An automated defect inspection system has been invented and is used on patterned wafers, whole wafers, broken wafers, partial wafers, sawn wafers such as on film frames, JEDEC trays, Auer boats, die in gel or waffle packs, MCMs, etc. and is specifically intended and designed for second optical wafer inspection for such defects as metalization defects (such as scratches, voids, corrosion, and bridging), diffusion defects, passivation layer defects, scribing defects, glassivation defects, chips and cracks from sawing, solder bump defects, and bond pad area defects.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to defect inspection systems for the semiconductor industry. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automated defect inspection system for patterned wafers, whole wafers, sawn wafers such as on film frames, JEDEC trays, Auer boats, die in gel or waffle packs, multi-chip modules often referred to as MCMs, etc. that is specifically intended and designed for second optical wafer inspection for such defects as metalization defects (such as scratches, voids, corrosion, and bridging), diffusion defects, passivation layer defects, scribing defects, glassivation defects, chips and cracks from sawing, and bump or bond pad area defects such as gold or solder bump defects or similar interconnect defects. Specifically, the present invention is an automated defect inspection system for integrated circuits, LCD panels with photolithography circuitry embedded therein, etc. where the system is used as follows: the system is trained by viewing a plurality of known good die under an imaging head resulting in a good die model, an inspection recipe is inputted into the system to define inspection parameters, defect inspection occurs where die are loaded onto, aligned in and viewed by an imaging head for defects in comparison to the good die model, an optional review of the identified defects may occur, and the user may optionally receive or export a report thereon.
2. Background Information
Over the past several decades, the semiconductor has exponentially grown in use and popularity. The semiconductor has in effect revolutionized society by introducing computers, electronic advances, and generally revolutionizing many previously difficult, expensive and/or time consuming mechanical processes into simplistic and quick electronic processes. This boom in semiconductors has been fueled by an insatiable desire by business and individuals for computers and electronics, and more particularly, faster, more advanced computers and electronics whether it be on an assembly line, on test equipment in a lab, on the personal computer at one's desk, or in the home electronics and toys.
The manufacturers of semiconductors have made vast improvements in end product quality, speed and performance as well as in manufacturing process quality, speed and performance. However, there continues to be demand for faster, more reliable and higher performing semiconductors.
One process that has evolved over the past decade or so is the semiconductor inspection process. The merit in inspecting semiconductors throughout the manufacturing process is obvious in that bad wafers may be removed at the various steps rather than processed to completion only to find out a defect exists either by end inspection or by failure during use.
A typical example of the semiconductor manufacture process is summarized as follows. Bare whole wafers are manufactured. Thereafter, circuitry is created on the bare whole wafers. The whole wafer with circuitry is then sawn into smaller pieces known in the industry as die. Thereafter, the die are processed, as is well known in the art, typically as die in waffle and/or gel packs or on substrates.
Today, it is well known that various inspection processes occur during this semiconductor process. Bare wafer inspection may occur on bare whole wafers not long after initial creation from sand and/or after polishing of the wafer but always prior to the deposit of any layers that form the circuitry. Defects being inspected for during bare wafer inspection include surface particulates and surface imperfections or irregularities.
During the deposition of layers, that is the circuit building, on the whole wafer, one or more first optical inspections may occur. First (1st) optical inspection is "in process" inspection of wafers during circuitry creation. This 1st inspection may be after each layer is deposited, at certain less often intervals, or only once during or after all deposits. This 1st optical inspection is usually a sub-micron level inspection in the range of 0.1 micron to <1 micron. This process is used to check for mask alignment or defects such as extra metal, missing metal, contaminants, etc. This 1st inspection occurs during circuitry development on the wafer.
Once the whole wafers are at least fully deposited on, that is all of the circuitry is created thereon, a post 1st (or 1.5) inspection occurs on the fully processed whole wafers. Generally, this is prior to the deposit of a passivation layer although it need not be. In addition, this post 1st inspection is generally prior to electrical testing or probing of the whole wafers. This inspection is typically a 0.5 micron to 1 micron optical inspection.
After the whole wafers are fully processed, one or more 2nd optical inspections are performed. Front end 2nd optical inspections occur after the whole wafers are fully processed and, if probing is necessary, just before or right after this probing or electrical testing to determine the quality of the devices. Back end 2nd optical inspections occur at various stages such as during the applying of bumps to the die or wafer, during or after sawing of the wafers into sawn wafers, during or after dicing of the wafers, during or after picking up and placing of the die onto other packages such as trays or waffle or gel packs, during or after placing of the wafers onto a substrate, etc. This 2nd optical inspection is generally at a 1+ micron level and is generally looking for defects such as metalization defects (such as scratches, voids, corrosion, and bridging), diffusion defects, passivation layer defects, scribing defects, glassivation defects, chips and cracks from sawing, and probe or bond pad area defects.
After actual packaging, 3rd optical inspections occur. This packaging involves at least one of the following: placing the die on a substrate, wire bonding the die, connecting the leads, attaching the balls to a flip chip, etc. At this point, the inspection involves inspecting the ball grid array, lead straightness, wire bonding, ink marking, and for any package defects such as chips, cracks and voids. This 3rd level inspection is generally at a 5+ micron level.
The focus of the semiconductor inspection industry has been bare wafer and 1st optical inspection. Numerous market leaders have developed, patented, and are manufacturing and marketing 1st optical inspection systems to perform these inspections including ADE, KLA, Tencor, Inspex, Applied, Orbit and others.
Often this equipment is very expensive and large. At the 1st inspection stage, this expense and machine size issue is not as significant as at later inspection stages because only a relatively few parties manufacture the silicon wafers and thus need to inspect bare wafers in comparison to the vast number of companies that buy bare or sawn wafers and further process them into finished chips. These often expensive and large inspection devices are not cost justifiable for smaller shops and as such, inspection equipment is needed that satisfies this need at the 2nd and 3rd stages as well as is more economical for the vast many smaller companies that finish process wafers.
To a lesser extent, some resources have been spent on 3rd optical inspection and several companies including STI, View Engineering, RVSI, and ICOS have developed systems for this purpose and are marketing those systems.
However, none of these systems address the particular and unique constraints of 2nd optical and this area has been largely ignored. In actual application, 2nd optical inspection has been marginally performed by manual inspection using humans and microscopic equipment. This manual process is inaccurate due to various factors including stress, eye fatigue and boredom of the operator as well as different perceptions by different operators as to the significance of a finding. In addition, smaller circuit geometry and higher throughput requirements are increasing the demands on semiconductor inspection at this 2nd optical level, all of which further results in operator stress, eye fatigue, and sometimes lower quality.
In addition at the 2nd optical inspection stage to the need for inspecting for metalization defects (such as scratches, voids, corrosion, and bridging), diffusion defects, passivation layer defects, scribing defects, glassivation defects, chips and cracks from sawing, etc., bumps have taken on additional importance of recent. This is due to the recent surge in the use of bump interface connects, or flip chips, rather than leads which has magnified the importance of 2nd optical inspection and thus the need for equipment and systems over manual inspection.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Automated wafer defect inspection system and a process of performing such inspection


An outsole is formed of a viscoelastic body containing a rubber component. This viscoelastic body has a loss factor measured by a dynamic viscoelasticity measurement under conditions of a temperature of 23° C., a frequency of 10 Hz, a static strain of 10%, and a dynamic strain of 7% being 0.17 or more, a storage elastic modulus measured by the dynamic viscoelasticity measurement being 5.7 MPa or less, and a ratio of a tensile stress at 300% elongation to a tensile stress at 100% elongation being 4.4 or more. Such outsole is excellent in wet grip performance and durability.

Various shoes have a shoe body and an outsole attached to a lower surface of the shoe body.
In general, shoes are required to have performance durability allowing long-time use. In addition, grip performance against a ground is required as the performance of the shoes. Especially, since a wet ground is slippery, it is required to improve the grip performance against a wet ground.
In the present specification, the "grip performance" refers to a property in which slipping does not readily occur. Further, in the present specification, the "ground" refers to a surface with which an outsole of a shoe is in contact when the shoe is used. Examples of the ground include a surface of a paved road such as a sidewalk or an unpaved road; a surface of a natural object such as rocks in mountains or rivers; and a rough concrete surface of buildings. Hereinafter, in the present specification, "grip performance against a wet ground" may be referred to as "wet grip performance" in some cases.
Patent Document 1 discloses an outsole of a shoe constituted of a vulcanized molded article of a rubber composition. In the outsole of Patent Document 1, a base rubber of the rubber composition contains 70 to 100% by mass of a styrene-butadiene rubber. The styrene-butadiene rubber has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of −33° C. or more and −10° C. or less. In strain dispersion of dynamic viscoelasticity at a frequency of 10 Hz, a loss factor (tan δ) of the styrene-butadiene rubber at a dynamic strain of 2.0% and a temperature of −10° C. is more than 0.26 and 1.5 or less and a complex elastic modulus (E′) at the same conditions is more than 150 kgf/cm2 and 750 kgf/cm2 or less.
However, the outsole of Patent Document 1 does not fully satisfy the grip performance against a wet ground.


