The preferred embodiment further includes a press for cutting a TEM sample holder from a TEM coupon and joining a probe-tip point with an attached sample to the TEM sample holder. The press includes: an outer die; an inner die situated inside the outer die; a former rod opposing the inner and outer dies; and, a shear punch situated coaxially with the former rod. A hold-down spring biases the former rod toward the inner die. A trigger or other mechanism responsive to the contact of the former rod and the inner die, and an actuator responsive to the trigger, drive the shear punch toward the inner and outer dies. This press can be located either inside or outside the vacuum chamber of the FIB or other analytical instrument.

The use of focused ion-beam (FIB) microscopes has become common for the preparation of specimens for later analysis in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The structural artifacts, and even some structural layers, in the device region and interconnect stack of current integrated-circuit devices can be too small to be reliably detected with the secondary electron imaging in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), or FIB, which offers a bulk surface imaging resolution of approximately 3 nm. In comparison, TEM inspection offers much finer image resolution (<0.1 nm), but requires electron-transparent (<100 nm thick) sections of the sample mounted on 3 mm diameter grid disks.
Techniques were later developed for cutting out and removing specimens for examination that required little or no preliminary mechanical preparation of the initial semiconductor die sample before preparation in the FIB. These lift-out techniques include an "ex-situ" method that is performed outside the FIB chamber, and "in-situ" methods performed inside the FIB.
The process of in-situ lift-out can be simplified into three successive steps. The first is the excision of the sample using focused ion-beam milling and extraction of the sample from its trench. The second is the "holder-attach" step, during which the sample is translated on the probe-tip point to the TEM sample holder. Then it is attached to the TEM sample holder (typically with ion beam-induced metal deposition) and later detached from the probe-tip point. The third and final step is the thinning of the sample into an electron-transparent thin section using focused ion beam milling.
A significant portion of the total time involved in completing a TEM sample with in-situ lift-out is spent during the holder-attach step. The relative amount of time involved depends on the amount of time required to mechanically isolate the lift-out sample from the initial bulk sample (ion beam milling rate), but will vary between 30% to 60% of the total time for TEM sample preparation. In order to eliminate the holder-attach step, it would be desirable to directly join the probe-tip point with the sample attached to the material that will form the TEM sample holder.

Apparatus for preparing a TEM sample holder


An output voltage is compared to a reference voltage, comparison signals are generated, and control signals and mode signals are generated in response thereto. The output voltage is generated in response to the control signals. A speed of the comparing is increased in response to the mode signals indicating that the output voltage is being increased. The speed is reduced in response to the mode signals indicating that the output voltage is being reduced. For increasing the speed, a path is enabled to conduct current. While the path is enabled, at least one switched voltage is connected to vary an amount of the current conducted through the path. The switched voltage is at least one of the reference voltage and the output voltage. For reducing the speed, the path is disabled against conducting current. While the path is disabled, the switched voltage is disconnected from varying the amount.

The disclosures herein relate in general to electronic circuitry, and in particular to a method and system for converting a direct current ("DC") voltage.
A conventional voltage mode hysteretic DC/DC buck converter may support a relatively wide range of variability (e.g., capacitance and inductance) in off-chip components, without compromising output voltage ripple. However, while operating in discontinuous conduction mode ("DCM") under light load conditions (e.g., less than 1 mA), such converter's quiescent current ("IQQ") loss could unacceptably degrade efficiency (e.g., in a voltage-hysteretic comparator of a DC/DC control loop), especially if such IQQ loss is significant relative to such converter's switching and conduction losses under light load conditions. Moreover, such converter might consume an unacceptably high amount of power.
By comparison, under light load conditions: (a) a constant on time ("COT") DC/DC converter may have acceptably small IQQ loss, but such converter supports a relatively narrow range of variability in off-chip components; and (b) a current mode hysteretic DC/DC converter may have acceptably small IQQ loss, but such converter might rely on an unacceptably large inductor (e.g., 10 μH+) for accurate current sensing.

Method and system for converting a DC voltage


When a sheet of paper is inverted and the direction is changed, members such as a roller do not come into contact with the printed surface of the sheet and it is possible to prevent smudges by eliminating an ink stain on a surface of the sheet.

In the prior art, this kind of device is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-57759. In this invention, the transport path of a sheet of paper is inverted around an axis tilted by 45° relative to a traveling direction, so that the sheet moving on the transport path is inverted by 180° and the direction is changed by 90° relative to the traveling direction.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-134437, a sheet of paper is inverted at a point of a loop transport path around an axis along a transport direction.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-135851, an intermediate transport path is provided like conveyer belts which are a plurality of belts looped over a pair of rollers. On the intermediate transport paths, an inverting/refeeding roller is disposed so as to have an axial direction tilted by 45° relative to a transport direction. A plurality of auxiliary rollers are pressed in contact with the inverting/refeeding roller and inverting guides provided between the auxiliary rollers are disposed close to the outer surface of the inverting/refeeding roller with a small gap. A sheet of paper is transported on the intermediate transport path while being sucked by a suction fan. The sheet introduced between the inverting/refeeding roller and the auxiliary rollers is guided by the inverting guides so as to be turned along the outer surface of the inverting/refeeding roller, so that the traveling direction of the sheet is changed by 90°.


A magnetron cathode comprises electron emissive material included in a cathode body and a support structure for supporting the cathode body. The support structure has a longitudinal axis and includes a first part having a first cylinder integrally formed with a first end hat and a second part having a second cylinder integrally formed with a second end hat. The first cylinder and the second cylinder have an overlapping region in the longitudinal axial direction and are joined together. The cathode body is located around the first cylinder of the first part of the support structure and is joined to the first cylinder by a brazed joint. The outer surface of the first cylinder is grooved at the brazed joint.

Magnetrons are devices for generating high frequency power. In one type of magnetron, a cathode is surrounded by an anode in a generally coaxial arrangement. The anode includes resonant anode cavities which may, for example, be defined by a plurality of radially extending anode vanes or by some other configuration and the space between the cathode surface and the anode vane tips provides an interaction space. In operation, an electrical field is established between the anode and the cathode and a magnetic field is provided transverse to the electric field. Electrons emitted from the cathode are acted on by the electric and magnetic fields. Resonances build up in the anode cavities to produce a high frequency energy which is extracted from the anode space by a suitable coupling mechanism.
One known magnetron is schematically illustrated in longitudinal cross-section in FIG. 1. The magnetron includes a generally annular cavity 1 which coaxially surrounds a cathode 2 arranged along its longitudinal axis. An anode 3 comprises eight vanes 4 and the wall 5 of the cavity 1. Two magnetic pole pieces 6 and 7 are arranged at opposite ends the cathode 2 and are designed to produce a substantially axial field in the interaction region of the magnetron. A U-shaped piece 8 provides a return path for the magnetic flux. Sets of anode straps 9 are included to connect alternate ones of the vanes 4 to control the mode of resonance of the magnetron.


An interconnect structure and its method for fabrication each employ an interconnect formed over and adjacent an active region of a semiconductor substrate. A gate electrode is also formed over the active region. Spacer layers are formed adjoining the interconnect and the gate electrode. A spacer layer adjoining the interconnect is removed and a bridging silicide conductor layer is formed bridging a top surface and a sidewall surface of the interconnect with a surface of the active region.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods for forming interconnect structures within semiconductor products. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for forming interconnect structures with enhanced performance within semiconductor products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor products employ devices such as resistors, transistors, diodes and capacitors that are connected and interconnected over semiconductor substrates. As semiconductor product integration levels increase, effective interconnection of devices often becomes difficult due to lithographic resolution and overlay considerations when forming patterned conductor layers.
Thus, a need exists for semiconductor device interconnect structures and methods with enhanced performance. The invention is directed towards that object.

Top and sidewall bridged interconnect structure and method

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A display unit that does not use any characters, but uses pieces (or chips) that are housed within prearranged slots on a base unit to form human recognizable characters. The slots are arranged into a group, with each group of slots forming a specific topography within a group that enables a variety of characters to be displayed.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to displays and pertains, more particularly, to plates or plaques capable of displaying human recognizable characters in digital-like appearance.
(2) Description of Related Art
Conventional display units such as address plates or plaques have been in use for a number of years. Reference is made to the exemplary U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,289,617; 5,521,578; and RE 30,324. Regrettably, most conventional displays suffer from obvious disadvantages. With some, the displayed letters or numbers are fixed thereon and cannot be changed. Others use a fixed set of letters or numbers kit to be placed on the address plates or plaques. With the kits, if a sufficient number of characters are not included in the kit or if one or more characters are lost or damaged over the years the user can no longer use the kit or the display. Still others use complex electrical display units that have complicated components and require power, which necessitates expensive alteration to a structure to which the address plate or plaque is connected for accessing power outlets or power storage units.
In light of the current state of the art and the drawbacks to current devices and methods mentioned above, a need exists for a display unit that would allow for a variable number of characters to be displayed without the use of fixed characters or fixed set of characters, and that would be simple to use without any complex contraptions.

