employs Fourier Transform as the modulation/demodulation engine. This transmission scheme is denoted as Discrete Multitone Modulation (DMT). The DSL system divides the transmission spectrum into multiple frequency bands called subchannels. Each subchannel can be modulated with a sinusoidal carrier to transmit information. A transmitter modulates an output data stream containing information bits onto one or more subchannels. A receiver demodulates all the subchannels in order to recover the transmitted information bits as an input data stream. For simplicity of reference, the term transceiver refers collectively to transmitters and receivers.
DSL systems can be used in an asymmetrical configuration (ADSL) where the data rate in a given direction, upstream from the residence to the central office and downstream from the central office to the residence, is different. DSL Systems can also be used in a symmetrical configuration where the data rate is equal in both directions.
The quality of transmission, in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER), can also be varied for different subchannels within the composite data stream. In addition to the high-speed digital transport over the twisted pair telephony wire, analog telephony, plain old telephone service (POTS), is also supported. The POTS signal occupies the low frequency region from 0-4 kHz and the digital data occupies the higher frequency band from approximately 30 kHz to many hundreds of kilohertz or several megahertz depending on the application.
ADSL enables a variety of applications, such as Internet access, digitized voice calls, video-on-demand, broadcast video, and video conferencing. Typically transceivers are designed and optimized for a single application because each application has different requirements for at least a) data rate, b) bit error rate, c) latency, d) symmetry/asymmetry of transmission and e) immunity to impulse noise and other transient phenomena. As a result, a transceiver that is optimized for one application, such as video-on-demand, does not work as well if used for a different application, such as Internet access.
Classic transceiver architecture includes a Framer/Coder/Interleaver (FCI) block, a digital modulation block, an Analog Front End (AFE) block, and a communications channel. In most cases, it is the FCI block that is optimized for a specific application because the FCI block has significant control over three of the four parameters mentioned above: bit error rate, latency and immunity to impulse noise. Many transceivers use forward error correcting (FEC) codes, block and/or convolutional codes, to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance. Combining large block FEC codes with interleavers provides immunity to impulse noise. The disadvantage of large block FEC codes and interleaving is that they add latency to the system. As an example, if low BER and immunity to impulse noise are required for a specified application, the transceiver may include FEC codes and interleaving. If for another application low latency is important but a higher BER and/or burst errors resulting from impulse noise are tolerable, convolutional codes and no interleaving may be used.
The Digital Modulation block, the AFE block and the transmission channel establish the data rate of the transceiver for a specified BER and margin. Advancements in signal processing techniques and silicon processes in the digital modulation block and AFE technology have led to significant improvements in the data rates achievable on twisted pair phone lines. The result of this dramatic increase in transmission bandwidth is the ability to transport multiple applications over a single transceiver connection. Given the different performance requirements of different applications, there is a need for a transceiver designed to transmit and receive for multiple applications. Furthermore, there is a need for a transceiver designed to dynamically switch from transmitting and receiving data for a first set of applications to transmitting and receiving data for a second different set of applications.

Method and a multi-carrier transceiver supporting dynamic switching between active application sets


