The invention relates to a vertical deflection circuit of a cathode ray tube (CRT) using electromagnetic deflection. In the vertical deflection circuit, there is provided a pulse width varying unit for making both a vertical output transistor operated by a forward vertical deflection current and a transistor boosting-up during a vertical fly-back interval turn ON and OFF concurrently, in addition for adjusting an output pulse width from a circuit supplying a vertical blanking pulse to an image circuit. The pulse width is so adjusted that an initial portion of a vertical deflection is over-deflected thereby keeping a detection signal for an automatic white balance adjustment which is inserted immediately after the vertical blanking pulse from appearing on an under-scanned color CRT screen.

In the conventional color monitors or color picture receiver, detecting signals for the automatic white balance detection are used for automatic white balance adjustment circuits which automatically adjust the white balance or semiautomatic white balance adjustment circuits requiring a preset. Such automatic white balance detection signals follow vertical blanking signals. FIG. 2 is a connection diagram of a basic structure of the automatic white balance circuits which use the automatic white balance detection signals. FIG. 3 is a view illustrative of signal wave-forms of the automatic white balance detecting signals.
In FIG. 2, a circuit block 10 comprises circuits for generating the automatic white balance detection signals and picture driver circuits. The circuit block 10 at its input side receives vertical blanking pulses and image signals and is connected to an output side of an error amplifier 16. The circuit block 10 at its output side is connected to a base of an image output transistor 18. The image output transistor 18 is connected at its collector side through a pull-up resistance 20 to a positive power supply +E, in addition through a diode 22 to a cathode of the CRT. The image output transistor 18 is grounded at its emitter side through a resistance 26. The diode 22 is connected at its anode and cathode sides to a p-n-p transistor 28 at its base and emitter respectively. The p-n-p transistor 28 is connected at its collector to sample-hold circuits 30 and is grounded through a resistance 32. The sample-hold circuits 30 are connected at its output side to a positive input terminal of the error amplifier 16. A negative input terminal of the error amplifier 16 is grounded through a reference power supply 34.
The conventional automatic white balance circuits so constructed are operated as follows. Normally, as shown in FIG. 3, the automatic white balance detection signals synchronize with horizontal signals and indicate a white level voltage. Such automatic white balance detection signals are inserted during n interval 2H immediately after the vertical blanking signal in which H is the interval between starting times of a scanning line and a next scanning line. A current being proportional to a cathode current I.sub.K of the CRT flows through the p-n-p transistor 28 to the resistance 32 so that a voltage V.sub.RS is generated at the resistance 32. A voltage value of a part of the voltage corresponding to the automatic white balance detection signals is subjected to the sample-hold by a sampling pulse V.sub.P of the sample hold circuits 30 and inputted into a positive input terminal of the error amplifier 16 having at its one output side the reference voltage supply 34. The error amplifier 16 makes a feed-back of the difference of the inputted voltage by the sample hold circuits 30 from the reference voltage V.sub.r to the circuit block 10. The circuit block 10 controls a base voltage of an image output transistor 18 so as to change a collector voltage V.sub.c of the image output transistor 18. As a result, automatic balance circuits are so operated as to keep the cathode current I.sub.K of the CRT constant.
However, according to the above automatic balance circuits, when a normal vertical deflection circuit is used as a vertical deflection circuit which generates vertical blanking pulses 12 to be inputted to the circuit block 10, there exists the following problem. In the normal TV broadcast picture receiver, the over-scanning so appears that the scanning lines are largely deflected in the vertical and horizontal directions from the CRT screen. As a result, when the normal vertical deflection circuit is used to make the deflection, the automatic white balance detection signals inserted immediately after the vertical blanking pulses appears outside the screen and thus dose not appear on the screen. In such a case, there exists no problem. However, in a CRT of a color monitor such as a medical display monitor, there exists a problem in that detection signals clearly appear on an upper portion of the screen as white lines.
It is such reason that although the scanning lines of the color monitors are deflected so as to appear small inside the CRT screen, for example, 99% thereby resulting in the under-scanning. This is undesirable for the screen performance.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vertical deflection circuit capable of producing a normal screen in which the automatic white balance detection signals inserted to make the automatic white balance adjustment do not appear on the screen.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vertical deflection circuit having a freely adjustable detecting signal deflection position, which remains within the CRT as to minimize a secondary reflection of electron beams, if any.

Tsukimino-Village, B-1-904, No. 4-5-1, Tsukimino


A CO2 laser has a resonator mirror that oscillates about an axis perpendicular to the resonator axis through an angular range of oscillation sufficient that the resonator is only able to deliver radiation for a fraction of an oscillation period of the mirror. In one example of the laser, the oscillating mirror is an end-mirror of the resonator. In another example, the oscillating mirror is a fold mirror of the resonator.

CO2 lasers typically deliver radiation having a wavelength between about 9 and 111 micrometers (μm), with 10.6 μm, for which gain is highest, being a common output wavelength. Wavelengths in this range are strongly absorbed by materials including ceramics, glasses, plastics, wood, paints, and paper. This makes a CO2 a preferred laser for material processing applications involving these materials. Such applications include marking and drilling.
Many of these material processing applications require pulsed CO2 lasers having relatively high peak pulse powers, for example, 1 kilowatt (KW) or greater at relatively low average powers, for example, 50 Watts (W) or less. High pulse repetition frequencies (PRF), for example, between about a 10 kilohertz (KHz) and 100 KHz, and good mode-quality are also required.
Sealed-off, radio-frequency (RF) excited, Q-switched, diffusion-cooled CO2 laser are preferred for such applications, particularly if a high PRF is obtainable. The high PRF is important because the average output power of a pulsed, diffusion cooled CO2 laser increases with increasing PRF. The peak power of the Q-switched pulses decreases with increasing PRF beyond about 20 KHz. The average power becomes about equal to the continuous wave (CW) power at a PRF of about 100 KHz.
For maximizing average output power a CO2 laser needs to operate at a higher PRF than would be required for maximizing average power in a solid-state laser. This is because the CO2 molecule has a much faster, for example, about two orders of magnitude faster relaxation time of the upper excited laser state than common solid-state gain-media such as Nd:YAG and Nd:YVO4. Usually, a minimum acceptable PRF for CO2 laser material processing applications on the above-referenced materials is around 20 KHz.
In commercially available CO2 lasers, the usual means for Q-switching is a cadmium telluride (CdTe) electro-optic (E-O) crystal switch. A Q-switched laser operated by a CdTe E-O crystal switch is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,093 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. The cost of a CdTe E-O switch is relatively high and can represent between about 25% and 30% of the total cost of a Q-switched CO2 laser. The E-O CdTe crystals are expensive, difficult to grow, difficult to polish and there are few suppliers thereof worldwide. Fast high-voltage electronic circuitry is required to drive a CdTe E-O switch. This circuitry is expensive and difficult to design. Intercavity optical components, such as polarizers and polarization rotators, cooperative with a CdTe E-O crystal, are required to provide the Q-switching. Such components, and indeed the CdTe crystal, introduce significant optical losses within the laser resonant cavity. Such losses, coupled with other resonator losses characteristic of CO2 lasers, can reduce the average output power by 30% or more at 100 kHz PRF compared with the CW average output power.
In the early years of development of the laser, attempts were made to mechanically Q-switch both CO2 and solid-state lasers using a rotating mirror or a rotating prism as an end-mirror of the laser resonant cavity to periodically convert the laser resonant cavity from a high loss (misaligned) to a low loss (aligned) state. Short-duration flash-lamps were used to optically pump the solid-state lasers to obtain one Q-switched output pulse per flash-lamp pulse. The rotating mirrors were driven by small electric motors or gas turbines. In order to obtain a fast optical switching time, required for fast-rise-time Q-switched pulses, a correspondingly fast rotational speed was needed. The fast rotational speed required a high degree of mechanical balancing for the rotating mirrors which added appreciable cost to the Q-switch laser.
These early mechanical Q-switching techniques were, and are still not suitable for the above-discussed material processing applications. The PRF obtainable is at best in the several hundreds of pulses-per-second range instead of in the multi KHz range required. Although there has been an awareness of these early mechanical Q-switching experiments, mechanical Q-switching is not included in any commercially available gas or solid-state laser. There is a need for a method of mechanical Q-switching that can provide Q-switching of a CO2 laser at PRFs in the kilohertz range required for material processing applications.


