A communication interface circuit includes a register and a register setting circuit. The register holds a data value for controlling characteristics of an electronic circuit element included in the communication interface circuit. The register setting circuit changes a wire connection state on the basis of a control signal. The register setting circuit inputs a variable data value to the register to detect the data value corresponding to the characteristics of the electronic circuit element in a first wire connection state, and sets the data value detected in the first wire connection state in the register on the basis of a fixed value in a second wire connection state. A control circuit outputs the above control signal.

High-speed I/O (Input/Output) circuits used in servers and the like for an optical communication network are communication interface circuits for data transmission between processors included in the servers or between the servers.
The electrical characteristics of each element included in I/O circuits having such uses are controlled according to variation in the characteristics of circuit elements, a system environment, or the like in order to realize normal high-speed transmission.
Formerly the technique of a programmable cell array in which output from each register is inputted to a programmable multiplexer and in which a signal to be outputted from the multiplexer is determined by the state of each fuse was proposed.
Furthermore, the following technique was proposed. A control unit provides data to a PLL circuit by giving a control signal to an electric fuse array, and exercises control so as to make the PLL circuit operate on the basis of a specific combination of characteristics.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 05-218199
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-110711
An I/O circuit includes registers which are storage elements for control. By setting a determined data value in a register, the electrical characteristics of an element in the I/O circuit are controlled. A data value may be set in a register by software. In this case, however, setting time becomes longer with an increase in the number of registers. Accordingly, a data value may be set in a register by hardware.
However, if an initial data value set in the beginning is not most suitable, then a change in hardware, such as mask revision or mask re-creation, is made to set a data value again. This leads to a decrease in the efficiency of development.

Semiconductor device and communication interface circuit


An organic light emitting diode (OLED) package includes a substrate, an OLED die mounted on the substrate and an encapsulation layer encapsulating the OLED die. The OLED package further includes a protecting layer formed on the OLED die. The encapsulation layer has a multi-layered structure and is deposited on the protecting layer. Refractive indexes of a cathode of the OLED die, the protecting layer and the encapsulation layer are gradually decreased in the sequence. A barrier layer for blocking moisture from entering the OLED package is formed on a bottom surface of the substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. The present disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing the OLED package.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor emitting component and method for manufacturing the semiconductor, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) and method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
OLEDs have many advantages, such as light weight, thin thickness, multiple colors and low manufacturing cost, compatibility with integrated circuits, easy driving, long term reliability, and environmental friendliness. Such advantages have promoted the wide use of the OLED in some illuminating device as a plane light source instead of traditional LED.
Due to luminescence properties of the OLED, oxygen or moisture in the air can easily affect the OLED and reduces a lifetime thereof; as such the OLED should be packaged before it is applied to the illuminating device. A conventional OLED package includes an OLED die and an encapsulation layer deposited on the OLED die. However, in the process of packaging the OLED, stress generated by depositing the encapsulation is easily transferred to the OLED die, which causes the OLED to easily crack, thereby reducing the lifespan of the OLED package.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an OLED package and method for manufacturing the OLED package which can obviate the disadvantages of the prior art.

Organic light emitting diode package and method for manufacturing the same


An image forming apparatus capable of appropriately cleaning an image carrier is provided. An image forming apparatus 1 including toner cartridges 11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K, a developing section which forms toner images, an image carrier 4 which carries the toner images formed by the developing section, a transfer member 5 which transfers toner images from the image carrier 4 to a recording sheet S, and a cleaner 14 which is operable for press and release operation to/from the image carrier 4 and which is pressed to the image carrier 4 to scrape off the toner remaining on the image carrier 4 is provided with a control means 23 which decreases the number of press and release operations of the cleaner 14 when the cumulated value of the number of images formed since the first use of the brand-new toner cartridges 11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K is large.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
Image forming apparatuses often use a cleaner blade in order to remove the toner on an image carrier. As described in JP H8-63071 A, when the cleaner blade is kept in pressure contact with the image carrier used for successive monochrome printing, toner coagulates at the top end of the cleaner blade, thereby causing a problem of degraded performance of the cleaner blade.
Accordingly, in the image forming apparatus in JP H8-63071 A, the cleaner blade is temporarily released from the image carrier at intervals between images during monochrome printing, so that coagulations at the top end of the cleaner blade are dropped off by vibration.
Four cycle image forming apparatuses have conventionally conducted color printing by rotating an intermediate transfer belt four turns, so that toner images of four colors are primarily transferred in superimposition on top of each other, and that the toner images of four colors are secondarily transferred onto recording paper collectively. After the secondary transfer is completed, the cleaner blade is pressed to the intermediate transfer belt in order to remove the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt, and then the cleaner blade is again released at the time of the next image formation.
In recent years, in order to achieve downsizing and cost reduction of image forming apparatuses, there have been being produced image forming apparatuses which use intermediate transfer belts lacking in a satisfactory level of smoothness and releasability, as well as inexpensive toner cartridges incapable of stirring and homogenizing the internal toner. In these image forming apparatuses, even in color printing in which the cleaner is released once every four rotations, toner or external additives of the toner or the like may coagulate at the top end of the cleaner blade, resulting in degraded performance of the cleaner blade, which may lead to occurrence of a phenomenon called filming that the external additives of the toner are deposited like a film on the intermediate transfer belt, thereby causing degraded image quality.
For downsizing of image forming apparatuses and improvement in their printing speed, some image forming apparatuses have an intermediate transfer belt with a shortened circumferential length so as to decrease the distance between images. In such image forming apparatuses, the intermediate transfer belt needs to be additionally rotated to perform pressing and releasing of the cleaner blade, and excessively increased press and release operations of the cleaner blade would cause a problem of lowered printing speed.
Further, excessive press and release operations of the cleaner blade may make toner float in the image forming apparatus and tend to contaminate the inside of the apparatus, which may deteriorate the maintenanceability and cause trouble and degradation of image quality.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


Disclosed is a microwave oven having a coffee maker with a structure wherein a user can easily clean a filter basket (420), the microwave oven includes a first housing (100) having a cooking chamber (110) being opened or closed by a door (130) and a component chamber (120) having components for irradiating microwave into the cooking chamber (110), a second housing (200) provided in the first housing (100) and having an open side, a water reservoir (300) provided in the second housing (200), a filter basket assembly (400) provided to be withdrawn from or inserted into the second housing (200) and separated from the water reservoir (300), a water supplying tube supplying water in the water reservoir (300) to the filter basket assembly (400), a heater for heating water flowing in the water supplying tube and a container (700) provided to be withdrawn from or inserted into the second housing (200) for receiving coffee dropped from the filter basket assembly (400).

A microwave oven is an apparatus for thawing or heating food by using microwaves. A general structure of the microwave oven is illustrated in FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the microwave will be described in more detail referring to FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional microwave oven includes a cooking chamber 20, component chamber 30, electric components provided in the component chamber, and a housing 10.
The cooking chamber 20 is a cavity for accommodating food therein, and having an opened front for inserting or withdrawing the food. In the cooking chamber 20, a tray 15 is rotatably provided, and a door 11 is provided for opening and closing the cooking chamber 20 in front of the cooking chamber 20.
The component chamber 30 is provided adjacent to the cooking chamber 20, and electric components such as a magnetron 31 and a transformer 32 are provided thereto for irradiating the microwaves into the cooking chamber 20. At the component chamber 30, a fan 33 is provided in the cooking chamber 20 for cooling the electric components or for forming air circulation currents in the cooking chamber 20.
Meanwhile, the housing 10 is provided to cover the cooking chamber 20 and an outside of the component chamber 30 as illustrated in FIG. 1. When the microwave oven is operated after food is put on the tray 15, the tray 15 is rotated. Simultaneously, the microwaves generated in the magnetron 31 are irradiated into the cooking chamber 20.
The microwave thaws or heats the food on the tray 15 by vibrating water molecule in the food. In this case, the tray 15 is rotated, and thus the food is thoroughly and uniformly heated.
The microwave oven with the abovementioned function has an advantage of safely and quickly cooking the food. Although there is the above-mentioned advantage, there is a disadvantage that it is not possible to cook various kinds of food. For example, coffee modern people enjoys is not brewed through the microwave oven, and a separate coffee maker is used for brewing coffee.
In the meantime, recently, living space becomes smaller and consumers tend to prefer to practical products. Accordingly, various necessities are becoming smaller together with the electric appliance, and products performing not only a traditional function but also various functions are requested by consumers. However, the customers are not satisfied with such conventional microwave oven.


An apparatus that can be configured for various functions such as a digital oscilloscope, logic analyzer or frequency analyzer is disclosed. The apparatus includes a symbol generator, a multi-symbol FSM, and a controller. The symbol generator generates an ordered sequence of symbols from an ordered sequence of digital values. The symbol generator generates one symbol corresponding to each of the digital values. The digital values have a greater number of possible values than the symbols. The controller causes the multi-symbol FSM to search for a pattern in the sequence of symbols that identifies a corresponding pattern in the sequence of digital values. A portion of the digital sequence is then displayed based on the location of the pattern in the sequence of symbols.

