A wafer carrier positioning structure including a carrier body having a bottom face and a frame body provided in a peripheral part of the bottom face to project downwardly, for housing a wafer therein so that the wafer is parallel to the bottom face. Further, the wafer positioning structure includes a guide member detachably attached to the bottom face of the carrier body, a guide groove provided in the guide member, for engaging with a positioning pin projecting from a mounting face upon mounting the carrier body to the mounting face, so as to guide the carrier body to a regular mounting position, and a locking portion provided in the guide member, locking to an inside face of the frame body while elastically having contact with the inside face.

The present invention relates to a wafer carrier positioning structure having a precise positioning accuracy.
A wafer carrier positioning structure as illustrated in FIGS. 22, 23 is known (for example, refer to paragraph 0028-0045 and FIGS. 2, 4, JP H11-168136A, and paragraph 0017-0058 and FIG. 1, JP 2005-162263A).
Such a wafer carrier positioning structure includes a carrier body 1 and a lid. The carrier body 1 substantially having a box shape includes at one side thereof an opening 1a through which a semiconductor wafer W as a wafer can be placed in and taken out. The lid opens and closes the opening 1a of the carrier body 1.
The carrier body 1 includes inside thereof a plurality of aligned ribs 1c and 1a bottom face 1b. The bottom face 1b includes three pairs of positioning ribs each having a pair of positioning ribs 3, 3 disposed to be parallel to each other in the radial direction of the semiconductor wafer W. The three pairs of positioning ribs are disposed in the right and left portions of the bottom face 1b on the opening 1a side and the center portion of the peripheral portion of bottom face 1b on the side opposite the opening 1a, so as to be located substantially in the vicinity of apexes of a triangle shape in plan view.
The lower end of each of the positioning ribs 3, 3 includes an inclined plane 3a.
The inclined planes 3a, 3a are formed to oppose each other. In the case of mounting the wafer carrier onto an automatic wafer transfer device 2, each of kinematic couplings 2a as a positioning pin projecting from a mounting face 2b of the device 2 has contact with each pair of the inclined faces 3a, 3a, so as to perform the positioning of the wafer carrier.
The bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1 includes a bottom plate 4 as a guide member. The bottom plate 4 is detachably attached onto the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1 by externally fitting each of guide grooves 4a provided on the bottom plate 4 to each pair of positioning ribs 3, 3.
The lower of each of the guide grooves 4a includes inclined faces 4b, 4b each having an inclined angle which follows the inclined angle of the inclined face 3a.
Next, the operations of the above wafer carrier positioning structure will be explained.
In this wafer carrier positioning structure, when attaching the bottom plate 4 onto the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1, each of the guide grooves 4a of the bottom plate 4 is externally fitted to each pair of the positioning ribs 3, 3 projecting from the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1,
As described above, the inclined planes 4b, 4b formed in the lower peripheral part of the guide groove 4a of the bottom plate 4 have inclined angles which follow the inclined angles of the inclined faces 3a, 3a of the positioning ribs 3, 3.
Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 23, when mounting the carrier body 1 onto the device 2, the kinematic couplings 2a are smoothly guided by the inclined faces 4b, 4b; thereby, the kinematic couplings 2a can be positioned below the inclined faces 3a, 3a.
With the carrier body 1 is located in a regular mounting position of the device 2, the semiconductor wafers W can be precisely placed in and taken out via the opening 1a by means of a robot of an automatic device, without damaging the wafer.
A wafer carrier positioning structure as shown in FIG. 24 is also known (for example, refer to paragraph 0008-0014 and FIGS. 1, 3, JP 2003-524550A).
In this wafer carrier positioning structure, a bottom plate 5 includes a plurality of boss holes 5a. Each of the boss holes 5a is externally fitted to each of boss portions projecting from the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1.
The bottom plate 5 includes a retaining feature 5b which engages with a clamp portion of the device 2.
The retaining feature 5b is used for mounting the carrier body 1 onto the device 2 and also demounting the carrier body 1 from the device 2. For example, in the case of mounting the carrier body 1 onto the device 2, the clamp portion of the device 2 engages with the retaining feature 5b.
In addition, a wafer carrier positioning structure, which directly integrates a portion corresponding to the above guide member into the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1 by means of welding or a screw, is known (for example, refer to paragraph 0016-0036 and FIG. 1, JP 2002-353299A).
However, in the above wafer carrier positioning structure shown in FIG. 22, 23, each of the kinematic couplings 2a has contact with the inclined planes 3a, 3a formed in the lower ends of the positioning ribs 3, 3, so as to support the weight of the carrier body 1 from underneath.
For this reason, there is a problem in that the entire carrier body 1 needs to be changed if the positioning ribs 3, 3 are damaged by the contact of the kinematic couplings 2a.
Since the carrier body 1 houses the semiconductor wafers W, the carrier body 1 requires a structure which is made of a relatively expensive highly-pure resin material and also has an antistatic function. Therefore, it is expensive to change the entire carrier body 1.
Moreover, as illustrated in FIG. 24, in the wafer carrier positioning structure, which fits the boss portions provided in the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1 into the boss holes 5a formed in the bottom plate 5, so as to perform the positioning, the bottom plate 5 can be reliably fastened to the bottom face 1b of the carrier body 1 by tightly fitting the boss portions into the boss holes 5a, while improving the positional accuracy in the directions along the bottom face 1b. However, when attaching the bottom plate 5 onto the bottom face 1b and also detaching the bottom plate 5 from the bottom face 1b, the working property may be decreased, and also when exceeding the tolerance, the bottom plate 5 may be damaged.
Furthermore, in a method for visually confirming a fitting degree, it is difficult to confirm whether the bottom plate 5 is reliably fastened in the inward and outward direction (vertical direction) of the bottom face 1b.
In the wafer carrier positioning structure, which integrates the guide member into the bottom face of the carrier body by means of a screw, the portion corresponding to the guide member may be damaged by the contact of the kinematic couplings 2a. In the case of mounting the carrier body 1 onto the device 2 and demounting the carrier body 1 from the device 2, if the retaining feature 5b is deformed, worn away or damaged, it is necessary to change the entire carrier body 1 or unfasten the screw to fasten a new guide member onto the bottom face of the carrier body.
As described above, in the case of attaching the new guide member, it is necessary to reliably locate the guide member on the bottom face of the carrier body, so as to fasten the guide member onto the bottom face. For this reason, the number of working steps required for changing the guide member is increased. Thus the costs for changing the guide member are increased.
Accordingly, there is a need for a wafer carrier positioning structure capable of easily attaching a guide member to an exact position and also capable of using a carrier body at low cost by changing only a guide member.


A video signal processing system capable of adjusting errors and related methods are introduced. The video signal processing system and related calibration methods utilize the characteristic of periodic breaks of video signals to perform various kinds of calibrations including gain calibration of ADC, offset calibration of ADC, dc-level shifting of input signals, and quatization errors spreading by adding analog random signals to input video signals. The required high accuracy in video signal processing systems is achieved in the present invention with the claimed calibration methods.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a video signal processing system and related method for calibrating an analog to digital converter of the video signal processing system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a video signal processing system and related method for calibrating analog to digital converter when video signals have no content during a horizontal blanking period.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Analog to digital converters (ADC) are utilized broadly in signal processing systems for converting analog signals into digital signals. Calibrations of ADCs are usually accomplished before hardwares of the ADCs leave the factory. However, the performance of ADC is distorted as long as the ADC is used.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram of response of a prior art ADC. In FIG. 1, the transverse axis represents voltage levels of input analog signals, and the vertical axis represents magnitudes of output digits. Line S1 is the ideal response of the prior art ADC, and line S2 is the real response of the prior art ADC after being used for a period of time. First of all, the slopes of line S1 and line S2 are different. Second, the offset of the response of the prior art ADC drifts an amount of D1. These distortions decrease the accuracy of ADCs seriously. Besides, the shifts of dc-level of input signals can also ruin the performance of the ADC.
In video signal processing systems, such as TVs, digital TVs, etc., performance and accuracy of ADCs are very important for the quality of displaying images. Due to the lack of ability to calibrate the ADCs dynamically after the ADCs leave the factory, video signal processing systems can do nothing about the degradation of performance of ADCs.

Video signal processing system including analog to digital converter and related method for calibrating analog to digital converter


A cooktop appliance or griddle assembly may include a cooking platter, a spring-loaded platform, and a sensor body. The cooking platter may define a top surface and a bottom surface. The spring-loaded platform may be mounted below the cooking platter. The sensor body may be attached to the spring-loaded platform in biased conductive engagement with bottom surface.