An apparatus and method of simulating the operation of an LSI after degradation is provided for predicting actual LSI degradation with time at the design stage, so as to prevent the LSI specification from becoming excessively reliable. A reliability library generation device drives a circuit reliability simulator and generates a reliability library which shows the dependence of the property degradation degree of each circuit cell on predetermined operational conditions. A cell delay degradation estimation means estimates the delay degradation degree with time of each circuit cell which composes a target LSI, by referring to the reliability library. An LSI timing degradation estimation means estimates the delay of each circuit cell in the target LSI which has been degraded with time, based on the delay degradation degree of each circuit cell, and generates an after-degradation LSI timing. A logic simulator simulates the operation of an LSI after degradation, based on the after-degradation LSI timing, so that the timing degradation of each signal path in the target LSI can be accurately expressed in conformation to real operation.

The present invention relates to a technique of predicting LSI property degradation with time which results from a hot carrier phenomenon or the like, and of reflecting the prediction in LSI timing simulation.
A semiconductor integrated circuit (hereinafter referred to as LSI) has a certain life and suffers from failures or poor operation after a certain time period of operation. The main causes of such failures and poor operation include property degradation due to a hot carrier phenomenon or the breaking of a wire due to electro-migration. Of these causes, the hot carrier phenomenon degrades the driving capability of a transistor, which causes the LSI operational timing to change with time, leading to a wrong operation.
The recent development of manufacturing technique has accelerated the micro-miniaturization of LSI devices, so that a strong electric field which is generated in the LSI devices promotes the evolution of a hot carrier, or a high energy electron. Consequently, it is becoming harder to secure the LSI reliability against the hot carrier phenomenon.
In order to secure the LSI reliability, it is possible to provide an appropriate margin to the operational timing of every circuit uniformly so that sufficient allowance is made for changes in the operational timing with time, thereby securing the operation for a certain period of time. However, in this method, the margin is set in preparation for the worst case, which tends to make an LSI specification excessively reliable. Since the reliability and performance of an LSI are in the relation of the trade-off, the provision of excessive reliability leads to a decrease in the performance. Thus, it has been difficult to accomplish a high-performing LSI by this method.
In order to solve this problem, the following method has been used. The values of predetermined operational conditions at the operation of an LSI are examined for each circuit cell which is a circuit unit for composing the LSI, and it is verified whether the values of the operational conditions for each circuit cell fall in the range of satisfying the predetermined target values of the degradation amount or life of the LSI. Here, the circuit cell refers to an inverter which belongs to a standard cell library and which is used in an integrated circuit intended for a special purpose (ASIC) or the like. A circuit cell whose degradation amount and life do not satisfy the target values is regarded as a problematic circuit cell with regard to LSI reliability, and such a measure as design modification is taken.
However, this conventional method verifies only the degradation amount and life for each circuit cell composing an LSI, which tends to make the LSI specification excessively reliable. This point will be detailed as follows.
An LSI usually operates in accordance with a predetermined operational frequency. In other words, the predetermined time period determined by the predetermined operational frequency becomes a unit for process time in an LSI. On the other hand, signals in an LSI run through a signal path which is composed of several circuit cells within the predetermined time period. If a signal propagation delay in the signal path is so extended by degradation as to exceed the predetermined time period, then the LSI operational timing becomes out of order, leading to a wrong operation. Conversely, the LSI operational timing is maintained in order without causing a wrong operation as long as the extension of the signal propagation delay in a signal path due to degradation does not exceed the predetermined time period.
Suppose that there are signal paths A and B, and the signal path A has a signal propagation delay which is approximately equal to the predetermined time period (that is, susceptible to delay degradation), whereas the signal path B has a signal propagation delay much smaller than the predetermined time period (that is, resistant to delay degradation). In addition, suppose that both the signal paths A and B include circuit cells which have the common operational condition values, and that the values do not fall in the range of satisfying the target values of the degradation amount and life.
Under these conditions, according to the conventional method, the circuit cells included in the signal paths A and B are regarded as problematic circuit cells with regard to LSI reliability, and become the objects of design modification or the like. However, in actuality, the circuit cells included in the signal path A which is susceptible to delay degradation should be regarded as problematic, but the circuit cells included in the signal path B which is resistant to delay degradation should be judged not problematic with regard to the LSI reliability.
Thus, whether a circuit cell becomes problematic or not with regard to LSI reliability differs one circuit cell from another even under the same operational conditions. This is because the range of the degradation amount and life permitted to each circuit cell differ depending on the positions of the circuit cells in the LSI signal flow.

Apparatus and method of LSI timing degradation simulation


A slide rail includes a first slide and a second slide. The first slide provides a first arced surface. The second slide provides a second arced surface for being engaged with the first arced surface, so that the second slide is slidable relative to the first slide. The second arced surface has a same curvature as that of the first arced surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to slide rails. Particularly, the present invention relates to slide rails without ball bearings.
2. Description of Related Art
Slide rails are used for guiding objects, such as drawers, to be pushed into or pulled out from bodies, such as furniture. There are many kinds of slide rails, some have ball bearings and others do not. Slide rails having ball bearings are easy to be pulled or pushed, for they have little friction. However, the ball bearings add to the cost of the slide rails, and brackets for supporting the ball bearings tend to be broken, which causes the slide rail to become unusable.
Slide rails without ball bearings have lower costs than those having ball bearings. Such slide rails each has at least two slides movable relative to each other. The two slides contact each other in a line-contact mode. This kind of contact makes the slide rails unable to support heavy loads.
Therefore, a need exists in the industry to provide a low-cost slide rail which can support heavy loads.

Hong Fu Jin Precision (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


Apparatus and methods are provided to for RRM measurement in the new radio (NR) access system. In one novel aspect, multiple transmission (TX) beams are measured by a user equipment (UE) with multiple receiving (RX) beams, stores the measured TX-RX pair in a measurement matrix, and calculates a consolidation measurement for each cell based on a consolidation rule. In one embodiment, the consolidation rule indicates generating a RX consolidated vector by consolidating all RX beams with the same TX beam ID, and subsequently, generating the consolidation measurement for the cell based on the RX consolidated vector. In another embodiment, the measurement matrix is layer-3 filtered and consolidated. In yet another embodiment, the UE sends a measurement report, either contains the consolidated measurement or the measurement vector, to the NR network based on the consolidation measurement. In one embodiment, the network performs consolidation on the received measurement vector.

The bandwidth shortage increasingly experienced by mobile carriers has motivated the exploration of the underutilized high frequency (HF) spectrum between ranges up to 100 GHz for the next generation broadband cellular communication networks. The new radio (NR) access technology is being developed with broad range of use cases and requirements. The available spectrum of HF is two hundred times greater than the conventional cellular system. The NR wireless network uses directional communications with narrow beams and can support multi-gigabit data rate. The underutilized bandwidth of the NR/HF spectrum has wavelengths ranging from 1 mm to 100 mm. The very small wavelengths of the HF spectrum enable large number of miniaturized antennas to be placed in a small area. Such miniaturized antenna system can produce high beamforming gains through electrically steerable arrays generating directional transmissions.
With recent advances in HF semiconductor circuitry, HF wireless system has become a promising solution for the real implementation. However, the heavy reliance on directional transmissions and the vulnerability of the propagation environment present particular challenges for the HF network. For example, HF channel changes much faster than today's cellular system due to the small coherence time, which is about hundreds of microseconds. The HF communication depends extensively on adaptive beamforming at a scale that far exceeds current cellular system. Further, on the receiver side, the mobile devices can receive the multiple TX beams with multiple receiving (RX) beams. As a result, the measurement of the NR system increased because each TX beam will be paired with multiple RX beams for one measurement. The multiple RX-TX pairs each generate different measurement. How to consolidate and reporting the measurement result requires new consideration. Due to the largely increased amount of measurement data, efficient ways of handling measurement results are required.
Improvements and enhancements are required to support radio resource management (RRM) measurement in the HF/NR wireless network.

Mechanism to support RRM measurement in new radio access system with beamforming


The sprinkler includes the following structural members: a body (1) with a channel for liquid supply, a thermally responsive unit with a valve (4) closing the sprinkler outlet, and a thermally responsive unit attachment. In the first alternative embodiment a sprinkler channel is formed by a segment (10) of a cylindrical configuration connected with a segment (11) made as a conical diffuser. To generate a fine uniform gas-and-drop stream of a high kinetic energy and space-uniform distribution the cylindrical segment (10) length exceeds the channel diameter at this segment. The segment (11) length in the form of conical diffuser exceeds the channel diameter at the cylindrical segment (10). In the second alternative embodiment the sprinkler has two coaxial liquid supply channels. The length of the axial cylindrical channel exceeds its diameter. The second annular channel is coaxial to the first channel and fitted with helical guide components.

