There is described a tape format and a method for formatting a length of magnetic tape with a number of system zones. Each system zone contains an area for mechanical load/unload operations or threading operations and an area containing volume format information for the entire magnetic media.

In the past, the loading and unloading of magnetic tapes has always occurred at system zones located at the beginning of a tape. The Beginning of Tape BOT! loading zones reflected a desire to avoid loading or unloading the tape over recorded data, thereby avoiding potential loss of data in the event the tape was temporarily stretched or permanently damaged during loading or unloading operations. Also, there was a desire to avoid recording over previous load/unload areas, due to the belief that the area was rendered unreliable for subsequent recording and reproducing at the desired level of system performance. BOT system zones and format arrangements create several problems.
Since there is only a single area at the beginning of the tape for mechanical operations, the tape has to be completely rewound to the beginning to allow loading and unloading of the tape. This requires additional time and effort on the part of the user. Additional problems are introduced with the use of rotating scanner contact recording for computer peripherals. One problem is the wear caused by the scanner during indefinite wait periods, sometimes called "still-framing" where rotating scanner contact recording is used in a video application. Another problem is the potential damage from threading and unthreading of media from the rotating scanner. One prior method forced air between the scanner head and a magnetic medium to reduce contact while the thread medium was not in motion. The mechanisms required to supply the volume of forced air required to achieve lift of the tape add greatly to the manufacturing and maintenance costs of the peripheral recording device. Moreover, this method does not ensure media safety for threading and unthreading operations, since uneven tensions on the tape during these operations can reduce the effectiveness of the forced air in separating the scanner head and the medium. Threading and unthreading away from BOT is thus increase the risk of damage to stored data.
A further problem arising with the system zones presently used is that they lack support for information regarding the use of variable partitioning in tape formatting. Thus, there is no way for the host to determine volume formatting from the system zone itself. Additional systems are required to supply information or instruction of the peripheral recording device in regard to partition size and location. These systems create additional expense and complexity beyond the traditional costs associated with interchange media for computer systems. Since this information also is not present away from BOT loading zone current methods limit the ability to complete the loading of a variable formatted medium away from beginning-of-tape.
Returning to beginning-of-tape requires additional time and effort of the part of the user, as well as wear on the peripheral recording device and the media itself.
Thus, a need has arisen for a method of formatting multiple system zones on a magnetic tape such that the system zones contain volume formatting information and allow for non-BOT mechanical operations of the magnetic tape.

Mechanical operations and volume format identifying system zones for tape media


An eyewear retainer apparatus includes at least one elongate member adapted for being connected to the temples of a pair of eyeglasses and a light assembly connected to the elongate member. The light assembly can comprise a housing and a transparent or translucent cover member that can be removably attached to the housing. The transparent or translucent cover member can include a logo or other indicia engraved or printed on the surface of the cover member. The light assembly can illuminate the logo.

There are known eyewear retainer devices adapted to help prevent eyewear, such as glasses, from falling off the head of the wearer and onto the ground or into a body of water. Such devices are particularly useful for those who wear glasses while engaged in rigorous physical activity and those wearing glasses while engaged in activities in or near bodies of water, such as swimming, surfing, water skiing, fishing, and boating. Such devices typically comprise an elongate cord or cable that attaches at opposite ends to the temples of the glasses. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,845,795 and 8,366,268 disclose eyewear retention devices, and are incorporated herein by reference.


In an extreme ultra violet light source apparatus having a comparatively large output power for exposing, a solid target is supplied fast and continuously while heat dissipation for irradiation of a driver laser light is performed successfully. The extreme ultra violet light source apparatus includes: a chamber in which extreme ultra violet light is generated; a target material supplying unit which coats a wire with target material, a wire supplying unit which supplies the wire coated with the target material to a predetermined position within the chamber, a driver laser which applies a laser beam onto the wire coated with the target material to generate plasma; and a collector mirror which collects the extreme ultra violet light radiated from the plasma and outputting the extreme ultra violet light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source apparatus to be used as a light source of exposure equipment.
2. Description of a Related Art
Recent years, as semiconductor processes become finer, photolithography has been making rapid progress to finer fabrication. In the next generation, microfabrication of 100 nm to 70 nm, further, microfabrication of 50 nm or less will be required. Accordingly, in order to fulfill the requirement for microfabrication of 50 nm or less, for example, exposure equipment is expected to be developed by combining an EUV light source generating EUV light with a wavelength of about 13 nm and reduced projection reflective optics.
As the EUV light source, there are three kinds of light sources, which include an LPP (laser produced plasma) light source using plasma generated by applying a laser beam to a target (hereinafter, also referred to as "LPP type EUV light source apparatus"), a DPP (discharge produced plasma) light source using plasma generated by discharge, and an SR (synchrotron radiation) light source using orbital radiation. Among them, the LPP light source has advantages that extremely high intensity close to black body radiation can be obtained because plasma density can be considerably made larger, that light emission of only the necessary waveband can be performed by selecting the target material, and that an extremely large collection solid angle of 2π steradian can be ensured because it is a point light source having substantially isotropic angle distribution and there is no structure surrounding the light source such as electrodes. Therefore, the LPP light source is considered to be predominant as a light source for EUV lithography requiring power of more than several tens of watts.
Here, there will be explained a principle of the EUV light generation in the LPP type light source apparatus. Target material supplied into a vacuum chamber is irradiated with a laser beam, and the target material is excited into plasma state. From this plasma, light-components with various wavelengths including the EUV light are radiated. Then, a light component with a desired wavelength (e.g., component with a wavelength of 13.5 nm) is selectively reflected and collected by using an EUV collector mirror and outputted to exposure equipment. On the reflecting surface of the EUV collector mirror, for example, a multi-layered film (Mo/Si multi-layered film) is formed by alternately stacking a molybdenum (Mo) thin film and a silicon (Si) thin film.
In such an LPP type EUV light source apparatus, particularly in a case of using a solid target, there is a problem about influence of neutral particles or ions emitted from the plasma. Since the EUV collector mirror is disposed close to the plasma, the neutral particles emitted from the plasma attach to the reflecting surface of the EUV collector mirror to deteriorate reflectivity of the mirror. Meanwhile, the ions emitted from the plasma cut out the multi-layered film formed on the reflecting surface of the EUV collector mirror. Here, flying particles from the plasma including neutral particles and ions and remains of the target material are called as debris.
As a related technology, Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-P2006-244837A discloses a laser plasma radiated light generating apparatus comprising means for supplying material, which is solid at a room temperature, continuously for a long time by using a simple device operated with a simple adjustment. The laser plasma radiated light generating apparatus ejects a solution containing fine particles from a nozzle to generate a liquid jet or a liquid droplet, irradiates the liquid jet or liquid droplet with a pulse laser beam to evaporate the solvent thereof by heat, and consecutively after a delay time of 0.1 μs or more, irradiates the heated liquid jet or liquid droplet with another pulse laser beam to generate-plasma.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-A-11-250842 discloses a laser plasma light source which generates little debris and has a high conversion efficiency using a solid target. The laser plasma light source uses a solid target formed with a hollow at a part thereof irradiated with a laser beam, ablates an inside wall of the hollow by using a pulse laser for ablation, irradiates the hollow with a pulse laser beam for heating, after having waited for generation of a high density portion of evaporated material in the space within the hollow, and then excites the high density portion into high temperature plasma to generate a radiation.

Extreme ultra violet light source apparatus


A smart power system of the present invention is adapted to provide battery power to portable systems in an improved and effective manner. The power system includes a battery pack having one or more battery cells and a memory storage IC. The memory storage IC supplies the microprocessors inside the portable system or charger with stored parameters that provide the system with required battery information. The system may also include various other tools for communicating with the battery pack for diagnostic, evaluation, programming, or tracking purposes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to battery charging systems. More particularly, though not exclusively, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a smart power system.
2. Problems in the Art
In the field of battery charging systems, there are two main types of battery power systems, "smart" batteries and "dumb" batteries. "Dumb" batteries are simply batteries with no processing or memory storage capabilities. In contrast, "smart" batteries include some type of processing or memory storage capability. There are various problems associated with both "dumb" and "smart" battery power systems.
Prior art "dumb" batteries suffer from a number of problems that increase the cost of the device in which the battery is used. Problems with prior art "dumb" batteries include: the lack of acceptable run-time of the device powered by the battery; the lack of acceptable life-span of the battery pack; non-user-friendly batteries (i.e., a need for maintenance of battery packs in order to realize full performance; the need to have a separate charging system for each type of battery; the lack of user feed-back as to the state of the charge, remaining charge life, and other performance criteria; and the need for the user to provide technical assistance when maintaining a battery (i.e., the maintenance functions are not transparent to the user).
In addition to the problems that users face, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have additional concerns with battery performance including: the inability to determine how old a battery actually is for warranty claims; the inability to determine the number of cycles a battery has gone through; the inability to determine a good battery from a bad battery when a battery is returned by a customer; and the lack of understanding of usage patterns and history which would help the manufacturer to design more robust, cost-effective battery packs.
Prior art "smart" batteries also suffer from a number of problems. Typical prior art smart batteries only provide the benefit of the availability of a "gas gauge" to provide an indication of the charge left in a battery. The importance of such a gauge is only important if the battery life of the device being powered lasts longer than the required work time. In the laptop computer market, for example, users typically never have enough run time. In the cellular and 2 way portable radio markets, users have enough run time most of the time, however this almost always comes with a trade-off, typically size or cost. Also, most battery gas gauges are voltage-dependent making them highly inaccurate.
Many prior art smart systems also do not provide any feedback to the user. Such a system may be performing a valuable service to the user, but with no means of feedback to the user (via an LCD, etc.). Additionally, prior art smart battery approaches have driven the need to put microprocessors inside the battery pack. Putting microprocessors inside a battery pack will increase the cost of the product.