Device and method for display of information


A catheter includes a tubular body having a channel having its ends opening out respectively at the ends of the tubular body, injector element for injecting fluid into the channel, a tubular endpiece having a channel with ends opening out respectively at the ends of the tubular endpiece, and element for connecting the endpiece and the body together so that the end of the channel and the end of the channel are in alignment on an axis, the connection element being constituted essentially by a ring that partially covers the body and the endpiece, and being also arranged in such a manner that the connection can be broken by exerting a force couple of predetermined value respectively on the endpiece and on the body. The invention is applicable to safety catheters for performing endovascular treatments by injecting embolic fluid, for example for treating arteriovenous malfunctions.

Such treatment consists in injecting an embolic liquid by means of a catheter, for the purpose of plugging the vessel(s) supplying the diseased zone.
Unfortunately, it is known that it sometimes happens that the embolic liquid covers the distal end of the catheter used for injecting it and holds it captive in such a manner that it is necessary to pull on the catheter in an attempt to dislodge it.
It will readily be understood that such a maneuver can present drawbacks. For example, the embolic liquid can be withdrawn together with the catheter so that it no longer performs its function, or else it can become deposited in an undesired location, which can cause numerous small arteries to rupture. Another drawback occurs when the traction force is not sufficient and cannot be increased without running the risk of leading to major arterial lesions. Under such circumstances, the only solution is to leave practically the entire catheter in place in the body of the patient.
Various systems have been developed for avoiding leaving the entire catheter in place, e.g. the systems described in the following documents: US 2004/225279; US 2002/16582; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,743,251. Those systems are constituted essentially by a main tube terminated at its distal end by an endpiece butt-joined to the main tube via a bead of material in the form of a spacer that presents a weak point so as to be easily destroyed by various means. That can give satisfaction, providing that when the catheter is inserted, the endpiece does not become detached from the main tube before reaching the location that has been determined for injecting the fluid.


A hand held device for displaying a message. The device includes a keypad including a plurality of keys for inputting data indicative of the message to be displayed and generating a message signal based upon the received signals, a microprocessor for receiving and interpreting the message signal from the keypad and producing a display signal based upon the interpretation and a display device for receiving the display signal from the microprocessor and displaying a message representative of the received display signal. A power supply is connected to supply power to the microprocessor, display device and keypad and a plurality of templates may be removably positioned over the keypad to identify each key of said keypad, each template represents a different language in which the message may be displayed. The desired language for selection of the message is selected prior to inputting the message and the corresponding template is then positioned to cover the keypad to properly identify the keys. The keypad, micro processor means and display device are all contained within a housing which includes a handle for holding the device in an upright position, a window through which the keypad is viewable and a slot leading to the window through which the template corresponding to the selected language is removeably positioned to cover the keypad.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to messaging devices and, more specifically, to a programmable hand held messaging device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices for presenting messages on a message board have been provided in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,672,759; 4,738,042; and 4,929,936 are all illustrative of such prior art. While the units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.


A tracking and monitoring system directs an infrared sensor toward a heat source such as a human body, and three-dimensionally tracks the heat source, wherein the infrared sensor has four infrared detecting elements appropriately located with respect to a reference point in the field of view for producing respective detecting signals varied in magnitude depending upon the parts of the image of heat source incident on the four infrared detecting elements so that a wired logic circuit controls the attitude of the infrared sensor in such a manner as catch the image of the heat source at the reference point.

