An electromotive power assisted bicycle includes a drive shaft rotated by a pedal effort a primary sprocket fixed to the drive shaft for transmitting the pedal effort to a drive wheel; a secondary sprocket fixed to the drive shaft coaxially with the primary sprocket; a pedal effort detection sensor; an electromotive power output unit box detachably attached to the body for outputting electromotive power in response to the detected pedal effort; a power sprocket coupled to a rotating output shaft of the electromotive power output unit box; an auxiliary chain stretched between the secondary sprocket and the power sprocket; a supporting section for rotatably supporting the drive shaft; and a unit mounting bracket on which the electromotive power output unit box is mounted, the unit mounting bracket being fixed to the supporting section with the drive shaft penetrating through the unit mounting bracket.

Conventionally, an electromotive power assisted bicycle that can run under a pedal effort assisted by electromotive power has been made using a body frame tailored specifically for such a bicycle, and the frame has been further built upon by incorporating an electric motor, a reduction gear, a battery and other components such as a force combining mechanism for adding the electromotive power to the pedal effort. Those components have also been fabricated as dedicated parts adapted to the dedicated body frame.
Among the above components, an example of a type of mechanism that has been suggested as the force combining mechanism includes a unit of dedicated design around a crank shaft such that the pedal effort applied onto the crank shaft and the power transmitted from the electric motor may be output coaxially from the crank shaft. In addition, a chain direct drive system as shown in FIG. 35 has been also suggested. The chain direct drive system includes, mounted on the body frame, an electric motor, a reduction gear for reducing a revolution speed of said electric motor and for outputting a resultant power therefrom and the like, wherein a power sprocket coupled to an output shaft of the reduction gear is, along with a regular sprocket, engaged with a chain for transmitting the pedal effort. At the same time, to ensure a contact angle of the chain over the power sprocket, pulleys are engaged with the chain respectively from the opposite side thereof.
In one method for assembling the battery to the body, an attachment for fixing the battery is mounted to a seat post or a seat tube of the electromotive power assisted bicycle, so that a battery box containing the battery may be installed detachably in said attachment so as to extend from the seat post or the like toward the rear side of the body. According to this attaching method, the attachment is formed into a U-shaped unit comprising a curved portion and a halving portion, in which the curved portion is externally fitted onto the seat post or the like, while a hook of the battery box is clamped in the halving portion, so that the battery box can be fixedly secured to the attachment by tightening a fastener penetrating a bore formed through the halving portion.
The electric motor and the reduction gear housed in a gear box are typically mounted to the body frame in places where they are to be fixed, respectively, as separate components, and covered by a housing or the like. Otherwise, a gear box serving as an electromotive power output unit box containing both of the reduction gear and the electric motor is coupled to the body frame in a place where it is to be fixed.
The above-mentioned gear box comprises, in a typical example, a box having an opening, a cover for closing the opening, and a plurality of bolts for connecting the box and the cover in different positions. FIG. 34 shows a front elevation view of the conventional box viewed from the opening side, wherein a plurality of gears is housed on the inside thereof. The cover is placed over the box shown in FIG. 34, and screws are fastened, or bolts are threaded, over the cover at a plurality of locations to thereby fix the gear. At this time, a shaft end defined in the front side of the gear is held by a bearing provided in an inside of the cover. In FIG. 34, those portions designated by P1, P2, P3 and P4 serve as the locations for the bolts to be attached. Specifically, the bolts are attached along an outer periphery of the box.
However, in the above described prior art, since the electromotive power assisted bicycle is built by providing a specialized body for the electromotive power assisted bicycle and then mounting to said body respective components exclusively tailored therefor, the components can not be adapted to a frame for a regular bicycle, thereby losing versatility. Therefore, those systems according to the prior arts have common problems that they may lead to an increase in cost as well as to a complicated mechanism, resultantly increasing the volume and weight of the electromotive power assisted bicycle. Detailed problems associated with the above-described respective prior arts will now be discussed individually.
In the above-mentioned force combining mechanism according to the prior art, the mechanism of crank coaxial output type needs to employ a structure different from a typical frame around the crank shaft, which may lead to a complex and enlarged profile of the structure around the crank shaft. On the other hand, the prior art force combining mechanism relying on the direct chain drive system shown in FIG. 35 entails a problem that the force combining mechanism is installed exclusively in a location where the chain for transmitting the pedal effort runs therethrough, which is, in actual practice, in a position near the chain (an upper or a lower side thereof) located between the sprocket and a rear wheel. Consequently, the force combining mechanism cannot be installed in a front side of the sprocket. Accordingly, some bicycles still need to have their frames adapted for installing the force combining mechanism, depending on the frame structures thereof. In addition, since in this type of system, such an arrangement as shown in the drawing is essential, in which the pulley is disposed in association with the power sprocket so as to be engaged with the chain in a longitudinal direction serially along a length thereof to ensure the contact angle of the chain over the power sprocket, the degree of flexibility relating to the installation space will be further reduced.
Further, in the mounting system of the battery according to the prior art as described above, since the battery is often placed longitudinally owing to the U-shaped attachment to be used, and in a case that the battery is moved in the vertical direction, a long distance must be provided between the attachment and a saddle, meaning a large space is necessary for attaching and detaching, thus a restriction is imposed on the body frame available for mounting the attachment. Besides, in this mounting system, since the fastener has to be loosened or tightened in response to the detaching or attaching operation of the battery, the attaching and detaching operation takes time, and further disadvantageously, the system entails a problem that a third party may possibly loosen the fastener and steal the battery easily.
The gear box serving as the above electromotive power output unit according to the prior art needs to be adjusted such that its position is precisely relative to the force combining mechanism, so that the electromotive power can be added to the pedal effort correctly, and said gear box also has to be mounted fixedly to the body frame so as not to become displaced with respect thereto. Further, the gear box has to be mounted carefully so as not to interfere with the rigid frame and to thereby offset the gear position. To satisfy these requirements, although in some practices according to the prior art a dedicated body frame has been made, or a special processing has been applied thereto, such attempts have not yet successfully utilized a regular frame manufacturing process. Further, if the electromotive power output unit box is to be mounted without applying any modification to the frame, the electromotive power output unit itself, and attachments used to mount the unit to the frame are apt to be complicated, and furthermore, in such a case the difficulty in positioning is not avoidable. The facts mentioned above are similarly applicable to a case where the electric motor and the reduction gear are separately mounted.
Furthermore, since the conventional gear box shown in FIG. 34 is fastened with screws in the vicinity of the peripheral region thereof, in some gears, the position of a shaft center may be significantly distant from those of the screws. Thus, in such an arrangement having distant screwed positions, if a gear such as a helical gear, for example, that produces a component force in an axial direction of the shaft is used, said component force in the axial direction may produce a deflection in the gear box (especially in the cover) thereby inducing a vibration thereof. Namely, a so-called drumming phenomenon may be induced. Further, since the gear box is deformed and thereby a pitch error may be produced between gears and also a perpendicularity of the gear mounting portion may be distorted, it is more likely to make a sound. Especially, if a flat motor is used, the motor tends to pick up the vibrations from the gear and thereby the motor sound is also magnified.
The present invention has been made in the light of the above facts, and an object thereof is to provide an electromotive power assisted bicycle of a simple mechanism, which enables a bicycle comprising a regular frame to be electrically powered easily by extending the degree of freedom for installation of respective components and also by facilitating a mounting and adjusting operation thereof, thereby solving the above problems.