Apparatus and methods may include a method for validating a script. The script may be a script for firing a job in an Autosys™ application deployed in a predetermined environment. The validating may use a validation system. The method may include providing a plurality of pre-deployment validation utility actions. The plurality of pre-deployment utility actions may include permitting only insert (INS), update (UPD) and delete (DEL) as actions in the script. The permitting may use an action name review utility. The plurality of pre-deployment utility actions may include permitting only command (CMD) or box parameter types (BMT) in the script. The permitting may use a parameter type review utility. The plurality of pre-deployment utility actions may include specifying only NULL, FDR and LMCTR as project codes. The specifying may use a project code specifier utility.

In a well-known legacy job scheduling program, AutoSys™, there are two legacy methods that a user can use to create job definitions: using the AutoSys™ Graphical User Interface (GUI); and Using the AutoSys™ Job Information Language ("JIL") through a command-line interface.
JIL (Job Information Language) files are created by developers. Job Information Language (JIL) is a scripting language that lets a user define and modify assets such as jobs, global variables, machines, job types, external instances, and blobs.
Legacy JIL files are environment specific, so one file is created for each environment to which a developer wanted to send a script.
In certain cases, JIL files are deployed through a manual deployment application. The manual deployment application is used to run JIL files manually on an AutoSys™ server.
Sequel (SQL) files are created by developers and deployed through the same manual deployment application. SQL files are typically stored in a specific folder on AutoSys™ servers.
Certain issues detracting from user friendliness are associated with legacy AutoSys™ processes. For example, because JIL file scripts are environment specific, developers are required to create separate scripts for each environment. In addition, for the same reason, production JIL scripts are not testable in any intended environment.
Furthermore, there is substantially no control over batch (BAT) files that are used in the jobs. A BAT file is a DOS batch file used to execute commands with the Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe). It contains a series of line commands that typically might be entered at the DOS command prompt. BAT files are most commonly used to start programs and run maintenance utilities within Windows.
Also, because JIL files are fully manually created, these files are not created using any standard formats.
The SQL scripts that jobs need to run are stored as SQL files on the AutoSys™ machine. The SQL scripts require extra effort to deploy and be maintained.
In addition, there is not enough transparency regarding details of the jobs that are to be run (also commonly termed "fired") by AutoSys™.
Querying jobs on AutoSys™ provides limited options and requires AutoSys™ knowledge to implement the query. Gathering additional information about jobs is manual and requires extra effort. Specifically, such information-gathering requires manually retrieving information related to source table, target table, job type (SQL, SQL Server Integration Services ("SSIS"), etc.), change history, etc.
Also, deploying JIL files through manual deployment uses large allotments of release time. AutoSys™ JIL deployments are typically done manually through an AutoSys™ User Interface.
In short, the conventional process of creating, updating, and deleting any AutoSys™ job requires a different script for each environment. In addition, when deploying the same jobs to other environments, the conventional process requires that a developer change the file name and job attributes every time. Any information about this job needs to be found through the job definition on AutoSys™, which requires locating the BAT files and the SQL files. This locating typically requires manual searching for these files through the directories.
It would be desirable to auto-generate and deploy JIL files in a fashion that can work efficiently with multiple environments.
It would be further desirable to provide a configurable interface for customized job deployment in AutoSys™.
It would be yet further desirable to provide a multi-factor validation for the various deployments in which the JIL files are being deployed.

Multi-factor validation for varying environments


A device for cooperating with a vertically movable bed for supporting and positioning patients is provided. The device comprises a frame adapted to be positioned along one side of the bed with one or more cross members extending over the bed. Flexible support means are supported on the cross member for connecting to a patient supporting means for supporting a portion of the anatomy of a patient. In one embodiment, the cross member is cantilevered from a vertical column on the frame, and in other embodiments frames extend along each side of the bed with vertical columns to support cross members on each end. In still another embodiment, at least two cross members are supported by four columns to provide means for supporting the torso of the patient completely.

The present invention is a device for use in cooperation with vertically movable hospital beds to support human patients who are unable to move under their own power.
Patient lifts of various types are known in the art. Disadvantages of prior lifts include patient discomfort in the positioning of the device and the expense of manufacturing the apparatus. Most prior art lifting devices require the patient's body to be lifted and straps or other lifting support material to be placed under the patient's body. In such devices, the strap or supporting material is generally connected to overhead metal bars by chain supports. The devices lift and support the patient from a bed or wheelchair. The device itself has moving parts and most such devices employ hydraulic lifts for raising and lowering the metal bars supporting the straps or supporting material.
These prior art supports are expensive to manufacture, requiring complicated designs for assuring proper coordination and operation of the lifting mechanisms. Moreover, the placement of the straps or supporting materials under the portion of the patient's body to be lifted often requires several nurses or orderlies for first lifting or moving the patient and then for inserting the supporting material underneath. Such movement of the patient often causes pain and discomfort to the patient. Accordingly, means for allowing positioning of a patient without employing the complicated devices described above that is also economical and easy to operate is needed.

Device for supporting and positioning patients


The invention relates to a system and method for predicting the elapsed time required to execute a database utility command. A base of historical data is maintained containing information relating to the elapsed time required for previous database utility commands to execute. The elapsed time for a database utility command provides a consolidated measurement of all factors that affect processing time, including amount and type of data stored as well as changes within the computer system environment. Upper and lower control limits are calculated using statistical process control techniques to predict database utility command execution times. The technique may be used to validate and/or edit database utility command files containing multiple database utility commands, based upon whether the commands contained within are likely to fully execute within a specified batch window.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to database management systems (DBMS). More particularly, it relates to database utilities for predicting the time required to execute database utility commands.
2. Description of the Related Art
Database administration tasks are frequently executed by running database utility commands or jobs. Often, these utilities can be run only when the database is inaccessible to users. The allowable length of this period of inaccessibility, sometimes referred to as the batch window, has declined substantially as business requirements for longer periods of data availability (such as the goal of 24 by 7 operation) have become stronger. Other database administration utilities do not require that data be inaccessible to users when the utility command is executed, but database administrators wish to schedule such utilities so that their execution causes the least possible impact (due to contention for resources such as CPU, memory, disk access, etc.,) to user transactions on the database.
Thus, a database administrator is faced with the problem of executing as many utility commands or jobs as possible given time and resource constraints. For example, assuming a database administrator is limited to a 4 hour period during which he or she can reorganize and make copies of databases. During that time the administrator must decide which databases to copy and which to reorganize so that all of the copy and reorganization tasks will be completed within the 4 hour period. To make this decision, the database administrator will want to know how long each utility command will take, so that he or she can schedule the utility commands with some confidence that they will complete in the required batch window.
One conventional approach for estimating the amount of time that a particular utility command will take to execute is to break down the utility command into its constituent sub-utility commands (such as reading or writing database records), apply rule-of-thumb formulas based upon the average time needed to complete such sub-utility commands, and compute a time estimate based upon the rule-of-thumb formulas tailored with relevant information about the database. Such an approach is aided by products such as IBM® Corporation's DB2® ESTIMATOR, which if provided with the database administrator's input as to the size of the database, number of columns, number of indexes, etc., will estimate the time required to execute a specific utility command.
One problem with this approach is that it is very labor intensive on the part of the database administrator, since he or she must supply the required parameters to the rule-of-thumb formula such as number of rows in the table, number of columns, number of indexes, length of index keys, etc. It also does not account for the natural variability of a computer system in which the elapsed execution time of an utility command can be affected by other work being performed on the same computer system.
A second problem with this approach is that the resultant estimate might not be accurate enough to ensure that the utility commands will complete in the required time. Not all of the sources of variability are captured by the rule-of-thumb formula technique described above. The formulas themselves are approximations of real conditions, and the exact numbers that the administrator must supply, such as size of the database, may not be known precisely enough.
A second approach is to use a simple measure, such as the total size of the object to be operated on, as a relative measure of elapsed execution time. However, such an approach is actually a very simplified version of the first approach described, above, and although less labor intensive to use, it suffers from many of the same problems identified above.
A more precise method and technique for predicting the time required to execute utility commands on a database is needed. That is, there is a need to accurately capture as many sources of variability as possible based upon real conditions affecting the database and the nature of the database itself, thereby increasing accuracy of the prediction, yet avoiding labor intensive input from a system administrator.