Known in the art are different types of a sprinkler applied in fire extinguishing equipment. These prior art devices differ both in types of thermally responsive units used as their structural components and channel configuration through which the fire extinguishing liquid is supplied.
For instance, known in the art are sprinklers having a body with an axial cylindrical channel for liquid supply, a thermally responsive unit with a valve closing the sprinkler outlet, and a thermally responsive unit attachment (patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,993, B05B 1/26, published Feb. 28, 1995). The design feature of this sprinkler is configuration embodiment of a liquid stream diffuser element fixed opposite the channel outlet. The improvement described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,993 has been designed to generate a gas-and-drop stream of a certain spatial configuration, which is the most optimum one for fire extinguishing, as well as a drop size change in the stream generated and their specific distribution (by their size) in the stream generated. However, this technical decision is characterized by a complex structure and limited possibilities.
Known in the art are also other technical decisions, among which another sprinkler may be noted described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,961 (A62C 37/10, published Jan. 1, 1989). A common sprinkler has a body with liquid supply channel, a thermally responsive component with a valve closing the sprinkler outlet and thermally responsive unit attachment. The sprinkler channel is formed by a few sequentially connected segments of different shape and different passage cross-section. The first segment of the channel from the liquid supply side is a conical diffuser with an aperture angle of about 8°. The first segment is connected to the second one having the form of a conical diffuser with an aperture angle of about 60°. The third segment of the channel is of a cylindrical shape, the diameter of which equals to that of conical diffuser outlet cross-section. The diffuser channel outlet is formed by an annular projection. A flat surface of the annular projection having a minimum longitudinal size is oriented perpendicular to a liquid stream direction in the sprinkler channel. This configuration of sprinkler channel embodiment provides generation of larger drops on account of a stream speed decrease at the channel outlet. As a result the sprinkler produces a gas-and-drop stream with a desired liquid distribution by its drop sizes for effective extinguishing. Large drops are in the central part of the stream, which is directly used for extinguishing the flame. The drops of a relatively small size are in the peripheral part of the gas-and-drop stream to reduce the smoke gas temperature or cool the environment.
The sprinkler structure described allows, on the whole, to reduce non-productive liquid consumption. However, a part of energy inputs for gas-and-drop stream generation is non-productively spent in braking a peripheral part of the liquid stream at the cylindrical portion of the channel in front of the annular projection.
The most closely analogous device of the first alternative embodiment of the invention is a sprinkler described in the Author's Certificate USSR NQ 643162 (A62C 37/12, published Jan. 1, 1979), which has a body with a liquid supply channel, a thermally responsive unit with a valve, which closes the sprinkler outlet, and the thermally responsive unit attachment. The sprinkler channel is formed by a segment of a cylindrical shape connected with a segment in the form of a conical diffuser. However, the sprinkler channel dimensions and configuration were not optimized in the said structure, which is necessary for effective liquid spray over the fire site. Together with this the prior sprinkler does not allow to generate a uniform finely-dispersed gas-and-drop liquid stream of a high kinetic energy of the drops at the fire surface.
The most closely analogous device of the second alternative embodiment of the invention is a sprinkler described in a European application EP 0701842 A2 (A62C 37/08, published Mar. 3, 1996), which has a body with liquid supply channels, a thermally responsive component with a valve, which closes the sprinkler outlet, and the thermally responsive component attachment. One of the sprinkler channels is made in the form of an axial cylindrical channel, the length of which exceeds its diameter, and the second one in the form of an annual channel with helical guide components coaxial to the first channel. This technical decision is aimed at a gas-and-drop stream generation with an optimum size of the drops and uniform distribution in space, which allows to effectively use the liquid for fire extinguishing. It should be noted that the structure of the prior art sprinkler does not provide effective fire extinguishing on a large area, as at the sprinkler outlet a gas-and-drop stream is generated, the cross-section of which is limited by the edges of a common outlet. In this case it is required to increase sprinkler arrangement density on the ceiling of the room.

Obschestvo S Organichennoi Otvetstvennostju “Unipat”


The present invention provides Chemical Mechanical Planarization Polishing (CMP) compositions for Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) applications. The CMP compositions contain ceria coated inorganic metal oxide particles as abrasives, such as ceria-coated silica particles; chemical additive selected from the first group of non-ionic organic molecules multi hydroxyl functional groups in the same molecule; chemical additives selected from the second group of aromatic organic molecules with sulfonic acid group or sulfonate salt functional groups and combinations thereof; water soluble solvent; and optionally biocide and pH adjuster; wherein the composition has a pH of 2 to 12, preferably 3 to 10, and more preferably 4 to 9.

This application relates to oxide or doped-oxide film chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) compositions and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) methods and systems for polishing oxide or doped oxide films.
In the fabrication of microelectronics devices, an important step is polishing, especially surfaces for chemical-mechanical polishing/planarization for recovering a selected material and/or planarizing the structure.
For example, a SiN layer may be deposited under a SiO2 layer to serve as a polish stop layer. The role of such a polish stop is particularly important in Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) structures. Selectivity is characteristically expressed as the ratio of the oxide polish rate to the nitride polish rate. An example is an increased polishing selectivity rate of silicon dioxide (SiO2) as compared to silicon nitride (SiN).
In the global planarization of patterned STI structures, increasing oxide film removal rates, reducing SiN film removal rates and reducing oxide trench dishing are three key factors to be considered. The lower trench oxide loss will prevent electrical current leaking between adjacent transistors. Non-uniform trench oxide loss across die (within Die) will affect transistor performance and device fabrication yields. Severe trench oxide loss (high oxide trench dishing) will cause poor isolation of transistor resulting in device failure. Therefore, there is a need to reduce trench oxide loss by reducing oxide trench dishing in oxide or doped-oxide film CMP polishing compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,490 discloses the polishing compositions containing abrasive particles and exhibiting normal stress effects. The slurry further contains non-polishing particles resulting in reduced polishing rate at recesses, while the abrasive particles maintain high polish rates at elevations. This leads to improved planarization. More specifically, the slurry comprises cerium oxide particles and polymeric electrolyte, and can be used for Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) polishing applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,923 teaches the polishing compositions containing cerium oxide particles and polymeric electrolyte for Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) polishing applications. Polymeric electrolyte being used includes the salts of polyacrylic acid, similar as those in U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,490. Ceria, alumina, silica & zirconia are used as abrasives. The molecular weights for such polyelectrolyte is from 300 to 20,000, but overall, less than 100,000.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,514 B1 discloses a chemical mechanical polishing slurry for use in removing a first substance from a surface of an article in preference to silicon nitride by chemical mechanical polishing. The chemical mechanical polishing slurry according to the invention includes an abrasive which is calcined ceria particles, an aqueous medium, and an organic polyol that does not dissociate protons, said organic polyol including a compound having at least three hydroxyl groups that are not dissociable in the aqueous medium, or a polymer formed from at least one monomer having at least three hydroxyl groups that are not dissociable in the aqueous medium. The polyols used as chemical additives included mannitol, mannose, xylitol, sorbose etc. This prior art claimed the high oxide: SiN selectivity was achieved by using these chemical additives plus calcined ceria abrasives in the polishing compositions. But the polishing test results using two chemical additives at the concentrations listed in this prior art showed very low oxide removal rates at pH 9.5 and with 1.0% calcined ceria and 2.0% chemical additive(s). There was no patterned wafer data being listed at all in this prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,293,344 B2 discloses a chemical mechanical polishing slurry which used calcined ceria as abrasives, and water-soluble polymer as chemical additive, such water-soluble polymer was prepared using a monomer containing at least one of a carboxylic acid having a double bond and the salt. Such slurry is for use in removing a first substance of dielectric films from a surface of an article in preference to silicon nitride by chemical mechanical polishing. The chemical mechanical polishing slurry according to the invention includes an abrasive, an aqueous medium, and water-soluble organic polymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,091,164 B2 discloses a chemical mechanical polishing slurry which used ceria/or titania as abrasives, and chemical additives with a carboxylic group and an electrophilic functional group. Mainly these chemical additives are amino acids or amino acid derivatives. About 5:1 oxide: SiN selectivity was achieved in this prior art. The pH range listed in this prior art was from 6 to about 11.
US Patent Application 2019/0062593 A1 discloses a chemical mechanical polishing slurry which used elongated, bent, or nodular silica particles as abrasives in the 0.5 to 30 weight percent range and a cationic polymer (diallylalkylamine salt, diallylalkylammonium chloride) or a mixed copolymer chemical additive with a carboxylic group and an electrophilic functional group. Such polishing slurry afforded good oxide: SiN selectivity.
However, those prior disclosed Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) polishing compositions did not address the importance of oxide film removal rates, SiN film removal rate suppressing and oxide trench dishing reducing at the same polishing process and more uniform oxide trench dishing on the polished patterned wafers along with the high oxide versus nitride selectivity.
Therefore, it should be readily apparent from the foregoing that there remains a need within the art for compositions, methods and systems of STI chemical mechanical polishing that can provide increased oxide film removal rates, reduced SiN film removal rates and the reduced oxide trench dishing and more uniformed oxide trench dishing across various sized oxide trench features on polishing patterned wafers in a STI chemical and mechanical polishing (CMP) process, in addition to high removal rate of silicon dioxide as well as high selectivity for silicon dioxide to silicon nitride.