A video data is accompanied or multiplexed with one or more flags indicating a relation between fields or frames of video data for transmission or recording. An interlace flag determines whether the video data is interlaced or not. A still image flag determines whether the video data carries a motion image, a field still image, or a frame still image. A frame change flag determines whether or not a given frame of the still image is identical to its previous frame. At least one of the three different flags is multiplexed with its relevant video data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for transmitting or recording a video signal and to a reproducing apparatus for reproducing the video signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that the conventional television signals are transmitted or recorded on a frame by frame basis. Each frame comprises two fields in which a horizontal scanning line of one field falls between two adjacent horizontal lines of the other field in the frame. This is called as interlaced scanning.
Accordingly, the video signal is transmitted or recorded as interlaced signals in a video signal transmitting or recording apparatus. For reproduction of the video signal, the two fields are interlaced to one frame. The frame by frame basis recording, transmission, or reproduction is applicable to not only a motion image but also a still or slow-motion image.
However, there are some drawbacks with such conventional video signal recording or reproducing apparatus:
(1) In common home video game machines, two corresponding horizontal lines of their respective fields of a frame are allocated to the same location on a screen for preventing flicker caused by interlacing of the two fields. They are thus called non-interlaced fields. If such a non-interlaced video signal transmitted or recorded is interlaced in reproduction, it will produce flicker. P (2) For a still image shot by a camera, each field of its data is temporarily stored in a memory and then transmitted or recorded for a plurality of field periods. Such still image data will also produce flicker when interlaced and reproduced, similar to the non-interlaced signal of the paragraph (1).
(3) While a recorded TV signal is reproduced in a slow-motion or still mode, a single field of its data is continuously pulled for a plurality of field periods. Such slow-motion or still image data after transmitted or recorded will produce flicker when interlaced and reproduced, as well as the still image data of the paragraph (2).
(4) If still images and motion images are recorded in a combination, they will hardly be discriminated from each other during the reproduction. Also, it will be difficult to determine whether a still or slow-motion image is reproduced on a frame by frame basis or a field by field basis.
(5) When an error occurs during the reproduction of a still image, it is generally eliminated by error concealment. However, since two consecutive frames are not always correlated, a technique of inter-frame concealment can unsuccessfully be used. If the inter-frame concealment is enforced, the quality of a reproduced image may critically be impaired.
(6) When a still image is recorded in multiple frames, it will be hard to identify the starting frame of a succeeding still image and the searching of still images by frames will almost be infeasible.
(7) Any image data which has been reproduced in a slow-motion or still mode and transmitted or recorded will hardly be identified whether it is a common motion image or a slow-motion or still image.

Flagged video signal processing apparatus and method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A smart area is defined in an area having a plurality of nodes. One or more electronic services are operable to be provided in the smart area. Location information for a border of a smart area being defined may be determined using a mobile node or determined using the plurality of nodes. The border for the smart area is defined based on the location information.

In today's high-technology era, users have access to a large variety of devices, including portable devices, that allow them to access a large amount of information from almost anywhere. However, typically the information provided to the user is not tailored to the specific user and the location of the user. For example, currently there is no efficient technique for providing dynamic advertising within a given area, such that advertising at a location of a user may be personalized for products or services that the user is interested in. Also, currently, there is no efficient technique for conditioning a user's access to particular products or services in a given area based on recognition of the user.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method includes receiving data characterizing time-dependent lateral vibration of a shaft of a machine, the lateral vibration indicative of motion of at least a portion of the shaft perpendicular to a first direction. The lateral vibration is detected by a first sensor located at a first predetermined location on the shaft. The method further includes, receiving data characterizing time-dependent torsional vibration of the shaft, the torsional vibration indicative of rotation of the shaft around the first direction. The torsional vibration is detected by a second sensor located at a second predetermined location on the shaft. The method also includes calculating a coherence of the data characterizing time-dependent lateral vibration and the data characterizing time-dependent torsional vibration. The method further includes identifying, based on the coherence, a first frequency value in the frequency domain indicative of coupling between the time-dependent lateral vibration and the time-dependent torsional vibration.

Coherence can be used to examine the relation between two signals or data sets. For example, coherence can be used to estimate the power transfer between input and output of a linear system. Additionally, for a linear system, coherence can be used to estimate the causality between the input and the output.


A hand-held, compact fixed mounted or mobile optical symbol scanner assembly has a powered socket into which an active or passive illumination module can be installed. The socket has a recess centered at the optic axis, and the illumination attachment module has a male projection that plugs into this recess. Probe type electrodes on the attachment module fit into female socket electrodes on the socket member, so that power can be derived from the scanner for LEDs in the module. The module may convert the voltage to a level suitable for higher wavelengths, and may provide added control of the external LEDs to extend battery life.

This invention is directed to optical scanning devices, such as bar code scanners, and is more particularly concerned with an arrangement for adapting the device for reading difficult optical symbols, e.g., small linear or two-dimensional symbols directly marked on articles, or for reading luminescent bar codes that require special black light wavelengths. The invention is more particularly concerned with a combination of a hand-held optical scanner and an illuminator that can be plugged into the scanner, i.e., removably installed so the scanner may be employed either with an illuminator attachment for reading a variety of difficult bar codes or special bar coded symbols, or without the attachment for reading normal bar codes. The device may be a hand-held scanner, either cordless or corded, or the scanner may be built into a data terminal or may be of a compact, fixed mount style.
Within the past several years, two-dimensional bar code systems have begun to be employed on small articles so that the article can be tracked throughout manufacturing, packaging, and shipping. In some cases, luminescent or fluorescent bar code symbols are invisibly printed onto articles, e.g., onto the base or bottom of a pharmaceutical vial to identify the contents, as well as to provide information about the batch number, date and place of manufacture. Where 2-D symbols are used, these can carry all the required information within a square that may typically be only three to six millimeters on a side. The symbols can be thermally transferred, screen printed or ink-jet printed directly onto the surface of the pharmaceutical vial or other article. At present, machine-mounted camera-based scanner systems are employed, in which the articles proceed past the scanner station, and the articles receive illumination from a discharge-tube type black light source. These scanner systems are bulky and non-portable, so they cannot be carried by an operator. This makes it impossible to read the bar codes in a warehouse, shipping dock or receiving dock environment where the workers could be provided with hand-held scanners. In addition, because of the rather harmful effects from ultraviolet radiation, conventional black light sources typically have to be shielded to protect the workers from exposure to skin or eyes. Consequently, invisibly printed fluorescing bar code symbols can only be read under special circumstances, as the bulk, weight, and complexity of the reader equipment has limited their widespread usage.
Recently, short-wavelength light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been introduced. Such LEDs can emit light in the deep blue to near UV region of the spectrum, and can be used to produce black-light illumination. These have been used notably, in combination with an encapsulation of luminescent phosphors, to create so-called white LEDs, in which the short-wavelength light stimulates the phosphors to create a blend of red, green, and blue light. No one previously had considered using black-light emitting diodes in connection with any sort of hand-held scanner device to permit their use in reading "invisible" luminescent or fluorescent optical symbols, such as bar codes.
More recently, the same inventors involved here have produced a scanner which employs black light LEDs for illumination in the blue-violet and near UV region for illuminating bar code symbols that are printed in phosphorescent, luminescent or fluorescent inks. This scanner is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,061, Nov. 30, 2004. The scanner had employed a hollow nosepiece with an opaque shell that concentrates the illumination on the fluorescent target and also helps shield the operator from stray short-wavelength illumination. The nosepiece also keeps ambient light from flooding the imager within the scanner.
Quite recently, fluorescent or luminescent inks have been developed that can be stimulated at visible wavelengths and will produce light at a slightly longer visible wavelength. Other possible inks respond to visible light with fluorescence in the IR region. However, prior hand held scanners are unable to discern bar coded symbols formed of these fluorescent inks, because of the low contrast between the target and background.
Also, some bar code symbols are embossed, etched, or peened onto a smooth reflective surface and these symbols have been difficult or impossible to read, unless a special illuminator is in place on the scanner. One example of such a mirror image scanning attachment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,650.
It has been desired that any given scanner be able to be used with a number of different types of bar code in various conditions. However, as the special bar codes require illuminators with special wavelengths or with prisms designed to present the illumination at a small angle, the bar code scanners have had to be specially constructed for each type of bar code or each environment. Thus, a need has arisen for a mechanism to permit various illuminators to be used interchangeably with a given scanner, or alternatively to permit the illuminator to be installed interchangeably on a variety of different bar code scanners.

