A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes the steps of (a) forming a gate electrode on a silicon substrate, through a gate insulating film; (b) forming a lamination of an insulating film and a sacrificial film having different etching characteristics on the silicon substrate, covering the gate electrode, and anisotropically etching the lamination to form side wall spacers on side walls of the gate electrode and the gate insulating film; (c) implanting impurities into the silicon substrate on both sides of the side wall spacers; (d) etching the silicon substrate and the sacrificial film to form recesses in the silicon substrate, and to change a cross sectional shape of each of the side wall spacers to approximately an L-shape; (e) epitaxially growing Si—Ge-containing crystal in the recesses; and (f) depositing an insulating film containing stress, covering the side wall spacers.

MOS transistor has been developed along the basic principle that "it is possible to realize high speed through miniaturization" according to a scaling rule. However, as the result of progress of excessive miniaturization, it is necessary to increase amount of impurities to be doped in a channel region in order to suppress rapid reduction in the threshold voltage to be caused by miniaturization. Because of "impurity" scattering, mobility of carriers (electrons, holes) transporting from the source to drain reduces greatly. In order to suppress this mobility reduction, various countermeasures have been adopted for forcibly applying "strain" to a silicon atom group constituting the channel.
Electron mobility in an n-channel (N) MOS transistor is improved by applying tensile stress to the channel. Hole mobility in a p-channel (P) MOS transistor is improved by applying compressive stress to the channel.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-86708 and its family US 2004/0075148, the whole contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose that in case where the gate length direction is disposed along a <110>direction on an Si (001) surface, NMOS increases an on-current upon application of tensile strain along the gate length direction, and increases an on-current upon application of tensile strain along the gate width direction, whereas PMOS reduces an on-current upon application of tensile strain along the gate length direction (increases an on-current upon application of compressive strain along the gate length direction), and increases an on-current upon application of tensile strain along the gate width direction. These documents further disclose that by forming the contact etch stopper film with a tensile stress film above the NMOS region and forming the contact etch stopper film with a compressive stress film above the PMOS region, the whole characteristics of CMOS can be improved and stress can be adjusted by an area of the contact etch stopper film.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-273240 and its family US 2003/0181005, the whole contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose that in the state that the semiconductor surface between the gate electrode and the isolation region is covered with an insulating film functioning as a contact etch stopper, a tensile stress film is formed above the NMOS region and a compressive stress film is formed above the PMOS region.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-13322 and its family US 2005/0285137, the whole contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, analyses stresses in various directions and the performances of NMOS and PMOS formed in a silicon substrate comprehensively and proposes to release the stress of a compressive stress film formed on PMOS on the isolation region.
It is also possible to apply stress to a channel by means other than the etch stopper.
When the source/drain regions of an NMOS transistor are made of silicon-carbon (Si—C) mixed crystal (C-doped Si) having a lattice constant smaller than the Si substrate, tensile stress is applied to the Si crystal in the channel region and electron mobility becomes high. Refer to K. Ang et al: IEDM Tech. Dig., 2004, p. 1069, the whole contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
When the source/drain regions of a PMOS transistor are made of silicon-germanium (Si—Ge) mixed crystal having a lattice constant larger than the Si substrate, compressive stress is applied to the Si crystal in the channel region and hole mobility becomes high. Refer to T. Ghani et al: IEDM Tech. Dig., 2003, p. 978 and Y. S. Kim et al: Proceedings of ESSDERC 2005, p. 305, the whole contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
By applying stress to the channel of a MOS transistor, it becomes possible to increase carrier mobility and improve the performance of the MOS transistor. Electron mobility in an NMOS transistor is increased by tensile stress, and hole mobility in a PMOS transistor is increased by compressive stress.
It is possible to apply desired stresses to PMOS and NMOS transistors, by etching and digging the source/drain regions of a PMOS transistor and growing Si—Ge crystal and by etching and forming the recess in the source/drain regions of an NMOS transistor and growing Si—C crystal. However, in this case, manufacture processes become complicated. More simpler manufacture processes are desired.
Thus, studies are being made on the structure in which the source/drain regions of a PMOS transistor are etched to form recesses, Si—Ge (or Si—Ge—C) crystal is grown in the recesses to apply compressive stress to the channel, after forming a silicide layer, a nitride film having tensile stress is deposited on the NMOS transistor to apply tensile stress to the channel of a NMOS transistor.
A complementary type semiconductor device may be formed through burying crystal having a larger lattice constant than silicon in the source/drain regions of PMOS, forming a compression stress film on PMOS, and forming a tensile stress film on NMOS. It is desired to improve the performance of the semiconductor device of this type and stabilize the manufacturing processes.

Manufacture of semiconductor device with stress structure


A sheet printing plate material includes a plastic support having optical transparency for infrared light, and at least a hydrophilic layer and a thermosensitive image formed layer formed on the plastic support, wherein the sheet printing plate material is wound on a drum having surface reflectance of 0.1 to 10% at a wavelength to be used, and the sheet printing plate material is used for a image recording apparatus where the drum is rotated to expose an image data with a light source so that an image is recorded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for performing a scanning exposure of an image to the sheet printing plate material and the printing plate of plastic support.
2. Description of the Related Art
In earlier development, an image recording apparatus is disclosed, where a sheet printing plate material of a plastic support or a printing plate is wound on a surface of a drum, and the drum is rotated to perform scanning exposure of an image data with a light source so that an image is recorded.
In a recording apparatus for an aluminum printing material, a reflectance on a surface of a drum is not mentioned because aluminum itself does not transmit light. Further, in a recording apparatus for film or paper, reflection density only in visible light range has been mentioned.
There are following problems in performing scanning exposure of an image data with a light source using the sheet printing plate material or printing plate having a plastic support so that an image is recorded.
Firstly, in the case of the sheet printing plate material of plastic support, it has transparency of infrared light used for an exposure, compared to the aluminum printing material, or film or paper. Thus, light which has not been converted to heat at a thermosensitive image forming layer is transmitted through the plastic support, and is reflected on a surface of a drum so as to react at the thermosensitive image forming layer again, so that the image density increases more than necessary.
Secondly, when some concavoconvex such as clamp groove, suction groove and peel groove is formed on a surface of the drum of the image recording apparatus, density nonuniformity occurs since the distance between the bottom of the groove and the plastic support is different from the distance between the surface of the drum and the plastic support and a reaction on the thermosensitive image forming layer varies.
Thirdly, when backside of the plastic support is colored so as not to transmit infrared light, the backside is heated due to the coloring and density nonuniformity occurs in the thermosensitive image forming layer since the heat transmittances are different between metal of the surface of the drum and the air layer of the groove.

Image recording apparatus and printing plate material


A method of determining and applying a protective ink amount to be printed in addition to a plurality of colored ink amounts to make colored pixels in an image including determining a first protective ink amount responsive to the colored ink amounts, determining multitoned colored ink amounts using a multitone processor responsive to the colored ink amounts, and determining a second protective ink amount responsive to the multitoned colored ink amounts. The method also includes determining the protective ink amount responsive to the first protective ink amount and the second protective ink amount to provide adequate durability for the image, and applying using an inkjet printer the colored ink amounts and the protective ink amount to make the colored image pixels.

In the field of digital printing, a digital printer receives digital data from a computer and places colorant on a receiver to reproduce the image. A digital printer can use a variety of different technologies to transfer colorant to the page. Some common types of digital printers include inkjet, thermal dye transfer, thermal wax, electrophotographic, and silver halide printers.
Modern inkjet printers are capable of delivering excellent image quality, but suffer from poor durability with respect to environmental factors such as atmospheric gases and staining fluids. For example, naturally occurring ozone is known to cause fading in inkjet prints, which are exposed to the atmosphere. The degree of fading can become unacceptable in a relatively short time period, often only a few weeks of exposure to the air. Exposure to moisture and/or staining agents can be another source for unacceptable image quality artifacts in an inkjet print. Many inkjet prints will "run" or "bleed" (where the ink begins to run off the page) when exposed to water. When subjected to other fluids such as coffee or mustard, unacceptable stains can form on the surface of the inkjet print, often in the white portions of the page where ink has not been printed. Additionally, there are optical effects that can occur with inkjet prints, which result in a perceived image quality loss. In particular, the gloss difference at the boundary between the inked and non-inked areas of the image can be disturbing to a human observer. Yet another environmental factor that can cause image artifacts in an inkjet print is handling or abrasion. Rubbing an inkjet print with a finger can cause the ink to smear from a printed area into a non-printed area, resulting in poor image quality.
The above described image artifacts can occur in inkjet prints because the surface of an inkjet print is not "sealed" or protected from the environment. Several methods to address these undesirable image artifacts are known in the art. One technique known in the art is to laminate the print, but this is typically too time-consuming and costly. Another technique is to apply an additional, substantially clear ink that has protective properties to the image during or shortly after the printing process. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,935 to Doumaux discloses an inkjet printer in which a "fixer" ink is printed using a separate printhead, which is vertically offset from the colored ink printheads. This technique involves an extra print pass where the paper is not advanced, and the fixer fluid is printed over the image. Similar techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,978. U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,568 to Askeland, et al., describes a method of underprinting and overprinting a clear fixer fluid, and applying heat to provide for improved water fastness.
The above mentioned references teach the use of a protective fluid for improving print durability, but do not teach methods of controlling the laydown of the protective fluid in response to the amount of colored ink that will be printed. For example, the use of pigmented inks is known to provide for some increase in durability properties when compared with dye inks. The application of a full layer of protective fluid on top of an area printed with pigmented inks is likely unnecessary to achieve the desired durability, and is wasteful of ink. Also, indiscriminate application of protective fluid leads to a dramatic increase in the total amount of fluid deposited on the page, which is known to cause other negative image quality artifacts. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,657.
Additionally, when applying a protective ink to provide for improved durability, the best protection is achieved when the surface of the receiver is completely sealed from environmental factors. If the protective ink amount is computed before the image data is halftoned (as described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/785,818 filed Feb. 24, 2004 by Douglas W. Couwenhoven, et al., entitled "Inkjet Printing Using Protective Ink", the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference), then complete coverage of the receiver can not be guaranteed, since the halftone process will result in patterns of dots of protective ink that do not necessarily fill in all of the "white holes" left by unprinted pixels.
Thus, there is a need for a method of computing a protective ink amount to be applied to an image to provide for improved durability, while minimizing the total amount of fluid deposited on the page, and ensuring complete coverage of the receiver with either protective or colored ink for maximum environmental durability.

