Hybrid wind turbine apparatus includes a pair of counter rotating rotors having micro thrusters fitted at tip of each blade of the rotors. An upright mast supports bearings underlying and rotatably supporting a hub assembly having tandemly mounted dual alternators. A first set of rotor is mounted on the windward alternator shaft, while the second rotor is mounted on the downwind rotor shaft. A heat exchanger having a centrifugal fan is provided to circulate ambient air to cool alternator. The hot air is directed to the combustion chamber of the thruster by means of an air duct in the blades. Natural gas or liquid fuel is also conveyed from a stationary platform to a rotating frame by means of a rotary fluid coupler. When wind speed is low, fuel will be injected into the combustion chamber and burned with large mass of air. The hot gas is expanded in an exist nozzle to provide thrust to assist wind power. Thus, the hybrid wind turbine system can become beneficial without the need for an auxiliary system during low wind season.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a wind energy conversion system and, more particularly, to the design and manufacture of a hybrid wind turbine system that can be designed to provide certain level of power during low wind speed seasons. The hybrid system uses the assistance of jet thrusters powered by liquid fuel or natural gas in a very economical manner with low investment.
2. Description of Prior Art
In recent years, wind energy projects have included the installation of large numbers of wind turbine generating systems at locations having favorable wind conditions. But, the practical turbines are not producing the amount of wind energy that was projected. There are many reasons for this shortfall of wind energy. Little can be done about the wind itself, with the exception of understanding the available resource better by using direct measurement and analysis. However, a new hybrid rotor system according to the present invention, designed to take better advantage of the available wind resource, provides an opportunity for a significant increase of energy production.
Albert Betz, a German engineer showed that the maximum energy that can be converted to electrical/mechanical energy in a stream of wind is less than 59%. But, a practical wind turbine, according to Paul Gipe, can only deliver less than 20% of the available power. The reason for such significantly low energy conversion efficiency may be attributed to the downstream velocity (V2) behind a single rotor being greater than one third of the upstream velocity (V1). Furthermore, according to C. G. Curtis, who is known for xe2x80x9cCurtis Stage Velocity Compoundingxe2x80x9d in steam turbine design, it is well known that a single stage wind rotor system cannot possibly extract the amount of power estimated by Betz.
A few patents are typical of the known prior art attempting to improve on earlier efforts to harness wind energy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,579 to Olson discloses a wind turbine blade with a governor to maintain optimum rotational speed. The governor positions an aileron for varying wind speed and includes a lead weight positioned at the wing tip and connected to a mechanism that deploys the aileron to achieve the maximum lift to drag ratio at all wind speeds. U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,683 to Peace discloses a method of installing a plurality of wind turbines on chimneys, towers or the like. Two rotors having their horizontal axes are mounted back to back on a ring that turns about the chimney. The primary concept of this invention is to utilize existing structures to mount a plurality of wind turbines and to eliminate the need for wind farms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,587 to Johnston et al. discloses a method for manufacturing composite blades having highly improved aerodynamic efficiency. The blades employ the NASA airfoil section LS(1)-04XX having 29 per cent thickness at 3/10 radius and 18 per cent at the blade tip. The airfoil section comprises two spars, which terminate into a circular section at the hub. U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,801 to Wilson discloses a method of compressing air by means of a wind turbine. The air is drawn from the low energy region of the downwind stream. The compressed air is connected to the intake of a prime mover (such as a diesel engine, a gasoline engine, or a gas turbine) to boost its output power and drives an alternator. U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,739 issued to Appa discloses a jet assisted counter rotating wind turbine system designed to enhance power conversion efficiency utilizing blade tip mounted jet thrusters and counter rotation of tandem rotors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,038 issued to Joseph Walter Stone discloses a power generating Rotary Jet Engine that uses at least one combustion jet mounted on a circular disk. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,223,521 and 6,233,918 issued to Shawn P. Lawlor disclose a method of power generation by means of a Ramjet Engine similar to that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,038. It was with knowledge of the foregoing state of the technology that the present invention has been conceived and is now reduced to practice.
The present invention describes a method of designing and manufacturing a hybrid wind turbine apparatus, which can provide certain level of power even when wind speed is as low as cut-in speed without requiring any auxiliary units. Said apparatus comprises:
1. a pair of counter rotating rotors having their blade angles set to rotate in opposite directions,
2. a pair of electrical power generating alternators placed in tandem and having their rotating magnetic field drums directly connected to said counter rotating rotors,
3. plurality of air breathing micro thrusters having one unit fitted to each blade tip in a sense to assist aerodynamic torque when needed,
4. a rotary fluid coupler to transfer natural gas or liquid fuel from a stationary platform to a rotating platform in a radial direction along a duct in each of the rotor blades,
5. a heat exchanger fitted with a centrifugal fan to cool the armature using incoming ambient air, and direct the hot air to the blade tip passing through ducts provided in each blade,
6. plurality of battery packs fitted to each blade and powered by plurality of solar cells fitted on to the surface of the blade near the tip sections,
7. plurality of gas sensors and igniters to sense incoming fuel and ignite fuel and air mixture,
8. a mast to support the wind turbine assembly and having a yaw bearing to align the rotors into the wind direction.
Wind turbines are designed to generate rated power at an average wind speed in a specific site. When the wind speed is far below the rated speed energy production will be negligible, since power varies as cube of the wind speed. For example, if the wind speed is half of the design speed, then the electrical power production will be 1/8th of the rated power. To supplement the loss of power, auxiliary power generating units such as gas turbine generators are required. This amounts to additional investment. And moreover operating cost will be high since gas turbines are less efficient. To circumvent the deficiencies of season dependent wind turbines, the present innovation suggests the use of inexpensive air breathing thrusters mounted at the tip of rotor blades to assist wind turbines when needed. A thruster may belong to any of the following class of air breathing engines such as micro gas turbines, rockets, ramjets, pulsejets or a combination of any of these devices. In essence a thruster must be mechanically simple, inexpensive to manufacture and maintain. Again, these must be able to use natural gas or any inexpensive fuel source to power these thrusters. The aerodynamic torque balances the rotor drag and mechanical friction whenever the wind speed is higher than the cut-in speed. Hence, any thrust imposed in the direction of the rotor rotation will do a useful work and generate electrical power at reduced cost of fuel used by the thruster.
Furthermore as discussed in the previous section, a single stage rotor system can not convert physically possible amount of wind power into electrical power. Therefore, the proposed invention suggests another improvement, a two-stage rotor device that is set to rotate in opposite directions. There are two ways to incorporate the counter rotating system. One approach is to use a single alternator, in which one rotor drives an armature, while the other rotor drives a drum of magnetic field having plurality of pole pairs. Thus, the magnetic flux rate in the air gap will be doubled resulting in higher voltage at lower rotational speed. The present inventor has already disclosed this approach in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,739.
Now we turn to an alternate approach, which comprises two sets of wind turbine units mounted in tandem such that their rotors rotate in opposite directions. In a counter rotating system the net torque is practically zero, if both machines produce same power. Hence it is possible and economical to upgrade existing wind machines using the same towers.
In essence, the proposed hybrid wind turbine device involves three distinct innovations. In a first instance, the turbine design of the invention comprises a pair of counter rotating rotors that are directly mounted on the generator units without using any mechanical gearing devices. Consequently, this reduces total weight of the system, initial unit cost and maintenance cost. More importantly, a dual rotor system is believed to extract substantially increased amount of power from the wind, and doubles the electrical voltage output resulting in reduced copper losses and cost.
In a second instance, thruster assisted hybrid power generating device reduces initial capital cost of power in terms of dollar per kilowatt. Because, thrusters are very inexpensive to manufacture unlike gas turbines and use inexpensive fuel, and drive the same electrical generator without the need for auxiliary units. Thus, the thrusters a complement the wind power when needed. Consequently, a community will be assured of certain level of electrical power at all seasons at low capital investment.
In a third instance, as another feature of the present invention is a method of recycling kinetic and thermal energies to produce electrical power. This includes utilization of dynamic compression of ambient air through an inlet, further compounding pressure build up through a compressor or a centrifugal fan and capturing thermal energy while cooling the armature in a heat exchanger. Alternators at full load produce heat resulting from iron and copper (I2R) loses. This loss generally amounts to about 10 to 15% of generated power. To recycle this heat a heat exchanger will be used. The present invention proposes to use ambient air as the cooling medium in the heat exchanger. The hot air after passing through the heat exchanger is diverted through an air duct in the blade, where it is compressed due to centrifugal acceleration and finally injected into the combustion chamber of the thruster. In the combustion chamber it mixes with incoming ram air and the fuel. The mixed gas is burnt in the combustion chamber and expanded through an expansion nozzle to produce thrust. Thus, the kinetic energy of the incoming air and the thermal energy of the armature is transformed into electrical energy.
Other and further features, advantages, and benefits of the invention will become apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings. It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory but are not to be restrictive of the invention. The accompanying drawings which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this invention, illustrate one of the embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention in general terms.
The foregoing aspects and other features of the present invention are explained in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:


The present invention provides methods, apparatus and kits for synthesizing assembled peptides and proteins on a solid phase with sequential ligation of three or more unprotected peptide segments using chemoselective and mild ligation chemistries in aqueous solution. Also provided are methods of monitoring solid phase sequential ligation reactions using MALDI or electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of reaction products.