Optical symbol scanner and illuminator with powered socket

Industrial Data Entry Automation Systems Incorporated


The robot is started after a groove line of a workpiece to be welded is taught to the robot as a target movement locus for the distal end of a welding torch, by using a fixed coordinate system. A control unit of the robot calculates a position (Pi) of an individual interpolation point in the fixed coordinate system in accordance with data specified in a program (S5), and successively calculates corrected positions Pi' (Xi+.SIGMA.xr', Yi+.SIGMA.yr', Zi+.SIGMA.zr') of respective interpolation points by using a cumulative value of correction amounts (S8). The correction amounts are obtained through transformation of an output of a visual sensor, representing a deviation of a current moving position of the torch from the groove line in a predetermined coordinate system defined by the current position and a current moving direction of the torch end, into a correction amount in the fixed coordinate system. In accordance with the result of a second transformation of the corrected positions Pi, individual axes of the robot are controlled such that the torch end is moved sequentially to the corrected positions (S9), to thereby move the torch end along the target locus. The correction is carried out each time the position of the workpiece is moved.

1. Field of the Invention;
The present invention relates to a locus correcting method for industrial robots.
2. Description of the Related Art
In industrial robots, it is known to preliminarily teach a movement locus (target movement locus) that a work point of a robot should follow during operation by using a fixed coordinate system such as a work coordinate system set for a subject to be processed by the robot or a base coordinate system set for the robot body, and effect playback control of the robot to move the work point of the robot along the target locus. However, during execution of the work, if the position of the subject of work is deviated from the setting position thereof at the time of teaching, the taught locus is also deviated from the target locus. In this case, there occurs a deviation of the actual locus of the work point from the target locus even though the work point is moved exactly along the taught locus, thus making the work inaccurate. Conventionally, when such a deviation occurs, a deviation in the fixed coordinate system is detected and the position of the work point is corrected such that the actual locus coincides with the target locus. However, to detect a deviation in the fixed coordinate system, a sensor system must be constructed so as to cover the entire work region of the robot. Further, when the position of the subject of work is moved frequently during the work, the position of the work point must be corrected each time the subject is moved, whereby the load of information processing of the robot is increased.

Locus correcting method for industrial robots


The present invention provides a rare earth element-doped optical fiber amplifier having a function which allows to omit an optical isolator component, and a method for providing the optical non-reciprocity using the same. In the optical fiber, the optical fiber matrix material is a ferroelectric solid state material, and the ferroelectric solid state material is doped by a rare earth element such as erbium (Er) or thulium (Tm). The optical fiber is characterized by an optical amplification function and an optical non-reciprocity function.

In recent years, the optical communication technology has established its steady state as a high capacity, high speed signal transmission means by realizing an optical fiber as a medium for optical transmission with an ultra low propagation loss reaching the theoretical limit of 0.2 dB/km. The area of communication is not limited to be at-home and domestic but extends overseas, and is expanding rapidly as an information transmission means in a global network. Now it is a matter of time before it replaces the communication means by electric wires.
Development of low loss fiber material has played a crucial role in progress in the optical communication technology, but a further important progress is a progress in optical fiber amplifier. Although there are many functions of amplifiers, an optical amplification function is one of the most important technologies to fabricate optical networks. The optical amplification technology enables compensating the optical loss due to the optical fiber (Refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2 and non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 below). By placing fibers having the optical amplification function at relay stations arranged at an appropriate distance inbetween, information signal can be transmitted with no distance limitation in principle, at a speed of light and without need to convert optical signal to electrical signal. As a result, optical devices with high functionality and various optical systems can be realized. At present, the network of the optical fiber communication system reaches as long as not less than 10,000 km, and a feasible information amount per unit time is as high as 40 Gbit/s. By a progress in wavelength multiplexing technology, a transmission system with multiplexing of 256 wavelengths multiplexing is made possible, and consequently the transmission capacity of data through a single optical fiber extends to exceed 10 Tbit/s.
Furthermore, an optical fiber amplifier can be operated as a laser. The optical fiber laser has already expanded to many aspects such as a single wavelength laser, a multiple wavelength laser, a short pulse laser, and a high power laser. From a laser doped with rare earth element, as much output power as needed is available in principle if it is excited strongly. Such a high output power laser is useful as an excitation light source for other optical amplifier and an optical nonlinear device, and receives much attention as an alternative of the high power solid state laser now under use in industry. An Yb-doped optical fiber laser with continuous wave output power exceeding 1 kW has already been reported (See non-Patent document 3 below.).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-77451
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-523457
[Non-Patent Document 1] M. Nakazawa et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 54, 295 (1987)
[Non-Patent Document 2] "Erbium Doped Optical Fiber Amplifier" Ed. by Sudo, Optronics Co. (1999)
[Non-Patent Document 3] Y. Jeong et al., Electron. Lett., vol. 40, 470 (2004)
[Non-Patent Document 4] K. Onodera et al., Tokin Tech. Rev., vol. 21, 33-36 (1994)

Optical fiber element and method for imparting non-reciprocity of light using the same

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A device for working of material plates (1), such as glass panes, has a supporting member (25, 26, 29) for the material plate (1) and a tool (12, 18) for working the material plates (1). The supporting member (25, 26, 29) has paired supporting elements (25′, 25″, 26′, 26″, 29′, 29″) with supporting surfaces (27′, 27″, 30′, 30″) facing one another, between which the material plate (1) is held. There are openings (31) for liquid emerging under pressure in the supporting surfaces (27′, 27″, 30′, 30″). The material plate (1), especially the glass pane, is therefore not mechanically supported, as is conventional in the prior art, but uses a liquid film which is formed under pressure in the gap between the material plate (1) and the supporting surfaces (27′, 27″, 30′, 30″) of the supporting elements (25′, 25″, 26′, 26″, 29′, 29″).

Supporting means for material plates, especially glass panes, are known in the prior art as roller tables, drum tables, or air cushion walls, especially as part of insulating glass production plants. As long as especially high forces are not applied to the material plate (glass pane) during working, the supporting action of these supporting means is rather high. But it is a problem when high forces are applied normally to the plane of the plate during working or the material plates are caused to vibrate during working, since in these cases it is necessary to hold or clamp the material plate securely. This however entails the danger on the one hand that the material plates, such as glass panes, when held or clamped securely, will be scratched, and on the other they cannot be moved or can only be moved with relatively high effort relative to the supporting means.

Device for securing material plates, such as glass sheets, during the working thereof


A printed circuit board 1 including a group of consecutive soldering lands 3 for soldering a lead-type electronic part 2 with a plurality of leads 2a, includes a solder drawing land 4 having a cross-shaped slit 4a and being provided adjacently to a rearmost portion of the group of the consecutive soldering lands 3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed circuit board on which a lead-type electronic part having a plurality of leads is mounted by soldering using a nozzle-type solder bath.
2. Related Arts
In general, since a printed circuit board is increasingly required to accommodate parts in high density thereon, lead-type electronic parts with narrow pitches or the like are required to be mounted on a board. On the other hand, practical application of lead-free solder considering environmental problems is an urgent necessity. However, the lead-free solder is inferior in solderability in comparison with leaded eutectic solder which has been used in the related art, and hence short circuit at soldered portions between lead terminals of the lead-type electronic part or the like has been occurred.
In the related art, in the printed circuit board of this type, such a method has been taken in order to prevent generation of solder bridges that adjacent soldering lands are differentiated in size or shape so as to impair balance of surface tension applied on the solder and cause either one of the soldering lands to absorb the solder. (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Also, another method, in which surface areas of outermost soldering land portions are made larger than others to cause the soldering lands having the larger surface areas on both outer sides to absorb excessive solder has been taken (for example, see Patent Document 2).
Alternatively, a method, in which a flat circular vacant land is provided on a rear side of a soldering land for the lead-type electronic part so as to cause the vacant land to absorb the excessive solder, has been taken (for example, see Patent Document 3).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-243393 (pp. 1 to pp. 2, FIG. 3 to FIG. 4)
[Patent Document 2] Japanese unexamined Patent Application Publication No.63-157492 (pp. 2 to pp. 3, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2).
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.01-300588 (pp. 4, FIG. 6)
[Disclosure of the Invention]
[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
The lead-type electronic-part-mounted printed circuit boards in the related art as described above require precise control of a manufacturing process in order to maintain a stable and high-quality soldering which does not cause solder bridges or solder chips between the leads of the lead-type electronic parts. However, the narrower the pitch of the leads becomes, the more defects of soldering tends to occur when the lead-free solder with low solderability is used, and hence it is difficult to maintain a good accuracy.

Lead-type electronic-part-mounted printed circuit board, method of soldering lead-type electronic part and air-conditioner


A presence detection system includes a support layer operable to act as an underlying surface for supporting object(s), a sensor layer disposed beneath the support layer and operable to output readings indicating the presence of object(s) supported on the support layer and a controller for receiving the presence readings from the sensor layer and determining, based on the readings, an indicator of the occupancy status and/or an occupancy level of the support layer. The presence detection system can be used within an access gate system whereby the access gate is operated to a blocking position upon the presence detection system detecting more than one human supported on the support layer, this operation overriding a reading of an authenticated user token. The presence detection system can also be used within an elevator system wherein the elevator door subsystem and the elevator displacement subsystem are controlled based on an occupancy level detected by the detection system. Methods for detecting object are also contemplated.