System and method for predicting execution time of a database utility command

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for manufacturing annular jewelry rings employing multiple annular elements, at least one of which is composed of tungsten carbide. All annular ring elements composed of tungsten carbide are produced directly from tungsten carbide plate. Using an electrical discharge machining apparatus employing a preformed cylindrical electrode, an aperture of predetermined diameter is drilled through a planar, tungsten carbide plate. Using a wire electric discharge machining apparatus, annular blanks are cut from the planar tungsten carbide plate, the outer surface of the annular blank being cylindrical and concentric with the inner, drilled surface of the annular blank. The inner and outer surfaces of the tungsten carbide annular blanks are cooperatively machined to allow additional annular elements composed of tungsten carbide and other materials to be integrally coupled to one another to form jewelry in the form of rings.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention method is the manufacture of tungsten carbide rings in general and in particular the method of manufacturing multi-element tungsten carbide rings from tungsten carbide plate.
2. Prior Art
For much of recorded history, jewelry has been manufactured from soft materials such as gold, platinum and silver. The most significant characteristic of these materials is that they are soft and are easily molded or machined. The problem that exists with jewelry manufactured from soft materials is that they are easily scratched or otherwise damaged.
In recent years, jewelry in the form of rings have been manufactured from hard material such as tungsten carbide or tantalum carbide which are much harder than the precious metals traditionally used to manufacture jewelry and will thereby prevent unwarranted defacement or damage to the jewelry. The problem with such materials is that, because of their hardness, they are extremely difficult to work with in order to produce attractive jewelry designs. As a result, the only method for utilizing these hardened materials in the manufacture of jewelry was to fabricate parts from powdered metals which have been solidified into a predetermined shape for handling and which possessed the properties necessary for the finished part. The prior art discloses the use of compression molds to form the powdered metals into the predetermined shapes that would be required for the finished part. Compression molding can require pressure in the range of 5-100 tons per square inch. However, although the use of compression molds will create a solid blank of powdered metal in a predetermined form, the compacted blanks must be sintered to recrystalize the material which will provide the enhanced hardness.
The use of compression molds to form the initial ring blank and the use of a sintering process to produce the hardened material are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,061,033; 7,761,996 and 6,641,640. Although the combined use of compression molds to form a solid initial blank and the application of a sintering process to harden the material is well-known, the problems inherent in these processes are also well-known. A substantial disadvantage of powder metallurgical shaping processes is that the moldings are limited to comparatively simple external shapes. Another known powder metallurgical process is powder injection molding. The main problem with powder injection molding is the need to remove the binder material used in the sintering process. A further disadvantage relates specifically to the manufacture of jewelry. The need to create the initial forms of the blank in a compression mold defines the ultimate sizing of the ring. Since a manufacturer is required to produce a full range of ring sizes, use of a compression molding process would require multiple molds for each design thereby increasing the cost of manufacturing the rings.
The present invention method overcomes the disadvantages inherent in the manufacturing methods disclosed by the prior art by producing the tungsten carbide annular blanks needed to produce multi-element jewelry rings directly from finished tungsten carbide plate. The prior art limits the structure of jewelry rings to a single annular band of tungsten carbide which is then faceted to adapt the tungsten carbide band to receive ornamentation in the form of inlays or mountings for gems. The present invention provides a method whereby jewelry rings may be constructed of a plurality of annular elements, one or more of which is composed of tungsten carbide. This greatly expands the spectrum of ornamentation that can be created.
The present invention method negates the need to use the restrictive process of using compression molds to form a solid blank of powered metal in a predetermined form. The present invention method employs electrical discharge machining (EDM) to produce the tungsten carbide elements that will be used to create a jewelry ring. EDM is a controlled metal-removal process that is used to remove metal by means of electric spark erosion. In this process, an electric spark is used as the cutting tool to cut or, in effect, erode a workpiece to produce the finished part to a desired shape. The metal-removal process is performed by applying a pulsating electrical charge of a high-frequency current through an electrode to the workpiece. This process permits the removal of very tiny pieces of metal from the work piece at a controlled rate.
A limitation to the use of electrical discharge machining is that it can operate only with materials that are electrically conductive. However, since tungsten carbide is composed primarily of tungsten, it is an electrically conductive material. During the process, the workpiece and the electrode are submerged in a dielectric fluid which is used as a coolant and to flush away removed material. The present invention employs both ram EDM and wire EDM apparatus. Ram EDM uses a shape tooling electrode to facilitate the machining process which in this case is used to drill or otherwise form the interior surface of the annular blank being made from the tungsten carbide plate. When using a computerized numerically controlled plotter, wire EDM is used to cut the annular blank from the tungsten carbide plate. This will produce an annular tungsten carbide blank having the uniform thickness necessary to produce the tungsten carbide elements employed in the jewelry rings manufactured pursuant to the present invention method. The electrical discharge apparatus uses a fine metallic wire that acts as a cutting electrode to accurately cut the annular blank from the tungsten carbide plate. Once a plurality of annular blanks are cut from the tungsten carbide blank, the inner and outer surfaces of respective blanks may be machined to adapt the annular blanks to be assembled into a multi-element jewelry ring in a manner that substantially improves over the methods disclosed by the prior art to produce jewelry rings composed in whole or in part of tungsten carbide.

Method of manufacturing multi-element tungsten carbide jewelry rings


A distributed cache module that allows for a distributed cache between multiple servers of a network without using a central cache manager. The distributed cache module transmits each message with a logical timestamp. The distributed cache module of a server that receives the message will delay forwarding of the message to, for example, a client computer, if preceding timestamps are not received. This insures a correct order of timestamped messages without requiring a central manager to allocate and control the transmission of the messages within the network. Each distributed cache module will request and possibly retrieve data from the cache of another server in response to a file request for the data. The data of a file may be accessed by a plurality of servers joined in a file context.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter disclosed generally relates to the field of network servers.
2. Background Information
Computer networks typically include a plurality of client computers that are linked to a number of servers through a communication network. The servers may be coupled to one or more mass storage systems, sometimes referred to as a network attached storage (NAS). The network attached storage is capable of storing a large number of files.
To open a file the client computer sends a file request to the server. If the server cannot satisfy the file request it retrieves the file from the NAS. Mass storage systems typically contain a large number of hard disk or optical drives. Accessing data from a drive is relatively slow. To minimize access time the retrieved file is typically stored in a cache memory of the server. A subsequent request to the server for the file can be satisfied by the server cache.
The size of the cache in each server is relatively limited. Consequently, many file requests result in the accessing of the NAS, which is slow and decreases the useful bandwidth of the network. It is therefore desirable to increase the effective cache of the servers in a network.
In an article entitled "Efficient Cooperative Caching using Hints", Prasenjit Sarkar and John Hartman, Department of Computer Science, University of Arizona, Tuscon, the authors discuss a concept referred to as cooperative caching. In a cooperative caching scheme a server that receives a file request that it cannot fulfill seeks to have the request satisfied by the cache of another server. The server caches are effectively combined to create one large cache that can be accessed by each server.
The cooperative cache system includes a manager that controls access to the cache. The manager locates files within the cache of a server(s) and controls the transfer of the located files. The manager also insures cache coherency between each server cache. The cache manager resides on a separate server connected to the network. Having a separate server increases the cost and complexity of implementing a cooperative or distributive cache system. Additionally, the manager server may become inoperative thereby eliminating the cooperation between caches. It would be desirable to have a cooperative cache system that did not require a central manager(s). Such a system must also insure cache coherency and a transmission protocol that assures proper receipt of transferred data.