Cooktop appliances generally include one or more heating zones having heating elements or burners for heating the same. For instance, a griddle defining a cooking surface may be included for cooking food items directly on the cooking surface. Often, a griddle plate or cooking surface is removable from the rest cooktop appliance, such as for easy cleaning.
Increasingly, there is a demand to provide a means for detecting or estimating the temperature of an appliance's cooking surface. In particular, having an accurate measurement of the cooking surface may permit a user to more consistently or effectively cook food items. In some instances, an appliance may include one or more features for automatically controlling heat to the cooking surface based on a detected or estimated temperature (e.g., without direct user input or adjustments to the heat output).
Certain challenges remain with existing cooktop appliances. For instance, it can be difficult to ensure the accuracy of temperature measurements for a cooking surface. It is common for a temperature sensor to be mounted apart from the griddle plate or cooking surface of a griddle. This arrangement may hinder accuracy or precession of any temperature measurements for the cooking surface. Attempts have been made to mount a temperature sensor directly to the griddle plate (e.g., on a bottom surface of the griddle plate). However, such attempts present their own drawbacks. For instance, such arrangements may be cumbersome and interfere with any service or cleaning that requires removing the griddle plate from the rest of the appliance. Additionally or alternatively, existing arrangements may be more easily damaged, such as when a user moves the cooking surface too quickly or too far from the cabinet without detaching the temperature sensor from the griddle plate.
As a result, it would be useful to provide an assembly or appliance addressing one or more of the above issues. For instance, it may be advantageous to provide an assembly or appliance capable of consistently detecting accurate or precise measurements. It may be especially useful if such an assembly or appliance could prevent damage (e.g., to a sensor) or avoid affixing a sensor directly to a cooking surface (i.e., plate or platter defining the same).

Cooktop appliance and sensor assembly for a griddle


In an ink-jet recording pigment ink containing a pigment, water, a water-soluble solvent and a polymer, the polymer is obtained by polymerizing an alkyl-α-(hydroxyalkyl) acrylate monomer represented by the following general formula (1):

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pigment ink to be ejected by an ink-jet recording method. More particularly, it relates to a pigment ink which is less causative of changes in particle diameter of pigment particles and viscosity of inks and has a superior storage stability, even when left at a high temperature over a long period of time.
2. Related Background Art
Inks conventionally used in ink-jet recording have commonly been those composed chiefly of water and making use of, as coloring materials, dyes which are soluble in the chief-component water. In recent years, in order to improve weatherability of recorded images on recording mediums, it is studied to use pigments as coloring materials for ink-jet recording inks. However, since the pigments are not soluble in water base inks, the pigments must stably be dispersed in inks, e.g., by the use of dispersing agents to prevent pigment particles from agglomerating or settling. It, however, is difficult to keep such a pigment dispersed stably over a long period of time. Accordingly, as stated below, various proposals have hitherto been made in order to provide pigment inks having a superior storage stability.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H03-287676, it is proposed to use as a dispersing agent of the pigment a specific anionic surface-active agent. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H08-003500, it is also proposed to use as a dispersing agent a specific water-soluble polymer. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H05-214284, an ink-jet recording ink is disclosed in which an organic solvent is added to improve dispersion stability of the pigment. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-172170, a proposal is made which relates to a pigment modified with a metal compound or an organic compound. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-273383, a pigment is proposed in which a water-soluble pigment derivative is adsorbed on pigment particle surfaces.
Further, as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H08-209045, a proposal is made on improvement of a process for producing a resin-dispersed pigment ink. Also, according to a proposal made in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-262015, the surface tension, viscosity, conductivity and pH value of an ink are controlled within specific ranges to achieve dispersion stability of the pigment ink to a certain extent.
However, in recent years, there is a tendency for the particle diameter of the pigment in ink and the diameter of nozzles through which the ink is ejected, to be made smaller in order that images formed by ink-jet recording can have a higher resolution and a higher grade. Under such circumstances, in order for the pigment ink to be stably ejected, it is necessary to improve the dispersion stability and storage stability of the pigment so that the pigment can be prevented from agglomerating or settling over a much longer period of time.

Abstract: wherein R1 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and R2 represents any one selected from a straight-chain or branched alkyl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms, a cycloalkyl group having 4 to 6 carbon atoms and a phenyl group.


For an optical sensor, a simple approach to obtain a mapping function that transforms sensor coordinates of a generic imaging system to coordinates of a virtual, projective camera. The sensor plane of this virtual camera is established using a planar calibration object and does not require known features on the object. Two in-plane motions are sufficient to establish the distortion-free virtual camera. The sensor plane of the virtual projective camera is used to calibrate all subsequent images obtained by the optical sensor. For a generic sensor, the present method is a simple approach to obtain a mapping function that transforms sensor measurements into a virtual sensor system. The virtual sensor system is established using a uniform bias. The virtual sensor system is used to calibrate all subsequent measurements obtained by the sensor.

A problem familiar to every engineer is that many physical quantities cannot be measured directly. Instead, the response g(x) of a measurement system, such as a sensor, to physical quantities x is measured. Here, the term "sensor" refers to any system with response g(x) to a physical quantity x. For an optical system, the "sensor" may be any combination of lenses, mirrors, prisms, filters and physical sensing elements that comprise the imaging system. Thus, the relationship between the physical quantity and the response function for the sensor may not be linear. For best results, the sensor must be calibrated by linearizing the reponse to produce the calibrated output. Calibration requires the determination of the inverse of g.
Typically, calibration functions are determined by providing the sensor with a series of known inputs xi while recording the corresponding output of the measurement system gi. This approach works well if the system response g(x) is very nearly linear or of low order, and the system can be excited with accurate knowledge of xi. If g(x) is not well characterized by a low-order function, a direct calibration will require a substantial number of calibration pairs (g(xi),xi) to establish the local variations of g. Furthermore, the requirement to know the input x accurately is not always practical. Thus, there remains a need for an easier way to calibrate a sensor.

Calibrated sensor and method for calibrating same


An electronic apparatus of the present invention includes an operating portion formed by a non-conductive material, a rotating plate configured to rotate in accordance with a rotational operation of the operating portion, a substrate including a first sensing electrode whose capacitance changes by a touch operation to the operating portion and a plurality of second sensing electrodes whose potential changes by a rotation of the rotating plate on a surface different from a surface on which the first sensing electrode is disposed, and a detector configured to detect the capacitance of the first sensing electrode and the rotational operation of the operating portion based on an output from the plurality of second sensing electrodes. A protruding portion that protrudes toward the first sensing electrode is formed on the operating portion, and the protruding portion is formed on a lightening portion on a back side of the operating portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a digital camera and, in particular, relates to the electronic apparatus having an operating portion such as an electric dial.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some electronic apparatuses such as digital cameras have an electric dial as an operating portion that changes set values of shutter speed, an aperture, and ISO sensitivity as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-119519. The electric dial has a dial portion capable of rotating operation, and a dial substrate that rotates with the dial portion. The dial substrate contacts with an armature, and a rotational operation of the dial portion is detected when an electrode formed on the dial substrate contacts the armature by the rotating operation of the dial portion. Moreover, a click mechanism is provided on the electric dial, and users feel a click feeling when the dial portion is rotationally operated.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157154 discloses an electronic apparatus that has a fingerprint detection input device and is operated by sliding on the fingerprint detection input device at user's fingertips.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-119519, since the electric dial has the click mechanism, click sound is recorded by rotationally operating the click portion while taking a movie picture when sound is recorded simultaneously so as to change the set values such as an aperture, shutter speed (storage time), and ISO sensitivity.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157154, sliding noise is recorded by changing the set values such as an aperture, shutter speed (storage time), and ISO sensitivity while taking a movie picture when sound is recorded simultaneously since user slides on the fingerprint detection input device at user's fingertips.


The present invention is a cleaning device assembly for vehicle tires, including a disposable cleaning cartridge, a shell, a connecting arm, and means for securing the connecting arm to a vehicle. The cleaning cartridge fits snugly over a vehicle tires, and is adjustable to accommodate tires of various widths. The cartridge includes a bristle brush or sponge liner for removing debris from a tire, and is secured to the shell with an adhesive or other means. The shell is adjustable relative to the connecting arm, which is further adjustable relative to the vehicle on which the invention is mounted.

In connection with the operation and use of a number of wheeled vehicles there are often problems encountered due to the tendency of the tires of such vehicles to pick up debris in one location and move the debris into other locations where it is not desired. Removal of the debris using conventional means including manual removal is often time consuming and laborious.


Process for preparing 2,2-difluoroethylamine derivatives, wherein compounds of the general formula (IV) are reduced to the corresponding 2,2-difluoroethylamine derivatives of the general formula (III), where the A radical is as defined in the description:

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparing 4-amino-but-2-enolides and corresponding intermediates or starting compounds which are passed through or used in the process according to the invention. The present invention further provides processes for preparing the intermediates and starting compounds in question.
Description of Related Art
Particular substituted 4-aminobut-2-enolide compounds are known as insecticidally active compounds from EP 0 539 588 A1. In addition, International Patent Applications WO 2007/115644, WO 2007/115643 and WO 2007/115646 describe corresponding insecticidally active 4-aminobut-2-enolide compounds.
In general, enaminocarbonyl compounds are synthesized from tetronic acid and an amine according to the following scheme 1. This procedure is described, for example, in EP 0 539 588 A1 and in Heterocycles Vol. 27, No. 8, pages 1907 to 1923 (1988).

