Embodiments of the present description provide methods for increasing the concentration of carboxymethylcellulose alkali solutions that are particularly suitable for use in a high solids paper coating, barrier materials, etc. Generally described, the method includes dissolving carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and an alkali salt in water to obtain an alkali solution of CMC. The CMC desirably has a degree of substitution less than about 0.9. The alkali solution of CMC includes CMC in a concentration greater than about 9.8% by weight, has a pH from about 7.5 to about 11, and is characterized as having a viscosity of less than about 5,000 mPa.

CMC is an anionic water-soluble polymer that is used in a variety of industrial and consumer applications. CMC generally is obtained from cellulose (e.g., from cotton linters, wood pulp, or other cellulosic sources) by substitution of at least a portion of the hydroxyl groups for carboxymethyl ether groups and may have a degree of substitution ("DS") of as high as 3.0, and a molecular weight ranging from about 30,000 to 1,000,000 Daltons.
Due to its ability to impart rheological properties, improve water retention, and improve the efficiency of optical brighteners, CMC is a popular additive in the paper and board industry, especially for coating, sizing, and base web manufacturing. In paper and board coating processes, CMC is added as a pre-dissolved solution (typically having 6 to 12 wt % CMC) into the coating makedown composition, which usually includes inorganic pigments, organic binders, and additives such as dispersants, optical brighteners, crosslinkers, lubricants, and dyes. The coating compositions usually have a solids content between 63 and 70 wt %, depending on the type of coating composition and the type of coating machinery being used; however, coating compositions having both higher and lower solids contents also are used in practice.
Not wishing to be bound by any theory, it is believed that coating compositions having high solids contents are preferable to improve quality and productivity, for example, by improving coating coverage and gloss while decreasing the amount of water that must be evaporated (i.e., thereby reducing drying energy) from coatings. When increasing the target solids content of the coating composition, higher solids contents also are required for the solutions of raw materials used to prepare the coating composition.
The existing solutions of pre-dissolved CMC having a low solids concentration generally will not enable formulation of a high solids content coating composition (e.g. such as 70 wt %), and typically limit the amount of CMC that can be used in the coating composition required for paper coating. Although dry addition of CMC to a high solids pigment slurry could resolve these issues, mills would need to have handling systems for powders, adequate manpower to add the powder by hand, or a mixing system capable of imparting sufficient shear to disperse the powder throughout the solution.
Alternatively, existing solutions of pre-dissolved CMC having a high solids concentration generally produce high-viscosity solutions (e.g., greater than 5000 mPas, measured on a Brookfield RV at 100 rpm and 50-60 degrees Celsius) that are difficult to process on traditional equipment, e.g., in pumping or screening processes.
CMC also can be used as, or to make, a surface treatment, such as a barrier material. Barrier materials containing CMC can be oil and grease resistant, oxygen resistant, or both. Common film coating technologies used to form barrier materials in the shape of a film include a size press, a metering size press, and various curtain coating technologies. For each of these technologies, solution up-take is an important parameter that depends, at least in part, on the viscosity and/or solids content of the polymer solution that is used. Not wishing to be bound by any theory, it is believed that uniform barrier materials, especially films, result from a high enough coat weight, good film hold-out, or both. These properties may be more easily obtained by making a barrier material with CMC solutions of higher concentration. Currently, a higher concentration of CMC in solution is frequently achieved by degrading the CMC using various enzyme technologies. The enzymes, however, typically decrease the molecular weight of the CMC so drastically that the resulting barrier materials do not have very good film hold-out and penetrate into a base web.
Solutions previously have been proposed to provide stable, concentrated, aqueous CMC suspensions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,537 to Burdick describes aqueous CMC solutions having decreased viscosity that include at least 33 weight percent potassium carbonate. However, the high concentration of potassium carbonate required limits the usefulness of these solutions in applications and makes these compositions undesirable for high CMC solids content applications.
Thus, there remains a need to provide a method for preparing low-viscosity, high CMC solids compositions. More particularly, there remains a need to develop CMC products that can be used to prepare solutions having higher solids content than normal paper coating grades and maintaining traditional CMC coating benefits while providing greater flexibility to prepare higher solids coatings using existing CMC equipment and makedown procedures.

Compositions having increased concentrations of carboxymethylcellulose


An image sensor generates an image signal with a differential response to image light. The image sensor has an array of photosites divided into standard photosites and non-standard photosites. A limiter provides the standard photosites with a predetermined standard response to a light exposure and the non-standard photosites with a predetermined slower response to the same light exposure. The standard photosites and nonstandard photosites both sparsely sample the array in a predetermined pattern.

Image sensing devices, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD), are commonly found in such products as digital cameras, scanners, and video cameras. These image sensing devices have a very limited dynamic range when compared to traditional negative film products. A typical image sensing device has a dynamic range of about 5 stops. This means that the exposure for a typical scene must be determined with a fair amount of accuracy in order to avoid clipping the signal. In addition, oftentimes the scene has a very wide dynamic range as a result of multiple illuminants (e.g. frontlit and backlit portions of a scene). In the case of a wide dynamic range scene, choosing an appropriate exposure for the subject often necessitates clipping data in another part of the image. Thus, the inferior dynamic range of an image sensing device relative to silver halide media results in lower image quality for images obtained by an image sensing device.
An increase in the dynamic range of an image sensing device would allow images from digital cameras to be rebalanced to achieve a more pleasing rendition of the image. Also, increasing the dynamic range of an image sensing device would allow for more pleasing contrast improvements to the image, such as is described by Lee et al. in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,333.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,858 (Ikeda) provides a complete description of the problem of the limited dynamic range of image sensing devices. In addition, Ikeda describes methods of extending the dynamic range of an image sensing device by utilizing multiple image signals, each with different responses to exposure. These multiple signals are combined by using thresholds, which determine which signal is of higher quality at each position in the image signal to form an image signal having extended dynamic range. Ikeda improves upon these methods by describing a method by which these thresholds are determined for each color.
However, these prior art methods, including Ikeda, require multiple image signals to form an image signal having extended dynamic range. Attaining such multiple signals can cause difficulty. For example, if the multiple image signals are not captured simultaneously, objects moving in the scene or motion of the camera may produce artifacts in an image signal having extended dynamic range. Additionally, if the image signals are captured simultaneously but on separate image capture devices, then a correspondence problem exists. Moreover, the additional hardware adds undesirable cost to the imaging system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,770 to Cornuejols discloses a device, in which a flat screen modifies, on a pixel by pixel basis, light received by a sensor.
U.S. Published Patent Application 2003/0052976 describes a photographic device having photosites of different sensitivities, controlled by drive voltages. Different exposure times can be imparted to the photosites.
Thus, there exists a need to improve upon the method of the prior art in order to improve the dynamic range of an image sensing device. Specifically, there exists a need to produce an extended dynamic range image signal with a single image sensing device and a single image signal.

Method and apparatus to extend the effective dynamic range of an image sensing device


A picked up image acquisition unit acquires a picked up image obtained by picking up an image of a region including a projection region projected by a projector. A recognition processing unit executes a recognition process of a card included in the picked up image. A projection image generation unit generates a projection image to be projected by the projector on the basis of the card recognized by the recognition processing unit. An instruction detection unit detects an instruction for the card. The recognition processing unit detects an object different from the card and provides detection information of the detected object to the instruction detection unit. The instruction detection unit then detects an instruction for the card from the detection information of the object provided thereto. The projection image generation unit generates a projection image on the basis of the instruction for the card.

PTL 1 discloses an image projection system that includes a card to which a marker is applied, a projection apparatus that projects an image to the card, a card detection sensor for detecting the marker applied to the card, and a processing apparatus. The processing apparatus acquires a position at which the card is disposed using a result of detection of the card detection sensor, and the projection apparatus projects an image associated with the card.

Processing apparatus and projection image generation method


Compositions comprising a polyester resin and a polyamide derived from a dicarboxylic acid with 6-22 carbon atoms and from m-xylylene diamine having high-level gas barrier properties, obtained by mixing in the melted state the polyester resin premixed with a dianhydride of a tetracarboxylic acid and the polyamide, operating under conditions such as to render the polymeric components theologically rheologically compatible with each other. The compositions are suitable for preparing containers and biaxially-orientated films.