A semiconductor device with an inductor device is small, thin, and low-cost. A laminated inductor is adhered fixedly onto a supporting conductive plate by Ag paste, and a semiconductor chip is adhered fixedly onto the laminated inductor via an insulating DAF tape. One end of the supporting conductive plate and a terminal electrode of the semiconductor chip are connected by a metal wire, and a plurality of terminal electrodes of the semiconductor chip and a plurality of external lead-out terminals are connected respectively by laterally extending metal wires. The entire structure is then sealed by a resin mold. By employing a laminated inductor and forming the metal wires to extend laterally in this manner, the thickness of the semiconductor device with an inductor can be reduced.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device constituting a DC/DC converter installed in a portable electronic instrument or the like, and more particularly to a small, thin semiconductor device with an inductor formed by laminating together a semiconductor chip forming an integrated circuit and a thin inductor.
A distribution type power supply IC used in a portable electronic instrument such as a portable telephone, digital camera, or digital video camera, or an individual power supply IC that compensates for deficiencies in a centralized power supply, is structured such that a power supply IC chip forming an integrated circuit of an output portion and a control portion is die-bonded to a lead frame or substrate, wire-bonded to a lead terminal of the lead frame or a terminal of the substrate by metal wire, and then sealed by resin. A DC/DC converter is then formed by externally attaching an inverter, capacitor, or the like separately to the power supply IC.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the main parts of a conventional DC/DC converter. This drawing shows the constitution in which a semiconductor chip 51 such as a power supply IC, an inverter 53, and a capacitor, resistance, and so on, not shown in the drawing, are mounted on a printed circuit board 61.
The semiconductor chip 51 is adhered fixedly onto a supporting conductive plate 54 via Ag paste 56, whereupon a terminal electrode 51 of the semiconductor chip 54 and an external lead-out terminal 55 are connected by a metal wire 58. Sealing is then performed using a resin mold 59, and thus a power supply IC is formed. The supporting conductive plate 54 of the power supply IC and the rear surface of the external lead-out terminal 55 are adhered fixedly to a conductive pattern 62 of a printed circuit board 61 by solder 63, and terminals 53a of the inductor 53 are also adhered fixedly to the conductive pattern 62 of the printed circuit board 61 by the solder 63. In addition, the capacitor and resistance, not shown in the drawing, are adhered fixedly to the conductive pattern 62 of the printed circuit board 61. The inductor 53 is a laminated inductor or a flat-type inductor such as a spirally wound inductor, a solenoid inductor, or a toroidal inductor.
In this DC/DC converter, the semiconductor chip 51 serving as the power supply IC chip and the inductor 53 are provided alongside each other on the printed circuit board 61. Therefore, although the thickness is reduced, the occupied surface area increases. Hence, it is necessary to reduce the size (occupied surface area) of the DC/DC converter while keeping its thickness low when the DC/DC converter is to be installed in a portable electronic instrument.
A similar reduction in size is also required in a multi-function system LSI. In a system LSI, a large number of functions are concentrated on a single chip, leading to increase in the surface area and size of the semiconductor chip. In response to this problem, it has been reported that a size reduction can be achieved in a system LSI by laminating together a plurality of LSI chips and sealing them with resin.
This technique is known as chip on chip, in which a small semiconductor chip is laminated onto a semiconductor chip. A pad electrode for connection to a lead and a first pad electrode for an internal interface are provided on the main surface of a large LSI chip, and a second pad electrode and a first pad electrode of a small LSI chip provided on the main surface are electrically connected by a wire. Thus, a part of the circuit required by the system LSI is mounted on the small LSI chip rather than the large LSI chip, and hence a desired function as a system LSI is realized using two LSI chips (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-7017).
Further, an ultra-small power conversion device (ultra-small DC/DC converter) has been realized by flattening magnetic induction components such as a coil (inductor) and a transformer to reduce the size thereof, and improving a method of mounting these components on a semiconductor substrate in which a semiconductor device is formed (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-251157).
An ultra-small power conversion device (ultra-small DC/DC converter) in which a thin film inductor of a toroidal endless solenoid is laminated onto a laminated ceramic capacitor and a semiconductor chip is adhered fixedly thereon using a stud bump has also been reported (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-72815).
In relation to the portable electronic instruments mentioned above, demands have been made for further reductions in size, thickness, and cost. Hence, there is strong demand for reductions in size, thickness, and cost of components such as the power supply IC chip and inductor built into the instrument and the printed circuit board on which these components are mounted.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-7017 relates to a structure in which a semiconductor chip is laminated on a semiconductor chip, but does not deal with a structure in which an inductor and a semiconductor chip are laminated together.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-251157 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2004-72815, a semiconductor chip and a thin inductor are adhered fixedly by a stud bump and thereby laminated together. Although the surface area is reduced in comparison with that of the structure shown in FIG. 7 through lamination, the thickness increases.
Further, to adhere the stud bump formed on the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor chip and a terminal electrode formed on the outer peripheral portion of the inductor together fixedly, the sizes of the semiconductor chip and inductor must be aligned such that even when a semiconductor chip having a small active region is characteristically sufficient, for example, a large semiconductor chip must be provided in accordance with the size of the inductor, and therefore it is difficult to achieve cost reductions. Furthermore, the formation process of the stud bump is complicated, and therefore, manufacturing costs are high.
An object of the present invention is to solve the problems described above by providing a semiconductor device with an inductor having reduced size, thickness, and cost.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Fuji Electric Device Technology Co., Ltd.