This invention relates to a tracking and monitoring system and, more particularly, to a tracking and monitoring system equipped with heat source tracker used for a penetrating object.
The prior art monitoring system has a human body detecting sensor or a magnet switch. When the human body detecting sensor or the magnet switch founds an invader, the sensor or the switch supplies a detecting signal to a monitor camera, and the monitor camera is directed to the invader. The monitor camera continuously or intermittently takes a moving picture, and stores the image of the invader in magnetic tape or a magnetic disk. The monitor camera may take static pictures at intervals. The images of the static pictures are stored in a photographic film.
When an inspector wants to check the images stored in the magnetic tape or the magnetic disk, the inspector instructs the controller to drive the magnetic tape or the magnetic disk for heading each of the frames, and searches the series of frames for an image to be required. However, a lot of frames are incorporated in the moving picture, and the inspector consumes a large amount of time and labor.
On the other hand, the static pictures are usually less than the frames of the moving picture, and the search is less time-consuming. Moreover, a silver film is usually used as the photographic film, and the image is clearer than those in the frames. However, the image is produced through the development, and the inspector can not promptly search an image to be required.
Another prior art monitoring system is equipped with an electronic still camera. The electronic still camera has a semiconductor memory for storing the images, and pieces of video data representative of the images are supplied from the semiconductor memory to an image reproducing apparatus. An inspector easily searches the semiconductor memory for the image to be required. However, several seconds are consumed for writing a piece of video data information. This is because of the fact that the semiconductor memory is of the type electrically writable non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory). If an invader passes the detectable area within a short time, the prior art monitoring system merely takes several pictures, and an inspector can not clearly discriminate the invader.
Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. 11-234653 discloses a monitoring system, which determines the traveling speed of an invader for regulating the recording intervals. The prior art monitoring system is described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 illustrates the first prior art monitoring system. The prior art monitoring system comprises a monitor camera 101 for taking pictures of an invader, a recording unit 102 for storing pieces of video data representative of images of the invader, a velocity sensor 103 for determining the traveling speed of the invader in the field angle xcex8 and a camera controller 109 for controlling the intervals of photographing work. The monitor camera is corresponding to an image pick-up section of the electronic still camera, and a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is used in the image pick-up section. The monitor camera 101 is directed to the monitoring area, and does not change the direction. However, the field angle covers the monitoring area.
The velocity sensor 103 includes an object detecting sensor 104 and a mode changer 105. The object detecting sensor 104 detects infrared light radiated from a source of heat such as a human body, and produces an object detecting signal S1. The object detecting sensor 104 supplies the object detecting signal S1 to the mode changer 105. The mode changer 105 determines the source of heat to move at a high-speed or a low-speed on the basis of the object detecting signal S1, and selectively supplies mode signals S2 and S3 to the camera controller 109. The camera controller 109 is responsive to the mode signal S2 or S3, and requests the monitor camera 101 to take pictures at high speed or a low speed. The video data are supplied from the monitor camera 101 to the recording unit 102, and are stored in the recording unit 102.
The object detecting sensor 104 has a differential infrared detector 106, an optical element 107 and a signal processing unit 108. The differential infrared detector 106 produces detecting signals at intervals, and the signal processing unit 108 produces the object detecting signal S1 from the detecting signals.
The differential infrared detector 106 is implemented by a pair of pyroelectric infrared detecting elements 106a/106b, and the pyroelectric infrared detecting elements 106a and 106b are connected in such a manner as to be opposite in polarity. For this reason, the pyroelectric infrared detecting elements 106a/106b serve as the differential infrared detector 106. The optical element 107 is implemented by a Fresnel lens, and the Fresnel lens 107 directs incident light from the detecting areas E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5 to the pyroelectric infrared detecting elements 106a/106b. Thus, the Fresnel lens 107 makes the monitor camera 101 have a coverage as wide as the monitoring area.
The detecting areas E1 to E5 are spaced from one another, and the optical element 107 assigns all of the detecting areas E1 to E5 to the object detecting sensor 104. Each of the detecting areas E1 to E5 contains two sub-areas e1 and e2, and the sub-areas e1 and e2 are assigned to the pyroelectric infrared detecting elements 106a/106b, respectively. When a heat source is in the sub-areas e1, the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106a produces a detecting signal, and supplies the detecting signal to the signal processing unit 108. On the other hand, when the heat source is in the sub-areas e2, the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106b produces a detecting signal, and supplies the detecting signal to the signal processing unit 108. The detecting signal from the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106a is opposite in polarity to the detecting signal from the other pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106b.
The signal processing unit 108 includes a signal processing circuit, an amplifier, a reference level generator and a level detector. The differential infrared detector 106 is connected to the signal processing circuit, and supplies the detecting signals to the signal processing circuit. The signal processing circuit is connected to the amplifier, and the detecting signals are amplified by the amplifier. The reference level generator produces a pair of reference signals, and the pair of reference signals is indicative of a positive threshold level and a negative threshold level. The amplifier and the reference level generator are connected to the level detector, and the level detector compares the detecting signals with the reference signal. When the detecting signals exceed the threshold level, the level detector changes the object detecting signal S1 to an active high level, and keeps the detecting signals at the threshold levels in so far as the detecting signals exceed the threshold levels. Thus, the level detector produces the object detecting signal S1 from the detecting signals indicative of the source of infrared light.
Assuming now that a human body walks in the monitoring field as indicated by arrow M, the human body radiates infrared light, and crosses the detecting areas E1 to E5. While the human body is crossing each of the detecting areas E1 to E5, the human body firstly enters the sub-area e1, thereafter, exiting from the sub-area e1, entering the sub-area e2, finally exiting from the sub-area e2. When the human body enters the sub-area e1, the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106a detects the infrared light, and changes the detecting signal to the positive level as shown in FIG. 2. Thereafter, the human body exits from the sub-area e1, and the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106a recovers the detecting signal from the positive level to the ground level. The level detector compares the detecting signal with the positive threshold level. While the detecting signal is exceeding the positive threshold level, the level detector changes the object detecting signal to the positive high level. Thus, the level detector shapes the waveform, and produces the first pulse S1.
Subsequently, the human body enters the sub-area e2, and the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106b changes the detecting signal to the negative level. When the human body exits from the sub-area e2, the pyroelectric infrared detecting element 106b recovers the detecting signal from the negative level to the ground level. The level detector also compares the detecting signal with the negative threshold level, and produces the second pulse S1. Thus, while the human body is crossing each of the detecting areas E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5, the signal processing unit 108 outputs two pulses S1 as the object detecting signal. The signal processing unit 108 supplies the object detecting signal S1 to the mode changer 105.
The mode changer 105 stores a reference time period T therein. The reference time period T is variable, and a watchman manually regulates the reference time period T to a certain value appropriate to the traveling velocity of an object. The mode changer 105 firstly determines a pulse interval t1/t2 of the object detecting signal S1, and compares the pulse interval t1/t2 with the reference time period T to see whether or not the pulse interval t1/t2 is longer than the reference time period T. The pulse interval t1 is longer than the reference time period T. Then, the mode changer 105 produces the mode signal S2 representative of a low-speed photographing work. On the other hand, the pulse interval t2 is shorter than the reference time period T. Then, the mode changer 105 produces another mode signal S3 representative of a high-speed photographing work.
The mode signal S2 or S3 is supplied to the camera controller 109, and the camera controller 109 instructs the monitor camera 101 to take pictures at long time intervals or at short time intervals. The monitor camera 101 takes the pictures of a low-speed moving object at the long time intervals and the pictures of a high-speed moving object at the short time intervals. The pieces of video data are transferred to the recording unit 102, and are stored in the non-volatile memory. The pieces of video data are read out from the non-volatile memory, and the image of the human body is produced on a display panel. Thus, the prior art monitoring system changes the photographing work between the high speed and the low speed depending upon the traveling speed of the moving object.
Another prior art tracking and monitoring system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. 11-258043. The second prior art tracking and monitoring system is hereinbelow described with reference to FIG. 3. The second prior art tracking and monitoring system is installed partially in a field and partially in a monitor room.
A camera unit is installed in the field, and includes an infrared industrial television camera 201, a pan head 202, a pair of electric motors 203a/203b and a motor driver 204. The infrared industrial television camera 201 is attached to the pan head 202, and the pan head 202 permits the infrared industrial television camera 201 to three-dimensionally change the attitude thereof. The electric motors 203a/203b are connected to a two-axis driving mechanism of the pan head 202, and the motor driver 204 is electrically connected to the electric motors 203a/203b. The motor driver 204 selectively energizes the electric motors 203a/203b, and the pan head 202 directs the infrared industrial television camera 201 to a desired direction. The infrared industrial television camera 201 detects infrared light radiated from a source of heat, and produces a video signal representative of the image in the field of view.
A monitoring apparatus is installed in the monitor room, and includes a signal processing unit 205, an image processing unit 206, a switch unit 207, a display unit 208 and a controller 209. The infrared industrial television camera 201 is connected to the signal processing unit 205, and supplies the video signal to the signal processing unit 205. The signal processing unit 205 is connected to the display unit 208 and the image processing unit 206, and processes the video signal. The signal processing unit 205 supplies an image-carrying signal to the display unit 208, and the display unit 208 reproduces the image in the field of view. A watchman checks the display unit 208 to see whether or not any invader enters the monitoring area of the second prior art tracking and monitoring system.
The signal processing unit 205 further supplies a video signal to the image processing unit 206. The image processing unit 206 forms a tracking loop together with the motor driver 204, the electric motors 203a/203b, the infrared industrial television camera 201 and the signal processing unit 205. The image processing unit 206 recognizes the image of the invader in the field of view, and determines the amount of offset between the image and the center of the field of view. The image processing unit 206 determines how to move the infrared industrial television camera 201 in order to decrease the amount of offset, and supplies a control signal through the switch unit 207 to the motor driver 204. The motor driver 204 selectively energizes the electric motors 203a/203b so as to cause the infrared industrial television camera 201 to track the invader.
When the watchman wants to manually control the infrared industrial television camera 201, the switch unit 207 is changed, and the controller 209 is electrically connected through the switch unit 207 to the motor driver 204. The watchman manipulates the controller 209, and the motor driver 204 causes the electric motors 203a/203b to direct the infrared industrial television camera 201 to a desired direction.
Problems are encountered in the first prior art monitoring system in grate price and in the adjustment of the time period T. Although the first prior art monitoring system is expected to monitor the wide monitoring area, the monitor camera 101 does not change the direction. The optical element 107 or the Fresnel lens widens the field angle xcex8, and is indispensable in so far as the monitor camera 101 is not accompanied with any three-dimensional driving mechanism. Moreover, the first prior art monitoring system is expected to change the photographing work between the high speed and the low speed, and requires the signal processing unit 108 and the mode changer 105 for estimating the traveling speed. The signal processing unit 108 and the mode changer 105 are also indispensable from the viewpoint that the photographing work is to be changed between the high speed and the low speed. The Fresnel lens 107, the signal processing unit 108 and the mode changer 105 are expensive, and increase the price of the first prior art monitoring system.
The first prior art monitoring system is not designed for a particular invader. In other words, the traveling speed is unknown to the manufacturer. For this reason, the user needs to adjust the time period T to an appropriate value. The user is to determine the appropriate value in the trial and error fashion, and the adjustment of the time period T is complicated and time-consuming.
On the other hand, a problem inherent in the second prior art tracking and monitoring system is great price. The image processing unit 206 is expected to accurately determine the amount of offset between the image of the invader and the center of field of view. The accuracy is dependent on the integration density of the infrared detecting element array. Such a high density infrared detecting element array is expensive. Moreover, the image processing unit 206 runs on a huge complicated computer program for processing the video data, and a high-speed data processor is required for the execution of the huge complicated computer program. Such a huge complicated computer program and the high-speed data processor are expensive, and make the second prior art tracking and monitoring system great price.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a tracking and monitoring system, which is economical and improved in manipulability.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tracking and monitoring system comprising a heat source tracker producing a data signal representative of a current position of the heat source in a field of view and three-dimensionally changing the attitude thereof in such a manner as to catch an image of the heat source at a predetermined position in the field of view for tracking the heat source in a monitoring zone, a data processing system connected to the heat source tracker, checking the data signal to see whether or not the heat source enters a prohibited zone defined in the monitoring zone and producing an instruction for an alarm when the heat source enters the prohibited zone, and an alarm unit connected to the data processing system and responsive to the instruction for giving the alarm.


A tire condition monitoring apparatus includes a transmitter located in a tire of a vehicle. A trigger device includes a transmission antenna, a reception antenna, and an antenna unit. The transmission antenna wirelessly transmits a trigger signal. The transmitter wirelessly transmits data indicating the tire condition in response to the trigger signal. The reception antenna receives the data wirelessly transmitted from the transmitter. The antenna unit incorporates the transmission antenna and the reception antenna. Therefore, the trigger device reliably receives data wirelessly transmitted from the transmitter.

The present invention relates to a trigger device of a tire condition monitoring apparatus. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a trigger device for a wireless tire condition monitoring apparatus that permits a driver in a vehicle passenger compartment to check conditions of tires, such as the air pressure.
Wireless tire condition monitoring apparatuses that allow a driver in a vehicle passenger compartment to check the conditions of vehicle tires have been proposed. The apparatus includes transmitters and a receiver. Each transmitter is located in the wheel of one of the tires and the receiver is located in the body frame of the vehicle. Each transmitter detects the conditions, such as air pressure and the temperature of the associated tire, and wirelessly transmits data representing the detected conditions. The receiver receives data wirelessly transmitted by the transmitters with a reception antenna and displays the conditions of the tires, for example, on a display located in front of the driver's seat.
Each transmitter is accommodated in a case provided in a tire valve. The tire valve is fitted in a valve hole of the corresponding wheel. Accordingly, the case, which accommodates the transmitter, is located in the corresponding tire (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-174357).
A unique ID code is registered in an internal memory, for example, a ROM, of the transmitter. The ID code is used to distinguish the associated transmitter from the other three transmitters (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-272060).
Each transmitter wirelessly transmits the ID code and the data representing the condition of the associated tire in response to a trigger signal from the trigger device. Heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks often use double tires for the rear wheels. Therefore, even if a trigger device is brought close to one of the tires of the double tire and a trigger signal is transmitted, the transmitters in both tires might respond to the trigger signal. As a result, the transmitters in both tires wirelessly transmit data representing the ID code and the condition of the associated tire at the same time. This causes the interference between the data from the transmitters. Therefore, the trigger device sometimes failed to receive data from the transmitter located in the tire to which the trigger device is brought close.