Distributed cache between servers of a network


A signal transmission apparatus is provided which increases the transmission rate of data received/transmitted between LSIs of the apparatus which are operated by the same reference clock. An internal clock in a first LSI is output on a clock line from a circuit based on the timing by which data is output on a signal line from the LSI. The output, internal clock is received by a circuit in a second LSI and the data on the signal line is taken in a flip-flop by the received clock. By use of a circuit which takes data therein based on arbitrary timing and from which the data can be taken out based on an arbitrary timing, the phase difference between the received, internal clock and an internal clock in the second LSI is eliminated at the output of the flip-flop.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal transmission apparatus with a plurality of LSIs (Large Scale Semiconductor Integrated Circuit) which is capable of transmitting a data signal at high speed between a first LSI and a second LSI of the signal transmission apparatus in case that the first LSI and the second LSI are operated by a common reference clock signal and that the data signal outputted from the first LSI is received and processed by the second LSI.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of electronic appliances and/or devices have been highly advanced and have been large scaled, and many LSIs are used in one apparatus and the high speed operation of such apparatus is requested. In addition, for example, as in a semiconductor device testing apparatus, it is sometimes requested to operate many LSIs used in the testing apparatus by the same reference clock signal and to cause the LSIs to process respective data signals at the same timing. In this case, as shown FIG. 1, a reference clock signal from a clock source 11 is supplied to distribution means 13 in which a plurality of buffers 12 are connected in tree structure and is distributed by the distribution means. These distributed reference clock signals are supplied to LSIs 14, 15, . . . through buffers 12 of the same number of stages, respectively. In FIG. 1, only two LSIs are shown, but usually many LSIs are used. In each of the LSIs 14 and 15, the supplied reference clock signal is sent to distribution means in which a plurality of buffers 16 are connected in tree structure. Then, the reference clock signal is distributed to various parts or portions from the central portion of each of the LSIs 14 and 15 via the buffers 16 of the same number with one another to make the internal clock signals of the same phase. The data signals in the LSIs are processed at the same timing using those internal clock signals, respectively.
For example, in the LSI 14, a data signal 18 is taken in a flip-flop 17 by an internal clock signal and the data signal taken in the flip-flop 17 is outputted to the outside through a buffer 19. The data signal 21 is supplied to the LSI 15 via a signal line 22 and is taken in a flip-flop 24 by the internal clock signal through a buffer 23 in the LSI 15.
The reference clock signal from the clock source 11 must be distributed to many paths. Also, a relatively large phase difference is generated between the reference clock signals inputted to the LSIs 14 and 15 because of the relationship of the arrangement of many LSIs. As a result, it is difficult to transmit data signals at high speed. That is to say, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, assuming that the input data signal 18 (FIG. 2A) of the flip-flop 17 in the LSI 14 is taken in the flip-flop 17 by the internal clock signal CK.sub.1 (FIG. 2B) of the LSI 14 and the output data signal 21 from the LSI 14 becomes as shown in FIG. 2C, and that the internal clock signal CK.sub.2 of the LSI 15 is delayed by time t.sub.1 relative to the internal clock signal CK.sub.1 as shown in FIG. 2D due to the relative delay of the distributed reference clock signal, the data signal taken in the flip-flop 24 becomes as shown in FIG. 2E. If the time required to set up a data signal in the flip-flop 24 to the internal clock signal is t.sub.s and the dispersion of the internal clock signal CK.sub.2 based on the dispersion of LSI pattern to the internal clock CK.sub.1 is t.sub.u, since the data signal cannot correctly be taken in the flip-flop 24 for the input data change during the set-up time t.sub.s, the data signal cannot correctly be taken in the flip-flop 24 when the value t.sub.a which is the value that the delay time t.sub.1, the set-up time t.sub.s and the dispersion time t.sub.u are subtracted from the period T.sub.0 of the reference clock signal is not positive. The set-up time t.sub.s and the dispersion time t.sub.u are the fixed values. If t.sub.1 is large and the period T.sub.0 is small due to the high speed data signals, t.sub.a =(T.sub.0 -t.sub.1 -t.sub.s -t.sub.u) becomes zero or a negative value and thus the data signals cannot be transmitted. Particularly, the phase difference t.sub.1 between the reference clock signals distributed to the LSIs mounted on the different wiring substrates is considerably large and thus, the transmission of the high speed data signals is difficult.
In order to solve this problem, in the prior art, as shown in FIG. 4 where the same reference characters are assigned to the portions corresponding to those of FIG. 1, delay lines 25 and 25' are inserted into the reference clock distribution means 13 for LSIs 14 and 15, respectively, to adjust each delay amount of the delay lines 25 and 25' so that the phases of the clock signals reaching the respective LSIs 14 and 15 are the same.
However, there is a shortcoming that the provision of such delay lines 25 and 25' makes the space of the printed circuit substrate (board) large and the adjustment of the delay of the delay lines 25 and 25' requires long time.
In addition, an LSI operating at a frequency of several hundred MHz has appeared and the reference clock signal whose period is several nano seconds has been requested. In such a high speed transmission, if the LSIs 14 and 15 are mounted on the same printed circuit substrate, the signal line 22 connecting between the LSIs 14 and 15 has a reduced allowance in its wiring pattern length. For example, if the data signal taken in the LSI 14 is outputted from the LSI 14 with the delay time t.sub.2 as shown in FIG. 3B against the reference clock signal CK.sub.S (FIG. 3A) distributed to LSIs 14 and 15, the difference t.sub.b between the clock period T.sub.0 and the sum of the delay time t.sub.2, the set-up time t.sub.s and the dispersion time t.sub.u is the delay time permitted for the signal line 22 between the LSIs 14 and 15. Namely, the delay time of the signal line 22 is required not to be longer than the time t.sub.b. If t.sub.b is 4 nano seconds, the signal line (wiring pattern length) 22 cannot be longer than approximately 10 cm.
In order to improve this problem, a circuit called an interleave system has been used. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the internal clock signal CK.sub.1 of the LSI 14 is frequency divided into one second (1/2) frequency by a frequency divider circuit of a flip-flop 26. As the Q output and the Q output of the flip-flop 26, two series of low speed clock signals CKa.sub.1 and CKb.sub.1 each period of which is mutually shifted by the period of the internal clock signal CK.sub.1 and is two time length of the internal clock CK.sub.1 are obtained. The output data (FIG. 5C) of the flip-flop 17 are taken by the rising edges of these low speed clock signals CKa.sub.1 and CKb.sub.1 in the flip-flops 27 and 28, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 5F and 5G. That is, each of the data D.sub.1, D.sub.3, D.sub.5, . . . is outputted from the flip-flop 27 in double length and each of the data D.sub.2, D.sub.4, D.sub.6, . . . is outputted from the flip-flop 28 in double length. These data of reduced speed from the flip-flops 27 and 28 are outputted from the LSI 14 and supplied to the LSI 15 via the signal lines (wiring patterns) 22a and 22b. In the LSI 15, the internal clock signal CK.sub.2 is frequency divided into one second frequency by a frequency divider circuit of a flip-flop 31 to obtain the same signals as shown in FIGS. 5D and 5E as the Q output and the Q output respectively. The data from the signal lines 22a and 22b are taken in the flip-flops 32 and 33 by the rising edges of the respective low speed clock signals. The output data of the flip-flops 32 and 33 are controlled by the Q output of the flip-flop 31 in a multiplexer 34 and alternately taken out in the period of the internal clock CK.sub.2. Then the data are supplied to flip-flop 24.
In this case, as is apparent from FIG. 5, the delay time in the signal lines 22a and 22b is permitted up to the difference between 2T.sub.0 and the sum of the data signal delay time t.sub.2 in the LSI 14, the set-up time t.sub.s and the dispersion time t.sub.u. That is, approximately time T.sub.0 more allowance could be provided than the case of FIG. 1. In the above case, the data signals are converted into two series of low speed data signals by making the period double and are transmitted. However, in general, high speed data signals are transmitted by converting the data into N (N is an integer equal to or greater than 2, particularly, 2.sup.1, 2.sup.2, 2.sup.3, etc.) series of low speed data signals having N time period and by similarly transmitting them.
However, when an LSI is organized utilizing so called ASIC (Application Specific IC) which comprises arrays of basic units (basic cells) such as gates and is constructed as a special purpose circuit based on a user request, the circuit of FIG. 4 requires four times of the number of flip-flops compared with the circuit of FIG. 1. In the above example, the data transmission in bit basis is shown. However, 16 bit data or 32 bit data are usually transmitted and in this case, the signal transmission systems shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 must be provided in parallel for the number of bits. The interleave system shown in FIG. 4 requires significantly more basic cells in the ASIC. Thus, there is a problem that the number of basic cells for other functions in the ASIC is limited.
Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a signal transmission apparatus with a plurality of LSIs which is capable of a high speed data signal transmission between a plurality of LSIs mounted on a printed wiring substrate or on different printed wiring substrates, which mutually sends and receives data signals and operates with a reference clock signal without requiring a phase adjustment requiring long time and without requiring a large scale hardware, i.e. a large space on the wiring substrate.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a signal transmission apparatus with a plurality of LSIs which is capable of a high speed data signal transmission between a plurality of LSIs mounted on a printed wiring substrate, which operates by a reference clock signal and mutually sends and receives data signals with the reduced number of basic cells and with an increased allowance for the signal line length (wiring length) between the LSIs.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a signal transmission apparatus with a plurality of LSIs which satisfies the first object and the second object at the same time.