A stage device including a movable stage, a plate-like base which supports the stage, and a mass body which moves to cancel a reaction force acting on the base according to a movement of the movable stage. The plate-like base has a plurality of surfaces, and the stage and mass body are supported by different ones of the surfaces of the plate-like base.

In a stage device which performs alignment, a drive reaction force generated when a stage is driven causes vibration or deformation to influence the alignment accuracy. This influence poses a problem, particularly in a field, e.g., a stage device used in an exposure apparatus, which requires high accuracy.
As a mechanism which cancels the drive reaction force of a stage, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 111-243132, mass bodies are provided to a base, which supports the stage. Referring to FIG. 15, mass bodies (113a, 113b), which can be driven in an X direction, and mass bodies (113c, 113d), which can be driven in a Y direction, are provided to a base (109) which supports a stage (105) which moves in X and Y directions along guides (121, 107). A rotary mass body (not shown), which generates a rotational torque, is provided to the base. With this structure, the mass bodies are driven to cancel stage drive reaction forces in the X and Y directions and a θ direction (rotational direction about a Z-axis), so as to decrease the influence of the vibration caused by the drive reaction force.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-190786, a base that supports a stage is movable. Referring to FIG. 16, a base (109), which mounts a stage 105 thereon, is movably supported on a board (110) through an air bearing. Rotatable rotors 108 are arranged on the side surfaces of the base and in it. With this structure, the drive reaction force of the stage in the X and Y directions is canceled when the base moves, and the drive reaction forces in a θ direction, an ωx direction (a rotational direction about an X axis), and an ωy direction (a rotational direction about a Y axis) are canceled when the rotors rotate.
In recent years, the diameter of the wafer increases to increase the productivity of the devices, and the size of the stage also increases in proportion to the diameter of the wafer. Accordingly, the weight of the stage also increases. In order to increase the throughput (the number of wafers that can be processed within a unit time), the stage must be moved faster, and tends to be moved with a high acceleration. Namely, as the stage weight and stage acceleration increase, the thrust of the stage increases to be larger than before.
As in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-190786, in a structure in which the reaction force is canceled by moving the base in the X and Y directions with respect to the board, a space must be reserved for the moving stroke of the base. For this purpose, the size of the entire stage device increases, and consequently, the exposure apparatus itself becomes bulky.
The stroke of the base may be decreased by increasing the weight of the base. When transportation and maintenance of the stage device are taken into consideration, the weight of the base cannot be increased much.
In the case of levitating the base by an air bearing, when the base having a weight of several tons is to be levitated by the air bearing, the air bearing must have an accordingly large load capacity. When the load capacity of the air bearing is increased, however, the flow rate of air to be supplied must also be increased. Such a stage device is sometimes difficult to install, depending on the specifications of the utilities of the installation site.
As in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-243132, if the mass bodies are provided to the side surfaces of the base, the installation space increases undesirably. As the masses hang, they may undesirably deform the base or degrade the posture of the base.