Trigger device for tire condition monitoring apparatus


The cylindrical compressor casing of a gas turbine engine has a plurality of radially inwardly and axially rearwardly opening anti-surge grooves disposed on a radially inner surface thereof whereby foreign objects ingested into the engine and entering the grooves are free to move axially rearwardly of the engine.

This invention relates generally to gas turbine engines and more particularly to an improved compressor casing for a gas turbine engine that minimizes the deleterious effect of foreign object ingestion into the engine without compromising surge margin of the engine, thereby to enhance its utility as the power plant of an aircraft.
A typical gas turbine engine comprises a compressor, a combustor and a turbine in fluid flow relation. A variant of the typical engine includes a fan disposed forwardly of the compressor and an annular by-pass duct that surrounds the compressor.
One requirement of a jet engine in the aircraft environment is that it be capable of ingesting foreign objects without catastrophic damage. The problem of foreign object ingestion has been solved in the past by merely increasing the strength of the engine components exposed to impact damage. However, strength is generally equated with weight, which, in turn, compromises performance of the aircraft. Reconciliation of such seemingly divergent performance and safety requirements requires careful design of the aircraft""s propulsion system coupled with airframe aerodynamics.
Another factor that must be considered when addressing the problem of foreign object ingestion, is preservation of the surge margin of the fan and/or compressor stages. Radially grooved compressor casings have been used heretofore on gas turbine fan and compressor stages to enhance their surge margin. Unfortunately, such heretofore-known radially grooved casings have increased fan and compressor stage susceptibility to foreign object damage. Specifically, since the radial component of velocity imparted to foreign objects by the fan or compressor blades is greater than the axial velocity thereof, radially extending casing grooves capture and entrap the debris, potentially causing catastrophic damage to the engine. Thus, there is a need for an improved casing for the fan or compressor of a gas turbine engine that minimizes entrapment of ingested debris while still offering fan and/or compressor surge margin during normal operation.
The present invention solves the aforesaid problem by utilizing a plurality of radially inwardly and axially rearwardly opening circumferential grooves in the compressor casing. The grooves are disposed slightly downstream of a line swept by the leading edge of the fan or compressor blade tip. The inclined grooves offer reduced target and entrapment area for debris. Axially spaced, circumferential fins defining the grooves are sufficiently deformable so as to close upon initial impact by debris, thus minimizing the opportunity for debris entrapment. The casing grooves are preferably used in conjunction with backswept fan or compressor blades and provide fan or compressor surge margin in the conventional manner.

Compressor casing for a gas turbine engine


Substrates and methods to fabricate and use millimeter wave Sievenpiper EBG structures such that the conductive portions are internal to an LTCC package.

Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) technology is an electronic packaging platform especially suitable for high frequency system level packaging applications. A typical LTCC circuit substrate is formed by laminating multiple layers of ceramic tape under pressure and then firing the tape at high temperatures in the range of 800 to 900 degrees Celsius. On firing, LTCC forms a monolithic circuit containing electrical interconnections and provides for a highly reliable integrated circuit chip carrier platform. Electrical interconnections on LTCC substrates are generally formed by using thick film metallizations of gold, silver, or copper metals. Being a ceramic material, LTCC is a high reliability system and also has very good thermal properties in addition to extremely low dielectric loss for electrical signals. LTCC has a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) relatively close to that of semiconductor materials used for fabricating chips thereby making high reliability flip chip attachment possible.
Fabrication of microwave/millimeterwave circuits such as filters, amplifiers, oscillators etc. require very closely spaced conductor traces (line width and spacing of the order of 1 to 2 mil). The current state of the art process for thick film metal patterning on the internal layers of LTCC is screen printing, which is an additive process. LTCC technology using screen printing is limited to 3 mil line width and line spacing in the best case and hence will not be sufficient for efficient fabrication of microwave and millimeter wave circuits (circuits which operates above a frequency of 30 GHz). Other technologies such as vacuum deposition, electroplating etc. which can be used on the exterior surfaces of LTCC circuits cannot be used on the interior layers since patterning of internal layers is done while the LTCC tape is still in an unfired state.
The problem to be solved is to successfully manufacture a Sievenpiper EBG structure in LTCC packages for applications at millimeterwave frequencies. The difficulty is found in fabricating narrow gaps of less than 3 mils (75 um) between isolated conductive patches which are internal to a fired LTCC package. It is well known that patch antenna elements launch power into TM surface wave modes in their E-plane, and they are capable of launching TE surface wave modes in their H plane provided the host substrate is sufficiently thick to support the fundamental TE mode. These parasitic surface waves degrade antenna performance by diffracting at substrate edges where the edges become secondary sources of radiation. The net result is a loss of broadside directivity, higher side lobe levels, potentially multiple main beams, higher cross polarization, and poor front-to-back ratio. At millimeterwave (MMW) frequencies, the excitation of parasitic surface waves becomes a serious issue for LTCC antennas.
Almost all of the EBG related publications whose application frequency is below 15 GHz reference manufacturing by conventional printed circuit board techniques where etching of a Cu clad laminate is employed. It is difficult and costly to etch gaps below 3 mils with printed circuit board technology, and therefore EBG structures fabricated in this manner are limited in frequency to below approximately 15 GHz.
LTCC has been long recognized as a potential and desirable substrate for fabrication of EBG structures. Some fabricated examples of LTCC EBG structures have been published with predicted bandgap frequencies as high as 50 GHz. Examples of EBG structures fabricated in LTCC are simply not found above 40 GHz because gap dimensions of 3 mils (75 um) or less are required. Previously, this range of gap dimension has not been manufacturable using standard LTCC materials and processes.
There exists a need to integrate Sievenpiper EBG structures into antenna packages for applications above 40 GHz, namely for 60 GHz WLAN, for 60 GHz backhaul point-to-point data links, for 77 GHz automotive radar, and for 94 GHz imaging radars. The problem has been that there was no viable manufacturing technique to fabricate EBG structures inside LTCC packages for use at millimeterwave frequencies above 40 GHz. A need exists to fabricate gaps in conductors narrower than 3 mils (75 um) as an enabling technology required to support commercial LTCC packaging applications in the 60 GHz to 100 GHz frequency range. A high demand in the market exists for high frequency/high speed packaging materials, such as GreenTape™ LTCC, which is a key materials platform in the microwave/milimeterwave market. The ability to fabricate antenna structures transmitting with high radiation efficiency as provided by structures and methods of the present inventions is critical for that industry.

Method of fabricating electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures for microwave/millimeterwave applications using laser processing of unfired low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) tape


An external power adapter prevents damage to contacts of power connectors by reducing current in-rush when the powered-up external power adapter is coupled to an information handling system. A control signal from the information handling system is used to initiate a voltage output of the external power adapter such that substantially no voltage is present on the contacts of the power connectors until the control signal is detected by the external power adapter. The external power adapter may determine the presence of an electrical load before applying the output voltage to the information handling system. The output voltage may be ramped from substantially no voltage to operating voltage over a period of time.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention is related to information handling systems, and more specifically, to external power adapters for the information handling systems.
2. Description Of The Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes, thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems, e.g., computer, personal computer workstation, portable computer, computer server, print server, network router, network hub, network switch, storage area network disk array, RAID disk system and telecommunications switch.
Many of these information handling systems use external power adapters to reduce size, weight, cost and heat generation, and to add more flexibility in adapting to different voltages and electric receptacle configurations in various countries throughout the world. However, as the information handling systems increase in sophistication and information handling abilities, more power is required and must be filtered accordingly for robustness of the information handling system integrity. As such, the information handling systems may have a very significant current inrush caused by large capacitance filters associated with the power input to the information handling system. If the external power adapter is connected to a power source (e.g., plugged into a wall electrical outlet) before being connected to the power input of the information handling system, a substantial amount of current occurs due to the charging requirements of the large filter capacitance (e.g., in-rush current).
The power input of the information handling system and the power output of the external power adapter comprise mating connector contacts which may be substantial damaged due to the high in-rush current. Presently, oversized connector contacts must be used to insure that mating of the external power adapter output connector with the information handling system power input connector can survive such misuse by the user. Oversized connector contacts add addition cost, weight and size to the information handling system, and may over time and repeated misuse still fail due to arcing and pitting of the contacts from repeated high in-rush current.
Therefore, what is needed is a solution for preventing damage to the power connector contacts of the information handling system and its external power adapter by user actions.

Soft power-up for an external power adapter


Disclosed is a GPS receiving apparatus including a synchronous acquisition unit and a synchronous hold unit. The synchronous acquisition unit detects a correlation between a spread code of a received signal from a GPS satellite and a spread code provided by the apparatus in order to detect a phase of the spread code of the received signal and a carrier frequency of the received signal. The synchronous hold unit has a plurality of channels and allocates one of the channels to one of a plurality of GPS satellites. The synchronous hold unit also establishes initial values based on the spread code phase of the received signal following detection by the synchronous acquisition unit as well as on the likewise-detected carrier frequency of the received signal, before starting synchronous hold of the spread code and the carrier frequency regarding the signal from the GPS satellite in question while decoding the signal from the GPS satellite.