A disadvantage of this process is more particularly that anhydrous tetronic acid is required as a starting compound, the preparation of which is inconvenient and costly.
For instance, tetronic acid is generally prepared proceeding from ethyl acetoacetate via a bromination and subsequent hydrogenation (cf. Synthetic Communication, 11(5), pages 385 to 390 (1981)). The total yield of tetronic acid proceeding from ethyl acetoacetate is less than 40%, which makes the process relatively unattractive from an industrial point of view.
CH Patent 503 722 describes a further process for preparing tetronic acid. In this process, ethyl 4-chloroacetoacetate is reacted with an aromatic amine to give 3-arylaminocrotonolactone and then the tetronic acid is released by treatment with mineral acids. The disadvantage of this process is that the isolation of the tetronic acid is possible only by high-vacuum sublimation, which also makes this process relatively unattractive from an industrial point of view.
A further process for preparing tetronic acid is described in EP 0 153 615 A, in which the starting materials are 2,4-dichloroacetoacetic esters. This likewise multistage and complicated process likewise affords the desired compound only with a moderate overall yield of 65%.
Tetrahedron Letters, No. 31, pages 2683 and 2684 (1974) describes the preparation of tetronic acid and a corresponding enaminocarbonyl compound. The synthesis described there is reproduced in scheme 2 which follows. The reactant used is dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate.

A disadvantage of this process is the low overall yield of only 30% and the requirement to have to use costly reactants, for example lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH4), as reagents.
Also disclosed in the prior art is a process for preparing 4-aminobut-2-enolides proceeding from methyl tetronate (J. Heterocyclic Chem., 21, 1753 (1984)). For this process, the starting material used is the costly 4-bromo-3-methoxybut-3-enecarboxylic ester.
A further process proceeds from a 4-chloroacetoacetic ester, which is reacted with amines (Heterocycles, Vol. 27, No. 8, 1988, pages 1907 to 1923). The reaction to give the aminofuran is carried out in one step. The amine is added with glacial acetic acid to a solution of 4-chloroacetoacetic ester in benzene and the resulting mixture is heated under reflux for several hours. The yields of 4-methylamino-2(5H)-furanone in this synthesis are only 40%.
EP 0 123 095 A discloses a process in which tetronamide is prepared from 3-amino-4-acetoxycrotonic ester. 3-Amino-4-acetoxycrotonic ester is costly and inconvenient to prepare, and so an economically viable synthesis with this process is not possible.
A further process for preparing tetronic acid proceeding from malonic esters and chloroacetyl chloride is known from J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1 (1972), No. 9/10, pages 1225 to 1231. This process affords the desired target compound with a yield of only 43%.
The aforementioned International Patent Application WO 2007/115644 describes the preparation of 4-aminobut-2-enolides, for example of 4- [[(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl](3,3-dichloroprop-2-en-1-yl)amino]furan-2(5H)-one by reaction of 4- [[(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl]amino]furan-2(5H)-one with 3-bromo-1,1-dichloroprop-1-ene (cf. preparation example, process 2, Example (3)). WO 2007/115644 also describes the preparation of 4-aminobut-2-enolides, for example of 4-[[(6-chloropyridin-3 -yl)methyl](3,3-dichloroprop-2-en-1-yl)amino]furan-2(5H)-one by reaction of 4-[[(2-fluoroethyl)amino]furan-2(5H)-one with 2-chloro-5-chloromethylpyridine (cf. preparation examples, process 3, Example (4)). The reactions are preferably carried out with hydrides of lithium or of sodium. These substrates are generally costly and can simultaneously be handled only with difficulty for safety reasons.

Method for preparing 4-aminobut-2-enolides


A system and method for automating workflow and performing root cause analysis for enforcement events is presented. The system can enable accurate detection of an enforcement event and identifies the root cause of such events. The system can provide a user with an interface to monitor the enforcement event by collecting a list of data characterizing the enforcement event, as well as analyze the data to evaluate what is the root cause of the enforcement event. The system can extract critical information from train system logs of the train using an extraction model to generate a window of activity providing an analysis model with a comprehensive scope to analyze the enforcement event. The system can give the user robust and accurate information of the root cause of the enforcement event.

Managing a fleet of trains is a complex system of systems. Determining the root cause of an event that triggers a train in the fleet to come to a complete stop can be a time-consuming, laborious task. The series of components involved in this system of systems makes it virtually impossible to rely on a single source of data to identify and resolve the issue. Organizations that manage fleets of trains can quickly become overwhelmed by the number of events that occurred across the network of trains not to mention the amount of time needed to identify the root cause of the event, document the major points of the event, and notify the appropriate personnel. Manual analysis of train events can take hours to identify the root cause and days to resolve. Adding to the complexity are Positive Train Control (PTC) systems that can generate myriad braking events related to a single train's operation. For example, when a train is in danger of exceeding its lined authority or going over its promulgated speed, it initiates a PTC penalty application affecting the speed of the train—known as a PTC or brake event.
While organizational methods and personnel can be useful in identifying and managing root cause analyses about train events, the inspection process is still typically a manual endeavor. Railroad personnel are still required to inspect those fleets and make the final decision as to the cause of the train event. Such personnel can misclassify events, improperly document train system logs, and require periodic training. Most events usually require approximately one hour in manual analysis to conduct a root cause analysis, and some more than a full day. Additionally, the root cause can result from a variety of factors such as a dropped signal, an issue with the train, a hardware or software issue, or human error. If the root cause of an enforcement was due to a signal or field issue, the railroad could incur multiple enforcements at that same location as other trains attempt to pass. With such a complex system, manual inspection of a fleet of trains is insufficient.

Automated positive train control event data extraction and analysis engine and method therefor


A system and method for processing data using a bubble clustering algorithm are presented. In the system and method, a set of data is formatted for processing. A set of business objects containing the formatted data is grouped into a smaller set of bubbles, each bubble comprising a container that provides only statistical information about the business objects therein. The bubbles are then clustered based on a nearest neighbor similarity, and a visualization of the clustered bubbles is generated.

This disclosure relates generally to computer-based mechanisms for processing data sets, and more particularly to techniques for precisely executing processes on large data sets.
Many information processing applications involve statistical ranking or classification of large numbers of objects. These objects are represented by large volumes of structured data organized in relational tables that include attributes with values, which are typically numerical. The attribute values describe the objects. The statistical ranking or classification of objects is performed on the basis of the values of these attributes.
Objects so understood are typical of business applications where objects such as products or sales orders have attributes such as price or date with numerical values, and the data describing these objects is typically stored in relational databases. Applications dealing with such objects may often need to cluster the objects for the purposes of classification or ranking. For large numbers of objects, it is of great practical importance to use efficient clustering algorithms in order to economize on the computational resources required to implement those algorithms.


In a tracheostomy tube structure, a neckplate of the tube structure and on elbow dis-connectible from the structure, the steps include providing flexible band means, attaching the band means to the neckplate, extending the band means to retain the elbow, and tightening the band means to hold the elbow against inadvertent disconnection from the tube structure.

This invention relates generally to use of tracheostomy tubes and associated equipment; and more particularly is addressed to the problem of inadvertent disconnection of elements of such equipment which can lead to unwanted interruption of breathing. This problem becomes acute when the patient cannot reconnect the disconnected elements.
According to a report produced by Arthur D. Little Inc. for the FDA in 1986, there is an on going problem of accidental breathing systems disconnections. Among the conclusions in this report was the determination that no adequate anti-disconnection devices were currently available.
Recently, in 1991 Progress Notes, a noted respiratory publication stated that the problem of accidental disconnections still exists. Suggestions were made, including the use of A.D.s (anti-disconnects).
Available A.D. systems have some fundamental flaws or draw backs that would be likely to prevent their acceptance by users. In particular, the flaws in most systems include:
1. they are cumbersome, PA0 2. they are difficult to manipulate, PA0 3. they require two-handed operation.
The current "state of the art" in anti-disconnect devices involves the use of rubberbands, which present the following problems:
1. They are difficult to apply to tracheostomy tubes.
2. In "single-limb" circuits the use of rubberbands increases the possibility of morbidity and mortality. This is caused by the possibility of disconnect and inadvertent cancellation of the lowpressure alarm. This is directly related to the use and failure of the rubberbands.
Their removal requires two handed manipulation.