Existing methods for, the chemical synthesis of proteins include stepwise solid phase synthesis, and fragment condensation either in solution or on solid phase. The classic stepwise solid phase synthesis of Merrifield involves covalently linking an amino acid corresponding to the carboxy-terminal amino acid of the desired peptide chain to a solid support and extending the polypeptide chain toward the amino end by stepwise coupling of activated amino acid derivatives having activated carboxyl groups. After completion of the assembly of the fully protected solid phase bound peptide chain, the peptide-solid phase covalent attachment is cleaved by suitable chemistry and the protecting groups removed to give the product polypeptide.
Some disadvantages of the stepwise solid phase synthesis method include: incomplete reaction at the coupling and deprotection steps in each cycle results in formation of solid-phase bound by products. Similarly, side reactions due to imperfections in the chemistry, and or impurities present in the reagents/protected amino acids, all lead to a multiplicity of solid phase bound products at each step of the chain assembly and to the formation of complex product mixtures in the final product. Thus, the longer the peptide chain, the more challenging it is to obtain high-purity well-defined products. Due to the production of complex mixtures, the stepwise solid phase synthesis approach has size limitations. In general, well-defined polypeptides of 100 amino acid residues or more are not routinely prepared via stepwise solid phase synthesis. Synthesis of proteins and large polypeptides by this route is a time-consuming and laborious task.
The solid phase fragment condensation approach (also known as segment condensation) was designed to overcome the difficulties in obtaining long polypeptides via the solid phase stepwise synthesis method. The segment condensation method involves preparation of several peptide segments by the solid phase stepwise method, followed by cleavage from the solid phase and purification of these maximally protected segments. The protected segments are condensed one-by-one to the first segment, which is bound to the solid phase.
Often, technical difficulties are encountered in many of the steps of solid phase segment condensation. See E. Atherton, et al., "Solid Phase Fragment Condensation—The Problems," in Innovation and Perspectives in Solid Phase Synthesis 11-25 (R. Epton, et al. 1990). For example, the use of protecting groups on segments to block undesired ligating reactions can frequently render the protected segments sparingly soluble, interfering in efficient activation of the carboxyl group. Limited solubility of protected segments also can interfere with purification of protected segments. See K. Akaji et al., Chem. Pharm. Bull.(Tokyo) 33:184-102 (1985). Protected segments are difficult to characterize with respect to purity, covalent structure, and are not amenable to high resolution analytical ESMS (electrospray mass spectrometry) (based on charge). Racemization of the C-terminal residue of each activated peptide segment is also a problem, except if ligating is performed at Glycine residues. Moreover, cleavage of the fully assembled, solid-phase bound polypeptide from the solid phase and removal of the protecting groups frequently can require harsh chemical procedures and long reaction times that result in degradation of the fully assembled polypeptide.
Segment condensation can be done in solution rather than on solid phase. See H. Muramatsu et al., Biochem. and Biophys. Res. Commn. 203(2):1131-1139 (1994). However, segment condensation in solution requires purification of segments prior to ligation as well as use of protecting groups on a range of different side chain functional groups to prevent multiple undesired side reactions. Moreover, the ligation in solution does not permit easy purification and wash steps afforded by solid phase ligations. Furthermore, the limitations with respect to solubility of protected peptide segments and protected peptide intermediate reaction products are exacerbated.
Chemical ligating of minimally protected peptide segments has been explored in order to overcome the solubility problems frequently encountered with maximally protected peptide segments. See Cheng, et al., Chemical Synthesis of Human θ-endorphin(1-27) Analogs by Peptide Segment Coupling. Int. J. Pept. Protein Res. 38:70-78 (1991); J. Blake, Total Synthesis of S-Carbamoylmethyl Bovine Apocytochrome c by Segment Coupling, Int. J. Pept. Protein Res. 27:191-200 (1986); and H. Hojo et al., Protein Synthesis using S-Alkyl Thioester of Partially Protected Peptide Segments, Synthesis of DNA-Binding Protein of Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 65:3055-3063 (1992). However, this method still requires the use of protecting groups on all Lysine side chain amino groups, selective N-α protection of one or more segments, and laborious purification steps, involving purification, reprotection, and repurification.
The use of multiply protected peptide segments is incompatible with the overall scheme of engineering proteins using peptides produced by means of recombinant DNA expression as a source. Protected peptide segment methods are labor-intensive, and the protected peptide segments have unpredictable handling properties, partly due to the solubility and ligating difficulties of protected peptide segments. Often, large protected peptide segments are minimally soluble in even the most powerful polar aprotic solvents such as dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethylformamide (DMF). The problem of insolubility in protected peptide segments has been addressed with limited success in several ways, including the use of (1) partial protecting group strategy which masks all side chains except those of Ser, Thr, and Tyr; (2) minimal protecting group strategy that masks only thiol and amino side chains; and (3) using reversible protection of a backbone amide moiety to prevent aggregation/insolubility. Protecting groups used in the latter approach alter peptide conformations. Use of backbone protecting groups is not yet straightforward or predictable and requires significant experimentation for each target polypeptide chain.
There are a number of techniques for ligating unprotected peptide segments via unnatural backbone linkages. In contrast, there are few methods for achieving a "native chemical ligation." A "native chemical ligation" is the chemoselective reaction of unprotected or N-terminal Cysteine protected peptide segments with another unprotected peptide segment resulting in the formation of a ligated peptide with an amide bond at the ligation site. The fully assembled target polypeptides of the invention comprise one, two or more native chemical ligation sites.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for rapid methods of synthesizing assembled polypeptides via chemical ligation of two or more unprotected peptide segments using a solid support, with improved yields and facilitated handling of intermediate products.
The present invention makes possible, inter alia, the rapid solid-phase synthesis of large polypeptides with a natural peptide backbone via native chemical ligation of two or more unprotected peptide segments where none of the reactive functionalities on the peptide segments need to be temporarily masked by a protecting group. The present invention accomplishes for the first time, solid phase sequential chemical ligation of peptide segments in an N-terminus to C-terminus direction, with the first solid phase-bound unprotected peptide segment bearing a C-terminal α-thioester that reacts with another unprotected peptide segment containing an N-terminal Cysteine and a C-terminal thioacid.
Other embodiments of the invention also permit solid-phase native chemical ligation in the C- to N-terminus direction, with temporary protection of N-terminal cysteine residues on an incoming (second) peptide segment. Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the invention may also include the use of nonnative chemical ligation to sequentially ligate peptide segments via unnatural linkages on a solid phase. Alternatively, the invention may include the use of native chemical ligation of peptide segments wherein said peptide segments comprise one or more unnatural backbone linkages.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Solid phase native chemical ligation of unprotected or N-terminal cysteine protected peptides in aqueous solution


A phased array ultrasonic probe assembly includes, in an exemplary embodiment, a housing and a phased array transducer supported inside the housing. The housing includes a first side wall and an opposing second side wall, and a first end wall and an opposing second end wall. The first and second side walls and the first and second end walls define a housing cavity in which the phased array transducer is positioned. The first and second side walls each have an inside surface that include a plurality of projections.

This invention relates generally to ultrasonic inspection of dissimilar metal welds, and more particularly ultrasonic inspection of dissimilar metal welds with phased array transducers.
Pipe welds in, for example, nuclear reactors, have been examined with ultrasonic transducers using 45° and 60° refracted longitudinal waves. These angles have been established as the "norm" based on the weld configurations, ultrasonic theory, and field experience. The pipes are raster scanned in four directions to completely examine the weld volume which is very time consuming. Problems are sometimes experienced with the setup of the manipulator that delivers the ultrasonic transducers to the weld, and more importantly with the contact between the transducers and the specimen being examined. If continuous contact between the transducer and the pipe is not maintained, the scan data collected will be flawed which can result in time consuming rescans or missed defect detections.
Phased array ultrasonic probes have been developed that increase examination efficiency of conventional ultrasonic examination techniques by electronically steering the ultrasonic beam through a given range of angles. One major problem that still exists is the contact between the phased array ultrasonic transducer and the specimen being examined. Complex gimbling mechanisms that apply downward pressure on the transducers have been used to attempt to overcome this problem. However, other issues, for example, improper scanner setup and irregularities in the pipe surface can also effect inspection accuracy.