The present invention relates to a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiving apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and a method for synchronously acquiring and holding the spread code and carrier wave regarding signals received from GPS satellites.
In a GPS setup for measuring the position of a moving object by use of artificial satellites (GPS satellites), the basic function of a GPS receiving apparatus on board the object involves receiving signals from at least four GPS satellites, computing the position of the apparatus based on the received signals, and informing a user of the computed position.
In operation, the GPS receiving apparatus first decodes signals received from the GPS satellites (the signals are called the GPS satellite signals hereunder) to acquire orbit data about each GPS satellite. The GPS receiving apparatus then acquires its own three-dimensional position based on orbit and time information from the GPS satellites as well as on delay times of the GPS satellite signals using simultaneous equations. The signals from as many as four GPS satellites are needed for positioning computation because errors detected as differences between the internal time of the GPS receiving apparatus and the time of each satellite must be inhibited from aversely affecting the computation.
Civilian-use GPS receiving apparatuses perform their positioning computation by receiving spread spectrum signal waves called C/A (Clear and Acquisition) code on an L1 band from GPS satellites (of NAVSTAR).
The C/A code is a signal obtained by modulating a 1575.42-MHz carrier wave (called carrier hereunder) in BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying) using a PN (pseudorandom noise) series code such as Gold code having a chip rate of 1.023 MHz and a code length of 1,023 chips with 50-bps data spread therein. With its code length of 1,023 chips, the C/A code is a PN series code repeated at a rate of 1,023 chips per cycle (thus one cycle=1 millisecond), as shown in FIG. 41A.
The PN series code (spread code) used as the C/A code varies from one GPS satellite to another. The GPS receiving apparatus detects beforehand which GPS satellite uses what kind of PN series code. Navigation messages, to be discussed later, allow the GPS receiving apparatus to determine from which GPS satellites signals can be received in the present apparatus position at the present point in time. This makes it possible for the GPS receiving apparatus in a 3D positioning process to receive radio waves from at least four GPS satellites that can be acquired from where the apparatus is currently located. Upon receipt of the radio waves from the satellites, the GPS receiving apparatus performs spread spectrum decoding and positioning computation to find the current position of the apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 41B, 1 bit of satellite signal data (navigation message data) is transmitted in 20 periods of the PN series code. In other words, the satellite signal data are transmitted in increments of 20 milliseconds or at a rate of 50 bps. One period of the PN series code corresponds to 1,023 chips that are inverted depending on the bit being "1" or "0."
In the GPS setup, as shown in FIG. 41C, one word is made up of 30 bits (in 600 milliseconds). Ten words constitute one sub-frame (6 seconds) as depicted in FIG. 41D. As illustrated in FIG. 41E, the first word of one sub-frame has a preamble inserted therein which maintains a predetermined bit pattern regardless of the data being updated. The preamble is followed by transmitted data.
Five sub-frames make up one frame (30 seconds). Navigation message data are transmitted in increments of frames. The first three sub-frames in one frame constitute satellite-specific orbit information called ephemeris information. Ephemeris information is transmitted repeatedly, i.e., in increments of main frames (at intervals of 30 seconds). This information includes parameters by which to obtain the orbit of the satellite sending the information, and a signal transmission timestamp from the satellite.
The second word in the three sub-frames that make up the ephemeris information includes time data called a week number and TOW (time of week). The week number is information that is incremented weekly starting from Jan. 6 (Sunday), 1980 taken as week zero. TOW is time information that is incremented in units of six seconds starting from 00:00 on Sunday (i.e., incremented at intervals of sub-frames).
All GPS satellites have an atomic clock each and operate on common time information. Signal transmission timestamps from the GPS satellites are synchronized with their atomic clocks. Based on the two pieces of time information received (week number and TOW), the GPS receiving apparatus obtains an absolute time. In synchronizing with and locking onto radio wave transmissions from a satellite, the GPS receiving apparatus synchronizes its own time data shorter than six seconds with the time of that satellite within an accuracy specific to a reference oscillator incorporated in the GPS receiving apparatus.
The PN series code of each GPS satellite is generated in synchronism with its atomic clock. The ephemeris information from a given GPS satellite allows the GPS receiving apparatus to acquire the position and speed of that satellite which are used in positioning computation.
Ephemeris information constitutes a highly accurate calendar that is updated with relatively high frequency under control of ground-based control stations. The GPS receiving apparatus keeps the ephemeris information in a memory for use in positioning computation. Because of its inherent accuracy level, the ephemeris information obtained at a given point in time generally has a useful life of about two hours. Under the life time constraint, the GPS receiving apparatus monitors the elapse of time starting from the time that the ephemeris information is placed into the memory. When the useful life is judged to have elapsed, the GPS receiving apparatus updates the ephemeris information in the memory.
It takes at least 18 seconds (3 sub-frames) for the GPS receiving apparatus to acquire new ephemeris information and substitute the obtained information for what is currently held in the memory. If data are obtained halfway through a sub-frame period, a total of 30 seconds is required for the update.
The navigation message constituted by the remaining two sub-frames in the one-frame data is called almanac information that is transmitted commonly from all GPS satellites. A total of 25 frames of almanac information is needed to acquire all necessary information. Almanac information includes an approximate position and availability of each of the GPS satellites.
Almanac information is updated at intervals of several days under control of ground-based control stations. The GPS receiving apparatus can use almanac information for its operations by retaining it in the memory. The stored almanac information is considered to have a useful life of several months. Generally, the GPS receiving apparatus acquires new almanac information from a GPS satellite at intervals of a few months and substitutes the newly obtained information for what is retained in the memory. The almanac information kept in the memory allows the GPS receiving apparatus to compute channels to which to allocate satellites upon power-up.
When the GPS receiving apparatus is to obtain the above-described data upon receipt of GPS satellite signals, it is necessary for the apparatus to prepare in advance and utilize the same PN series code as the C/A code employed by each GPS satellite whose signal is to be received (the PN series code is called the PN code hereunder). In operation, the GPS receiving apparatus performs phase synchronization with the C/A code to acquire the signal from a given GPS satellite and subject what is acquired to spread spectrum decoding. After successful phase synchronization with the C/A code and following spread spectrum decoding, the GPS receiving apparatus can detect bits and a navigation message including time information from the GPS satellite signal.
A GPS satellite signal is acquired by making a search for phase synchronization with the C/A code. In the phase synchronization search, the GPS receiving apparatus detects a correlation between its own PN code and that of the signal received from the GPS satellite in question. If the detected correlation value is judged to be greater than a predetermined value, the two PN codes are considered to be in synchronism. If phase synchronization is not judged obtained, a suitable synchronizing technique is used to control the phase of the PN code on the side of the GPS receiving apparatus so as to achieve synchronism with the PN code of the received signal.
As discussed above, each GPS satellite signal is a signal furnished by modulating a carrier through BPSK with a signal involving spread code data. For this reason, the GPS receiving apparatus attempting to receive the signal from a given GPS satellite needs to gain synchronism not only with the spread code but also with the carrier and data. However, it is impossible to achieve synchronization independently with the spread code and with the carrier.
Generally, the GPS receiving apparatus converts the carrier frequency of a received satellite signal into an intermediate frequency of several MHz or less in order to use the intermediate frequency signal in the synchronous detection process above. The carrier of the intermediate frequency signal contains two kinds of error: a frequency error due to a Doppler shift proportionate to the moving speed of the GPS satellite in question, and a frequency error attributable to local oscillator deviations inside the GPS receiving apparatus.
These frequency errors render the carrier frequency of the intermediate frequency signal unpredictable. Hence the need for a frequency search. A synchronization point (synchronization phase) in one spread code period is contingent on the positional relation between the GPS receiving apparatus and the GPS satellite of interest and is thus unpredictable. This requires putting some suitable synchronizing technique in place, as mentioned above.
Conventional GPS receiving apparatuses detect synchronization with the carrier and spread code using sliding correlation involving a frequency search. At the same time, the receiving apparatuses to date use DLL (delay locked loop) and Costas loop arrangements for synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold. These capabilities will be explained further below.
A clock signal for driving a PN code generator in the GPS receiving apparatus is generally obtained by dividing the output of a reference frequency oscillator incorporated in the apparatus. The reference frequency oscillator is typically constituted by a highly accurate crystal oscillator. Out of the output from the reference frequency oscillator, a locally oscillated signal is generated for use in converting the received signal from a given GPS satellite into an intermediate frequency signal.
FIG. 42 is an explanatory view of the above-mentioned frequency search. If the clock signal for driving the PN code generator in the GPS receiving apparatus has a frequency f1, a phase locked search for the PN code is carried out. That is, while the PN code phase is being shifted one chip at a time, a correlation is detected between the received GPS signal in each chip phase and the PN code. This permits detection of peak correlation values, whereby the phase enabling PN code synchronization (spread code phase) is detected.
If no synchronous phase is detected for each of 1,023 chips where the clock signal has the frequency f1, that means carrier frequency synchronization is not obtained. In such a case, the dividing ratio of the reference frequency oscillator is illustratively varied so as to switch the driving clock signal to a different frequency f2. A phase search is then carried out similarly for each of 1,023 chips. The frequency of the driving clock signal is switched in stepped fashion as indicated in FIG. 42 for repeated searches. This is how the frequency search is implemented.
If the frequency of a synchronous driving clock signal is detected during the frequency search, the detected clock frequency is used for a final synchronous acquisition of the PN code. A carrier frequency is detected from the clock frequency. This allows the GPS receiving apparatus to acquire a given satellite signal despite deviations of the oscillation frequency from the internal crystal frequency oscillator.
There is a drawback to the above conventional method for performing synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold simultaneously regarding the carrier and spread code using sliding correlation with a frequency search and DLL (delay locked loop) and Costas loop arrangements. That is, the technique of sliding correlation with a frequency search is theoretically unfit for high-speed synchronization as discussed above. Thus it takes time to achieve spread code and carrier synchronization. The prolonged process of carrier and spread code synchronization results in a slower response of the GPS receiving apparatus inconveniencing the user in practice.
In order to overcome the drawback above, actual GPS receiving apparatuses to date are required to adopt a multi-channel approach in implementing parallel searches for synchronization points. Allocating a large number of channels based on the conventional method can make the GPS receiving apparatus more complex structurally and more costly. The multi-channel scheme with parallel searches for synchronization points dissipates more power. A power-hungry feature can be a serious disadvantage especially in portable GPS receivers.
With the conventional method in place, synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold of the spread code and carrier are implemented integrally with sliding correlation involving a frequency search and with DLL (delay locked loop) and Costas loop arrangements. It follows that if the signal from a given GPS satellite is lost, synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold must be again carried out integrally, which can be a time-consuming process.
Furthermore, because the conventional method involves carrying out synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold of the spread code and carrier in integral relation with sliding correlation entailing a frequency search and with DLL (delay locked loop) and Costas loop arrangements, any attempt to raise the sensitivity of the GPS receiving apparatus would in theory prolong the processing time appreciably for synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold. Bypassing this bottleneck has turned out to be more difficult than expected.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a GPS receiving apparatus and a GPS satellite signal receiving method for raising the speed of synchronous acquisition and synchronous hold of GPS satellite signals while boosting the sensitivity of the apparatus with ease.