Anti-disconnect apparatus and method, for breathing systems


An input circuit is provided that can identify three states of an external signal without complicated voltage adjustment and that can reduce the power consumption in a standby state. The input circuit includes: four resistor elements serially provided between different fixed potentials; an input terminal connected to a connection point of two of the resistor elements; a switching transistor controlled to turn on and off by a voltage at a connection point of two of the resistor elements; a current supplying circuit outputting a supply current when the switching transistor is on and not outputting the supply current when the switching transistor is off; a constant voltage generating circuit receiving the supply current to output a constant voltage; a constant voltage output buffering circuit that brings its output into a high-impedance state when the switching transistor is off, and that receives the constant voltage to output a prescribed voltage to a connection point of two of the resistor elements when the switching transistor is on; a switching transistor controlled to turn on and off by a voltage between opposing ends of the resistor element; and a combinational circuit outputting identify signals based on combinations of on and off states of the two switching transistors.

An input circuit in a semiconductor integrated circuit device generally identifies two states, i.e., high and low levels of an external signal. There is also an input circuit designed to be capable of identifying three states, i.e., high, intermediate and low levels of an external signal in order to reduce the terminals of the semiconductor device for reducing the package costs (for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-104664 (Patent Document 1)).
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a schematic configuration of an input circuit of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-104664 (Patent Document 1). Referring to the drawing, an input circuit 101 includes a comparator 103, a comparator 104 and a combinational circuit 105.
Comparator 103 and comparator 104 compare an external signal IN from an input terminal 102 with their respective compare reference voltages VREF1 and VREF2.
Combinational circuit 105 outputs identify signals OUT1 and OUT2 based on the outputs from comparators 103 and 104.
Compare reference voltage VREF1 is lower than compare reference voltage VREF2. If the voltage of external signal IN is lower than compare reference voltage VREF1, then identify signal OUT1 attains a high level while identify signal OUT2 attains a low level. If the voltage of external signal IN is at a level between compare reference voltage VREF 1 and compare reference voltage VREF 2, then identify signal OUT1 attains a low level while identify signal OUT2 attains a high level. If the voltage of external signal IN is higher than compare reference voltage VREF2, then identify signal OUT1 attains a low level while identify signal OUT2 attains a low level. With such a configuration, input circuit 101 can identify three states, i.e., high, intermediate and low levels of external signal IN.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-104664


Disclosed are methods for designing semiconductor devices, conductive layer patterns, and interconnection layer patterns including the operations of analyzing an initial semiconductor design layout to identify excessive open spaces between adjacent conductive elements or lines within an interconnection layer pattern, selecting or generating a dummy pattern to fill a portion of the open space, and generating a modified semiconductor design layout that incorporates the dummy pattern into first interconnection layer pattern to reduce the open space.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has continued to experience rapid growth with technological advances in IC materials and design producing successive generations of ICs, each new generation having smaller geometries and more complex circuits than the previous generation. The complexity of the associated layout, device structures, and manufacturing processes for producing each new generation of ICs has increased correspondingly to achieve the designed functional density.
The performance of advanced patterning and etching processes associated with metal patterning are affected by density gradient effects (DGE) associated with the specific IC device layout configuration being manufactured. Consideration and adjustment of the relative location and spacing of the main conductive lines or main conductive pattern (those portions of lines or lines of a conductive pattern that carry signals and/or power in the completed IC device) using dummy conductive patterns (those portions or lines of a conductive pattern that will not carry signals and/or power in the completed IC device) mitigates some of the DGE and improves the uniformity and performance of the resulting ICs.

Track-based fill (TBF) method for metal patterning

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


Provided is a production method which is capable of efficiently producing an alkanediol glycidyl ether (meth)acrylate with high purity and high yield without requiring a troublesome purification process. A method for producing an alkanediol glycidyl ether (meth)acrylate, which comprises: a step wherein a vinyloxyalkyl glycidyl ether is subjected to a devinylation reaction in the presence of an acid catalyst and water; and a subsequent step wherein an esterification reaction is carried out.

Alkanediol glycidyl ether (meth)acrylates are useful raw materials for paints, coatings, adhesives, and UV-curable resins for electronic materials. A conventional method for producing an alkanediol glycidyl ether (meth)acrylate usually includes allowing an alkanediol to react with an epihalohydrin in the presence of an alkali hydroxide to produce a complex of glycidyl ethers, subjecting the complex to purification processes such as extraction and distillation to yield an alkanediol monoglycidyl ether, and then subjecting the product to esterification reaction. In such a method, purification processes such as extraction with a solvent and distillation are essential, and finally, depending on the condition of the reaction and the purification, difunctional reactive group-containing compounds such as di(meth)acrylate and diglycidyl ether remain as impurities. When such a compound containing impurities is used in the production of paints, coatings, adhesives, or other materials, a crosslinking reaction often occurs, so that the desired properties cannot be obtained in many cases.
To solve the problems, studies have been made on purification methods for efficiently producing an alkanediol monoglycidyl ether (Patent Literatures 1 and 2). However, such methods have a problem such as insufficient removal of impurities or low yield.

Method for producing alkanediol monoglycidyl ether (meth)acrylate


A mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal includes a display module mounted to a terminal body, and having a window coupled thereto; a fixing unit configured to couple the window and the display module to each other; and a case covering one side surface of the display module, and forming an appearance of the terminal body, wherein the fixing unit extends from one point between the window and the display module, to a side surface of the display module, such that the display module is coupled to the case.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a coupling structure between a display and a terminal body.
Description of Related Art
As a mobile terminal becomes multifunctional, the mobile terminal can be allowed to capture still images or moving images, play music or video files, play games, receive broadcast, etc., so as to be implemented as an integrated multimedia player.
Terminals can be divided into mobile/portable terminals and stationary terminals according to their mobility. The mobile terminal is a portable device that can be carried anywhere and have one or more of a function of performing voice and video calls, a function of inputting/outputting information, a function of storing data, etc.
In order to support and enhance such functions of the terminal, it can be considered to improve the configuration and/or software of the terminal.
Recently, a display is provided on a front surface of the mobile terminal for a simpler appearance and a more convenient user interface. Especially, as a multimedia function of the mobile terminal is considered to be important, a mobile terminal capable of displaying a larger screen on the same area has been spotlighted. Accordingly, a structure of a mobile terminal capable of minimizing an area of a bezel portion on a display may be considered.


A compact authentication device that prevents user from feeling pressure and is strong against external light, when capturing an image of a finger blood vessel pattern with transmitted light. The device includes a guidance part for determining the finger position, a light source disposed on at least one side of the guidance part to emit light to be transmitted though the finger, an image capture part for capturing the transmitted light, a shading unit for limiting an irradiation region of the light, a finger thickness measuring unit, a unit for controlling a light amount of the light source based on a result of the measurement, a unit for recording registered image patterns of the finger, a unit for collating a captured image pattern from the image capture part with the registered patterns, and a unit for controlling different processing according to the collation result.