Phased array ultrasonic water wedge apparatus


A multi-sectional artificial tree with internal and external power wiring for distributing and controlling power to a network of lights. The tree includes multiple tree sections, each tree section with a set of power wires inside a tree trunk, and a network of lighting wires outside the trunk. The network of lighting wires includes a tree-section wire network with a large gauge wire supplying power to groups of lights strings on branches on the tree trunk. Each group of branches has a branch-level lighting network with multiple connectors in series, and that connects to one connector of the tree-section wire network. Each branch-level lighting network powers multiple light strings connected in series, one light string per branch. The wires of the light strings are small gauge, and are connected by the branch-level connectors by a small-wire-to-large-wire connector.

Basic control of lights of decorative lighting products, such as light strings, artificial lighted trees (pre-lit trees), net lights, icicle lights, to create lighting effects such as flashing, color changing, and so on, is well known. However, known systems and methods for controlling such lights remain deficient, as do wiring networks to selectively power and control the lights.


A physical quantity detection element includes a base part, a first connection part and a second connection part respectively extending from the base part in opposite directions to each other along the X-axis, a pair of first drive vibrating arm and second drive vibrating arm and a pair of third drive vibrating arm and fourth drive vibrating arm respectively extending from the first connection part or the second connection part in opposite directions to each other along the Y-axis, a first drive detection vibrating arm and a second drive detection vibrating arm obliquely extending from the first connection part, a third drive detection vibrating arm and a fourth drive detection vibrating arm obliquely extending from the second connection part, and a first detection vibrating arm and a second detection vibrating arm respectively extending from the base part in opposite directions to each other along the Y-axis.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an element that can detect a physical quantity using a vibrating reed.
2. Related Art
In related art, as a physical quantity detection element, Patent Document 1 (JP-A-2007-108053) has disclosed a vibrating reed (a vibrator in the document) including a base part, support parts respectively extending from the base part in opposite directions to each other along an X-axis direction, drive arms (drive vibrating arms) respectively extending in opposite directions to each other along a Y-axis direction at respective ends of the support parts, Y-axis detection vibrating arms respectively extending from the base part in opposite directions to each other along the Y-axis direction, and Z-axis detection vibrating arms respectively extending from the base part in opposite directions to each other along the Y-axis direction. According to the vibrating reed, parasitic oscillations of the Y-axis detection vibrating arms due to a rotation angular velocity around the Z-axis may be suppressed and an error of a measurement value of the rotation angular velocity may be reduced.
Further, there has been a vibrating reed (inertia sensor element in the document) disclosed in Patent Document 2 (JP-A-2006-267094), for example. The vibrating reed has a simple configuration in which vibration units with plural leg parts are provided, and the vibration units respectively extend from a base part in opposite directions to each other along a first direction and further respectively extend from the base part in opposite directions to each other along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. Regarding the vibration units along the first direction, an excitation electrode is provided on one of the units and a detection electrode is provided on the other for detection of the rotation angular velocity (physical quantity) around the first direction. Similarly, the vibration units along the second direction can detect the rotation angular velocity around the second direction.
However, in Patent Document 1, the vibrating reed has the configuration in which the drive arms or leg parts extending along the Y-axis vibrate in the X-axis direction, and may perform only rotation detection around the Z-axis or rotation detection around the Y-axis, but may not perform rotation detection around the X-axis. The same is true in Patent Document 2. Further, these vibrating reeds have configurations in which the drive arms or the vibration units having the excitation electrodes individually extend from the base part, and thus, the connectivity of the respective vibration modes is weak and, for excitation of both vibrations with one oscillator circuit, fine adjustment for bringing their natural frequencies extremely closer is necessary. As measures therefor, a vibrating reed excited by two oscillator circuits is conceivable, however, according to this configuration, there has been a problem that the area of the circuit configuration part becomes larger, and downsizing becomes difficult and the cost increases.

Physical quantity detection element, physical quantity detection device, and electronic apparatus


A process for preparing polyester-polyurethane resin dispersions comprising:                A) reacting                    i) one or more polyol components having a number average molecular weight of at least 300 daltons, at least 60% by weight of component i) being a polyester polyol with the fraction of aromatic carboxylic acid groups relative to all of the carboxylic acid groups used to prepared said polyester polyol being at least 60 mol %,            ii) optionally one or more polyol components having a number average molecular weight of 62 to 299 daltons, and            iii) optionally a compound which is monofunctional for the purposes of the isocyanate polyaddition reaction and has an ethylene oxide content of at least 50% by weight and a number average molecular weight of at least 400 daltons, with            iv) a polyisocyanate to form a prepolymer,                        B) dissolving the prepolymer in an organic solvent,        C) reacting the prepolymer with v) one or more aliphatic and/or alicyclic primary and/or secondary polyamines having a number average molecular weight of 60 to 300 daltons, said polyamine optionally being in combination with hydrazine or hydrazine hydrate, and vi) a hydrophilicized aliphatic diamine,        D) precipitating the product from C) by adding water to form a dispersion, and        E) removing the organic solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to new aqueous polyester-polyurethane dispersions, to coating compositions comprising these dispersions and to the coating materials prepared therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ionically modified polyurethane dispersions and their aqueous formulations are known prior art. One important field of use of aqueous formulations of ionically modified polyurethanes lies in the area of the coating of plastics components.
For years the efforts at weight saving in the passenger car have gone hand in hand with increased use of plastic, in the interior as well. Because of aesthetic and technical requirements, plastics components in the car are normally coated, in order to protect the plastic against external influences, such as sunlight, chemical, thermal and mechanical exposure, in order to obtain certain shades and colour effects, in order to mask defects in the plastic surface or in order to give the plastic surface a pleasant feel (tactility). In order to enhance the tactile properties of plastics components in the car interior, use has been made increasingly in recent years of what are called soft feel coating materials. "Soft feel effect" for the purposes of the present invention denotes a particular tactual sensation (tactility) of the coated surface. This tactility can be described using terms such as velvety, soft, rubber-like or warm, whereas, for example, the surface of a painted car body or else an unpainted polymer sheet or one coated with a customary clearcoat or topcoat material and made, for example, of ABS, Makrolon® (polycarbonate, Bayer AG) or plexiglass feels cold and smooth.
In tune with the trend of avoiding solvent emissions to the environment, recent years have seen the establishment of aqueous soft feel coating materials based on the polyurethane chemistry, as disclosed, by way of example, in DE-A1 44 06 159. As well as an excellent soft feel effect, these coating materials also produce coatings having good resistance and protective effect for the plastics substrate.
It has since been found, however, that even these coating materials do not have adequate adhesion to numerous plastics substrates. In order to remove this drawback, the coating system on high-grade plastics parts according to the present prior art is effected with two or three coats. A coating system of this kind is composed of primer, optionally a basecoat and a topcoat. The primer in this system takes on the function of the adhesion promoter between substrate and coating material.
Accordingly, within the field of the coating of plastics components, there is a demand for products which have not only good soft feel properties but also good adhesion to the substrates. These products can then be used without a primer in a single-coat system.
DE-A1 2 651 506 discloses a process for preparing water-dispersible polyurethanes. The products of this process, however, are unsuitable for use as a single-coat soft feel coating material for plastics components, since they lack the necessary adhesion properties.
Likewise, soft feel coating materials are described in DE-A1 44 06 159. Therein, however, satisfactory adhesion properties of the coating films are not obtained.
The teaching of DE-A1 101 38 765 discloses that the use of polyethers prepared starting from aromatic diols in aqueous polyurethane (PU) dispersions leads to products which in view of their improved adhesion to a variety of substrates are suitable as priming binders. Because of their inadequate tactility, however, the products are not suitable for use as soft feel coating materials.
An object of the present invention was to provide aqueous polyurethane dispersions which have suitability as soft feel coating materials and at the same time have excellent adhesion to plastics substrates.

Aqueous PU dispersions with improved adhesion


A method and apparatus for reusing a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) subframe are disclosed. The method comprises configuring a policy of using unicast on a reused MBSFN subframe; and implementing the configured policy to reuse the MBSFN subframe. By using the above technical solution, it is enabled to implement transmitting unicast services on an MBSFN subframe while achieving a balance between power saving and implementation complexity, without affecting the existing protocol.

Unused MB (multicast broadcast) SFN (single frequency network) subframes can be found in actually used radio resources. The current specification does not support sharing of these subframes. Some schemes have been proposed to reuse these subframes. Some of these schemes propose monitoring all MBSFN subframes. However, such solution has a large power-consumption, while for a user equipment (UE), saving power is an important indicator. Some other schemes propose to send a signaling to indicate reuse of MBSFN subframes in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); however, this solution is complex to implement and meanwhile will affect the physical layer. At the same time, all of these schemes explicitly require re-writing the RAN1 protocol, such that they will affect the entire RAN1 architecture.
Therefore, it is desirable for a solution of reusing MBSFN subframes, which will not cause impact on the current protocol while achieving a balance between power saving and implementation complexity.