Measurement instruments that measure, record, process a signal, and display the results of the processing are known to the art. For example, a digital oscilloscope measures the amplitude of a signal as a function of time and displays a portion of the observed signal as a graph of signal amplitude as a function of time. Modern digital oscilloscopes can measure a signal at a rate of close to 100 Gigasamples/sec in each of a plurality of measurement channels. The signal is typically digitized using a bank of sample and hold circuits that sample the signal in successive time slots. Each sample and hold circuit feeds a high speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that stores its output in a high speed memory bank that is assigned to that ADC.
Only a small fraction of this recorded data can be displayed at a time, and hence, some form of trigger is needed to define the beginning of the measurements of interest that are to be displayed. In many cases, the user is trying to visualize the signal in regions that satisfy some particular criterion. The criteria of interest can be complex patterns. For example, the user may wish to examine the signal in a region that follows three pulses having specified pulse widths. Hence, the trigger must be able to detect the occurrence of the three pulses.
Unfortunately, prior art triggering schemes that are capable of detecting such complex patterns cannot operate at anything close to the sample rates discussed above, and hence, a two-step triggering system is often employed. To provide a complex trigger, a first trigger that can operate in real time (RTT) is used to control the data that is stored in memory. The RTT is typically implemented in special high-speed hardware that operates on the input signal. This type of trigger is limited to simple patterns such as detecting a rising or falling edge in the input signal. In practice, the digital oscilloscope takes samples continuously and stores these in a circular memory buffer. When a trigger pattern is detected, the digital oscilloscope continues to acquire data for some predetermined period of time that is limited by the buffer size. Data acquisition is then halted to provide time for a slower pattern recognition program that can detect the more complex pattern of interest to examine the stored signal values for the more complex trigger pattern of interest. This type of program is often referred to as a post acquisition trigger (PAT). If the pattern is found, the data from the trigger point onward is then displayed for the user. If the pattern is not found, data acquisition is recommenced and the processes are repeated. During the time in which the PAT is operating, the digital oscilloscope is not acquiring new data, and hence, the digital oscilloscope is "blind". The blind time is typically a large fraction of the total operating time, and hence, signals of interest can be lost. Hence, it would be advantageous to provide a PAT that operates at higher speeds. Ideally, the PAT would operate in real time, and hence, avoid the two trigger scheme discussed above.

Digital tiggering using finite state machines


A molding tool made of carbon or graphite, namely a casting mold or a casting core for the processing of molten metal or to a molding tool for the processing of molten glass, such as for example a blow mold and a method for producing the molding tool.

Moulding dies, as are used in foundries, typically consist of grains connected so as to form a mould, or the "basic moulding materials". The term "basic moulding materials" is defined in VDG reference sheet R 201 "Gießerei-Formstoffe—Begriffe" ("Foundry moulding materials—Definitions"), as follows: "The basic moulding material is sand which forms the main constituent of the moulding material as a filler. Basic moulding materials do not generally have a binder function. Sand is a collection of grains, mostly in the size fraction of from 0.063 to 1.50 mm."
Moulding dies for metal casting can be produced from sand by means of the 3D printing method. In this process, alternating layers of sand and a binder are applied one on top of the other so as to form a three-dimensional layer structure. By means of 3D printing, it is possible in principle to produce any desired complex shapes in one piece in a cost-effective manner. However, for the use as a casting mould or casting core for processing molten metal, there are certain requirements on the material in terms of stability and strength. In principle, 3D-printed moulding dies made of sand meet these requirements.
In addition to silica sand, there are a multiplicity of special sands which are used as basic moulding materials in order to meet the various requirements for the quality of the cast part.
One of the main causes for casting defects is expansion, which is triggered by the high thermal expansion behaviour of the sand. Among other things, this makes it more difficult to then process cast parts, that is, if they have not already been scrapped. In order to reduce these casting defects, special sands have been developed, such as zircon sand, but these are very costly.
Another cause of the negative influence on the casting quality is the typically low heat conductivity of sands, for example silica glass: 1.36 W/(m*K) at room temperature (see Kuchling, "Taschenbuch der Physik", Harri Deutsch Verlag, 1991); moulding material consisting of sand typically <0.2 W/(m*K) at room temperature (see Recknagel et al. "Spezialsande—Formgrundstoffe für die moderne Kern-und Formherstellung", pamphlet Hüttenes-Albertus chemische Werke GmbH, published 2008). As a result, the cast metal part cools rather slowly, meaning that a coarser microstructure is in principle produced in the metal. However, faster cooling of metal results in a finer microstructure having small dendrites and small grain sizes in the different phases in the metal, this ultimately leading to a higher strength of the cast component.


An air cutoff valve (ACV) is provided. The full open state of the flap valve is maintained using the latchet which operates as the solenoid is turned on and off, so the restart performance is significantly enhanced as the air is quickly supplied by the ACV when the engine stops abnormally irrespective of a driver's intention, and since the ACV is made from a plastic material, the assembling process of the molding formation is simplified, so the unit cost for manufactures is reduced, and the corrosion phenomenon due to moisture can be prevented, and the operation reliability can be enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cutoff valve, and in particular to an air cutoff valve and a restart stabilization method using the same which provide a quick restart by maintaining an open state of a flap valve for the sake of an air supply even when an engine stops unintentionally, and which provide a reduced number of molding processes and an enhanced productivity along with a reduced manufacture cost in such a way to apply a plastic material to elements.
2. Description of Related Art
A fuel cell vehicle necessitates air for the sake of a hydrogen reaction in a fuel cell stack, and the amount of air needed for a hydrogen reaction should be controlled.
A motored blower is generally used so as to suck and supply air, and an ACV (Air Cutoff Valve) is used for controlling the flow rate of air.
FIG. 9 is a view illustrating an air system line of a conventional fuel cell vehicle.
As shown therein, the air system line is connected with an inlet line 300 by way of which the sucked air flows to a fuel cell stack 200. An outlet line 40 is connected to the air system line for the air to discharge. A humidifier 500 is installed at the inlet line 300 and the outlet line 400 for the purpose of humidifying the air.
The blower 60 is installed at the inlet line 300 at the rear end of a filter 610 configured to filter the sucked air. The ACV 70 is installed at not less than one portion of the inlet line 300 and the outlet line 400 to make sure that the durability of the fuel cell stack 200 can be protected.
As described above, the ACV 700 is a member for the purpose of adjusting the air flow rate during the hydrogen reaction and comprises a housing body 701 with a certain air passage for the sake of air flow, a motor 710 having a driver generating a driving force in response to a control signal from a controller, a flap valve 720 configured to vary the opening degree with respect to an air passage of the housing body 701 using the flap body 722 rotating together with a rotary shaft 721 while the motor 710 is driving, and an electronic valve 730 controlling the motions of the flap valve 720 as it receives a rotational force from the motor 710.
The vehicle might stop as a driver keys off the engine under a normal situation that the driver intended or it starts as the driver keys on the engine or the vehicle might stop as the engine stops unintentionally in an abnormal situation. When the engine stops in an abnormal situation, a quick restart enhances the restart operation, thus enhancing the quality and reliability of a product.
Since the restart of an engine necessitates an air supply by way of the ACV 700 like when the vehicle first starts, the ACV 700 supplying the air is the most basic factor determining an engine start condition in terms of the engine start stability of the fuel cell vehicle.
The above explained ACV 700 is weak in terms of the restart performance of an engine.
The above mentioned problem is thanks to the operation type of the ACV 700. The ACV 700 operates in such a way that the flap valve 720 is switched to the full close state irrespective of the normal or abnormal operation when the engine is in a key off state, whereas the flap valve 720 is switched to the full open state in case of the key on.
Even though the engine stops, which is not a driver's intention, the operation state of the ACV 700 switches in a sequence of "the full open→full close", the procedure of which represents that even though the driver quickly restarts the engine, it switches in a sequence of "the full close→full open" like the first engine start situation.
The ACV 700, which does not have a good response performance to a driver's quick restart demand, makes impossible a quick restart, so the vehicle stopped due to the unexpected engine stop cannot be quickly moved. The driver might have an increasing worry. In worse case, the reliability of the vehicle becomes bad.
The ACV 700 comprises an integrated housing body 701 configured to accommodate the motor 710 at one side and the electronic valve 730 at the other side to cooperate with the motor 710 and the flap valve 720, so the housing body 701 has disadvantages in terms of the manufacture of the ACV 700.
For example, the ACV 700 is manufactured in such a way that the housing body 701 is injection molded by die casting a conventional aluminum material, and holes are formed, and the surface of it is processed, and bearings are engaged in the housing body 701 along with other elements, and a cooling tube is inserted for the sake of the circulation of cooling water.
When the ACV 700 is manufactured, the housing body 701 inevitably becomes heavy because the aluminum is used, and the thermal durability of the ACV 700 becomes lowered due to the thermal expansion of the aluminum material.
In particular, the thermal sensitivity of the ACV 700 might be a cause which brings an abnormal operation when the cooling performance becomes bad, so the ACV 700 might affect the quality and the reliability of the fuel cell vehicle adapting the same.
The ACV 700 is manufactured using an aluminum material, the molding of the housing body 701 is limited to the die casting method, which results in an inconvenient molding, and such inconveniences increases more in the next assembling process following the molding.
For example, it is manufactured in a sequence that an aluminum material is die-cast, and the whole profile of the housing body 701 is injected, and the holes are formed, and surfaces are processed, and then the related elements are assembled, thus finishing a product; however the above mentioned molding and assembling procedures are complicated, which causes the manufactures of the ACV 700 to slow.
The ACV 700 adapting the housing body 701 made from an aluminum material is not good at a rust inhibition for the fuel cell vehicle which is exposed to relatively more moistures.
The above mentioned phenomenon becomes worsened since the ACV 700 closes when the engine stops, and the water produced from the fuel cell stack 200 could not leak to the outside and gathers instead at the side of the ACV 700.
The water at the ACV 700 causes an unstable cold start due to the freezing of moisture under a below-zero external temperature condition. The aluminum might be corroded due to moisture.
The solidification of the flap valve 720 due to the freezing of the moisture of the ACV 700 can be easily melted and resolved using the heater; however the corrosion phenomenon cannot be removed unless moisture is fully eliminated.
When the ACV 700 is more corroded due to the moisture, the water might be leaked to the electronic elements such as the electronic valve 730 controlling the flap valve 720 or the motor, so the ACV 700 might be failed.