Oxide chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) polishing compositions


A method and apparatus for remotely accessing a host computer from a remote location. The invention permits a user to remotely change a telephone number that allows the host computer to dial the user's current location. A user performs this change only after he has been strongly authenticated using a distributed user authentication protocol in addition to a simple user ID and password. This allows the user to move between locations and access the host computer, while the call-back feature protects the host computer from unauthorized intrusion. Also, a second registered user who does not have call-back authority may gain access to the host computer through a user that has call-back authority. In this case the user with call-back authority gains entry into the host computer and causes it to call the second registered user, who then enters a user ID and password to gain entry to the host computer. The present invention may be implemented in the host computer or in an interface coupled between the host computer and its modem.

The present invention relates generally to methods for remotely accessing a host computer system, and more particularly, to methods that provide for remotely accessing a host computer system from a plurality of remote sites by a single user.
To protect a host computer system from outside intruders using a dial-in modem attached thereto, the host computer system may require users to use a call-back procedure. A typical conventional call-back procedure works as follows. A remote user of the host computer system registers a remote telephone number with the system administrator. This remote telephone number is one where the remote computer is located. Once the user is at the remote location, and after he signs on, the user provides a user identification code and password. Then, the host computer system will call back to the user at the registered phone number for further processing.
However, in the conventional procedure, a single user identification code permits the use of only one registered telephone number. If the user wants to use the host computer system from another location, he must register the new number ahead of time. For a user who frequently travels to different remote locations, this procedure does not permit him to switch telephone numbers easily and quickly. In addition, even if the telephone numbers of remote locations are known ahead of time, only one number can be registered at a time.
Consequently, the existing procedure is too inflexible to be widely used. It permits a user to use the system from one remote location and from one registered phone number. A user who moves around, has no way to access the host computer system from various remote sites.
Therefore it would be an advantage to have a remote access procedure that permits a remote user to move between remote locations and easily and quickly change the remote call-back telephone number to permit him to access the host computer system.

Enhanced call-back authentication method and apparatus for remotely accessing a host computer from a plurality of remote sites


The boundary layer stimulation by blowing flow fluid into the proximity of the separation region on turbine blades is disclosed. In order to prevent a laminar boundary layer separation, the blowing-in takes place in the form of intermittent fluid pulses. A particularly advantageous arrangement for an axial turbomachinery rotor disk is provided for this purpose, on the end face of which a stationary ring is provided which has at least one passage opening with which inlet openings for the blade fluid ducts which are provided in the disk which passes by and by way of which the blowing into the proximity of the separation region takes place, become periodically congruent.

This application claims the priority of German application 196 32 207.3 filed in Germany on Aug. 9, 1996, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to axial turbomachinery having at least one rotor disk carrying several blades, in which case, for preventing the laminar boundary layer separation on the surfaces of the blades or airfoils, a flow fluid in the form of intermittent fluid pulses can be blown into the proximity of the separation area by way of fluid ducts which are provided in the blades and lead into blow-out openings on the blade surface. Concerning the known state of the art, reference is made particularly to German Patent Document DE 43 33 865 C2. The state of the art is also known from ASME-Paper 96-GT-486 with the lecture "Unsteady Wake-Induced Boundary Layer Transition in High Lift LP Turbines" presented by V. Schulte and H. P. Hodson at the IGTI Conference in Birmingham 1996, in which so-called "calmed zones" are mentioned which can be observed in boundary layers on the blading of turbo-engines.
The relative movement of rotors and stators in turbo engines causes the so-called wakes of the upstream blade row to interact with the boundary layers of the blade profiles of the blade row situated downstream. In comparison to the undisturbed inflow, this may result in various changes of the boundary layer development and thus of the profile losses. When the passing (unsteady) wakes impact on a predominantly laminar or separated profile boundary layer, as occurs frequently, for example, on the suction side of low-pressure turbines at low Reynold's numbers, the position of the transition start on the suction side will periodically move towards to the blade leading edge. This is caused by the increased turbulence intensity inside the wake fluid. It can be observed experimentally (compare the above-mentioned literature) that a fixed position on the blade surface first has a turbulent zone, which is at first followed by a so-called calmed zone and only then will the boundary layer return to its original undisturbed condition. In this case, the so-called calmed zone is a virtually laminar zone since no turbulent fluctuation quantities occur in it, however, the wall shear stress slowly releases back from a turbulent value back to a laminar value. The calmed zone is therefore a purely unsteady phenomenon which can occur only in boundary layers which undergo periodically unsteady transition. The wall shear stress which is increased in comparison to a "normal" laminar boundary layer therefore stabilizes the calmed zone so that the separation and transition process are delayed in the calmed zone.
These so-called calmed zones are therefore a special unsteady boundary layer phenomenon which offers the advantageous possibility of preventing a laminar separation, for example, on the suction side of low-pressure turbines without tripping the boundary layer to become completely turbulent. As a result the stability of the boundary layer is increased in comparison to the completely laminar boundary layer and the losses are lower compared to a fully turbulent boundary layer. In low-pressure turbines, the laminar separation bubble, which may not reattach, at low Reynold's numbers, represents a risk for the efficiency and a limit for the achievable aerodynamic blade loading. Currently, the control of this separation bubble is difficult and in the state of the art known so far can essentially take place only by way of the shaping of the blades.
Since the just described calmed zones have a loss-reducing effect, while the turbulent zones induced by the wakes have the tendency to increase the losses, it is endeavored to generate such calmed zones by suitable measures in order to be able to suppress high-loss laminar separation bubbles in the most efficient way.
Thus, it is known that the advantageous calmed zones can be generated by targeted active boundary layer measures. In the state of the art, a boundary layer stimulation is known for preventing separation bubbles, specifically by blowing flow fluid into the separation region by way of fluid ducts which are provided in the blades and lead out at the blade surface (compare German Patent Documents DE 30 43 567 C2 and DE 35 05 823 A1).
However, these are quasi-steady measures.
Furthermore, it is known from the above-mentioned German Patent Document DE 43 33 865 C1 to take steady measures for this purpose in that the blowing-in takes place in the form of intermittent fluid pulses which has the result that the boundary layer does not become fully turbulent but only intermittently turbulent and intermittently calmed. In comparison to steady measures, this generates significantly lower losses because, with respect to the generating of losses, the calmed boundary layer can be equated with a laminar boundary layer.
In German Patent Document DE 43 33 865 C1, a valve constructed as an oscillatory leaf spring is provided for generating the intermittent fluid pulses in each blade or in each blade plate of the turbo-engine, which valve periodically opens and closes the fluid ducts leading out at the blade surface, by way of which fluid ducts the flow fluid is blown into the boundary layer. This quasi-timed valve therefore generates the desired fluid pulses.
Although this known solution can be implemented theoretically in a basically also reliable manner, this measure cannot be used as a practical matter due, at least in part, to the requirement of a plurality of such timed valves on a rotor disk with a plurality of turbo-engine blades.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution which is simplified in this respect and by means of which fluid pulses can be generated on a rotor disk of a turbo-engine carrying rotor blades in a manner which is suitable for a practical application, that is, can easily be implemented technically.
For achieving this object, it is provided that a stationary ring having at least one passage opening is provided on an upstream facing side of the rotor disk, with which the inlet openings for the blade fluid ducts provided in the disk passing by become periodically congruent. From a space situated in front of the rotor disk, flow fluid intermittently enters the fluid ducts as fluid pulses by way of the at least one passage opening.
In contrast to the formation by unsteady wakes, the generating of the calmed zones according to the invention permits by means of active measures to optimize the frequency of the boundary layer stimulation as well as their position with respect to lowest losses. The fluid pulses which are blown intermittently into the separation region for the intermittent boundary layer stimulation lead to an only short-term influencing of the boundary layer on the blade surface and, considered separately, represent a negligibly low rate of flow. The invention can be used in a preferred manner at very low Reynold's number and, in particular, can be provided first in low-pressure turbines. There it is possible by means of this invention to expand the operating range of conventional blade profiles to even lower Reynold's numbers, or to use high-lift profiles which without the use of the present invention have an unacceptable efficiency because of an excessive separation which may not reattach. The use of high-lift profiles has clear weight and cost advantages because it permits a general reduction of the number of blades.
The blow-in frequency of the intermittent fluid pulses can be optimized preferably with respect to the aerodynamic design aspect of the turbo-engine. In this case, the blow-in frequency may be in the order of magnitude of the blade passing frequency of a rotor or stator disk carrying the blades.
The arrangement on an axial turbomachinery rotor disk according to the invention, which is described in the following and is illustrated in the drawings can be implemented without a special control and with low additional expenditures, in which case, for preventing the laminar boundary layer separation on the blades, a flow fluid in the form of intermittent fluid pulses can be blown into the proximity of the separation region by way of fluid ducts which are provided in the blades and lead into blow-out openings on the blade surface.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus and method for preventing laminar boundary layer separation on rotor blades of axial turbomachinery