Aromatic polyester resins are used in ever-increasing amounts in the production of beverage containers and films.
The barrier properties of aromatic polyester resins are rather limited. In the case of containers for carbonated beverages prepared from said resins, the possibility to preserve the beverages for a sufficiently long time is uncertain.
Polyamide resins have remarkable mechanical properties, but they have the drawback that they have a high moisture absorption which reduces their properties.
Polyamide resins are normally used mixed with aromatic polyester resins in order to improve the mechanical characteristics of the latter. The presence of polyester resin in the mix reduces the moisture-absorbing tendency of polyamide resins.
Mixing the resins, however, is difficult because of their poor compatibility in the melted state.
In order to obtain better mechanical properties and to avoid peeling in products, it has been suggested to mix the resins in the extruder in the presence of a dianhydride of a tetracarboxylic acid (JP 1-272660 Kokai).
Pyromellitic anhydride is the preferred compound.
The mechanical properties of the resulting mixtures can be improved further by subjecting the mixtures to a solid-state polycondensation treatment (WO 94/09069).
Among polyamides, the most commonly used polyamides, such as nylon 6 and 66, have slightly better gas barrier properties than polyester resins such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and copolyethylene terephthalates such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and copolyethylene terephthalates containing small proportions of units derived from isophthalic acid.
However, a polyamide obtained from m-xylylene diamine and adipic acid (poly-m-xylylene adipamide, poly MXD-6) is known as having considerable gas barrier properties (in relation to oxygen and carbon dioxide) which are distinctly better than those of polyethylene terephthalate.
This polyamide is used in mixture (obtained in an extruder) with PET or COPET in order to improve their barrier properties.
The oxygen permeability of a 1.5-liter PET bottle (produced by injection blow-molding) is reduced by approximately 50% when the bottle is obtained from a mixture which contains 16% by weight of polyamide and by approximately 20% when it contains 7% polyamide by weight.
The barrier properties of the 16% polyamide mixture are similar to those of a bottle formed of a two-layer film, one layer being PET and the other one being polyamide.

Polyester resin blends with high-level gas barrier properties


A method is provided for forming one or more electrical conductors in a multilayer structure such as a computer component during a punching operation. A conducting sheet is placed in direct contact with a sheet of a deformable dielectric material. A punch is used to form a conducting slug from the sheet and to simultaneously transfer the slug into the dielectric material. During the transfer operation, a portion of the dielectric material is displaced so as to cause a mechanical interference between the slug and dielectric material.

This invention relates to the manufacture of dielectric substrates, particularly multilayer substrates, which include electrically conductive, semi-conductive, resistive, or capacitive elements such as pads, pins, or vias, which substrates may then be used in a computer component.
In the fabrication of high performance computer hardware, it is known practice to attach semiconductor chips to ceramic or plastic chip carriers which contain wiring elements interconnecting individual chips mounted on the same carrier and which contain provisions for electrically connecting the chips to external devices. It is also known practice to fabricate carriers having more than one layer, described variously in the art as multilayer carriers, multilayer modules, multilayer substrates, or multilevel substrates, hereafter referred to as multilayer substrates. Such multilayer substrates consist of one or more layers or sheets of a dielectric material which form insulating levels together with alternating layers consisting of individual co-planar, or essentially co-planar, conducting elements which form circuit pattern levels. A preferred feature of a multilayer substrate is a means for interconnecting the individual co-planar conducting elements from one side of a given insulating layer with the conducting elements on the opposite side of the same insulating layer by passing directly through the insulating layer so as to form a complete circuit path from one circuit pattern level to another circuit pattern level. Such an interconnecting conducting element, also known as a via, allows for the crossing of one conductor over another conductor where the insulating level is interposed, thus providing for a greater number of possible independent circuit paths and also for increased circuit density.
There are several methods for fabricating the interconnecting conducting elements which pass through the insulating layer. These fabrication methods include lithographic processes similar to those used for semiconductor chip fabrication, and mechanical processes which include the steps of punching holes in the insulating layer and then adding material to form conductive structures passing through the holes. Methods for adding such material may include the filling of the holes with metallic pastes or the insertion of metal pins or similar structures. Of the several methods, mechanical processes are preferred because of cost.
One method of forming and transferring electrically conductive elements is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,854,074. This patent discloses a method of punching a conductive sheet and transferring the formed conductive element into a conductive substrate so as to displace a portion of the conductive substrate material. One disadvantage of the method as applied to the fabrication of multilayer substrates is the requirement for a die member which must be interposed between the conductive sheet and the conductive substrate.
A method of forming and transferring electrically conductive elements into an insulator is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,919. This patent discloses a method of forming an electrically conductive element by punching a conductive sheet and transferring the formed conductive element into an aperture in an insulator. A related method of forming and transferring electrically conductive elements into an insulator is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,049. This patent discloses a method of forming an electrically conductive element by punching a conductive sheet and transferring the formed conductive element onto, but not through, an insulator. A similar method is disclosed in German Patent DT 2,734,461 wherein a plurality of electrically conductive elements are formed by punching a conductive sheet and simultaneously transferring the formed conductive elements into previously formed perforations in an insulator. As in the previous art, one disadvantage of each method as applied to the fabrication of multilayer substrates is the requirement that a die member be interposed between the conductive sheet and the insulator.
The present invention is a method of forming and transferring electrically conductive, semi-conductive, resistive, or capacitive elements from a sheet of conducting material or a sheet of conductive, semi-conductive, resistive, or capacitive elements into a deformable dielectric material. If desired, a plurality of sheets of deformable dielectric material with the conductive elements therein may be stacked to form a multilayer substrate. The sheet of conducting material or the substrate may also be perforated or partially perforated. The sheet of conducting material may include sheets which comprise a clad or a porous material. The dielectric material may be perforated, partially perforated, or not perforated. The method comprises the steps of providing a multilayer structure comprising a sheet of a conducting material which is in direct contact with a sheet of a deformable dielectric material, followed by the use of a punch or similar element to form one or more slugs from the sheet of conducting material and then to immediately transfer the slug into the dielectric material. In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the method may include the additional step of displacing a portion of the deformable dielectric material so as to cause an interference fit between the slug and the dielectric material. In another preferred embodiment, the method may include, in addition or alternatively to other preferred embodiments, the step of aligning the punch or the multilayer structure with respect to the other. In yet another preferred embodiment, the method may also include the use of a porous conducting material to form the slug, which may be advantageous in the subsequent formation of metallurgical connections to the porous slug. Furthermore, the method may include the use of a clad conducting material to form the slug so as to cause a clad slug to be transferred. Articles produced by the method described herein may optionally have a means for electrically connecting to semiconductor chips attached thereto, or for electrically connecting to external devices.
Accordingly, one intended use of the present invention is as an improved method for the forming and transferring of one or more electrically conductive, semi-conductive, resistive, or capacitive elements into a deformable dielectric material which is useful in the fabrication of multilayer substrates for mounting semiconductor chips, where the improved method has the advantages of manufacturing process simplicity and reduced cost. In addition, the present invention may be useful in manufacturing or processing a variety of substrates, which may include, without limitation, sheets, moldings, castings, composite structures, integrated circuits, semiconductor chips, interconnect devices, multilayer chip carriers, circuit boards, component parts of thermal conduction modules, and other electronic substrates, and which may be perforated, partially perforated, or not perforated. Other advantages of the present invention are that the method may be useful for fabricating parts at a high rate, or that the method may be useful for fabricating parts having high circuit densities, or that the method may be useful for fabricating parts having precisely located conductors.
Additional uses and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to the skilled artisan upon reading the following detailed description of the invention and the preferred embodiments, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method of direct transferring of electrically conductive elements into a substrate