Air cutoff valve and restart stabilization method using the same


A process for providing an endoscopic scissors blade with the necessary roughness to receive a ceramic coating, without first requiring that the blade surfaces be roughened by gritblasting, includes obtaining an investment mold with an interior textured surface. The investment mold is textured by first texturing an injection mold cavity by etching, gritblasting, or electric-discharge machining the inside surface of the injection mold cavity to produce a desired roughness. A blade pattern (wax) is then formed in the injection mold with a resulting textured surface, and using the textured blade pattern, the investment mold with the textured interior cavity is generated. When metal is injected into the investment mold using a lost wax process, the resulting cast blades will have the necessary roughness for permitting a ceramic to be bonded thereto without the need for any additional roughening. Thus, the so-formed blades are coated with a ceramic material. Such scissors blades are used in an endoscopic surgical scissors instrument and are especially useful as the scissor blades of a bipolar cautery endoscopic scissors instrument.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to endoscopic surgical instruments. More particularly, the invention relates to a process of manufacturing endoscopic end effectors having a combination of conductive and non-conductive materials, end effectors made by the process, and an endoscopic surgical instrument incorporating the end effectors made by the process. The invention has particular use with respect to bipolar endoscopic cautery. For purposes herein, the term "endoscopic instruments" is to be understood in its broadest sense to include laparoscopic, arthroscopic, and neurological instruments, as well as instruments which are inserted through an endoscope.
2. State of the Art
Endoscopic surgery is widely practiced throughout the world today and its acceptance is growing rapidly. In general, endoscopic/laparoscopic surgery involves one or more incisions made by trocars where trocar tubes are left in place so that endoscopic surgical tools may be inserted through the tubes. A camera, magnifying lens, or other optical instrument is often inserted through one trocar tube, while a cutter, dissector, or other surgical instrument is inserted through the same or another trocar tube for purposes of manipulating and/or cutting the internal organ. Sometimes it is desirable to have several trocar tubes in place at once in order to receive several surgical instruments. In this manner, organ or tissue may be grasped with one surgical instrument, and simultaneously may be cut with another surgical instrument; all under view of the surgeon via the optical instrument in place in the trocar tube.
Various types of endoscopic surgical instruments are known in the art. These instruments generally comprise a slender tube containing a push rod which is axially movable within the tube by means of a handle or trigger-like actuating means. An end effector is provided at the distal end of the tube and is coupled to the push rod by means of a clevis so that axial movement of the push rod is translated to rotational or pivotal movement of the end effector. End effectors may take the form of scissors, grippers, cutting jaws, forceps, and the like. Because of their very small size and the requirements of strength and/or sharpness, end effectors are difficult to manufacture and are typically formed of forged stainless steel. As such, they form an expensive portion of the endoscopic instrument.
Modern endoscopic procedures often involve the use of electrocautery, as the control of bleeding by coagulation during surgery is critical both in terms of limiting loss of blood and in permitting a clear viewing of the surgical site. As used herein, cautery, electrocautery, and coagulation are used interchangeably. Several types of electrocautery devices for use in endoscopic surgery are described in the prior art. Monopolar electrosurgical instruments employ the instrument as an electrode, with a large electrode plate beneath and in contact with the patient serving as the second electrode. High frequency voltage spikes are passed through the instrument to the electrode (i.e., end effector) of the endoscopic instrument to cause an arcing between the instrument and the proximate tissue of the patient. The current thereby generated continues through the patient to the large electrode plate beneath the patient. Monopolar cautery has the disadvantage that the current flows completely through the patient. Because control of the current path through the body is not possible, damage can occur to tissue both near and at some distance from the surgical site. In addition, it is has been observed that monopolar cautery can result in excessive tissue damage due to the arcing between the end effector and the tissue.
In order to overcome the problems associated with monopolar cautery instruments, bipolar instruments have been introduced. In bipolar electrosurgical instruments, two electrodes which are closely spaced together are utilized to contact the tissue. Typically, one end effector acts as the first electrode, and the other end effector acts as the second electrode, with the end effectors being electrically isolated from each other and each having a separate current path back through to the handle of the instrument. Thus, in a bipolar instrument, the current flow is from one end effector electrode, through the tissue to be cauterized, to the other end effector electrode.
Co-owned U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 08/429,596 describes a pair of scissor blades for a bipolar cauterizing surgical scissors which provide the smooth operation and feel of a metal on metal cutting/shearing action. The scissor blades are comprised of an electrically conductive electrode, an electrically insulating material, and a coating of titanium dioxide, chromium dioxide, or zirconium dioxide. The electrode layer is a metal blade which is typically constructed from stainless steel, while the insulating layer is an alumina ceramic which is deposited, bonded, or otherwise fixed on the metal blade, and a titanium dioxide coating is deposited, bonded, or otherwise fixed onto the ceramic and provides the cutting edge and shearing surface. The alumina and titanium dioxide are preferably deposited on a metal scissor blade by thermal spraying of powder at high temperature and standard atmospheric pressure. The titanium dioxide is lubricous and gives the scissor blades the operational feel of metal blades.
In thermal spraying, such as by a high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) system, micron sized powder (granules) of the ceramic is sprinkled into the combustion chamber of a rocket-type engine and is sprayed out of the chamber onto a desired substrate. An important factor determining the quality of adhesion of the coating to the substrate is the texture of the substrate surface which the granules strike. The thermal spraying process is enhanced by a roughened substrate surface which aids in the adhesion of the coating to the metal substrate. This is because the granules, in the thermal spraying process, are given thermal and kinetic energy. A smooth surface results in poor adhesion as the granules "bounce" off the surface. In fact, even those granules which adhere to the smooth surface form a poor bond, and peeling or separation of the ceramic form the metal can easily result. However, a roughened metal surface provides a mechanical means for the ceramic powder to bond to the metal substrate and results in better adhesion of the ceramic coating.
In preparation of applying ceramic coatings by the HVOF or similar plasma thermal spray process, it is common to gritblast or sandblast metal substrates to roughen the surfaces (the terms "gritblasting" and "sandblasting" being herein used interchangeably). Gritblasting provides the surfaces with the requisite roughness needed for a proper adhesion of the ceramic granules onto the substrate. However, gritblasting the blades adds an extra step to the blade coating process, is difficult to control, and, as a result, increases the manufacture time and manufacture cost for the blades.

Ceramic coated endoscopic scissor blades and a method of making the same


A display kiosk, which has particular utility as a consumer ballot or survey box, has a receptacle supported by a leg assembly. The receptacle has front and back walls joined together a their lateral edges by stiffeners, thus avoiding the need for separate side walls. Top and bottom walls are formed integrally with one of the front or back walls. The lateral edges of the front wall are retained by, but not fastened to, the stiffeners, allowing overlying front panel sheets to be mounted to the front wall by inserting their lateral edges between the front surface of the front wall and the overlying rear surface of the stiffeners. When used as a ballot or survey box, a ballot slot is provided on the front wall and an integral access door to the receptacle interior is located on the front wall.

The measurement of consumer preferences in a semi-informal manner is of significant interest and widespread applicability. Major League sports, for example, solicit the votes of fans with respect to players to be chosen for the leagues' All Star Teams. Major League Baseball garners millions of fan ballots for its all-star game. In addition, manufacturers of consumer goods often run promotional campaigns in which consumers can enter a contest through a balloting system incorporated into point of sale displays, or in which consumers vote for a favorite variety or flavor of candy, beverage, etc.
Much of such balloting is conducted through paper ballots, which are made available to consumers at retail establishments, at sports venues, etc. In addition to supplying blank forms or ballots, the display ballot box typically includes a container into which the completed ballots can be deposited. The ballot box typically is adorned with attractive indicia advertising the competition for which votes are solicited, as well as oftentimes promoting one or more sponsoring organizations. Because of the large number of locations in which the ballot boxes are placed, the construction of such ballot boxes is greatly cost-sensitive. While it is important that the ballot boxes are both attractive and relatively robust, they preferably must be light in weight, easily transportable and easily assembled and disassembled. In addition, it would be of substantial benefit if they can serve multiple purposes. Lastly, they should be of an economical construction.
A box or receptacle having the aforementioned qualities has additional uses. In addition to offering ballots or contest materials, it can also serve as a display for a variety of literature, information, or products, either with materials to be deposited in the receptacle, such as a reply coupon or application, or without such return materials, in which case the receptacle serves primarily as a display kiosk.
It is accordingly the purpose of the present invention to provide a box or receptacle, which may be configured as a ballot box or similar receptacle meeting the aforementioned requirements.