Using inkjet printer to apply protective ink


Information update technique where information held by every apparatus does not need to be updated at the same time.

The present invention relates to a technique of updating a database.
In a distributed database system where a plurality of databases operate in a coordinated manner, update of the database should be performed so that information inconsistency does not occur between the databases. As one of such update methods, there is the "two-phase commit" protocol. Patent Document 1 describes a technique of using the two-phase commit.
In the two-phase commit, one database becomes a coordinator and the other databases cohorts. The two-phase commit includes a commit request phase and a commit phase. An execution procedure for a commit request phase is as follows.    1. The coordinator sends a message "Commit to the database may be executed?" to all the cohorts.    2. Each cohort proceeds with the transaction to the state where commit may be executed. Further, each cohort writes the entry into an undo log and a redo log.    3. Each cohort responds with a "agreement" message when the transaction is successful, or with a "halt" message when the transaction ends in failure.    4. The coordinator awaits reception of response messages from all the cohorts.
There are two types of commit phase, i.e. a success commit phase and a failure commit phase. A success commit phase is for the case where "agreement" messages have been received from all the cohorts. And, a failure commit phase is for the case where a cohort has responded with a "halt" message. An execution procedure for a success commit phase is as follows.    1. The coordinator sends a message "Execute commit" to all the cohorts.    2. Each cohort completes its operations, and releases all locks and resources held in the course of the transaction.    3. Each cohort sends a "completion response" message to the coordinator.    4. When the completion responses are received from all the cohorts, the coordinator considers that the transaction has been completed.
An execution procedure for a failure commit phase is as follows.    1. The coordinator sends a message "Execute roll-back" to all the cohorts.    2. Using the undo log, each cohort recovers the state before the execution of transaction, and releases all locks and resources held in the course of the transaction.    3. Each cohort sends a "completion response" message to the coordinator.    4. When completion responses are received from all the cohorts, the coordinator considers that the transaction has been completed.
According to the two-phase commit, all databases either complete update of registered information or return to the state before the update of the registered information. As a result, there will not arise a state where consistency between databases is lost, such as a state where some databases have completed their update while the other databases have not been updated, for example.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Un-examined Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-295272
Now, it is considered that a plurality of home apparatuses would operate with apparatuses which are provided with respective databases in a coordinated manner. In such a case, it is considered that consistency between these databases should be ensured. However, it is not expected in a home that all apparatuses provided with databases are in an environment enabling their update at all times. For example, it may be considered that an apparatus is not always supplied with power. Or, for example, it may be considered that sometimes an apparatus is taken out from the home and can not be accessed. If the above-described two-phase commit is applied for updating databases in such an environment, update of all the apparatuses can not be done when there is only one apparatus which can not be updated.
However, home apparatuses may not require strict consistency in all databases. For example, in the case where information of databases is broadcast program guide information and a content of change in the information is a change in the cast members of a program, then it is not necessary that all the apparatuses have the changed broadcast program guide information at the same point of time.

Information update method and information update system

Abstract: A first server is connected with a second server. The first server judges whether it is possible to access the second server. When a result of the judgment shows that the second server may be accessed, then the first server sends an information update request including information to the second server. On the other hand, when the result of the judgment shows that it is impossible to access the second server, the first server repeats the judgment until it becomes possible to access the second server. When it becomes possible to access the second server, the first server sends an information update request including the information to the second server. Receiving the information update request, the second server updates its information by replacing the information with new information, i.e. the information included in the information update request.


Compounds and compositions of the following formula:

Gene regulation (selective activation and inactivation of genes) plays an important role in the development and progression of cancer, an assemblage of diseases that result from multiple accumulated mutations. The past two decades have witnessed the rapid expansion of our knowledge of cancer genetics, from a handful of oncogenes to the identification of many genes that affect tumorigenesis, tumor growth, progression, metastasis, and tumor cell death. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying these events provides the opportunity to develop new mechanism-based therapeutics. As a result, the first molecular targeted agent (Trastuzumab) is in clinical use, and many molecular-based agents are in clinical trial.
An embodiment of the present invention is the discovery and characterization of potential chemotherapeutic agents that specifically target tumor hypoxia. The existence of hypoxic regions is a common feature of solid tumors. Unlike normal cells from the same tissue, tumor cells are often chronically hypoxic. The extent of tumor hypoxia correlates with advanced stages and poor prognosis. Rapid growth of tumors outstrips the capability of existing blood vessels to supply oxygen and nutrients, and remove metabolic waste. Hypoxia triggers tumor angiogenesis and the newly formed tumor blood vessels often fail to mature. As a result, certain tumor regions are constantly under hypoxic stress due to sluggish and irregular blood flow. Hypoxic tumor cells are more resistant than normoxic tumor cells to radiation treatment and chemotherapy and these hypoxic cells are considered an important contributor to disease relapse. Currently, the general strategies to overcome tumor hypoxia are: 1) increasing tumor oxygenation by means such as breathing carbogen (95% O2, 5% CO2); 2) developing chemical sensitizers to increase the sensitivity of hypoxic cells to radiation; and 3) developing hypoxic cytotoxins that selectively kill hypoxic cells. These approaches target the direct effects of hypoxia—lack of cellular oxygen. Presently, there is only one bioreductive drug (tirapazamine) in clinical trial that selectively kills hypoxic tumor cells. No hypoxic cytotoxins are currently approved. It is clear that tumor hypoxia is an important unmet therapeutic need for cancer treatment and drug discovery efforts should be directed at this target.
The focal point of this drug discovery effort is to target the important indirect effect of hypoxia—induction of genes that promote the adaptation and survival of tumor cells. As a form of stress, hypoxia activates both survival and cell death programs. In oncogenically transformed cells, hypoxia provides a physiological pressure and selects for the cells with diminished apoptotic potential. Hypoxic tumor cells that have adapted to oxygen and nutrient deprivation are associated with a more aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis. The transcription factor that plays a critical role in hypoxia-induced gene expression is Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 (HIF-1), a heterodimer of the bHLH-PAS proteins HIF-1α and HIF-1β/ARNT. HIF-1α protein is degraded rapidly under normoxic conditions and stabilized under hypoxic conditions, while HIF-1β protein is constitutively expressed. Upon hypoxic induction and activation, HIF-1 binds to the hypoxia response element (HRE) present in the promoters of target genes and activates transcription. Survival genes activated by HIF-1 can be classified into three major functional groups—(i) those that increase oxygen delivery through enhancing angiogenesis, erythropoiesis, and vasodilatation; (ii) those that decrease oxygen consumption through inducing numerous genes involved in anaerobic metabolism (glucose transporters and glycolytic enzymes); and (iii) growth factors. In addition to hypoxia, other tumor-specific mechanisms that increase HIF-1 activity include the activation of oncogenes (i.e. ras, src, myc, etc.) and the loss of tumor suppressor genes (i.e. PTEN, VHL). The oxygen regulated subunit HIF-1α protein is overexpressed in common human cancers and their metastases, and is associated with advanced stages in breast cancer. In animal models, deletion of either HIF-1α or HIF-1β blocks hypoxic induction of the genes that are normally induced by hypoxia, and is associated with reduced tumor vascularity and retarded tumor growth. In addition, inhibition of HIF-1 function through blocking the interaction between HIF-1 and the coactivator p300/CBP leads to an attenuation of hypoxia-inducible gene expression, reduction of angiogenesis, and suppression of both breast and colon carcinoma cell-derived tumor growth in vivo. In summary, results from multiple animal models indicate that inhibition of hypoxia-induced gene expression through blocking HIF-1 production/function is associated with significant suppression of tumor growth. Therefore, small molecule specific inhibitors of HIF-1 represent potential chemotherapeutic drugs that will suppress tumor growth, progression, and hypoxia associated treatment resistance by inhibiting hypoxia-induced gene expression.

