The present invention provides a gas turbine engine with a circumferentially disposed plurality of pivotal flow splitters between compressor sections to bleed off flow and remove particles, particularly ice in the case of an aircraft fan-jet gas turbine engine, by pivoting the leading edge of the splitter into the compressor flow thereby using the total pressure Q of the flow to drive bleed flows overboard and remove particles. In the preferred embodiment the pivotal flow splitter is integral with a booster variable bleed valve (VBV) door, and includes a booster bleed duct means having a bellmouth shaped inducer type inlet to enhance the capture of compressor flow and particle removal

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gas turbine engines variable bypasses and particle removal and more particularly to variable bypass flow splitters integral with surge bleed doors that pivot into the engine flowpath in a transition section between the booster and core engine compressor sections.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the gas turbine engine field to provide variable bleed valves (VBVs) having doors that open to provide a bleed path to bleed off compressed air between the booster and core engine compressor of gas turbine engines. Aircraft fan jet gas turbine engines and marine and industrial derivatives of such engines have employed various forms of curved flowpaths and VBV bleed doors that are retracted into the flowpath casing so as to form an entrance to a bleed duct that bleeds booster or low pressure compressor discharge airflow to draw particles out of the flowpath in a manner such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,552 entitled "Combined Surge Bleed and Dust Removal System for a Fan-Jet Engine" by Monhardt et. al. The problem with such systems is that amount and force of the bleed flow is dependent on the static pressure of the compressor airflow and is often not strong enough to remove larger pieces and amounts of particles such as ice. Because the bleed flow abruptly curves away from the direction of the compressor flow it is very difficult to hold larger particles in the bleed flow because of their momentum. This problem is common to aircraft, marine, and ground based gas turbine engines. Fan jet engines such as the General Electric CF6-80 series of engines have in series relationship a fan, a booster, and a core engine compressor whereby a portion of the air passing through the fan is ducted to the booster and then the core engine compressor. In order to match the inlet airflow of the core engine compressor to its flight operational requirements and to prevent booster stall a booster variable bleed valve (VBV) is provided in the form of a booster bleed duct having an inlet between the booster and the core engine compressor and an outlet to the fan duct. Opening and closing of the booster bleed duct is conventionally provided by a circumferentially disposed plurality of pivotal doors that retract into the engine structure or casing and are operated by a single unison ring powered by one or more fuel powered actuators. Bellcrank linkages operably connect the retracting pivotal bleed doors to the unison ring. An example of such a stall prevention system using a retracting pivotal door, as compared to a sliding door or valve in the Monhardt patent, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,428 entitled "Bypass Valve Mechanism" by Shipley et. al. and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and incorporated herein by reference The operation of the VBV is scheduled by the engine controller, either a mechanical or digital electronic type may be used.
The problem associated with conventional bleed valve ducts and valve doors is that larger particles and amounts of particles such as ice are often not drawn into the bleed duct. The present invention provides the ability to remove larger particles in greater amounts from the compressor airflow in a more efficient manner than has been previously possible
Modern aircraft employ fewer of the higher thrust, fuel efficient, very-high-bypass engines such as the twin engine Boeing 767 aircraft. Aircraft with fewer engines require more total take-off power and more power per engine in order to satisfy the requirement of being able to fly with one engine out. Therefore, the engines are set to lower power settings resulting in less engine airflow during descent when all engines are operational. This results in high water content for engine airflow since the amount of hail or water that gets into the engine is the same so long as the aircraft speed remains the same. On the other hand, higher bypass ratio engines have smaller core flow and larger bullet-nose frontal area. This means more hail or water gets through the compressor into the combustor resulting in higher water content for the air. These two fundamental phenomena combine to cause substantial increase of water-to-air ratio in the combustor resulting in such aircraft engines being more susceptible to engine flame out problem in rain or hail storms.
Furthermore modern high bypass ratio engines incorporating higher pressure core compressors and lower pressure boosters produce less pressure difference between the booster exit and the fan bypass duct. Therefore, it increases the difficulties of bleeding sufficient amounts of air from downstream of the booster to the fan bypass duct for protecting boosters from stall. The current invention fully utilizes the dynamic pressure head to increase bleed capability.
Industrial and marine derivatives of aircraft engines, generically referred to as ground based gas turbine engines or derivative engines, generally replace propulsive elements such as the fan and exhaust nozzle of an aircraft gas turbine engine with a load means such as an electrical generator, ship or marine propeller, or pump (e.g. natural gas pump). Electrical generator gas turbine engines are required to operate at a constant RPM such as 3000 RPM or 3600 RPM in order to generate electricity at a constant 50 Hz or 60 Hz respectively so as to be synchronized with the electrical grid network for which they are used to supply electricity.
Two general types of derivative engines are free turbine and direct drive engines. Free turbine types employ a free power turbine that drives the load and is not directly mechanically coupled to a compressor (usually the booster or low pressure compressor of a multiple rotor engine) of the gas generator used to power the free power turbine. The direct drive turbine is directly mechanically coupled to both a compressor of the gas turbine engine and to the load on a common rotor that is most often the low pressure rotor of a dual rotor gas turbine engine.
A difficult problem is bringing a multiple rotor direct drive engine system to a no-load synchronous speed condition prior to locking in on an electrical grid network which would then hold the low pressure (LP) rotor attached system in a synchronous speed mode. The problem is how to reach zero shaft horsepower (SHP) output with the LP system at synchronous speed without stalling the booster compressor so as to connect and disconnect the gas turbine driven generator from the electrical grid network while not overspeeding the LP system.
The booster stall margin must be controlled by controlling either the inlet flow of the booster or by controlling the booster discharge flow level entering the compressor. Typically booster discharge bleed doors are opened to dump some of the booster flow overboard so as to control the booster operating line to a point below its stall line. Aircraft engine VBV doors normally are inadequate to allow such operation even with state-of-the-art variable inlet guide vane (VIGV) closure on the booster. Current VBV door sizes can be up to 2 times too small to reach this condition.
In adapting an aircraft engine as a derivative for this type of application, since LP speed is held constant to very low powers, a means is needed to minimize required engine changes to accomplish a no-load synchronous speed. For example, it is estimated that for an industrial derivative of the CF6-80C2 engine its VBV bleed doors wide open will only flow 50% of the bleed flow needed to set the booster operating line no higher than its maximum allowable pressure ratio. For example, either the VBV flow area must be doubled or the booster inlet flow must bereduced from 145 lb/sec down to 105 lb/sec.
In accomplishing this, the inlet flow to the core engine compressor must not suffer increased pressure or temperature distortion which could stall the compressor and possibly harm the engine. It is well known that variable inlet guide vanes on boosters and compressors may be used to control the amount of inlet flow and boost pressure at a constant rotor speed by their changing of incidence flow angles to the rotors but it is very difficult if not impossible to avoid stalling the booster or low compressor using this method.

Gas turbine engine variable bleed pivotal flow splitter


An emergency vehicle alert system provides a transceiver for use in emergency vehicles and a receiver for use in non-emergency vehicles. The transceiver is operative in either a receive mode or a transceive mode at the user's choice. In the transceive mode, the transceiver alternates between emergency vehicle alert signal transmission and a receiving function in which the presence of other emergency vehicles may be detected. In the receive mode, the transceiver responds directly to received emergency vehicle alert signals from other vehicles in the same manner as the standard receiving unit. The transceiver produces a signal having encoded information which identifies the emergency vehicle type. The receiver receives and processes the emergency vehicle alert signal to identify the presence of an emergency vehicle and the type of vehicle doing the transmitting.