A machine for injecting fluid into a meat product has a frame and a meat injection station on the frame. An elongated conveyor is mounted on the frame for carrying a meat products towards and through the injection station. A motor is on the frame for operating the conveyor. A meat injection head on the frame is located at the injection station and includes a plurality of downwardly extending fluid injection needles. A fluid reservoir is mounted on the frame and is connected to a pump, with the pump also being connected to the needles. The motor is connected to a power train for moving the needles into and out of a meat product while it is being moved through the injection station by the conveyor. A bypass control circuit is on the frame and is connected to the pump and the reservoir for diverting fluid moving towards the needles from the pump in the reservoir when the needles are out of the meat product. A method of injecting fluid into a meat product comprising continuously longitudinally moving a meat product having an upward surface through a meat injection station, and injecting fluid at spaced points over the upper surface into the meat product while the meat product is moving through the meat injection station.

Pork bellies are injected with a curing solution, called pickle, in order to make bacon. Conventional injection machines have a vertically reciprocating crosshead with multiple needles. The crosshead is typically driven by a crank. A normal conveyor carries the bellies under the needles and is moved intermittently ahead when the needles are removed so that a pattern of intermittent injections are made in the bellies as they incrementally move under the needles, and are then injected as they become stationary between intervening movements.
The needles project down through to the bottom of the belly as the belly lays on the stationary conveyor and then the needles stop and reverse direction and return upward out of the bellies. The needles and crosshead continue their upward stroke above the bellies while the conveyor moves forward to place the belly for another injection. Also, as the needles clear the top of the bellies, the stripper plate that held the bellies in place is raised by the crosshead to allow movement of the belly under the needles.
The pump for the pickle is usually a positive displacement pump and pumps pickle through the needles at a constant rate. When the needles are out of the bellies, the pickle is usually allowed to continue to run from the needles and is collected underneath the bellies and re-filtered and fed back into the reservoir to be used again.
Such fluid injection machines for meat products have been used for many years, but they have several negative factors, one of which is very detrimental. The distribution of pickle throughout the belly should be as uniform as possible. That means that every cubic centimeter should have the same amount of pickle throughout the entire belly. When the crosshead and needles are moved up and down by a crank mechanism, the velocity of the needles is constantly changing from zero to maximum and back to zero, etc. as the needles move up and down in the belly. With a constant flow pump, the bellies get more or less pickle per cubic centimeter, depending on the velocity of the needles in moving into and out of the meat.
Stated differently pickle is generally supplied into the injector head by a positive displacement pump with constant flow rate. The needles driven by a rotational crank travel at a variable speed through the thickness. When needles are near either top or bottom position, the needle traveling speed is close to zero, while at the middle-stroke needles travel at the highest speed. More pickle is injected per unit length of travel when needles are moving at slow speed and less pickle is injected at high speed. It is highly desirable to inject equal amount of pickle per unit length of thickness to achieve the best quality of injection.
Another negative feature of past injection machines is the bad inertial forces that build up in the conveyor as it starts and stops. The conveyor with its load of bellies must be stopped when the needles are injecting pickle into the belly. When the needles are out of the belly, the conveyor must move ahead to place the belly in position for another injection by the needles. This arrangement necessitates continual starting and stopping of the conveyor with its heavy load of bellies, and this is very undesirable. Since the injector head moves in a nearly vertical direction, the conveyor has to stop during the injection process to allow needles to penetrate into and out of pork bellies without introducing the lateral motion. This intermittent motion of the conveyor accelerates and decelerates pork bellies and creates inertia forces to shake the whole injector machine.
The noise level generated from injection operation will be greatly reduced if the conveyor has a continuous motion.
Another problem with past injectors is the flow of pickle when the needles are out of the bellies. Some injectors allow the pickle to continue to run out of needles where it is collected and returned to the reservoir. Other injectors start the flow after the needles start into the bellies and shut off the flow as the needles are coming out of the bellies. This starting and stopping of the flow is an inertial problem. Also, letting the pickle flow continuously and catching it and returning it to the reservoir is undesirable.
Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to inject meat products with a fluid as the meat moves continuously through a fluid injection station without having to stop the meat product while it is being injected.
A further object of the invention is to inject a meat product with a battery of needles by pumping the fluid constantly, with fluid going into the injecting needles while they are in the meat product, and with the fluid bypassing the needles and returning to the fluid reservoir when the needles are out of the product.
A further object of this invention is to create a uniform pickle injection through the thickness of pork bellies by using a double action piston pump with its output flow rate matching the velocity of the injecting needles.
A further object of this invention is to eliminate the inertia load created by the intermittent motion of the conveyor and pork bellies placed on the conveyor by using a continuously moving conveyor to carry pork bellies.
A further object of this invention is to develop a driving mechanism so that the lateral motion of the injector head during the injecting process matches the linear speed of the conveyor and the injector head is returned back to its beginning position for next cycle while needles are out of pork bellies.
A further object of this invention is to control the pickle flow into the injecting needles only during the injecting process and to direct the pickle flow back into reservoir without starting or stopping the piston pump and pickle flow.
A further object of this invention is to adjust the output flow rate of the piston pump to achieve desired percentage of pickle injection.


In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to methods of forming a solution of single-walled carbon nanotube polyelectrolytes in a liquid crystalline phase. In some embodiments, such methods comprise: (a) providing single-walled carbon nanotube polyelectrolytes; and (b) mixing the single-walled polyelectrolytes with a polar aprotic solvent to form a mixture, where the mixing results in the formation of single-walled carbon nanotubes in the liquid crystalline phase. In some embodiments, the polar aprotic solvent comprises crown ether. In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to a method of making single-walled carbon nanotube fibers. Further embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to a method of making a single walled carbon nanotube composite. In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to an article comprising neat aligned carbon nanotubes.

The assembly of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) dispersions into strong macroscopic materials by either spinning or coagulation requires disentanglement, individualization and partial alignment of the single-walled carbon nanotubes. A methodology for dispersing single-walled carbon nanotubes is by forming carbon nanotube polyelectrolytes. The formation of a liquid crystalline single-walled carbon nanotube phase is preferred in order to manufacture single-walled carbon nanotube polyelectrolytes into ordered macroscopic materials. However, the formation of liquid crystalline phases from single-walled carbon nanotube polyelectrolytes has been prevented due to the limited solubility and therefore inability to reach concentrations high enough to form the liquid crystalline phase. Consequently, more effective methods are needed for forming SWCNT polyelectrolytes liquid crystals.

Liquid crystals from single-walled carbon nanotube polyelectrolytes and their use for making various materials


A bathtub drain closure having a strainer element with an internally threaded recess that engages male threads on the lower end of an upwardly extending post. The post has at least one transverse passageway containing a polymeric pin having ends that project slightly beyond the ends of the passageway. A stopper having a centrally disposed, internal bore slides up and down the post between open and closed positions. The central bore of the stopper has a stepped profile having upper and lower portions with an internal diameter slightly greater than the length of the polymeric pin and a middle portion with an internal diameter slightly less than the length of the polymeric pin, thereby causing the pin to be compressed into frictional engagement with the central bore as the stopper slides up and down between the open and closed positions.

Bath tub closures are of two basic types, trip lever and non-trip lever. A trip lever closure consists of a stopper connected by means of a linkage system to a trip lever handle mounted on the front end wall of the tub. The closure is opened and closed by raising or lowering the trip lever. The trip lever is susceptible to mechanical failure especially in high usage environments such as hotels.
Non-trip lever closures such as the push-pull drain closures disclosed herein require direct contact with a hand or foot to open and close and are less susceptible to mechanical failure. A disadvantage of some push-pull closures is that they are susceptible to pilfering in hotel usage. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,926,507, 4,908,883 and 4,720,877 disclose push-pull drain closures made with threaded center posts to reduce pilfering. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,926,507 and 4,720,877, the center post is made with a metal spring element that provides the friction necessary to maintain the stopper portion of the drain closure in the desired position relative to the center post. The metal to metal contact during operation of these devices makes the up and down stopper action rough and scratchy. Although the drain stopper disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,883 avoids this disadvantage by using elastomeric O-rings as frictional holding members, the soft O-rings degrade much more rapidly, necessitating more frequent replacement.
A center post drain closure is, therefore, needed that is both smoothly operating and resistant to wear and chemical attack.