The present invention relates to a personal authentication device using a living body, and in particular a living body personal authentication device based on a blood vessel pattern of a finger.
As a highly convenient security method that does not require to carry a key or the like and reduces the risk of illegal use due to loss or a theft, living body authentication using a part of a personal body, such as a fingerprint, iris, or a blood vessel pattern, as a key is attracting attention. Among them, an authentication method using a blood vessel pattern brings about little rejection symptom. Because the authentication method does not remind us of crime investigation unlike the fingerprint, and an eyeball is not directly exposed to light unlike the iris. Furthermore, since the blood vessel pattern is not a living body surface, which can be easily absorbed, but is an internal feature, the authentication method using the blood vessel pattern has an advantage that forgery is difficult.
Such a blood vessel pattern within a living body is obtained by illuminating a subject region with a infrared light source and capturing an image thereof with an image capture system, such as a camera or an image sensor, having sensitivity to infrared light. Since hemoglobin in blood absorbs infrared light well, light is absorbed in the blood vessel portion and the blood vessel portion appears dark in the image as compared with peripheral tissues. A pattern obtained by a difference between the brightness and darkness becomes the blood vessel pattern.
There are two methods for capturing an image of the blood vessel pattern. One of the two methods is a reflection method of capturing reflected light. The other of the two methods is a transmission method of capturing transmitted light obtained by illumination from the back. Such an authentication device is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2002-083298.
In the reflection method, the light source and an image capture system can be disposed on the same side as one body. Thus, the reflection method has an advantage that the device is housed compactly and the space located acros's the finger from the device is not occupied, resulting in openness. In the case where reflected light is captured, however, light emitted from the light source is reflected by the epidermis not a little. The strength of light that arrives at the vicinity of the blood vessel located in the subcuteneous tissue, which is located under the epidermis, and is reflected becomes relatively weak. Therefore, the captured image lacks pattern clearness. As a result, it is difficult to obtain a pattern having repeatability, unless the blood vessel is clear to such a degree that visual recognition is possible even under the visible light, like a vein located in back of a hand having thin epidermis. This means that the pattern can be reproduced easily, and there is a serious problem as a security technique in the aspect of forgery resistance. In addition, because of the property that reflection of light from the epidermis is intense, the influence of a change of the skin surface, such as an injury, skin chapping, or wrinkles, on the captured image is inevitably great.
On the other hand, in the transmission method, there is a limit in the thickness of a living body through which light can be transmitted. However, light emitted from the light source and reflected by the epidermis is returned only to the light source side, and the image capture system is not affected. The finger has just a thickness through which light can be transmitted. In particular, as for the blood vessel pattern located on the palm side, the blood vessel itself is thin, and the epidermis is also thick as compared with the back. Even if an image of the blood vessel pattern is captured by a camera, therefore, the transmission method is excellent in forgery resistance.
For capturing the transmitted light, however, it is necessary to interpose the finger between the light source and the image capture system. If the light source part, the finger, and the camera part are arranged in a vertical straight line in the cited order as shown in FIG. 9, therefore, the light source part hides the finger as if it is a cover, when seen from the position of the eye at the time of operation. The authenticating user feels pressure because the user cannot see the finger. Furthermore, if an operation button or the like is disposed in the finger tip position, the user might waver in grasping the button position. On the other hand, if the light source part, the finger, and the camera part are arranged in a horizontal straight line as shown in FIG. 10, then there isn't anything, such as a cover, for hiding the top portion, and the finger can be seen from the viewpoint position. However, there is a problem that the hand that can be used for authentication is limited to the left hand or the right hand according to the position relation between the light source and the camera. FIG. 10 shows the case where the light source is disposed on the right side. If the hand is the right hand, then it is easy to turn the palm side of the finger toward the camera part. In the case of the left hand, however, it is necessary to forcibly wrench the arm to turn the palm side toward the camera part. In other words, in an authentication device having a camera part on the left side and a light source part on the right side, authentication other than that using the right hand is not practical. In the case of the opposite arrangement, authentication using the left hand is compelled. Of course, it is conceivable to prepare two sets each including a light source and a camera, symmetrically so as to be associated with the right hand and left hand, respectively. However, there are many problems, such as a cost increase and necessity of camera switching.
As a solution to the problems, a method shown in FIG. 12 is conceivable. In this method, the light source, the finger and the image capture system are arranged in a vertical direction, but they are not arranged simply in the vertical direction. Light sources are disposed obliquely above the finger in the tilted state. As a result, the finger is not hidden from the eye position at the time of operation and the feeling of pressure can be mitigated, as compared with the conventional vertical alignment method shown in FIG. 11. In addition, it is not necessary to limit the hand to be used for authentication to the left or right hand.
Even if the light sources are disposed obliquely above the finger, however, side walls for supporting the light sources having the conventional height are needed, and feeling of pressure is left not a little. In addition, the size of the entire device scarcely changes. Of course, if the side walls are made lower, then the feeling of pressure is eliminated. Even in this case, light emitted from the light source to side faces of the finger is scattered inside, and consequently the light also reaches the palm side of the finger, which is not on the straight line in the incidence direction. In other words, transmitted light exists on the palm side of the finger in the same way as the case where the light source is disposed on the back side of the finger. If the light sources are disposed in low positions, however, light strikes directly palm side portions and the light is reflected. For the same reason as that in the reflection method, it becomes difficult to obtain a blood vessel pattern from each of the palm side portions. Since the amount of light reflected by the side face of the finger is large, regions in which the brightness is saturated at its maximum value are formed in the captured image and parts of the blood vessel pattern are lost, as shown in FIG. 13 as a typical example. If the output strength of the light sources is adjusted, then the area of each of the saturated regions can be restrained to be small. In that case, however, the light amount reaching the vicinity of the center on the palm surface of the finger conversely becomes insufficient, resulting in a problem that the blood vessel pattern cannot be obtained. In other words, unless the ratio of the reflected light to the transmitted light is suitably adjusted, a correct blood vessel pattern is not obtained. If the side walls are low, then external light other than the light emitted from the light sources also strikes directly the side face of the finger sideward or obliquely. This becomes a cause of aggravation in the authentication performance under the strong external light, such as the setting sunlight.


In the method, trenches are etched and, in between, bit lines (8) are in each case arranged on doped source/drain regions (3, 4). Storage layers (5, 6, 7) are applied and gate electrodes (2) are arranged at the trench walls. After the introduction of polysilicon, which is provided for the gate electrodes (2), into the trenches, the top side is ground back in a planarizing manner until the top side of the covering layer (16) is reached, and afterward a polysilicon layer (18), which is provided for the word lines, is applied over the whole area and patterned to form the word lines.

Extremely small nonvolatile memory cells are required for a very large scale integration density in multimedia applications. The further development of semiconductor technology is making possible increasingly larger storage capacities, which will very soon open up the gigabit range. However, while the minimum feature size determined by the lithography continues to decrease, other parameters, such as, e.g., the thickness of the tunnel oxide, can no longer be scaled correspondingly. The decrease in the channel length, which accompanies the structural miniaturization in the case of planar transistors, requires an increase in the channel doping in order to avoid the occurrence of a voltage breakdown—referred to as punch-through—between source and drain. This leads to an increase in the threshold voltage, which is usually compensated for by reducing the thickness of the gate oxide.
However, planar SONOS memory cells (see Boaz Eitan U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,192, U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,725 and WIPO Patent Publication 99/60631) that are programmable by means of channel hot electrons and erasable by hot holes require a control dielectric having a thickness equivalent to a gate oxide. This thickness cannot be reduced arbitrarily, however, without the number of executable programming cycles ("endurance" of the memory cell) decreasing in an unacceptable manner. Therefore, a sufficiently large channel length is necessary in order that the dopant concentration in the channel does not have to be chosen to be excessively high, because otherwise the threshold voltage rises too much.
The publication by J. Tanaka et al.: "A Sub-0.1-μm Grooved Gate MOSFET with High Immunity to Short-Channel Effects" in IEDM 93, pp. 537–540 (1993) describes a transistor on a p+-type substrate, in which the gate electrode is arranged in a trench between the n+-type source region and the n+-type drain region and a curved channel region is thus formed in the substrate.
The publication by K. Nakagawa et al.: "A Flash EEPROM Cell with Self-Aligned Trench Transistor & Isolation Structure" in 2000 IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology digest of Technical Papers describes a transistor as memory cell with a floating gate electrode which is arranged between the n+-type source region and the n+-type drain region in a manner such that it reaches right into a p-type well of the substrate. A dielectric layer made of an oxide-nitride-oxide layer sequence is situated between the floating gate electrode and the control gate electrode.

Method for fabricating an NROM memory cell array

Infineon Technologies Flash GmbH & Co. KG


A bicycle gear-shift actuator having an articulated quadrilateral support with four connecting rods hinged together by four pin elements, and a motor member, having a variable length output shaft that travels along a drive axis between two opposite pin elements to move them for deforming the articulated quadrilateral. Preferably, the drive axis perfectly intersects the pin axis of at least one of the two pin elements.

In the prior art, the actuator comprises an articulated quadrilateral mechanism (typically an articulated parallelogram) with four connecting rods hinged together according to four pin axes by four pin elements, in which the first connecting rod is integrally fixed to the bicycle frame, the second connecting rod (opposite to the first connecting rod in the articulated quadrilateral) is fixed to a support for the gear-shift derailleur; the deformation of the articulated quadrilateral determines the displacement of the derailleur and therefore the gear-change.