Detecting the number of persons and/or objects in a given location can provide important information in various applications. For example, access control is an important application within the security industry.
An access control system is used to ensure that only authorized persons are granted access to a controlled area. Automated access gates can be used to selectively grant access to the controlled area. The determination of authorization can be based on a person providing an authorization token, such as a password, biometric information, or machine-readable token (ex: an access keycard). A drawback in such systems is ensuring that only the authorized person enters the controlled area each time that an access gate is opened to grant access. In a "tailgating" situation, a non-authorized person will follow an authorized person through the access gate after the authorized person has provided the authorization token and before the access gate is closed. This situation can be addressed by detecting the number of people passing through the gate at any one time and ensuring that the access gate remains open only for the authorized number of people.
Detecting the number of persons and/or objects can also be useful in various other applications.


A technique for managing traffic within a network processor integrated circuit (IC) involves establishing multiple queue groups, associating a different hardware counter with each queue group, and then using the hardware counters to support rate shaping and scheduling of all of the queues in the queue groups. For example, 512 queue groups of thirty-two queues each queue group are established for a total of 16,384 (16 k) different queues and a different hardware counter is associated with each queue group for a total of 512 hardware counters. The group-specific hardware counters are used to implement hardware-based rate shaping and scheduling of all 16 k queues in a resource efficient manner that supports high throughput, e.g., on the order of 40 Gbps.

The Internet is fast becoming a medium that can provide voice, video, and data services to a large number of users, such as residential users. In order to provide Internet-based voice, video, and data services to a large number of users, the networking equipment at the edge of the network must be able to provide a high level of Quality of Services (QoS) control. QoS control, referred to generally as "traffic management," involves controlling the rate at which bandwidth is consumed by users as well as ensuring that the quality of time-critical data (e.g., voice and video data) is maintained. The process of controlling the rate at which bandwidth is consumed is generally referred to as "rate shaping" and the process of controlling the quality of time-critical data is generally referred to as "scheduling."
Traffic management within a network device such as a switch and/or router requires packets to be buffered so that the rate of outgoing traffic can be controlled to meet bandwidth limitations and so that the order of outgoing traffic can be controlled and rearranged as needed to meet the QoS demands. Buffered traffic is typically managed using queues, where each queue is a linked list of information that relates to the packets that are buffered and waiting to be forwarded from the network device.
Conventional traffic management operations involve controlling a few strict priority traffic flows destined to an output port. All of the traffic destined to the same output port is classified into a few different priorities with a separate queue associated with each priority. The number of queues needed to support conventional traffic management within a network device is equal to the number of output ports times the number of different priorities. For example, if a network device has ten output ports and supports four different priorities, then the network device only needs to maintain and manage forty different queues.
In emerging uses, where network devices support Internet-based voice, video, and data services to a large number of residential users, there is a need to maintain a large number of queues. For example, in a network of four-thousand users with each user subscribing to four different applications (2 videos, 1 voice, and 1 data), the network device needs to be able to manage sixteen-thousand different queues. For a relatively small number of queues (e.g., less than 100), traffic management can easily be implemented in software with a high speed CPU. However, as the number of queues increases, it becomes more difficult to implement traffic management in software at a high enough rate to support the expected traffic throughput. In the case of four-thousand different users, if each user subscribes to 10 megabits per second (Mbps) of service, the total throughput required of a network device is 40 gigabits per second (Gbps). Implementing software-based traffic management at 40 Gbps is a difficult task. In view of this, what is needed is a technique for traffic management that supports thousands of different queues and that can be efficiently implemented in hardware in a network processor IC at rates in the range of, for example, 40 Gbps.

Highly-scalable hardware-based traffic management within a network processor integrated circuit


A film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) structure includes a bottom cap wafer, a piezoelectric layer disposed on the bottom cap wafer, the piezoelectric layer including a single crystalline piezoelectric material, a bottom electrode disposed below the piezoelectric layer; a top electrode disposed above the piezoelectric layer; and a cavity disposed below the bottom electrode.

A film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is a device including a thin film that is made of a piezoelectric material and disposed between two electrodes. The FBAR device is typically fabricated using semiconductor micro-processing technology.
Due to its small thickness, the FBAR device may be used in applications requiring high frequency, small size, and light weight. An exemplary application of the FBAR device is a filter used in mobile communication devices.
The FBAR device usually includes a piezoelectric layer grown on a silicon substrate. However, due to the lattice mismatch between the piezoelectric layer and the silicon substrate, the quality of the piezoelectric layer may not be high enough for achieving superior performance of the FBAR device.
Therefore, there is a need for a large-scale commercial mass production solution for producing a high-quality piezoelectric layer.

FBAR structure having single crystalline piezoelectric layer and fabricating method thereof

Shenzhen Newsonic Technologies Co., Ltd.


A receiver includes clock termination circuitry that is capable of applying either a terminating impedance or a high impedance to a transmission path that carries a clock signal. When multiple of these receivers are used to service data links that share a clock signal, one of the clock termination circuits applies the terminating impedance to the transmission path that carries the clock signal while the other clock termination circuit(s) applies a high impedance to the transmission path. The receiver also includes a plurality of high rate serial bit stream buffers and a clock signal buffer along with the clock termination circuitry. In other embodiments, the receiver includes a deserializer and may include a controller. The receiver may service a dual link Digital Visual Interface.

Communication technologies that link electronic devices are well known in the art. Some communication technologies link electronic devices via networks. Examples of such networks include wired computer networks, wireless computer networks, wired telephone networks, wireless telephone networks, and satellite communication networks, among other networks. Within such communication networks, a network infrastructure couples electronic devices to one another. Other communication technologies simply link one electronic device to another electronic device. Examples of these types of links include links between computers and their peripheral devices, links between portable data units and computers, links between video devices sources and video monitors, and links between audio sources and audio playback devices, among other examples. With regard to the computer and peripheral device example, communication links couple the computer to its display, the computer to its printer, the computer to its mouse, and the computer to its keyboard, among links.
Many communication link applications require high data rate throughput with minimal or no errors in the data transmitted. Some of these communication links operate in a parallel fashion in which data is carried on a plurality of physical conductors and is clocked in unison. Other of these communication links operates in a serial fashion in which data is carried on a single physical conductor or multiple physical conductors from the first device to the second device in a serial fashion.
One particular type of serial link is a high-speed bit stream serial link. In a high-speed bit stream serial link, data is transmitted from a transmitting device to a receiving device one bit at a time so that, over time, a plurality of bits of data are transferred. An example of such a high-speed bit stream serial link is described generally in the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) standard promulgated by the Digital Display Working Group. The DVI standard sets forth a high-speed bit stream serial link that carries display information from a video source (transmitter) to a video display (receiver), in one operation. The transmitter may be contained in a computer, a cable modem set top box, a satellite receiver set top box, or another source of video content while the receiver is typically contained in a monitor that displays the visual information received via the high data rate bit stream DVI serial link.
The DVI standard describes the operational characteristics of the physical communication path between the transmitter and the receiver. The DVI standard provides for one or two DVI links, each of which includes a plurality of bit stream paths that is synchronized to a clock signal (bit clock). The bit clock and bits streams may operate at frequencies up to 1.65 Gigahertz. At such operating frequencies, the bit streams traveling along the bit stream path(s) are subject to a number of operating conditions that distort the bits as they pass from the transmitter to the receiver. Distortion of bits caused by dispersion along the conductors carrying the bit streams is generally referred to as inter-symbol interference (ISI). ISI distorts the bits such that extraction of the bits from the bit stream is subject to error. Further, the data bit stream(s) is/are often times not aligned fully with the bit clock. Mis-alignment between a bit stream and the bit clock typically varies over time and is referred to as bit stream jitter. Bit stream jitter often prevents the successful extraction of bits from the bit stream. Whenever bits are not properly extracted by the receiver from the bit stream, data is lost. However, bit stream jitter is common. In many operations, bit stream jitter makes it extraordinarily difficult to successfully meet a data rate, e.g., an error rate of 10−9 or less.
The quality of the transmission paths that carry the bit streams and the bit clock significantly affects the quality of the received signals. Thus, it is desirable to have "clean" signal paths that minimally affect the quality of the incoming bits. The quality of the termination of these paths is oftentimes inconsistent with the goals of low cost and small size parts. Many functions of a DVI receiver, for example, are now integrated into a single integrated circuit or a small number of integrated circuits mounted on a printed circuit board. These integrated circuits are typically formed in Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon (CMOS) processes that, while significantly functional in digital operations, have analog shortcomings. The shortcomings of these devices in terminating the transmission paths that carry the bit streams and the bit clock can significantly impair the quality of the received signals, resulting in lost data and lower supported operating speeds.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a DVI receiver that properly terminates the transmit paths that carry incoming signals to avoid degrading signals carried thereupon.