As urban and suburban areas have become more and more developed and as population centralization in such urban and suburban areas has increased, these areas have become more and more congested and crowded. This concentration and its accompanying congestion has in turn brought increased traffic congestion and more and more crowded streets. Often such streets are lined on each side by relatively tall buildings or similar structures which limit visibility in many directions and often give rise to streets resembling "concrete canyons" which leave motorists driving on such streets with a forward and rearward view and little or no extended field of vision to detect the approach of potential hazards. For non-emergency type motorists, such congestion and limited field of view may be in some measure accommodated by reducing speed and approaching intersections of similarly restricted view streets at smaller speeds and with greater caution. Thus, for non-emergency motorists, these conditions of congested streets and limited vision may result in annoying and often stressful traffic slowdowns and increased travel times, but in general, remain within the motorist's control.
Emergency vehicles, however, are subject to a far different operating criteria due to the urgency which accompanies their travels throughout the congested urban and suburban areas. Under the urgency of the situation arising usually from the need for immediate care and action at some local within the urban or suburban areas, emergency vehicle drivers operate at higher speeds often at risk to themselves and others.
Emergency vehicles employ audible warning devices such as sirens or the like together with batteries of flashing lights to alert motorists to their approach. Motorists are, of course, required by law to pull over the side of the street and stop in order to give the right of way to such emergency vehicles and to avoid the danger of collision. While, flashing lights and audible warning systems have provided some effect, the limitations imposed upon such systems by crowded building structures close to streets have generally limited the effectiveness of flashing lights to vehicles directly within the emergency vehicle's path. Moreover, the development of automobiles with improved sound insulation and the pervasive use of air-conditioning and similar environmental controls within automobiles together with the tendency of motorists to use automotive sound systems providing music and the like while driving, have combined to greatly limit the effectiveness of audible alert devices such as sirens or the like.
Thus, under these conditions, emergency vehicle operators are often faced with the unenviable choice of either slowing down and thereby loosing response time or assuming the risk of collision and operating at high speeds in a high risk manner. In attempting to meet the need for more effective warning systems operating on behalf of emergency vehicles, practitioners in the art have attempted to develop supplemental systems which cooperate with and enhance the effectiveness of the traditional audible and flashing light alert systems. One such system involves the use of radio controlled or optically controlled traffic lights within the city streets. These systems vary somewhat but generally all include a radio energy or optical communication receiver at each intersection which is able to override the traffic light condition and impose stop signals to all traffic. A transmitting unit within the emergency vehicle broadcasts a control signal which is received and processed by the traffic control receives causing traffic to stop at intersections prior to the emergency vehicle approach.
Other systems have attempted to supplement the flashing light and audible alert systems of emergency vehicles with broadcast warnings usually operative in combination with the vehicle's radio.
While these systems may provide some improvement, they generally fail to reliably alert motorists to the impending approach of an emergency vehicle. In addition, such systems have not provided information as to the character of emergency vehicle approaching.
There remains, therefore, a continuing need in the art for evermore improved emergency vehicle alert systems which permit emergency vehicles to operate at high response speeds without unnecessarily endangering other emergency vehicles or non-emergency vehicles within the travel path.


A gas-tight seal module is incorporated in a trocar system to form a gas-tight seal about an instrument inserted into the cannula of the trocar system. The module incorporates an apertured disc. The aperture in the disc can be stretched to accommodate a seal about an instrument inserted into the cannula. The disc is carried by a flaccid membrane which extends across the module. A pair of rigid washers clamped on opposite sides of the disc are constrained for movement between two parallel spaced surfaces. The disc is thus freely moveable in its own plane to accommodate off-axis movement of the instrument thus avoiding the breakage of the seal with the instrument which would otherwise occur if the disc did not have the same freedom of movement. The disc also acts to clean the surface of the instrument when withdrawn so as to avoid contamination of a flap valve upstream of the disc.

The present invention relates to gas-tight seals and to trocar systems incorporating such seals.
Trocar systems are used during abdominal operations for maintaining a passage through the abdominal wall of a patient. Trocar systems generally comprise a cannula in the form of an elongate tube terminating in an enlarged upper body and an obturator or cutting tool which is fed through the enlarged upper body and down the elongate tube to pierce the abdominal wall so that the elongate tube can follow the tool through the wall. The cutting tool is then removed leaving the way clear for elongate surgical instruments or equipment, such as endoscopes, to be fed into the abdomen through the tube. To provide space within the abdomen, the abdomen is inflated with a gas and this allows easy access to the various organs located within the abdomen. To maintain gas pressure the trocar system is provided with a flap valve which is urged by the pressure of gas into a closed state. The flap valve must, however, be opened to allow the passage of surgical tools. Accordingly a sealing system is provided in the enlarged upper body to provide a seal around the surgical instrument once it has been inserted into the enlarged upper body. This now creates a gas lock between the flap valve and the seal and so the flap valve can now be opened (either by pushing the instrument against it or by other means) substantially without loss of pressure in the abdomen. The instrument can now be fed into the abdomen and manipulated as required. Usually more than one trocar is used so as to provide multiple entry points into the abdomen.
The diameter of the instruments used is usually much smaller than the diameter of the tube or the enlarged body and so a considerable amount of lateral off-axis movement of the instruments can and does take place in order to effect the desired manipulation of the instrument. Because the seals used are static, any movement of the instrument other than axial can to strain the seal to the extent of temporarily breaking the seal and so allowing gas to escape. Also most seals are designed with a specific diameter of instrument in mind and so different seals or adaptors are required when changing instruments.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved seal.

by Elizabeth Anne Newell, legal representative


An adjustable valve rocker lever (1) of a valve timing gear of an internal combustion engine comprising an inner lever (3) and an outer lever (4) enclosing the former with its arms (2), the levers (3, 4) being connectable to one another by longitudinally displaceable coupling links (6) in such a way that a large valve lift is generated when coupled and a small valve lift is generated when decoupled, the levers (3, 4) run on a common axis (5), which viewed in the longitudinal direction is arranged between a complementary face (11) for a support element on the inner lever (3) and lifting faces (12, 13) for the lifting cams on upper sides of the levers (3, 4), wherein by virtue of its axis (5), situated close to the pivot point, such a valve rocker lever (1) has only a small mass moment of inertia about this pivot point.

Such a valve rocker lever is disclosed by the generic DE 103 10 226 A1. At an end directly opposite the valve side, said rocker lever has a connecting axis on which the lever parts are supported so that they are capable of swiveling in relation to one another. At the other end a longitudinally displaceable coupling link (piston), which for coupling can be slid under a cross bar connecting the arms of the outer lever at the end, is provided in the inner lever in the area above a complementary face for bearing on a head of a support element.
One striking feature is that the axis is relatively remote from the pivot point of the entire lever. The valve rocker lever as a whole therefore has an unnecessarily high mass moment of inertia about this point. It will likewise be readily apparent that owing to the axis situated far out at one end the outer lever when decoupled also has an unnecessarily high mass moment of inertia. When coupled, the outer lever is also subject to an unnecessarily large deflection during cam actuation, which has to be braced by corresponding reinforcements. Furthermore, the overall width of the lever is relatively large, so that fitting problems can arise here.