Stage device, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method


The use of devices in procedures, especially medical procedures where the events take place under view of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems is becoming more important. Although some general and specific structures have been discussed in the literature and commercialized, little has been done effectively to design devices for MRI procedures for specific tasks. The present invention describes a device for use within an organism, said device comprising an element having at least one pair of opposed RF receiver microcoils having a space between each microcoil of said pair of microcoils, the coils of said microcoils may have diameters of less than 2.4 mm. The device may also comprise an element having at least one pair of opposed RF receiver microcoils having a space between each microcoil of said pair of microcoils, said RF receiver microcoils each comprising at least three individual coils, said at least three individual coils of said microcoils having spacing between adjacent microcoils so that spacing between at least two pairs of individual coils within said microcoils differ by at least 10%. Circuitry may be insulated within the device by providing the wires and circuits within different layers in a coaxial layering of components within the catheter. The device may also comprise device an element having at least one pair of opposed RF receiver microcoils having a space between each microcoil of said pair of microcoils, the RF receiver microcoils each comprising at least three individual windings, the at least three individual windings of said microcoils having spacing between adjacent windings so that spacing between at least two pairs of individual windings within the microcoils differ by at least 10%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices which are compatible with procedures performed during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and particularly to medical devices which can deliver drugs during procedures viewed with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques.
2. Background of the Art
Medical procedures may now be performed on areas of the patient which are relatively small. Procedures may be performed on small clusters of cells, within veins and arteries, and in remote sections of the body with minimally invasive techniques, such as without surgical opening of the body. As these procedures, such as balloon angioplasty, microsurgery, electrotherapy, and drug delivery are performed within the patient with minimally invasive techniques without major surgical opening of the patient, techniques have had to be developed which allow for viewing of the procedure concurrent with the procedure. X-ray imaging, such as X-ray fluoroscopy, is a possible method of providing a view of the procedural area, but X-ray exposure for any extended period of time is itself harmful to the patient. Fiber optic viewing of the area does not provide any harmful radiation to the patient, but the fiber optics may take up too large a space to provide both the light necessary for viewing and a path for return of the light, and does not permit beyond the surface imaging (that is, only the surfaces of internal objects may be viewed from the position where the fiber optic device is located). Fiber optics or direct light viewing is more acceptable for larger area medical procedures such as gastroenterological procedures than for more microscopic procedures such as intraparenchymal drug delivery or endovascular drug delivery or procedures.
Techniques have been developed for relatively larger area viewing of MR-compatible devices within a patient by the use of MR-receiver coils in the devices which are tracked by MR imaging systems. Little by way of specific design considerations have been given to devices which have MR viewing capability and specific treatment functions, and especially where the relationship of specific types of treatment and the MR receiver coils must be optimized both for a treatment process and for MR viewing ability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,165 describes a tracking system to follow the position and orientation of an invasive device, and especially a medical device such as a catheter, using radio frequency field gradients. Detection of radio frequency signals is accomplished with coils having sensitivity profiles which vary approximately linearly with position. The invasive device has a transmit coil attached near its end and is driven by a low power RF source to produce a dipole electromagnetic field that can be detected by an array of receive coils distributed around an area of interest of the subject. This system places the transmit coils within the subject and surrounds the subject with receive coils.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,400 describes a tracking system to monitor the position and orientation of an invasive device within a subject. The device has an MR active sample and a receiver coil which is sensitive to magnetic resonance signals generated by the MR active sample. These signals are detected in the presence of magnetic field gradients and thus have frequencies which are substantially proportional to the location of the coil along the direction of the applied gradient. Signals are detected responsive to sequentially applied mutually orthogonal magnetic gradients to determine the device's position in several dimensions. The invasive devices shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b and rf coil and an MR active sample incorporated into a medical device and an MR active sample incorporated into a medical device, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,596 describes a method and apparatus for determining the position of devices such as catheters, tubes, placement guidewires and implantable ports within biological tissue. The devices may contain a transmitter/detector unit having an alternating current radio-frequency transmitter with antenna and a radio signal transmitter situated long the full length of the device. The antennae are connected by a removable clip to a wide band radio frequency (RF) detection circuit, situated within the transmitter/detector unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,198 describes a catheter for use with NMR imaging systems, the catheter including a coil winding for exciting a weak magnetic field at the tip of the catheter. A loop connecting two conductors supports a dipole magnetic field which locally distorts the NMR image, providing an image cursor on the magnetic resonance imaging display.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,973 describes systems and methods for sensing and movement of an object in multiple degrees of freedom. The sensor system comprises at least one field-effect transistor having a geometric configuration selected to provide desired sensitivity.
Published PCT Applications WO 93/15872, WO 93/15874, WO 93/15785, and WO 94/27697 show methods of forming tubing, including kink resistant tubing and catheters in which the catheters may contain reinforcing coils. Layer(s) of reinforcing materials may be deposited on and over the reinforcing coils.
U.S. Patent Nos. 5,451,774 and 5,270,485 describes a three-dimensional circuit structure including a plurality of elongate substrates positioned in parallel and in contact with each other. Electrical components are formed on the surfaces of the substrates, along with electrical conductors coupled to those components. The conductors are selectively positioned on each substrate so as to contact conductors on adjacent substrates. The conductor patterns on the substrates may be helical, circumferential, or longitudinal. Radio frequency signaling between substrates would be effected with a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna, with radio frequency signal transmitting and receiving circuitry present in the substrates (e.g., column 7, lines 32-43). Circulation of cooling fluid within the device is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,622 describes a system for the fabrication of microstructures (including electronic microcircuitry) and thin-film semiconductors on substrates, especially continuous processes for use on elongate substrates such as fibers or filaments.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,106,455 and 5,269,882 describes a method and apparatus for fabrication of thin film semiconductor devices using non-planar exposure beam lithography. Circuitry formed on cylindrical objects is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,625 describes a multiple vesicle implantable drug delivery system which may contain an electrical circuit which is responsive to signals (including radio signals) which can be used to effect drug delivery.
PCT Application WO 96/33761 (filed Apr. 15, 1996) describes an intraparenchymal infusion catheter system for delivering drugs or other agents comprising a pump coupled to the catheter. A porous tip is disposed at a distal end of the catheter, the tip being porous to discharge an agent or rug at a selected site. The catheter may be customized during use by an expandable portion of the catheter system.
Martin, A. J., Plewes, D. B. and Henkelman, R. M. in "MR Imaging of Blood Vessels with an Intravascular Coil," J. Mag. Res. Imag., 1992, 2, No.4, pp. 421-429 describes a method for producing high-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images of blood vessel walls using a theoretic receiver-coil design based on two coaxial solenoids separated by a gap region and with the current driven in opposite directions. The coils had diameters ranging from 3 to 9 mm. FIG. 3b appears to indicate that sensitivity decreases as the coils diameter moved from 9 to 7 to 5 to 3 mm. Investigation of the Q value of opposed loop and opposed solenoid coils indicated that opposed loop coils displayed low W values and that there was a general trend of lower Q values at smaller Q diameters among the opposed solenoid designs. Within the range investigated, it was stated that a compromise exists between the use of thicker wire for improved performance and thinner wire to limit the overall coil dimensions. Decoupling circuitry is also shown to be useful in performing the imaging functions with this catheter based system in MR imaging.
Hurst, G. C., Hua, J., Duerk, J. I. and Choen, A. M., "Intravascular (Catheter) NMR Receiver Probe: Preliminary Design Analysis and Application in Canine Iliofemoral Imaging," Magn. Res. In Imaging, 24, 343-357 (1992) explores the feasibility of a catheter-based receiver probe for NMR study of arterial walls. Various potential designs, including opposed solenoids (e.g., FIG. 2b and FIG. 3 a and b) are examined. The catheter probe shown in FIG. 3 was constructed with five turns of 28 gauge wire per solenoid, with 7.5 mm between solenoids and nominal solenoid diameters of 2.8 mm, with the probe resonating at 64 MHz with a 110-pf capacitor.