Signal transmission apparatus with a plurality of LSIS


A drive unit for transmitting power to wheels of a motor vehicle includes an input driveably connectable to a first power source, a final drive gear set driveably connectable to the wheels, a motor/generator including a stator and a rotor arranged about an axis, the rotor being able to rotate about the axis and to move along the axis relative to the stator, a gear unit arranged about the axis and driveably connected to the gear set for driving the gear set at a speed that is less than a speed of the rotor, and a coupler secured to the rotor for alternately coupling the rotor and the gear unit mutually and transmitting power therebetween and decoupling the rotor and the gear unit mutually.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a powertrain for a motor vehicle, and, more particularly, to a powertrain having multiple power sources including an electric motor for driving a set of vehicle wheels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a powertrain for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), inertial masses and drag losses offset the fuel economy, performance, and dynamic response gains of the hybrid system. These offsets are greater when the hybrid drive components are not substituted for standard powertrain components.
Electric rear axle drive units for front wheel drive vehicles add additional components and thus inertias and drag losses in both electric all wheel drive and shaft-driven mechanical all wheel drive systems. Electric front axle or rear axle drives for rear wheel drive vehicles added on top of the existing longitudinal driveline present the same problems.
The inertial masses include the added motor/generator rotor, gear assemblies, and shaft and hub assemblies. The drag losses include the additional gear and bearing losses of the drive components and electromagnetic drag losses in motor assemblies. The various drag losses can be reduced by design detail, but cannot be eliminated.
These inertias and drag torques are further multiplied by the gear ratios often present between the motor/generator and their mechanical outputs to the drivetrain.
It would be desirable to reduce the effects of inertial masses and drag torques, especially when the electric drive is not in operation. A need exists for a technique to connect and disconnect an electric motor for a front axle drive or rear axle drive motor from the driveline or the respective axle so that inertia and drag losses can be reduced. Controlled hydraulically-actuated friction clutches for this purpose increase the complexity of a hydraulic system and fluidic drag losses.


An optical transmission system accomplishes optical transmission to a long distance by combining a multiplexing line terminal with optical amplifiers, linear repeaters, and regenerators with optical amplifiers combined together. The system also accomplishes the optical transmission to a short distance by directly connecting the linear terminals therebetween, with an electric-to-optic converter replaced by an electric-to-optic converter having a semiconductor amplifier, with an optic-to-electric converter by an optic-to-electric converter having an avalanche photodiode as light receiver, an with no use of any optical booster amplifier and optical preamplifier in the multiplexing line terminal. With these, the optical transmission system can be easily constructed depending on the transmission distance required.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmission method and system for carrying data transmission with the use of optical fiber. More particularly, it concerns an optical transmission method and system preferable in high-speed data transmission over a long distance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior Art related to the optical transmission system includes, for example, the technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 3-296334.
However, it is demanded to accomplish an optical transmission system operating at further higher speed since development of the modern information society has increased long-distance communication traffic in recent years. Also, it is desired that the optical transmission system can transmit data even longer distances without repeaters to increase reliability and decrease cost of the system. Furthermore, the number of fields to which an optical transmission system is applied has been increased with the recent development of the information society. For this reason, it is needed to achieve an optical transmission system having a variety of functions and the capacity to satisfy various specific requirements.


A tailcone assembly for an undersea vehicle includes a first tailcone portion having a cavity and a second tailcone portion positionable in and axially extensible from the cavity. An extensible drive shaft is provided for joining the vehicle's engine to a propeller. The extensible drive shaft includes a first drive shaft joined to the engine, and a second drive shaft rotating with the first drive shaft. The second drive shaft is supported by the second tailcone portion and is axially extensible from the first drive shaft upon deployment of the second portion. The propeller is positioned on the second drive shaft outside the second portion. A biasing means is provided between the tailcone portions for deploying the second portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to submarine underwater countermeasure assemblies and is directed more particularly to an improved countermeasure vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In FIG. 1, there is shown a typical submarine countermeasure apparatus 20. The apparatus 20 includes a launch tube 22 which, in operation, is disposed outboard of the submarine pressure hull (not shown). A countermeasure vehicle 24 is housed in the launch tube 22 and includes an array assembly 26 and a tailcone assembly 28. The array assembly 26 is protected by a surrounding sabot 30. Disposed in the launch tube 22 is a ram plate 32 and a gas generator 34. The launch tube is closed by a forward tube cover 36 and an after tube cover 38.
In operation, the gas generator 34 is activated by an electrical pulse from the submarine fire control system and generates sufficient gas pressure to move the ram plate 32 forwardly. The ram plate 32 pushes the countermeasure vehicle 24 forwardly, breaking away the forward tube cover 36 and launching the countermeasure vehicle 24 from the launch tube 22. In short order, the sabot 30 disengages from around the array assembly 26 and the array assembly is deployed.
The tail cone assembly 28 includes a propulsion propeller assembly 40, and the countermeasure vehicle 24 houses a motor 42 (FIG. 2) which drives the propeller assembly to position the countermeasure vehicle 24 in a vertical column of water with the propeller oriented towards the surface.
It has been found that upon launch of the vehicle 24, a combination of a high velocity launch, high maneuvering speed of the submarine, and strong cross flows on the vehicle 24 hull from launching perpendicular to the submarine hull, can subject propeller blades 44 to pressures and bending movements sufficient to damage the propellers and the vehicle tail section. While providing some protection, the currently used tailcone assembly 28 is not sufficient to protect the propeller from damage under severe launching conditions. Damaged propellers can affect the ability of the countermeasure to hover at a selected depth in the water column, and thereby cause mission failure which places the submarine in a state of increased danger.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved tailcone assembly which can withstand and survive the aforesaid launch conditions and which provides improved propeller protection against severe bending moments.

Unmanned underwater vehicle tailcone assembly

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


There is provided a method for storing (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters in a storage tank for receiving or discharging the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters, which is capable of storing the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters for a long period of time. According to the method of the present invention, upon storing the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters in the storage tank for receiving or discharging the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters, a concentration of suspended particulate matters contained in a gas phase portion of the storage tank is controlled to not more than 0.01 mg/m3.

The (meth)acrylic acid and (meth)acrylic esters are easily-polymerizable compounds. When the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters are stored in a storage tank for receiving or discharging the (meth)acrylic acid and (meth)acrylic esters for a long period of time, undesirable polymerization thereof tends to be frequently caused in the storage tank, resulting in problems such as production of insoluble polymers.
For the purpose of preventing production of the insoluble polymers in the storage tank, a polymerization inhibitor is added to the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters stored therein. However, the polymerization inhibitor added is present only in a liquid phase in the storage tank, but is absent in a gas phase therein. In order to prevent production of polymers in such a gas phase, there are conventionally known the methods of blowing or sucking, as a polymerization-inhibiting gas, an oxygen-containing gas, for example, a mixed gas of an inert gas such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide gas and argon with air, or air solely into the gas phase portion of a storage facility (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-231661).
However, in fact, the above conventional methods have failed to completely prevent occurrence of troubles based on polymers of the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters. According to the present inventors' knowledge, one reason therefor is that air flowing into the storage tank upon discharging the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters therefrom contains suspended particulate matters (SPM). The suspended particulate matters induce polymerization of the (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters, resulting in production of insoluble polymers thereof.

Method for storing (meth)acrylic acid or (meth)acrylic esters


The present invention provides a maleimide-based copolymer, a method for producing same, and a resin composition obtained using same.

An acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer resin (ABS resin) is widely used in automobiles, home appliances, OA equipment, home building materials, daily necessities and the like by utilizing its excellent mechanical strength, appearance, chemical resistance, moldability and the like. For applications requiring heat resistance, such as interior materials for automobiles, an ABS resin containing maleimide-based copolymers is also used as a heat resistance imparting material (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
The ABS resin containing the maleimide-based copolymers has a disadvantage in that it has poor chemical resistance. In order to solve the disadvantage, a copolymer obtained by copolymerizing vinyl cyanide monomers with the maleimide-based copolymers has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4). The maleimide-based copolymer obtained by copolymerizing with the vinyl cyanide monomers has a disadvantage in that it tends to have yellow hue, poor natural color appearance and poor colorability.

Maleimide-based copolymer, method for producing same, and resin composition obtained using same

Abstract: This maleimide-based copolymer contains 40-60 mass % of aromatic vinyl monomer units, 5-20 mass % of vinyl cyanide monomer units, and 35-50 mass % of maleimide monomer units, and is such that a 4 mass % tetrahydrofuran solution of the copolymer has a transmittance of 90% or more for light having a wavelength of 450 nm at an optical path length of 10 mm, and the residual maleimide-based monomer amount is less than 300 ppm. This maleimide-based copolymer preferably further contains 0-10 mass % of unsaturated dicarboxylic acid anhydride monomer units, and preferably has a glass transition temperature of 165° C. or higher.