Single ended termination of clock for dual link DVI receiver


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for transporting a motorized vehicle, such as a wheelchair, between the loading bridge and cargo bin of an aircraft in a timely manner. According to one embodiment of the invention, a metal cage assembly is implemented with a drop down ramp at the front and an adjustable floor that is raised by a lever handle on either side, outside of the frame. The assembly can be attached to an end of aircraft cargo belt loader by a strap that is wrapped around the belt frame and tightened via a ratcheting clamp. The adjustable floor can be raised or lowered at one end to offset the angle of the belt loader when it is raised to an upright position, for example, to reach a galley door of an aircraft. Angling of the adjustable floor can allow the floor to be substantially parallel to the loading bridge or aircraft cargo bin, thereby enabling the easy transfer of a motorized wheelchair to and from various compartments of the aircraft. The present invention can eliminate injuries to employees, prevent damage to the customer's motorized wheelchair and provide prompt service to physically impaired airline customers.

1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to cargo transport, and particularly to a method and apparatus for safely transferring motorized wheelchairs and scooters between a loading bridge and cargo bin of an aircraft.
2. Description of Related Art
The advent of electric motorized wheelchairs and scooters (generically referred to as "motorized wheelchairs") has enabled persons suffering from physical impairments to achieve greater mobility. Often those who travel via airlines wish to take their motorized wheelchair with them throughout the departure and arrival airport terminal, and particularly up to the point at which they take their seat within the aircraft. In order to accommodate, airline agents must transfer the motorized wheelchair from the loading bridge to the cargo bin of the aircraft at the departure airport and then vice-versa at the arrival airport.
The current procedure for transferring motorized wheelchairs varies by station depending on the airline equipment and facilities available. One common transfer method is to physically carry the motorized wheelchair down an exterior stairs of the loading bridge. This can be dangerous and often causes employee injuries. Airline agents are in an awkward position and the limited confines of the stairwell and unusual step spacing makes this job difficult because of the bulky size and weight of a typical motorized wheelchair. For example, motorized wheelchairs often weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. The risk of injury is increased when fluids, snow, or ice are present on the steps of the exterior stairs. This also increases the risk of damage to the customer's motorized wheelchair.
Another transfer method involves driving the motorized wheelchair from the loading bridge to a building elevator, and then driving the motorized wheelchair from the elevator to a belt loader, which normally loads luggage into the cargo bin of an aircraft. An agent then lifts the motorized wheelchair onto the belt loader and into the bin. This often requires an agent to ride the belt while balancing and/or struggling to move the chair up the belt to the bin. This also requires extra time, as elevators are not always located close to the required gate area and in some stations, the elevator is located on the opposite side of a security checkpoint. The physically impaired passenger may be required to wait extended periods of time to retrieve their motorized wheelchair. Also flights may be delayed waiting for the motorized wheelchair to be loaded onto the aircraft.
Some stations use a forklift with a makeshift basket to move the motorized wheelchair from the loading bridge to the belt loader. This method increases the risk of aircraft ground damage and still requires lifting and struggling to move the chair along the belt loader to/from the bin.
Other stations use a winch on each loading bridge to move the chair up or down the baggage slide along with a pushcart that transfers the chair to/from the belt loader. However, this requires maneuvering the chair on the loading bridge landing, and lifting and struggling to move the chair along the belt loader to/from the bin.

Method and apparatus for transporting a motorized vehicle


A subsea facility for hydrocarbon recovery in deep waters and methods of installation are provided. More specifically, the subsea facility equipment is on multiple modules equipped with a buoyancy system to allow the modules to sink to the sea floor. The modules can be attached and unattached to each other, thus allowing for a module to be raised to the surface for repairs without affecting the rest of the subsea facility.

The oil and gas industry has been expanding its exploration and production operations from land to sea since the 1890s. The first submerged oil well was drilled in fresh waters in Ohio in 1891. In 1897, the first derrick was placed atop a wharf about 250 feet from the California shoreline. However, true offshore drilling and production did not take off until the first well was drilled completely out of site of land in 1947. Since then, advancing technology has allowed for the drilling of wells and recovery of oil and gas at greater water depths.
Underwater oil fields are generally split into shallow water and deep-water categories because different equipment and approaches are used for oil recovery. Shallow water drilling and recovery occurs at depths less than 500 feet and generally involve rigs that have legs long enough to reach the bottom of the sea floor.
As drilling extends further offshore, rigs have become larger and more complex to meet the hostile environment. Furthermore, time to perform operations are much greater in deep-water than shallow water operations. Thus, deep-water drilling has been economically infeasible in the past. But, rising oil prices and depleted shallow water fields are making deep-water drilling more and more attractive.
FIG. 1 displays the many types of deep-water production systems in use today. For deep-water drilling (>500 feet), semi-submersible drilling rigs and drillships have traditionally been used and use of other floating production systems are increasing. However, for huge water depths, these methods are not very cost effective. The ocean can add several hundred meters or more to the fluid column, which increases the equivalent circulating density and downhole pressures in drilling wells, as well as the energy needed to lift produced fluids for separation on the platform.
Subsea facilities that reside on the sea floor, are being increasingly used as they become being more economical and technically feasible for use at great water depths. Here, the subsea equipment is attached to a platform anchored to the sea floor and a flowline conducting the produced hydrocarbons is connected to another structure, such as a floating tanker.
With the equipment being located on the sea floor, subsea systems provide for a less expensive solution for a myriad of harsh conditions than is provided by other technology. Furthermore, the requirement for the system to work deep underwater potentially reduces oil spills because connections must be sealed to prevent water ingress. Equipment working at atmospheric pressure may not meet such design requirements. Thus, subsea installations can help to exploit resources at progressively deeper waters, at locations that have previously been inaccessible, and at locations with harsh environmental conditions, such as the Barents Sea where drifting sea ice can damage surface equipment.
Improvements in technology have allowed subsea facilities to perform numerous processes that have traditionally occurred at the surface, thus debottlenecking the processing capacity. For example, some newer processes being performed by subsea facilities include water removal and re-injection or disposal, single-phase and multi-phase boosting of well fluids, sand and solid separations, and gas/liquid separations. This reduces the need for flowlines and risers that lift these components from the subsea facility for separation and then return them back to the seafloor for re-injection.
However, a disadvantage of subsea production systems is the cost of installation and maintenance of subsea equipment. First, a platform has to be installed on the sea floor. Accurate positioning requires time and skill and installation can be affected by bad weather on the surface.
Once a platform is installed, the subsea equipment can be attached to the platform. Generally, this includes a wellhead, valve tree equipment, pipelines, structures and piping systems, and the like. The installation and maintenance of subsea equipment requires specialized and expensive methods, including regular diving equipment for shallow work up to 300 meters; one atmosphere diving equipment for work up to 700 meters; robotic equipment, generally remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), for deeper depths; and, specialized ships equipped with large cranes to lower and raise equipment.
Subsea equipment installation is currently performed by first lowering the equipment using a large crane. Ship positioning and crane manipulation are paramount to accurately placing equipment. Affecting these methods is the length of cable guidelines needed for deeper waters wherein longer cables increase the effects of pendulum-like oscillations. Also, the weight and size of each load is limited by the crane's capacity (including the weight of the crane wire) and the crane's reach. Thus, larger facilities have to be broken down into many pieces to prevent overloading of the crane, resulting in even more bottom trips being made.
Once the equipment is near the sea floor, remote controlled vehicles (ROVs) are used to maneuver the equipment into the desired location before landing and to connect each component to the platform and to the subsea system.
Once all of the pieces are unloaded and installed on the subsea facility, the system is then tested for functionality. If there is a problem with system performance, then the troubled component(s) must be disconnected and brought up to the surface for repair or to be exchanged.
Therefore it is readily apparent that complete subsea installation procedure can be a lengthy and expensive process. Not every harbor has the specialty ships equipped with large cranes, which adds the cost of coordinating the special equipment and getting it to the deep-water site. Weather conditions limit installations due to potential damage from accelerating and decelerating forces during equipment pick-up and landing. This is especially important because many items being installed are delicate and can be damage by wave action. Lastly, simple repairs of the subsea facility can also be very expensive and time consuming if the ROVs are unable to complete the repairs underwater.
Because of these difficulties, much research in the realm of subsea oil and gas recovery focuses on methods of reducing installation cost and time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,671, for example, describes a method for installing a floatable or buoyant body on the sea floor. The body has a ballast system wherein the supply of ballast water is adjusted to allow the body to sink at a pre-selected velocity to a predetermined buoyancy neutral level, wherein the body is further lowered to the sea floor using a guide wire attached to a ship. As such, large structures can be lowered without the use of a conventional crane ship and independent of weather and climatic conditions. However, this patent does not address the installation of subsea equipment upon the platform, and equipment is still installed piece-by-piece.
Following the same trend, U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,100 describes a method of deploying and installing subsea equipment, particularly smaller, delicate components, using buoys instead of a ship equipped with a crane. The use of buoys essentially reduces any effect from vessel motion that may affect the accuracy of positioning the equipment. US20110164926 also uses a buoyance system for lowering equipment, however, a control weight is used to overcome the positive buoyancy of the system. In both inventions, the use of a buoyance system allows for a gentler landing of the delicate equipment. However, neither addresses the complete subsea facility installment.
Of additional concern is the cost and time needed for performing intervention or maintenance operations on a subsea facility. US20010240303 describes a subsea intervention module with a buoyance system and a navigational control that allows for the module to be lowered via a guide wire attached to a ship to the subsea well head without hitting the sea floor or the well head with force. Thus, ships specially equipped with large cranes and ROVs are not necessary for docking the intervention module. Furthermore, the intervention operation can be controlled on the surface, thus eliminating the need to launch a ROV.
The art to date, however, focuses on cost reduction to single elements of the entire installation procedure. Thus, what is needed in the art is a complete subsea facility that can be installed with minimal cost at each installation step. Specifically, what is needed in the art is a subsea facility that can be installed and maintained without help or with reduced help from cranes, rigs and ROVs. Furthermore, the installation must be able to occur independent of weather conditions and must be safe for delicate and smaller items.