GPS receiving apparatus and GPS satellite signal receiving method


A lithium ion secondary battery and a jelly-roll type electrode assembly in a lithium ion secondary battery including a can and a cap assembly together with the electrode assembly. The electrode assembly is made up of two electrodes; a ceramic separator coating on at least one surface among the four surfaces of the two electrode plates and located between the two opposing electrodes; and porous polymer resin separation films placed between the electrode plates at certain locations where the plates are bent to relatively small radii of curvature and outward from an innermost portion of a core, and/or at terminal ends of the electrode plates, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a lithium ion secondary battery, and more particularly to an electrode assembly for a lithium ion secondary battery having ceramic separation films and a typical isolation film.
2. Description of the Related Art
A secondary battery is a rechargeable battery which has such a high capability that its volume can be reduced and its capacity can be increased. Recently, as demand for portable electronic devices, such as camcorders, portable computers, portable phones, and the like, has increased, various secondary batteries, used as electric power sources for these portable electronic devices, have been researched and developed. Such representative secondary batteries which have been developed and used include nickel hydrogen batteries, lithium ion batteries, lithium ion polymer batteries, and the like.
Lithium, used as a material in some secondary batteries, is suitable for making batteries having a large capacity per unit mass, because among other reasons, the Li atoms are small and mobile. On the other hand, since the lithium reacts with water, anhydrous electrolytes are used for lithium based-batteries. In this case, since the lithium is not subjected to an effect of voltage due to the electric resolution of water, the lithium based-batteries can generate electromotive forces to the extent of 3 to 4 volts.
The anhydrous electrolyte used for the lithium ion secondary battery generally includes a liquid phase electrolyte and a solid phase electrolyte. The liquid phase electrolyte is obtained by dissociating a lithium salt in an organic solvent. Carbonate containing alkyl groups such as ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate or organic compounds similar to the carbonates are used as the organic solvent.
However, the ion conductance of the electrolyte is low in the lithium ion secondary battery. The lower ion conductance of the electrolyte can be overcome by expanding an area of an active material on each of the electrodes and enlarging the opposing surfaces of two electrodes.
The enlargement of opposing surfaces of the electrodes is limited by various factors. In the end, the lower ion conductance of the electrolyte allows the impedance in the battery to increase, thereby causing a greater drop in the inner voltage. Specifically, the lower ion conductance of the electrolyte serves as a primary factor to restrain electric current of the lithium ion secondary battery, thereby limiting the output of the lithium ion secondary battery, even when large current discharge is required.
In addition, a separator also is a primary factor in restricting the movement of the lithium ions between the two electrodes. If the separator existing between the two electrodes does not have enough transmittance and wettability for the electrolyte, the separator restricts the movement of the lithium ions between the two electrodes, so that the electric characteristic of the lithium secondary battery is degraded.
Therefore, important characteristics of the separator relating to the performance of the lithium secondary battery include the heat resistance, the resistance to heat distortion, the chemical resistance, the mechanical strength of the separator, a separator aperture, (a cavity area per unit volume or a porosity in a certain section of the separator), and the wettability to the electrolyte.
Furthermore, the separator of the lithium ion battery plays a role as a safety device for preventing the lithium secondary battery from overheating. The polyolefin based, finely porous film, usually used as a material for the separator, is softened and partially melted when the temperature of the lithium battery rises over a predetermined point due to a malfunction of the lithium battery whereupon the fine apertures of the porous film which serve as passage ways for the electrolyte and the lithium ions are squeezed shut. The movement of the lithium ions is thus interrupted and the flow of the electric current in/outside the lithium secondary battery is stopped, so that the increase in temperature of the lithium secondary battery caused by the electric current is halted.
Where the temperature of the lithium secondary battery suddenly rises because of a certain reason, i.e. external thermal transition, etc., and the increase of the temperature of the lithium secondary battery continues for a certain time even though the fine apertures of the separator are sealed, then the separator can be damaged. Specifically, a part of the separator is melted, at which point the two electrodes of the lithium secondary battery may be in direct contact with each other so as to cause an internal short circuiting. Further, the separator may shrink, thereby allowing the two electrodes to make contact with each other and cause further short circuiting. This short circuiting in the lithium secondary battery is very damaging to the lithium secondary battery and dangerous.
In addition, as the lithium secondary battery has a large capacity, a great amount of electric current can flow in the lithium secondary battery in a short time. In this case, when over-current flows in the lithium secondary battery, additional heat is generated that does not dissipate easily contributing to continued melting of the separator, even though the fine apertures of the separator are closed so as to interrupt the flow of the electric current through that path. So there is an increasing possibility of damaging the separator to cause or exacerbate the short circuiting in the lithium secondary battery.
In this circumstance, although it is important to shut the apertures of the separator, it is more important to prevent the melting or shrinking of the separator when the lithium secondary battery is overheated. Specifically, to prevent the internal short circuiting between the electrodes due to an unstable separator even at a relatively high temperature (more than 200° C.), a ceramic separator, which is a porous film made of a mixture of particles of ceramic filler and binding agent, can be used as the separator.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional electrode assembly to which a ceramic film playing the role of a separator is applied. The electrode assembly 100 to which the conventional porous separation film is applied, includes an anode electrode plate 110, a cathode electrode plate 120, and a ceramic film 130. The anode electrode plate 110 is formed by coating a desired region of an anode current collector with an anode active material layer, while the cathode electrode plate 120 is formed by coating a desired region of a cathode current collector with a cathode active material layer. The ceramic film 130 is coated on the anode and cathode electrode plates 110 and 120, so as to prevent a short circuiting between the anode and cathode electrode plates 110 and 120 and to play the role of a separator to allow only lithium ions to move. The electrode assembly 100 is wound in a jelly-roll shape.
Lithium oxides such as LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiNiO2, and LiMnO2 are used as the anode active material. Further, carbon based-materials, Si, Sn, tin oxide, composite tin alloys, and transition metal oxides are used as the cathode active material.
The anode current collector of the anode electrode plate 110 is made of aluminum material. The cathode current collector of the cathode electrode plate 120 is made of copper. The separator 130 is usually made in such a manner that ceramic particles are uniformly dispersed in the mixture of binder and solvent so as to form a solution for a porous film and then the electrode plate which is formed by coating a current collector with the active material is dipped in the solution for the porous film. Zirconium oxide, alumina, silica, and mixtures thereof are used as the ceramic material.
In the case of a polygonal battery to which the separator is applied, exfoliation of the ceramic separator occurs at bent portions of the leading edge of the electrode plate in the jelly-roll type electrode assembly, thereby readily causing a short circuit. In addition, in the case of the polygonal or cylindrical battery to which the ceramic separator is applied, since the exfoliation of the ceramic separator may occur at both ends of the electrode plate at which an uncoated portion is formed, there is the danger of causing a short circuit.
In the case of the battery to which the conventional ceramic separator is applied, in order to prevent the occurrence of the short circuiting, a polyethylene film or a polypropylene film (hereinafter, referred to as the existing separation film) has been inserted between boundary surfaces of the anode and cathode electrodes. As a result, the electrode assembly becomes thick. Therefore, the length of the electrode plate must be reduced. Moreover, the resistance of the electrode plate increases and makes it difficult for the lithium ions to move smoothly.