Systems and methods for managing connection of devices to a wireless network using out-of-band communications.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless networks, and more particularly to device connection management in wireless networking environments.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
In electronic networking environments, a challenging and persistent problem for end-users is managing the connection of peripherals and devices to the network. For wireless networks, one of the key challenges is association and connectivity of known and trusted peripheral devices and other networked information handling systems into a secure network model. The proliferation of wireless technologies such as wireless wide area networks (WWANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless personal area networks (WPANs) that enable peripheral devices into a network (be it local, ad-hoc or infrastructure) drives complexity in terms of ease-of-use, configuration, management and security. Current wireless networking technology employs individual wireless device profiles (e.g., Windows zero config, and other proprietary software configuration utilities) and WLAN authentication and security mechanisms (e.g., 802.11i).
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is currently employed in applications that vary from inventory management and traffic telematics (e.g., traffic toll tags) to security ID badges and pet tags, and supply chain management systems.

Systems and methods for managing out-of-band device connection


A textile belt strap, especially for use in personnel safety devices in land vehicles, aircraft and watercraft. At least one seam is provided on the belt strap for representation of loading of the belt strap that occurs. The seam extends in a longitudinal direction of the belt strap over a portion thereof, and is comprised of an upper thread disposed on one side of the belt strap and a lower thread disposed on the other side of the belt strap. Respective transverse seams are fixedly connected with the belt strap for delimiting opposite ends of the seam. An interlocking of the upper thread and the louver thread is provided externally of the belt strap such that either the upper thread or the lower thread has a linear length or extension between the transverse seams that delimit the seam.

The present invention relates to a textile belt strap, especially for use in personnel safety devices in land vehicles, aircraft and watercraft.
Such belt straps are used, for example, in a known manner as safety belts for restraining a person that is sitting on a vehicle seat and is strapped in by means of the safety belts. A further application is provided with safety seats for land vehicles, aircraft and watercraft where the load caused by a person sitting in the seat is taken up by textile belt straps and is shunted into a structure that is secured to the vehicle. A safety seat of this type is described, for example, in DE 10 2004 062 350 B3, where a sitting portion that accommodates a person that is to be transported can be secured in position by means of support straps made of a textile material, stretched between the floor and the ceiling of the vehicle, and extending above and below the seating portion. With such an arrangement of textile belt straps as support straps, the seating portion is uncoupled or isolated from the vehicle chassis, so that if vibrations or impacts or so-called blasts of the vehicle occur, for example due to mines, the occupant of the vehicle is stressed less.
However, textile belt straps used in this fashion have the problem that when loading occurs, in other words when safety straps are loaded or stressed when an accident occurs, or upon loading of support straps of safety seats that are stretched in vehicles with a permanent tension, one must guess if the loading has exceeded the permissible load limit of the textile belt strap, so that if necessary the safety strap or the support strap must be replaced.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a textile belt strap such that if the belt strap is stressed or loaded, one can recognize if the loading of the belt strap has remained within a permissible limit.

Textile belt strap having load recognition


The present specification relates to a heterocyclic compound of Chemical Formula 1 and an organic electronic device including the same.

An organic electronic device means a device that requires an exchange of electric charges between electrodes using holes and/or electrons and organic materials. The organic electronic device may be largely divided into the following two categories depending on the operation principle. First, the organic electronic device is an electronic device in which an exciton is formed in an organic material layer by a photon that flows from an external light source to the device, the exciton is separated into electrons and holes, and the electrons and the holes are each transferred to different electrodes and used as an electric current source (voltage source). Second, the organic electronic device is an electronic device in which holes and/or electrons are injected into an organic material semiconductor that forms an interface with two or more electrodes by applying voltage or an electric current to the electrodes, and the device is operated by the injected electrons and holes.
Examples of an organic electronic device include an organic solar cell, an organic photoelectric device, an organic light emitting device, an organic transistor, and the like, and hereinafter, the organic photoelectric device will be mainly described in detail, but in the organic electronic devices, a hole injection or transporting material, an electron injection or transporting material, or a light emitting material is operated under similar principles.
For the organic solar cell, it is important to increase efficiency so as to output as much electric energy as possible from solar energy. In order to increase the efficiency of the organic solar cell, it is important to generate as many excitons as possible inside a semiconductor, but it is also important to pull the generated charges to the outside without loss. One of the reasons for the charge loss is the dissipation of generated electrons and holes due to recombination. Various methods have been proposed to deliver generated electrons and holes to an electrode without loss, but additional processes are required in most cases, and accordingly, manufacturing costs may be increased.
The organic photoelectric device is a device that converts light into electric signals by using the photoelectric effect, includes a photodiode, a phototransistor, and the like, and may be applied to an image sensor, and the like. In an image sensor including a photodiode, the resolution is increasing as the days go by, and accordingly, the pixel size is decreasing. Currently, in the case of a silicon photodiode mainly used, as the size of pixel is decreased, the absorption area is reduced, so that the reduction in sensitivity may occur.
Accordingly, organic materials capable of replacing silicon have been studied.
Since organic materials have a high extinction coefficient and may selectively absorb light in a specific wavelength region according to the molecular structure, the organic materials may replace a photodiode and a color filter, and thus, are very advantageous in improving sensitivity and high integration.

Heterocyclic compound and organic electronic device comprising same


A fixing device includes an endless-shaped fixing belt, a heater, a holding member, and a pressure member. The heater has a heat generating portion, and a seal portion that seals each end of the heat generating portion. The heater heats the fixing belt from inside the fixing belt with radiant heat. The holding member is disposed inside the fixing belt and slides against an inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt. The pressure member is pressed with a predetermined pressure against the holding member with the fixing belt therebetween, and thereby a fixing nip portion is formed between the pressure member and the fixing belt. An end-portion excessive temperature increase prevention member that blocks radiant heat is attached to each end portion of the heater. A first opening portion is formed in such part of the end-portion excessive temperature increase prevention member as faces the seal portion of the heater.

The present disclosure relates to a fixing device for use in image forming apparatuses such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, and a multifunction peripheral having these functions, and to an image forming apparatus including the same. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a fixing device that employs a belt fixing method in which a sheet carrying an unfixed toner image thereon is passed through a fixing nip portion, which is formed by a heated fixing belt and a pressure member, and unfixed toner is heated and melted to be fixed on the sheet.
For conventional image forming apparatuses employing the electro-photographic method, there has been developed a belt fixing method in which, instead of a heating roller, an endless fixing belt that absorbs radiant heat from a heat source to liberate heat is employed as a heating member for heating a sheet. According to the belt fixing method, a sheet carrying an unfixed toner image is passed through a fixing nip portion formed by the heated fixing belt and a pressure member, which is pressed against the fixing belt, and thereby toner is fixed onto the sheet.
With the belt fixing method, it is possible to reduce thermal capacity and shorten a warm-up period to thereby reduce power consumption, as compared with a case of adopting a heat roller fixing method in which at least one of a pair of fixing rollers forming a fixing nip portion is used as a heating roller, and a sheet carrying an unfixed toner image is passed through the fixing nip portion to thereby fix toner onto the sheet.
For example, there is known a fixing device that includes a fixing member that is a rotatable endless belt, a pressure member so disposed on an outer circumferential side of the fixing member as to be able to be pressed against the fixing member, a nip forming member that is disposed at an inner circumferential side of the fixing member, that is formed of a base member and a sliding sheet wound around the base member, and that is pressed against the pressure member via the fixing member to form a nip portion, a reinforcement member fixed to an inner diameter portion of the fixing member to support the nip forming member from a side opposite to the nip portion, a substantially cylindrical support member fixed to the inner circumferential side of the fixing member such that an outer circumferential surface of the support member is in slide contact with an inner circumferential surface of the fixing member to support rotation of the fixing member, and heating means that is disposed inside the cylindrical support member and heats the support member.