Systems, methods, and devices to control a transistor to maintain one or more substantially constant characteristics while activated or deactivated are provided. One such system includes a transistor that receives an activation signal on a gate terminal to become activated during a first period and receives a deactivation signal on the gate terminal to become deactivated during a second period. The transistor receives an input signal on an input terminal during the first period and the second period. The input signal varies during the first period and during the second period. The transistor may have improved reliability (e.g., substantially constant on resistance RON) because a first difference between the input signal and the activation signal substantially does not vary during the first period and a second difference between the input signal and the deactivation signal substantially does not vary during the second period.

This disclosure relates to a transistor switch that maintains a substantially constant on resistance when passing an input signal that includes a variable voltage component (e.g., an alternating current (AC) component).
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Many integrated circuits use switches formed using transistors to allow a signal to pass through the switch to be received by other circuitry. Generally speaking, the lower the amount of signal distortion in the circuitry of an electronic device, the greater the reliability of the circuitry. On an electronic display panel, for example, thin film transistors may switch a variety of input signals to operate the display. In general, these signals include substantially only a direct current component. When the transistor switches are used to pass only direct current input signals, the transistor switches may keep a substantially constant "on resistance," or RON, which is the resistance of the transistor switch when the transistor switch is on. By maintaining a substantially on resistance RON, the transistor switches generally may not distort these direct current input signals.
The on resistance RON of transistor switches may vary, however, when the input signals include a variable voltage component that varies over time. When the input signals include a sinusoidal or other alternating current component, the on resistance RON of the transistor switches may vary over time. The resulting output signals may be non-linear, unreliable, and/or high in noise. Moreover, transistors formed as circuit-on-glass devices made from polysilicon may exhibit even greater variability of on resistance RON. As a result, sending a signal that includes a variable voltage component through a transistor switch—particularly one formed as a circuit-on-glass device—may produce an unreliable output signal. Although increasing a size of the transistor may reduce the variability of the on resistance RON, a larger transistor takes up more integrated circuit die space. The comparatively larger size of the transistor may crowd out other possible circuitry on the integrated circuit die and/or may add to the design cost. A larger transistor may also consume more energy, lowering the potential battery life of electronic devices that would include the larger transistor. Moreover, given design constraints, making a transistor that is large enough to completely eliminate the on resistance RON variability may be difficult or impractical.

Transistor switch having constant on resistance with input signal with having variable voltage component


A service processing system includes an IC card possessed by a passenger and at least one automatic ticket inspection machine installed in each station of a traffic facility. The card includes a storage for keeping therein a stored value assigned as an equivalent for utilization of a service and service points supplied in association with a utilization state of services and an interface unit to achieve data communication with an external device. The machine includes a reader/writer to communicate data with the IC card. The machine transfers, when the passenger enters a platform through the machine of the station for the traffic facility, entrance information related to the station to the IC card. The IC card keeps the entrance information and transfers, when the passenger leaves a platform via the machine of a destination station, the entrance information to the machine. In accordance with the entrance information, the machine creates exit information representing a state of utilization of the traffic facility and sends the exit information to the IC card. On receiving the exit information, the IC card calculates service points in accordance with the received exit information and the utilization state.

The present invention relates to a method of providing services for customers and users, and in particular, to a service processing system for use with a traffic facility such as a railway transportation or facility in which a point service is carried out in accordance with a state of utilization of each user.
Heretofore, there has been known a customer service called xe2x80x9cpoint servicexe2x80x9d, in which points are assigned to each customer in accordance with such transaction data as an amount of transaction, in transaction processing in a shop or a store, such that when the accumulated number of points of the customer becomes equal to a predetermined number of points (target number of points), an article or a merchandise coupon is given to the customer. JP-A-5-324998, JP-A-6-266970, JP-A-7-65243, etc. describe technologies related to the point service of this kind.
In these service processing systems above, service points are calculated in accordance with the utilization state of each customer by a host system or a high-order system of a point of sales (POS) system or the like, and the calculated result is recorded in an IC card issued to the customer in advance. Moreover, when changing a rate of addition of service points for each customer, the host system or the high-order system refers to data of the rate of addition beforehand stored for the customer so as to appropriately calculate the service points in accordance with the rate.
In accordance with the prior art, the service points are calculated by the host system or the high-order system such as the POS system. Consequently, the service points are fixedly set to a table arranged in the high-order system. When it is desired to provide more precise satisfactory services, for example, when the service points are to be changed in accordance with the utilization state of each customer, it is required for the host system to manage the utilization state of each customer in a concentrated fashion for the calculation of service points in accordance with the utilization state. In consequence, it is necessary for the host system to execute transaction processing for any transaction, which leads to a problem that the load imposed on the host system becomes heavier and hence the processing response time is elongated. On the other hand, in a case in which such a point service is to be introduced to a passenger traffic facility such as a railway transportation, there may be executed processing to calculate points when a passenger enters or leaves a platform of a station through an automatic ticket inspection machine installed at a wicket of the station. Since a high processing speed is required in this case, the conventional technology described above cannot be applied to the system.
It is therefore an object of the present invention, which is devised to solve the problems of the prior art, to supply each customer with service points in a more precise manner in accordance with the utilization state of the customer, and to supply service points to the customer with a high degree of freedom in various fashions in accordance with information of the customer.
To achieve the object above, there is provided a service processing system in accordance with the present invention including an IC card possessed by a user or passenger, and an automatic ticket inspection machine arranged in each station of the pertinent transportation facility. The IC card includes storage means for keeping therein a stored value supplied as an equivalent for utilization of a service and service points supplied in association with a service utilization state, and interface means for conducting data communication with an external device. The automatic ticket inspection machine includes a reader/writer for accomplishing data communication with the IC card, means for transferring, when the passenger enters a platform of a station through the machine to access the transportation facility, entrance information related to the starting station to the IC card, and means for receiving, when the passenger leaves a platform of a station through the machine, the entrance information from the IC card, creating exit information representing a utilization state of the facility in accordance with the entrance information, and transferring the exit information to the IC card. Additionally, the IC card includes means for receiving and keeping therein the entrance information, and means for calculating service points in accordance with a utilization state associated with the received exit information.

Method of providing services for users and a service processing system for the same


This printer is a printer having a wireless communication function, and includes an antenna (321f) in a front surface (110f) of a casing (110), which is a surface having a space requiring portion where space is required in a vicinity of the casing (110). The space requiring portion is a sheet delivery slot (120f) and a sheet receiving portion cover (130f) for replacing sheets.

Printers that have a wireless communication function are disclosed in, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2.
In Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a printer in which an antenna is mounted to a place that allows the antenna to rotate with the rotation of a cover on the top surface of the printer main body, and, when in use, the antenna is rotated with the rotation of the cover to an erect position with respect to a plane on which the printer main body is set up, whereas the antenna is pressed by the cover and housed in a receiving space formed in the cover when not in use.
In Patent Document 2, there is disclosed a printer in which a plurality of connectors having the same shape and connected to an input/output circuit of the printer are provided at difference places in a printer housing, and a slot module for a card-type wireless module with a built-in antenna is selectively connected to one of the plurality of connectors.

Printer that can perform wireless communication well regardless of the environment in which said printer is set up


Every router in a network is provided with flow detecting means that detects a flow from a packet header of a packet so as to perform such packet processings as bandwidth monitoring, priority-based transferring, statistical information collecting with respect to each packet flow. Receiving a packet from a site, an edge router detects the packet flow and writes a flow identifier in the packet. Each flow identifier is uniquely decided in the network. The Internet router performs such packet processings as bandwidth monitoring, priority-based transferring, statistical information collecting with respect to each flow according to the flow identifier. The present invention can thus prevent the network from degradation of transferring performance caused by the flow detecting means of a backbone router.