Electrode assembly for lithium ion secondary battery and lithium ion secondary battery using the same


This invention provides methods for enhancing the endothelialization of synthetic vascular grafts by administering to a graft recipient an agent that mobilizes bone marrow-derived CD34.sup.+ cells into the bloodstream, that enhances the adherence to graft surfaces of blood-borne endothelial progenitors, or that stimulates the multiplication of endothelial progenitors that have adhered to the graft surfaces.

The surfaces of synthetic vascular prostheses are capable of provoking platelet activation and blood coagulation, generating clots that can rapidly occlude the engrafted prosthetic. Thus, the field of synthetic vascular grafts has developed at a cautious pace, and efforts to ensure their safety have included the testing of different graft materials (for review, see Sauvage, L. R., in Haimovici et al., eds., Haimovici's Vascular Surgery, 4th ed., 1996), and the inclusion of anti-thrombogenic materials in the pre-treatment used to seal the interstices of the graft to prevent blood loss from the vessel (Ibid.). Today, only polyethylene terephthalate (DACRON.RTM.) and polytetrafluoroethylene (TEFLON.RTM.) are approved by the Federal Drug Administration for this use. Even so, autologous grafts still are considered superior to synthetic ones because their endothelial linings, which secrete a number of natural anti-thrombotic substances, provide a far better flow surface than the material used for today's synthetic prostheses. Unfortunately, only a limited number of the body's blood vessels provide tissue suitable for use in autologous vascular transplants, and improvements in the field of synthetic prostheses would prove a boon to many patients, especially those requiring multiple heart bypasses.
Another limitation of synthetic vascular prostheses currently approved for use is that the caliber, i.e., inner diameter, of grafts deemed as acceptable must be at least 6 mm. It is believed, in fact, that no satisfactory synthetic prosthesis having a caliber below 6 mm exists today (e.g., Sauvage, 1996). Thus, the need for smaller caliber grafts remains unfulfilled, even though numerous patients require repeat coronary bypass, or have peripheral arterial occlusions below the knee or in the cerebrovascular tree, which would use small caliber synthetic grafts if these were available.
In recent years, a number of investigators have reported the occasional appearance of patches of endothelial cells growing on the walls of synthetic vascular grafts (e.g., Wu et al., J Vasc. Surg. 21:862-867, 1995; Scott et al., J Vasc. Surg. 19:585-593, 1994; Shi et al., J Vasc. Surg. 25:736-742, 1997). Several studies have suggested that this graft surface endothelialization originates primarily from transmural microvessels, i.e., tiny blood vessels that infiltrate the graft wall, and that originate themselves from pre-existing blood vessels (e.g., Clowes et al., Am. J Pathol. 123:220-230, 1986; Wu et al., Ann. Vasc. Surg. 10:11-15, 1996). However, other studies have indicated that at least some of the endothelialization observed in internal segments of synthetic vascular grafts appears to originate from blood-borne cells that became attached to the vessel walls (Scott et al., J Vasc. Surg. 19:585-593, 1994; Shi et al., J Vasc. Surg. 20:546-555, 1994; Wu et al. J Vasc. Surg. 21:862-867, 1995; Shi et al. J Vasc. Surg. 25:736-42, 1997; Frazier et al. Tex. Heart Inst. J 20:78-82, 1993; Hammond et al., Blood 88 (suppl. 1):511a (abstract, 1996)). This phenomenon is called "fallout endothelialization." More specifically, it has been proposed that the circulating cells that give rise to endothelial coatings of vascular prostheses may arise from the bone marrow (Hammond et al. 1996).
Indeed, circulating endothelial cells have been observed by many investigators (Asahara et al., Science 275:965-967, 1997; Percivalle et al. J Clin. Invest. 92:663-670, 1993; George et al. Thrombosis Haemostasis 67:147-153, 1992). The latter two of these provide evidence that circulating endothelial cells originate from the walls of blood vessels (George et al., 1992; Percivalle et al., 1993), and the study of Asahara et al. (1997) provides evidence for a circulating endothelial progenitor cell that expresses CD34, an antigen also associated hematopoietic progenitor cells, and that can participate in angiogenesis in ischemic tissues. Whatever their source, graft recipients clearly would benefit from the development of treatments promoting the deposition and outgrowth of circulating endothelial cells on the inner walls of synthetic vascular grafts.
In view of the superior anti-thrombotic properties of endothelial flow surfaces, various experimental approaches have been devised for increasing the rate of endothelialization of synthetic grafts. These include wrapping graft implants with resected segments of autologous veins (Onuki et al. Ann. Vasc. Surg. 11:141-148, 1997), or seeding prior to implant with autogenous endothelium, cultured endothelium or bone marrow cells (Herring et al. Surgery 84:498-504, 1978; Anderson et al., Surgery 101:577-586, 1987; Kadletz et al., J Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 104:736-742, 1992; Mazzucotelli et al., Artif Organs 17:787-790, 1993; Noishiki et al., Artif. Organs 19:17-26, 1995; Noishiki et al., Nat. Med. 2:90-93, 1996; Onuki et al. Ann. Vasc. Surg. 11:141-148, 1997). None of these, however, has provided a practical alternative to presently used procedures.

Treatment of vascular graft implants with G-CSF


An internal pressure sensor detects an internal pressure of the fuel tank, which stores fuel. A solenoid valve is configured to close to seal the fuel tank and is configured to open to open the fuel tank. An internal pressure acquisition unit is configured to acquire an internal pressure of the fuel tank from the internal pressure sensor. A drive control unit is configured to control the solenoid valve to open when the internal pressure of the fuel tank is greater than or equal to a first predetermined value, which is a negative value, and is less than a second predetermined value, which is 0 or a positive value.

For example, a patent document 1, which corresponds to Publication of U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,754, discloses a known sealed tank system. The sealed tank system includes a valve device, which is equipped to a communication passage, which communicates with a fuel tank, to constitute a sealed structure of the fuel tank, to restrict fuel from flowing out from the fuel tank to the atmosphere, in view of avoidance of air pollution. In the sealed tank system of the patent document 1, a pressure control valve is equipped between the fuel tank and a canister, in order to avoid breakage of the fuel tank and/or the like due to change in the pressure of the fuel tank.    (Patent Document 1) JP-A-H7-217504
It is noted that, in the patent document 1, the pressure control valve is opened, during an engine is in operation, only when the pressure of the fuel tank increases beyond a predetermined positive pressure value or decreases below a predetermined negative pressure value. It is assumable to employ the configuration of the patent document 1 in a vehicle, such as a plug-in hybrid car (PHV), in which an engine is seldom activated. In such a case, the valve may not be activated for a long time period. Consequently, the valve may cause seizure.

Solenoid valve control device and solenoid valve control method


The invention is a novel scheme of performing an analog to digital conversion of simultaneous sampled analog inputs using multiple sample and hold circuits and a single successive approximation analog to digital converter (“SAR ADC”). Each of the analog inputs are stored on capacitors in the sample and hold circuits, and the sample and holds are sequentially connected to the capacitor DAC. After the digital conversion of the of the input signals stored on a sample and hold, the connected sample and hold is disconnected and the charge on the DAC is reset before the next sample and hold circuit is connected. The process is repeated until all analog inputs have been converted.

An analog to digital converter ("ADC") converts an analog signal into a digital representation of the analog signal. The ADC typically samples the analog signal at periodic intervals and generates a digital value for each sample indicating the approximate magnitude of the sampled analog signal.
One type of ADC uses a technique known as successive approximation ("SAR") to convert each analog input sample to a digital value. This type of ADC typically includes a digital to analog converter (DAC) and a single comparator to produce a digital value representing the magnitude of the analog input sample. The DAC is used to produce a reference voltage based upon a digital input value. The comparator is used to compare the DAC output to the analog input sample. The ADC converts an analog input sample to a digital value by successively changing the DAC output and comparing the DAC output to the analog input sample.
The DAC may consist of a binary weighted capacitor array. In an ideal DAC, each of the capacitors associated with a particular bit position is one-half the capacitance of the capacitor associated with the previous bit position, although such a configuration is not economically feasible to implement in practice.
It is sometimes necessary to sample multiple analog inputs simultaneously. This can be useful for maintaining the phase information of the analog inputs. Thus far previous inventions have attempted to sample N inputs using N ADCs. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an efficient scheme for implementing N simultaneous sampling analog to digital converter using N sample and holds and a single ADC.