Adjustable valve rocker lever of a valve timing gear of an internal combustion engine


A sensing apparatus for use in combination with a stationary bicycle comprises a housing that supports a source of emitted radiation and a detector of radiation of the same wavelength as that emitted by the source, fixing means for fixing the housing to an exercise device such that radiation is emitted towards a region of space that can be occupied by a part of a body of a user of the exercise device and selectively transmitted on to the detector depending on whether a part of a user's body is located within the space, a processor which measures at least one property of the radiation from the source that is passed to the detector and from the measured property produces an output signal indicative of the proximity of the user relative to the device within that space.

Keeping fit and active is becoming an increasingly important part of people's lifestyles. Some of the best forms of exercise for keeping fit include cycling, running and rowing as they make the exerciser work aerobically. This both works the major muscle groups and also strengthens the heart and lungs. The result is an increased level of physical well-being.
With increasing demands being placed on people's lives due to work and the family, it is often difficult to find the time to exercise regularly. Also, for much of the year in many countries it may be necessary to exercise in the dark outside of working hours. This can be unpleasant and dangerous.
Current medical reports state that the rapid rise in childhood obesity has been mirrored by an explosion of sedentary leisure pursuits for children t such as computers, video games, and television watching. Reports also indicate that increased general activity and play rather than competitive sport and structured exercise seem to be more effective. Parents, however, tend to be content with their children staying in the home playing computer games rather than being worried about their safety if playing outdoors.
As well as the pressures of work and family for adults the above points are as applicable to adults as to children. The level of fitness in the general population in today's Western world is far removed from that of our ancestors. One of the best healthy habits is a regular exercise programme.
To meet the demand for increased exercise in an insecure, busy and often unscheduled lifestyle, a wide range of exercise apparatus has been developed. The most popular of these are the exercise bicycle, the treadmill and the rowing machine. These apparatus allow the user to perform the same range of movements as they would in the corresponding sport but in the warmth, safety and comfort of their home or gymnasium.
In another arrangement, devices can be purchased that convert all forms of road bicycles (racing bikes, tourers, hybrids and mountain bikes and the like) into an exercise bicycle by arranging for the rear wheel to drive a load against a resisting force such as a turbine or magnetic brake whilst the bicycle is held stationary on a support.
For maximum benefit in the shortest space of time it is recommended that regular exercise consisting of twenty to thirty minutes at least three times very week is undertaken. As anyone who has regularly used an exercise bicycle or the like will know, these blocks of twenty minutes can be extremely tedious. Removing the interest provided by passing varied terrain in varied weather outdoors the act of cycling or rowing is quite repetitive and boring.
As a direct consequence of this monotonous exercise it is therefore often difficult to maintain the required degree of motivation needed to complete regular exercise using the devices. This is especially the case amongst the younger age groups where modern alternative pastimes such as computer gaming are now more popular.
It is well known to provide a stationary bicycle upon which a person can pedal to simulate riding a bicycle. The rider sits on the bicycle, which is fixed in position and turns the pedals of the bicycle against a resistive load. The stationary bicycle needs at least a saddle, a handlebar and a bottom bracket that must be held in the correct spaced location. The support for these components usually comprises a metal frame with floor standing feet that supports the saddle upon which the user sits at a convenient height. The frame also supports the bottom bracket below the saddle, and a crank with pedals that are operated by the user's feet. The handlebar is supported in front of the saddle. To fit different people the position of the saddle and handlebar relative to the bottom bracket is usually adjustable.
Dedicated stationary exercise bicycles are very effective at developing the specific leg muscles of a user but can be very tedious to use. Also, they do not provide a very realistic experience as the position of the handlebars is fixed when in use whereas on a normal bicycle the bars will move as the cyclist turns or lean to negotiate corners or stands up on the pedal.
The present invention is applicable to all forms of exercise cycle, including specific exercise bicycles as well as converted road or mountain bicycles used with a turbotrainer or the like. It is also applicable to controllers for computer games that the user can move to simulate the movement of the handlebars on a bicycle or other handlebar device.
It is known to provide an exercise bicycle that leans from side to side. It is also known to provide a set of moving handlebars to an exercise bicycle to provide upper body training and to mimic the movement of the bars of a bicycle as the rider is standing up on the pedals. It is also known from that document to provide for different input devices which pass input signals to a microprocessor in turn to control the operation of a game displayed on a display screen. Basic sensors disclosed in that document include a handlebar position sensor, a wheel sensor, a reed switch that detects the a passing of a magnet fitted to the pedals that acts as a crank position sensor and a seat pressure sensor that indicates whether the rider is seated or standing.
It has been appreciated that a further range of enhanced sensors for use in combination with a microprocessor based game or training program would be desirable.

Sensing apparatus for use with exercise bicycles


The invention of present application relates to a method for enabling a hybrid carbon nanotube having an arbitrary composition ratio to be readily manufactured, and the hybrid carbon nanotube. A method for manufacturing a hybrid carbon nanotube, which comprises immersing a carbon nanotube having open pores in a solution having a dopant substance dissolved therein to effect a doping reaction, thereby preparing a hybrid carbon nanotube comprising a carbon nanotube and a dopant substance introduced therein.

A hybrid carbon nanotube comprising a dopant substance introduced into a hollow cylindrical space of the carbon nanotube has been noticed as a novel nano-structure substance that would be potentially utilized in various fields such as information and communication and chemical industry. In the method for manufacturing the hybrid carbon nanotube that has been proposed by the inventors of the present application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-286109), a dopant substance is introduced into the carbon nanotube as a gas.
However, since the dopant substance is introduced into the carbon nanotube after vaporizing it by taking advantage of a vapor phase reaction in the method as described above, the dopant substance to be easy for handling in the vapor phase has been preferable. Accordingly, control of vaporization conditions has been quite difficult when a substance that cannot be readily vaporized has been selected as the dopant substance. In addition, since the reaction rate for doping is determined only by the vapor pressure of the dopant substances, the proportion of introduction thereof has been determined only by the vapor pressure ratios among the respective dopant substances when two kinds or more of the dopant substances are introduced into the tube. Consequently, it was difficult to manufacture the hybrid carbon nanotube in which the dopant substances are introduced in arbitrary composition ratios.
Accordingly, the subject of the invention of the present application performed by considering the situations as described above is to solve the problems in the conventional art, and to provide a method for readily manufacturing the hybrid carbon nanotube having an arbitrary composition ratio, and such hybrid carbon nanotube.