An ultra low pressure switch system for efficiently reducing switch deterioration. The ultra low pressure switch system generally includes a housing comprised of a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion and the second portion define a cavity between thereof, a first port fluidly connected to the housing, a diaphragm member positioned within the cavity, a first terminal positioned within the cavity, a second terminal positioned within the cavity and a spacer member positioned within the cavity and between the first terminal and the second terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to pressure switches and more specifically it relates to an ultra low pressure switch system for efficiently reducing switch deterioration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Pressure switches have been in use for years. Typically, low pressure switches utilize a deflecting beam contact and a stationary contact, wherein a desired pressure will move the deflecting beam contact downward against the stationary contact thus completing a circuit. The prior pressure switches are generally constructed using rivets through a plastic housing of the pressure switch. The rivets generally pass through the housing and connect the stationary contact and deflecting beam contact to the outside of the pressure switch.
Small variations of pressure switch walls typically found in plastic components can make it difficult to control riveting operations through the contacts. This can make it very difficult to control the placement of the stationary contact and deflecting beam contact upon the rivet. The result of the contacts not maintaining a consistent distance from one another may result in a different trip point for every low pressure switch. The switches also often have to be calibrated after they are riveted which can be very costly and time consuming.
Environments in which the pressure switches are utilized in generally are very inconsistent. Expansion and contraction of the chamber walls of the switch from temperature changes and induced stress during riveting operation of the contacts may have a significant effect over the functioning and stability of the switch trip points. Because of the general lack of efficiency and practicality in the prior art there is the need for a new and improved ultra low pressure switch system for efficiently reducing switch deterioration.