Method and apparatus for reusing MBSFN subframes


An apparatus for isolating defects in an integrated circuit using near field scanning photon emission microscopy comprises a photon collector 10 which receives emitted photons 16 from a surface 14 of an energized or biased integrated circuit 12, a CCD camera 20 for converting the photons into an emission image 22, and an optical fiber 18 coupling the CCD camera 20 to the photon collector 10, so that the optical fiber transmits photons from the collector to the CCD camera. As a result, defects in integrated circuits can be isolated with greater resolution than currently available using conventional far field photon emission microscopy.

During the manufacture of integrated circuits, it is important to be able to detect and isolate very small defects caused by leakages, latch-ups, and other problems. Far field photon emission microscopy has been used in the past to detect photon emissions of very low energy from integrated circuits, thereby helping to isolate these types of defects. Although the sensitivity of far field photon emission microscopy is very high, its spatial resolution, being about 0.5 microns, is inadequate to detect many defects, given the fact that integrated circuits are becoming increasingly small and are already in the low sub-micron range. Thus, it is very difficult to obtain adequate resolution beyond 0.5 microns using far field photon emission microscopy.
The ability to improve resolution using far field photon emission microscopy is limited because resolution is dependent on the wavelength of the emitted light and the numerical aperture of the microscope. The resolution of far field photon emission microscopy can only be improved two ways--either by detecting shorter wavelength photons or by increasing the numerical aperture of the microscope. However, most photons emitted by integrated circuit defects have fixed wavelengths. To detect the shorter wavelengths, the integrated circuits can be coated by special materials such as rare earth chelates capable of emitting short wavelength photons, as discussed in Jerry M. Soden, et al., "IC Failure Analysis: Techniques and Tools for Quality and Reliability Improvement," Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 81, No. 5, May 1993, p. 707. However, this kind of material poses radiation problems and is limited in use. In addition, the numerical aperture of a camera is limited by the physical size and focal length of the lens, making it impractical and difficult to increase the numerical aperture to the desirable range.
Laser tips as a source of light have been used in the past for far field collection of light reflected off of the surface of integrated circuits, as discussed in T. D. Harris, et al., "Super-Resolution Imaging Spectroscopy," Applied Spectroscopy, Vol. 48, No. 1, January 1994, p.19A. The light path in such devices may be reversed to perform collection mode near field scanning microscopy. This technique merely collects reflected light, giving a topographical image of the sample. It does not detect defects located below the surface of the integrated circuit.
Integrated circuits have also been analyzed in the past using a multi-step process as described in KLA Instruments Corporation, San Jose, Calif., 1620 EMMI (Emission Microscope For Multilayer Inspection) Operator's Manual, Revision A, June 1990. In one step of this process, the integrated circuit is energized or biased using the proper electrical stimulus, and emitted photons are captured by a conventional lens using far field techniques. In another step, light is shined on the surface of the integrated circuit and the reflected light is captured by a camera. In the final step, the two sets of data are combined. However, the resolution available using this technology is insufficient, being only about 0.5 microns.

Method and apparatus for isolating defects in an integrated circuit near field scanning photon emission microscopy


Sheet resistance, junction leakage and contact conductivity of a semiconductor layer, associated with an ultra-shallow junction layer or metal film are measured by contacting the surface with a plurality of probes. The probes can be used, in conjunction with a four-point probe system, to determine sheet resistivity. Junction leakage through an ultra-shallow junction is determined by establishing a reverse bias across the junction set at a predetermined voltage value, measuring through a first probe a total junction current conduction value, measuring through second, third, and fourth probes a plurality of voltage values. The junction leakage value is then directly computed based on the sheet resistivity value, reverse bias potential, wafer radius, and the measured voltage values. Contact conductivity between a metal film and semiconductor layer can be similarly directly computed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to semiconductor manufacturing test measurement systems and, in particular, to the measurement of sheet resistance and junction leakage associated with p-n junctions and conductivity associated with metal films.
2. Description of the Related Art
The active elements of semiconductor devices within an integrated circuit (IC) are constructed in a succession of semiconductor layers, variously created using deposition and ion implantation process steps, and metal film depositions. These layers, particularly including implanted layers, are sensitive to fabrication-dependent process variables. In order to obtain appropriate electrical performance and process yield, implant fabricated layers must be highly uniform, both physically and electrically. Historically, implanted surface layers have been required to have a minimum and narrowly controlled range of sheet resistivity, ρs, across the surface of a wafer. Metal films are similarly required to have well-controlled film to semiconductor conductivity. Various test devices, including those known as four-point probe measurement devices have been used to measure the value and uniformity specifically of sheet resistivity.
The physical size of semiconductor devices has and will continue to shrink in an effort to improve integrated circuit speed and reduce power consumption. As fabricated active element areas shrink, the depth of the surface layer that contains the active drain and source implant regions, as well as other active regions, must also be decreased. Otherwise, operation of the active elements will become dominated by known short channel and other undesirable effects. A thin surface layer of less than about 500 angstroms can be created using low energy ion implantation followed by a spike or flash annealing, often on the order of one second or less. Such layers are conventionally known as ultra shallow junction (USJ) layers.
Precise production of the thin active element surface USJ layer is essential. Of particular concern is the level of junction leakage current through the ultra shallow junction. In conventional construction, a portion of fabricated drain regions will be defined by the USJ. Lower leakage levels, representing reduced device localized heat generation and overall power consumption, are desired. Given that the active surface layer implantation is performed early in the production of integrated circuits, accurate in-process measurement of both sheet resistivity and junction leakage is particularly desired to avoid the further production cost and time for circuits that will not perform acceptably as finally manufactured.
Another critical processing step occurs with the implantation of heavily doped local regions, commonly referred to as HALO implantations, to control and reduce short-channel effects between source and drain regions. Due to the high doping levels associated with HALO implantations, typically in the range of about 2×1018 to 2×1018 dopants/cm3, the leakage current at the associated ultra-shallow junction can be significantly increased. In-process control of the sheet resistivity and junction leakage properties is therefore highly desirable for HALO implanted USJ layers.
A recent method for in-process monitoring of USJ and HALO implanted layers utilizes a non-contact photo-voltaic propagation measurement to infer sheet resistance and leakage current is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,019,513, issued to Faifer et al. Non-contact is desirable for a number of reasons, including a high test-point rate and reduced measurement damage. Photo-voltaic inducement techniques do, however, have some disadvantages. The physical nature of photo-exited carriers will produce a forward bias across the p-n USJ layer to substrate junction in the range of tens of millivolts. In normal operation, this junction will be reverse biased typically in the range of several hundreds of millivolts to several volts. Test and operation regimes are therefore quite different. Further, in the absence of any actual surface contact, sheet resistivity and junction leakage must be indirectly inferred based on the propagation and attenuation of a indirectly sensed photo induced voltage. Consequently, measurement accuracy as well as the available measurement range of sheet resistance will be limited. The absence of any bias control makes measurement accuracy of junction leakage currents even less accurate. Even then, the photo-induced forward bias precludes any meaningful measurement of the junction leakage contribution due to tunning under reverse bias, as will be encountered in normal operating conditions.

System and methods of measuring semiconductor sheet resistivity and junction leakage current


An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a main body, a fixing device arranged in the main body and supported so that it can be pulled out of the main by for fixing an image formed on one side of a paper, a duplex device arranged in the main body and supported so that it can be pulled out of the main body for once housing a paper having an image fixed on one side and taking it out with the other side having no image fixed facing toward the fixing device; and a coupling unit for coupling so that the fixing device and the duplex device can be pulled out of the main body simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, which serves as an electronic copying machine, equipped with a duplex device enabling the copying of both sides of a paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a model of an image forming apparatus, which is an electronic copying machine, provided with a so-called duplex copying function to copy an image on one side of a paper and then, copy another image on the other side.
This kind of an image forming apparatus is equipped with an automatic duplex device which takes a paper with a developer image fixed on one side by a fixing device once via an auxiliary conveying path, inverse it to change its fixing side and carrying it out again between a photo-conductive drum and a transfer charger.
To be concrete, there is a converting (sorting) gate between a fixing device and a paper receiving tray and this paper receiving tray is arranged at one of the sorted destinations and the automatic duplex device is arranged at the other sorted destination via the auxiliary conveying path.
An electronic copying machine equipped with such the automatic duplex device adopts such a structure that, in order to suppress the increase in the installing space of the main body, the automatic duplex device is arranged almost immediately below the fixing device and these fixing device and the automatic duplex device are connected each other by the auxiliary conveying path.
The auxiliary conveying path is formed in a sharp curved state so as to convey a paper almost in a U-turn state. As a result, such a phenomenon called a jam that a paper is jammed in the auxiliary conveying path tends to be caused.
As the indication of "JAM" is shown on the operation panel at this time, worker is required to remove a jammed paper. Actually, the length of the auxiliary conveying path is shorter than that of a paper and a part of a paper left in the auxiliary conveying path and the remainder of the paper is left in the fixing device and/or the automatic duplex device.
The fixing device and the automatic duplex device are so arranged that they can be pulled cut of the main body, while the auxiliary conveying path comprising conveyor rollers and guide plates is fixed to the main body.
So, worker pulls out the fixing device or the automatic duplex device to this side and remove a jammed paper or takes out the jammed paper by inserting his hand into the main body and takes out the jammed paper without pulling out the devices.
However, even when the fixed device and the automatic duplex device are pulled out, as a part of a paper is left in the auxiliary conveying path in the main body, the paper tends to be cut in the main body. If so, the portion of the paper left in the main body must be taken out and it becomes very troublesome to take out the paper left in the main body.
If the hand is inserted into the main body from the first or later, the inside of the main body is not visible and there is the possibility that the hand may touch other component elements and is injured or other component elements may be damaged.
Further, there are some models in which a fixing device and an automatic duplex device are arranged in series along a paper conveying path and an auxiliary conveying path is omitted. Even in this case, such devices are separately taken out if a paper is jammed and there are the same problems as shown above.