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is intended to provide a polishing method for a chamfered portion of a semiconductor silicon substrate, wherein edge relief of an oxidized silicon layer and/or an extrinsic gettering layer, and mirror polishing of chamfered portion can be performed at the same time for the semiconductor silicon substrate having the oxidized silicon layer and/or extrinsic gettering layer on the bottom thereof. The semiconductor silicon substrate is tilted at a designated chamfered angle .theta. with respect to an axis of a buff being mounted in a polishing apparatus to mirror polish the chamfered portion on one side. Then, the semiconductor silicon substrate is reversed, and the mirror polish is performed for the chamfered portion on the other side. A mean diameter of the colloidal silica constituting the polish liquid is 50.about.150 nm, the pH value of the polish liquid is 10.about.11, a specific gravity at 20.degree. C. is 1.about.1.5, and a concentration is 30.about.50 wt %. The increase of mean diameter and grain number of the colloidal silica constituting the polish liquid being provided to the polishing portion, makes the polishing way be called as mechanical polishing preferable to chemical polishing. Hence, the edge removing of the oxidized silicon layer which was considered difficult to accomplish in the past is now easy to accomplish. A groove with a shape corresponding to the shape of the chamfered portion of the substrate can be formed on the circumference of the buff. The substrate is pushed into the groove so that polishing of both sides can be performed at the same time.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a method of polishing the chamfered portion of a semiconductor silicon substrate.
2. Description of Prior Art
When a thin film is formed on the surface of a semiconductor silicon substrate by epitaxial growth, before carrying out the epitaxial growth procedure, an oxidized silicon layer 1a is formed on the bottom surface of the above silicon substrate 1 by a method such as atmosphere CVD and so on, as shown in FIG. 6(a), to prevent the auto-doping of re-diffusing impurities within the substrate into the above growing layer. The oxidized silicon layer 1a covers not only a flat portion of the bottom surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate but also the chamfered portion around its circumference. Nodules are generated in epitaxial growth while the oxidized silicon layer 1a is formed on the above chamfered portion. The nodule is an abnormal product of epitaxial growth due to the shape of circumferential portion and the surface grain of the semiconductor silicon substrate 1. The nodules cause particle defects while the device is being formed. Therefore, edge relief is necessary to remove the oxidized silicon layer covering on the above chamfered portion. Referring to FIG. 6(b), the edge relief should adhere a protecting tape 5, which is slightly smaller than the shape of the bottom surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate 1, to the oxidized silicon layer 1a of the semiconductor silicon substrate 1 to protect the oxidized silicon layer 1a and to expose the circumferential portion. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6(c) the semiconductor silicon substrate 1 is cleaned by etching liquid such as fluoroacid and so on to remove the circumferential portion of the oxidized silicon layer. Furthermore, when the extrinsic gettering polysilicon layer and the oxidized silicon layer are formed on the bottom surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate to remove the impurity, the polysilicon layer and the oxidized silicon layer on the circumferential portion of the semiconductor silicon substrate must also be removed. Next, the protecting tape 5 is detached, on the chamfered portion a mirror polish is performed, and the semiconductor silicon substrate is cleaned.
Recently, demand for the mirror polishing of the chamfered portion of a semiconductor silicon substrate has increased. However, for the semiconductor silicon substrate having an oxidized silicon layer formed on the bottom thereof, the edge relief and the mirror polishing of the chamfered portion after CVD have to be carried out separately. Thus, two kinds of apparatus are required, and the working procedures are increased. The protecting tape being attached on the semiconductor silicon substrate while in edge relief has to be littered, which increases costs. Moreover, the cleaning has to be performed twice due to the edge relief and the mirror polish
Colloidal silica is used as polishing agent for lapping the chamfered portion of the semiconductor silicon substrate. However, it is difficult to remove the oxidized silicon layer formed on the semiconductor silicon substrate by colloidal silica. FIG. 7 illustrates the degree of polishing amount generated by carrying out the polishing of the oxidized silicon layer of the semiconductor silicon substrate (SiO.sub.2 part) and the portion exclusive of the oxidized silicon layer (Si portion) with colloidal silicon during a certain period of time. The variation of polishing amount for the Si portion (A in the drawing) depends on the variation of polish liquid pH value which demonstrates an effect of the combination of the chemical polishing and mechanical polishing,however the polishing amount of the SiO.sub.2 part (B in the drawing)is less than half that of the Si part, which is constant regardless of the pH variation. Accordingly, chemical polishing of the oxidized silicon layer cannot be expected to be effective, and polishing can only be achieved by the mechanical procedure. The oxidized silicon layer can be easily removed if SiC is used as abrasive grain, but the surface of the semiconductor silicon substrate roughs and a mirror polish cannot be obtained.

Method of polishing a chamfered portion of a semiconductor silicon substrate


The invention relates to an axle fixation, an axle plate (5), and an axle link (2) for a sprung vehicle axle. The components of the axle fixation are a preferably tubular axle body (1), an axle link (2) which crosses the upper face and lower face of the axle body, the axle plate (5) which is arranged in the crossing region between the axle body (1) and the axle link (2), and traction elements for pulling the axle body (1) and the axle link (2) against each other, thereby deforming the axle plate (5). The axle plate (5)—is provided with two contact points (A, B) on the first side of the axle plate for supporting against the axle link (2), said contact points being mutually spaced in the longitudinal direction of the axle link (2), —has at least one deformation region (10) between the two contact points (A, B), and—is provided with a jaw (14) on the second side of the axle plate, said jaw comprising a jaw base (15) and two jaw units (11, 12) with inner surfaces (11A, 12A) which face each other and which are oriented towards the front and back face of the axle body (1), respectively. The aim of the invention is to obtain an axle fixation or an axle plate (5) with few degrees of freedom in the composite system consisting of the axle body, the axle link, and the axle plate arranged therebetween. This is achieved in that the contact points (A, B) of the axle plate (5) are designed as support regions (21, 22) which form a flat “V”, preferably forming an angle from 170° to 177.5°.

The invention relates to an axle connection for a sprung vehicle axle having a preferably tubular axle beam, axle guides which cross the axle beam on its upper or underside, an axle plate which is arranged between the axle beam and the respective axle guide, and tension elements for pulling the axle beam and the axle guide against one another with deformation of the axle plate, the axle plate                being provided on its first side with two bearing locations which are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction and at which the axle plate is supported against the axle guide,        having at least one deformation region between the two bearing locations, and        being provided on its second side with a mouth with a mouth base and two jaws with inner faces which face one another, the inner faces being directed against the front and the rear side of the axle beam.
Furthermore, the invention relates to an axle plate which is suitable for an axle connection of this type, for arranging in the crossing region between an axle beam and an axle guide of a vehicle, which axle guide guides said axle beam, which axle plate                is provided on its first side with two bearing locations which are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction for support against the axle guide,        has at least one deformation region between the two bearing locations, and        is provided on its second side with a mouth with a mouth base and two jaws with the inner faces which face one another.
Furthermore, the invention relates to an axle guide which is likewise suitable for an axle connection of this type, having a supporting region for the pivotable support of the axle guide with respect to the vehicle frame, an axle connecting region for connecting the axle guide to the axle beam, and a fastening region for a pneumatic spring, the axle connecting region having two bearing locations which are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction of the axle guide for supporting corresponding bearing locations of an axle plate which is arranged between the axle guide and the axle beam.
An axle connection of this type using an axle plate which is arranged between the axle beam and the axle guide in their crossing region is known from EP 0 810 109 B1. The axle plate is of deformable design in its center and is provided with two strip-shaped pressure faces on its first side which faces the axle guide. Bending of the axle plate in the deformation region and clamping of the axle beam between two jaws on the second side of the axle plate occur as a result of the application of a tensile force by means of tension elements which are designed as U-hoops.
FIG. 1 shows the axle connection according to EP 0 810 109 B1 in the mounted state, that is to say with tightened U-hoops. The axle plate 5 bends in its deformation region 10, as a result of which its two jaws 11, 12 pivot somewhat, and the inner faces 11A, 11B of the jaw clamp against the front and the rear side of the axle beam 1. After the beginning of the deformation, contact exists between the axle plate 5 and the axle guide 2 only on the inner edges (denoted by A and B) of the otherwise strip-shaped pressure faces. The two locations A and B are to this extent linear pivoting bearings during the pivoting of the jaws 11, 12. One disadvantage of this design is that high local surface pressures occur in the contact region between the axle plate and the axle guide despite the actually strip-shaped pressure faces. The retaining forces in the longitudinal direction of the axle beam as a result of friction and therefore non-positive connection are also transmitted only along the contact lines. In addition, a degree of movement freedom perpendicularly with respect to the surface of the axle beam remains in the contact region, with the result that the assembly comprising the axle beam, the axle guide and the axle plate which is arranged in between has more degrees of movement freedom than are desirable for a secure axle connection.
The invention aims for an axle connection for a sprung vehicle axle with fewer degrees of freedom in the assembly comprising the axle beam, the axle guide and the axle plate which is arranged in between.


The present invention includes a method of delivering programming over an interactive television or televideo (IT) system. The IT system includes a central control node that delivers programming to multiple subscribers or viewers. Each viewer has a video display set (e.g., a television receiver) and an associated interactive controller in communication with the central control node and that is responsive to input from the viewer for controlling programming on the video display set. With reference to a preferred embodiment, the method of this invention includes allocating dedicated programming services among the viewers associated with the IT system. The dedicated programming services may be allocated according to the available resources of the IT system, the relative values of different dedicated programming services, or both. As a result, the method of this invention minimizes disruption of dedicated programming services and particularly those of highest value or priority.