Simultaneous sampling analog to digital converter


Systems and methods to accelerate compression and decompression with a search unit implemented in the processor core. According to an embodiment, a search unit may be implemented to perform compression or decompression on an input stream of data. The search unit may use a look-up table to identify appropriate compression or decompression symbols. The look-up table may be populated with a table derived using the variable length coding symbols of a sequence of vertices to be compressed or extracted from a received data stream to be decompressed. A comparator and a finite state machine may be implemented in the search unit to facilitate traversal of the look-up table.

In modern processors, a number of different execution units are used to process and execute a variety of code and instructions. Not all instructions are created equal as some are quicker while others can take a number of clock cycles to complete. Generally, the faster the throughput of instructions, the better the overall performance of the processor. Thus it would be advantageous to have as many instructions execute as fast as possible. However, there are certain instructions that have greater complexity and require more in terms of execution time and processor resources. For example, floating point instructions, load/store operations, data moves, data compression and decompression, graph traversal, etc.
Compression and decompression operations conventionally take significant time identifying an appropriate compression symbol. In modern processors, searching via graph traversal is an algorithm used in a variety of fields, including social networks, business analytics, and high-performance computing. However, the ability to scale out the graph traversal to very large systems is severely limited due to the delay incurred by the processor during inter-node communications. In some systems, compression and decompression symbol identification may help reduce this communication and improve the execution time of graph traversal. Therefore, improving the execution time of complex instructions, including compression and decompression, could improve overall processor timing and throughput.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to more efficiently manage complex instructions, including graph traversal.

Search unit to accelerate variable length compression/decompression


A novel pyrrole derivative represented by the following formula (1) and a salt thereof:

Recently due to westernization of eating-habit and increase of social stress, the number of patients with diabetes mellitus has been significantly increasing. Diabetes mellitus is a disease as main cause of chronically hyperglycemia and presents the symptom of said disease by lack of insulin or an excess of inhibitory factor for activity of insulin. Namely, diabetes mellitus is characterized as absolute or relative lack of insulin activity. Diabetes mellitus is clinically classified into insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and noninsulin-independent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).
Therapeutic exercise or dietetic therapy is first tried for treatment of diabetes mellitus. In case that decrease of blood sugar is insufficient even by these therapies, therapy by medicine is then tried. As an oral antidiabetic agent, sulfonyl urea (SU agent) is often used. The activity of this agent is based on promotion of insulin secretion in pancreas and therefore hypoglycemia occurs as side effect. Further, it is known that secondary inactivity occurs due to exhaustion of pancreas by plenty uses of a SU agent. On the other hand, thiazolidinedione derivatives for an antidiabetic agent, which were recently found (Diabetes 2 Nihon Rinsho, 725:125–145 (1997)), was paid attention by the reason as an agent which can control blood sugar by new mechanism showing improvement effect of peripheral insulin resistance. However, liver disturbance as significant side effect was reported on these derivatives and said derivatives have a big trouble in safety.

Abstract: wherein R1 means substituted alkenyl, etc.; R2 means substituted benzoyl, etc.; and R3 to R5 each means hydrogen, alkyl, halogeno, etc. The derivative and salt have antidiabetic activity.


An auto focus method of a digital camera for moving a lens of the digital camera to the maximum focus value position is provided. According to certain criteria, the lens movement states are categorized into four states, i.e. an initial state, a coarse state, a mid state and a fine state. The numbers of search steps for the lens in different states are different.

Currently, digital cameras are widely used to take photographs. As known, the definition of the object taken by a digital camera is largely effected by the focusing operation of the digital camera. In order to achieve high image quality of the object, the focal length should be properly adjusted to focus on the object. In other words, the quality of the digital camera is dependent on the auto focus method applied to the digital camera.
Generally, auto focus methods are classified into two types, i.e. an active auto focus method and a passive auto focus method.
For implementing the active auto focus method, light patterns are projected onto the object to be photographed by using an infrared emitter or a laser emitter, and then the distance between the object and the camera is calculated by triangulation or according to the time difference from the beam projection to reception. Afterwards, the lens of the digital camera is adjusted to a proper position according to the distance. However, this active auto focus method has several drawbacks. For example, the cost of the digital camera is increased because extra detector and beam projector are needed.
The steps for implementing the passive auto focus method are illustrated with reference of the flowchart of FIG. 1. Unlike the active auto method, the passive auto focus method determines the distance between the object and the camera without projecting any light pattern onto the object. Afterwards, the lens of the digital camera is moved to multiple possible positions and the image qualities at different positions are analyzed in order to determine an accurate lens position. Firstly, the lens of the camera is moved to a first position and the image data at this position is captured (Step 100). Then, the focus value of the image is calculated (Step 200). If this focus value is the maximum focus value (Step 300), the auto focus (AF) process is finished. Otherwise, the lens is moved to the next position (Step 400), and the steps 200, 300 and 400 are repeated until the maximum focus value is searched.
From the flowchart of FIG. 1, the passive auto focus method includes two parts, i.e. the focus value measurement and the lens position search algorithm.
Conventionally, there are several means for implementing focus value measurements such as gradient magnitude measurement, Robert edge detector, Sobel edge detector, Laplacian filter, infinite impulse response (IIR) filter, etc. These focus value measurements are well known to those skilled in the art, and are not intended to describe redundantly herein.
The conventional lens position search algorithms include for example global search algorithm, hill-climbing search algorithm, binary search algorithm and ruled-based search algorithm.
Typically, search time, number of the lens movement steps and search accuracy are all very important for the lens position search algorithm. Generally, longer search time means lower auto focus efficiency, and more lens movement steps consume more power of the camera because each movement step needs power. Whereas, too short search time or insufficient movement steps are detrimental to the searching accuracy. These lens position search algorithms have respective advantages or drawbacks. Consequently, the designer may select one of these lens position search algorithms according to the practical requirement.
For example, since the global search algorithm captures image in every lens movement step and determines the position with the maximum focus value, the search result of the global search algorithm is the most correct among these lens position search algorithms. However, the global search algorithm needs too long search time and too many lens movement steps. In addition, the binary search algorithm is faster than global search algorithm but is more prone to be affected by noise. Moreover, the lens needs to move back and forth to obtain the peak position, which might suffer from mechanical backlash problem.
The ruled-based search algorithm determines the search steps for each lens movement step according to certain rules and then records the focus value of the lens at each position. Since the rules allow the assembler to capture acceptable image data of the lens without measuring the focus value for each lens movement step, the search time for implementing the ruled-based search algorithm is shortened. The search rules are shown as follows.
IF CIteration ≦ 5 THEN AControl = InitialELSEIF FCurrent ≦ 0.25·FMax, THEN AControl = Coarse;CDown = 0;ELSEDF = FCurrent − FPreviousIF DF > 0.25·FPrevious, THEN AControl = Fine;CDown = 0;ELSE IF AControl = Fine AND DF > 0, THENCDown = 0;ELSE IF DF < 0IF AControl = Fine, THEN CDown + +;IF CDown = 3, THEN AControl = Mid; CDown = 0;ELSEAControl = Mid; CDown = 0;END IFEND IFEND IFUPDATE FMax;FPrevious = FCurrent;
In the above rules, FCurrent is sharpness value from current image data, FPrevious is sharpness value from previous image data, FMax is maximum sharpness value, CIteration is iteration counter, AContro: is control area, and CDown is downhill counter.
In views of the above-described disadvantages resulted from the prior art, the applicant keeps on carving unflaggingly to develop an auto focus method for use with a digital camera according to the present invention through wholehearted experience and research.


A semiconductor chip may include a wafer, a semiconductor device formed on the wafer, a first dielectric layer formed on the wafer and the semiconductor device, a first metal interconnection formed on the first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer formed on the first dielectric layer and the lower interconnection, and a third dielectric layer formed on the second dielectric layer. A second metal interconnection may be formed in the third dielectric layer, a first nitride layer formed on the third dielectric layer and the first metal interconnection, a via hole extending through the wafer, the first dielectric layer, the second dielectric layer, the third dielectric layer and the first nitride layer, a via formed in the via hole and a third metal interconnection formed on the first oxide layer, an exposed upper end of the via and the second metal interconnection.

Current electronic products have been rapidly expanded to a portable market. Components mounted on a portable electronic product should be light, thin, short, and small. In order to make the components having such physical properties, technology for reducing an individual size of a semiconductor package, which is a mounting component, system-on-chip (SOC) technology for making a plurality of individual semiconductor chips into a single chip, and system-in-package (SIP) technology of integrating a plurality of individual semiconductor chips into one package are required. When integrating the plurality of individual semiconductor chips into a single package, physical strength should be improved and performance and reliability between the chips arranged in the package should be improved.

Semiconductor chip, method of fabricating the same and stack package having the same