A method for updating electronic business cards (VCards). A receiving terminal which is to synchronize a VCard with a sending terminal is determined. It is determined whether there is an update of a VCard in the sending terminal. If there is an update, the sending terminal sends an updated VCard to the receiving terminal or instructs a third party device to send the updated VCard to the receiving terminal. The receiving terminal receives the updated VCard, and updates a VCard stored in the receiving terminal using the updated VCard.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Presently, content of paper business cards can be made electronic and stored in various terminals. An electronic business card (also referred to as a VCard) generally includes information of a person, e.g., name, nickname, gender, address information, phone number, marital status, workplace, e-mail address, notes, and the like, and may also include a head portrait and an audio clip for self-introduction.
Besides exchanging physical business cards, people now can exchange various VCards. For example, a person may input content of a VCard, or copy a VCard, or capture a photo of a VCard, and send the inputted content or the copy or the photo of the VCard to another person through various means e.g., using an instant messaging (IM) tool, via an SMS or MMS, via a data instruction or the like.

Method and system for updating electronic business cards

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited


In order to measure the movement of a vehicle, especially an aircraft, an imaging optical system 2 which is to be positioned on the vehicle is used to detect an image of the environment 4, and an optoelectronic shift sensor 3 chip of the type comprising an inherent evaluation unit is used to measure any shift of the image from structures thereof. The shift sensor is equal or similar to the sensor used on an optical mouse. The sensor is positioned in such a way that infinite objects are focused. The measuring signal is evaluated to indicate movements and/or the position of the aircraft. The inventive system can also be used to measure distances e.g. in order to control the flight altitude. The invention further relates to methods for automatically controlling particularly a hovering flight by means of a control loop using optical flow measurement.