Conventional cable and satellite television transmission is evolving into interactive television or televideo (IT) systems. IT systems combine the video broadcast capability characteristic of conventional broadcast television with computer-executed applications or programming responsive to input from viewers. By some estimates, programming available from IT systems under development could include the equivalent of 500 channels of video broadcasting and unlimited numbers of interactive applications.
Conventional television broadcasting transmits a common or universal video signal simultaneously to all viewers associated with the network. In traditional aerial television broadcasting, each television station transmits a television signal corresponding to the programming available on one channel. In traditional cable television broadcasting, a cable television network operator receives video signals from multiple separate television stations or providers and rebroadcasts the various video signals on different channels of the cable television network. In both types of traditional broadcasting, the broadcaster controls the schedule for transmitting the universal television programming.
In contrast to such centralized scheduling of conventional universal television programming, IT systems provide dedicated programming services that transmit dedicated programming to individual viewers at times they request. An example of such dedicated programming services is sometimes referred to as video-on-demand (VOD). A VOD service transmits dedicated programming (e.g., a motion picture) to a viewer at a time requested by the viewer. A related dedicated programming service is preview-on-demand (POD). A POD service functions in cooperation with a VOD service, for example, to provide viewers with dedicated previews of programming available from the VOD service.
In one IT system implementation, available dedicated programming is stored in a digital format within a memory system in the IT system. In response to the viewer request, the IT system retrieves the selected programming from the memory system and transmits the programming to the viewer. In this type of implementation, the IT system uses a variety of IT system components such as computer processors, memory systems, and programming transmission systems to deliver programming to viewers.
IT system components or resources, like any physical system, have capacity limits. IT systems typically will not include resources sufficient to provide universal simultaneous transmission of dedicated programming to all viewers subscribing to the system. Such resources would be uneconomical and unnecessary because of the low probability that all subscribers would request dedicated programming services simultaneously. Accordingly, IT systems will include resources for providing dedicated programming transmission at some partial level of viewer usage, probably not exceeding regular peak levels of service. As an estimate it is expected IT systems could have resources to provide simultaneous transmission of programming to between 10 and 40 percent of system subscribers.
A consequence of such a system configuration is that viewer demands for dedicated programming services will sometimes exceed the IT system resources from providing such services. Under these circumstances, some requests for dedicated programming services would not be met. In some possible implementations, excessive demands on the dedicated programming service could result in disruption of programming delivery to some or all viewers. However, disruption of programming is highly undesirable.
In other implementations, dedicated programming services could be provided on a first-come, first-served basis according to the sequence in which viewers request the dedicated programming services. However, different dedicated programming services are expected to have premiums associated with them. For example, transmission of a conventional preview available from the POD service might generate for the IT system operator 10 units of revenue that is paid as an advertising fee by the programming provider. In contrast, a current-release motion picture available from the VOD service might generate for the IT system operator 200 units of revenue that is paid by the viewer requesting the programming. Accordingly, a disadvantage of a first-come, first-served basis of allocating resources is that dedicated programming of relatively low value (e.g., previews could dominate the dedicated programming service to the exclusion of higher value programming (e.g., full-length programming).

Resource allocation method for interactive televideo system


An example operation may include one or more of connecting, by an identity server, to a blockchain configured to store an identity trait of a user, retrieving, by an identity server, the identity trait from the a blockchain, establishing, by the identity server, a trust group homomorphism digital signature algorithm (DSA) for the user associated with the identity trait based on a public key PK1, creating, by the identity server, a zero-knowledge proof function with a public key PK2 based on a DSA member of the trust group homomorphism for witness data, providing, by the identity server, the witness data to a challenger for the zero-knowledge proof function, and receiving, by the identity server, a validation of the user as a proved user based on execution of the zero-knowledge proof function based on the witness data.

In today's world, blockchains are used for wide variety of applications. A blockchain is a Cryptographic Distributed Ledger (CDL). A distributed ledger is ledger that is replicated in whole or in part to multiple computers. The CDL can have at least some of these properties: irreversibility (once a transaction is recorded, it cannot be reversed), accessibility (any party can access the CDL in whole or in part), chronological and time-stamped (all parties know when a transaction was added to the ledger), consensus based (a transaction is added only if it is approved, typically unanimously, by parties on the network), verifiability (all transactions can be cryptographically verified).
A distributed ledger is a continuously growing list of records that typically apply cryptographic techniques such as storing cryptographic hashes relating to other blocks. A blockchain is one common instance of a distributed ledger and may be used as a public ledger to store information. Although, primarily used for financial transactions, a blockchain can store various information related to goods and services (i.e., products, packages, status, etc.). A decentralized scheme provides authority and trust to a decentralized network and enables its nodes to continuously and sequentially record their transactions on a public "block", creating a unique "chain" referred to as a blockchain. Cryptography, via hash codes, is used to secure an authentication of a transaction source and removes a central intermediary. A blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a continuously-growing list of records in the blockchain blocks, which are secured from tampering and revision due to their immutable properties. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block. A blockchain can be used to hold, track, transfer and verify information. Since a blockchain is a distributed system, before adding a transaction to the blockchain ledger, all peers need to reach a consensus status.
Because of the distributed nature of a blockchain, it can be used to store user identity traits that may be used later for validation of the identity of the user. However, trusted information in a blockchain may be used to access resources or provide proof of an event. The problem with this use of trusted information lays in a distributed nature of a blockchain because user secret information may be distributed to others and the user must rely on their security processes. Obviously, limiting the distribution of secret information is paramount. Some conventional solution use zero knowledge proofs and non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs concepts for generation of random numbers used as a witness seed. The problem with these solutions is that the witness seed implementation is limited based on the fact that the witness data is not connected to the user identity trait data. Furthermore, the identity data may be encrypted with one key derived from the witness seed and may be revealed by an intruder who obtains the key. For example, a digital user driver's license data (e.g., name, date of birth, license number, etc.) is hashed together and encrypted with one key. However, the user may not want to provide or distribute the entire set of data traits from the digital user driver's license to get validated and much rather use only one data trait element as a witness for validation.
Accordingly, what is needed is an efficient automated method for storing user identification traits in a blockchain in a way that the identity of the user can be stored more securely and can be reliably verified to be trusted using witness data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Trusted identity solution using blockchain

International Business Machines Corporation


A rotary internal combustion engine has a circular inner chamber, which houses a plurality of cylinders with reciprocating pistons that move in a radial direction towards and away from the center of the inner chamber. A flywheel with distinct vanes or portions is positioned for rotation about a central axis of the inner chamber. A gear assembly operationally connected to the reciprocating pistons forces the flywheel to rotate and impart torque to a central shaft extending though the inner chamber.

The convention internal combustion engine used as a power source in the industry has one or more cylinders with pistons moving within the cylinders; the cylinders are arranged in a straight line, one after another, or in a V configuration. Such engines are inefficient as a large amount of power is lost in moving the pistons up and down along the line before the energy reaches an output shaft. Conventional internal combustion engines have valves that regulate the intake of the fuel, valve screws, rockers, lifters, timing belts, head gaskets, and other elements that constitute the structure of the engine; these elements, while required, increase the expense while not substantially increasing the output energy.
Rotary type engines overcome some of the problems associated with conventional reciprocating piston engines. Rotary piston engines are different types of internal combustion engines and consequently require less space for operating the motor-driven machinery. The most popular rotary engine is the so-called Wankle rotary engine, which has a piston with a triangular cross-section. The piston rotates in a specially shaped cylinder. Since the cylinder is irregularly shaped, it has problems with sealing, which translates into high fuel consumption and lower input to output energy ratio.
There is room, therefore, for improving a rotary internal combustion engine. The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with conventional engines and provision of a novel rotary engine that occupies less space and has higher input/output energy ratio.


A planar antenna (20) includes a radiating body (21), a feeding portion (22), and a first metallic ground plane (24). The radiating body includes a first radiating portion (212) extending away from the feeding portion and a second radiating portion (214) extending away from the feeding portion next to the first radiating portion. The first radiating portion includes an open end (2122) disposed at an extending end of the first radiating portion to point toward the second radiating portion, and a connecting portion (2124). The second radiating portion includes a free end (2144) disposed at an extending end of the second radiating portion to point toward the first radiating portion, and an end (2146) connected to the connecting portion. A first gap (26) is formed between the open end and the free end. The open end, the first gap and the free end are aligned with one another.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to antennas, and particularly to a planar antenna.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless communication devices, such as mobile phones, wireless cards, and access points, wirelessly radiate signals via electromagnetic waves. Thus, remote wireless communication devices can receive the signals without the need for cables.
In a wireless communication device, the antenna is a key element for radiating and receiving radio frequency signals. Characteristics of the antenna, such as radiation efficiency, orientation, frequency band, and impedance matching, have a significant influence on performance of the wireless communication device. Nowadays, there are two kinds of antennas, built-in antennas and external antennas. Compared to the external antenna, the size of the built-in antenna is smaller, and the body of the built-in antenna is protected and not easily damaged. Thus, the built-in antenna is commonly employed in wireless communication devices. Common built-in antennas include low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) antennas and printed antennas. The LTCC antenna has good performance at high frequencies and at high temperatures, but is expensive. A common type of printed antenna is the planar inverted-F antenna. Compared to LTCC antennas, planar inverted-F antennas are small, light, thin, and inexpensive. Accordingly, planar inverted-F antennas are mostly used in wireless communication devices.
In general, the planar inverted-F antenna is a printed circuit disposed on a substrate for radiating and receiving radio frequency signals. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a conventional planar inverted-F antenna. The planar inverted-F antenna disposed on a substrate 10 includes a metallic ground plane 20, a radiating part 30, an open-short transforming part 40, and a feeding part 50. The metallic ground plane 20 is laid on the substrate 10, and includes an opening 60. The radiating part 30 includes an open end 31 and a first connecting end 33. The open end 31 terminates the radiating part 30.
The open-short transforming part 40 is connected between the radiating part 30 and the metallic ground plane 20, and includes a second connecting end 41 and a third connecting end 44. The third connecting end 44 is connected to the metallic ground plane 20. The second connecting end 41 is connected to the first connecting end 33 at a joint portion 70. The feeding part 50 is connected to the joint portion 70, for feeding signals. The feeding part 50 is connected to a matching circuit (not shown) through the opening 60.
In recent years, more attention has been paid on development of small-sized and low-profile wireless communication devices. Antennas, as key elements of wireless communication devices, have to be miniaturized accordingly. Although, the above-described planar inverted-F antenna is smaller than an external antenna, it is still too large for newer smaller wireless communication devices, and the profile of the above-described planar inverted-F antenna cannot be further reduced. Therefore, what is needed is another planar antenna with a miniaturized compact profile and better performance.