Method for manufacturing hybrid carbon nanotube

Japan Science and Technology Corporation


A method and apparatus for shaping quantization noise generated when compressing audio data at a low bit rate is disclosed. A predetermined quantization noise threshold allowed during quantization of sampled audio data and quantization noise energy information of a quantized MDCT coefficient are received in all frequency bands of an audio frequency. The quantization noise energy of the quantized MDCT coefficient is attenuated in a predetermined number of frequency bands in which a difference between the predetermined quantization noise threshold and the quantization noise energy of the quantized MDCT coefficient is large.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-2718, filed on Jan. 15, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compression of audio data, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for shaping quantization noise generated when compressing audio data at a low bit rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compression of audio data is achieved by performing sampling, quantizing, encoding, and so forth. Quantization refers to expressing sampled signal values as stepped integers to represent the sampled values as predetermined representative values. Such a quantization process generates quantization noise. The quantization noise is an error component between an original signal and a quantized signal and is attenuated with an increase in a number of bits used for the quantization process. In quantization according to the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), which are standards for coded representation of moving pictures and digital audio, a factor generated by a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) or a Modified DCT (MDCT) is divided by a predetermined value to express the factor as a low factor value so as to reduce an encoding amount.
Audio data should be compressed in consideration of the properties of the human auditory system. In general, one sound cannot be heard when a much louder sound is present. For example, if a person in an office speaks loudly, the others in the office can easily perceive who is speaking. However, if an airplane passes over the office building, the listeners cannot hear at all what the speaker is saying. In addition, after the airplane passed over the building, the listeners still cannot hear what the speaker is saying due to the lingering sound of the airplane. This is called a masking effect.
FIG. 1 illustrates the masking effect. Referring to FIG. 1, let us assume that an audio frequency contains a masking curve 130 indicating a sound energy level at which the average human can hear a sound. Since an audio signal A 110 has a sound energy level above the masking curve 130, the audio signal A 110 is audible to the average human. In contrast, since an audio signal B 120 has a sound energy level below the masking curve 130, the audio signal B 120 is inaudible to the average human.
Psychoacoustic model quantization refers to the quanitzation of only audio data with a sound energy level above a masking threshold by sectioning an audio frequency into frequency bands at predetermined intervals. The psychoacoustic model quantization is used in compression standards such as MPEG. However, in a case where audio data is compressed at a low bit rate below 64 Kbps, a number of bits used for quantization is limited. Thus, a general compression technique according to MPEG standards is not suitable for an effective compression of an audio signal.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show a quantization noise spectrum with respect to a frequency, the spectrum being generated after performing quantization.
In a psychoacoustic model, an audio signal is received, and then a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is performed to calculate and output a quantization threshold 210 in each frequency band. The quantization threshold 210 may be calculated so that the average human cannot discern between an original signal and a quantized signal. A quantization threshold in actual quantization may appear as reference numeral 210 or 240. If the quantization threshold 210 is obtained in the actual quantization, quantization noise may fall within the quantization threshold 210 according to the psychoacoustic model, which does not affect sound quality. If the quantization threshold 240 is obtained in the actual quantization, sound quality degrades. Thus, quantization noise has to be shaped so as to fall within the quantization threshold 210. However, since a low bit rate audio signal is expressed and quantized with a limited number of bits, quantization noise cannot always be shaped within a quantization threshold.
Accordingly, a conventional quantization algorithm used for the compression of an audio signal uses a simple way to confine a number of times quantization noise is shaped so that the shaping of the quantization noise ends when quantization noise cannot be below a quantization threshold calculated in the psychoacoustic model. The confinement may allow the quantization noise to have a predetermined shape, which causes the quantization noise to exceed the quantization threshold in a predetermined number of frequency bands. As a result, sound quality deteriorates.

Quantization noise shaping method and apparatus


A dynamic mixer in which two elements are rotatable relative to each other about a predetermined axis and between which is defined a flow path extending between an inlet for materials to be mixed and an outlet. The flow path is defined between surfaces of the elements each of which surfaces defines a series of annular projections (8, 12) centred on the predetermined axis (10). The surfaces are positioned such that projections defined by one element extend into spaces between projections (12) defined by the other element. At least one cavity is formed in each projection (8, 12) to define a flow passage bridging the projection in which the cavity is formed. Each of the elements may be generally conical althrough each of the elements could be generally cylindrical or planar, providing projections in the two elements overlap.

The present invention relates to a dynamic mixer.
Dynamic mixers are known which comprise two elements which are rotatable relative to each other about a predetermined axis and between which is defined a flow path extending between an inlet for materials to be mixed and an outlet. In the known mixers, the flow path is defined between surfaces of the elements each of which surfaces has cavities formed within it. Cavities formed in one surface are offset in the axial direction relative to cavities in the other surface, and cavities in one surface overlap in the axial direction with cavities in the other surface. As a result, material moving between the surfaces is transferred between overlapping cavities. Thus, in use, material to be mixed is moved between the elements and traces a path through cavities located alternately on each of the two surfaces. The bulk of the material to be mixed passes through a shear zone in the material generated by displacement of the surfaces. Such mixers incorporating cavities are generally referred to as "cavity transfer mixers".
Cavity transfer mixers normally have a cylindrical geometry, that is an inner element having a generally cylindrical outer surface and which generally forms a rotor of the device and an outer element having a generally cylindrical inner surface which generally forms a stator of the device. Rows of cavities are formed in the two facing cylindrical surfaces, the rows of cavities overlapping in the axial direction such that material to be mixed generally passes from a cavity in one row of one surface into a cavity in an adjacent row of the other surface. Such conventional cylindrical cavity transfer mixers generally comprise a solid inner rotor which is housed within a split outer stator, it being necessary to manufacture the outer stator in splittable form so as to enable the formation of rows of cavities in the outer stator. The maximum outer diameter of the inner element is less than the minimum inner diameter of the outer element and therefore the mixer can be assembled relatively easily simply by axial insertion of the inner rotor into the outer stator. Given the relative dimensions of the inner and outer elements however an open annular space is defined between the two components.
Problems have been experienced with cylindrical-geometry cavity transfer mixers. In particular, material can pass straight through the annular space defined between the two elements without entering the cavities. This is a particular problem with materials of relatively low viscosity. For example, when materials of dissimilar viscosity are being mixed, materials of relatively low viscosity can effectively short circuit the cavities by travelling straight through the annular space.
A further problem with cylindrical geometry cavity transfer mixers is that asymmetrical transfers can be generated which cause axial back flow or front flow that can generate stagnation patterns with the result that material can become deposited or "hang-up" in the cavities. This is a particular problem when mixing reacting materials and can result in material degradation and uneven flow rates.
Further disadvantageous features of cylindrical geometry cavity transfer mixers is that they are not self pumping or self cleaning. Given that the material flow path through the cavities cannot be directly observed, it is difficult to be sure that material has not become deposited within the cavities. If material does become deposited in one of the cavities, it is difficult to clean out unless the outer element of the structure is split, and even then cleaning is not a simple process.
The formation of cavities on the inner surface of the outer member is difficult to achieve unless the outer member is splittable and as a result manufacturing costs are high. Furthermore, given that the outer element is generally splittable for manufacture and cleaning, leakage can occur through joints in the outer element. These problems have severely, restricted the application of cylindrical geometry cavity transfer mixers.
It is known from for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,132 that cavity transfer mixers may have a planar geometry in which the cavities are formed in opposed planar surfaces rather than in opposed cylindrical surfaces. Such a planar geometry makes manufacture of the cavities in the opposed surfaces and cleaning of deposited material from the cavities relatively easier as compared with cylindrical geometries. Problems associated with material bypassing or being deposited within the cavities remain.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the problems outlined above.