Exciter rings, wheel assemblies and methods of assembling. In some aspects, a wheel assembly includes a brake rotor including a barrel section having an interior surface defining a barrel cavity, and a projection extending from the interior surface of the barrel section into the barrel cavity. The wheel assembly also includes an exciter ring formed separately from the brake rotor and engagable with the projection within the barrel cavity to removably connect the exciter ring to the brake rotor. In other aspects, an exciter ring is formed separately from and removably connectable to a brake rotor and includes a body portion having an outer surface, the body portion including a detent protruding outwardly from the outer surface and extending around the outer surface of the body portion. The exciter ring also includes a flange extending radially outwardly from the body portion and having a plurality of apertures.

Anti-lock braking systems ("ABS") are used to increase traction and control of a vehicle under difficult braking conditions. On slippery surfaces, braking can cause the wheel to "lock up" and stop rotating. As a result, the portion of the wheel in contact with the road simply slides relative to the surface, which severely reduces traction and the ability to steer the vehicle. The loss (reduction) of traction causes the truck or tractor-trailer to become unstable and directional control becomes difficult. This problem is of particular concern for heavy commercial vehicles, such as tractor-trailers, where the loss of control can cause the vehicle to jack-knife.
ABS systems prevent wheel lock up by rapidly releasing and reapplying pressure to the brakes, to permit the skidding wheel to regain traction and steering. ABS systems typically comprise a speed sensor positioned adjacent to four or more wheels of the vehicle. Each speed sensor is connected to a controller that monitors the acceleration/deceleration of the wheels. When wheel lock up occurs, the controller detects the abnormally abrupt deceleration of the wheel and operates a valve in the corresponding brake line to release pressure on the brake until the wheel begins to accelerate again. Once the controller senses the wheel accelerate, the controller reverses the valve to allow brake pressure to increase once more. The controller repeats this cycle of acceleration/deceleration many times per second, such that braking is kept near, but does not exceed, the point at which the wheel locks up.
Speed sensors typically operate by detecting the rate of rotation of the wheel hub, brake drum or brake rotor. In the case of an ABS brake rotor, evenly spaced teeth are integrally cast on the surface of the brake rotor in the shape of a ring. The ring of teeth is commonly referred to as a tone ring or exciter ring, and the teeth are referred to as pulse teeth or exciter teeth. A typical exciter ring has about 80 to 120 teeth, depending on the size of the tire. The sensor typically comprises a magnetic pickup that is positioned adjacent to the exciter ring and measures the speed of the rotor by detecting the change in magnetic flux caused by the movement of the exciter teeth.
A variety of methods are used to detect changes in magnetic flux, including variable reluctance, Hall effect and magnetic resistance, as are well known in the art. In each case, the strength of the signal received by the speed sensor decreases with distance from the exciter ring. Accordingly, some skill and care must be used to ensure that the speed sensor is positioned as close as possible to the exciter ring without actually contacting the exciter teeth.
ABS brake rotors also require additional steps of machining and inspection to ensure that the exciter teeth are uniform and that the exciter ring is not damaged. Brake rotors are typically cast in rough form and then machined to their finished dimensions. However, the numerous teeth of the exciter ring are difficult to cast and frequently have casting defects and imperfections which require the rotor to be scrapped. In addition, the exciter teeth are susceptible to damage caused by mishandling following the casting step of the manufacturing process, which increases the scrap rate. Furthermore, the exciter teeth must have uniform depth and clean surfaces for the speed sensors to function properly. Thus, the exciter ring requires an additional machining step to remove any imperfections that would interfere with the operation of the speed sensor. Further yet, the exciter ring is integral with the brake rotor and unrepairable damage to the exciter ring results in discarding of the entire brake rotor. Replacing entire brake rotors due to damaged exciter rings can become very expensive. In addition, dirt and other debris accumulates on the exciter ring, which increases the rate of corrosion. As a result, the exciter ring is frequently the limiting factor in the life of a brake rotor.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an exciter ring that is formed separately from an ABS brake rotor and is removably connectable to the brake rotor to facilitate relatively easy replacement of the exciter ring when the exciter ring becomes damaged. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a simple, inexpensive, and quick process of refurbishing a wheel assembly when the exciter ring or exciter teeth are damaged.


A non-volatile memory device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first section including a substantially planar first top surface, a second section including a substantially planar second top surface, and a sidewall extending between the first and second top surfaces. The second top surface of the substrate is closer to a bottom surface of the substrate than is the first top surface. A charge storage pattern extends on the first and second top surfaces of the substrate and along the sidewall therebetween. A source region in the first section of the substrate extends from the first top surface into the second section of the substrate and has a stepped portion defined by the sidewall and the second top surface. Related fabrication methods and methods of operation are also discussed.

Generally, semiconductor memory devices may be classified into volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. Volatile memory devices may lose their stored data when their power supplies are interrupted, while non-volatile memory devices may retain their stored data even when their power supplies are interrupted. A flash memory device is a highly integrated non-volatile memory device developed by combining advantages of an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) with advantages of an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). A flash memory device may be classified as a NOR-type flash memory device or a NAND-type flash memory device. Since a NOR-type flash memory may be configured to control memory cells independently, operation speed of the NOR-type flash memory device may be relatively high.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional non-volatile memory device. Referring to FIG. 1, a gate pattern 20 is provided on a semiconductor substrate 10. The gate pattern 20 includes a gate insulator 22, a charge storage layer 24, an interlayer dielectric 26, and a gate conductive layer 28, which are sequentially stacked on the semiconductor substrate 10. A source region 12 and a drain region 14 are provided at a semiconductor substrate adjacent to the gate pattern 20.
The operation of the non-volatile memory device of FIG. 1 will now be described. During an erase operation, a ground voltage may be applied to the gate conductive layer 28, and an erase voltage (e.g., 10-15 volts) may be applied to the source region 12. Charges stored in the charge storage layer 24 may be ejected to the source region 12 to thereby reduce a threshold voltage of the gate pattern 20.
During the erase operation, band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) current may be generated due to the high erase voltage. The BTBT current may result in generation of an electron-hole pair. The electron may reduce the erase voltage with the migration to the source region 12, and the hole may degrade the gate insulator 22. Punchthrough may be created due to the relatively high voltage of the source region 12, which may deteriorate erase efficiency and reliability of the non-volatile memory device.

Non-volatile memory devices including stepped source regions and methods of fabricating the same


Enteric film coating systems for orally ingestible substrates such as pharmaceutical tablets and dietary supplements are disclosed. In preferred aspects, the enteric film coatings include an ethylcellulose dispersion and a substantially gastro-insoluble pore former such as sodium alginate.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is enteric coatings for orally ingestible substrates such as pharmaceutical tablets and dietary supplements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Within this field, there are already a number of enteric coating formulations that are useful, including Acryl-EZE® and Sureteric®, both manufactured and sold by the Assignee of present application. However, all of the components of currently marketed enteric coating formulations are not approved for use in food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceutical applications in every target market in the world. Furthermore, there is a continuing need in the food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceutical markets to develop novel, enteric-coated products that may allow pharmaceutical or nutritional supplements companies to positively differentiate themselves from competition.
A technical brochure entitled "Alginates for Pharmaceutical Applications"(Code: PHARM/ALG/0800), published by International Specialty Products, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, indicates that alginates such as sodium alginate have been used in some commercial tablet coating systems to achieve an enteric barrier in the stomach. It is further indicated that alginates are dissolved in water at the 5-10% level and that films with greater integrity are produced if a plasticizer, such as glycerine or propylene glycol, is incorporated. There is no disclosure or suggestion in the brochure, however, concerning how coating at a solids level greater than 10% in water, which would result in a faster coating process and an overall more economical operation, could be carried out. Furthermore, increasing the concentration of sodium alginate in water above 10% (w/w) will result in a solution viscosity that will make pumping and spraying the solution difficult or impossible.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,148 describes multiple systems capable of achieving an enteric effect when coated onto lactic acid bacteria granules. It is disclosed that a sodium alginate coating alone at a low temperature or in combination with a "controlled release" topcoat, which may be comprised of sodium alginate and/or ethylcellulose, may be used to impart an enteric effect. Nowhere is it stated that the controlled release (top coat) layer alone, nor the specific combination of ethylcellulose and sodium alginate by themselves in a single coating layer, could function as an effective enteric coating. Furthermore, the '148 patent discloses the use of a limited list of plasticizers that are not necessarily the most preferred for film-forming and organoleptic properties. For example, the '148 patent is silent regarding the use of dibutyl sebacate and medium chain triglycerides (also known as fractionated coconut oil).
In spite of the improvements provided in the art, there continues to be a need for improved enteric coating systems. The present invention addresses this need.

Enteric coatings for orally ingestible substrates


Techniques are provided for detecting at a controller associated with a physical layer of a network an occurrence of a failure within the physical layer of the network. In response to detecting the failure, the controller sends messages to at least first and second nodes in a transport layer of the network, where the messages are configured to indicate normal operations in the physical layer so as to prevent execution of transport layer protection processes for a period of time.