In a traveling transmission in which an auxiliary transmission is interposed between a main clutch and a mechanical transmission, the auxiliary transmission is configured such that power transmission is cut out interlockingly with the disengagement operation of the main clutch. For example, the auxiliary transmission is configured as a high-low speed selector device including a hydraulic-operated first hydraulic clutch and a spring-operated second hydraulic clutch. Preferably, there should be provided a controller for changing the position of a direction switching valve for the first and second hydraulic clutches based on the operation of an operating member such as a pedal for disengaging the main clutch. According to the present invention, it is possible to shorten a time required for a speed change operation by the mechanical transmission and, also, to achieve a smooth operation by the mechanical transmission.

The above-described type of traveling transmission has been well known, as disclosed in JP-A 2000-352446. In a transmission disclosed in the above publication, a pair of auxiliary transmissions, i.e., a front-back travel selector device and a high-low speed selector device are interposed between a main clutch and a multi-speed-stage mechanical transmission.
However, in the conventional transmission, the auxiliary transmission is kept in a transmission state when the main clutch is disengaged during a speed change operation by the mechanical transmission. With the above configuration, inertial rotation is continued in the auxiliary transmission when the main clutch is disengaged, thereby applying an inertial mass of the auxiliary transmission to the mechanical transmission. Therefore, there has arisen an inconvenience that a time is required for the speed change operation in the mechanical transmission, or that a gear shift shock or an abnormal noise occurs in the mechanical transmission.
One object of the present invention is to provide a novel traveling transmission for a working vehicle without raising those problems experienced in the conventional art.

Traveling transmission of working vehicle


A liquid crystal display (LCD) device, an array substrate in the LCD device, and a method of manufacturing the array substrate are proposed. The LCD device includes an array substrate, a color filter (CF) substrate, and a liquid crystal (LC) layer sandwiched between the array substrate and the CF substrate. A voltage-applying circuit, an auxiliary wire, and a first test pad are disposed on the array substrate. The auxiliary wire is adjacent to the voltage-applying circuit. The auxiliary wire and the voltage-applying circuit are made of the same unit and undergo the same process. If the reference wire is examined to be defective, it could refer that the voltage-applying circuit might have a fault after references and comparisons. So the array substrate could be controlled or repaired, reducing the number of defective products.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and more particularly, to an LCD device, an array substrate, and a method of manufacturing the array substrate.
2. Description, of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, an LCD device in the conventional technology comprises an array substrate, a color filter (CF) substrate, and a liquid crystal (LC) layer sandwiched between the array substrate and the CF substrate. One kind of LCD device comprises a test pad, an auxiliary circuit, and a semiconductor array circuit. The three components are disposed on the array substrate. The auxiliary circuit comprises a voltage-applying circuit The voltage-applying circuit is connected to the semiconductor array circuit and the test pad.
During the PSVA (polymer stabilized vertical alignment) process step, the periphery of the CF substrate is cut so that the test pad on an active area of the array substrate could be exposed. Afterwards, voltage is applied to the test pad so that an electric field could be generated between the CF substrate and the array substrate via the voltage-applying circuit Afterwards, monomers in the LC layer sandwiched between the CF substrate and the array substrate are illuminated or heated so that a deviation of the LC orientation could be generated (that is, a pretilt angle could be formed), which would bring about the LC alignment.
However, the voltage and the circuit might be abnormal during the PSVA process step. Due to the abnormality, no electric field would be generated between the CF substrate and the array substrate; the LC molecules would not be deflected or aligned normally, either. Accordingly, the manufactured LCD device could not show images normally. The LC molecules could respond much slower as well. Moreover, the PSVA process is irreversible, which means that it is impossible to repair the LCD device in the subsequent processes. There would be a severe waste.

LCD device, array substrate, and method of manufacturing the array substrate

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


An improved manure transfer system is disclosed. A collection hopper is located at a first location, preferably within a building, for collecting manure and animal waste products from the building. A piston pump apparatus directs and forces the collected manure through a pump cylinder into a below-grade transfer conduit that carries and deposits the manure through a discharge outlet located at a remote, second location. Means for bypassing the pump piston and cylinder are provided for accessing the transfer conduit enabling safe servicing and maintenance of the system. Isolation means are provided at the conduit discharge outlet for isolating the outlet from accumulated manure at the second location.

Economical, efficient and reliable automated methods of removing liquid and semiliquid manure from barns or other animal housing structures have been the subject of many inventions over the years. Early systems used simple paddle conveyor systems for pushing or pulling the manure at or above ground level out of a building, along gutters or troughs formed in the building floor, or by using belt conveyor-type structures. More recent techniques have found it advantageous to directly pump the manure from a building through underground conduits, to remotely located storage reservoirs or collection sites. Such systems typically utilize collection hoppers located below the building's floor, into which manure and waste from the building's floor is pushed or scraped. Reciprocating hollow piston pumps have typically been used to force the manure from the collection hoppers into the underground conduits, for transport through the conduit to the remotely located collection sites.
The general principles of such manure transfer techniques and a detailed description of a pumping system for accomplishing the transfer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,311, hereby incorporated by reference to the extent that such patent is needed to provide a background for this invention. The principles broadly described in that patent are still in use today. A number of variations of the basic concept have been configured over the years, primarily with respect to the piston and pump configurations used in such systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,341 describes such a system which utilizes a pair of vertically oriented pumps; whereas U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,115 describes a pump configuration that "pulls" the manure up from the bottom of the collection hopper and into the transfer conduit, rather than pushing the manure downwardly into the conduit.
While each different such system enjoys certain benefits over others, they all share the common principle of using a generally submerged pump cylinder and piston combination that may require repair from time to time. Heretofore, such repair has been very difficult and time consuming since the piston and cylinder are not readily removable from the collection hopper. Further, such removal can be dangerous, as for example, when a piston becomes wedged or stuck in the cylinder which would require removal of both the piston and its associated cylinder from the hopper. Since the pump cylinder in which the piston reciprocates generally has an outlet flapper valve that prevents back-flow of manure through the cylinder and back into the hopper, removal of the cylinder generally eliminates the back-flow safeguard. This can be particularly dangerous in situations wherein a clogged conduit has enabled manure gases within the conduit to create a back-pressure in the conduit, or in cases wherein there is a significant back-pressure head existing in the transfer conduit due to the fact that the manure is being transported and stored to a reservoir that is physically located higher than the conduit and collection hopper assembly. There have been instances in such situations wherein removal of the pump cylinder and piston has enabled back-flow of manure through the system with such force that it has entrapped operators in the collection hopper or caused them to become entangled in the pump assembly, and has resulted in the back-flow of thousands of gallons of material from the storage reservoir, back into the building. Similarly, the existence of pressurized gases within the line can create dangers to an operator, besides posing a problem due to their explosive nature.
Another problem not effectively addressed by prior art systems, is the handling of blockages in the transfer conduit. Such conduits often extend many hundred of feet below grade, and are only accessible through their respective ends. Due to the inconsistency of the manure and waste carried by the conduits, which most often includes straw and bedding material, such foreign materials have a tendency to compress in the transfer conduit when under pumping pressure, and to block the conduit. Such blockage "plugs" of up to 15 feet or more are commonly found. Most often, such blockages occur when there is significant back-pressure from the collection reservoir at the conduit outlet, caused by a relatively filled reservoir. While it is most desirable to empty the reservoir prior to clearing the blockage from the conduit, such emptying is not always possible under winter or severe environmental conditions.
To clear a plug from the line, it is often desirable to inject fluids under high pressure into the line to dislodge or break up the blockage plug. It is generally not feasible to enter the conduit through the storage reservoir discharge end. To be effective, such high-pressure jet should impinge directly upon the plug, which may require insertion of a high-pressure hose and nozzle into the conduit through the piston and cylinder. Such conduit entry through the piston/cylinder negates the back-flow safety feature of the cylinder, since the back-flow valve of the cylinder is held open by the hose running therethrough. If the system does not have an effective back-flow valve at the discharge end of the conduit, or if the discharge end is stuck open, once the plug is dislodged with the high-pressure jet, there is no means for preventing free back-flow from the reservoir, through the conduit and open cylinder/piston, back into the building.
Another tendency of such manure pump and transfer systems is their tendency to collect sediment and residue in the transfer conduit leading from the pump to the remotely located storage reservoir. Since such systems necessarily have slow flow rates of material through the conduit, sediment can collect relatively quickly, and provide restriction or blockage problems to the system. Other than for the same technique used with blockages, of feeding a high-pressure line through the pump/cylinder assembly and down through the line to flush the system, prior art systems do not provide any effective means for flushing such residue from the manure transfer line.
This invention addresses the above-described shortcomings of prior art systems. The unique system configuration of this invention allows back-pressure to be relieved within the transfer conduit and for ease of removal of material from the conduit so that the pump piston and cylinder can be accessed and/or safely removed for repair. The present invention also enables for high-pressure flushing of sediment from the conduit or for removing blockage plugs, without disabling the back-flow safety features of the pump cylinder mechanisms. As will become apparent upon a more detailed description of the present invention, such features and benefits are provided for manure pumps and systems of varied designs and configurations.