Maelstrom Advanced Process Technologies, Ltd.


A device includes a first transistor including a first gate electrode including first and second parallel electrode portions each extending in a first direction, and a first connecting electrode portion extending in a second direction approximately orthogonal to the first direction and connecting one ends of the first and second parallel electrode portions to each other, and first and second diffusion layers separated from each other by a channel region under the first gate electrode, a first output line connected to the first diffusion layer of the first transistor, and a second transistor comprising a second gate electrode extending in the second direction, and the second transistor being configured to use the second diffusion layer of the first transistor as one of two diffusion layers that are separated from each other by a channel region under the second gate electrode.

It has conventionally been thought that if a clock is stopped in a CMOS semiconductor integrated circuit, no consumption current flows. However, if a subthreshold current flows, even if the clock is stopped, consumption current flows. Thus, as a technique for reducing such subthreshold current in a standby state, a power gating technique has begun to be used widely. This power gating technique is for blocking power supply to internal circuits while maintaining an output node potential that needs to be held in a standby state.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,499,272 ('272 patent) discloses a semiconductor device that uses a power gating technique and that suppresses an increase in the resistance of power supply and ground lines. In the semiconductor device, a plurality of circuit cells are arranged in separate circuit cell shelves. More specifically, a plurality of circuit cells are divided into a group of circuit cells, each using a main power supply line (potential VPERI) and a pseudo-ground line (potential VSSZ). The plurality of circuit cells are further divided into a group of circuit cells each using a pseudo-power supply line (potential VPERIZ) and a main ground line (potential VSS). In this way, since the power supply and ground lines in each circuit cell shelf can have a larger interconnect width, an increase in the resistance of the power supply and ground lines is suppressed (see FIGS. 3 and 5 in the '272 patent).
However, in the semiconductor device disclosed in the '272, a functional circuit region and a driver region are separated from each other (see FIG. 3 in the '272 patent). Thus, there is a problem in that the layout regions for these elements are increased. In addition, regarding a circuit cell in the functional circuit region arranged far from the driver region, there can be a large distance (interconnect length) between the circuit cell and a Subthreshold Current Reduction Circuit (SCRC) driver. Thus, there is a problem that the interconnect resistance cannot be sufficiently suppressed. In this case, when the circuit cell is operated, the interconnect resistance causes waveform distortion in voltages of the power supply and ground lines, imposing a limit on improvement of the speed of a circuit operation in the semiconductor device.

Semiconductor device having shared diffusion layer between transistors


Disclosed is a liquid crystal display apparatus in which a liquid crystal display module and cases are tightly combined. At least one protuberance formed on a top chassis of the liquid crystal display module combines at least one fixing portion formed on a portion of a rear case corresponding to the at least one protuberance. Also, a fixing protuberance formed on a portion of a front case is inserted into between the liquid crystal display module and the rear case, thereby preventing the liquid crystal display module from being moved. Therefore, the liquid crystal display module and the cases are tightly combined, and productivity of the liquid crystal display apparatus can increase by reducing the number of parts demanded for fabrication of the liquid crystal display module and the cases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display apparatus in which a liquid crystal display module is tightly combined with cases, which is available for a notebook computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, information processors have been rapidly developed in a trend with various architectures, functions and faster information processing speed. Such information processors need display devices such as a liquid crystal display apparatus for displaying processed information to a user.
When a voltage is applied to a liquid crystal cell, a molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal is changed. The liquid crystal display device converts variations in optical characteristics such as a birefringence, a rotatory polarization, a dichroism and a light scattering according to the molecular arrangements of the liquid crystal into variations in visual characteristics, thereby displaying an image.
A size of the liquid crystal display apparatus gradually increases according to a demand of the user, and a liquid crystal display module and cases for receiving the liquid crystal display module also have dimensions that gradually increase in response to the size of the liquid crystal display apparatus. Thus, research concerning not only an assembled structure between the liquid crystal display module and cases but also a layout for parts of the liquid crystal display apparatus is performed so as to meet an augmentation of the dimension of the liquid crystal display apparatus and reductions of a weight, a size and a thickness of the liquid crystal display apparatus in these days.
In particular, a combining space according to a combination of the liquid crystal display module and cases becomes more important as for an installation structure between the liquid crystal display module and cases.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a conventional liquid crystal display apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display apparatus 60 has a liquid crystal display module 30, for displaying an image, and cases including a front case (not shown) and a rear case 40 in order to receive the liquid crystal display module 30.
The liquid crystal display module 30 includes a display unit for displaying the image, a back light assembly for supplying a light to the display unit, a mold frame for receiving the display unit and the back light assembly, and a top chassis combining with the mold frame to fix the display unit and the back light assembly to the mold frame. When the back light assembly and the display unit are successively received in the mold frame, the top chassis combines with the mold frame.
A top installation method is utilized for mounting the liquid crystal display module 30 in the rear case 40. Particularly, first, second, third, and fourth mounting portions 11, 12, 13 and 14 having predetermined heights are formed on four corners of the top chassis 10 of the liquid crystal display module 30. First, second, third and fourth screwed combining holes 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a are formed through the first, second, third and fourth mounting portions 11, 12, 13 and 14, respectively. First, second, third and fourth burrings 41, 42, 43 and 44 corresponding to the first, second, third and fourth screwed combining holes 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a are formed on four corners of the rear case 40 corresponding to the first, second, third and fourth mounting portions 11, 12, 13 and 14.
When the first, second, third and fourth screwed combining holes 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a of the top chassis 10 correspond to the first, second, third and fourth burrings 41, 42, 43 and 44 of the rear case 40, respectively, first, second, third and fourth screws 11b, 12b, 13b and 14b engage with the first, second, third and fourth screwed combining holes 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a and the first, second, third and fourth burrings 41, 42, 43 and 44, thereby fixing the liquid crystal display module 30 to the rear case 40.
The top installation method, however, has some disadvantages as follows.
First, the number of assembling steps for fabrication of the liquid crystal display apparatus 60 increases since the liquid crystal display module 30 is combined with the cases using the screws. Hence, productivity as well as operation efficiency decreases in fabricating the liquid crystal display apparatus 60.
Also, manufacturing costs and time for the liquid crystal display apparatus 60 increase because additional parts such as the screws are demanded for combining the liquid crystal display module 30 with those cases.
Furthermore, an overall size of the liquid crystal display apparatus 60 increases because the first, second, third and fourth mounting portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 are protruded from side walls of the top chassis toward outside.

Liquid crystal display apparatus having particular protruding portions and fixing grooves


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a masking layer on an upper surface of a semiconductor substrate. The masking layer is patterned to form at least one masking element that designates an active region of the semiconductor substrate and at least one patterning assist feature adjacent the at least one masking element. An etching process is performed to form a plurality of semiconductor fins on the semiconductor substrate. The plurality of semiconductor fins include at least one isolated fin formed on the active region according to the at least one masking element and at least one sacrificial fin formed according to the patterning assist feature that reduces a loading effect that occurs during the etching process.

The present invention relates to semiconductor fabrication, and more specifically, to reducing the microloading effect realized by a semiconductor device during a reactive ion etching (RIE) process.
The etch rate of silicon during reactive ion etching (RIE) can be affected by local variations in the pattern density, which in turn causes local variations in the etch rate. The local depletion of reactive species that cause the local variations in the pattern density and is typically referred to as the RIE microloading effect.