Compounds and methods for inhibiting cellular responses to hypoxia

Abstract: and analogs and stereoisomers thereof (and pharmaceutically acceptable carriers). Additionally disclosed is a method of inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor-1 function in a patient or sample thereof, comprising administering to the patient or sample an effective inhibiting amount of a compound or composition of the present invention.


Methods and apparatus for providing substantially complete correction of thermally-induced aberrations of the gain medium in an end-pumped laser system with at least one aspheric surface that is positioned within the optical cavity of the laser system. The at least one aspheric surface is shaped to substantially cancel all of the thermally-induced aberration of the gain medium at the normal power level of the laser system.

Fundamental inefficiencies in the lasing process of any laser system result in some fraction of the pump power being left behind as waste heat in the lasing medium. This heat causes a change in the index of refraction and thermal expansion of the lasing medium. The wavefront of the extraction beam is distorted if it is passed through a lasing medium with non-uniform temperature distribution. The specific parameters of the pump, extraction, cooling and gain medium geometry determine the nature of such wavefront distortion.
Thermally-induced distortion generated in side-pumped lasers can be substantially eliminated with simple focus correction. However, the non-uniform heat distribution in end-pumped lasers is inherently non-uniform, so that the correction of thermally-induced distortion is more complex than simple focus correction. In this case, the distortion may be represented by a combination of focus and higher-order spherical aberrations.
An optical wavefront that is a surface of revolution can be defined as the sum of its oscillating sphere plus higher order terms by means of the following relationship, taking the z-axis as the axis of revolution, ##EQU1## where c=1/radius of curvature and s=x.sup.2+ y.sup.2. Also, B.sub.1 B.sub.2 and B.sub.3 are the aspheric deformation constants. The B.sub.i constants represent the higher-order spherical aberrations while the first term in this wavefront expansion relationship represents the focus. In a conventional resonator, that is, one with a combination of spherical and flat surfaces, only the first term in the wavefront distortion expansion can be corrected.
The spherical aberrations reduce the output beam quality as well as the laser efficiency. Laser efficiency is reduced because the distortion diffracts power out of the fundamental mode volume of the laser cavity, thereby causing significant round-trip losses. The degree to which the efficiency is reduced depends on the gain, as well as the magnitude and distribution of the aberration. In low gain continuous-wave (CW) lasers, the aberrations can dominate laser performance above output powers of a few Watts.
Correction of thermally-induced aberration has not been a problem with most laser systems, whether side-pumped or end-pumped. As indicated above, for uniformly pumped side-pumped lasers, any thermally-induced distortion is easily suppressed with simple focus correction. End-pumped laser systems have been limited in power by the difficulty of transfer of significant pump energy to the small mode volume within the gain medium, so that the generation of heat within the gain medium has not been sufficient to cause significant thermally-induced aberration.
Recent advances in the art have permitted increased pump power transfer in end-pumped systems to levels that generate enough heat in the gain medium to cause significant thermally-induced aberration. As indicated above, this distortion is difficult to correct, since it includes higher-order spherical aberrations. Simple focus adjustment cannot adequately suppress this distortion. The only known attempt at correcting this type of distortion in end-pumped laser systems involves shaping steeply curved spherical surfaces on each end of an end-pumped laser rod in the laser system optical cavity.
One end surface is made concave and the other convex to provide a degree of under-corrected third-order spherical aberration that largely cancels the thermally-induced aberration. This method of correction is simple, in that only spherical surfaces are necessary, and efficient, in that no additional elements are required. However, this method has several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the steeply-curved spherical surfaces that are required for the rod ends cause additional loss in the optical cavity since the Fresnel reflections cannot be efficiently coupled back into the laser mode region of the rod.
Another reason is that the under-corrected third-order spherical aberration only approximates the thermally-induced aberration, so that correction is only partial at best. Another reason is that the short radii of the spherical surfaces are difficult to fabricate. Still another reason is that the curved rod surfaces affect the distribution of pump energy. A further reason is that it is more difficult to apply coatings to steeply curved surfaces and the performance of such coatings is degraded.

Correction of thermally-induced aberration in end-pumped solid-state lasers


A system, method, and computer program product for collaborative online gaming, including at least one of providing a central repository master browser system; providing an experience calibrated match-making service; providing a dynamic multiplayer server component auto deployment and aggregation system; providing a lobby centric simultaneous and collaborative client game play launching feature; and providing a video game screen over-layer technology giving users access to a control interface while inside a video game being played.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to online gaming systems and methods, and more particularly to an improved collaborative online gaming system and method.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years, online gaming systems and methods have been developed. However, the present online gaming systems and methods do provide robust collaborative online gaming.

Collaborative online gaming system and method


The present invention demonstrates a method and a device in the technique of using an image sensing member, preferably a CCD cell instead of a film sensitive to X-ray radiation. The method and the device is applicable to a general X-ray arrangement without any necessary direct connection between the image sensing member and the X-ray arrangement. A number of detector points for X-ray radiation are provided at or in the CCD cell. The method and device of the present invention result in minimizing of the radiation dose to exactly that which is needed for exact imaging exposure of an image, and therefore more images may be obtained within the same total normal radiation dose.

X-ray examinations normally have been conducted by putting the examined organ between an X-ray sensitive film and an X-ray source and radiating X-rays. Film exposed in this way being developed in a normal manner, will show different blackening dependent upon the type and amount of tissue between the X-ray source and the film.
The method among other things has a drawback in that it is not simply reproducible. Images made during what may seem to be the same conditions may present very different blackening and resolution of the interesting areas of the organ being examined. Further the method is labor and time consuming as the result is achieved only after developing of the film.
Within the field of dental X-raying there is now also an application using for example a CCD cell similar to that in an ordinary video camera. This CCD cell is put instead of the X-ray sensitive film in an appropriate manner in the oral cavity of a patient behind the tooth or teeth to be examined, whereby an image direct from the CCD cell may be achieved on a display by means of known technique in the art by using an electronic interface and an ordinary PC computer. This has the advantage that the result is immediately obtained and if this image is not adequate a new exposure may be immediately performed.
In this technique the control electronics of the CCD cell itself has an electrical connection to the X-ray apparatus, such that the electronic interface receives information when the X-ray radiation is activated. This implies that such an arrangement has to particularly be adopted to each available type of X-ray equipment to implement this type of synchronization.
When X-ray images are produced by an image sensing member in the shape of a CCD cell at existing temperatures, e.g. in the oral cavity, dark currents exists which all the time are adding up charges within the CCD cell. These charges are added up so fast that the image sensing member will normally be saturated after one or a few seconds. Therefore, the CCD cell must be emptied of charges before the exposure by X-rays is started. When the X-ray image is fully exposed it must immediately be read out in its totality in order not to loose image information due to the adding of dark currents.
Such a synchronization may be achieved by either activating the X-ray tube short before the scanning is started of for example the CCD cell or initiating scanning from the X-ray arrangement, eventually with a delay such that the radiation source comes to full power. In both cases there is a general demand of considerable interfacing equipment to achieve this. Otherwise the exposure time of the X-ray source must be chosen unnecessarily long to ensure a good result.
According to the state of the art it is not unusual to willingly overexpose a bit to be certain of an acceptable result of the X-ray examination. One problem which then additionally has to be solved is that the accumulated radiation dose of the patient has to be optimized in order to minimize the radiation dose to the patient, which is utterly important from the general standpoint of radiation protection.
A radiation sensor for dental X-ray examination is known from the German utility model G 89 09 398.4.(EP-A1-0 415 075). The imaging device then has a single radiation detector, placed in front of, at the side of or behind the imaging device. The single radiation detector as such may comprise one or more phototransistors having a scintillation layer. One drawback in such an arrangement is that the single radiation detector may be shaded by, for example bone or a tooth when the imaging device is placed into the oral cavity of a patient and thus will detect very little radiation as bone or a tooth will still be very opaque to the kind of X-ray radiation used for dental examination. Additionally the device uses only remote electronics for processing the obtained signals which gives a low efficiency for utilizing the small current generated in the scintillation layer of the radiation sensor.

Method and device for triggering of X-ray image sensor


A hands-free dual audiometric probe headset. In one embodiment, the headset includes a resilient headband attached to a first audiometric probe holder including a first audiometric probe attached thereto and a second audiometric probe holder including a second audiometric probe attached thereto, the headset system configured to reliably hold the audiometric probes in place in the ears of a test subject during binaural testing.