Optical transport networks, such as synchronous optical networks (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) networks, are composed of a set of optical network elements connected by optical fiber links and are able to provide the functionality of transport, multiplexing, switching, management, supervision and survivability of optical channels carrying client signals. Optical network elements include optical cross-connects (OCXs) for rerouting an optical signal from an input port to an output port, reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) for the adding and dropping of wavelengths, transponders, routers, and various optical-to0electrical (O/E) and electrical-to-optical (E/O) converters.
Optical transport networks employ a number of path protection and link protection mechanisms to mitigate data losses when a communications failure occurs between two nodes of the network. In both path protection and link protection, backup resources are identified during connection setup. In path protection, when a failure occurs between two nodes, the source and destination nodes dynamically determine an alternate path using transport layer communications in order to restore the connection (a process called "restoration"). In link protection, when a failure occurs between two nodes, the adjacent nodes dynamically determine an alternate link using physical layer communications in order to restore the connection, while the source and destination nodes remain unaware of the failure. To prevent contention between the two mechanisms, current networks usually employ either path protection or link protection with the alternate mechanism disabled. It would be desirable to operate the optical transport network with both mechanisms enabled.

Smart protection escalation mechanism prevention


One embodiment relates to an apparatus for regulating a voltage-controlled oscillator. The apparatus includes a digital-to-analog converter that has an input that receives a digital input signal and an output that outputs an analog control signal. A transistor receives the analog control signal so as to control an output voltage of the voltage-controlled oscillator. Control circuitry receives the output voltage and generates the digital input signal. Another embodiment relates to a method of regulating a voltage-controlled oscillator. A digital input signal is converted to an analog control signal using a digital-to-analog converter. The output voltage of the voltage-controlled oscillator is controlled using the analog control signal and monitored using a plurality of comparators. The digital input signal is changed depending on outputs of the plurality of comparators. Other embodiments, aspects, and features of the invention are also disclosed.

Voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) are used in various applications, including in phase-locked loops (PLLs). A PLL may be formed, for example, by combining a VCO in a closed-loop with a phase detector, a charge pump, and a filter.
The frequency of the VCO output may be influenced by changes in power supply voltage. Such sensitivity of the VCO frequency to changes in power supply voltage may influence adversely the performance of the PLL. Hence, a voltage regulator may be used to regulate the power supply voltage to the VCO.

Low-noise voltage regulator for voltage-controlled oscillator


Provided, in one aspect, is a ball seat release apparatus. The ball seat release apparatus, according to this embodiment, includes a shear sleeve, and a ball seat body located at least partially within the shear sleeve, a shear feature releasably coupling the ball seat body to the shear sleeve. The ball seat release apparatus according to this aspect further includes a ball seat slidingly engaged within the ball seat body, the ball seat configured to move from a first linear position to a second linear position, and further wherein a locking dog releasably couples the ball seat with the ball seat body.

In conventional practice, the drilling of an oil or gas well involves creating a wellbore that traverses numerous subterranean formations. For a variety reasons, each of the formations through which the well passes is preferably sealed. For example, it is important to avoid an undesirable passage of formation fluids, gases or materials from the formations into the wellbore or for wellbore fluids to enter the formations. In addition, it is commonly desired to isolate producing formations from one another and from nonproducing formations.
Accordingly, conventional well architecture often includes the installation of casing within the wellbore. In addition to providing the sealing function, the casing also provides wellbore stability to counteract the geomechanics of the formation such as compaction forces, seismic forces and tectonic forces, thereby preventing the collapse of the wellbore wall. The casing is generally fixed within the wellbore by a cement layer that fills the annulus between the outer surface of the casing and the wall of the wellbore. For example, once a casing string is located in its desired position in the well, a cement slurry is pumped via the interior of the casing, around the lower end of the casing and upward into the annulus. After the annulus around the casing is sufficiently filled with the cement slurry, the cement slurry is allowed to harden, thereby supporting the casing and forming a substantially impermeable barrier.
In standard practice, the wellbore is drilled in intervals with casing installed in each interval before the next interval is drilled. As such, each succeeding casing string placed in the wellbore typically has an outside diameter having a reduced size when compared to the previously installed casing string. Specifically, a casing to be installed in a lower wellbore interval must be passed through the previously installed casing strings in the upper wellbore intervals. In one approach, each casing string extends downhole from the surface such that only a lower section of each casing string is adjacent to the wellbore wall. Alternatively, the wellbore casing strings may include one or more liner strings, which do not extend to the surface of the wellbore, but instead typically extend from near the bottom end of a previously installed casing string downward into the uncased portion of the wellbore. In such installations, the liner string may be set or suspended from a liner hanger positioned between the downhole end of the previously installed casing string and an uphole end of the liner string.