A system and method for providing substantially defect free rapid thermal processing. The present invention includes a wafer processing system used to process semiconductor wafers into electronic devices. In accordance with the present invention, once the wafer is processed, a shield can be inserted into the reactor to a position between the reactor heating surface and the wafer. The shield causes the temperature of the wafer to be reduced. Once the temperature of the wafer has been reduced to below a predetermined critical temperature, the robot picks up the wafer and removes the wafer from the processing chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment and, more particularly, to a system and method used for rapid thermal processing of a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of Related Art
In the semiconductor industry, to allow advancements in the development of semiconductor devices, especially semiconductor devices of decreased dimensions, new processing and manufacturing techniques have been developed. One such processing technique is known as Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP), which reduces the amount of time that a semiconductor device is exposed to high temperatures during processing. The rapid thermal processing technique, typically includes raising the temperature of the semiconductor device and holding the device at that temperature for a time long enough to successfully perform a fabrication process, to avoid unwanted dopant diffusion that would otherwise occur at the high processing temperatures.
Unfortunately, wafers which undergo RTP are extremely susceptible to forming defects, such as slip dislocations. Slip generally occurs when transient temperature fluctuations occur during processing at high temperatures (e.g. xcx9c1000xc2x0 C.). Slip dislocations may also be formed due to thermal or mechanical shock. For example, when the wafer is above a critical temperature for the formation of slip dislocations, contact from a removal device can cause the wafer to be cooled down in a non-uniform manner and/or to be subject to unwanted vibration.
For the above reasons, a system and method are needed for removing a heated wafer from a processing chamber without causing the formation of slip dislocations.
The present invention provides a system and method for providing substantially defect free rapid thermal processing. The present invention includes a wafer processing system used to process semiconductor wafers into electronic devices. Typically, a carrier containing wafers is loaded into a loading station and transferred to a load lock. Subsequently, a robot picks up a wafer from the carrier and moves the wafer into a reactor (also known as a process chamber). The wafer is processed in the reactor according to well-known wafer processing techniques. In accordance with the present invention, once the wafer is processed, a shield can be inserted into the reactor to a position between the reactor heating surface and the wafer. Once inserted, the shield blocks radiated heat energy from directly impinging on the wafer surface, which causes the temperature of the wafer to be reduced. In a dual heating surface reactor, a second shield may be inserted between the wafer and the second heating surface. Once the temperature of the wafer is reduced to below a predetermined critical temperature, the robot picks up the wafer and removes the wafer from the processing chamber.
In one aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor wafer processing system is provided. The system includes a process chamber, which defines a cavity configured to receive a wafer. The system also includes a robot. The robot is operable to move a wafer to and/or from the process chamber. A shield mechanism is provided which is operable to block the wafer from a heating source.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for processing a semiconductor wafer. The method includes inserting a shield mechanism into a wafer processing chamber proximate to a processed wafer; where the shield mechanism causes a temperature of the wafer to be reduced.
One advantage of using the shield of the present invention is to cause the temperature of the wafer to be reduced to below a critical slip dislocation formation temperature, by blocking direct radiation heating. Since the temperature is below the critical slip formation temperature, the robot can pick up the wafer without causing thermal and mechanical shock to the wafer, without having to heat the arm or end-effector of the robot. The heat shields also remove the need to lower the temperature of the reactor between each wafer being processed. Accordingly, processing times and system costs are reduced, while wafer defects are minimized.

System and method for providing defect free rapid thermal processing


A drive circuit for an IGBT includes an H-bridge circuit using first to fourth switch elements. When a control unit receives a command for changing the IGBT from an on state to an off state, it switches states of the first to fourth switch elements from a first state in which the first and fourth switch elements are in an on state and the second and third switch elements are in an off state to a second state in which the first and fourth switch elements are in the off state and the second and third switch elements are in the on state. This structure of the drive circuit can apply a reverse bias to the IGBT from a single power supply.

A power semiconductor element performs on/off control of a main current by a voltage or current signal applied to a control electrode. An MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor), an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) and the like are power elements of a voltage drive type that perform the on/off control according to the voltage signal, A bipolar transistor and the like are power elements of a current drive type that perform the on/off control according to the current signal.
In many of such power elements, a reverse bias is applied between a control electrode (a gate or base electrode) and a main electrode (a source or emitter electrode) when the element is to be switched from the on state to the off state. In the power element of the voltage drive type, the above bias is applied for ensuring an off state without being influenced by noises. In the element of the current drive type, the above bias is applied for reducing a turn-off time of a main current. The following first and second prior arts are known as the drive circuits for applying the reverse bias.
The first prior art uses two power supplies for forward and reverse biases, respectively (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 07-131971 (Patent Document 1), column [0003] in specification and FIG. 8). When the IGBT is used as the power element, an on-transistor used as a switch element for turn-on, on-resistance, an off-transistor used as a switch element for turn-off, and off-resistance are connected in series. These are connected to a main gate power supply formed of a series connection of a forward bias power supply and a reverse bias power supply, and a connection point between the on-resistance and the off-resistance is connected to a gate of the IGBT so that a gate drive circuit is formed. When the on-transistor is turned on, a forward bias current flows from the forward bias power supply through the on-transistor, on-resistance, gate of the IGBT and emitter of the IGBT to the forward bias power supply, and thereby turns on the IGBT. When the off-transistor is turned on, a reverse bias current flows from the reverse bias power supply through the emitter of the IGBT, gate of the IGBT, off-resistance and off-transistor to the reverse bias power supply, and thereby turns off the IGBT.
In the second prior art, a capacitor for charging is employed together with a single power supply, and is used as a pseudo-power supply (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 09-140122 (Patent Document 2)). In this prior art, a diode is connected between base and emitter terminals of a P-type transistor, and a resistance is connected between base and collector terminals thereof. This P-type transistor is connected in parallel between input terminals of a pulse power supply. The emitter terminal of the P-type transistor is connected to a gate terminal of an IGBT via a first resistance, and a collector terminal of the P-type transistor is connected via a parallel circuit formed of a capacitor and a constant-voltage diode to a second resistance connected to the gate terminal of the IGBT. Thereby, a gate drive circuit is formed. When the pulse power supply applies a positive bias to the gate terminal of the IGBT via the diode and the first resistance, the capacitor is likewise charged through the second resistance. When the positive bias is off, the P-type transistor is on so that the charges accumulated in the capacitor are discharged through the P-type transistor and the second resistance, and the reverse bias is applied to the gate terminal of the IGBT.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 07-131971    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 09-140122