A computer extracts important terms, phrases or sentences from a document that it segments. The computer generates a square sum matrix from the document segments. The computer determines the importance of a given term, phrase or sentence on the basis of eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the matrix. The computer thereby selects the important terms, phrases or sentences related to the central concepts of the document.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for automatically extracting an important item, e.g., words, phrases, and/or sentences from a document, and more particularly to such a method and apparatus wherein the importance of the items is determined from eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a square sum matrix of segments of the documents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Considerable research and development have been made in the field of document and information searching for automatically extracting important items, e.g., words, phrases and sentences, from a document in the field of document and information search. Techniques for such automatic extraction are roughly divided into heuristic and static approaches.
The heuristic approach uses document headline information, in-document positional information, and cue expression. The document headline information method is based on the concept that "the document title or headline, briefly expressing document content, includes important terms." The important terms are obtained by excluding from the terms in the headline or title unimportant terms such as articles and prepositions. The heuristic method is premised on the existence of a title or headline, and is not applicable to a document which does not include a title or headline.
The in-document positional information method relies on the fact that an important sentence is intentionally written in the initial part of a newspaper article or the like, such that important terms are extracted from a sentence at the front part of an article. This method can be used only if it is known in advance where the important part of a document is, as in a newspaper article.
The cue expression method is premised on an important sentence beginning with a particular phrase, e.g. "as a result." In the cue expression method, such a particular phrase is extracted by natural-language processing so the range of extracted important terms is limited to sentences including such phrases. The cue extraction method can not be applied to works or paragraphs that do not have such a premised cue expression.
In the well-known statistical approach method, an important term is defined as a frequently occurring term in an object document. This method uses in-document occurrence frequency (tf) as a measure of importance. A problem with this method is that the high-frequency term in a document is not necessarily an important term. A so-called tf-idf model has been developed to solve the problem. The tf-idf model is based on the concept that a term occurring in many documents is less important and importance of a term is inversely proportional to the number of documents including the term, and that importance of the term in a particular document is directly proportional to the occurrence of the term in the document. The expression "tf-idf" is defined as the product of tf and idf, where idf is the inverse of df, and df is the number of documents including the term in a corpus in which the object document is included. This model is a well-known approach. However, because the definition is based on the product of in-corpus term importance and in-document term importance, there still remains a problem of how to accurately define in-document importance.
When a document is given as mentioned above, it is important how in-document importance of each term is determined. The calculation of in-document importance is premised on using only the information contained in a given document. The foregoing term importance within a corpus is a quantity related to the probability for a term to occur in one document. On the other hand, since in-document importance must be obtained within one document, in-document importance should be a measure of the extent to which the term represents the document content, i.e. document concept. Accordingly, during extraction of important terms/phrases from a document, terms/phrases representative of concepts of the document take top priority. For this reason, it is necessary that extraction of central concepts of a document lead to a grasp of the relationship between a term/phrase and the central concept of the document. In the conventional methods, however, it is not necessarily clear to what degree an extracted important term/phrase reflects central concepts of a document. Accordingly, it often happens that terms/phrases irrelevant to a document concept are regarded as important or that terms/phrases which merely have a high frequency are extracted as important terms/phrases.

Method of extracting important terms, phrases, and sentences

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An oven appliance includes a cabinet and a chamber defined within the cabinet for receipt of food items for cooking. A door is rotatably mounted to the cabinet by a hinge. The oven appliance also includes a first cable extending within the cabinet and a second cable extending within the door. The hinge includes a door removal bracket which is movable between a locked position where the door is locked to the cabinet by the hinge and an unlocked position where the door is removable from the cabinet. The door removal bracket is connected to one of the first cable and the second cable such that the first cable and the second cable are disconnected by moving the door removal bracket from the locked position to the unlocked position.

Oven appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a cooking chamber for cooking food items therein, such as by baking or broiling the food items. To heat the cooking chamber for cooking, oven appliances include one or more heating elements positioned at a top portion, a bottom portion, or both the top portion and the bottom portion of the cooking chamber. Some oven appliances also include a convection heating element and fan for convection cooking cycles. The heating element or elements may be used for various cycles of the oven appliance, such as a preheat cycle, a cooking cycle, or a self-cleaning cycle.
Oven appliances generally include a door rotatably mounted to the cabinet for selectively enclosing or providing access to the cooking chamber. Additionally, user controls or other user interface elements may be provided on or in the door. For example, a camera or touchscreen may be provided. Such elements may be connected to a controller of the oven appliance by a cord or cable. Typically, the door may be removable from the cabinet. However, removing the door may damage the cable connecting the user interface elements on or in the door to the controller.
Accordingly, an oven appliance with features for removing the door and automatically disconnecting a cable therein would be desirable.

Automatic disconnect for cable in oven appliance door


A catalyst composition for polymerizing olefins to polymers having bimodal molecular weight distribution comprises two transition metal-containing metallocene compounds, a magnesium compound, an alcohol, an aluminum containing co-catalyst and a polymeric support. The transition metal in one of the metallocene compounds is zirconium and the transition metal in the second metallocene compound is selected from the group consisting of titanium, vanadium and hafnium. Polyolefin polymers made using the catalyst composition have broad molecular weight distributions and are useful in film and blow molding applications.

A bimodal or a multimodal molecular weight distribution in certain resins indicates that the resin is comprised of at least two polymers of different molecular weights, more specifically, polymers of relatively higher and lower molecular weights. U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,873 found that the physical blending of different polymers having high and low molecular weights can lead to the formation of gel. Resins with biomodal or multimodal molecular weight distribution can also be produced using the melt blending technique described by Cozewith et al in WO 86/03756. However, such methods are expensive, cumbersome and time consuming.
Kuroda et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,369, Kato et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,592 and Raufast in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,094 describe processes employing two reactors operating in series at different hydrogen concentrations to produce resin containing both high and low molecular weight polymer. In comparison to the bimodal resin produced by the physical blending of high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) resin, blends produced in these tandem processes were found to have an improved film appearance.
It is also known to use a single reactor containing blends of catalysts with different propagation and termination rate constants for ethylene polymerization for the production of broad or multi-modal molecular weight distribution polymer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,914 describes the use of a homogeneous catalyst system consisting of two different metallocenes for the production of broad molecular weight distribution and/or multi-modal molecular weight distribution polyolefin. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,937,299 and 4,522,982 also describes homogeneous catalyst systems containing two or more metallocenes to produce blends of polymers with different molecular weights.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,701,432; 5,070,055; 5,032,562; 5,183,867; 5,525,678; 5,539,076; 5,614,456 and 5,882,750 describe silica-supported catalyst systems containing different active centers. The catalyst systems described in these patents are complicated and expensive, requiring for example expensive and troublesome aluminoxanes in their preparation. Further, silica supports which are suitable for these catalysts are prepared using spray drying or re-crystallization processes and high calcination temperatures which are complicated and/or expensive. Furthermore, the use of silica as a support results in the support remaining largely in the product, which can affect the product properties, such as optical properties, and processing.
One of the objects of the present invention is to overcome the above described problems with the prior art catalyst systems for producing bimodal and multimodal resins.

Polymer supported metallocene catalyst composition for polymerizing olefins


Particularly, there is provided a perpendicular magnetic recording head capable of suppressing PTP and obtaining a stabilized recording ability by improving the shape of the opposed surface of a return yoke layer and a method of manufacturing the same. The shape of the return yoke layer on the opposed surface includes a downside formed linearly parallel to a track width direction (X direction shown in the drawing), a center portion where a protrusion portion having a maximum width T1 larger than a track width Tw by protruding upwardly is formed in a position opposed to a main magnetic pole layer in a film thickness direction (Z direction shown in the drawing), and opposed end portions, having a film thickness smaller than the center portion, that extend on the opposite sides in the track width direction of the center portion. As a result, it is possible to properly obtain both effects such as the improvement of the recording ability and the suppressing of PTP generation.

A perpendicular magnetic recording head includes a main magnetic pole (for example, a main magnetic pole (35) described in Patent Document 1) and a return yoke layer (for example, a sub-magnetic pole (34) described in Patent Document 1), and a coil layer (for example, an excitation coil (36) described in Patent Document 1) as described in patent documents described below.
For example, FIG. 5 of Patent Document 1 is a front view of each magnetic layer as viewed from the opposed surface of a recording medium. As shown in FIG. 5 of Patent Document 1, the area in the opposed surface of the main magnetic pole layer is even smaller than the area in the opposed surface of the return yoke layer. As a result, a leakage recording magnetic field is concentrated on a front end of the main magnetic pole layer and the recording media is perpendicularly magnetized by the concentrated magnetic flux. Therefore, magnetic data is recorded. The magnetic flux returns to the return yoke layer after passing through the recording medium.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2002-100006 (US2002036871A1)
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2005190515 (US2005141142A1)
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2004-342164 (US2004228030A1)
However, when the temperature in the perpendicular magnetic recording head rises at the time of a recording operation, the return yoke layer, occupying a formation region still larger than other parts, easily is projected from the opposed surface. This is due to the difference in a thermal expansion coefficient from an insulating material in the vicinity of the return yoke layer. Consequently, a phenomenon called PTP (Pole Tip Protrusion) is generated.
Accordingly, thickness of the return yoke layer may be thinned to suppress the PTP.
However, if the thickness of the return yoke layer is thinned and the area of the return yoke layer exposed to the opposed surface becomes smaller, the return hole of the magnetic flux generated in the main magnetic pole layer becomes smaller. Particularly, the vicinity of a region opposed to the main magnetic pole layer in a film thickness direction easily reaches magnetic saturation, thereby reducing a recording ability.
The patent documents described above do not disclose the problems of generation of PTP and the reduction of the recording ability. Accordingly, the patent documents do not disclose solutions for suppressing the generation of the PTP and avoiding reduction of the recording ability.
Patent Document 3 described above relates to a shield layer used in the perpendicular magnetic recording head and discloses the invention in which a convex portion is provided toward the main magnetic pole layer. As a result, it is possible to remedy the curvature of a magnetization reversal form of a recording bit cell. (Paragraph [0032] of Patent Document 3).
However, Patent Document 3 discloses the invention relating to the shield layer as described above. In Patent Document 3, the shape of the return yoke layer is not improved. If the shield layer serves as the return yoke layer, the convex portion can protrude to the main magnetic pole layer. Accordingly, because the magnetic flux, which returns to the return yoke layer, is concentrated on the convex portion (that is, it is difficult that the magnetic flux returns to the return yoke layer to be properly dispersed) the convex portion may reach the magnetic saturation easily. In Patent Document 3 described above, because the width of the convex portion is smaller than the width of the main magnetic pole layer as shown in FIG. 5, the convex portion has a shape to reach the magnetic saturation more easily. Furthermore, in Patent Document 3, even if the convex portion is formed toward a lower side, it is very difficult to form the convex toward the lower side. In Patent Document 3, because an angle portion is formed in the convex portion, the magnetic flux leaks from the angle portion to the recording medium at the time of a nonrecording operation, thereby causing a problem such as an erasure of data recorded in the recording medium. As described above in regards to the invention of Patent Document 3, it may be impossible to suppress the generation of the PTP and avoid the reduction of the recording ability.