A sequential lateral solidification (SLS) device and a method of crystallizing silicon using the same is disclosed, wherein alignment keys are formed on a substrate with one mask having a plurality of different patterns, and a crystallization process is progressed in parallel to an imaginary line connecting the alignment keys with information for a distance between the mask and the alignment key. The SLS device includes a laser beam generator for irradiating laser beams; a mask having a plurality of areas; a mask stage for moving the mask loaded thereto, to transmit a laser beam through a selective area of the mask; and a substrate stage for moving a substrate loaded thereto, to change portions of the substrate irradiated with the laser beam passing through the mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a method of crystallizing silicon, and more particularly, to a sequential lateral solidification (SLS) device and a method of crystallizing silicon using the same, in which alignment keys are formed on a substrate with one mask having a multiplicity of different patterns, and crystallization progresses in parallel to an imaginary line connecting the alignment keys with information for a distance between the mask and the alignment key.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As information technologies develop, various displays increase in demand. Recently, many efforts have been made to research and develop various flat display panels such as a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an electroluminescent display (ELD), a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), and the like. Some types of the flat display panels have already been used in various display devices.
LCDs are most widely used because of their beneficial characteristics and advantages including high quality images, lightweight, thin and compact size, and low power consumption. LCDs are therefore used as a substitute for cathode ray tubes (CRTS) for mobile image display devices. LCDs have also been developed for use in devices receiving and displaying broadcast signals, such as a television, a computer monitor, and the like.
An LCD device generally includes an LCD panel displaying an image and a driving unit for applying driving signals to the LCD panel. The LCD panel includes first and second glass substrates bonded to each other and a liquid crystal layer injected between the first and second substrates.
Multiple gate lines are formed on the first glass substrate (TFT array substrate) to be arranged in one direction at fixed intervals, and multiple data lines are arranged in perpendicular to the gate lines at fixed intervals. Multiple pixel electrodes are formed as a matrix in pixel regions defined by the gate and data lines crossing each other, and thin film transistors are switched by signals of the gate lines to transfer signals of the data lines to the pixel electrodes.
On the second glass substrate (color filter substrate), there is a black matrix layer for shielding light from other portions except the pixel regions, an R/G/B (Red/Green/Blue) color filter layer for realizing colors, and a common electrode for realizing an image.
Spacers maintain the above-described first and second glass substrates at a predetermined interval therebetween, and the substrates are bonded to each other by a sealant having a liquid crystal injection inlet. Liquid crystal is injected between the two glass substrates.
The driving principle of a general LCD device uses the optical anisotropy and polarization characteristics of liquid crystals. Because the structure of liquid crystal is thin and long, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned to have a specific direction. Based upon dipole moment, the liquid crystal molecules can have either positive or negative dielectric anisotropy. Applying an induced electric field to the liquid crystal controls the direction of the alignment. Therefore, when the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules is arbitrarily controlled, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules is eventually altered. Subsequently, due to the optical anisotropy of liquid crystals, light rays are refracted in the direction of the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules to thereby form images.
Recent technologies use an active matrix liquid crystal display (LCD), which is formed of a thin film transistor and pixel electrodes aligned in a matrix and connected to the thin film transistor. This technology is considered to have excellent high resolution and an ability to represent animated images.
In an LCD device having a polysilicon semiconductor layer for the thin film transistor, it is possible to form the thin film transistor and a driving circuit on the same substrate. Also, there is no requirement to connect the thin film transistor with the driving circuit, whereby the fabrication process is simplified. In addition, a field effect mobility of polysilicon is one to two hundred times higher than the field effect mobility of amorphous silicon, thereby obtaining a great stability to temperature and light.
The method of fabricating the polysilicon can be divided into a low temperature fabrication process and a high temperature fabrication process, depending upon the fabrication temperature.
The high temperature fabrication process requires a temperature condition of approximately 1,000° C., which is equal to or higher than the temperature for modifying substrates. Because glass substrates have poor heat-resistance, expensive and brittle quartz substrates having excellent heat-resistance should be used. When fabricating a polysilicon thin film by using the high temperature fabrication process, inadequate crystallization may occur due to high surface roughness and fine crystal grains, thereby resulting in poor device characteristics, as compared to the polysilicon formed by the low temperature fabrication process. Therefore, technologies for crystallizing amorphous silicon, which can be vapor-deposited at a low temperature, to form polysilicon have been researched and developed.
The method of depositing amorphous silicon at a low temperature and crystallizing the deposited amorphous silicon can be categorized into a laser annealing process and a metal induced crystallization process.
The laser annealing process includes irradiating a pulsed laser beam onto a substrate. More specifically, by using the pulsed laser beam, the solidification and condensation of the substrate can be repeated about every 10 to 100 nanoseconds. The low temperature fabrication process is acknowledged to have the advantage that the damage caused on a lower insulating substrate can be minimized.
The related art crystallization method of silicon using the laser annealing method will now be explained in detail.
FIG. 1 illustrates a graph showing the size of amorphous silicon particles versus laser energy density.
As shown in FIG. 1, the crystallization of the amorphous silicon can be divided into a first region, a second region, and a third region depending upon the intensity of the incident laser energy.
The first region of FIG. 1 is a partial melting region, where the intensity of the laser energy irradiated onto the amorphous silicon layer melts only the surface of the amorphous silicon layer. After irradiation, the surface of the amorphous silicon layer is partially melted in the first region, whereby small crystal grains form on the surface of the amorphous silicon layer after a solidification process.
The second region of FIG. 1 is a near-to-complete melting region, where the intensity of the laser energy, being higher than that of the first region, almost completely melts the amorphous silicon. After the almost complete melting, the remaining nuclei are used as seeds for a crystal growth, thereby forming crystal particles with an increased crystal growth as compared to the first region. However, the crystal particles formed in the second region are not uniform. The second region is also narrower than the first region.
The third region of FIG. 1 is a complete melting region, whereby laser energy with an increased intensity, as compared to that of the second region, is irradiated to completely melt the amorphous silicon layer. After the complete melting of the amorphous silicon layer, a solidification process is carried out, so as to allow a homogenous nucleation, thereby forming a crystal silicon layer formed of fine and uniform crystal particles.
In this method of fabricating polysilicon, the number of laser beam irradiations and a degree of overlap are controlled so as to form uniform large and rough crystal particles by using the energy density of the second region.
However, the interfaces between the multiple polysilicon crystal particles act as obstacles to the flow of electric current, thereby decreasing the reliability of the thin film transistor device. In addition, collision between electrons may occur within the multiple crystal particles can cause damage to an insulating layer due to the collision current and deterioration, thereby resulting in product degradation or defects. In order to resolve such problems, in the method for fabricating polysilicon by using a sequential lateral solidification (SLS) method, the crystal growth of the silicon crystal particle occurs at an interface between liquid silicon and solid silicon in a direction perpendicular to the interface. The SLS crystallizing method is disclosed in detail by Robert S. Sposilli, M. A. Crowder, and James S. Im, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 452, pp. 956–957, 1997.
In the related art SLS method, the amount of laser energy, the irradiation range of the laser beam, and the translation distance are controlled, so as to allow a lateral growth of the silicon crystal particle with a predetermined length, thereby crystallizing the amorphous silicon to a single crystal of 1 μm or more.
The irradiation device used in the related art SLS method concentrates the laser beam into a small and narrow region, and the amorphous silicon layer deposited on the substrate therefore cannot be completely changed into polycrystalline with a single irradiation. Therefore, in order to change the irradiation position on the substrate, the substrate having the amorphous silicon layer deposited thereon is mounted on a stage. Then, after irradiating a predetermined area, the substrate is moved so as to allow an irradiation to be performed on another area, thereby carrying out the irradiation process over the entire surface of the substrate.
FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a related art sequential lateral solidification (SLS) device. Referring to FIG. 2, the related art sequential lateral solidification (SLS) device includes a laser beam generator 1, a focusing lens 2 focusing the laser beams discharged from the laser beam generator 1, a mask 3 to dividedly irradiate the laser beam on a substrate 10, and a reduction lens 4 formed below the mask 3 to reduce the laser beam passing through the mask 3 to a constant rate.
Generally, the laser beam generator 1 produces light with a wavelength of about 308 nanometers (nm) using XeCl or a wavelength of 248 nanometers (nm) using KrF in an excimer laser. The laser beam generator 1 discharges an unmodified laser beam. The discharged laser beam passes through an attenuator (not shown), in which the energy level is controlled. The laser beam then passes through the focusing lens 2.
The substrate 10 has an amorphous silicon layer deposited thereon, and the substrate 10 is fixed on an X-Y stage 5 that faces into the mask 3.
In order to crystallize the entire surface of the substrate 10, the X-Y stage 5 is minutely displaced, thereby gradually expanding the crystallized region.
FIG. 3 shows that the mask 3 includes an open part 'A' allowing the laser beam to pass through, and a closed part 'B' blocking the laser beam to prevent irradiation of the substrate. The width of the open part 'A' determines the lateral growth length of the grains formed after the first exposure.
FIG. 3 shows a plane view of a mask used in a laser irradiation process. FIG. 4 shows a crystallized region formed by a laser beam irradiation by using a mask of FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 3, the mask used in the laser irradiation process is formed to have the open part 'A' having patterns opened at a first interval (a), and the closed part 'B' having patterns closed at a second interval (b). The open and closed parts alternate sequentially.
The laser irradiation process using the mask will be described as follows.
First, the mask 3 is placed over the substrate having an amorphous silicon layer deposited thereon, and then the first laser beam is irradiated onto the substrate. At this time, the irradiated laser beam passes through the multiple open parts 'A' of the mask 3, whereby predetermined portions 22 of the amorphous silicon layer corresponding to the open parts 'A' melts and liquefies, as shown in FIG. 4. In this case, the intensity of laser energy used herein has a value selected from the complete melting region, so that the silicon layer irradiated with the laser completely melts.
At this time, by one laser beam irradiation, the multiple open parts 'A' of the mask 3 correspond to one unit area 20 of the substrate, to which the laser beam irradiated, wherein the unit area 20 has a length 'L' and a width 'S'.
After the laser beam irradiation, silicon grains 24a and 24b grow laterally from interfaces 21a and 21b between the amorphous silicon region and the completely melted and liquefied silicon region and towards the irradiation region. The lateral growth of the silicon grains 24a and 24b proceeds in a perpendicular direction to the interfaces 21a and 21b.
In the predetermined portion 22 irradiated with laser for being corresponding to the open part 'A' of the mask, when the width of the predetermined portion 22 is narrower than the two times of the growth length of the silicon grain 24a, the grains growing inward in a perpendicular direction from both sides of the interface of the silicon region come into contact with one another at a grain boundary 25, thereby causing the crystal growth to stop.
Subsequently, in order to further grow the silicon grain, the stage bearing the substrate is moved to perform another irradiation process on an area adjacent to the first irradiated area. Thus, another crystal forms with the new crystal being connected to the crystal formed after the first exposure. Similarly, crystals laterally form on each side of the completely solidified regions. Generally, the crystal growth length produced by the laser irradiation process and connected to the adjacent irradiation part is determined by the width of open part 'A' and closed part 'B' of the mask.
FIG. 5 shows a grain boundary overlapped in each channel of devices formed along one line on a related art crystallization process.
In the related art crystallization process, the crystallization is performed on the entire surface of the substrate. Accordingly, when crystallizing the substrate, the stage bearing the substrate moves along one direction without any alignment key, to change the laser irradiation area onto the substrate.
However, as shown in FIG. 5, since the crystallization process proceeds without an index such as the alignment key, the grain boundary 25, which is the interface of the grains inside the laser irradiated region, is not rightly perpendicular to the length direction of the device (TFT, 30). Also, the number of grain boundaries overlapped in each channel of the respective devices is different. For example, one device may have one grain boundary 25, but another device may have two grain boundaries 25. That is, even though the respective devices are provided along one line, the number of grain boundaries 25 overlapped in each channel (between source electrode S and drain electrode D) of the respective devices may differ, and the respective devices will therefore have different mobility characteristics (as the number of grain boundaries 25 overlapped in the channel of the device becomes small, the mobility becomes rapid). Thus, the respective devices have the different characteristics even though the respective devices are provided along the same line.
FIG. 6 shows a plane view of respective areas formed on a substrate. Referring to FIG. 6, a thin film transistor array is formed on a substrate 50 of an LCD device. The substrate 50 is defined into a display area 70 of displaying an image, and a non-display area 60 around the display area 70.
At this time, an amorphous silicon layer is formed on an entire surface of the substrate 50. On the display area 70 of the substrate 50, multiple gate and data lines (not shown, formed on other portions except pixel regions of the display area) are formed perpendicular to each other, to define the pixel regions 71. Pixel electrodes are formed in the respective pixel regions 71. Also, a thin film transistor is formed at a predetermined portion of the pixel region 71, and the thin film transistor includes a gate electrode (not shown) protruding from the gate line, a source electrode (not shown) protruding from the data line, and a drain electrode (not shown) formed at a predetermined interval from the source electrode. At this time, a semiconductor layer 75 is formed below the source and drain electrodes, where the semiconductor layer 75 has a channel between the two electrodes. On the non-display area 60, respective driving circuit parts of gate and source drivers 61 and 62 are formed to provide signals to the gate and data lines.
However, the crystallization of the amorphous silicon layer formed on the substrate 50 requires different speeds in the respective areas. Especially, the driving circuit parts 61 and 62, and the thin film transistor (device, 75) of the display area 70 require a mobility speed that is one hundred times higher than those of the remaining portions. Accordingly, in order to decrease the process time and cost for the crystallization, one can omit the crystallization for the remaining portions which don't require the high mobility speed, and to perform the crystallization for the driving circuit parts 61 and 62 and the device 75 of the display area 70.
To crystallize the device 75 on the substrate of the display area 70, it is necessary to provide an index for laser irradiation areas of the substrate. For this, alignment keys are firstly formed on the substrate by a photolithographic process prior to crystallization. In this case, it is necessary to prepare additional masks for the alignment keys, thereby causing the increase of fabrication time and cost for preparation of the masks.
However, the related art SLS device and the method of crystallizing the silicon by using the same have the following disadvantages.
In the related art crystallization process, the crystallization is performed on the entire surface of the substrate without the additional alignment keys. Accordingly, when the substrate is loaded on the stage, the substrate may slide or turn aside. Alternately, when the mask is loaded to the mask stage, the crystallization process of the substrate progresses in a non-parallel fashion because the mask is not loaded at the correct position. However, there is no way to solve these problems in the related art.
The difficulties presented by the related art are especially acute when the gate line, the data line, and the thin film transistor (device) are formed by patterning after crystallization. In this case, the grain boundary formed by the related art crystallization process is not parallel or vertical to the line and device formed in the after-processing, but is instead slanted thereto. Accordingly, even though the respective devices are provided along one line, the respective devices have a different number of grain boundaries overlapped in the channel, which must be corrected since it may cause degradation of the display quality and reduced speed.
Meanwhile, since the crystallization of the amorphous silicon layer formed on the substrate requires the different speeds in the different respective areas, a selective crystallization process has been proposed to decrease the process time and cost for the crystallization. Here, to selectively crystallize the predetermined portion of the substrate, it is necessary to provide alignment keys to index the laser irradiation area on the substrate. In this case, the process requires both a mask for forming the alignment key and an additional mask for crystallization. Also, the process time is delayed due to the replacement time of the masks for alignment key formation process and crystallization process, and the cost of the process increases due to the masks.