Fixing device having fixing belt heated with radiant heat from heat generating portion and image forming apparatus including same


A pointer comparing unit determines whether a value of a writing pointer is identical to a value of a reading pointer. When it is determined that the value of the writing pointer is different from the value of the reading pointer, an inter-memory transfer unit reads data stored in a location where a data transfer apparatus reads transmission data from a transmission ring buffer, transfers the data to a reception memory, and writes the data in a location designated by the reading pointer of a reception ring buffer. When the inter-memory transfer unit completes writing of the data in the reception ring buffer, a reading-pointer updating unit updates the reading pointer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for transferring data from a memory of a transmitting side to a memory of a receiving side, with an improvement of a speed of data transfer and a decrease in a load to operation processing units of the transmitting side and the receiving side by eliminating an exchange of transmitting and receiving addresses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a disk array apparatus, it is necessary to transfer control information and the like between a channel adapter (CA) that operates as an interface with a host, and a cache manager (CM) that manages a cache.
FIG. 8 is a schematic for illustrating a structure of a conventional disk array apparatus. A disk array apparatus 7 is connected to a host 2 via a fiber channel link 3, having a CA 70, a plurality of CMs 80, and a disk 90. The CA 70 and the CMs 80 are connected via a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, and several bridges and switches intervene between the CA 70 and the CMs 80.
The CA 70 has a CA-MPU 71 serving as an operation processing unit, a corresponding CA memory 72, and a large-scale integrated-circuit (LSI) 700 that includes a direct-memory-access (DMA) engine for transferring data between the CA 70 and the CMs 80. The CM 80 includes a cache manager-micro processing unit (CM-MPU) 81 serving as an operation processing unit and a corresponding CM memory 82. Data transfer of 8 bytes to 512 bytes of control information is performed between the CA 70 and the CMs 80 before the DMA transfer and the like.
FIG. 9 is a schematic for explaining a conventional sequence of data transfer from the CM 80 to the CA 70 (a read sequence). In the data transfer from the CM 80 to the CM 70, the CM-MPU 81 stores a message (MSG), which is data to be transferred to the CM memory 82, and a memory address (ADR) in which the message is stored. The LSI 700 occasionally reads that the CM 80 is in a transferable state and confirms the state (*).
If the CM 80 is in the transferable state, the CM-MPU 81 stores (writes) the address (ADR), in which the transfer message (MSG) is stored, in the CA memory 72 ((1)). Then, the CM MPU 81 writes an address (WP) of the CA memory 72, in which the ADR is stored, in the LSI 700. The LSI 700 notifies the CA-MPU 71 of the presence of the WP ((2) broken line).
According to the notification from the LSI 700, the CA-MPU 71 reads an interrupt factor to detect the presence of the WP in the LSI 700 and reads the WP on the LSI 700 to read the ADR, in which the message is stored, from the CA memory 72 designated by the WP ((3)).
The CA-MPU 71 notifies the LSI 700 of the ADR information to start the LSI 700 ((4)). The started LSI 700 transfers the message on the CM memory 82 designated by the ADR to the CA memory 72 ((5)).
FIG. 10 is a schematic for explaining a conventional sequence of data transfer from the CA 70 to the CM 80 (a write sequence). As shown in the figure, in data transfer from the CA 70 to the CM 80, the CA-MPU 71 uses a DMA function of the LSI 700 to write a message (MSG) in the CM memory 82 ((1)).
The CA-MPU 71 writes an address, in which the message is stored, on a register of the LSI 700 ((2)). The LSI 700 notifies the CM-MPU 81 of the presence of the address by generating an interrupt ((3)). Then, the CM-MPU 81 having received the interrupt reads an interrupt factor and the address ((4)). Then, the CM-MPU 81 notifies the LSI 700 of the address of the processed message ((5)).
Regarding a message transfer between processors, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H3-174645 discloses a technique for transferring a message between CPUs using a shared random access memory (RAM).
In the read sequence shown in FIG. 9, the CM-MPU 81 determines an address of the CM memory 82 in which the transmission message is stored. Thus, the CM-MPU 81 is required to notify the CA-MPU 71 of this address before the DMA is started. In addition, in the write sequence shown in FIG. 10, since the CA-MPU 71 determines a transmission destination address, it is unnecessary to perform communication between MPUs before the DMA is started. However, the CA-MPU 71 is required to notify the CM-MPU 81 of the transmission destination address after the DMA is started.
It is necessary to communicate address information between the MPUs in both the sequences. In the communication between the MPUs, the CA 70 and the CMs 80 are connected by a PCI bus or a switch. Thus, a communication takes long time and a large load is imposed on the MPUs.
Another problem in a message transfer between the CPUs described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H3-174645 is that a shared RAM is required.

Method and apparatus for transferring data


To this end, the invention relates to a method for controlling a switched electronic circuit connecting an electrical voltage source u to a load R and forming a system having an output y and a plurality of operating modes i, at least some of which thus can be activated by following a switching rule o. According to the invention, the following steps are provided: —measuring state variables x of the system having equilibrium values xr; —introducing at least one parameter p into the system, representing a measuring error of an electrical unknown of the operation of the circuit; —estimating the parameter from a state monitor and applying a Lyapunov function thereto; —deducing therefrom the equilibrium values of the system in order to obtain the control rule.