Audiometric probes are routinely used for several standard auditory tests. These include pure tone and speech audiometry, aural acoustic immittance (AAI) tests, and otoacoustic emission (OAE) tests. Insert earphones for audiometric testing require only a speaker, but probes for AAI and OAE are more complex. OAE testing requires two speakers to present independent signals to avoid intermodulation distortion, plus a microphone to monitor emitted sounds from the ear canal. Basic AAI probes contain one speaker, but diagnostic AAI probes may include two speakers (one for probe tone and one for higher level acoustic reflex eliciting signals). In addition, AAI probes contain a microphone for monitoring the probe tone, an air line port for varying ear canal air pressure, and a pressure transducer for monitoring ear canal air pressure.
Typically, instruments intended for a specific test use a probe optimized for that test. Efficient audiometric probe space utilization and availability of sophisticated electronics in small packages makes it possible to design a single probe capable of performing each of the audiometric tests described above. The challenge lies in properly securing a probe cuff in the concha of a test ear. AAI testing requires that an air tight seal be maintained between the ear cuff and the concha of the test subject. In addition, standard audiometry and OAE testing benefit from a probe sealed in the concha due to increased isolation from ambient noise. Each of these tests require consistent placement of the probe in the concha (test/retest reliability). When a single probe is used, it is typically held in the ear canal via a cuff that extends into the canal, with friction holding the cuff in place. Alternatively, the cuff is hand-held during testing. Both methods allow for variability in probe placement. For example, different testers may use different insertion or holding force of a probe in the concha of a test subject. For some test situations, such as pure tone testing with masking, or contralateral acoustic reflex testing, it is desirable to have a probe in place and consistently sealed at each ear.
What is needed, therefore, is an audiometric instrument and related method capable of holding a probe seated in each ear canal so that placement and insertion force are consistent and the ear cuff is sealed in the conchae of a user for AAI testing and provides noise immunity for standard audiometry and OAE testing.


A method and a system to share an image forming apparatus among a plurality of hosts. The method includes generating a print enable signal to be transmitted to one of the plurality of hosts corresponding to an order of forming communication channels among one or more hosts to enable wireless communication, and performing a print job by enabling the host that receives the print enable signal to transmit print data to the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus such as a printer or multi-purpose tray is wirelessly connected to the plurality of hosts to perform print jobs and scanning jobs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to print jobs in an image forming apparatus such as a printer or multi-purpose tray, and more particularly, to a method and a system to share an image forming apparatus among a plurality of hosts and enabling wireless communication with the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless universal serial bus (USB) is a protocol used to transfer data by connecting a host to up to 127 devices. The wireless USB adds the convenience of wireless operation to the performance and security of a wired USB, and uses a star topology in which the host is directly connected to the devices by point-to-point connections. A combination of a wireless USB host and plural wireless USB devices are referred to as a cluster. Unlike a wired USB, a wireless USB has no hub in its connection structure. The wireless USB host initiates and schedules data transfers to the devices in the cluster, allotting time slots and bandwidth to each of the connected devices. Clusters can physically overlap with minimal interference, and therefore can coexist in the same wireless cell. The wireless USB employs an ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless transmission medium. The advantages of using UWB include high speed transmission, low power consumption, resistance to wiretapping, a high level of transmission security, and accurate position sensing.
An important goal of the wireless USB is to ensure easy installation and operation. Toward that end, the wireless USB standard will support the following features. The wireless USB will be fully backward compatible with the one billion wired USB connections already in operation. Moreover, wireless USB will be compatible with current USB drivers and firmware and provide bridging from wired USB devices and hosts. At launch, the wireless USB will provide speeds of up to 480 Mbps, which is comparable to a wired USB 2.0 standard and high enough to provide wireless transfer of rich digital multimedia formats. As UWB technology and process technology evolve, bandwidth may exceed 1 Gbps.
Since a current wireless USB protocol standard uses an existing wired USB protocol, the current wireless USB protocol is easily applied to products, but the full advantages of wireless USB cannot be provided. For example, the wired USB protocol enables one USB host to be connected to a plurality of peripheral devices through a hub to transfer data between the USB host and the peripheral devices. However, though the wireless USB protocol enables the host to be connected to a plurality of nearby devices, it is possible to communicate only between an initially assigned host and devices. That is, in order to connect a device to a plurality of hosts, it is necessary to reset environments by assigning each new host to be connected. When the device is an image forming apparatus, and a plurality of hosts request the image forming apparatus to print, it is necessary to reset network environments by assigning each host.

Method and system to share an image forming apparatus among a plurality of hosts


A photographic image-bearing recording member and a manufacturing method of it are disclosed. The recording member comprises. a support, PA1 a thermoplastic resin layer bearing a photographic image, which is provided on a surface of said support, and PA1 a protective layer comprising a radiation setting composition and being set with irradation of an actinic radiation, which is provided at a outermost position of the side of the support on which said thermoplastic layer is provided. Symbols or characters may be further beared in the thermoplastic layer. The symbols and characters are preferably formed on the themopastic layer by the heat-transfer printing method.

Traditionally, there have been commonly used those cards wherein necessary data such as information on the card bearer's address, name, number and other items for personal identification, entered by printing etc., are given on the surface of a platy support of paper, plastic or another material and a photograph or another piece of personal information is applied thereto and marked with an overlapping seal, as certificate identification cards such as employee cards, credit cards, driving LICENSES certificates and traffic permits.
However, these kinds of cards are faulty in that forgery and alteration are easy to do. Also, since these cards are not resistant to friction etc., they often become dirty or damaged while being conveyed routinely. As a solution to this drawback, there have recently been used those cards wherein a light-sensitive material prepared by coating a light-sensitive emulsion such as silver halide emulsion on a platy support is used to print personal data and a photographic portrait. Also known are those cards designed in different ways to prevent falsification, such as those prepared by coating and thermally sealing such cards with resin film, and those prepared by laminating such cards with resin film on both faces.
However, these methods using a light-sensitive material are faulty in that a troublesome liquid processing and a large scale apparatus are required for image formation. To overcome these shortcomings, Japanese Patent Application Nos. 131939/1988 and 293977/1988 propose a method of image formation, especially for ID card image, by forming an image in a thermoplastic resin layer by thermal transfer printing or transferring an image formed in a heat developing type silver halide light sensitive material and laminating this resin layer with an appropriate lamination material.
Although this method permits the obtainment of an image through a simple and dry process, the obtained image is unsatisfactory as to storage stability and sharpness. Particularly, deterioration of sharpness is obtained due to heating upon lamination.
Also, the contact between thermoplastic resin and lamination material in the obtained recording member is insufficient, which poses a problem on the storage and prevention of falsification of the recording member.
This problem tends to become aggravated when lamination temperature or lamination material is changed to lower the degree of deterioration of sharpness.
In addition, in issuing various certificates such as ID cards and pamphlets, there have been demands of applicants for shortening the time lag between the submission of application form and the issuance of certificate whereas there have been demands of issuers for minimizing issuing time per certificate since they must do enormous tasks in a given time.

Photographic-image-bearing recording member and method of its preparation


A method of producing an electrochromic device, includes the steps of: providing a first electron conducting layer on a substrate, providing a working electrode in communication with the first electron conducting layer, providing an ion conducting layer in communication with the working electrode, providing an ion storage electrode in communication with the ion conducting layer, and providing a second electron conducting layer in communication with the ion storage electrode, wherein at least one and less than all of the providing steps include(s) plasma chemical vapor deposition. An electrochromic device produced by the method of the invention is disclosed, as is an apparatus adapted to perform the method of the invention, including plasma CVD devices and vacuum sputtering devices.