Patterning assist feature to mitigate reactive ion etch microloading effect


The present invention provides a technique capable of improving a mounting failure in a resin encapsulated semiconductor device and repairability thereof.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and particularly to a technique capable of improving a mounting failure in a resin encapsulated semiconductor device and improving repairability thereof. This invention is particularly concerned with a technique effective for use in a resin encapsulated semiconductor device in which surface mounting is performed.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device (hereinafter called xe2x80x9cIC packagexe2x80x9d) in which surface mounting is performed, comprises a semiconductor chip in which an integrated circuit including a semiconductor element is fabricated and built therein, a semiconductor chip mounting or loading portion such as a tub or heat sink on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of inner leads electrically connected to their corresponding bonding pads of the semiconductor chip through bonding wires, outer leads integrally connected to the respective inner leads respectively, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, semiconductor chip loading portion and respective inner leads with a resin. The exposing of a main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is located on the side opposite to a main surface thereof on the semiconductor chip loading side, from a surface below the resin encapsulater is considered as means for enhancing heat radiation performance in the present resin encapsulated semiconductor device.
Examples descriptive of a resin encapsulated semiconductor device wherein surface mounting is carried out in which a tub corresponding to a semiconductor chip loading portion is exposed or made bare to a surface below a resin encapsulater, have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 4-317360 and 5-291459 and Sho 61-216454. Further, an example of a resin encapsulated semiconductor device wherein surface mounting is performed in which a heat sink corresponding to a semiconductor chip loading portion is exposed from a surface below a resin encapsulater, has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-130273. In the package wherein the tub or heat sink is made bare to the surface below each of these resin encapsulaters, the exposed tub or heat sink is soldered to each land of a printed wiring board serving as a printed circuit board, whereby the generated heat of a chip can be radiated from the tub or heat sink to the printed wiring board through soldered portions by thermal conduction.
In the above-described resin encapsulated semiconductor device, however, the semiconductor chip loading portion such as the tub or heat sink with the semiconductor chip mounted thereon increases in size as the semiconductor chip increases in size. It has been defined by the inventors that when such a resin encapsulated semiconductor device is soldered to lands on a printed circuit board, molten solder below the semiconductor chip loading portion is made one-sided or unbalanced as shown in FIG. 20, so that a mounting failure occurs that the resin encapsulated semiconductor device is inclined and leads on the floated side of the resin encapsulated semiconductor device are not connected to their corresponding lands on the printed circuit board. A problem that when a resin encapsulated semiconductor device surface-mounted on a printed circuit board is taken off from the printed circuit board for the purpose of repair (e.g., repair at a mounting test, repair in its practical use and the like) resultant from some reasons even where the above-described mounting failure is not produced, heat to melt solder is hard to be transferred to a central portion of a solder connecting surface of a semiconductor chip loading portion such as the tub or heat sink connected to lands on the printed circuit board by solder, and repairability is also poor, has been also revealed by the inventors.
An object of the present invention is to provide a resin encapsulated semiconductor device capable of preventing the inclination thereof upon surface mounting thereof onto a printed circuit board to thereby prevent a mounting failure from occurring.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a resin encapsulated semiconductor device capable of improving repairability of the resin encapsulated semiconductor device surface-mounted on a printed circuit board.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a resin encapsulated semiconductor device, which is capable of preventing the inclination thereof upon surface mounting thereof on a printed circuit board and thereby preventing a mounting failure from occurring.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a resin encapsulated semiconductor device, which is capable of improving repairability of the resin encapsulated semiconductor device surface-mounted on a printed circuit board.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a mount structure wherein a resin encapsulated semiconductor device surface-mounted on a printed circuit board is mounted on the printed circuit board without its inclination on the printed circuit board.
The above, other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the specification of the present application and the accompanying drawings.
Summaries of typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be explained in brief as follows.
Namely, a resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a resin encapsulater, a semiconductor chip located within the resin encapsulater and having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion disposed within the resin encapsulater and having a loaded surface for mounting the semiconductor chip thereon and an unloaded surface provided on the side opposite to the loaded surface, and a plurality of input/output leads which are connected to the plurality of electrodes to input signals to the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip or output signals from the plurality of electrodes thereof and which extend outside the resin encapsulater, and wherein the unloaded surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion comprises a plurality of regions separated from one another and the plurality of regions are exposed from the resin encapsulater.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to another aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of input/output leads which are connected to the plurality of electrodes to input signals to the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip or output signals from the plurality of electrodes thereof and which extend in a direction far away from the semiconductor chip, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor chip loading portion and some of the plurality of input/output leads, and wherein the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is provided on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is separated into a plurality of regions by a substance hard to be wet with a brazing filler metal and exposed from the resin encapsulater.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to a further aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the semiconductor chip, a plurality of outer leads integral with the plurality of inner leads respectively, connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the plurality of inner leads to one another, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor chip loading portion and the plurality of inner leads, and wherein the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is provided on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is exposed from the resin encapsulater, and the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is exposed from the resin encapsulater, is comprised of a plurality of exposed regions separated from one another by a substance hard to be wet with a brazing filler metal.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to a still further aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the semiconductor chip, a plurality of outer leads integral with the plurality of inner leads respectively, connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the plurality of inner leads to one another, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor chip loading portion and the plurality of inner leads, and wherein the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is provided on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is exposed from the resin encapsulater, and the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is exposed from the resin encapsulater, is comprised of a plurality of exposed regions separated from one another by a resin embedded in the semiconductor chip loading portion from the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to a still further aspect of the present invention comprises a resin encapsulater, a semiconductor chip located inside the resin encapsulater and having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a loaded surface for mounting the semiconductor chip thereon and an unloaded surface provided on the side opposite to the loaded surface, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the semiconductor chip, and connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the plurality of inner leads to one another, and wherein the other ends of the plurality of inner leads are integral with a plurality of outer leads extending outside the resin encapsulater, and the unloaded surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion is comprised of a plurality of regions separated from one another by a solder resist, which are exposed from one surface of the resin encapsulater.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to a still further aspect of the present invention comprises a resin encapsulater, a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a loaded surface for mounting the semiconductor chip thereon and an unloaded surface provided on the side opposite to the loaded surface, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the semiconductor chip, and connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the plurality of inner leads to one another, and wherein the other ends of the plurality of inner leads are integral with a plurality of outer leads extending outside the resin encapsulater, and the unloaded surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion is comprised of a plurality of regions separated from one another by a substance hard to be wet with solder which selectively protrude from the unloaded surface, which regions are exposed from one surface of the resin encapsulater.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to a still further aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a tub having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the semiconductor chip, a plurality of outer leads integral with the plurality of inner leads respectively, connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the inner leads to one another, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the tub and the plurality of inner leads, and wherein the other main surface of the tub, which is provided on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is exposed from the resin encapsulater, and the other main surface of the tub, which is exposed from the resin encapsulater, is comprised of a plurality of exposed regions separated from one another by a substance hard to be wet with solder.
A resin encapsulated semiconductor device according to a still further aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a heat sink having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the periphery of the semiconductor chip, a plurality of outer leads integral with the plurality of inner leads respectively, connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the inner leads to one another, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the heat sink and the plurality of inner leads, and wherein the other main surface of the heat sink, which is provided on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is exposed from the resin encapsulater, and the other main surface of the heat sink, which is exposed from the resin encapsulater, is comprised of a plurality of exposed regions separated from one another by a substance hard to be wet with solder.
Further, a method of manufacturing a resin encapsulated semiconductor device, according to one aspect of the present invention, comprises the following steps: a step for preparing a lead frame having a semiconductor chip loading portion including a main surface with a semiconductor chip mounted thereon and the other main surface provided on the side opposite to the main surface and positioned below the main surface, and recessed portions which are defined in the other main surface and separate the other main surface into plural form; and a plurality of leads each having a first surface placed adjacent to the semiconductor chip loading portion and a second surface provided on the side opposite to the first surface, located below the first surface and located above the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion; a step for preparing a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface; a step for connecting the semiconductor chip to the main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion of the lead frame; a step for connecting the plurality of leads and the plurality of electrodes provided on one main surface of the semiconductor chip to one another by connecting means; and a step for placing the lead frame connected with the semiconductor chip so that the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion makes contact with a cavity surface of a mold having a cavity and sealing the semiconductor chip, some of the plurality of leads and the semiconductor chip loading portion by a resin.
Furthermore, a mount structure according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor device including a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of input/output leads which are respectively connected to the plurality of electrodes to input signals to the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip or output signals from the plurality of electrodes thereof and extend in a direction far away from the semiconductor chip, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor chip loading portion and some of the plurality of input/output leads and wherein the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is located on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is separated into a plurality of regions by a substance hard to be wet with a brazing filler metal, and exposed from the resin encapsulater; and a printed circuit board having a surface on which a plurality of first lands having the same patterns as the plurality of exposed regions constituting an unloaded surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion of the semiconductor device and a plurality of second lands corresponding to the plurality of input/output leads of the semiconductor device are formed; and wherein the semiconductor device is soldered to the plurality of first and second lands.
A mount structure according to another aspect of the present invention comprises a semiconductor device including a semiconductor chip having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion having a main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, a plurality of inner leads having one ends adjacent to the semiconductor chip, a plurality of outer leads integral with the plurality of inner leads respectively, connectors which respectively electrically connect the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip and the plurality of inner leads to one another, and a resin encapsulater which seals the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor chip loading portion and the plurality of inner leads and wherein the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is located on the side opposite to the main surface on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, is exposed from the resin encapsulater, and the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion, which is exposed from the resin encapsulater, is comprised of a plurality of exposed regions separated from one another by a resin embedded in the semiconductor chip loading portion from the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion; and a printed circuit board having a surface on which a plurality of first lands having the same patterns as the plurality of exposed regions constituting the other main surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion of the semiconductor device and a plurality of second lands corresponding to the plurality of outer leads of the semiconductor device are formed; and wherein the semiconductor device is soldered to the plurality of first and second lands of the printed circuit board.

Semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same and a mount structure

Abstract: The present semiconductor device includes a resin encapsulater, a semiconductor chip located within the resin encapsulater and having a plurality of electrodes on one main surface, a semiconductor chip loading portion disposed within the resin encapsulater and having a loaded surface for mounting the semiconductor chip thereon and an unloaded surface provided on the side opposite to the loaded surface, and a plurality of input/output leads which are connected to the plurality of electrodes to input signals to the plurality of electrodes of the semiconductor chip or output signals from the plurality of electrodes thereof and which extend outside the resin encapsulater. Further, the unloaded surface of the semiconductor chip loading portion comprises a plurality of regions separated from one another and the plurality of regions are exposed from the resin encapsulater.


An object of the present invention is to solve the problems in conventional art antigen exposure chambers, and specifically, to provide an antigen exposure chamber system capable of simultaneously exposing a large number of test objects in a chamber to a uniform antigen (pollen, mite or house dust, etc.) in all seasons. In order to achieve the above object, in an antigen exposure chamber system according to the present invention, an outdoor air is supplied via an outdoor air diffuser 2 provided in a ceiling surface of an exposure chamber 1 into the exposure chamber from the ceiling surface of the exposure chamber in a horizontal direction, a fan unit 15, including a supply port and a suction port, is provided in each of the four corners of the exposure chamber to provide a circulating flow of air flowing with circulation in the horizontal direction in the exposure chamber, an air exhaust port 4 is provided at a floor surface of the exposure chamber to exhaust an air from the floor surface of the exposure chamber, an antigen is supplied from an antigen supply device to the outdoor air diffuser provided on the ceiling surface so that the antigen is mixed with the outdoor air, and a uniform concentration antigen exposure is enabled by the circulating flow of air.

Antigen exposure chamber systems configured so as to supply a predetermined amount of antigen to expose a subject to the antigen have been used for experiments and researches relating to diseases such as allergy.
Conventional antigen exposure chamber systems include ones provided with a ceiling air supply port and a ceiling air exhaust port at the ceiling of the chamber, or an air supply port at the ceiling of the chamber and an air exhaust port at the lower portion of the chamber walls, thereby generating an air flow flowing between the air supply port and the air exhaust port and mixing an antigen supplied from the outside of the chamber into this air flow. However, each of them has an extremely non-uniform antigen concentration distribution in the chamber (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, there are no measures to prevent an antigen from flowing out of the chamber more than making the chamber pressure to be a negative pressure, which is extremely insufficient for preventing an antigen from flowing out of the chamber, so there has been the possibility that an antigen flows to the outside of the antigen exposure chamber.
Also, when a measuring device is installed outside the exposure chamber, a sampling tube is used to take sample antigen concentrations in the chamber. However, there are various kinds of materials for sampling tubes for the conventional antigen exposure chamber systems, and there are no fixed arrangement routes for such sampling tubes, and compensation of the measured values has not been made. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the loss of antigen particles is so large that an accurate concentration measurement cannot be conducted, depending on the material, the length or the bent portion count of the tube.    Patent Document 1: None    Non-Patent Document 1: N. Krug et al., Validation of an environmental exposure unit for controlled human inhalation studies with grass pollen in patients seasonal allergic rhinitis, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, Vol. 33, No. 12, p.p. 1667-1674, December 2003


A process for preparation of Methyl-(+)-(S)-alpha-(2-chlorophenyl)-6,7-dihydrothieno[3,2-c]pyridine-5(4H)-acetic acid methyl ester or salts thereof [clopidogrel or salts thereof of Formula (I)] having higher chiral purity and products thereof is provided. A process for purification of the compound prepared is also provided to enhance its efficacy by enhancing its optical rotation and chiral purity. In Formula (I), R is selected from a group comprising alkyl, alkoxy, hydroxy, amine etc., and R1 is selected from the group comprising C1-4 alkyl, C1-4 alkoxy, hydroxy, nitro & halogen. The particular salt of interest of the present invention is the hydrogen sulfate of compound of the Formula (I), wherein R and R1 are —OCH3 and chloro-group at position 2 respectively.