A speech recognition method and apparatus are provided for converting a voice stream into a digital voice stream representation. A method for performing speech recognition on a voice stream according to a first method embodiment includes the steps of determining one or more candidate transnemes in the voice stream, mapping the one or more candidate transnemes to a transneme table to convert the one or more candidate transnemes to one or more found transnemes, and mapping the one or more found transnemes to a transneme-to-vocabulary database to convert the one or more found transnemes to one or more speech units.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to speech recognition, and more particularly to real-time speech recognition for recognizing speaker-independent, connected or continuous speech.
2. Description of the Background Art
Speech recognition refers to the ability of a machine or device to receive, analyze and recognize human speech. Speech recognition is also often referred to as voice recognition. Speech recognition may potentially allow humans to interface with machines and devices in an easy, quick, productive and reliable manner. Accurate and reliable speech recognition is therefore highly sought after.
Speech recognition gives humans the capability of verbally generating documents, recording or transcribing speech, and audibly controlling devices. Speech recognition is desirable because speech occurs at a much faster rate than manual operations, such as typing on a keyboard or operating controls. A good typist can type about 80 words per minute, while typical speech can be in the range of about 200 or more words per minute.
In addition, speech recognition can allow remote control of electronic devices. Many applications exist for impaired persons who cannot operate conventional devices, such as persons who are at least partially paralyzed, blind, or medicated. For example, a computer or computer operated appliances could be speech controlled.
Moreover, speech recognition may be used for hands-free operation of conventional devices. For example, one current application is the use of speech recognition for operating a cellular phone, such as in a vehicle. This may be desirable because the driver's attention should stay on the road.
Speech recognition processes and speech recognition devices currently exist. However, there are several difficulties that have prevented speech recognition from becoming practical and widely available. The main obstacle has been the wide variations in speech between persons. Different speakers have different speech characteristics, making speech recognition difficult or at best not satisfactorily reliable. For example, useful speech recognition must be able to identify not only words but also small word variations. Speech recognition must be able to differentiate between homonyms by using context. Speech recognition must be able to recognize silence, such as gaps between words. This may be difficult if the speaker is speaking rapidly and running words together. Speech recognition systems may have difficulty adjusting to changes in the pace of speech, changes in speech volume, and may be frustrated by accents or brogues that affect the speech.
Speech recognition technology has existed for some time in the prior art, and has become fairly reasonable in price. However, it has not yet achieved satisfactory reliability and is not therefore widely used. For example, as previously mentioned, devices and methods currently exist that capture and convert the speech into text, but generally require extensive training and make too many mistakes.
FIG. 1 shows a representative audio signal in a time domain. The audio signal is generated by capture and conversion of an audio stream into an electronic voice stream signal, usually through a microphone or other sound transducer. Generally, audible sound exists in the range of about 20 hertz (cycles) to about 20 kilohertz (kHz). Speech is a smaller subset of frequencies. The electronic voice stream signal may be filtered and amplified and is generally digitized for processing.
FIG. 2 shows the voice stream after it has been converted from the time domain into the frequency domain. Conversion to the frequency domain offers advantages over the time domain. Human speech is generated by the mouth and the throat, and contains many different harmonics (it is generally not composed of a single component frequency). The audible speech signal of FIG. 2, therefore, is composed of many different frequency components at different amplitude levels. In the frequency domain, the speech recognition device may be able to more easily analyze the voice stream and detect meaning based on the frequency components of the voice stream.
FIG. 3 shows how the digitized frequency domain response may be digitally represented and stored. Each digital level may represent a frequency or band of frequencies. For example, if the input voice stream is in the range of 1 kilohertz (kHz) to 10 kHz, and is separated into 128 frequency spectrum bands, each band (and corresponding frequency bin) would contain a digital value or amplitude for about 70 Hz of the speech frequency spectrum. This value may be varied in order to accommodate different portions of the audible sound spectrum. Speech does not typically employ all of the frequencies in the audible frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Therefore, a speech recognition device may analyze only the frequencies from 1 kHz to 10 kHz, for example.
Once the voice stream has been converted to the frequency domain, an iterative statistical look-up may be performed to determine the parts of speech in a vocalization. The parts are called phonemes, the smallest unit of sound in any particular language. Various languages use phonemes that are not utilized in any other language. The English language designates about 34 different phonemes. The iterative statistical look-up employed by the prior art usually uses hidden Markov modeling (HMM) to statistically compare and determine the phonemes. The iterative statistical look-up compares multiple portions of the voice stream to stored phonemes in order to try to find a match. This generally requires multiple comparisons between a digitized sample and a phoneme database and a high computational workload. Therefore, by finding these phonemes, the speech recognition device can create a digital voice stream representation that represents the original vocalizations in a digital, machine-usable form.
The main difficulty encountered in the prior art is that different speakers speak at different rates and therefore the phonemes may be stretched out or compressed. There is no standard length phoneme that a speech recognition device can look for. Therefore, during the comparison process, these time-scale differences must be compensated for.
In the prior art, the time-scale differences are compensated for by using one of two approaches. In the dynamic time warping process, a statistical modeling stretches or compresses the wave form in order to find a best fit match of a digitized voice stream segment to a set of stored spectral patterns or templates. The dynamic time warping process uses a procedure that dynamically alters the time dimension to minimize the accumulated distance score for each template.
In a second prior art approach, the hidden Markov model (HMM) method characterizes speech as a plurality of statistical chains. The HMM method creates a statistical, finite-state Markov chain for each vocabulary word while it trains the data. The HMM method then computes the probability of generating the state sequence for each vocabulary word. The word with the highest accumulated probability is selected as the correct identification. Under The HMM method, time alignment is obtained indirectly through the sequence of states.
The prior art speech recognition approaches have drawbacks. One drawback is that the prior art approach is not sufficiently accurate due to the many variations between speakers. The prior art speech recognition suffers from mistakes and may produce an output that does not quite match.
Another drawback is that the prior art method is computationally intensive. Both the dynamic time warping approach and the HMM statistical approach require many comparisons in order to find a match and many iterations in order to temporally stretch or compress the digitized voice stream sample to fit samples in the phoneme database.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to increase speech recognition accuracy and/or to decrease computational time. One way of somewhat reducing computational requirements and increasing accuracy is to limit the library of phonemes and/or words to a small set and ignore all utterances not in the library. This is acceptable for applications requiring only limited speech recognition capability, such as operating a phone where only a limited number of vocal commands are needed. However, it is not acceptable for general uses that require a large vocabulary (i.e., normal conversational speech).
Another prior art approach is a speaker-dependent speech recognition wherein the speech recognition device is trained to a particular person's voice. Therefore, only the particular speaker is recognized, and that speaker must go through a training or "enrollment" process of reading or inputting a particular speech into the speech recognition device. A higher accuracy is achieved without increased cost or increased computational time. The drawback is that use of speaker-dependent voice recognition is limited to one person, requires lengthy training periods, may require a lot of computation cycles, and is limited to only applications where the speaker's identity is known a priori.
What is needed, therefore, are improvements in speech recognition technology.