The present invention pertains to the production of multilayer electrochromic devices (ECDs). More specifically, this invention pertains to a hybrid process for the production of ECDs utilizing plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and at least one other deposition technique.
The phenomenon of chromogenic properties has been extensively studied because of its extreme importance in architectural and automotive markets. Chromogenic properties relate to a change in optical properties of a given material upon the application of a stimulus. Electrochromic materials undergo a reversible coloration with the application of an electric field or current, thus giving full control of the coloration to the user. The color change may be the result of the formation of color centers or alternatively an electrochemical reaction that produces a colored compound. The phenomenon of electrochromism in tungsten trioxide (WO3) was first reported by S. K. Deb in Applied Optics, Supplement 3, Electrophotography, (1969) page 192. Much has been written about the energy savings and increased comfort gained if large electrochromic devices (ECDs) were available as a feature of architectural and automotive windows.
A simple deposition of a thin film of the electrochromic material on a transparent substrate is not practical as an ECD. A functional ECD requires the sequential combination with other material thin films. A typical multilayer ECD consists of the following layers deposited sequentially on a transparent substrate such as glass or a thin polymer web:                1. (Optional) Substrate barrier layer: prevents migration of harmful substances from the substrate into the ECD.        2. Bottom electron conducting layer: provides a means to connect a power source/ground to the ECD.        3. Working electrode: the electrochromic material that reversibly changes color upon the reversible injection of ions and electrons.        4. Ion conducting layer: a layer that is both electron insulating and ion conducting. This section may need to be made of multiple materials or multiple layers for compatibility with the working electrode and ion storage electrode.        5. Ion storage electrode: stores the ions from the working electrode. It must have no color change or a complementary color change with the working electrode, i.e., when the working electrode is transparent the ion storage electrode must also be transparent, and when the working electrode is colored the ion storage electrode may or may not be colored.        6. Top electron conducting layer: provides a means to connect a power source/ground to the ECD.        7. (Optional) Top barrier layer: protects the ECD from contamination from the environment external to the device. This barrier layer may be a thin film or a laminated thick material, but must be transparent.
When a current is applied, the ions move from the ion storage electrode, through the ion-conducting layer and are injected into the working electrode. By reversing the current direction the ions are removed from the working electrode and injected back into the ion storage electrode. The working electrode changes color upon the injection and removal of the ions. For example W(VI)O3 is transparent but if combined with a Li ion and electron it is converted to LiW(V)O3, which is highly colored.
The thickness of various layers required in a multilayer ECD structure is dependent upon the function of layers. For example, the thickness of top and bottom electrodes can vary from 200 to 500 nanometer (nm). The thickness of the ion conductive layer can vary from 50 to 300 nm. Likewise, the thickness of working and ion storage electrodes can vary from 200 to 700 nm.
Recently, different methods for depositing the sequential ECD layers on the substrate have been researched. Conventionally, ECDs are manufactured using a single deposition technology—primarily magnetron sputtering under vacuum. The deposition rate by sputtering process greatly depends upon the material that is being deposited. This method can be acceptable for easily sputtered or evaporated materials such as the material used for depositing electroconductive and ion conductive layers. It can be extremely slow for materials that are difficult to sputter or evaporate such as the materials used for depositing working and ion storage layers. Consequently, the sputtering process can be performed to produce ECDs on a large scale, but it becomes very difficult and time consuming to use the sputtering process for depositing working and ion storage electrode layers. For example, typical sputter deposition rates of a common working electrode material, WO3, are much less than one nm per second. Therefore, it is difficult to manufacture the entire multilayer ECD economically by using only vacuum sputter as the sole deposition method.
In the vacuum evaporation and sputtering deposition techniques, thin films of WO3, for example, are deposited in a vacuum environment from sources of W in an oxidizing atmosphere or WO3 in an inert or an oxidizing atmosphere. In the vacuum evaporation technique, the source material is heated to a vapor pressure sufficient to cause evaporation and condensation of the material onto a substrate. In the sputtering technique, the source material is converted to the vapor phase by positive ion bombardment. In both cases, thin film deposits of the WO3 are formed by vapor condensation on a substrate in the vacuum chamber.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2001/0031403 A1 describes a completely solid state ECD preferably deposited entirely by vacuum sputtering. The specification also discloses that other deposition techniques could be used or combined with vacuum sputtering. The vacuum techniques described are all physical deposition techniques (evaporation, reactive evaporation and reactive sputtering) and the "decomposition of precursors" techniques such as thermal pyrolysis and sol-gel. Thermal pyrolysis can be a vacuum or a non-vacuum technique. Sol-gel is, on the other hand, a non-vacuum, wet deposition technique.
The sol-gel deposition technique produces an oxide coating by depositing a colloidal solution onto a substrate. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,659,417 and 5,699,192 both describe an ECD containing ion-conducting layer deposited by sol-gel techniques. While these patents describe forming all the layers by various sol-gel techniques, the examples also describe depositing the ion-conducting layer via sol-gel techniques, and depositing the other layers by reactive sputtering. However, these techniques suffer from inefficiencies related to alternating between vacuum and wet deposition techniques.
Plasma enhanced deposition techniques produce thin films by synthesizing reaction products from several ionized gaseous reactants under vacuum. In this context, plasma is an electrically neutral, highly ionized gas composed of ions, electrons, and neutral particles. Plasma enhanced deposition occurs when an electrical discharge in a low-pressure mixture of volatile reactants causes the formation of a variety of highly energetic species, e.g., atoms, metastables, radicals, and ions. These species then chemically interact to form stable deposits. In plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), the power required to stimulate the gas-phase chemical reactions can be provided by radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation directed into the low pressure reaction chamber. Plasma enhanced CVD can in many cases provide deposition rates that are more than one order of magnitude higher than typically observed with vacuum sputtering even for the materials that are difficult to deposit by sputtering.
The PECVD method has been utilized to prepare electro-optically active transition metal oxides as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,560. The patent discloses thin films that would be useful as a working electrode and ion storage electrode. ECD structures are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,395 discloses a PECVD method in the production of vanadium oxide thin-film layers. The patent discloses that the claimed deposition method and thin films could be used in an ECD. Vanadium-based films are one of the preferred compositions in an ECD for the ion storage layer.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2003/0156313 discloses an ECD, where the structure comprises at least one layer of electrochromic material and a layer of electronic insulating transparent ion-conducting solid electrolytic material, and where at least one of these layers is nanostructured. The reference discloses that the layers may be deposited by vacuum sputtering, PECVD, or vapor phase physical deposition techniques. Although the reference teaches that a nanostructured layer can comprise a plurality of layers deposited under different conditions, there is no suggestion of using a combination of PECVD and another deposition technique to provide a single layer within the ECD or different layers in the same ECD. Combinations of RF sputtering and ionic sputtering are the only examples given.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a more efficient and less expensive method for manufacturing an ECD. It is further desired to provide such a method, which utilizes a combination of different deposition techniques to enhance the overall efficiency of the method.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Hybrid process for depositing electrochromic coating


In an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus, the recording operation is interrupted when an information pit, dust, scratch, stain, etc. is present on an optical recording medium. However, the recording operation is resumed and kept continued when a dust, scratch, stain, etc. other than the information pit is present on the medium. The apparatus comprises a double recording detecting circuit for detecting a pseudo double recording signal generated by a dust, scratch, stain, etc. on the medium at a period of a recording operation; and a recording signal supply circuit for interrupting the recording operation when the double recording detecting circuit detects the pseudo double recording signal to switch the recording period to a monitor period, for maintaining the interruption of the recording operation when a real double recording signal generated by an information pit is detected at the monitor period, and for resuming the recording operation when the real double recording signal generated by an information pit is not detected at the monitor period. After the recording operation has been resumed and further when the pseudo double recording signal generated by a dust, scratch, stain, etc. still remaining on the medium is detected, the monitor and recording periods are repeated alternately. However, after the medium has become free from a dust, scratch, stain, etc. finally and therefore the real and pseudo double recording signals are not both generated, the recording operation is kept continued normally.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus, and more specifically to an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus which can prevent other information data from being over-recorded in an information recording area on an information recording medium, which is referred to as double recording prevention apparatus.

Optical information recording and reproducing apparatus


A technique for facilitating coordination of actions by multiple programs involves providing an execution environment for active objects. The execution environment may be an object space. Client programs may write active objects to the object space, which execute on behalf of the client programs. The client programs may obtain the results of the executed active objects, even if the client program is disconnected from the object space while the active object is executing.

This application relates generally to object-oriented computer programs and systems. In particular, the aspects of the invention are related to object spaces.
An object space may be implemented as an instance of a server to which participant programs connect as clients. Object spaces are the object-oriented incarnation of tuple spaces, which are well-known in the art of computer science. For example, in "Generative Communications in Linda", which is incorporated herein by reference, David Glernter describes tuple spaces. KLAIM (Kernel Language for Agents Interaction and Mobility), an extension of Linda for supporting mobile processes, is incorporated herein by reference. Lime (Linda In a Mobile Environment) is another extension of Linda, for distributed and mobile environments, that is incorporated herein by reference. In "Using Agent Wills to Provide Fault-tolerance in Distributed Shared Memory Systems", which is incorporated herein by reference, Antony Rowstron explains how to provide an "agent will" for an object. If a client program terminates abnormally, the agent will helps "clean up" the tuple space to remove any information that is not consistent with the fact that the client program is no longer reachable. With each of these prior art techniques, objects are not part of the tuple space. For example, agent wills cannot be affected by operations on the object space issued by other client programs.
Object spaces provide a way for multiple networked entities to coordinate their actions by writing objects to a shared space and querying this space for objects. FIG. 1A depicts a prior art system 10 that includes computers 12, 14, 16, and 18, coupled to one another across a WAN 20. The computers 12, 14, 16, and 18 respectively include client programs 22, 24, 26, and 28. The computer 14, for example, may include a server 30 with an object space 40. The client programs 22, 24, 26, 28 may perform operations on the object space 40 (across the WAN 20, in the case of the client programs 22, 26, and 28).
FIG. 1B depicts an alternative conceptual view of the system 10, in which the object space 40 is shown in more detail. The client programs 22, 24, 26, and 28 can write objects to the object space 40. For example, in FIG. 1B, the client programs are depicted as respectively writing objects 42, 44, 46, and 48. It may be possible for a client program (e.g., client program 24) to read an object (e.g., object 46) that has been written by another client program (e.g., client program 26). A client program (e.g., client program 28) may be able to issue a notify operation to a board 50 and receive event notifications, such as notifications of when an object has been operated upon (e.g., read or write). In addition, a client program may be able to delete (sometimes called "take") an object (not shown).
Object spaces have been found to be inefficient because operations performed on the object space have to go through a network (or between operating system processes). Another problem with object spaces is that they result in unnecessary coupling because participants need to stay connected to the object space (or risk losing information). This problem is particularly troublesome in mobile computing where devices with transient connectivity to the network. Another problem with object spaces is that they are inflexible because it is not possible to add functionalities beyond the set of base primitives. Another problem with object spaces is that they introduce a rigid separation between the object space itself and the client programs connected to the object space, which results in problems of efficiency and scalability, and puts constraints on clients.
The cost of using an object space becomes prohibitive for distributed tasks that contain a large number of object space operations, or for situations with a large amount of objects on the object space or a large number of clients connected to the object space (at least partly because notify operations do not scale).