The category of switched electronic circuits includes power converters. These devices find very widespread use in domestic and industrial applications for adjusting the power delivered by a power source to a load. A model flyback DC-to-DC converter is illustrated in FIG. 1. This converter comprises a primary circuit and a secondary circuit. The primary circuit comprises a voltage source that is connected in series with the primary winding of a transformer and a switch S. An inductor L is added to model the transformer. The secondary circuit comprises a secondary winding of the transformer that is connected by a diode D to a resistive load R. A capacitor C is connected in parallel with the secondary winding and the diode. A resistor Resr is added in series with the capacitor C to model losses due to the capacitor C. The transistor may be controlled, unlike the diode. The input voltage source Ve is an ideal voltage source, i.e. without any series resistance and with unlimited power. The inductor of the primary L is also ideal, i.e. without any series resistance or magnetic losses. The diode and the transistor are ideal (the voltage in conduction mode is zero). The transformer is also assumed to be ideal.
The converter may operate in three modes:                Mode 1: the inductor L collects energy from the voltage source V. while the capacitor C supplies the load R with power.        Mode 2: the energy collected in the inductor L flows into the transformer, charges the capacitor C and supplies the load R with power.        Mode 3: the capacitor C supplies the load R with power.
If only Modes 1 and 2 are active during the cycle, the converter operates in CCM (continuous-conduction mode). If Mode 3 is active, the system works in DCM (discontinuous-conduction mode), i.e. the energy stored in the inductor in Mode 1 is completely transferred to the capacitor in Mode 2.
It is known practice to control these converters on the basis of a linear time-invariant (LTI) system model. These methods result in local stability. They are generally implemented with two loops, a fast current loop and a voltage loop.
The miniaturization of electronic components has made it possible to develop less expensive systems. Additionally, it is advantageous to work at low current levels so as to decrease losses. In this context, the switching frequency of the converter plays a fundamental role: the higher the frequency to which the switching frequency may be increased, the greater the extent to which the electronic parts may be miniaturized and losses decreased.
However this miniaturization presents robustness problems: the short response time as a result of the smaller components make the system more sensitive to variations.
It has been envisaged to take the explicit hybrid nature of these converters into account in the design of stabilization control laws which are based in particular on a switched affine system model.
One example of a switched affine system model applicable to such a flyback DC-to-DC converter and the corresponding operating conditions are described below. The notation will be as follows: the set composed of N first integers is denoted by K={1, . . . , N} and if the simplex of dimension N−1 is ΛN:={λεN|∀iε, λi>0, Σi=1Nλi=1}. The convex combination of a set of matrices A=(A1, . . . , AN) is denoted by A(λ)=Σi=1Nλ1Ai, where λεΛN. The identity matrix is denoted by I for all dimensions.
Such a converter is a switched system that can be modeled in the form of a switched state space as follows:{dot over (x)}=Aox+Bou  (1)where x(t)εn is the state and u(t)εm is the input that is assumed to be fixed (u(t)=Vo), wherein said input cannot be used as a control variable. The control command is formed by the switching law σ: n→K which indicates the active mode at any given time. The state vector xT=[iL, vC] is composed of iL (current through the inductor L) and of vC (voltage across the terminals of the capacitor C). With reference to FIG. 1 and by using Kirchhoff's laws, the sets A={A1, . . . , AN} and β={B1, . . . , BN}, where N=3, are given by:
                                                                                A                    1                                    =                                      [                                                                                0                                                                          0                                                                                0                                                                                -                              1                                                        RCK                                                                                ]                                                  ,                                                      A                    2                                    =                                      [                                                                                n                                2                                                                                R                                esr                                                                                LK                                                                                nR                                esr                                                            RLK                                                        -                                                          n                              L                                                                                CK                                                                                -                                                        RCK                                                                                ]                                                                                A                3                            =                              [                                                                            0                                                              0                                                                                0                                                                                -                          1                                                RCK                                                                                ]                                                                        (        2        )                                          B          1                =                                            [                                                                                1                      L                                                                                0                                                              ]                                                                                B              2                                =                                                    [                                                                            0                                                                                0                                                                      ]                                                                                B                3                                      =                          [                                                                    0                                                                                0                                                              ]                                                          (        3        )            where
  K  =            (              1        +                  Resr          R                    )        .  Hereinafter, what is considered is the CCM configuration (only Modes 1 and 2 may be activated, hence N=2). The control problem, which is a switched system control problem, may also be considered by using, for the system defined in (1), a "convexified" representation given by:{dot over (x)}=A(λ)x+B(λ)u  (4)where λεΛN. Specifically, applying the density theorem guarantees that all of the trajectories of the convexified system defined in (4) may be reached by the switched system defined by equation (1) by means of sufficiently fast switching. This means that it is possible to study the convexified system and apply the results obtained to the switched system. Since the matrix A(λ) is a Hurwitz matrix, it is possible to design stabilization strategies even though not all of the Ai are stable. In this case, the equilibrium point of the system defined by equation (4), denoted by xe, is found in the set Xe such that, for fixed u, it is defined as:
                              X          e                =                  {                                                                      x                  ∈                                      ℝ                    N                                                  |                x                            =                                                -                                                            A                                              -                        1                                                                                (                      λ                      )                                                                                B                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                  u                                      ,                          λ              ∈              Λ                        ,                                          A                                                  (                  λ                  )                                                                                Hurwitz                                }                                    (        5        )
The stabilization strategies of this control law are based on an assumed perfect knowledge of all of the operating parameters of the converter, including the input voltage and the load.
By assuming that for every λεΛ, such that A(λ) is Hurwitz, there is at least one index i, such that λi≠0 and Ai is Hurwitz (Hypothesis 1), and by stating that the estimate {tilde over (x)} of the state x has a value of {tilde over (x)}=x−xr where xr is the equilibrium point of this state, the Lyapunov function V is defined by:V(x):={tilde over (x)}rP{tilde over (x)}  (6)where P=PT>O, P being the Lyapunov matrix, the solution to Lyapunov equation (7) isAiTP+PAi+αiP≥0i=1, . . . ,N  (7)where
            α                    (        λ        )              =                  ∑                  i          =          1                N                                    λ          i                                  α          i                      ,      {                                                      α              i                        >            0                                                if                                                                          A                                      (              λ              )                                                                                is                                                                          Hurwitz                                                                          α              i                        =            0                                    else                    According to a first proposition (Proposition 1), what is considered is the switched system (1) and an equilibrium point xr∈Xe where u=Ve, λ=λr and A(λr) Hurwitz: for P=PT>0 solution to inequality (7), the equilibrium point xr is asymptotically stable overall with the following feedback law:
                                          σ            *                                          (            x            )                          =                  arg                                [                                          min                                  i                  ∈                  K                                                                          [                                                                            x                      ~                                        T                                                                          P                                                              (                                                                                A                            i                                                                              x                                                +                                                                              B                            i                                                                              u                                                                    )                                                                      ]                                      ]                                              (        8        )
This is proven using a Lyapunov function
V(x,xr)=(x,xr)={tilde over (x)}TP{tilde over (x)}. The derivative of V is denoted, along the trajectories d=A(λ)x+B(λ)u, by:{dot over (v)}(x,xr;λ)=2{tilde over (x)}TP(A(λ)x+B(λ)u)
Defining the Lyapunov matrix P gives:{dot over (V)}(x,xr;λ)=2{dot over (x)}TP(a(λ){tilde over (x)}+A(λ)xr+B(λ)u)≥−α(λ)xTP{dot over (x)}+B(λ)(u)For λ=λr, the term A(λ)xr+B(λ)u=0 and so:
                                                                                V                  .                                                                  (                                      x                    ,                                          x                      r                                        ,                                          λ                      r                                                        )                                            =                                                                            ∑                                      i                    =                    1                                    N                                                                                λ                    i                    r                                                      2                                                                                x                      ~                                        T                                                                          P                                                              (                                                                                A                            i                                                                              x                                                +                                                                              B                            i                                                                              u                                                                    )                                                                                ≤                                                                            -                                      α                                                              (                                              λ                        r                                            )                                                                                x                    ~                                    T                                                P                                                                                x                  ~                                                                                (        9        )            Since αλr=Σi=1Nλ1rαi cannot be zero due to Hypothesis 1, it can be concluded that the choice of switching rule (8) leads to:V(x,xr;σ*)=2{tilde over (x)}{dot over (T)}P(Aσ*x+Bσ*u)≥−σ(λr){tilde over (x)}TP{tilde over (x)}>0,if{tilde over (x)}≠0  (10)
In practice, the control law (8) must be sampled and it has been shown that this sampling results in a static error, which is dependent on the sampling time T. With infinite switching frequency it is possible to decrease this static error to zero, but this is not realistic in a real-time application. Moreover, the method uses a Lyapunov function V which is dependent on the equilibrium point xr. However, for power converters such as mentioned above, the equilibrium point xr is dependent on the load R and on the input voltage u, and if there are variations or uncertainties in these parameters, the robustness of stabilization of the equilibrium point must be analyzed.

Method for controlling a switched electronic circuit


A door locking device for an electric household appliance, in particular a dishwasher, including a first supporting body, a latch pivotally carried by the first supporting body about a first rotation axis and operatively associated in use with a door catch of the electric household appliance and elastic means carried by the first supporting body and secured between the latter and the latch to be adapted in use to make the latch selectively take first and second working positions, rotated to each other by a first angle about the first axis; wherein a second supporting body designed to be integrally carried in use by a door of the electric household appliance supports the first body overhangingly hinged on opposite side of the latch, second elastic means being interposed between the first and the second supporting bodies, which means are adapted to allow the same to rotate relatively about a second axis parallel to the first and eccentric with respect to the latch, at least by a second angle.

"Self-resettable" means a door locking device which allows the user to close the door of the dishwasher also when, for any reason, the latch is already in the working position, corresponding to the position of door locked, and then to obtain the locking of the door in the closed position.
A door locking device for a dishwasher is known from DE102007033451, for example, in which the door catch carried by the frame of the electric household appliance couples with a rotational latch carried by a supporting body, in turn positionable in use on the door of the electric household appliance, and in which, under certain conditions, transferring the door catch to the rotation member is prevented. This device is however very complex and bulky.

Self-resettable door locking device for an electric household appliance, in particular a dishwasher


The present invention provides a structure and method of forming a butting contact having protective spacers 50A that prevent shorting between a second polysilicon layer 60 and the substrate in a hole 20A in a isolation region 20. The following are provide: a isolation region 20, a first conductive line 30B over portions of the isolation region 20, and an inter-poly insulating layer 40. The protective spacers prevent shorts when the first conductive line 30B is misaligned and exposes a first portion of the isolation region 20 in a butt contact opening. A first photoresist layer 44 having a butt contact photoresist opening 44A over the first doped region 26 and over a first portion of the isolation is formed. The inter-poly insulating layer 40 is etched through the butt contact photoresist opening 44A and etches the first portion of the isolation region forming an isolation hole 20A. In an important step, protective spacers 50A are formed on the sidewalls of the isolation hole 20A. A second conductive layer 60 is formed over an inter-poly insulating layer 40, in the butt contact opening, and over the protective spacers 50A. The protective spacers 50A prevent the second conductive layer 60 from contacting the substrate in the hole 20A.

1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a structure and fabrication of a semiconductor memory device and more particularly to the structure and fabrication of a butting contact structure between conductive layers and the substrate in a semiconductor device having a shallow trench isolation (STI).
2) Description of the Prior Art
There is a trend in the semiconductor industry toward fabricating larger and more complex functions on a given semiconductor chip. The larger and more complex functions are achieved by reducing device sizes and spacing and by reducing the junction depth of regions formed in the semiconductor substrate. Among the feature sizes which are reduced in size are the width and spacing of interconnecting metal lines and the contact openings through which the metallization makes electrical contact to device regions. As the feature sizes are reduced, new problems arise which must be solved in order to economically and reliably produce the semiconductor devices.
As the contact size and junction depth are reduced, a new device contact process is required to overcome the problems which are encountered.
The importance of overcoming the various deficiencies noted above is evidenced by the extensive technological development directed to the subject, as documented by the relevant patent and technical literature. The closest and apparently more relevant technical developments in the patent literature can be gleaned by considering U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,929 (Pfiester et al.) which shows a method of making a 6 T SRAM Cell. U.S. Pat No. 5,451,534 (Yang) shows a method of making a single layer TFT 6 T SRAM. U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,358 (Huang) shows a method of forming a 6 T SRAM that reduces the number of local interconnections. In addition, Wolf, "Silicon Processing For The VISI Era: Vol. 2", on pp. 160 to 164, discusses butted Contacts and Buried contacts.
However, there is still a need for an improved butting contact structure.

Method of making an integrated butt contact having a protective spacer

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company