An inverter-type basic cell, with a hexagonal contour, comprises one CMOS device pair arrangement including an n-channel transistor and a p-channel transistor. The inverter-type basic cell has a gate region annularly formed and connected in parallel with the n-channel and p-channel transistors, a sectoral drain diffusion region having a vertex at the center of the annularly-formed gate region, and a source diffusion region that is formed outside of the gate region in such a way as to define a shape having two opposing sides that lie on the prolongation of the two radii of the sectoral drain diffusion region.

This invention generally relates to semiconductor integrated circuit (SIC) devices that make use of logic elements formed of CMOS devices. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a SIC device with a desirable form achieved by controlling, even when light refractlon/interference in lithography processing or "grounding" in etching processing occurs due to the advance of miniaturization in the LSI fabrication, the effect of such occurrence.
Several ways of implementing a CMOS logic section for semiconductor integrated circuits, such as gate array architecture, standard cell architecture, and custom layout architecture, have been known in the art (see "The Design of ULSIs," published by Kikaku Center and "The Design of CMOS ULSIs," published by Baifu-Kan). A conventional CMOS logic section is provided with a desirable logic circuit as follows. According to a logic circuit to be implemented, n-channel and p-channel transistors, which each have a rectangular source diffusion region, gate region, and drain diffusion region, are laid out and interconnections are provided by forming polysilicon layers and interconnection layers (metal layers), to implement a target logic circuit,
SIC devices are completed by the following steps: (i) the design step for producing a mask pattern by carrying out, based on the specifications of a target SIC device, functional design, logic design, and mask design, (ii) the mask production step for producing a photomask from the mask pattern prepared in the design step, (iii) the LSI fabrication step for forming, by making utilization of the photo mask prepared in the mask production step, circuitry on a silicon substrate by means of oxidation, diffusion, lithography, etching, CVD, sputtering, and so on, (iv) the assembly step for carrying out packaging, and (v) the inspection step for testing whether SIC devices completed are functioning correctly.
For the case of SIC devices employing therein a conventional CMOS logic section, mask patterns, prepared in the design step for transistors formed of a rectangular source diffusion region, gate region, and drain diffusion region, are classified to mask layers required in the LSI fabrication step and thereafter are converted into patterns of rectangles on a photomask. The photomask thus created is used to fabricate a target SIC device.
With the advance of miniaturization, in the LSI fabrication of SIC device circuits of the deep sub-micron generation in which the gate length is 0.25 .mu.m or less, due to light interference or proximity effect in the lithography process and due to the mask form dependency in the etching process, there may be produced a considerable difference in form between a mask pattern prepared in the design step and a form produced on a post-LSI fabrication SIC device. The resulting SIC device is therefore problematic, in other words it may suffer electrical characteristic problems and will not operate correctly.
To cope with such a problem, in the development of LSI fabrication after the deep sub-micron generation, a plurality of mask patterns of various forms different from the form of a target SIC device, are prepared. Such mask patterns are experimentally produced in an LSI fabrication step or subjected to photolithography simulation carried out by computer, in order to obtain a mask pattern form capable of implementing a SIC device with a form most similar to the target form. In the mask production step, based on characteristics obtained from the mask pattern form, special mask correcting processes, such as the adjustment of linewidth and the addition of smaller rectangles to vertices of each rectangle, are performed on a mask pattern portion at which the foregoing effects such as the interference of light are expected to take place. For the proximity effect, a phase shift technique has been proposed wherein the polarizing directions of adjacent mask patterns are arranged in such a way as to cross at right angles. Photolithography technologies for use in post-deep sub-micron generation LSI fabrication are shown by T. Takigawa and others, "ULSI Lithography Technology Innovaton," published by Science Forum.
However, SIC devices according to conventional technology suffer various problems. Since conventional SIC devices are fabricated by combinations of rectangular figures of various sizes and by means of mask patterns, the effect of lithography and etching processing due to miniaturization is very complicated. For this reason, it is hard in the LSI fabrication to experimentally produce a mask pattern capable of producing a desirable semiconductor integrated circuit device form. The foregoing simulation may be completed in a realistic period of time when only several transistors are involved; however, it is very difficult to estimate and find all possible patterns for a SIC device fabricated by integration of several millions of transistors in various forms.
In the phase shift technology, it is required to perform allocation of phases orthogonal to mask patterns adjacent to each other. Since conventional SIC devices are designed using rectangular figures of various forms, this is a bar to suitably allocating phases.

Semiconductor integrated logic circuit device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A device is configured to receive information that identifies entity representations, receive first entity information associated with a first entity representation, and receive second entity information associated with a second entity representation. The device is configured to generate a first tag associated with the first entity representation, and generate a second tag associated with the second entity representation. The device is configured to receive user input information including information regarding user selections of entity representations, determine a relationship between the first tag and the second tag, and store an association between the first and second entity representations. The device is configured to detect an interaction associated with the first entity representation, and to provide the second entity representation based on the interaction and based on the association between the first and the second entity representations.

A user of a display device (e.g., a computer, a smartphone, etc.) may view information about various entities (e.g., products, services, devices, etc.) on a user interface associated with the display device. The user may select one or more entity representations (e.g., visual representations of the entities), and the display device may display one or more related entity representations (e.g., related products, related services, related devices, etc.).


A telephone including a telephone number memory for storing telephone numbers; a present regional number unit for storing a present regional number of the telephone itself; a telephone number selection unit for selecting, from the telephone numbers stored in the telephone number memory, a telephone number indicated by a user; a regional number removal unit for removing a regional number portion from the telephone number selected by the telephone number selection unit when the regional number portion matches the present regional number stored in the present regional number memory; and a caller unit for performing calling processes using the telephone number after the telephone number is processed by the regional number removal unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone capable of receiving a caller's telephone number in a caller-ID signal or by some other method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application (KOKAI) No. SHO-57-23354 describes a telephone capable of storing data representing telephone numbers or names of parties frequently called by the user of the telephone. When the user indicates a desire to place a telephone call to one of these parties, the corresponding telephone number and the like are displayed on a display such as an LCD of the telephone. The user selects the party he or she wishes to call and the telephone automatically calls the selected telephone number.
As a prevention of prank calls, telephone switchboards in the United States provide a service to subscribers wherein callers' telephone numbers are displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD) of the subscriber's telephone before the recipient of the incoming call picks up the handset. In order to provide this service, a switchboard transmits an FSKed (i.e., subjected to frequency shift keying) signal with a caller-ID number along with the ringing signal. The caller-ID number includes the telephone number of the caller's remote telephone. When the recipient receives the caller-ID number, the caller's telephone number is displayed on the LCD.
Those caller-ID numbers that a user receives while not at home can be stored in list form. In this case, upon returning home, the user can conveniently call one of the telephone numbers by selecting a desired one from the list in the manner described in Japanese Patent Application (KOKAI) No. SHO-57-23354. When telephone numbers are automatically stored in this manner, a user need not dial the telephone number of the desired party, but need merely select the desired party from the list, whereupon the telephone will automatically dial the desired telephone number.

Telephone with function for adding and removing regional numbers from telephone numbers to be dialed


A system for ion beam neutralization includes a beamguide configured to transport an ion beam through a dipole field, a first array of magnets and a second array of magnets configured to generate a multi-cusp magnetic field, the first array of magnets being on a first side of the ion beam path and the second array of magnets being on a second side of the ion beam path. The system may further include a charged particle source having one or more apertures configured to inject charged particles into the ion beam. The system may furthermore align the one or more apertures with at least one of the first array of magnets and the second array of magnets to align the injected charged particles from the charged particle source with one or more magnetic regions for an effective charged particle diffusion into the ion beam.