An image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic system. The image forming apparatus includes a body frame; an image forming unit having at least a photoreceptor and being detachably contained in the body frame; a forward unit for forwarding a sheet to the image forming unit, the forward unit having at least two forward members, one of the forward members being disposed at a disturbing position when the image forming unit is detached from the body frame; a moving frame being disposed so as to be opened and closed relative to the body frame and having a first opening position and a second opening position, the second opening position having an opening distance greater than the first opening position; and a coupling unit for coupling the moving frame with the forward unit so that when the moving frame is opened to the first opening position, the other of the forward members is distanced from the one of the forward members with the one of the forward members being at a position closing the moving frame, while when the moving frame is opened to the second opening position, the one of the forward members is moved to an undisturbing position when the image forming unit is detached from the body frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic system, and more particularly to the apparatus in which a cover member that can be separated from its main body having an image forming means with a sheet forward path as a demarcation is implemented by a rocking frame or a moving frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying machine or a printer employs a system in which a copy is made by forming a toner image on a photoreceptor drum, transferring the toner image onto a sheet, and fusing the transferred toner image afterwards through a fuser. This image forming apparatus is also designed so that sheets are fed from a unit such as a sheet feed cassette disposed on a sheet feed section of the apparatus one by one using a sheet feeder and forwarded toward an image transfer section of the photoreceptor drum. Among such image forming apparatuses is a comparatively small image forming apparatus that is designed so that its frames can be opened and closed with a sheet forward path as a border, and, e.g., when a sheet is stopped inside the sheet forward path, one of the frames is opened to free the sheet feed path so that the jam can be taken care of with ease. Further, as described above, the image forming apparatus in which one of the frames can be opened and closed facilitates the operation of inspecting the image forming means or replacing various units, etc., by opening the frame.
In addition to the above-mentioned ordinary image forming apparatuses, some small printers are designed in such a manner that an image forming means is arranged so as to confront the printer body and that a frame is separable from the printer body with a sheet forward path as a border, so that the operation of handling jams or maintenance of the printer can be performed conveniently. In an example proposed, e.g., in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 63-244064 and the like, a printer includes: a unitized image forming member on the printer body; an opening/closing frame that can be opened and closed with respect to the printer body; and such components as a sheet forward means, a fuser, and the like so as to confront the opening/closing frame, so that the opening/closing frame can be opened to perform maintenance or jamming processing inside the sheet forward path.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional printer, a forward roller unit of the sheet forward path is provided integrally with the opening/closing frame. As a result, jammed sheets are left nipped between the forward rollers under strong nip pressure, thus making the operation of removing the jammed sheets cumbersome. Further, if a means for supporting only one of the forward rollers with respect to the opening/closing frame is provided, the jamming can be handled easily, but the roller becomes an obstacle, e.g., to taking the image forming member out.
To overcome the above problems, a printer is proposed, e.g., in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 1-314256. In this printer, when opening the opening/closing frame with the sheet forward path as a demarcation, its fuser is left on the printer body side and only a part of the sheet forward path is opened. However, the thus constructed opening/closing frame is to be opened with the forward roller unit of the sheet forward path nipping a sheet therebetween, thus leaving the jam handling problem unsolved.

Image forming apparatus with moveable cover


A tactile sensor including a piezoresistive layer having its electric resistance varying according to mechanical stress exerted thereon, the piezoresistive layer being at least partially transparent to light; a photosensitive layer, having its electric resistance varying according to the quantity of incident light thereon, the photosensitive layer being arranged opposite the piezoresistive layer; and electric connection elements electrically connecting in parallel the piezoresistive layer and the photosensitive layer.

Displays, keyboards, and touch pads which detect a pressure exerted on them are known. Such devices include pressure sensors comprising a layer of piezoelectric material formed on a flexible support. When it is pressed on these devices, the piezoelectric material layer of the pressed sensor(s) deforms and releases electric charges which are detected by a dedicated electric circuit. The detection of the released charges then determines that a pressure is exerted on the device.
To obtain high-quality pressure sensors, piezoelectric materials which have both good mechanical qualities and good piezoelectric qualities are usually searched for.
It is in particular desired for these materials to have a good elasticity, a good adherence to the flexible support, as well as a low thermal expansion difference with the support. Indeed, too rigid a piezoelectric material is difficult to install on a flexible support, and if the thermal expansion coefficient difference is too large, the piezoelectric layer may separate from the support under the effect of temperature variations. The resulting pressure sensors are thus mechanically fragile. Piezoelectric materials having a high piezoelectric constant, that is, releasing a large quantity of charges when pressed, even slightly, are also searched for, to design sensors of high sensitivity.
Now, current piezoelectric materials have either good mechanical properties, or good piezoelectric properties. For example, piezoelectric materials currently used for pressure sensors comprise so-called "PZT" ceramics (acronym of lead titanium zirconium) and PVDF (acronym of polyvinylene fluoride).
However, although a PZT ceramic has a high piezoelectric constant, it has a very high Young's modulus, and thus insufficient mechanical properties. As for PVD, it has a low Young's modulus and more generally good mechanical properties, but however has a low piezoelectric constant.
For reasons of mechanical robustness, piezoelectric materials having a good mechanical behavior, and thus a low Young's modulus, are usually preferred. However, due to the low piezoelectric constant, and thus to their low response to an applied pressure, a so-called "capacitive" electric assembly is used to measure the quantity of released charges. In such an assembly, the piezoelectric material layer is in contact with electrodes and forms therewith a capacitive circuit, having its capacitance varying according to the released electric charges. A capacitance meter, connected to the electrodes, dynamically measures the capacitance of the capacitive circuit, particularly by imposing a variable voltage between the electrodes and/or by injecting therein a variable current of variable frequency. A capacitive electric assembly thus requires complex measurement means.

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES


A glass ceramic or glass-ceramic sheet is formed by progressively reducing the thickness of the sheet by passing the sheet between successive pairs of counter-rotating rollers. The average viscosity of the sheet is maintained between 5.times.10.sup.4 and 10.sup.9 P during the sheet forming operation.

In the glassmaking industry, there is such a known process in which glass in viscous form is passed between two counterrotating rollers whose separation is the desired thickness of the sheet of glass which exits from between these rollers. The contact of the sheet with these rollers causes significant cooling of the sheet, at least on its surface. In fact, it is not possible to heat the rollers to the temperature of the glass to prevent its cooling, because such heating would cause the glass to stick to the rollers.
When the sheet of glass exiting from between the rollers is of a substantial thickness, the cooling due to the rollers is significant at the level of the "skin" of the sheet, and the glass then takes on a high viscosity in the vicinity of this skin, while the core of the sheet remains warmer and therefore less viscous. Subsequent cooling of this fluid core causes the core glass to shrink more than the cooler "skin" of the glass. This results in the development of stresses in the sheet, which can undesirably deform its structure, particularly when the sheet of glass is to be marked or imprinted with designs which must be positioned and executed with great precision.
When the sheet of glass exiting from the rollers is very thin (thickness less than 1 mm, for example), the cooling due to the rollers may extend through the entire thickness of the sheet. This sheet is then at too low a temperature to be taken into a subsequent operation of forming by pressing, for example. In addition, the minimal thickness of the sheet to be obtained at one time is limited to about 0.5 mm.
There are known processes for the manufacture of sheets of glass other than forming under pressure, such as the so-called "float glass" process or the processes known by the names of "fusion draw" or "down draw." The float glass process may involve unacceptable contamination with tin in certain applications. The other two are processes with a low production yield which also do not permit the use of glass which is easily devitrified. None of these three processes permits the production of sheets of glass with designs cut into the surface or through the entire thickness.
Currently, there is a need for a process for manufacturing glass sheets which can produce a shaped or structured sheet with great precision in its thickness and/or in the texture of its surfaces, this process also assuring a high-yield production compatible with manufacturing costs that are attainable for products intended for a mass market.

Apparatus for forming glass sheets with coaxial cavities


The invention provides a method of optimizing the rate of penetration of a hydraulically or pneumatically powered rotor and stator driven drill as it drills a wellbore into the earth, the method comprising: (a) measuring a first set of rotor and stator operating parameters including the weight applied to the drill bit, the speed of rotation of the rotor and rotor torque for a first period of time, (b) generating a first set of relationships from the first set of operating parameters to enable the rotor speed and rotor torque to be predicted over a range of operating parameter values, (c) determining the rate of penetration for the first period of time from measurements of weight applied to the bit and rotation speed of the bit, (d) determining whether any other combination of weight applied to bit and rotation speed of bit, provided by the relationships determined in step (b) are capable of providing a greater rate of penetration, and (e) adjusting at least one operating parameter to move the weight applied to bit and/or speed of rotation of bit towards the combination which provides a first greater rate of penetration.