Switch matrix drive circuit for a power element


A new and distinct cultivar of Chaenomeles plant named ‘SMNCSDW’, characterized by its upright to outwardly sprawling plant habit; moderately vigorous growth habit and moderate to rapid growth rate; dark green-colored leaves; freely and continuously flowering from the spring into the autumn; double-type light yellow green-colored flowers that become pure white in color with development; and good garden performance.

The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chaenomeles plant, botanically known as Chaenomeles speciosa, commonly referred to as Flowering Quince, and hereinafter referred to by the name 'SMNCSDW'.
The new Chaenomeles plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new uniform Chaenomeles varieties with durable and healthy foliage and attractive white-colored flowers.
The new Chaenomeles plant originated from an open-pollination in 2014 of an unidentified proprietary Chaenomeles speciosa selection, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown proprietary Chaenomeles speciosa selection as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chaenomeles plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Grand Haven, Mich. in 2016.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chaenomeles plant by softwood cuttings in Grand Haven, Mich. since 2016 has shown that the unique features of this new Chaenomeles plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.


An elevator system includes at least one lithium-ion battery, a temperature sensor (56, 57) operatively coupled to the at least one lithium-ion battery (44), and a lithium-ion battery charging system (50) including a controller (30) having a central processing unit (CPU) (36) interconnected functionally via a system bus to the at least one lithium-ion battery (44) and the temperature sensor (56, 57). The controller (30) further includes at least one memory (38) device thereupon stored a set of instructions which, when executed by the CPU, causes the lithium-ion battery charging system (50) to determine an expected run mode for the elevator system, sense a temperature of the lithium-ion battery (44) through the temperature sensor (56, 57) establishing a sensed temperature, and establish a state of charge (SOC) for the lithium-ion battery based on the sensed temperature and expected run mode of the elevator system.

Exemplary embodiments pertain to the art of elevator systems and, more particularly, to a lithium-ion battery charging system for a battery powered elevator system.
In a given elevator system or environment, one or more sources may be used to provide power. For example, an elevator may be powered by a battery (battery powered elevator system) or may be powered by an external source of electricity coupled with battery power (hybrid elevator power system). In either case, the elevator system includes a battery that provides all or a portion of electrical power for moving an elevator car along a hoistway. Currently, the battery employed in elevator systems typically takes the form of a lead acid battery.

Lithium-ion battery charging system for a battery powered elevator system


The defect detection device includes: an amplification section for amplifying a reflection signal corresponding to the intensity of light reflected from an optical disc according to a control signal indicating recording or playback; an envelope detection section for outputting an envelope of the amplified signal; a first pulse generation section for outputting a pulse when the level of the control signal changes; an integration section for integrating the envelope; a differential signal generation section for receiving the envelope as a first input signal and the integrated results as a second input signal and outputting a differential signal corresponding to the difference between these signals; and a comparison section for comparing the differential signal with a predetermined value and outputting the results as a defect detection signal. The second input signal is changed so as to reduce the possibility that the defect detection signal may indicate the presence of a defect over the duration of the pulse.