Speech recognition for recognizing speaker-independent, continuous speech


A system includes a primary playback system and a secondary playback system. The primary playback system plays back selected content. The secondary playback system plays back supplemental media associated with the content played back on the primary playback system. A media playback function (such as associated with the secondary playback system) monitors playback of the content on the primary playback system. For example, a first processing thread of the media playback function initially synchronizes playback of supplemental media on the secondary playback system with respect to playback of the content on the primary playback system. Based on further monitoring of playing back the content on the secondary playback system, a second processing thread of the media playback function verifies synchronization (and, when needed, initiates re-synchronization) of playback of the supplemental media on the secondary playback system with respect to playback of the content on the primary playback system.

Conventional systems support playback of an audio file associated with a movie viewed in a movie theater. For example, a moviegoer can select an audio file associated with a movie being played in the movie theater. The moviegoer downloads the audio file to a mobile communication device operated by the user.
During playback of the movie, via detected audio associated with the movie played back in the movie theater, a conventional application executed on the mobile communication device initially synchronizes with playback of the movie via determining a portion (or playback location) of the movie currently being played back in the theater. After a single initial synchronization, the conventional application on the mobile communication device then plays back portions of the audio file (or text file as the case may be) pertinent to the current played back portion of the movie.

Media playback synchronization of multiple playback systems


A method for constructing a suspension bridge in places where it is not feasible to construct permanent earth anchorages land at either or both ends of the suspension bridge span is disclosed. The method of constructing the self-anchored suspension bridge comprises the use of preexisting permanent structures solely or in combination with minimum temporary structures to provide temporary anchor points for main suspension cables during construction. Once the suspension bridge span end structures are properly secured by a tensioning cable to the temporary structure or by a temporary connection to a permanent structure and the deck segment of pier table is lifted into place and tied down on an end support, the main suspension bridge cables are erected, suspenders are then erected from the main cable, and further construction of the bridge proceeds. Once the bridge deck segments are all erected and integrated with the end piers, temporary PT bars or cables connecting end supports to either preexisting or temporary structures are gradually released to transfer anchoring force back to the bridge deck. The temporary PT bars, cables and the temporary structures (if used) are then disassembled and removed.

1.Technical Field
The invention relates to bridges. More specifically, the invention relates to construction of a self-anchored suspension bridge.
2.Discussion of the Prior Art
Heretofore, most of the suspension bridges were constructed using earth anchors. In such cases, cables are anchored to earth at both sides of the span over which the bridge is built.
However, it may be desirable to build a suspension bridge based on considerations of esthetic preference or site conditions or both, for example, where the soil condition is not ideal for building earth anchorages economically, such as across the San Francisco-Oakland East Bay, it has been decided to provide a self-anchored suspension bridge for the navigation span of the New San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span.

Method for constructing a self anchored suspension bridge


Disclosed is an apparatus which includes a tracking error detection circuit, for detecting tracking error signal from outputs of a photodetector, a peak/bottom detection circuit for detecting peak and bottom values of the tracking error signal, a difference circuit for finding the difference between a peak value and a bottom value, and a comparator for comparing an output of the difference circuit with a preset reference voltage VR to output a tracking-off signal based on the result of comparison. The comparator outputs the tracking-off signal, indicating the tracking-off of the light beam spot with respect to a track.