Conventional remote controlled helicopters, as they are used for hobby purposes or for aerial photography purposes, possess as stabilising device merely a piezoelectric rotation sensor for stabilising motions about the yaw axis by means of the tail rotor, but not about the other axes.
DE 69502379 as well as JP 10328427 describe a regulating control for helicopters, wherein instruments for gravitational acceleration and for angular velocity are present, with which an artificial horizon is formed and the inclination of rotor blades is controlled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,300 measures and controls, in addition to the above, the travelling speed with respect to air (air speed). A ground related control, and especially a stationary hovering, are not possible in all the mentioned cases.
RU 9300250 (Russia) and DE 69507168 describe stabilising systems, in which by means of several light sensors the direction of incoming light is measured and evaluated, in order to obtain an information about and to control the inclination, which may also include detecting approaching objects. Both said systems can only operate correctly in case of uniform illumination and a very even horizon.
EP 0780 807 describes an autopilot which uses conventional instrument s like gyroscopes and which stabilises the flight attitude and the horizontal speeds in a relative manner. However, an absolute measurement or regulation-control of absolute ground related position is not possible.
In order to control for example the flight path of a helicopter, for example to perform a stationary hovering, it is necessary to firstly control the inclination (i.e. roll and pitch angle), and secondly the resulting velocity, both by suitably driving the rotor blade controls. To this end, it is necessary that the inclination as well as the horizontal speed, preferably with respect to ground, are known. For an autonomous flight, it would not be sufficient to just counteract any inclination, because even in this case, the helicopter may not reduce a given speed on its own. Rather it has to be stopped by a well-dosed reverse inclination.
In this respect, the object of the invention is to measure horizontal movements with respect to ground, in order to be able to stabilise them.
DE 69426738 T2 describes a navigation system having an image sensor mounted on a gimbal-mounted table, the image data of which are analysed with respect to shift movements and are integrated to determine the position.
DE 3000654 A1 describes a similar device.
DE 693 10695 T2 describes an evaluation of an image obtained, in the flight position, by one or more cameras. Particular characteristic image portions are continually analysed with respect to their optical migration. Herefrom, a center of these movements, or vanishing point, is determined, and the detected shift speeds are analysed, weighted according to the distance from the vanishing point, whereby distances to the respective ground spots are calculated, for the purpose of navigation.
DE 690 12278 T2 compares presently taken images with a map of formerly stored images for recognition, also with the purpose of navigation. Furthermore it is explained (on page 7) that the optical shift of features, which cannot be correlated with a map, is measured from consecutive images to complete navigation.
FR 2 431 705 (THOMSON) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,650 describe devices for measuring velocity for planes using two lenses projecting two image sections of the ground—one towards the front in the direction of the flight and one towards the rear—onto two photodetection devices, whereby a video signal is generated by each photodetection device, both video signals are synchronized and compared with each other for time displacement by means of a delay measurement circuit and an autocorrelation method such that the velocity can be derived herefrom. The US document additionally measures the yawing angle.
All the five before mentioned methods require a complex image processing and at least one camera. The speed of measuring is limited by the framerate, which is inherent to the camera. With a video camera, this is of disadvantage for a fast attitude control, especially in case of small helicopters. For remote controlled lightweight airborne objects, such methods are of disadvantage because of their weight, the costs, and the limited scanning rate.
DE 41 24 654 A1 describes a method for measuring the orientation of a vehicle on a carriageway with an image forming system and a computerized image evaluation, wherein road parameters like curvature and width of the road are determined by means of recursive estimation methods.
DE 198 35 809 A1 describes a combined mouse for registering movement and simultaneously reading information, which uses a movement detector.
Further optical mouse devices for navigation on a computer screen and their respective shift sensors are described in DE 102 26 950 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,139, wherein image structures which originate from a grained mat are being evaluated in one or more sensor arrays each containing a plurality of pixels and wherein the image shifts are acquired by correlation methods to determine the position on the mat. Due to their optical devices optical mice are suited for scanning microscopic structures of a surface, but not for flight movements, due to their small measurement range and the missing distance to the object.
DE 197 13 945 A1 describes a device for locating movable objects with a photodetector containing partial sensors arranged in rows whose collected signals are processed by image subtraction.
DE 32 29 343 A1 (BOSCH) describes a sensor on a similar basis for relative movements of a vehicle to a reference plain containing photodetectors in a grid structure to measure an image stream occurring due to the relative movement and hence the movement by means of optical structures of the ground. No evaluation circuit calculating shifts is provided, only luminance differences are amplified.
The two last-mentioned methods are based on the effect that a randomly distributed contrast structure results in signals with delayed phases when scanned with several stripe grids during movement. To get reproducible signals however, these system need structures which are randomly but sufficiently evenly spread.
A position measurement by satellite navigation (GPS) has the disadvantage that small movements, as they are important in ground proximity, cannot be detected with sufficient precision. Furthermore, due to weight reasons and cost reasons, the application in toy models is not reasonable.
Object of the invention is a measuring system of the mentioned kind, which operates without the mentioned disadvantages and which precisely detects movements and therefore is also applicable as a measuring device for a stabiliser, in particular is suited for providing actual values in conjunction with a stabiliser, and in particular for airborne objects remotely controlled from the ground.
As solution, the characterising features of the independent claim 1 are provided.
In a further aspect of the present invention it is a further object of the invention to provide a system for flight stabilization, which is particularly suited for hovering airborne objects like helicopters during hovering and which is particularly suited for roll movements and horizontal velocities implicit herewith.
For controlling the flight inclination of a helicopter a measurement value is needed. An inclination sensor based on gravitation and acceleration is not suited since a hovering helicopter always accelerates horizontally during inclinations, and therefore the measurement value of the inclination sensor is always neutrally showing downwards (in on-board coordinates), hence an inclination cannot be measure on board. Integrating the measurement value of an angular rate sensor (gyroscope) has the drawback that firstly unknown initial values occur through integration and secondly drifts are summed up over the time and distort the measurement value as described under FIG. 5 (paragraph 6).
The present invention allows for a precise inclination control, whereby a measurement value for the actual inclination is generated and used as actual value for a feedback control. Herewith, especially for hovering, flight inclination can by controlled automatically as well as in particular horizontal velocity and/or position above ground can be stabilized and held.
With regard to a flight stabilization or attitude control based on a ground-related optical shift measurement (also called optical flow), of all documents mentioned above corresponding state of the art is contained only in DE 693 10 695 T2. Here a control for evasion during rapid flight over obstacles is described, however, no stabilization or attitude control suited for hovering flight is contained. The other documents do not contain any evaluation of an optical image shift and/or relate only to measurement or navigation, but do not contain any open or closed loop control.
WO 2004/025386A1 describes a measurement with 2 angularly offset image sensors ("photo-capteurs") and time difference measurement. It needs 2 cameras and is comparable with FR 2 431 705 (THOMSON). It controls a horizontal forward velocity and a flight altitude by measuring a function of simultaneously altitude and velocity and by controlling lift and inclination. It is suited especially for forward flight movements. It is not suited for stabilization of hovering flight, since then no time difference would occur or could be measured; especially it is not suited for measuring or controlling a roll inclination.
WO 03/067351 A2 measures an angle between a light guide beam and the airborne object upon arrival on a light sensor, and controls the flight inclination herefrom. A guide beam light source is needed, which for example must be attached to a ceiling.
In DE 34 46 447 A1 a mirror attached to the ground reflects a guide beam sent from on board. Hovering of the helicopter is controlled by the arriving light of the reflected beam. However, the mirror must be deployed on that location. No image receiving means and no image evaluation are provided.
For solving this further object, the following are provided.
The optical imaging system may for example be a convex lens, a camera lens, a concave mirror or any image projecting group of lenses.
As the shift sensor, preferably an optical sensor may be employed having a number of photosensitive elements which is low compared to those of image acquisition devices and having an electronic evaluation circuit integrated on the same chip, the sensor being of the sort sometimes known as movement sensors and commonly used in optical mice. Hereinafter, the latter will be referred to as optical-mouse-sensors.
Such a shift sensor contains on a substrate a sensing area made up of a multitude of light sensitive partial areas (pixels), the signals of which are frequently read out, wherein the readout rate may be substantially higher than the frame rate of video cameras. Furthermore it contains on the same substrate an evaluation unit, in which the pixel signals are electronically analysed with respect to displacement. Usually, the displacement may be evaluated incrementally with respect to two orthogonal coordinates, and be outputted as separate values (delta x, delta y). The shift may be resolved in small steps, which for example may be equivalent to the pixel distance. The detection of the sensor may comprise both, the direction and the magnitude of the optical shift (translation).
Commonly used optical-mouse-sensors contain mostly 16×16 or 18×18 or a similar number of pixels in CCD-technology (charge coupled device), in order to recognise a displacement even when image structures of the mouse-pad are distributed at random and irregularly, as for example given by the microscopic fibres of a sheet of paper. The evaluation of the displacement value may be done in that the data of these pixels are continuously and frequently read out, and are correlated to those of a former moment in time of the same sequence, and thereby are compared with respect to their coordinates. The comparison may be carried out using the most recently read data, or using data from an earlier cycle of the same sequence. The data may be temporally correlated with respect to each other. The evaluation process may be carried out digitally program-controlled. It may employ a similarity algorithm. To this end, the individual pixel's luminance signals may at first be divided into few discrete steps of luminance, whereby the amount of information to be analysed is reduced. An adaptation to the average image brightness may be included, in that the shutter time is varied, and/or in that the pixels are analysed with regard to at least one shared reference value, which is adapted to the average brightness. Methods of this kind allow the evaluation process to function correctly even if backgrounds or surroundings are of varying brightness.
Shift sensors, even if originally designated only for application in optical mice and for the navigation on computer screens, according to the present invention may advantageously be utilised as sensors, in that they are combined with the described optical means imaging remote objects. Thereby, their application for scanning of remote objects in free space is possible.
In most cases, the illumination of the objects may be achieved solely by use of the ambient light.
Further advantages of sensors having their light sensitive array and their electronic evaluation circuit on the same chip, particularly when using them in micro size aircraft, are their low costs, their low weight, and their high rate of evaluation, furthermore much less electric power consumption as compared to systems with video camera and discrete image evaluation.
As an advantage of a comparably small number of pixels, the fast scanning rate is to be mentioned, as compared to systems, which need a TV-camera or video camera. The smaller the aerial vehicle is, and thus the faster it reacts, the more important is the sampling rate, for a sufficiently fast working attitude control of aerial vehicles. By doing away with the high amount of data of a video signal, one benefits from a larger process speed, in return. The shift sensor may be operated with a clock frequency substantially lower than the clock frequency designated according to the data sheet. This allows for longer exposure times and thus a higher light sensitivity. When lowering the clock frequency to values of 75% to 10% (of its original), or even less, one still obtains a data rate substantially faster than in case of video cameras.
Contrary to the application of a shift sensor inside an optical mouse, the apparatus according to the present invention has to be designed for coverage of substantially larger and more distant objects. However, there might be provided a supplementary optical device in addition to the optical device used in an optical mouse, which is dimensioned in such a way that, in cooperation with the present lens, it will produce the imaging defined in the independent claim 1. This may be carried out, for example, by an additional concave lens, for example according to Barlow's principle, or by image projection into an intermediate image plane.
Advantageously, the imaging optical system may be focused to infinity, or even better to such a distance, from which, including the depth of sharpness, a range of sharpness from infinity to a shortest possible object distance results.
The focal length may be chosen according to the required angular resolution, based on the spatial resolution defined by the sensor. The choice of focal length may also take into account the obtainable depth of sharpness (range of depth of field) and the maximal measuring range with respect to velocities. A focal length suitable for application in remote controlled small helicopters is within the range of 7-25 mm, preferably about 10-12 mm. Thereby, a sufficient angular resolution, a sufficient velocity measurement range as well as a suitable depth of sharpness ranging from about 20 cm to infinity is obtained. Here, the term 'focal length' means the lens property, not its distance to the image plain.
The invention's combination of the imaging optical system 2 with a shift sensor 3, resulting in a sensor-unit 5, has a cone-shaped coverage range reaching to the free space outside the apparatus, whose angular width is defined by the size of the shift sensor's total light sensitive area and the focal length of the imaging optical system. Unlike systems which use imaging devices like video cameras, the descriptions which follow mostly neglect the angular width of the coverage range, and only consider the optical axis or main direction 11 of the imaging, hereinafter referred to as "line of sight".