ATM network communications are connection type communications in which connections are preset. Such connection information as destination information, transfer priority information, bandwidth monitoring information, etc. corresponding to each connection is registered in each ATM of an ATM network. An ATM performs such processings as cell transferring, priority-based transferring, and bandwidth monitoring according to the connection information corresponding to the connection identifier written in each cell header.
On the other hand, IP network communications are connectionless type communications in which no connection is preset. Consequently, when enabling a router in an IP network to perform priority-based transferring and bandwidth monitoring, the router is required to have flow detecting means. A flow or a packet flow means a flow of a series of packets decided by a combination of header information in the header fields. A condition generated by a combination of header information in the header fields is referred to as a flow condition. The detecting of a packet flow as matching/unmatching with the above flow condition is referred to as flow detection. And, such packet processings as priority-based transferring, bandwidth monitoring, filtering, statistical information collecting, etc. performed with respect to each packet flow are referred to as flow processings. The flow detecting means detects a packet flow from the header information of a packet. The header information includes an IP address, etc. A router performs such flow processings as priority-based transferring and bandwidth monitoring according to the priority-based transferring information and the bandwidth monitoring information corresponding to each flow.
A router is also required to detect packet flows so as to filter the packets. In the case of the connection type communication, a connection is preset only for each permitted opposite party and the registration of connection is disabled for non-permitted opposite parties to prevent receiving cells from unexpected opposite parties. This is why the communication security is easily assured in the connection type communications. In the case of the connectionless type communication, however, packets are possibly received from all the terminals connected to the subject network. This is why packets are required to be filtered to discard those received from unexpected opposite parties via connectionless type communications.
A router is also required to have flow detecting means to collect statistic information of each flow. The statistical information items to be collected are, for example, the number of packets and the number of bytes inputted to each router, as well as those output from the router or those discarded by the router.
To keep the communication quality in an IP network, each router in this network is required to have the above described flow detecting means to be used for priority-based transferring of packets. When some of the routers in an IP network do not perform such priority-based transferring of packets, the communication quality is degraded by those routers thereby degrading the communication quality of the whole network. The flow detecting means, when it is provided for the backbone router located in the backbone of an IP network, becomes a bottleneck for fast transferring of packets, since the backbone router uses fast lines to handle many more packet flows than edge routers.
The Differentiated Service (Diffserv) technique disclosed in RFC2475 (hereinafter "Document 1") is used to solve this problem. Hereunder, the Diffserv is described with reference to FIG. 3. An edge router A326/B327 (referred to as a boundary node in the Document 1) located at the inlet of the internet 325, when receiving a packet from a site A321, B322, C323, D324, detects the flow based on such information items as the source/destination IP address, the source/destination port number, a protocol, etc. written in the TCP/IP header of the packet. The edge router A326/B327 then monitors the bandwidth used by the detected flow of packets to decide the transfer priority of the flow in the Internet 325. In the case of the IPv6 protocol, this information is written in the Traffic Class (TC) field of each packet. In the case of the IPv4 protocol, the information is written in the Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP) field. The backbone router 328 (referred as the interior node in the Document 1) located at the backbone of the Internet 325 performs priority-based transferring of the flow referred as the Per Hop Behavior (PHB) according to the TC thereby keeping the communication quality in the Internet 325. When a network employs the Diffserv, only the edge routers A326 and B327 located at the inlet of the Internet 325 are required to have the flow detecting means respectively, while the backbone router 328 is not.
The flow detecting means that realizes this boundary node is described in, for example, "a flow identification method with the use of an contents addressable memory", shown in FIG. 15, written by Uga and others in a collection of lectures/papers at the 2000 comprehensive meeting of Denshi Jouhou Tsuushin Gakkai SB-4-2 (hereinafter "Document 2"). The flow detecting means that employs the technique described in the Document 2 includes a CAM (Contents Addressable Memory) 1501 for storing flow entries 1510-j (j=1 to M) (each describing a flow condition generated by a combination of the header information, etc.) as well as a retrieval result retaining table 1502 for storing retrieval result entries 1520-j (each describing an operation corresponding to a flow entry 1510-j). The flow detecting means, when detecting a packet flow, makes a comparison of matching/unmatching between the contents of the packet header information and of the flow entry 1510-j. Then, the flow detecting means writes TOS (=DSCP) in each packet. The TOS is described in the retrieval result entry 1520-j corresponding to a matching flow entry 1510-j.
The backbone router of a network that employs the Diffserv is not required to have such flow detecting means to maintain the communication quality. However, the backbone router is required to have the flow detecting means to perform other flow processings (ex., collecting of statistical information).
Hereunder, why the backbone router is required to have such the flow detecting means is described in detail with reference to FIG. 3. Sites A321 and C323 shown in FIG. 3 both belong to a corporation A. This corporation A uses the Internet 325 to transfer data from the site A 321 to the site C323 at a transfer rate of 10 Mbits/sec. Similarly, sites B322 and D324 both belong to a corporation B and this corporation B uses the Internet 325 to transfer data from the site B322 to the site D324 at a transfer rate of 10 Mbits/sec. On the other hand, the Internet 325 guarantee transferring of packets at a rate of 10 Mbits/sec and confirms with the managers of the corporations A and B that the internet service contracts with them fulfill their transfer rate requirements.
When the Internet 325 employs the technique disclosed in the Document 1, each router acts as follows. When the edge router A326 receives a packet from the site A321/B322, the flow detecting means of the edge router A326 identifies the source site from the source IP address written in the packet and monitors the bandwidth used by the site. When the packet uses a bandwidth whose transfer rate is below the internet service contracted one (10 Mbits/sec), the flow detecting means writes the value of "priority" in the TC of the packet. When the packet flow uses a bandwidth whose transfer rate is over the internet service contracted one, the flow detecting means writes the value of "non-priority" in the TC. Respective packets having "priority" written in TC are referred to as priority packets and respective packets having "non-priority" written in TC are referred to as non-priority packets. The edge routers A326 and B327 as well as the backbone router 328 in the Internet 325 perform priority-based transferring according to the TC value respectively to assure the transferring of priority packets as desired. In addition, each of those routers distinguishes among TCs (i.e., transfer priority levels) to count such statistical information items as the number of packets/bytes discarded for each of the source sites. The internet service provider ("ISP"), since no priority packet is discarded during transferring, can assure the managers of the corporations A and B of the fulfillment of their internet service contracts.
The backbone router 328 and the edge router B327 are not required to have any flow detecting means to conduct priority-based transferring of packet flows (i.e., to maintain the communication quality). To collect statistical information, however, those routers are required to have such means to detect each packet flow from the source IP address repetitively so as to identify each source site. At this time, the flow detecting means of the backbone router that uses fast lines often becomes a bottleneck that degrades the transfer performance of the network. The Document 2 does not describe any method to omit the flow detecting means from the backbone router 328.
Routers that employ the above conventional technique have a problem that the number of flow detecting means increases with the increase of the number of flow processings. Generally, the cost of a router increases as the number of flow detecting means increases. The edge router A326 is required to identify each site and monitor the bandwidth used by the site, as well as to collect the number of packets/bytes discarded for each TC. And, even when the edge router A326 detects a flow and identifies the source site through bandwidth monitoring, the edge router 326 is still required to detect each flow from the source IP address repetitively so as to identify the source site and collect statistical information. This is why the number of flow detecting means increases when the number of flow processings increases in each router according to the conventional technique.
In addition to the above problem, the conventional technique has another problem that it is impossible to perform bandwidth monitoring and statistical information collecting with respect to each flow bundle consisting of a plurality of flows if the flows in each bundle can not be distinguished from each other. On the other hand, each router is required to perform such bandwidth monitoring for each flow bundle consisting of a plurality of flows as described above. In the case of statistical information collecting, each router is also required to count the sum of byte lengths of input/output packets and the number of input/output packets, as well as those discarded therefrom with respect to each flow bundle.
Next, a problem of each router employing the technique described in the Document 2 is described in detail with reference to FIG. 2. Via the IP network shown in FIG. 2, sites A210 and B220 of a corporation are connected to a site C230 of the same corporation. An internet service contract is made between the internet service provider and the manager of the corporation network so as to transfer packet flows from the site A210 or B220 to the site C230 at a rate of 10 Mbits/sec. The packet flow output from the site A210 is designated as the flow 1 and the packet flow output from the site B220 is designated as the flow 2. The terminals A212 and B213 of the site A210 as well as the terminals C222 and D223 of the site B220 send packets to the terminal E232 of the site C230 via the Internet 200. The edge router A202 located at an edge of the Internet 200 monitors the bandwidths of the packets sent from both of the sites A210 and B220 at a rate of 10 Mbits/sec.
Assuming that the edge router A202 employing the technique described in the Document 2 monitors the bandwidth of the packets in the flow 1 at a rate of 10 Mbits/sec, the edge router A202 sets the identifier of the line 206 connected to a gateway router A211 in the flow entry 1510-1. The edge router A202 then initializes such packet arrival history information as the arrival time, etc. of the previous packet in the retrieval result entry 1520-1 and updates the bandwidth monitoring information as a value corresponding to 10M bits/sec. When a packet of the flow 1 is inputted, the edge router A202 refers back to the packet arrival history information and the monitoring bandwidth information in the retrieval result entry 1520-1 (corresponding to the flow entry 1510-1 to monitor the bandwidth and update the packet arrival history information).
Next, the monitoring of the bandwidths of the flows 1 and 2 of packets is described below. An OR operation of flow conditions cannot be set in the flow entry 1510 such that it is impossible to describe a flow of packets inputted via the line 206 and a flow of packets inputted via the line 207 in one flow entry 1510-j. However, if the line 206 and the line 207 are described as flow conditions in two flow entries 1510-1 and 1510-2, the packet arrival history information to be updated in will differ between flow entries 1510-1 and 1510-2, depending on the input site. To monitor the bandwidths of both flows 1 and 2 simultaneously, it is required to refer back to the same packet arrival history information and update the information regardless of the input site. Nevertheless, routers that employ the conventional technique 1 cannot monitor the bandwidth of each flow bundle consisting of a plurality of flows as described above.
Next, how an edge router collects statistical information is described with reference to FIG. 2. The edge router A202 shown in FIG. 2 counts the sum of bytes in each packet and/or the number of packets output from the sites A210 and B220 collectively. The internet service provider reads those statistical information items periodically from the edge router A202 at the management terminal 205 to use those information items, for example, for accounting.
First, how the edge router A202 employing the technique described in the Document 2 counts a sum of bytes in each packet and/or the number of packets in the flow 1 is described. At this time, the edge router A202 sets an identifier for the line 206 connected to the gateway router A211 in the flow entry 1510-1 so as to identify the flow 1. In addition, the edge router A202 initializes the retrieval result entry 1520-1 to "0". The entry 1520-1 is composed of a byte counter that counts a sum of bytes in each packet and a packet counter that counts the number of packets. Receiving a packet of the flow 1, the edge router A202 reads the values of the byte counter and of the packet counter (corresponding to the flow entry 1510-1) and adds "1" and the number of bytes in the received packet to the values of the counters respectively. The edge router A202 then writes the updated values of the counters in the same retrieval result entry 1520-1.
Next, the counting of the sum of bytes in each packet and/or of the number of packets in each of the flows 1 and 2 collectively is described. Because the flow entry 1510-j cannot describe the logical sum (OR) of flow conditions, it is impossible to describe a packet flow inputted via the line 206 and a packet flow inputted via the line 207 in one flow entry 1510 as discussed above. In addition, if two flow entries 1510-1 and 1510-2 in which lines 206 and 207 are described as flow conditions are set for describing those packet flows, the edge router A202 refers back to wrong byte and packet counters thereby updating the counters with wrong values. This is why each router employing the conventional technique 1 cannot count a sum of bytes in each input/output packet and/or the number of input/output packets in each flow with respect to each flow bundle as discussed above. As an example, there are only two sites sending out packet flows in FIG. 2. There might be more sites in actual operation. When the number of sites increases, the management terminal 205 is required to read more statistical information from the edge router A202 such that the capacity of the transmission bandwidth between the management terminal 205 and the edge router A202 and/or the capacity of the memory of the management terminal 205 for storing the statistical information becomes insufficient. Consequently, the edge router A202 is also required to collect summarized statistical information.
While the technique described in the Document 2 fails to solve all the mentioned problems, the technique described in the Document 1 also fails to solve a problem that bandwidth monitoring and statistical information collecting with respect to each flow bundle can not be described in the flow entry.