Sequential lateral solidification device and method of crystallizing silicon using the same


The invention provides methods for substituting polyaromatic hydrocarbons or polyheterocyclic compounds with perfluoroalkyl groups. The methods can include heating a polyaromatic hydrocarbon substrate or a polyheterocyclic compound substrate in the presence of a perfluoroalkyl iodide, typically in a closed system, wherein the heating is sufficient to bring both the polyaromatic hydrocarbons or polyheterocyclic compound, and the perfluoroalkyl iodide, into the gas phase, thereby allowing the substrate to react with the perfluoroalkyl iodide in the gas phase to form polyaromatic hydrocarbons or polyheterocyclic compounds having one or more perfluoroalkyl substituents. The methods allow for the creation of versatile libraries of novel perfluoroalkyl-containing derivatives that can serve as important building blocks and active components in biomedical, electronic, and materials applications.

The renaissance in the synthesis of small organic molecules with strong electron-accepting properties (i.e., organic semiconductors (OSCs)) during the past decade has been spurred by the global economic needs of (i) renewable sources of energy and (ii) more efficient and less expensive electronic devices that preferably include earth-abundant elements. The replacement of silicon- and metal-based electronic components with rationally-designed, finely-tuned organic molecules and molecular assemblies should lead to sustainable, lower-cost, lower-weight, flexible, yet robust solutions to many 21st century technological problems. Significant progress in this endeavor requires a deep understanding of the fundamental relationships between molecular structure, solid-state morphology, and electronic and other physicochemical properties of OSCs.
It has long been recognized that the presence of electron withdrawing groups (e.g., halogen atoms, cyanide, perfluoroalkyl (RF), or perfluoroaryl groups) in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) results in molecules with enhanced electron acceptor properties, better air stability, and improved solid-state charge-carrier mobilities. In particular, organic transistors made with the few available PAH acceptors bearing RF groups have long-term air-stability, which can be correlated with either low LUMO energies (ca. −4 eV; estimated by cyclic voltammetry), or with DFT-predicted gas-phase electron affinities (EAs) above 2.8 eV (believed to be the threshold value for n-channel-device air stability. The arsenal of synthetic methods used in the past to prepare PAHs with one or more RF substituents include (i) bottom-up design involving multi-step coupling reactions of smaller precursors already bearing an RF group (U.S. Pat. No. 7,390,901 (Yang et al.); Geib et al., J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6107-6116), (ii) metal-catalyzed reactions in solution for modification of PAH intermediates that have reactive substituents such as Cl or Br atoms, intermediates that are themselves not commercially available (Schlosser, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 5432-5446; Tomashenko and Grushin, Chem. Rev. 2011, 111, 4475-4521), and (iii) direct perfluoroalkylation of PAHs (Bravo at al., J. Org. Chem. 1997, 62, 7128-7136). However, the latter method has not been extensively studied, possibly because the low yields and poor regioselectivities reported were not encouraging (Tiers, J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1960, 82, 5513-5513; b) Cowell and Tamborski, J. Fluorine Chem. 1981, 17, 345-356).
Accordingly, there is a need for new methods for the direct perfluoroalkylation of PAHs and related aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds. There is also a need for new small organic molecules with strong electron-accepting properties, for example, for use as organic semiconductors in electronic devices.

Modified polyaromatic hydrocarbons and polyheterocyclics for optoelectronics

Colorado State University Research Foundation


A method includes receiving an email addressed to a recipient user, processing the received email using a reparametrized recurrent neural network model to identify an action based on the received email, and wherein the reparametrized recurrent neural network model has been trained on an email dataset annotated with recipient corresponding actions and reparametrized on unannotated conversation data having structures similar to email data.

Despite the emergence of many new communication tools in the workplace, email remains a major, if not the dominant, messaging platform in many organizations. Many people receive hundreds of email messages and other communications each day. Responding to or otherwise acting on each email in a timely manner can consume significant amounts of time, interfering with other job responsibilities. Helping people manage and act on their emails can make them more productive.

AI system to determine actionable intent


A semiconductor device including a transistor having an SOI structure the operating speed of which is not affected is provided. A MOS transistor having the SOI structure is formed which satisfies R·C·f<1 where C is a gate capacitance (F), R is a body resistance (Ω), f is a clock operating frequency (Hz), and f≧500 MHz.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a MOS transistor formed on an SOI substrate.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a cross section of a conventional semiconductor device M90 having a field isolation structure which is the background of the present invention. The semiconductor device M90 is an SOI semiconductor device in which an SOI substrate including a semiconductor layer in film form, or an SOI (semiconductor-on-insulator) layer, which is formed on an insulating substrate is used as a semiconductor substrate into which transistor elements and the like are manufactured.
As shown in FIG. 20, the semiconductor device M90 comprises a silicon semiconductor layer as the SOI layer 3 formed on the insulating substrate including a supporting substrate 1 and a buried oxide film 2. The SOI layer 3 includes a great number of element regions wherein NMOS transistors are to be formed and a great number of element regions wherein PMOS transistors are to be formed. Planar field-shield electrodes (abbreviated hereinafter as "FS electrodes") 5 for electrical isolation of these element regions are formed on the boundaries of the element regions in the SOI layer 3.
The FS electrodes 5 shown in FIG. 20 are arranged in parallel and predetermined spaced relation on the SOI layer 3 so as to define active regions in the respective element regions. The FS electrodes 5 are covered with field-shield insulating layers 4 (abbreviated hereinafter as "FS insulating layers"). Gate electrodes 6 are disposed each of which extends from the top of an active region to the tops of two parallel FS insulating layers 4. Gate oxide films 10 are formed between the gate electrodes 6 and the active regions. The FS insulating layers 4 are made of an oxide to provide electrical insulation between the FS electrodes 5 and the gate electrodes 6.
Source and drain regions (not shown in FIG. 20) in the SOI layer 3 are electrically connected to drain and source electrodes (not shown in FIG. 20) through contact holes 7 provided in an insulating layer not shown. The gate electrodes 6 are connected to gate interconnect lines (not shown in FIG. 20) through contact holes 8.
A body contact electrode (not shown in FIG. 20) is connected through a contact hole 9 to the SOI layer 3. Although the contact hole 9 connected to the body contact electrode is shown in FIG. 20 as passing through the FS electrode 5 and connected to the SOI layer 3, it is also common to provide the contact hole 9 on the SOI layer 3 outside the FS electrode 5.
In the semiconductor device M90, the SOI layer 3 in an isolation region is cut off by applying 0 V in an NMOS structure or a power supply voltage Vcc in a PMOS structure to the FS electrodes 5. This results in electrical isolation between the element regions.
The SOI layer 3 may include a body portion which is floating rather than the body potential fixing contact hole 9 in the structure of FIG. 20.
FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view of an NMOS transistor having an SOI structure in which a body portion is floating.
Referring to FIG. 21, the buried oxide film 2 is formed on the supporting substrate 1, and the SOI layer 3 is formed on the buried oxide film 2. An N-type drain region 11 and an N-type source region 12 are selectively formed in the SOI layer 3. A P-type region of the SOI layer 3 which includes a body region between the drain and source regions 11 and 12 is defined as a body portion 13.
The gate oxide film 10 is formed on the body portion 13 between the drain and source regions 11 and 12, and the gate electrode 6 is formed on the gate oxide film 10.
In the SOI MOS transistor constructed as above described, if the potential of the body portion 13 is not fixed, a body potential BV is changed by the influences of signals flowing through the drain region 11 and the source region 12 and the like, accordingly changing the operating speed VC of the MOS transistor, as shown in FIG. 22. It should be noted that the relationship of FIG. 22 between the body potential and the operating speed is shown as relative values on the basis of time=0.
One of the solutions to the above described drawback is to fix the potential of the body portion 13 by providing the body potential fixing contact hole 9 shown in FIG. 20 and the like. FIG. 23 schematically illustrates a MOS transistor structure wherein the body potential is fixed. As shown in FIG. 23, the potential of the body portion 13 is fixed by a body terminal PB1.
An alternative solution is to provide a DT (Dynamic Threshold) MOS structure as shown in FIG. 24 in which the gate electrode 6 and the body portion 13 are short-circuited and a body terminal PB2 applies a common potential to the gate electrode 6 and the body portion 13.
Conventional SOI MOS transistors are capable of stabilizing the operating speed which is relatively low by fixing the potential of the body portion 13 as depicted in FIGS. 23 and 24.
However, a high-speed operation in synchronism with a clock having an operating frequency of not less than 500 MHz imposes very stringent requirements for the timing of signal passing between circuits. This causes even the MOS transistors having the structures of FIGS. 23 and 24 to encounter a phenomenon similar to that caused in the case where the body portion 13 is floating. This phenomenon affects the operating speed of such MOS transistors, for example, an unstable operation thereof.