Perpendicular magnetic recording head capable of suppressing PTP and obtaining stabilized recording medium and method of manufacturing the same


A method for treating engine emissions and a device for treating engine emissions and dampening engine noise are provided. The invention provides for multiple zones of reaction so as to treat reducible emission components by providing a low oxygen, relatively cool reducing zone and also to treat oxidizable emission components by providing a relatively high oxygen, hotter oxidizing zone. A feature of the invention includes a heating means situated adjacent to or embedded into an oxidizing catalyst or an oxidation zone of a three-way catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a post-engine emissions treatment device, and specifically to an integrated muffler and catalytic converter designed to heat and catalytically treat engine emissions.
2. Background of the Invention
The contribution of engine emissions to environmental pollution is undeniable. A myriad of chemical compounds are produced as a result of the combustion process, the reactions of which are depicted in unbalanced Equations I (excess air) and II (excess fuel) below: ##STR1## wherein (HC).sub.x represents fuel and (O.sub.2 +3.76 N.sub.2) represents the relative stoichiometric amounts of oxygen and nitrogen in air.
The three major targets of emissions clean up are hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and, more recently, nitrous oxides (NO.sub.x). Excess HC and CO in emission streams result from incomplete combustion, or too little air in the reaction zone. Some exhaust designs, among them the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,824,078, have attempted to facilitate combustion of effluent constituents by providing additional air and heat to a reaction zone. However, excess air, combined with the higher operating temperatures associated with today's smaller engines, causes the formation of nitrous oxides.
In theory, the oxidation of any carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons that manage to elude the engine's combustion chamber should be comparatively simple with the addition of air to the still hot exhaust stream; but efforts to provide additional air have resulted in an adverse reduction of temperature at the reaction zone. Furthermore, while notable decreases in hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide concentrations in exhaust gases occur when effluent temperatures exceed 800.degree. C., exhaust gas temperatures rarely reach that level. Instead, the exhaust manifold attains temperatures of only 325 to 750.degree. C. during urban cycle driving speeds of between 0 and 56 miles per hour (90 kilometers per hour). Obviously, these temperatures are lower when the exhaust reaches the catalyst/muffler downstream, and lower still when ambient temperatures are low.
Catalysts are used in low temperature exhaust streams to facilitate the combustion reactions depicted in Equations I and II, supra. There are generally two types of catalysts: reduction catalysts, which break down nitrous oxides into their component nitrogen and oxygen molecules, and oxidative catalysts, which are used to oxidize HCs and CO to H.sub.2 O and CO.sub.2, respectively.
Many oxidative catalyst configurations require a lean fuel-exhaust mixture in combination with either an air pump to facilitate complete burning, or an aspirator preceding the catalyst to siphon off any residual, unburned fuel to an activated carbon trap. Without such air pumps or aspirators, HC and CO conversion efficiencies peak at only 65 and 45 percent, respectively, after use in a car that has been driven approximately 50,000 miles. Air pump and aspirator usage increases these HC and CO conversion efficiencies to 80 and 75 percent, respectively.
As noted above, an increase in combustion air for more complete burning of HCs and CO increases the likelihood for NO.sub.x formation, as NO.sub.x formation is the direct result of the following oxidation reaction: EQU N.sub.2 +O.sub.2 =2NO.sub.x
To address the clean-up of all three emission constituents, three-way catalysts are typically employed to first reduce the nitrous oxides and then oxidize the HCs and the CO. An inherent requirement in this type of configuration is a low oxygen environment immediately prior to treatment with a reducing catalyst, and a high oxygen, high temperature environment further downstream to facilitate CO and HC oxidation with an oxidation catalyst. To effect this reaction sequence, a three-way catalyst is first employed for initial clean up of exhaust, and then another catalyst, downstream from the three-way catalyst, provides additional treatment. In these configurations, air pumps are necessary to facilitate oxidation reactions.
Another drawback to current designs is their primary reliance only on heat from the exhaust to initiate the catalytic process. As automobiles typically do not attain the minimum 250.degree. C. necessary for catalysts to begin their reduction and oxidation (redox) functions for several minutes after ignition, and considerably longer when ambient temperatures are low, high levels of untreated exhaust constituents are liberated. This problem has prompted the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, 42 U.S.C. Sect 7521 (j), which stipulate more stringent emission controls of CO at 20.degree. F. by 1994.
A need exists in the art for an economical, post-engine emissions clean up device for a myriad of applications, including but not limited to mobile and stationary engines powered by gasoline, ethanol, diesel fuel, LP gas, compressed natural gas, or combinations thereof. This device would also serve to attenuate exhaust noise to a level below legally acceptable noise levels. The integrated device would contain redox chambers by providing a low oxygen reaction zone or stage for NO.sub.x reduction and a high oxygen reaction zone or stage for HC and CO oxidation. Also contained in the integrated process would be a preheater to initiate the catalytic process during the first few, critical minutes after initiation of combustion. To minimize cost and maintenance, the design of the device would allow for easy replacement of catalysts and would not require an air pump.

Integrated post-engine emissions heater, catalytic converter and muffler


A vehicle seat having an inflatable airbag therein which deploys through a tear line such as a seam in the seat trim cover. A force concentrator is provided to ensure deployment of the airbag through the intended location rather than rupturing the trim cover elsewhere. The force concentrator includes two panels of a flexible and substantially non-stretchable material having a strength sufficient to withstand the force of the inflating airbag without tearing. The panels are attached to the trim cover at the tear line and extend away from the tear line in opposite directions. Distal ends of the panels are joined to one another forming a sleeve that circumscribes the airbag.