A circular dividing table includes a brake assembly, in which the piston return spring urges the annular piston with the bottom face of its annular groove. The piston retracts backward and the floating pad return plate contacts the bracket extending inward within the cylindrical bore of the floating pad, thus urging the floating pad backward. Due to the backward displacement of the floating pad, the floating pad is forced to retract from the brake disc. Using a circular dividing table equipped with such a brake assembly, it is possible to release the clamping members forcibly and to make the action of clamping or unclamping precise and conducted with a high responsive speed.

In a circular dividing table for a machine tool, the shaft connected with a circular table and driven by a drive motor must be aligned precisely at a desired angular position and then be clamped by a clamping device. In this regard, an apparatus is known in which a DD(direct drive) motor is used as the drive motor and an electromagnetic brake is provided in place of a friction brake as the clamping device(see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2007-125640, for example).
A friction brake of a clamping device is composed of, for example, a brake disc secured integrally with a shaft and clamping members to be pressed against the brake disc. In this, a circular dividing table is known in which a clamping member driven by a piston actuated with air pressure is pressed against the brake disc and the circular dividing table is aligned at the predetermined angular positions (see Japanese Patent No. 3713190, for example). In the circular dividing table disclosed in the above mentioned patent, clamping members on the movable part are driven and pressed against the brake disc to clamp it, after which a return spring acts so as to release the clamping members and return them to the original position.
However, said arrangement is not preferable in which the clamping member is released and returned to the original position by a return spring. This is because of the fact that the action of the arrangement becomes unstable due to the deterioration of the return springs caused by metal fatigue etc. or the retardation of the action may occur due to troubles in mechanism such as poor lubrication. In this regard, some measures are taken such as to use a return spring of a larger spring constant, but such measures suffer from a limitation in the view point of machine design.

Circular dividing table for machine tool


A low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulator that includes an error amplifier which compares a reference voltage with a feedback voltage of an output voltage and outputs an error signal based on the result of the comparison, the error amplifier being biased by an input voltage; a first MOS transistor having a gate electrically connected to the error signal, a source electrically connected to the input voltage and a drain electrically connected to the output voltage; a voltage divider which transmits a predetermined part of the output voltage to the error amplifier as feedback voltage; and a level limiter which limits a level of the output voltage from changing beyond and below an offset voltage when a level of a load current changes. In accordance with embodiments, A predetermined number of comparators and MOS transistor type-switches are provided to enhance the slew ratio of the regulated output voltage and to reduce standby electricity consumption.

A low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulator is used generally in power feeding equipment to supply a regulated voltage. Such a LDO voltage regulator is configured of an integrated circuit to be usable in various electric products. Some or all of the elements included in the LDO voltage regulator may incorporate standard digital CMOS technology.
The configuration of the conventional LDO regulator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,577 entitled "LOW-DROPOUT VOLTAGE REGULATOR INCORPORATING A CURRENT EFFICIENT TRANSIENT RESPONSE BOOST CIRCUIT," U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0241728 entitled "LOW-DROPOUT VOLTAGE REGULATOR WITH A VOLTAGE SLEW RATE EFFICIENT TRANSIENT RESPONSE BOOST CIRCUIT," U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,710,583 and 6,304,31 entitled "LOW DROPOUT VOLTAGE REGULATOR WITH NON-MILLER FREQUENCY COMPENSATION."
According to the LDO voltage regulator disclosed hereinabove, loop is eliminated by using an error amplifier under a time-varying load current atmosphere. However, it is limited to improve transient response of an output voltage by using only error amplifier and thus the above conventional LDO regulator would have a good slew rate of the stable output voltage.

Low-dropout voltage regulator with level limiter limiting level of output voltage when level of load current changes and method of operating the same


A semiconductor device includes: a substrate having a main surface, a rear surface and four side surfaces; a semiconductor element formed on the main surface of the substrate; a notch formed in at least one bottom part of the side surfaces of the substrate; and a curved surface provided at an intersection of a side surface of the notch and the rear surface of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof, and relates, for example, to a shape of a semiconductor chip having excellent deflecting strength and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Related Background Art
A manufacturing process of a semiconductor device includes a dicing step to cut a semiconductor wafer by use of a blade or the like so as to divide the semiconductor wafer into pieces after element formation.
One example of the conventional dicing step will be described as a first conventional example referring to FIGS. 30 to 37. It should be noted that the same reference numerals are given to the same parts in the following drawings, and therefore repeated explanation of those parts will be described only when necessary.
First, as shown in FIG. 30, a protection tape PT is affixed to an element formation surface (hereinafter referred to as a main surface) 100MS of a semiconductor wafer W, and then a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer W is polished by mechanical grinding or etching using a grindstone 210 or the like to finish with a predetermined thickness, as shown in FIG. 31. It should be noted that in the present application, the term "etching" is used to express not only chemical processing, but also chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
Next, a dicing tape DT is affixed to the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer W and attached to a wafer ring WR, and then a product to be processed is flipped over (transferred) to peel off the protection tape PT on the main surface 100MS, as shown in FIG. 32. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 33, the semiconductor wafer W is cut by use of a blade BD or the like from its main surface 100MS along dicing lines provided on the main surface 100MS in accordance with the size of semiconductor chips, thereby dividing the semiconductor wafer W into pieces as shown in FIG. 34. The dicing tape DT affixed to the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer W prevents the semiconductor chips from being scattered after wafer division.
In the dicing method described above, chipping attributed to mechanical cutting has frequently occurred at edge portions where the rear surface and side surfaces of the semiconductor chip cross due to cutting for wafer division. For example, as shown in a perspective view of FIG. 35, a number of chippings CP are caused at the edge portions where side surfaces 100SA to 100SD and a rear surface 100RS of a semiconductor chip 100 cross, and their sizes range from about 1 μm to about 60 μm, with an average of about 20 μm.
FIG. 36 is a photograph of the semiconductor chip 100 taken from its rear surface side in a direction of an arrow AR90 of FIG. 34 before the semiconductor chip 100 is removed from the dicing tape DT. FIG. 37 is a photograph of an intersection of the side surface 100SA and the rear surface 100RS taken in a direction of an arrow AR100 of FIG. 35. FIG. 37 clearly shows occurrence of a chipping 100CP.
Such a chipping significantly affects deflecting strength (bending strength) of a semiconductor element, causes defects in, for example, an assembly process for packaging the semiconductor element, and decreases a final product yield ratio.
In order to prevent the chipping described above, a technique has been proposed in which a groove is formed along the dicing lines in advance to prevent the chipping, and thereafter the semiconductor wafer is cut along the groove to hold the chipping inside the groove so as to reduce an influence to the wafer surface (e.g., Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 2003-100666).
However, the dicing step according to a second conventional example disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 2003-100666 is not a technique to eliminate the chipping itself. Indeed, it can reduce the influence to the wafer surface, but leaves a problem that a chipping 150CP still occurs, for example, as shown in photographs of FIG. 38 and FIG. 39.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof


In a sorting system for flight luggage it it well known to put individual pieces of luggage in totes (4) which are entered onto a conveyor with sideways tiltable carrying platforms (2), whereby the pieces of luggage may be selectively unloaded from the totes at their destinations (D1,D2) or at a storage unit (W) where the totes are released and stored with their content for later re-introduciton into the sorting system. This known art has required a particular construction of the sorting conveyor with a large-angle tilt and a complex mechanism for releasibly holding the totes. According to the invention the totes have upper surfaces (8) which are of a concave shape in order that the pieces of goods may be slid off the totes while secured, at the same moderate angle required for the sliding-off at the storage unit. Hence the conveyor itself may be quite conventional, at the same time as the holding mechanism may be limited to mere retractable flanges (14) on the sides of the carrying platform.