Packet transferring method and apparatus that employs the same


There are provided a catalyst for catalytic gas phase oxidation of acrolein with molecular oxygen to produce acrylic acid, the catalyst including molybdenum and vanadium and further including at least one volatile catalyst poison ingredient in an amount of 10 to 100 ppb by mass as measured by ion chromatography; and a process for producing acrylic acid, including a step of carrying out catalytic gas phase oxidation of acrolein with molecular oxygen using the catalyst. The catalyst of the present invention can lower a hot spot temperature and suppress reduction in a reaction efficacy accompanied with thermal degradation, so that the acrolein conversion can stably be kept higher over a long term.

As a catalyst used when acrylic acid is produced in such a manner that acrolein is subjected to catalytic gas phase oxidation with molecular oxygen, there has widely been used a catalyst containing molybdenum and vanadium as essential components (hereinafter referred to as the molybdenum-vanadium catalyst in some cases) The molybdenum-vanadium catalyst has been known to have higher activity (in which an acrolein conversion may sometimes be used in place of activity) as compared with other catalysts. In usual cases, when catalytic gas phase oxidation of acrolein is carried out using a fixed-bed catalytic reactor filled with a catalyst, since the oxidation is accompanied with heat generation, a "hot spot" (i.e., a local abnormally high temperature part) is generated in the catalyst bed. When this hot spot has a too high temperature, the occurrence of excessive oxidation allows thermal degradation of the catalyst to proceed and further induces run away reaction.
As one means of solving the above problem, various techniques have been proposed in which a catalyst bed is divided into some parts in a tube axial direction of the catalyst reactor, the activity of a catalyst to be filled in the reaction gas inlet side on which a hot spot may easily be formed being set lower than that of a catalyst to be filled in the reaction gas outlet side.
For example, there have been proposed techniques in which a catalyst having activity lowered by incorporation of an inert substance is filled in the reaction gas inlet side of a catalyst bed (e.g., JP-B 53-30688 (1978)) and techniques in which the ratio of an active component carried on a carrier to be filled in the reaction gas inlet side is lowered (e.g., JP-A 07-10802 (1995)). In addition, there have also been proposed techniques in which a catalyst having activity lowered by addition of, for example, an alkali metal is filled (e.g., JP-A 2000-336060) and techniques in which the particle diameter of a catalyst to be filled in the reaction gas inlet side is set larger than that of a catalyst to be filled in the reaction gas outlet side (e.g., JP-A 09-241209 (1997)).
In usual cases, catalytic activity is gradually lowered by thermal degradation and the like, so that the acrolein conversion is reduced when operation time (i.e., duration of oxidation) becomes longer. Therefore, in order to keep the acrolein conversion higher, it is necessary to raise the reaction temperature. However, when the reaction temperature is raised, thermal degradation of a catalyst further proceeds. Therefore, when a catalyst having lower activity is filled in the reaction gas inlet side of a catalyst bed as in the above prior art, some effect is attained for the control of a hot spot temperature, but it cannot be said that this has sufficient productivity for a long term because of a lowering of activity. As a matter of course, productivity may be increased by setting the reaction temperature higher even in the prior art. However, since some problems arise on the thermal degradation of a catalyst and the formation of a hot spot, this is also not practical.

Catalyst for catalytic gas phase oxidation of acrolein and process for producing acrylic acid by catalytic gas phase oxidation using said catalyst


Systems and methods for converting FLASH content to HTML content is described herein. A transcoder module can receive a FLASH-based content item including instructions to cause a computing device to generate or access a display list comprising display objects. The transcoder module can traverse the display list to identify a class type for each display object. The transcoder module can generate a set of HTML-based instructions based on the class type for each display object. The transcoder module can insert the generated set of HTML-based instructions into an instruction list. The transcoder module can store the instruction list in a data structure. An policy generator module can generate an execution policy. The execution policy can specify an application of a client device to execute the sets of HTML-based instructions in the instructions list based on a trigger condition.

In a computer networked environment, visual content, both raster and vector graphics, may be rendered on Internet-based resource pages (e.g., webpages) using the ADOBE® FLASH® format, such as a SHOCKWAVE® FLASH (SWF) movie file or application. Rendering visual content using the FLASH format may consume much of the computer's resources. Applications running the FLASH format may also be vulnerable to security issues.

Converting flash content to HTML content by generating an instruction list


According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile memory device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a memory cell provided between the first electrode and the second electrode. The memory cell includes a retention unit, a resistance change unit, and an ion supply unit. The retention unit is provided on the first electrode and has an electron trap. The resistance change unit is provided on the retention unit. The ion supply unit is provided between the resistance change unit and the second electrode and includes a metal element.

There is a nonvolatile memory device in which a resistance change unit and an ion supply unit are provided between two electrodes.
In such a nonvolatile memory device, when a voltage is applied using the electrode on the ion supply unit side as a positive pole and the electrode on the resistance change unit side as a negative pole, a metal included in the ion supply unit is ionized to diffuse into the resistance change unit and receives electrons from the electrode on the negative pole side. Thereby, a conduction path (filament) of a metal is formed between the two electrodes. This leads to a situation where the resistance between the electrode on the ion supply unit side and the electrode on the resistance change unit side is low.
On the other hand, when a voltage of the opposite polarity is applied, the metal forming the conduction path is ionized, and thereby the conduction path becomes short and furthermore disappears. This leads to a situation where the resistance between the electrode on the ion supply unit side and the electrode on the resistance change unit side is high.
Thus, at least two resistance states can be created, and data can therefore be stored.
However, in such a nonvolatile memory device, for example, there is a problem that the formed conduction path becomes short or something to change the resistance state even in a state where no voltage is applied.
Hence, it is desired to develop a nonvolatile memory device in which the properties that resistance states can be retained for a long time (data retention properties) are high.

Nonvolatile memory device and method for manufacturing the same