Ion implanters are widely used in semiconductor manufacturing to selectively alter the conductivity of materials. In a typical ion implanter, ions generated from an ion source may be transported via an ion beam through a series of beamline components, which may include one or more analyzer and/or collimator magnets and a plurality of electrodes. The analyzer magnets may be used to filter out contaminant species or ions in the ion beam having undesirable energies. The collimator magnets may be used to manipulate the shape of the ion beam or otherwise adjust the quality of the ion beam before it reaches a target wafer. Suitably shaped electrodes may be used to modify the energy and the shape of the ion beam. After the ion beam has been transported through the series of beamline components, it may be directed to an end station to perform ion implantation.
FIG. 1 shows a known ion implanter 100 which comprises an ion source 102, extraction electrodes 104, an analyzer magnet 106, a first deceleration (D1) stage 108, a collimating magnet 110, and a second deceleration (D2) stage 112. The D1 and D2 deceleration stages (also known as "deceleration lenses") are each comprised of multiple electrodes with a defined aperture to allow an ion beam to pass therethrough. By applying different combinations of voltage potentials to the multiple electrodes, the D1 and D2 deceleration lenses can manipulate ion energies and cause the ion beam to hit a target wafer 114 at a desired energy.
As the semiconductor industry keeps reducing feature sizes of micro-electronic devices, ion beams with lower energies are desirable in order to achieve shallow dopant profiles for forming shallow p-n junctions. Meanwhile, it is also desirable to maintain a relatively high beam current in order to achieve a reasonable production throughput. Such low-energy, high-current ion beams may be difficult to transport within typical ion implanters due to space charge blow-up. To prevent "blow-up" of an ion beam, oppositely charged particles, for example electrons or negative ions for positive ion beam, may be introduced for space charge neutralization. One way of sustaining space charge neutralization is through magnetic confinement of negatively charged particles, e.g., electrons. However, existing magnetic confinement approaches tend to introduce extra magnetic field components that can cause ion beam distortion unless carefully designed. In addition, the existing confinement schemes such as multi-cusp magnetic confinement, electrostatic confinement, and other confinement schemes, are not capable to diffuse the charged particles, especially electrons, along the beam direction, which is critical for effective beam neutralization. Moreover, in order to improve low-energy beam transportation, a high-energy ion beam may be decelerated to a desired energy level before reaching a target (e.g., a wafer). In such cases, some ions may go through "charge exchange" with surrounding neutral particles, thus losing their charge state prior to deceleration and generating neutral particles having high energy. Neutral particles having high energy fail to be decelerated and may impact the target at a higher energy level than desired, thus negatively impacting implantation results.
Low-energy ion beams may also be difficult to transport through the beamline to the target due to mutual repulsion between ions having the same charge. High-current ion beams typically include a high concentration of charged ions that tend to diverge due to mutual repulsion. To maintain low-energy, high-current ion beam quality, charged particles such as electrons or a plasma may be injected into the ion beam for the purpose of charge neutralization.
High-energy ion beams typically propagate through a weak plasma that is a byproduct of beam interactions with residual or background gas. This plasma tends to neutralize space charge caused by the ion beam, thereby largely eliminating transverse electric fields that would otherwise disperse the ion beam. However, for a low-energy ion beam, the probability of ionizing collisions with background gas is lower compared to a high-energy ion beam. In addition, low-energy ion beam blow-up may occur at much lower transverse electric field strength. The existing confinement schemes such as multi-cups magnetic confinement, electrostatic confinement, and other confinement schemes are not capable to diffuse the charged particles, especially electrons, along the beam direction due to the presence of dipole field. Therefore, the existing confinement schemes provide limited capability for an effective beam neutralization.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there are significant problems and shortcomings associated with current techniques for transporting low-energy ion beams.

Techniques for commensurate cusp-field for effective ion beam neutralization

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.


An apparatus and method for down-stream plasma processing (both etching and plasma enhanced deposition) are disclosed wherein only a portion of the surface area of a substrate is exposed to the low pressure, reactive gaseous processing environment. The remainder of the substrate remains outside a small enclosed processing area, thus leaving these areas unexposed to the processing agents and providing physical access for monitoring equipment or the like, for example when in-situ monitoring during processing is desired. Etch rates of up to 6 .mu.m/h have been obtained.

Plasma processing (both etching and depositing) is widely used in the semiconductor industry, and plasma based etching and deposition equipment is widely utilized. Many integrated circuits undergo at least one plasma etch or plasma deposition step during fabrication, and semiconductor based devices, such as pressure sensors, optical detectors for channel optical waveguides and the like, usually undergo a plasma based processing step in their manufacture.
Plasma deposition is often referred to as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (or PECVD). Plasma etching in general encompasses several different processes including conventional plasma etching, reactive ion etching (or RIE), reactive ion beam etching (or RIBE), and down-stream etching, a recently developed process wherein ions are generated in one region of a chamber and utilized for etching in a different region of the chamber. Heretofore known and utilized equipment, however, requires that the entire unit to be processed, for example a wafer, be subjected to processing.
For example, known methods of plasma etching or deposition require that a whole wafer be placed in a small vacuum chamber. The air is pumped out and appropriate gases are admitted into the chamber with very precisely controlled flow rates. A typical plasma processing system includes a pair or parallel electrode plates arranged inside the chamber. The wafer or wafers (often 2 to 6 inch silicon substrates) are placed on one of these plates. The plate is either heated or cooled and a DC or RF generator is utilized to generate a field between the parallel plates. The field ionizes the gases and they either form volatile compounds when impinging on the substrate and thus etch, or they are utilized for deposition of a material on the heated substrate.
While in-situ monitoring of semiconductor device properties during plasma processing would be very desirable in many cases, such is extremely difficult within the confines of a chamber where monitoring equipment is exposed to a volatile chemical and physical environment. In addition, while various devices for performing isolated processing of substrates have been heretofore suggested and/or utilized (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,359,360 and 3,969,813), such heretofore known devices have not provided for plasma processing equipment, have not always proven effective for processing operations requiring controllable etch rates and etch depths of only a small area of an unmasked substrate, and have not provided for access to the substrate for monitoring of device performance parameters during processing and/or etch or deposition control.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce


An optical recording medium comprises a light transmissive substrate, a light absorption layer provided on the light transmissive substrate and a light reflecting layer provided on the light absorption layer. The light absorption layer contains a cyanine type dye represented by a following structural formula: ##STR1## and a quencher represented by a following general formula: ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 denote hydrogen or substituent group, respectively. A protective layer may be further provided on the light reflecting layer for protecting the same.

The present invention relates to an optical recording medium, and more particularly to a writable optical recording medium having a light transmissive substrate on which a light absorption layer for absorbing a laser beam and a light reflecting layer for reflecting the laser beam are formed.
In the prior art, an organic coloring matter such as cyanine type dye or phthalocyanine type dye is generally well known as a recording film of a writable optical recording medium.
A writing method for such an optical recording medium is generally carried out by converging laser beams to a micro-area of the recording film and then converting the light energy to the heat energy, thereby to denature, i.e. form a pit, the recording film. In order to smoothly perform the denaturing operation of the recording film, two sheets, each composed of a substrate and a recording film which is disposed on the substrate, are generally prepared so that the respective recording films are opposed to each other as a structure of the recording medium, a so-called air-sandwich structure.
The laser beam utilized in a writing method for the optical recording mediums of the structure described above is irradiated through the transmissive substrate side, thereby forming a light readably pit in the recording film. The laser beam for the reading for reproducing data stored in the recording film has an output power less than that of the laser beam for the writing. By using the laser beam for the reading, the contrast between a portion in which the pit is formed and a portion in which the pit is not formed is read out as an electric signal.
In the prior art, there is also known a recoding medium of a so-called ROM (Read Only Memory)-type in which data is preliminarily recorded, being different from the above described type recording medium. Such ROM-type recording medium has been widely utilized in practical use in an audio record and information processing technology and is not provided with a writable recording film. Namely, prepits and pregrooves corresponding to the data to be reproduced are preliminarily formed on a plastic substrate by a press forming method and a reflecting layer made of metal such as gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminium (Al) and the like is formed on the plastic substrate. A protective layer is further formed on the reflecting layer. A typical example of such ROM-type recording medium is a compact disk so-called CD. The specification of recording and reading signals of the CD is standardized, and a reproducing device of the CD has been widely utilized in accordance with this standard as a compact disk player, i.e. a CD player.
The writable optical recording medium is similar to the CD in their shapes and in the utilization of the laser beam. Accordingly, it is a strong desire to develop the writable recording medium which is directly utilized for the CD player without making any change or modification.
However, the optical recording medium utilizing the organic coloring matter has no sufficient durability against the optical degradation and, moreover, has no sufficient durability under a severe environmental condition such as high temperature or high humidity condition, thus requiring an improvement in these points.


The present invention is a method for restricting calls to a cell phone, including the steps of: receiving restriction information; testing an incoming call to the cell phone against the restriction information; and, if testing determines that the incoming call is restricted, routing the incoming call to a voice mail system, wherein routing is accomplished without disturbing a call recipient with the incoming call; or, if testing determines that the incoming call is not restricted, connecting the incoming call.

Today, cell phones are used by a number of people, even teenagers. For example, high school students often carry cell phones provided by their parents so that they may make or receive emergency phone calls. However, problems often arise when a student receives non-emergency phone calls from friends at inopportune times, for example, while the student is attending a class. Such phone calls can be disruptive to the student and to the student's classmates.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method for restricting calls to a cell phone, such that a cell phone user will not be disturbed when non-emergency phone calls are placed to his or her cell phone at inopportune times, but will be alerted when emergency phone calls are placed to the cell phone.

Method for restricting calls to a cell phone


A test probe alignment apparatus includes a rotatable θ stage that is decoupled from a workpiece positioning stage so that the workpiece positioning stage can move a workpiece in an X-Y plane without moving the θ stage, thereby inhibiting vibration in and inertia of the workpiece positioning stage, and improving the speed and accuracy of workpiece movements. The θ stage is driven for rotation about an axis substantially perpendicular to the X-Y plane. The rotatable stage supports a carriage adapted for holding a probe card. The carriage rotates in concert with the θ stage to thereby align the probe card relative to the workpiece. A Z-stage is operatively engaged with the carriage for moving the carriage along the axis of rotation relative to the workpiece. A computer processor performs coordinate transformations on preprogrammed movement vectors, to adjust for angular misalignment of the workpiece as measured by a position sensor.