According to the invention, structures and contrasts of the ambiance, of the ground, or of other distant objects are optically imaged onto the shift sensor. Generally, the textures required by the described shift sensor, in order to detect a shift, may origin from any kind of contrasts, which are featured by a part of the surrounding or the terrain, due to surface textures, details, contours, or similar features. These may for example stem from the borders of distinct objects, or by optical roughnesses on its surface, similar to the operation of an optical mouse. Almost all visible structures, which usually occur in an image of the ground, contain enough such contrasts, structures and texture, so that the described shift sensor may detect an image translation also during flight. Exceptions are water surfaces, fog or continuous snow cover.
With the apparatus mounted at a vehicle, for example an airborne object, its movements become measurable, as is subsequently described in points a) to d) without being restricted hereto.
Generally, rotation (a) and translation (b) of the vehicle both can be measured, since both types of motion cause a migration of the direction of optical incidence of the virtual image into the imaging optical system.
Due to the imaging, incident angles are transformed into a proportional image shift on the shift sensor, and thus may be measured. Thereby, the focal length of the imaging optical system is the proportionality factor.
Depending on the arrangement and design of the present invention, different measurands of position and orientation of the vehicle may be measured:
a) For measuring rotations of the vehicle, for example roll, pitch and/or yaw, the sensor device is mounted in such a way that the line of sight, or at least a vector component thereof, is directed transverse to the rotational axis, and in the sensor the image shift is measured along the component orthogonal to the rotation axis. For stabilising flight movements or for avoiding undesirable fluctuations, a closed loop control may be established, in addition, by utilising the measured value for the generation of a control value, by an actual-value-versus-target-value-comparison, and the control signal being transferred to the relevant steering device to effect the correction. For stabilising the heading, a suitable arrangement is aslant forward-downward and/or backward-downward.
Furthermore, by scanning the direction of a target, a tracking may be achieved. To this end, a closed loop as described is provided. The control value can effect a tracking, in that it controls the alignment direction, or, as a result of this alignment, also directs the course towards that target. In both cases, the alignment direction of the scanning device is affected by and is subject to a self-regulated loop. This may be used for target tracking, even if the object is moving by itself. To this end, the line of sight is at first directed onto the target; this alignment is maintained by the regulation-control.
Another application is tracking the optical device by means of own servo-motors. This may be used for stabilising a camera for moving pictures and for photo. Advantageously, several types of disturbing movements may be stabilised: firstly, the wobbling movements of the vehicle or airborne object, respectively, secondly the image section's drift off caused by the drive, and thirdly a possible motion of the target object itself. Conventional gyroscope stabilisers may compensate only for the first kind of influences. Another advantage is, as described above, the substantially faster reaction of a shift sensor, as compared to the frame rate of the moving picture recording. The described apparatus may also be adapted for general use without being confined to a vehicle. In this respect, a sensor unit, equivalent to the apparatus according to claim 1, is mounted together with a camera onto a camera platform which is movable by servo motors, and the sensor-unit is moved along with the camera.
b) For measuring translation movements, the optical line of sight, at least with a vector component of it, is directed transverse to the direction of the motion to be measured. The amount of detected image shift is proportional to the distance travelled by the vehicle. The equivalent is applicable for the respective velocities. Furthermore, the image shift, according to the beam geometry, is inverse proportional to the distance along the line of sight, and proportional to the focal length, and proportional to the sine of the angle between movement direction and line of sight.
If only translations are to be measured, the rotational influences described under (a) may be disturbing. The optical measurement signal may be purged from these influences, in that a rotational signal, which represents the rotation, is combined by calculation with the shift sensor signal. The rotational signal can be obtained easily, for example by using another measuring instrument, for example a gyroscope. Depending on the polarity, the combining by calculation may consist of a subtraction, an addition, or generally speaking a mixture. Signals may have been treated beforehand, for example differenciated or integrated. This compensation method spares the gimbal mount for an optical receiver (the latter usually being a video camera there), used by the cited state-of-the-art.
For measuring horizontal flight movements of an airborne object, the line of sight may be fixed downwards with respect to the fuselage. Then, provided a normal attitude is present, the measurable direction of optical incidence of the detected ground textures deviates on account of the horizontal flight movement. Consequently, a closed loop control as described above, applied to horizontal motion values, allows for stabilising the horizontal movements, for example the ground speed or the position versus ground. In case of a helicopter, this can be used to horizontally stabilise the hovering flight, in that the cyclical rotor blade control is actuated.
As mentioned, the horizontal measurement value is inverse proportional to the viewing distance. In order to obtain a measurement value independent thereof, a distance-measuring instrument may be utilised, and the optical speed-measurement signal, after optionally having been purged from attitude influences, may be multiplied by a factor which is increasing continuously with increasing measured distance—at least in a sub-area of possible distance range. For measuring the distance, a microwave-radar or ultrasound-radar may be applied, as known in car backing collision sensors or from auto-focus cameras, or an optical distance sensor according to the light scanner principle, for example as described in DE 4004530. However, this altitude compensation may be omitted or carried out to a reduced extent only, for example, in case the measured value is used only for a stabilising loop control. In a helicopter, a hovering stabilisation was obtained using a PID-control-loop without altitude compensation, which, depending on loop-amplification-adjustments, worked very precise with any ground distances within a quotient ratio of 1:10, and still fairly well within a ratio of 1:30.
If this compensation is omitted, an advantage results in that the measurement is more sensitive and therefore the control works the more "firm" the lower the flight altitude is. Given a fixed target value for the (uncompensated) velocity, the real velocity will be automatically reduced in ground proximity. This behaviour has the additional effect that in the point of time, when the speed is reduced, due to the conversion of kinetic energy, a simultaneous upward movement is caused (except when tailwind is faster than groundspeed). Therefore, while horizontally cruising over ground elevations, a collision is avoided by instantaneous ascending. This behaviour may also be obtained with altitude compensation present, namely by delaying, with respect to time, the altitude signal used for compensation.
c) When the velocity is approximately known, a distance, for example, towards ground or towards an object may be measured as well. To this end, the optically measured signal is taken as the reciprocal value of the distance. For example, a known velocity may be divided by the optically measured speed value. If this value is used in a control loop, the division can be omitted, if the target value is already defined as a reciprocal value.
One application is the control of ground distance of airfoil planes. Since the horizontal speed is approximately known and usually more or less constant here, a measure for the present flight altitude above ground is obtained, even when flying over elevations. Thus, an early detection of approach is possible, and an avoiding of collisions with visible objects is possible. The flight altitude may be controlled or limited to a minimum ground distance. To this end, the line of sight may be adjusted aslant forward-downward, in order to obtain a temporal advance. Instead of with respect to the ground, distance may also be measured with regard to an object positioned there, forming for example an elevation.
d) Generally, movements may be measured in various different coordinates and be set into relation with respect to each other. In this way, mixed measurands may as well be separated from each other, as in the embodiments described below and in FIGS. 2 to 4. Furthermore, it is possible to measure distances and distance variations along a combined line of sight as well. This allows for a measuring of a climbing rate or a declining rate, respectively, or a recognition of approach.
Herein, the various measurands are generally called 'motion related measurands'. This is applicable for local as well as angular values. Motion related measurands may be of static type, as for example position, distance or attitude, and/or of dynamic type, as for example velocity and acceleration. Accordingly, the terms 'motion', 'rotation', translation', 'inclination' etc, are always used in a general sense here, i.e. for positional values as well as for their respective rates of change.
Motion related measurands may be measured with respect to the ground, or to ground related, moving or other flying objects. According to the invention, the output signal of the optical sensor, hereinafter referred to as 'sensor signal', may be utilised and evaluated in several ways, as described in the following. Optical mouse sensors for each of their two coordinates frequently have a quadrature output, delivering an incremental signal on 2 lines, wherein each shift is signalised, pursuant to its direction, as a step or a multitude of steps. Likewise, a serial data link or any other kind of signal transfer might be used for data output. Frequently, each data read-out gives out the number of steps of change, which occurred since the last readout.
Using appropriate evaluation, various information may be obtained, for example, but not limited to a) direction and velocity or angular velocity, respectively, of motion, i.e. alteration rates, b) the extent of motion, i.e. position values or angle values, c) acceleration values.
a) Alteration rates may be created by differentiating with respect to time. This conforms to a frequency measurement of the occurring incremental shift steps. To this end, in a sensor outputting the shift in form of distinct incremental steps, the frequency of these steps is measured, for example the frequency of the outputted quadrature-signals.
It is preferable if the velocity measurement value be produced continuously or at least quasi-continuously. For producing a suitable velocity measurement, within continuous time intervals, which may preferably be chosen to be small, the respective sum of occurring steps per interval including their sign is used, for example by a step-up/step-down-counting or by reading the sum changed since the last output, then dividing the respective obtained sum by the length of the interval. If intervals constantly have equal length, division may be omitted. Alternatively, for each step of change of the signal, the time span since the preceding step of change may be obtained, the reciprocal therefrom may be taken, and be provided with a sign corresponding to the direction of change.
In addition, the frequency value obtained in this way may be re-computed already prior to the arrival of the next alteration. To this end, after expiration of a period of time corresponding to the frequency, the frequency value is reduced, continuously or in steps, to become a value corresponding to the reciprocal of the presently expired waiting time, if the reciprocal is smaller than the last frequency value.
b) Position values may be created by up-counting/down-counting or summing of the incremental steps of the sensor signal, for example by counting the steps, corresponding to their directions, or integrating the increments, comparable with the usual operation of a computer mouse on a screen.
Alternatively, or in combination herewith, the position may be obtained by continuous integration of a frequency value with respect to time, which itself may be produced as explained above. This makes it possible that the above described compensation of the influences of other movements on the measurement may be compensated already prior to the integration process, thus the integrated results are obtained in already compensated form.
Depending on the embodiment, various measuring possibilities with respect to position measurement result as well. With the line of sight being directed downwards, a measure for ground related location measurement is obtained.
Using a measured value from the apparatus according to the invention, a control loop may be established, in which a measured value is utilised in a regulating controller 7 for generating a control value, which controls the movement. To this end, the methods known as PID may be used. Actual values may be any measured values generated according to the invention, i.e. velocity-related as well as position-related values, or a partial mix. Additionally, single or multiple integral and differential values may be produced and included. For example, a repeated differentiating of the frequency measurement value will provide a value for the acceleration. In addition, a PID-control may include the use of proportional, differentiated and/or integral portions of signals from other instruments on board, for example a piezo gyroscope.
Manually given control signals may be superposed to the regulating control circuit's output signal (control signal), so that the manual control is supplemented and stabilised. The manual control signals may also be included to the regulating control loop as a target value, for example by mixing them into the input, whereby a target-value-to-actual-value-comparison results, wherein the target value stems from the manual signal. A detailed description of a regulating control circuit will follow, see the first embodiment and FIG. 5.
Concerning remotely controlled airborne objects, the parts needed for control may fly along (onboard), or may be disposed at ground and be connected by means of radio communication.
Instead of an optical mouse sensor, other optoelectronic devices may be used as shift sensor as well.
Especially in connection with the described attitude control, any method providing an output signal for optical flow, e.g. by means of evaluating a video image for current shifts, can be employed.
It is a further possibility that the shift sensor may comprise at least two adjacently disposed photoelectric light receivers, the distance of which, with respect to each other, corresponds to or about resembles an order of magnitude corresponding to the quarter of the wavelength of spatial frequencies numerously present in the image of ground structures. The moving of the optical structures induces phase-shifted alternating signals in the light receivers. These alternating signals are supplied/lead into a circuit, which analyses the temporal differences and/or phase differences. A circuit of this kind may be a time comparison circuit as it is used with direction-sensitive photoelectric relays or a phase comparison circuit. A circuit of this kind detects based on the phase position, which of the two signals hurries ahead of the other or drags behind the other, respectively, and thereby detects the direction of motion, and to a certain degree of precision, the velocity. Further, the circuit may correspond to an incremental analysis according to the quadrature principle, and therefore may be constructed in analog or digital manner. On the other hand, the measurement precision of such a device is usually smaller than that of a shift sensor provided with array and integrated analysing electronics, because the captured section of the ground structures is smaller.
The optical image may optionally be amplified by means of a residual light amplifier or another interposed optical device, before it reaches the shift sensor.
All signal processing operations and calculation operations described may be effected digitally, for example in a program-controlled microprocessor or may be realized in an analog circuit. Several of the partial methods, which are described here or are indicated in the claims may be combined to one combined process and/or may be carried out by one shared processor.
The described procedures may also operate with infrared light. Accordingly, the wording "sight", "light" and "image/imaging" always includes all optical types of radiation.
To be applied in darkness, the respective apparatus may be combined with a light source. Preferably, it radiates in a directed manner, and is directed towards the position to be sampled.