The present invention relates generally to a vehicle seat having an airbag contained therein and in particular to such a seat with a force concentrator adjacent the airbag to concentrate the force of the inflating airbag at a designed seam in the trim cover to ensure deployment of the airbag through the seam.
In recent years, automobile manufacturers have directed increasing attention to providing improved protection for vehicle occupants. One method of doing so is to provide an inflatable airbag mounted to the vehicle seat to proved additional protection to the seat occupant or to an occupant located rearward of the seat.
Generally, seat mounted airbags fall into two different categories. One type deploys from a visible, discrete door on the seat back or seat bottom. Another type of airbag is stowed beneath the seat trim cover and is designed to deploy through the trim cover. An advantage of using an airbag with a discrete door is that deployment of the airbag through a door is used in frontal airbags in steering wheels and instrument panels. The technology for providing consistent and repeatable deployment of the airbag through the door is well developed. A disadvantage is that the airbag is to locations on the seat where the door will not interfere with the comfort of the seat occupant. Another disadvantage is that the seat cover needs a trimmed recess to install the airbag module into, with cost, complexity and appearance issues. If it is desired for the airbag to deploy through the front corner of the seat back, such as the location of a bolster seam, a discrete door cannot be used. Rather, the airbag must be beneath the seat back trim cover, and typically beneath a foam pad, where it does not adversely impact the seat comfort. However, when the airbag deploys through the trim cover, there are considerably more variables involved in providing consistency in airbag deployment and airbag in-position timing.
The seat trim cover provides numerous variables affecting airbag deployment. The trim cover fabric type, such as cloth, leather, vinyl, etc. and combinations of these various types, all behave differently and have different tensile and tear strengths. In addition, different materials of the same types, such as different cloth fabrics have different tensile strengths, tear strengths, and elongation etc. that affect the manner in which an airbag deploys through the trim cover if the trim cover material is ruptured to deploy the airbag. Other variables introduced by the trim cover include the strength of the trim cover scrim layer or backing and the strength of the thin foam layer typically laminated to the trim cover fabric. All of these variables are also effected by high and low temperatures.
Wear of the trim cover over time and trim cover damage by cutting, puncturing, cigarette burns, etc., also introduce variables in airbag deployment. For example, a cut in the trim cover at a location other than the intended deployment can cause the trim cover to rupture at the wrong location, resulting in the airbag being out of position.
Other variations in the deployment can be introduced by the density and type of the seat foam pad, the presence or absence of a border wire embedded in the foam pad, the trim cover attachment locations, the types of attachments and the deployment seam location relative to the airbag module.
To reduce or eliminate the effects of the above trim cover variables, it has been proposed to deploy airbags through a seam in the trim cover by rupturing the seam a opposed to rupturing the trim cover material itself. The seam strength is controlled by the thread strength and not fabric strength. Numerous variables affect the strength of the seam. These include the seam type, number of stitches per inch, thread strength, the seam arrangement, styling and welting. Most of these variables can be controlled in the design of the trim cover. As a result, greater deployment consistency can be achieved with deployment through a trim cover seam. However, even with designed deployment through a seam, the trim cover will introduce variations in airbag deployment. Different elongation characteristics between different trim cover materials will affect deployment. A weak spot may result in the cover tearing instead of the seam.
To eliminate trim cover variability, a force concentrator is used that surrounds the folded airbag and concentrates, or directs, the force of the inflating airbag to the designed deployment seam. This causes the seam to rupture and allow the airbag to deploy therethrough. By directing the force to the seam through the force concentrator, the trim cover material is not loaded. As a result, the trim cover characteristics do not influence the airbag deployment. Consistent bag deployment can be achieved with a variety of different cover materials.
The force concentrator consists of two panels of sheet material joined into the deployment seam and extending away from the seam in opposite directions. The panels extend beneath the trim cover and surround the airbag and a portion of the seat frame. The panel ends distal to the seam are joined to one another, whereby the concentrator panels forming a sleeve circumscribing the airbag and seat frame.
Depending on the location of the airbag and seat frame, one panel of the force concentrator may pass through a slot in the seat cushion pad to meet with, and join to, the distal end of the other panel to form the sleeve. The force concentrator panels are made of a substantially non-stretchable material with a tensile strength sufficient to withstand the force of the inflating airbag without tearing. The concentrator material must be strong enough to transmit the deployment force to the seam and rupture the seam. One material with the necessary tensile strength is the material used to make airbag itself. Other high strength sheet materials may be used as well.
The force concentrator can be mounted to a vehicle seat at any location where it is desired to deploy an airbag. For example, for a side airbag, the force concentrator can be mounted along the side of the seat in the bolster area of either the generally horizontal seat bottom or the generally upright seat back. The force concentrator can also be mounted at the upper end of the seat back of a front seat for rearward inflation to protect a rear seat occupant.
The force concentrator also assists the performance of the airbag by controlling and managing the variable energy output from the airbag due to different climatic conditions. At low temperatures such as -35.degree. C., the gas generator has considerably less energy available compared to its performance at 21.degree. C. An estimate would be a 30 percent drop in gas generator performance at the low temperature. Without the force concentrator directing the available force onto the deployment seam, the trim cover may fail to rupture during the airbag deployment. To overcome this condition, a weaker deployment seam could be used, however, this would have an adverse affect on the durability of the trim cover.
At high temperatures such as 40.degree. C., the gas generator has significantly more energy available. This could lead to failure of the wrong seam and/or damage to the trim cover and its tie downs in the foam pad. The result maybe improper deployment of the airbag. The force concentrator prevents this by containing the force and directing it solely onto the deployment seam. The use of the force concentrator ensures a low temperature deployment by directing the reduced energy available onto the deployment seam. The use of the strongest trim cover deployment seam feasible can then be used for a given low temperature gas generator performance. Furthermore, airbag mal-deployment caused by the wrong seam or trim cover rupture during airbag deployment at high temperatures is prevented by the force concentrator.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Seat mounted airbag with deployment force concentrator


To provide a load drive circuit that has a satisfactory phase characteristic and can be realized as a low-price LSI chip. A series circuit of nonlinear resistive elements (P2 and N3) and switch elements (N2 and P3) is inserted between control input terminals (GP1 and GN1) of output elements (P1 and N1) of a final amplifier (AMP0) and an output terminal (OUT) of the load drive circuit. The nonlinear resistive element has a nonlinear characteristic in which a resistance value decreases as an applied voltage value increases and the resistance value increases as the applied voltage value decreases. The switch elements are switching-controlled to selectively come into an ON state only in a high-electric potential period or a low-electric potential period of an input signal according to whether the output element is arranged on a high-electric potential side or a low-electric potential side in the final amplifier.

In a load drive circuit built in a source driver of a liquid crystal display panel and used, for example, when a signal line of the liquid crystal display panel is driven, a phase compensator is built in with an intention of improvement of a phase characteristic, prevention of oscillation of the circuit, and the like (see, for example, Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3).
An example of such a load drive circuit in which the phase compensator is built is shown in FIG. 12. As shown in the figure, this load drive circuit includes an output terminal OUT to which a load (not shown) should be connected, an input terminal IN to which an input signal should be given, a final amplifier AMP0 including output elements (P1 and N1) for driving the load, preamplifiers (AMP1 and AMP2) for driving output elements (P1, N1) included in the final amplifier according to an input signal, and phase compensators (a rising edge phase compensator 13 and a falling edge phase compensator 14) for improving a phase characteristic between input and output signal waveforms and is constituted such that an output signal of a non-inverting form appears at the output terminal according to the input signal given to the input terminal IN.
In this example, the final amplifier AMP0 is constituted by a complementarily-connected pair of output elements (a MOS field effect transistor P1 of a p-channel type (hereinafter simply referred to as "transistor P1") and a MOS field effect transistor N1 of an n-channel type (hereinafter simply referred to as "transistor N1") The output elements (the transistors P1 and N1) are biased such that the final amplifier AMP0 performs, for example, a class AB operation.
The preamplifier is constituted by a first inverting amplifier AMP1 that amplifies an electric potential difference between the input terminal IN and the output terminal OUT and gives the electric potential difference to a control input terminal (a gate terminal GP1) of a high-potential side output element (the transistor P1) of the final amplifier AMP0 and a second inverting amplifier AMP2 that amplifies an electric potential difference between the input terminal IN and the output terminal OUT and gives the electric potential difference to a control input terminal (a gate terminal GN1) of a low-potential side output terminal (the transistor N1) of the final amplifier AMP0.
The rising edge phase compensator 13 includes a series circuit of a resistive element R1 and a capacitor C1 inserted between the control input terminal (GP1) of the high-potential side output element (the transistor P1) and the output terminal OUT. The falling edge phase compensator 14 includes a series circuit of a resistive element R2 and a capacitor C2 inserted between the control input terminal (GN1) of the low-potential side output terminal (the transistor N1) and the output terminal OUT.
A waveform chart showing signal waveforms of respective sections of the load drive circuit is shown in FIG. 13. As shown in the figure, when an electric potential of the input terminal IN changes from a low electric potential to a high electric potential, the first inverting amplifier AMP1 reduces the electric potential of the gate terminal GP1 of the transistor P1 and, at the same time, the second inverting amplifier AMP2 reduces the electric potential of the gate terminal GN1 of the transistor N1 such that the electric potential of the output terminal OUT and the electric potential of the input terminal IN become the same electric potential.
Then, a driving ability of the transistor P1 increases because an electric potential difference between a gate and a source increases. On the other hand, a driving ability of the transistor N1 decreases because the electric potential difference between the gate and the source decreases.
At this point, the capacitor C1 included in the phase compensator 13 is instantaneously discharged through capacity division by a load capacitor connected to the output terminal OUT. Thus, the electric potential of the gate terminal GP1 of the transistor P1 is reduced only in a certain period immediately after the rising edge of the input terminal IN and an initial driving ability of the transistor P1 is further intensified. Consequently, the electric potential of the output terminal OUT can instantaneously rise following the electric potential of the input terminal IN and a phase characteristic is improved.
On the other hand, when the electric potential of the input terminal IN changes from a high electric potential to a low electric potential, the first inverting amplifier AMP1 increases the electric potential of the gate terminal GP1 of the transistor P1 and, at the same time, the second inverting amplifier AMP2 increases the electric potential of the gate terminal GN1 of the transistor N1 such that the electric potential of the output terminal OUT and the electric potential of the input terminal IN become the same electric potential.
Then, a driving ability of the transistor P1 decreases because an electric potential difference between the gate and the source decreases. On the other hand, a driving ability of the transistor N1 increases because the electric potential difference between the gate and the source increased.
At this point, the capacitor C2 included in the phase compensator 14 is instantaneously charged through capacity division by a load capacitor connected to the output terminal OUT. Thus, the electric potential of the gate terminal GN1 of the transistor N1 is increased only in a certain period immediately after the falling edge of the input terminal IN and an initial driving ability of the transistor N1 is further intensified. Consequently, the electric potential of the output terminal OUT can instantaneously fall following the electric potential of the input terminal IN and a phase characteristic is improved.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-216662
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-106871
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-249625