The manufacture of electronic circuits such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits typically involves inspection and testing of each circuit in an array of circuit patterns formed on a substrate. Calibration of circuits may include probing and measurement of electrical characteristics of circuit components during a laser trimming operation that adjusts the electrical characteristics of the circuit. For correct test results, the tips of test probes of a probe card must be accurately aligned with contact locations or electrode pads of the circuit. Probe alignment systems use mechanical positioning equipment that adjusts the position of the substrate, the probe card, or both, to maintain accurate alignment across the array of circuit patterns.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior-art test probing system 10, in which a substrate 12 is supported on a chuck 16 of a motorized workpiece positioning stage 20. Positioning stage 20 includes a linear positioning component, X-Y stage 22, supported on a platen 24, for movement in a horizontal plane in orthogonal directions X and Y. Positioning stage also includes a rotational positioning component, theta (θ) stage 26, supported on the X-Y stage 22 for rotation of the chuck 16 about a vertical Z axis. For reference, a Cartesian coordinate system frame of reference 30, indicates the directions X, Z, and θ (the Y direction is perpendicular to the view and is not shown in FIG. 1). A probe card carriage 34 holds a probe card 38 above the positioning stage 20 while a machine vision system 42, including a camera 44, controls the rotational (θ) and translational (X-Y) alignment of the substrate 12 to align it with probes 48 of the probe card 38. The probe card carriage 34 is supported below a motorized Z stage 50 that is actuated, after alignment of the probe card 38, to move the probe card 38 downwardly along the Z axis to press the probes 48 against the substrate 12 for testing of a circuit formed on the substrate 12. A Z-drive mechanism 56, which is supported on a stationary probe base 60, provides driving force for Z stage 50.
Because multiple copies of a circuit are typically formed on a single substrate in a regular array pattern, many known systems are controlled with an automated step-and-repeat positioning program that repetitively indexes the substrate in the X-Y plane between successive probing operations. In each probing operation, tips of the test probes are pressed against electrode pads of the circuit before performing electrical testing and/or trimming of the circuit. After testing and/or trimming, the test probes are then lifted away from the substrate before moving (stepping) the substrate to align the probes with the next circuit or the next test position on the same circuit.
Conventional alignment equipment allows the substrate to be accurately aligned with the X and Y axes by interposing a θ stage between the X-Y stage and the substrate, as shown in FIG. 1. This configuration of the θ and X-Y stages simplifies subsequent indexing of the substrate, requiring only a simple X or Y translation motion for each step, as described in the Background of the Invention section of U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,191 of Spano et al. In two other equipment designs, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,474 of Sato et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,867 of Yamatsu, a second rotational positioning stage is provided for aligning the probe card with the X and Y axes of the X-Y stage, thereby enabling probe/substrate alignment to be more accurately maintained across the entire array of circuit patterns of the substrate. However, because these prior art mechanisms all include a θ stage tied to the X-Y stage, every adjustment of the θ stage requires a subsequent alignment compensation of the X-Y stage, as explained by Spano et al. at column 4, lines 16-24 of the '191 patent.
Furthermore, in systems having a θ stage supported on the X-Y stage, the mass of the θ stage adds to the inertia of the entire workpiece positioning stage. The added inertia slows movement in the X and Y directions and raises the center of mass of the workpiece positioning stage, thereby affecting positioning speed and accuracy.
The θ stage can also be a source of positioning error due to vibration and backlash that are induced in the θ stage mechanism each time the X-Y stage is actuated. Overall, the coupling of the θ stage with the workpiece positioning stage in conventional test probe alignment systems tends to reduce system throughput. Attempts to increase X-Y stage speed by minimizing the mass of the θ stage and reducing the height and/or mass of the chuck tend to increase backlash, decrease stiffness, sacrifice vibration resistance, and increase settling time of the workpiece positioning stage. Attempts to increase the resolution and accuracy of the θ stage also tend to increase the mass and height of the workpiece positioning stage. Consequently, designers of prior art systems have been forced to compromise system throughput to improve positioning accuracy, and vice versa.
The present inventor has recognized a need for an improved test probe alignment apparatus that will facilitate increased test throughput and improved probe alignment accuracy.


In a transmitting system for a small-sized vehicle, a centrifugal clutch, and a torque converter including a pump impeller connected to an output drum of the centrifugal clutch and a turbine impeller connected to an output gear, are placed between a crankshaft of an engine and the output gear. The pump impeller and the output drum adjacent to the pump impeller are integrally coupled, with an open surface of the output drum facing to an opposite side to the pump impeller, to be constructed as a single component. Thus, occurrence of rotation vibrations and unusual noises can be prevented without requiring machining with high precision, and the numbers of components and assembling steps can be reduced while providing favorable maintainability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitting system for a small-sized vehicle such as a two-wheeled motor vehicle and a buggy, and particularly to an improvement in a transmitting system for a small-sized vehicle, in which a centrifugal clutch and a torque converter are interposed in series between a crankshaft of an engine and an output gear relatively rotatably carried on the crank shaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a transmitting system for a small-sized vehicle is already known as disclosed in, for example, FIG. 17 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-213627.
This transmitting system for a small-sized vehicle prevents drag of a small-sized vehicle caused by creep of a torque converter due to the disengaged state of a centrifugal clutch during idling of an engine, and at the time of start and acceleration, the transmitting system can perform smooth power transmission and torque amplification by cooperation between the centrifugal clutch and the torque converter.
In such a conventional transmitting system for a small-sized vehicle, a drum of the centrifugal clutch is spline-coupled to a diving plate connected to a crankshaft, its open surface is made adjacent to a pump impeller of the torque converter, and a clutch output member disposed inside this drum is splin-fitted to a hub of the pump impeller.
In such a conventional transmitting system, the drum at the outermost side has to be removed in the process of the maintenance of the centrifugal clutch, and therefore it cannot be said that favorable operability is provided. In addition, since the pump impeller and the clutch output member are independent components which are spline-coupled to each other, it is necessary to work the spline coupling portions of both of them with high precision to prevent rotation vibrations and unusual noises by eliminating play between them while securing concentricity of the pump impeller and the clutch output member. Moreover, the transmitting system involves large numbers of components and assembling steps, the conventional transmitting system is also disadvantageous in terms of cost reduction.

Transmitting system for small-sized vehicle


A powder dispensing device to be worn on the hand of the user and wherein the palm of a glove, including the fingers, support a pouch for holding a quantity of powder. The pouch is provided with apertures on one side through which the powder is dispensed and the opposite side of the pouch is carried on the palm and fingers of the glove. The pouch includes an open end adjacent to the upper palm or wrist of the user through which the powder may be introduced to a storage compartment within the pouch. A device is provided for releasably closing the opening to hold the powder within the storage compartment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of substance applicators, and more particularly to a novel pouch applicator for transferring a therapeutic substance to the coat and skin of an animal which is soothing to the animal during application and wherein the applicator is worn on the hand of the user so that the substance can be dispensed as the animal is stroked. As used herein, the powder is an example of a substance which assumes other forms such as a gel, liquid or the like.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, it has been the conventional practice to apply a therapeutic substance, such as flea powder or the like, to the coat and skin of an animal by shaking the powder from a dispensing container via small holes in the top of a can or bottle. While this is being done, the powder not only is dispensed onto the animal but also circulates through the air and, in some instances, is breathable by the person applying the powder. Also, the powder is susceptible to reside on the skin of the person, which may cause irritation and may be a source of allergy problems. In other instances, attempts have been made to use applicators which are rubbed or blotted against the coat and skin of the animal while simultaneously releasing a quantity of powder. Problems and difficulties have been encountered which stem largely from the fact that the animal must be held in place during release of the powder since the applicator does not lend itself to a normal or applicating action which is familiar and pleasurable to the animal.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a novel substance dispenser for discharging or transferring the substance from a gloved container or supply to the coat and skin of an animal whereby the control of the animal is enhanced during the application of the substance. Also, it is important that during the application, the animal is not subjected to unnecessary holding or forced to assume unnatural positions. attempts have been made to use applicators which are rubbed or blotted against the coat and skin of the animal while simultaneously releasing a quantity of powder. Problems and difficulties have been encountered which stem largely from the fact that the animal must be held in place during release of the powder since the applicator does not lend itself to a normal or applicating action which is familiar and pleasurable to the animal.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a novel powder dispensor for discharging or transferring the powder from a container to the coat and skin of an animal whereby the control of the animal is enhanced during the application of the powder. Also, it is important that during the application, the animal is not subjected to unnecessary holding or forced to assume unnatural positions.