Method of designing semiconductor device, semiconductor device and recording medium


Disclosed is an improved parallel processing system using a radial bus assembly comprising a stack of disks each having an integrated circuit crossbar switch fixed at its center, a plurality of communication lines of equal length radially extending from the communication terminals of the crossbar switch and terminating on the circumference of the disk, a plurality of control lines each being arranged between adjacent communication lines, and radially extending from the control terminals of the crossbar switch and terminating short of the circumference of the disk, and male-and-female joints to electrically connect the terminations of the control lines of all disks in terms of same angular positions longitudinally in common. This arrangement permits substantial reduction of disk size by shifting the control terminals from the circumference of the disk to the inside space thereof, thus accordingly reducing the whole size of the laminated cylindrical bus structure, and hence increasing the data transfer speed on shortened radial communication lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parallel processing system which permits a plurality of processing units to work simultaneously at an increased speed, accordingly permitting the quick processing of a lot of information data such as in colored image processing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a means to make electrical interconnections of numerous processing units such as data processors or memories Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No.2-281359 shows a radially parallel type of bus system which comprises a stack of disks each bearing a plurality of radial signal lines of equal length radiating from its center. A corresponding plurality of CPU boards are erected and arranged around the disk stack, and are connected to the signal lines of all disks.
Disadvantageously this conventional bus system permits only two selected processing units to communicate with each other at one time, and therefore, it is inappropriate for dealing with many processing units or for permitting processing units to communicate with each other very often. In an attempt to permit many processing units to communicate with each other simultaneously the inventor proposed an improvement of such radially parallel type of bus system. As shown in FIG. 9, it includes a stack of disks 4. Each disk has an integrated circuit crossbar switch 1 fixed at its center, communication lines 3A (for instance, 16 lines), control lines 3B (for instance, 10 lines), power lines 3C and ground lines 3D all radially extending from the terminals 2 of the crossbar switch 1 and terminating on the circumference of the disk. These disks 4 are arranged vertically at regular intervals with their centers on a common axis and with all communication lines 3A, control lines 3B, power lines 3C and ground lines 3D arranged vertically in registration. Thus, a three-dimensional bus system 5 results. A plurality of longitudinal connectors 6 are attached to the circumference of the cylindrical lamination 5, and a corresponding plurality of boards 7 are applied to the longitudinal connectors 6, each board carrying an associated processor or memory, thus permitting the crossbar switches 1 to make electrical connections between selected boards 7 with the aid of a switching control (in FIG. 9), which sends control signals to the crossbar switches 1 via selected control lines 3B. This arrangement permits the simultaneous data transfer between selected processing units.
The communication lines, control lines and other different lines are terminated on the circumference of cylindrical lamination, specifically terminated with associated terminals of substantial physical size, much larger than the line. Therefore, the circumferential size of the disk must be increased with the increase of the lines printed on the disk because otherwise, a required number of terminals could not be placed on the circumference of the disk. This causes disadvantages of increasing the whole size of cylindrical lamination, and of increasing the length of communication line, and accordingly the time required for transferring data between selected processing units. Stated otherwise, the number of communication lines cannot be increased without increasing unavailable space, specifically inter-line space.


Reagent and method are offered for the screening of the functional condition of the body by the person's saliva. Reagent presents itself as an H2O solution, containing ions of Fe3+, chloride ions and multi-atom alcohol .n the concentrations 0.05-3.0M; 0.05-4.0M, and 0.1-5.0M accordingly. Screening is conducted by means of mixing of the persons saliva with the reagent in the following comparison of colour mix with control; during this an orange colour is correlated with the norm; yellow-diabetes SD-1, functional disorders of pancreas; bright-pink and red initial stages of hypertonic disease, diabetes SD-2, pathological influence of smoking; dark-red, developed forms of hypertension, diabetes SD-2, pathogenic-influence of smoking or other toxic substances, leading to the emphasized energetic disorder.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a reagent for mixing with saliva to detect the development of hypertension, diabetes, and adrenocorticotropic disturbances.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various reagents and methods are known for the screening of pathologies resulting from a problem in the body's normal uptake of carbohydrates and lipids (i.e., carbohydrate-lipid exchange violations). Most focus directly upon the function of the pancreas by monitoring the levels of pancreatic products such as insulin within body fluids. Some such products use as their main component powdered carboxylic acid or an indicating reagent which reacts to the changing concentration of ions of hydrogen. As a main acid indicator certain dyes are used, such as methylene yellow and bromocresol green.
Some compositions have been developed for use directly within the mouth cavity. These compositions commonly have a pH of 6.5-7.0 and they contain a 2.5-4.0 percentage of saccharides (by weight) and a 0.0001-0.05 percentage of indicator pH. The point of colour change is in the range of pH 5-7. On the basis of these kinds of compositions, a chewing gum was developed in Japan to screen for certain pathologies. The gum was impregnated with a reagent which was released in the process of chewing to make contact with the subject's saliva. The reagent reacted with hydrogen ions within the subject's saliva to change the colour of the gum, depending upon the pH level of the saliva.
Methods relying on the pH level of saliva have the drawback that this pH level is susceptible to many influences other than underlying pathologies. Therefore, testing this pH level does not guarantee a pathology will be discovered.
Many traditional methods of screening for a pathology, such as monitoring glucose levels in blood, have the drawback that they are invasive. Further, other traditional screening methods, such as urinalysis, are inaccurate.
Accordingly, there is a need for a non-invasive method of monitoring the development of pathologies related to carbohydrate-lipid exchange violations.

Reagent and method for screening of the functional condition of the body

1405 Toronto Dominion Tower, Edmonton Centre


A method for reproducing video frames coded in accordance with an MPEG format, in which a carrier provided with recordings is played with a speed which differs from the nominal playback speed, and in which the number of frames to be transferred to a display apparatus and generated by reading out is compensated in such a manner that the average number per unit of time is equal to a predetermined nominal number by repeating or by skipping B frames.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the recording and reproduction of image information (video). More in particular, the present invention relates to the general problem of reproducing the recorded image information at a speed other than the normal speed.
As is known, video images (frames) are reproduced in accordance with a predetermined format on a standard image display apparatus, such as a television set, the pixels of the frame being reproduced not simultaneously but sequentially. More particularly, adjacent pixels are written consecutively so as to write a horizontal line and the horizontal lines of the frame are written consecutively (interlaced). The time thus required for reproducing one frame, i.e., the time required to write all the image lines making up the frame, is 1/25 second in the PAL format. Consequently, a scene whose actual playing time is 100 seconds corresponds to a sequence of 2500 consecutive frames.
2. Description of the Related Art
For recording video images on a carrier, such as, for example, a magnetic tape, an analog method is known in which the consecutive pixels are recorded adjacent one another on recording tracks which are inclined with respect to the playing direction of the carrier. Each recording track then corresponds to one image line. With recordings of this type the possibilities for slow-motion or fast-motion reproduction are limited. For example, when it is desired to reproduce a scene at five times the normal speed, the carrier is moved past a read head at five times the normal speed. This means that five consecutive images move past the read head in the time required for the reproduction of a single image by the image display apparatus. An image reproduced on the display screen then takes the form of five fragments of these five consecutive images, which fragments are displayed one above the other and are separated from one another by distorted image portions.
More recently, a digital recording method, termed MPEG, has been developed. In this method, the information relating to an image is digitally coded and compressed, and is linearly stored on a carrier, which is to be understood to mean that the consecutive bits are arranged in line with one another in the write and read direction of the carrier.
When such a recording is played back, the bits being read do not correspond to the pixels of a frame to be reproduced consecutively. A multiplicity of bits must be collected in order to be decoded and in order to reconstruct the image content of one or more consecutive frames. The buffer memories and computing devices required for this may be provided in the playback apparatus or in the display apparatus. It is to be noted, though, that, on an average, the number of bits read corresponds to 25 frames per second at a normal playback speed of the carrier. In principle, it is possible to move the carrier more rapidly or slowly past the read head. However, the problem is that a standard display apparatus, such as a television set, is not capable of converting the signals then received to normal frames.

Method of and arrangement for recording and reproducing video images