Optical sensing system and system for stabilizing machine-controllable vehicles


A chip resistor includes a metal resistor element made in the form of a chip that includes an upper surface, a lower surface, two end surfaces, and two side surfaces. Two electrodes are formed on the resistor element to be spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction of the resistor element. Each of the electrodes is formed directly on the resistor element and extends continuously from the lower surface onto the upper surface via a corresponding one of the two end surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip resistor and a method of making a chip resistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 16 shows a conventional method of making a chip resistor (see JP-A-2002-57009). In this method, first, as shown in (a) in the figure, two metal plates 90′ and 91′ are prepared. Then, as shown in (b), the metal plate 91′ is bonded to the lower surface of the metal plate 90′. Then, as shown in (c), part of the metal plate 91′ is cut away by machining to form a gap 93. Then, as shown in (d), a solder layer 92′ is formed on the lower surface of the metal plate 91′. Then, the metal plates 90′ and 91′ are cut as shown in (e), whereby a chip resistor B is obtained. The chip resistor B manufactured in this way includes a pair of electrodes 91 on the lower surface of the resistor element 90 which are spaced from each other via the gap 93. To enhance the solderability in the mounting process, a solder layer 92 is formed on the lower surface of each of the electrodes 91.
Generally, in incorporating a chip resistor in a circuit to make a product, it is preferable that part of solder adheres to an end surface of the resistor element of the chip resistor to form a solder fillet. The bonding portion at which a solder fillet is formed has a high bonding strength, and the electrical conduction at the bonding portion is reliable. Thus, the bonding condition can be easily determined by checking the presence or absence of a solder fillet from the outside. That is, when the presence of a solder fillet is observed from the outside, it can be determined that the chip resistor is properly mounted. Conversely, when the presence of a solder fillet is not observed from the outside, it can be determined that the chip resistor is not properly mounted.
In the above-described chip resistor B, e.g. Ni—Cu-based alloy, Cu—Mn-based alloy or Ni—Cr-based alloy is used as the material of the resistor element 90. However, these alloys do not have a sufficient solder wettability, so that it is difficult to form a proper solder fillet directly on the two end surfaces of the resistor element 90. Although the solder layer 92 is provided on the lower surface of each electrode 91, the provision of the solder layer 92 is not sufficient for forming a solder fillet. When the chip resistor B is to be surface-mounted on an object by reflow soldering, cream solder is applied in advance to a portion of the object to which the chip resistor B is to be mounted. However, when the amount of the cream solder is insufficient, a proper solder fillet is not formed. In this way, a solder fillet is not reliably formed in the conventional method.
Further, the conventional method of making the chip resistor B requires the steps of bonding the metal plates 90′ and 91′ together and machining the metal plate 91′. These are troublesome work which takes relatively a long time, so that the making efficiency of the chip resistor B is deteriorated.

Chip resistor and method of making the same


An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a function capable of performing a cursor display suitable to a feeling of handling. A cursor is permitted to move to not only a position in the noticed area on a two-dimensional image, but also to another position. When the cursor moves to the another position, an available area closest to the position of the cursor shifted is selected as the noticed area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus wherein ultrasounds are transmitted in a direction along a scan line extending within a subject and ultrasounds reflected on the respective points on the scan line are received to form received signals is sequentially repeated on a plurality of scan. Thereby, in the present invention, an image signal carrying image information on a tomographic plane formed by the plurality of scan lines inside the subject is produced on the basis of the received signals derived through those operations, and a two-dimensional image based on the image signal thus derived is displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, there has been used an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for diagnosis of diseases of viscus inner organs or the like within a subject, and particularly, within a human. Such a device has operated by means of producing and displaying a tomographic image of the inside of the human body and a blood flow distribution image on the tomographic plane on the basis of received signals derived through transmission and reception of ultrasounds with respect to the subject.
In such an ultrasonic diagnostic system, for example, there are displayed two-dimensional images such as the above-mentioned tomographic image and blood flow distribution image, and in addition a cursor superposed on the two-dimensional images. In some case, it happens that there is a need to move the cursor on a screen through operations of a handler, for example, a track ball, a mouse and the. Such a movement is needed, for example, to select one among a plurality of scan lines appearing on the two-dimensional image, or select one among a plurality of areas which are formed on each of the plurality of scan lines in such a manner that the respective scan line is divided into a plurality of partitions.
Hereinafter, in a case where one scan line is selected from among several of scan lines, the selected scan line is referred to as a "noticed area". Each of a plurality of scan lines, which are possible to be selected in the form of the noticed area, is hereinafter referred to as a "processing unit area". On the other hand, in a case where each of a plurality of scan lines is divided into a plurality of areas, and one area is selected from among the thus divided plurality of areas, the selected area is referred to as a "noticed area", and each of a plurality of areas, which are possible to be selected as the noticed area, is referred to as a "processing unit area".
As a case in which it is necessary to designate a noticed area from among a plurality of processing unit areas, for example, there are considered the following cases. One is that a two-dimensional image representative of a tomographic image or a two-dimensional image representative of a blood flow distribution image is displayed, and a predetermined point (noticed area) of the displayed two-dimensional image is designated so as to observe changes with time of a blood flow in the designated noticed area. Another is that a two-dimensional image representative of a tomographic image is displayed, and one scan line (noticed area) of a plurality of scan lines constituting the two-dimensional image is designated so as to observe changes with time of a one-dimensional ultrasonic reflection intensity distribution (boundary site of internal organs or the like) in the designated noticed area (one scan line).
By the way, a plurality of scan lines on a two-dimensional image have discrete intervals between adjacent scan lines. Also in a case of setting up a plural of processing unit areas possible to be designated on one scan line as the noticed area, those plurality of processing unit areas are set up at discrete sites on the one scan line.
Consequently, when the noticed area is designated by the cursor (from among such discrete processing unit areas), as a display position of the cursor, there is permitted only a position superposed on any of the processing unit areas.
However, if the display position of the cursor is permitted to be only a position superposed on any of the processing unit areas, then this causes an intermittent movement of the cursor on a display screen. Thus the movement of the cursor is not synchronized with an operation of the handler. Thus, there arises the problem that an operator will experience a sense of incongruity. Specifically, for example, in case of a sector scan, the scan lines are close near the surface of the human body (as the subject), while the scan lines are scattered at a site the deep within the subject. In this case, when it is intended to move the cursor to another scan line, a movement of the cursor will be different, in spite of the same operation of the handler. That is, the cursor movement will differ between a case in which the cursor is located in an area corresponding to an area near the surface of the human body (as the subject) within the subject and a case in which the cursor is located within an area corresponding to an area deep within the subject. This causes an operator to experience a sense of great incongruity.

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for cursor control