Downhole motors are used in the hydrocarbon industry to apply mechanical power at a downhole location to a drill bit in oil and/or gas wells for drilling applications. The downhole motor, sometimes referred to as a mud motor, is positioned at the bottom of a drillstring and coupled via an output shaft with a drill bit. Drilling fluid, sometimes referred to as drilling mud or simply mud, is pumped down the drillstring and through the downhole motor. The downhole motor uses the force of the pumped/flowing drilling fluid to produce a mechanical output, a rotation of the output shaft and, in turn, the drill bit.
Although there are different types of downhole/mud motors, the most commonly used type today is a positive displacement motor which uses an elongated, helically-shaped rotor within a corresponding helically shaped stator. The flow of drilling fluid or mud between the stator and rotor causes the rotor to orbit within the stator eccentrically about the longitudinal axis of the stator. The rotor itself rotates about its longitudinal axis and also orbits around the central longitudinal axis of the stator. This eccentric orbit and rotation of the rotor is transferred by a suitable transmission assembly, such as a universal joint assembly, to produce a concentric rotation for the output shaft.
Other types of downhole motors include turbines in which a rotor/shaft equipped with vanes is caused to rotate by a fluid—a liquid or a gas—passing through the turbine, and interacting with the vanes on the rotor/shaft.
The downhole motor is a kind of downhole dynamic drilling tool that converts the power of drilling mud to a rotation of the drill bit; an application of torque and speed to the drill bit. The advantages of using a downhole motor is that it provides: an increased rate of penetration; better hole deviation control; reduced drill string failure rate.
A downhole motor, mud motor or drilling motor may also be referred to as a Progressive Cavity Positive Displacement Pump that may be disposed on the drillstring to provide additional power to the bit during a drilling process. As described above, the downhole motor uses the drilling fluid to create eccentric motion in the power section of the motor, which is transferred as concentric power to the drill bit. The downhole motor uses different rotor and stator configurations to provide optimum performance for the desired drilling operation; typically the number of lobes and the length of power assembly may be increased to provide greater horsepower. In certain applications, compressed air or other compressed gases may be used to input power to the downhole motor. A rotation of the bit while using a downhole motor may be from about 60 rpm to over 100 rpm.
Downhole motors may comprise a top sub, which connects the downhole motor to the drillstring; the power section, which consists of the rotor and the stator; the transmission section, where the eccentric power from the rotor is transmitted as concentric power to the bit; the bearing assembly which protects the tool from off bottom and on bottom pressures; and the bottom, sub which connects the downhole motor to the bit.
The use of downhole motors is greatly dependent on financial efficiency. In straight vertical holes, the mud motor may be used for increased rate of penetration (ROP), or to minimize erosion and wear on the drill string, since the drill string does not need to be turned as fast. However, the majority of downhole motor use is for directional drilling. Although other methods may be used to steer the drill to directionally drill a borehole, a downhole motor may be the most cost effective method.
In some aspects, the downhole motor may be configured to have include a bend section to provide for directional drilling. Typically, downhole motors can be modified in a range of around zero to four degrees to provide for directional drilling with approximately six increments in deviation per degree of bend. The amount of bend is determined by rate of climb needed to reach the target zone. By using a measurement while drilling (MWD) Tool, a directional driller can steer the bit, which is driven by the downhole motor, to the desired target zone.
The power section of the downhole motor consists of the stator and the rotor. In certain downhole motors, the stator comprises a rubber sleeve on the wall of a steel tube, where the inside of the rubber sleeve defines a spiral structure with a certain geometric parameter. The rotor comprises a shaft, such as a steel shaft, that may be coated with a wear resistant coating, such as chrome and may have a helical profile configured to run/turn/rotate inside the stator.
In the drilling procedure, drilling fluid is pumped downhole through the drill pipe at a given rate and pressure. The downhole motor converts the hydraulic energy of the drilling fluid passing through the power section into mechanical energy, rotation and torque. This mechanical energy is transferred from the downhole motor to the drill bit.
An alternative to using a positive displacement motor is to employ a turbine, in a process often referred to as turbodrilling. In the turbodrill method, power is generated at the bottom of the hole by mud-operated turbines. The turbodrill consists of four basic components: the upper, or thrust, bearing; the turbines, the lower bearing; and the bit. In operation, mud is pumped through the drill pipe, passing through the thrust bearing and into the turbine. In the turbine, stators attached to the body of the tool divert the mud flow onto the rotors attached to the shaft. This causes the shaft, which is connected to the bit, to rotate. The mud passes through a hollow part of the shaft in the lower bearing and through the bit, as in rotary drilling, to remove cuttings, cool the bit, and perform the other functions of the drilling fluid. The capacity of the mud, which is the power source, determines rotational speed.
Multistage high efficiency reaction turbine blades extract hydrolic energy from the flowing mud stream and convert it to mechanical energy (torque and rotation) to drive the drill bit. Each turbine stage consists of a stator, fixed to the body of the tool, and a rotor fixed to the output shaft. These are designed to work in unison, directing and accelerating the mud as it passes through each stage. To achieve the high power and torque levels necessary in performance drilling applications, complete tools are built with approximately 150 sets of identical rotor and stator pairs. To ensure a long life the rotors and stators are manufactured using high performance alloys, which are resistant to both erosion and corrosion.
Similar to a positive displacement motor, the turbodrill generates mechanical power through a pressure drop across the drive system coupled with the fluid flow rate. Generally, the greater the pressure drop capacity of the tool, the greater the potential for delivering mechanical power to the bit. Because the turbodrill power generation system is entirely mechanic, it is capable of supporting an extremely high pressure drop that creates greater mechanical power compared with a mud motor.
In view of their benefits positive displacement motors (PDMs) and turbines are used prolifically in oilfield drilling operations to increase the rotary speed and torque supplied to the bit during drilling.
Although widely used, it is, however, usually unknown exactly the downhole motor is performing, i.e., how much rotary speed and torque is generated etc., by the downhole motor during a downhole drilling operation. In general, the only performance knowledge for the downhole motor is derived guides to the performance of the motor from the motor manufacturer. This manufacturer's guide can take the form of a chart relating the torque and rotation speed of the rotor/turbine as a function of the pressure drop across the motor. However, these charts are generated under surface conditions using an ideal fluid such as water so provide little incite regarding the actual performance of the downhole motor under downhole conditions and being driven by a drilling fluid or the like.
During a downhole drilling operation the downhole conditions give rise to a wide variety of sources of deviation from the manufacturer's performance charts. Such sources of deviation include extremes of temperature and pressure, variation in the properties of the drilling mud, wear of the motor and associated components. All of these can influence the performance of the motor and result in the manufacturer's charts losing accuracy.
Drilling operators in the field are aware of this source of deviation and as a result do not rely on the accuracy of manufacturer's performance charts. As such, drilling operators tend to drill more conservatively than the charts would indicate were possible, to avoid pushing the drill beyond the point of optimal performance and risk stalling the drill.
The effect of this type of conservative operation is that downhole motors and turbines are generally operated sub-optimally, operating below the maximum power output and efficiency possible.
Furthermore, published manufacture curves are often not available for turbines and drillers have only theoretical approximations as to the turbine's speed or power output, making their efficient operation even more problematic.
To a first approximation, the rate of penetration of a drill is maximized when both the weight-on-bit (WOB) and speed of rotation are maximized. However these parameters cannot both be increased indefinitely, as constraints in the system provide a ceiling beyond which drilling cannot proceed. For conventional drilling, a primary constraint is the available power in the top drive, which effectively places a constraint on the combinations of weight-on-bit and rotation speed that are possible.
In many drilling scenarios, the rate of penetration is therefore maximized when operating at the maximum available power of the top drive. Conventional rate of penetration optimization therefore is in determining which combinations of weight-on-bit and rotation speed, given an available power, provide the optimal rate of penetration.
When a mud motor or turbine assisted drilling is employed, the constraint provided by the available power of the top drive may be exceeded, due to the additional hydraulic power provided by the motor or turbine. Thus, greater rates of penetration can be achieved because the important power constraint effectively allows greater weight-on-bit and/or rotation speed.
Patent application WO 2010/043951 discloses a method of optimising the rate of penetration of a drill. The primary parameters employed to predict rate of penetration are the weight applied to the drill bit and the rotation speed of the drill bit.
However, as discussed above, in order to maximize rate of penetration, it is essential to know the maximum available hydraulic power. Attempts to maximize rate of penetration without a knowledge of the available power in a mud motor will result in a stall, which slows down the rate of progress and defeats the object of maximizing rate of penetration.
Thus, even with a knowledge of how to optimize rate of penetration, if a knowledge of the performance of the downhole motor and/or available hydraulic power is not known, not known under operating condition and/or not know in real-time—the drilling system will be operated conservatively and therefore the combinations of weight-on-bit and rotation speed available to a driller (which may be a person, a processor etc.) will provide a reduced rate of penetration than what would be possible if the true performance of the mud motor were known to the operator/driller.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A data storage system and a method of operating the same are provided. The method includes performing a program operation on a first page of the pages of a memory block, deciding, when power is switched on after a sudden power-off is generated while the program operation is performed, whether to skip the program operation on a first erase page of the pages based on a second page on which the program operation is performed subsequent to the first page, and performing the program operation on the second page.