In an optical disc device, tracking servo is carried out for correcting the position of a light beam, based on a tracking error signal indicating the position deviation between the light beam and a recording track, arranged spirally or concentrically on the optical disc, as an optical information storage medium, so that the light beam, illuminated from an optical pickup, will follow a target track at all times.
Up to now, a tracking-off is generally detected by a method consisting in detecting that the level of a tracking error signal indicating the position deviation between the light beam and a track has exceeded a preset positive or negative value.
FIG. 5 shows a typical illustrative structure of a tracking-off detection circuit. Referring to FIG. 5, the tracking-off detection circuit includes a tracking error detection circuit 2, a tracking actuator 4, a tracking servo circuit 3, receiving the tracking error signal from the tracking error detection circuit 2 to control the tracking actuator 4, and a comparator 7 for comparing the voltage of the tracking error signal output from the tracking error detection circuit 2 with a reference voltage VR. The tracking error detection circuit 2 detects a tracking error from two outputs 109 and 110 of a photodetector 1 which detects the reflected light of a light beam illuminated on the optical disc, not shown, to output the resultant tracking error signal. An output of the comparator 7 is a tracking-off signal. The tracking servo circuit 3 receives the tracking error signal, output from the tracking error detection circuit 2, to control the tracking actuator 4. The tracking servo circuit 3 receives the tracking error signal, output from the tracking error detection circuit 2, and actuates the tracking actuator 4 such as to decrease position deviation between a light spot and the track to correct the light spot position.
When a light beam is illuminated from the optical pickup, not shown, there is produced a difference between the light intensity of the reflected light on the left side and that on the right side of the track direction. By capturing this difference in light intensities by the photodetector 1 which comprises at least two separate photodetector elements, not shown, which are provided on left and right sides, it is possible to detect a position deviation signal, that is, tracking error signal 101, of the light beam with respect to the track center, from the respective two outputs 109 and 110 of the two photodetector elements of the photodetector 1. That is, the tracking error detection circuit 2 outputs the difference signal of the output signals 109 and 110, corresponding to the light intensities of the left and right photodetector elements, not shown, of the photodetector 1, as the tracking error signal 101. For example, in the case of a four division optical sensor system, TE=Q+R−(P+S) is found from outputs P, Q, R and S of the four photodetector elements of the photodetector 1 to output TE as a tracking error signal 101. It is noted that the four photodetector elements of the photodetector 1 output Q, R, S and P counterclockwise, with Q and R being for the left side and S and P being for the right side. In the case illustrated, the signals 109 and 110 are (Q+R) and (P+S), respectively.
The tracking actuator 104 of FIG. 5 is configured for causing movement of an objective lens, not shown, of the optical pickup, also not shown, along the left and right directions with respect to a track. Specifically, the light spot is moved by causing movement of the objective lens. With the optical pickup, not shown, an outgoing light beam of a semiconductor laser is collimated by a collimator lens, and the so collimated light beam is focused on an optical disc via a polarizing beam splitter, a 45°-mirror, a quarter wave plate and an objective lens, with a reflected light beam being returned to the polarizing beam splitter and entered via 45° mirror to the photodetector 1.
During the normal operation, tracking may be achieved by a tracking servo loop. There are occasions where a tracking-off is caused due to disturbances in the tracking error signal caused in turn e.g. by vibrations or signal dropout on the disc. In a well-known manner, such a tracking-off may give rise to information recording and/or replaying for a mistaken track.
On the other hand, if a tracking-off is left unattended, tracking servo runaway may be produced. If once the tracking servo runaway should occur due to a tracking-off, there are occasion where, due to heating of the tracking actuator 4, it may take prolonged-standby time until the power supply of the optical disc device may again be turned on after the power supply is turned off.
Thus, in case of a tracking-off, it is necessary to stop the recording and/or replaying operation promptly to return to the former track. For managing such control, it is necessary to detect a tracking-off promptly and accurately.
In the configuration in which the signal level of the tracking error signal exceeds a preset value (reference voltage VR), as shown in FIG. 5, there are occasions where the normal operation free of a tracking-off is erroneously determined to be a tracking-off, due to noise superposed on the tracking error signal, such that the normal operation is unnecessarily interrupted.
For suppressing the noises or disturbances, such a method consisting in passing tracking error signal through a low-pass filter may be used. In this method, the tracking error signal 101, output from the tracking error detection circuit 2 of FIG. 5, is input to a low-pass filter, not shown, for smoothing. The resulting signal is compared by the comparator 7 with the reference voltage VR and, if the output voltage of the low-pass filter is larger than the reference voltage VR, it is determined that a tracking-off has occurred. Although high frequency noises or disturbances may be suppressed by the low-pass filter, high-frequency components of the tracking error signal are suppressed simultaneously. The result is that, in case a laser beam traverses a large number of tracks speedily under e.g. a tracking-off, the tracking error signal, varied speedily, are suppressed, with the consequence that a tracking-off cannot be detected correctly.
By the above reason, it is not possible to use a low-pass filter capable of reliably suppressing the noises or disturbances superposed on tracking error signal.
Hence, the configuration suffers from a problem that erroneous detection of a tracking-off by the noise or disturbances cannot be prohibited completely.
There is also known a configuration in which the tracking error signal is rectified by a rectifier circuit 8 and subsequently passed through a low-pass filter 9 so as to be then compared with the reference voltage VR to detect the tracking-off (see, for example the Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1]
JP Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-63-291223 (pages 3 and 4 and FIG. 1)

Optical disc device and tracking controlling method therefor