The present invention relates to a defect detection device used for an optical disc apparatus and the like for detecting a defect (point where normal write/read operation fails) on an optical disc.
In recent years, in computer systems in which the information amount to be handled has substantially increased, large-capacity, high-speed optical disc apparatuses permitting random access operation have come into widespread use as recording/playback apparatuses for information data. These apparatuses use optical discs such as CD-R (compact disc recordable), CD-RW (CD rewritable), DVD-R/RW (digital versatile disc recordable/rewritable) and DVD-RAM (DVD random access memory), for example, as recording media.
A defect detection device used for an optical disc apparatus as described above generally detects a defect on an optical disc by converging a light beam on the optical disc and detecting a change in the envelope of a signal corresponding to the intensity of light reflected from the optical disc, and outputs a defect detection signal indicating the presence/absence of a defect. The defect detection signal may be used as a signal for holding a preceding value in a servo circuit that controls tracking and focusing servo for the optical disc, or used to obtain an extraction signal for determining a recording-prohibited region of the optical disc using a CPU incorporated in the optical disc apparatus for various controls.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a construction of a conventional defect detection device. FIG. 10 is a graph showing the waveforms of signals used in the defect detection device of FIG. 9. The operation of the defect detection device of FIG. 9 is as follows.
A light beam is converged on an optical disc, and a reflection signal AS corresponding to the intensity of light reflected from the optical disc is input into a variable gain amplifier 902. The variable gain amplifier 902 amplifies the reflection signal AS with a gain corresponding to a recording gate signal WTGT indicating that it is during recording of data into the disc or during playback of data from the disc, to obtain a predetermined amplitude, and outputs the resultant signal to a high-speed envelope detection circuit 940. By this use of the variable gain amplifier 902, it is possible to prevent the difference in the level of light reflected from the disc between during recording and during playback from being detected as a change in envelope.
The high-speed envelope detection circuit 940 detects the envelope of the input signal, and outputs the results to a differential circuit 906 and an integration circuit 960. The integration circuit 960 integrates the output of the high-speed envelope detection circuit 940, and outputs the results to the differential circuit 906. For example, assume that the envelope of the reflection signal AS abruptly changes due to a defect present on an optical disc. An envelope signal EM output from the envelope detection circuit 940, of which the time constant is small, has a waveform following the abrupt change of the envelope, as shown in FIG. 10. On the contrary, an output signal IS of the integration circuit 960 has a smoothly changing waveform, in spite of the abrupt change of the reflection signal AS, as shown in FIG. 10.
The differential circuit 906 outputs a differential signal DF corresponding to the difference between the envelope signal EM and the output signal IS of the integration circuit 960 to a comparator 908. The comparator 908 digitizes the differential signal DF using a signal SD output from a D/A converter 912 as a slice level, to generate and output a defect detection signal DD (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-196853, for example).
However, the device of FIG. 9 fails to eliminate the level difference in reflected light between during recording and during playback due to a variation in the setting of the gain of the variable gain amplifier 902 and other reasons. Therefore, at a shift of the operation for an optical disc from recording to playback or from playback to recording, a level difference arises in the output AP of the variable gain amplifier 902 as shown in FIG. 10.
In particular, when the operation for an optical disc shifts from recording to playback, while the envelope signal EM output from the envelope detection circuit 940 follows the level difference of the reflection signal AS, it takes time for the signal IS, obtained by integrating the envelope signal EM, to follow the level difference. The differential signal DF is therefore higher than the signal SD, and thus a false defect detection signal DD is output over a considerable time period (pulse FS in FIG. 10). As a result, highly stable playback is not achieved. When the operation for an optical disc shifts from playback to recording, correct defect detection is unattainable over a considerable time period although a false defect detection signal DD will not be output.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A device is described which comprise of a thermoelectric unit and an electronic flexible display unit. An application of the device may be the device being mounted on a commercial hot beverage holder, whereby using the thermal energy from the hot beverage to display visual effects on the display unit.

Recently there has been significant improvements in the thermoelectric technology, with new devices becoming commercially available which are smaller, thinner, are more efficient and possess higher figures of merit as previously available.
At the same time, the advancement in display technology has made it commercially possible to obtain display units which are flexible and may conform to specific contours. The drivers and electronic components required for functioning of such displays have been available for years.
It is the object of the present patent application to disclose various novel and useful devices, based on the combination of flexible display technologies and thermoelectric technology.


An experiment analysis system eliminates the need to enter sample information each time an analysis processing unit is activated. The experiment analysis system includes a measurement device for measuring the expression levels of a sample using a reagent, an experiment processing unit for processing measurement data transmitted from the measurement device and creating an experimental result file, and a plurality of analysis processing units for analyzing the experimental results based on the experimental result file. The experiment processing unit transmits the experimental result file, which includes measurement data, an ID code identifying one of the plurality of analysis processing units, and sample information regarding the sample, to the analysis processing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an experiment analysis system for measuring and analyzing expression levels of biomolecules, such as proteins or nucleic acid, in a sample, using a reagent.
2. Background Art
HLA type determination or protein concentration measurement and the like in bone marrow transplantation involves an experiment processing step for obtaining experimental results from measurement data, such as expression levels, outputted from measurement equipment, and an analysis step for analyzing the experimental results. In other words, such determination or measurement involves an experiment processing program for decoding measurement data, such as expression levels, and generating experimental results therefrom, and an analysis program for analyzing the experimental results. Normally, a plurality of analysis programs are prepared for a single experiment processing program, and an optimum analysis program for each experiment is selected. The experiment processing program and the analysis program are separately managed.