The present invention is generally related to a sorting and storage system for pieces of goods, such as flight luggage, and more particularly to means permitting great flexibility when re-scheduling aircraft.
Sorting systems are in common use, which enable automatic sorting and distribution of pieces of goods from one or several feed stations to a greater or lesser number of receiving stations, such as from a check-in area to the various receiving stations near the parking areas of the aircraft. Usually sorters are used which have conveyors using sideways tiltable carrying trays or platforms which are activated to tilt by central control based on destination codes read at the relevant destinations.
It may occur that changes of flight schedule cause transfer of receiving station because a different aircraft has been selected. In this situation it is quite simple to change destination for newly-arrived luggage, but if a large number of pieces have already been transferred to a receiving station they have to be re-transferred, either by returning them all to the feed station or by separate transfer directly to the relevant new destination. On this basis a system has been developed that incorporates a storage unit to which checked luggage is sent and where it is kept as long as there is a possibility that a new destination might be required. As soon as the final decision has been made, all the checked luggage may then automatically be distributed from the storage unit to delivery at the correct destination.
In principle the automatic handling of the goods may be performed by acting directly on the pieces of luggage, but in particular for safe handling in the storage unit it has been found to be advantageous to place the pieces of luggage in individual carriers, so-called "totes". These are shallow boxes which may receive pieces of luggage up to a certain area, e.g. corresponding to the largest suitcases that will be encountered. These "totes" may be equipped with the necessary means to cooperate with suitable transportation means on the conveyors, such as trays or platforms, in order to obtain the desired result.
In these more advanced systems higher demands are put on the components, because emptying of goods from the "totes" must occur by noticably greater tilt of the transportation means of the conveyor while the "totes" themselves must be held securely but releasably on the transportation means when they are to be discharged in the storage unit. This has lead to greater complexity of the systems, and their construction can only be based on existing sorting and storage systems after complex and expensive modifications.

Sorting and storage system for pieces of goods such as flight luggage


A method for quenching a steel pipe by water cooling from an outer surface thereof, where pipe end portions are not subjected to water cooling, and at least part of a main body other than the pipe end portions is subjected to water cooling. A region(s) that is not subjected to direct water cooling over an entire circumference thereof can be along an axial direction at least in part of the main body other than the pipe end portions. The start and stop of water cooling can be intermittent at least in part of the quenching. During the water cooling of the pipe outer surface, an intensified water cooling can be performed in a temperature range in which the pipe outer surface temperature is higher than Ms point. Thereafter, the cooling can be switched to moderate cooling so that the outer surface is cooled down to Ms point or lower.

As one fundamental method to strengthen steel materials, methods of utilizing phase transformation by heat treatment, particularly martensitic transformation, have widely been practiced. Since a steel pipe made of medium carbon steel or high carbon steel (typically, a steel pipe of low alloy steel or medium alloy steel) exhibits excellent strength and toughness after being quenched and tempered, methods for strengthening steel materials by quenching and tempering have been used in many applications including machine structural members, and steel products for oil well use. The strength of steel can be remarkably increased by quenching, and this strengthening effect depends on C content in the steel. However, since martensite structure as quenched is generally brittle, it is subjected to tempering at a temperature not more than Ac1 transformation point after quenching, thereby improving its toughness.
To obtain a martensite structure by quenching low alloy steel or medium alloy steel, rapid cooling such as water quenching is necessary. If cooling rate is insufficient, a structure softer than martensite, such as bainite, would be mixed with martensite so that sufficient quenching effect cannot be achieved.
In quenching treatment of steel materials, quench cracking may become an issue. As described above, when a steel product is rapidly cooled, it is inevitably impossible to uniformly cool the entire steel product, and then thermal stress is generated in the steel product, attributable to the difference in the contraction rate between an early cooled portion and a late cooled portion. Further, when a quenching treatment causes martensitic transformation, transformation stress is generated as a result of occurrence of volume expansion due to transformation from austenite to martensite. The volume expansion depends on a C content in steel, and the more the C content is, the larger the volume expansion becomes. Therefore, the steel having a high C content is prone to have large transformation stress in a quenching stage, and is highly likely to cause quench cracking.
In particular, when the steel product to be quenched has a tubular shape, it exhibits a very complex stress state, compared to other shapes such as flat plate shape, or a bar/wire shape. For this reason, if a tubular steel product having a high C content is subjected to rapid cooling, such as water quenching, crack susceptibility remarkably increases and quench cracking frequently occurs, resulting in a very poor yield of the product.
Therefore, when a steel pipe containing a high carbon among low alloy steels and medium alloy steels is quenched, the cooling rate during the quenching treatment is controlled by performing oil quenching which has a lower cooling capacity compared to water quenching, or performing relatively slow cooling by mist cooling, in order to prevent quench cracking and increase the yield of product.
However, when such quenching means is adopted, a sufficient amount of martensite structure cannot be obtained, resulting in a mixed microstructure including a considerable amount of bainite which occurs at a comparatively elevated temperature. For that reason, there arises a problem that even if quenching and tempering is applied, it is not possible to fully make use of excellent toughness of tempered martensite structure, thereby resulting in deterioration of high toughness of a product steel pipe.
While martensite structure is capitalized in a steel pipe of low alloy steel or medium alloy steel as described above, a martensitic stainless steel pipe, which can easily achieve high strength, is widely used in the field of a stainless steel pipe as well for various applications for which strength and corrosion resistance are required. Particularly in recent years, from energy-related circumstances, martensitic stainless steel pipes are extensively used as oil well country goods for collecting oil and natural gas.
That is, the environment of wells (oil wells) for collecting oil and natural gas has become more and more hostile in recent years, and in addition to the increase of pressure associated with the increase of drilling depth, the number of wells which contain significant amounts of corrosive components such as wet carbon dioxide gas, hydrogen sulfide, and chlorine ions have been increasing. Accordingly, while the increase of the strength of material is demanded, corrosion of the material due to corrosive components as described above and embrittlement caused thereby have become an issue, and thus there is a growing demand for oil well pipes having excellent corrosion resistance.
Under such circumstances, martensitic stainless steels are widely used in environments containing wet carbon dioxide gas of relatively low temperature, since the martensitic stainless steel has excellent resistance to carbon dioxide gas corrosion although it may not have sufficient resistance to sulfide stress corrosion cracking caused by hydrogen sulfide. Typical examples thereof include an oil well pipe of 13Cr type steel (having a Cr content of 12 to 14%) of L80 grade specified by API (American Petroleum Institute).
Generally, it is common to apply quenching and tempering treatments for the martensitic stainless steel, and the 13Cr steel of API L80 grade is no exception. However, since the 13Cr steel has a martensitic transformation starting temperature (Ms point) of about 300° C., which is lower than that of low alloy steel, and has a large hardenability, it exhibits high susceptibility to quench cracking.
Particularly, when a tubular steel product is quenched, it exhibits a very complex stress state, compared with the case of a sheet/plate or bar material, and when it is subjected to water cooling, quench cracking occurs; therefore, it is necessary to adopt a process with a slow cooling rate such as cooling in air (natural air cooling), forced air cooling, and slow mist cooling. For this reason, in the production of the 13Cr-type oil well pipe of L80 grade, air quenching is performed to prevent quench cracking. Since this type of alloy steel has a large hardenability, martensitization can be achieved even when the cooling rate at the time of the quenching treatment is slow.
However, although this method can be effective in preventing quench cracking, problems arise such that the productivity is low since the cooling rate is slow, and besides, various properties including the resistance to sulfide stress-corrosion cracking deteriorate.
In this way, even in a steel pipe of low alloy steel or medium alloy steel, or further in a martensitic stainless steel pipe, there is a problem of quench cracking in a quenching treatment, and thus there is a greater need for solving this problem particularly in a steel pipe, compared with a sheet/plate material and a bar material.
Conventionally, there have been proposed several techniques to solve such a quench cracking problem. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses, as a method for preventing quench cracking of a steel pipe containing 0.2 to 1.2% of C, a method for quenching a steel pipe made of a medium or high carbon type of steel, in which cooling in a quenching process is performed only from an inner surface of the steel pipe, and whenever necessary, the steel pipe is rotated during cooling.
In the literature, it is suggested that: when the outer surface of the steel pipe is rapidly cooled, martensitic transformation of the outer surface precedes, and the brittle martensite structure of the outer surface cannot withstand the transformation stress due to a delayed martensitic transformation of the inner surface, thus leading to quench cracking; and it is possible to appropriately countervail the transformation stress and the thermal stress by cooling the steel pipe from the inner surface. However, there is a problem that performing the cooling of the inner surface of a steel pipe involves technical difficulties compared with the cooling of the outer surface.
Patent Literature 2 discloses, as a method for producing a steel pipe having a microstructure principally composed of martensite by applying quenching and tempering treatments for a Cr-based stainless steel pipe containing 0.1 to 0.3% of C and 11.0 to 15.0% of Cr, a method for producing a martensitic stainless steel pipe in which the steel pipe is quenched at an average cooling rate of not less than 8° C./sec in a temperature range from Ms point to Mf point (temperature at which martensitic transformation ends) when performing the quenching treatment, and thereafter the steel pipe is subjected to the tempering treatment. By ensuring the above-described cooling rate, it is possible to prevent the formation of retained austenite, thereby obtaining a microstructure principally composed of martensite.
However, in order to prevent quench cracking even in rapid cooling such as water quenching, the production method of Patent Literature 2 requires that cooling be performed only from the inner surface of a steel pipe, and further, as needed, the steel pipe be rotated, so that a problem similar to that of the quenching method according to Patent Literature 1 arises when put into commercial use.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a method for producing a martensitic stainless steel pipe, in which a stainless steel pipe containing 0.1 to 0.3% of C and 11 to 15% of Cr is quenched by performing a two-stage cooling to obtain a microstructure of which not less than 80% is martensite, and thereafter the stainless steel pipe is tempered, where the two-stage cooling consists of: a first cooling in which air cooling is performed from a quenching onset temperature until when the outer surface temperature becomes any temperature lower than "Ms point—30° C." and higher than "an intermediate temperature between Ms point and Mf point"; and thereafter a second cooling in which rapid controlled cooling of the pipe outer surface is performed through a temperature range until the outer surface temperature becomes Mf point or lower, so as to ensure an average cooling rate of the pipe inner surface to be not less than 8° C./sec.
The method described in Patent Literature 3 is a method to prevent quench cracking by relatively reducing the cooling rate in the first cooling, and to suppress the formation of retained austenite by the rapid controlled cooling of the pipe outer surface in the second cooling. However, when the wall thickness is heavy, it is difficult to control the cooling rate of the pipe inner surface by cooling the outer surface.
Moreover, Patent Literature 4 discloses, as a method for producing a seamless steel pipe of low alloy steel containing a medium or high level of carbon of C: 0.30 to 0.60%, a method for performing water cooling down to a temperature range of 400 to 600° C. immediately after hot rolling, and after the end of water cooling, performing isothermal transformation heat treatment (austemper process) in a furnace heated to 400 to 600° C. However, the microstructure of the steel pipe which is produced by the isothermal transformation heat treatment according to Patent Literature 4 is bainite which generally has lower strength than martensite, and therefore it may not be able to cope with a case where a high strength is required.

NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION


A technique is provided for determining a force/acceleration acting on a proof mass of a bistable device. According to an aspect of the invention, the location of a boundary of one of the stable configurations of the device is monitored. The monitored location is compared to a predetermined location of the same boundary, said predetermined location corresponding to a condition in which the force/acceleration is absent, to detect a deviation of said location. The deviation is indicative of the force/acceleration and can be used to determine the force/acceleration. According to another aspect of the invention, the resonance frequency of the proof mass' oscillation in one of the stable regions is monitored, and compared to a predetermined resonance frequency the proof mass' oscillation in the same region corresponding to a condition in which the force/acceleration is absent, to determine a deviation of the resonance frequency due to the presence of force/acceleration. The deviation in the resonance frequency can be used to determine the force/acceleration.

Inertial micro sensors, accelerometers and angular rate sensors (micro gyros) are considered as one of the most promising and intensively researched application of the MEMS (micro-electrical mechanical systems) technology. Micro scale accelerometers (along with the pressure sensors) were probably among the first micromachined electromechanical devices and first publications on the subject can be traced back to seventies. Despite such a long history of micro accelerometers and large variety of reported concepts, the development of new architectures and operational principles of high performance yet low cost, compact and manufacturable accelerometers is highly desired and continues to attract researchers in both industry and academy. Although nowadays several MEMS-based inertial sensors were successfully commercialized and incorporated into consumer electronics products (mainly cell phones and computer games consoles) and in automotive industry (air bag crash sensors), micro accelerometers have not yet penetrated the market in the area of navigation, guidance and control applications, which impose much tougher requirements to the device performance.
The operational principle of micro scale accelerometers has an electromechanical nature and is based on sensing of a mechanical displacement/motion caused by acceleration. In contrast to micro gyroscopes where alternatives to electromechanical devices are possible (ring laser gyroscope (LRG) and fiber optic gyroscope (FOG)), current accelerometers are still dominated by electromechanical sensors, mainly because no challenging alternative technology has succeeded (except for quartz resonators, which are used in the lower-grade tactical applications). MEMS based accelerometers are either of the pendulous/displacement mass type without [1] or with closed-loop force re-balance control [2] or of the resonator type [3]. The mass displacement type devices are usually micro structures incorporating a proof mass suspended on elastic bending [4, 5] deformable elements.

Bistable force and/or acceleration sensor


An imaging apparatus has an image sensor that captures the optical image of an object formed by an imaging optical system and converts the optical image into the electrical still image signal, a signal processor for dividing a representation of the image signal into a plurality of areas, and for determining a color characteristic for each area of the plurality of areas, the color characteristic consisting of a hue and/or chroma saturation, a selector for selecting at least one area of the plurality of area for which its respective color characteristic substantially corresponds to a preset color characteristic, and a focus controller for determining focus parameters of the imaging apparatus for the selected area and generating a focus control signal for adjusting the image optical system based on the focus parameters.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera, and more specifically, to an imaging apparatus such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera having an automatic focusing function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, imaging apparatuses such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras having an image sensor such as a CCD or a CMOS are explosively widespread. The mainstream of these imaging apparatuses is a type that detects the focus condition based on the image signal of the object and performs automatic focusing control by moving the focusing lens unit included in the taking optical system in the direction of the optical axis based on the result of the detection.
As the imaging apparatuses have become multifunctional, higher functionality has been required of automatic focusing control. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-37733 proposes an automatic focusing device for imaging apparatuses in which the image signal of the object is divided into a plurality of AF areas and the number of pixels of the skin color in each area is counted to thereby identify the AF area for which focus adjustment is performed.
The automatic focusing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-37733 assumes that the main object is a person. That is, in the automatic focusing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-37733, by performing focusing control based on the pixels of the skin color, the focus area follows the person, so that the person can be always brought in focus with accuracy.
In the automatic focusing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-37733, since only a person is assumed to be the main object, the object following for focusing cannot be performed when the object is other than a person. Since the main object of digital still cameras, digital video cameras and the like is not always a person, the automatic focusing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-37733 does not sufficiently meet the user's requirements.
An object of the present invention is to provide a high-functionality imaging apparatus capable of performing focus adjustment on an object which can be arbitrarily set.


A method and system for the inflation of a sealed air product with accommodations for both a high capacity, low pressure blower and a low capacity, high pressure pump. The blower is attached to a fill tube and inflates the product until it approaches a point at which the pump does not have sufficient pressure to continue. The fill tube is coiled to prevent the air inside the sealed-air product from escaping and placed into a compartment behind a closable opening which is then closed. The air pump is then attached to an inflation port located on the sealed-air product which, when activated, inflates the sealed-air product to the desired air pressure. A pressure relief valves ensures the product is not over-inflated. After use, air may be allowed to escape through the fill tube, thereby allowing rapid deflation of the product.

Various embodiments of the invention provide a method and system for rapidly inflating sealed air structures. In some embodiments, this invention is directed to the sequential use of a first inflation port to initiate the inflation process and a second inflation port to complete the inflation process.
Slides and other sealed air products are commonly used on yachts, at resorts and in parks and campgrounds. These products are typically constructed with heavy-gauge reinforced vinyl, PVC-coated fabric, PVC-coated polyester, or PVC-coated nylon. The material is shaped and configured into the desired shape and then the seams are sealed using heat-sealing, hot-air welding, radio-frequency (RF) sealing, gluing, or other methods known in the art. Sealed-air products can be made in both simple and complex shapes, including, for example, slides, playgrounds, pits, hills, pyramids, climbing walls, barriers, tunnels and the like.
In addition to being configured in the desired shape, sealed air products may include inflatable stairs, handles, low friction coversheets for the slide area, water ports and other features that may enhance the desirability of using, or improve the functionality of, the product. Often the finished product is configured in multiple parts for ease in assembly and maneuverability, such as separate slide body and leg base sub-structure.
Sealed-air products known in the art are typically configured with a standard pressure relief valve. These valves may have an activation threshold of 0.5 psi or higher, but are generally in the range of 0.8 to 1.0 psi. In addition, sealed-air products are equipped with an inflation valve through which air is pumped to inflate the product.
Inflating a sealed-air product may be accomplished through the use of an electric or battery powered pump. A typical pump could be a 480 watt, 1.0 horsepower blower with grounded power cord and covered on/off switch. This type of pump could move air at 50 cfm at a maximum pressure of 2.8 psi. A battery powered pump may move air 35 cfm at a maximum pressure of 2.8 psi. To inflate the sealed-air product, one end of a hose is attached to the pump and the other end is attached to the inflation valve. When the pump is activated, the product inflates. Because of the low air output of the pump, the time required to inflate the product can be substantial—often in excess of 30 minutes for a large size product.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved sealed air apparatus inflation system which allows for the rapid inflation and deflation of a sealed-air product.

Method and system for the rapid inflation of sealed air devices