1. Field of Invention
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an electronic device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a data storage system and a method of operating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Among data storage devices, semiconductor memory devices are largely classified as volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices.
A volatile memory device has a high write and read speed, but when a power supply is cut off, stored data disappears. A non-volatile memory device has a relatively low write and read speed but maintains stored data even when the power supply is cut off. Accordingly, regardless of the power supply, the non-volatile memory device is used in order to maintain the stored data. Non-volatile memory devices include a read-only memory (ROM), a mask ROM (MROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a flash memory, a phase-change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetic RAM (MRAM), a resistive RAM (RRAM), a ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and so on. Flash memories are classified as NOR-type and NAND-type.
The flash memories have an advantage of a RAM in that programming and erasure of data are free, and an advantage of a ROM in that stored data is maintained. Flash memories are widely used as a storage medium of portable electronic devices such as a digital camera, a PDA (personal digital assistant), and an MP3 player.
It is desirable for semiconductor memory devices to have high data reliability.

Data storage system and method of operating the same


A field effect transistor is manufactured by forming an isolating structure on a semiconductor substrate to define an active area. A gate structure is formed which is insulated from a surface of the active area of the semiconductor substrate. An amorphous silicon film is formed on the gate structure, on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and on the isolating structure. A first portion of the amorphous silicon film is converted to an epitaxial film and a second portion of the amorphous silicon film is converted to a polysilicon film. Impurities are diffused throughout the polysilicon film and into an upper surface portion of said epitaxial film. The impurity doped polysilicon film and the upper surface portion of the epitaxial film are oxidized to form oxide films and the oxide films are removed so that the epitaxial film remains at least on the active area of the semiconductor substrate. Source and drain regions of the transistor are formed in the active area of the semiconductor substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor device and methods for manufacturing the semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a field effect transistor having elevated source and drain regions and methods for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As more highly integrated semiconductor integrated circuit devices are developed, attention must be given to overcoming performance and manufacturing problems which arise when the elements of the circuit devices are reduced in size and positioned closely together. In the case of field effect transistors (FETs), such problems include parasitic capacitance, junction leakage, and short-channel effects. For example, low resistance contacts to the source/drain regions of a transistor are often provided by forming silicide layers such as titanium silicide (TiSi.sub.2) or cobalt silicide (CoSi.sub.2) on the source and drain regions thereof by a silicide or salicide (self-aligned silicide) process. These silicide and salicide processes can damage the source/drain regions and cause junction leakage. In addition, the source and drain regions of FETs are generally formed by implanting impurities into the semiconductor substrate on which the transistor is formed. In FETs having short-channels (e.g., less than about 3 microns), implanting these impurities too deeply into the substrate can cause short-channel effects to become significant.
FETs having elevated source and drain regions have been developed to address these problems. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional FET 10 having elevated source and drain regions. FET 10 is formed in an active area 13 of a semiconductor substrate 15 which is defined by a shallow trench isolation structure 17. Source diffusion region 19 and drain diffusion region 21 are formed in the active area 13 with a channel region 23 therebetween. A gate structure 25 is spaced from channel region 23 by a gate insulating film 27. A sidewall insulator 29 is formed on the sidewalls of gate structure 25. Elevated source region 31 and elevated drain region 33 of epitaxial silicon are formed on source diffusion region 19 and drain diffusion region 21, respectively. Since silicide layers for reducing contact resistance are formed on the elevated source and drain regions, source and drain diffusion regions 19 and 21 are not damaged and the junction leakage resulting from such damage can be avoided. In addition, since impurities for forming the source and drain diffusion regions are implanted through the elevated source and drain regions, shallow source and drain diffusion regions may be formed in semiconductor substrate 15, thereby reducing the impact of short-channel effects.
Elevated source and drain regions such as those shown in FIG. 1 are generally formed by selective epitaxial growth. Such selective epitaxial growth causes the elevated source and drain regions to have facets which are designated in FIG. 1 by reference numbers 35 and 37. When impurities are implanted in semiconductor substrate 15 through elevated source and drain regions having facets, the impurities which pass through the relatively thin portions of the raised regions defined by the facets penetrate more deeply into the portions of semiconductor substrate 15 designated by reference numeral 38 in FIG. 1 than the impurities which pass through the thicker portions of the elevated regions. These deeply implanted impurities can increase the significance of short-channel effects. In addition, silicide processes can create spikes at the location of these facets, and the spikes may penetrate into the underlying semiconductor substrate and through the underlying junctions, thereby shorting the source/drain to the substrate.
To overcome the problems associated with facets, a solid phase epitaxial growth process may be used. In this process, an amorphous silicon layer is deposited and then annealed. As a result of the annealing, one portion of the amorphous silicon layer is converted to an epitaxial layer and another portion of the amorphous silicon layer is converted to a polysilicon layer. However, since the etching selectivity between epitaxial silicon and polysilicon generated by this growth process is very low, it is difficult to completely remove the polysilicon layer to leave the epitaxial layer as the elevated source and drain regions.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a FET and methods for manufacturing the same which overcome these and other problems.

Field effect transistor having elevated source and drain regions and methods for manufacturing the same


The present invention relates to the discovery, identification and characterization of a novel tumor suppressor gene C4-2. The invention encompasses nucleotide sequences of the C4-2 gene and amino acid sequences of its encoded protein product(s), as well as derivatives and analogs thereof. The invention also encompasses the production of C4-2 proteins and antibodies. The invention further encompasses therapeutic compositions and methods of diagnosis and therapy.

Brain tumors have claimed the lives of 13,300 people in 1995. The number of deaths caused by brain tumors are increasing each year. Over 17,900 will die in 1996. Brain tumors claim lives of not only adults but also of children. The increased incidence of brain tumors is not only evident in the young but also in adults. It has been documented that a significant increase in mortality has occurred in adult primary malignant brain tumors between 1982 and 1996 (Parker et al., 1996, CA Cancer J. Clin. 46:5-28).
Glioblastomas, astrocytomas and meningiomas are the most common brain tumors that affect adults. Glioblastoma multiforme are high grade astrocytomas that grow very rapidly and contain cells that are malignant (Laws and Thapar, 1993, CA Cancer J. Clin. 43:262-271). The molecular basis of glioblastoma multiforme may involve systematic events at the chromosomal level or at the gene expression level. These may include inactivation of tumor suppressor genes, activation of oncogenes or specific translocations at the chromosomal level. Genetic changes at the chromosomal level and gene expression level are well documented for other brain tumors (Furnari et al., 1995. Cancer Surveys 25:223-275).
Tumor suppressor genes play an important role in normal cell growth, differentiation and progression through the cell cycle. Tumor suppressor genes in humans have been identified through studies of genetic changes occurring in cancer cells (Ponder, 1990, Trends Genet. 6:213-218; Weinberg, 1991, Science 254:1138-1146). Mutations that cause change in gene expression of tumor suppressor genes lead to cell transformation in vitro and tumor development in vivo. It has been documented that loss of tumor suppressor(s) genes at chromosome 10, mutations in p53 or overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor may be major events leading to glioblastoma multiforme (Furnari et al., 1995, Cancer Surveys 25:223-271; Bogler et al., 1995, GLIA 15:308-327; Faillot et al., 1996, Neurosurgery 39:478-483). The exact series of events involving tumor suppressor genes that lead to initiation and progression of glioblastoma is not known.
Citation of references in this section or any section of this application shall not be construed as an admission that such references are available as prior art to the present invention.

Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of C4-2, a tumor suppressor gene, and methods of use thereof


An actuator includes a rotor, a stator containing the rotor, and a bearing to support the rotor to be rotatable with respect to the stator about the central axis of the rotor and an axis perpendicular to the central axis. The rotor includes rotor central magnetic poles, a rotor upper magnetic pole, and a rotor lower magnetic pole. The stator includes stator central magnetic poles larger in number than the rotor central magnetic poles, stator upper magnetic poles, stator lower magnetic poles, central coils to appropriately magnetize the stator central magnetic poles, upper coils to appropriately magnetize the stator upper magnetic poles, and lower coils to appropriately magnetize the stator lower magnetic poles. The length of each stator central magnetic pole along a central axis of the stator is larger than a length of each rotor central magnetic pole along the central axis of the rotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator capable of rotational driving with a multiple-degree freedom.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a multiple-degree-freedom rotational driving mechanism employed for visual line change control of a monitor camera or the like, a spherical actuator and the like are proposed. According to one spherical actuator (JP-A 6-284673 (KOKAI)), motors similar to so-called brushless DC servo motors are combined to enable rotational driving with a multiple-degree freedom. According to another a spherical actuator (JP-A 2003-324936 (KOKAI)), a permanent magnet is arranged on a cap-like rotor and multiple-degree-freedom driving is implemented by employing an electromagnetic motor.
These conventional structures are not necessarily satisfactory because they have the following problems. For example, in rotational driving about the central axis of the rotor, positioning is effected intermittently at every 90°. Upon performing rotational driving about an axis perpendicular to the central axis of the rotor, rotational driving about the central axis of the rotor is difficult. Particularly, concerning rotor rotation, it is difficult to position the rotor accurately at an arbitrary position.