Clopidogrel and its hydrogen sulfate salt being chiral compounds, their S(+)enantiomer is a commercially significant drug reported to selectively interfere with Adenosine-Di-Phosphate (ADP) mediated platelet aggregation and cause an irreversible non-competitive inhibitor of platelet function with excellent anti-thrombotic activity. The dextrorotatory enantiomer bearing the international non-proprietary name (INN) Clopidogrel and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,847,265, 5,132,435, EP: 0281459, EP: 465358.
S(+)Clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate [may also be referred as S(+)Clopidogrel bisulfate has appeared in US Pharmacopoeia [USP]. According to USP monograph 27NF22, IInd Supplement, effective from 1, Aug. 2004, the minimum requirement of desired chiral purity of S(+)enantiomer is 99.0% by HPLC.
Generally the enantioselective-enriched compound can be prepared in two different ways. One is starting with enantioselective material and two is starting with racemic mixture following the resolution either at the intermediate stage or at the final stage.
The preparation from enantioselective-enriched compound is more preferred because it not only enhances yield of enantioselective-enriched end product, but also eliminates chances of impurity.
The preparation from racemic mixture to a racemic mixture of the end product followed by resolution to get enantioselective-enriched end product involves an additional step of resolution of racemic mixture of end product which in-turn reduces the yield of the desired end product. An attempt has been made to overcome the problem of yield by recycling the undesired intermediate after racemization, but these steps have been observed to increases the cost of production [WO2004/108665]. Further, it has been observed that the overall yield is not encouraging.
The preparation from racemic mixture to an enantioselective-enriched end product via resolution at the intermediate stage suffers from the problem of difficulty in isolation of the intermediate. In case the intermediate is resolved in-situ, then the yield of the process is quite low [U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,469].
Accordingly, the resolution techniques are associated with following limitations:                1. requirement of suitable resolving agents considered as chiral auxiliary;        2. recycling of resolving agents; and        3. isolation and racemization of undesired enantiomers.
Therefore, the preparation of the enantioselective-enriched compound is preferred from the enetioselective-enriched starting compound.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,596 disclosed various derivatives of clopidogrel of Formula-I and their method of preparation. However, this patent disclosed the clopidogrel as racemic mixture of its enantiomers and no method of resolution has been disclosed. As per the processes of this patent esters of Formula I could be prepared by condensation of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-thieno[3,2-c]pyridine with an alpha-chlorophenyl acetate and amides of Formula I could be prepared by reacting an acid of formula (I)(R═OH) either with amine of formula R1—NH—R2 or with the alcohol of formula R—OH. In this patent, for the economic reasons, the reaction of acid of formula (I)(R═OH) with alcohol of formula R—OH was preferred as compared to other two alternatives. This method could also be employed for synthesis of certain higher esters of Formula I. The other two alternatives were held to be more uneconomical as compared to the reaction of acid of formula (I)(R═OH) with alcohol of formula R—OH. The preferred process has significant drawbacks when practiced on an industrial scale. For example, the alpha-halo-acetic acid derivatives used in the process are lachrymators and irritants and, therefore difficult in handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,265 discloses a method of resolution of racemic mixture of clopidogrel by forming a salt of the racemic mixture of clopidogrel with an optically active acid, preferably levo-rotatory camphor-10-sulfonic acid in an inert solvent. The main problem with this method is that the resolving agent employed, that is levo-rotatory camphor-10-sulphonic acid is expensive which enhances cost of production of enantiomeric clopidogrel. Another problem of this method is that the end product is prepared in very poor yield of about 50% due to formation of undesired levo-rotatory isomer of clopidogrel. Therefore, the attempt is to avoid the resolution of clopidogrel free base to get the desired end product —S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,469 discloses that the clopidogrel of Formula-I can also be prepared by reacting methyl alpha-(2-thienylethylamino)(2-chlorophenyl)acetate, a compound of Formula-II with a formylating agent in presence of a solvent and then followed by cyclisation of the intermediate compound formed in the presence of an acid under anhydrous condition. The intermediate compound optionally could be isolated and then cyclised in the presence of an acid.

The major problem of this process is that either it is a two step process requiring a step of formylation and then followed by a step of cyclisation or a three step process requiring a step of formylation, a step of isolation of intermediate and then followed by a step of cyclisation of the intermediate which has not been confirmed in this patent.
Further problem of this method is that whether a racemic mixture of compound of Formula II or a stereospecific compound of Formula II is taken as a starting material, the clopidogrel free base is isolated from the aqueous layer at a pH above 7 that is at an alkaline pH which is achieved by addition of sodium bicarbonate. It has been observed that when the clopidogrel free base is separated out at a basic pH, that is at a pH above 7, then it is obtained along with various chemical impurities which are very difficult to be separated out. Hence, this process cannot result in higher yield of clopidogrel free base of higher purity. The purity of clopidogrel free base may be increased, but by additional steps of repeated purification/recycling thereby making the process highly uneconomical.
Another problem of this process is that it requires anhydrous conditions to be maintained.
Still further problem of this process is that it requires additional organic solvents such as methylene chloride to dissolve dextrorotatory compound of Formula-II and anhydrous dimethylformamide containing hydrochloric acid for cyclisation of the intermediate prepared thereby resulting in further increase of cost of the process for preparation of dextrorotatory clopidogrel free base.
The S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate prepared by known methods is observed to have optical rotation of about 53 degree with chiral purity of less than about 98% as measured by HPLC. The requirement is to have S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate having optical rotation of about 55.0 degree or more with chiral purity of about 99.0% or more. The prior art does not teach how to enhance the optical rotation of S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate to have higher chiral purity, which is relatively more suitable as per US pharmacopeal requirement.
The another problem for preparing S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate having higher efficacy due to higher optical rotation with higher chiral purity from S(+)clopidogrel free base is that on reaction with conc. sulfuric acid, it results in formation of undesired clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate and other chemical impurities thereby does not result in preparation of S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate having desired optical rotation and chiral purity.
The another problem observed during purification of S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate having lower efficacy due to lower optical rotation and lower chiral purity to have S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate having higher efficacy due to higher optical rotation with higher chiral purity is that the undesired clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate [racemic and/or levo-rotatory] and other impurities also precipitate out along with desired S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate and further purification of such mass is very difficult to obtain desired S(+)clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate.

Process for preparation of methyl-(+)-(S)-alpha-(2-chlorophenyl)-6, 7-dihydrothieno[3,2-C]pyridine-5(4H) -acetic acid methyl ester or salts thereof having higher chiral purity and products thereof


Disclosed herein is a utility isolation system designed for residential, commercial and industrial usage. The system comprises a bidirectional valve connected to a sewer line which valve responds to a change in the level of a body of water. The system prevents high water levels from entering municipality's sewer infrastructure systems. The isolation system monitors levels of a body of water and also prevents releases from hazardous sewer waste entering rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways. The isolation system provides protections from waste water back flowing into homes and buildings, and causing electrical shorts, or natural gas releases, and blocks potable water lines from filling plumbing devices with open drains such as lavatories and toilets during a high water level event. The system can be remotely activated and monitored by a user, a government office, or service provider via SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) or like system. The isolation system's objective is to also promote development in low lying areas that were once denied. The system can also improve a municipality's compliance with EPA issues, and allows for service interrupts from government agencies due to, or for example, non-payment of services, evacuations, contamination of potable water supplies, fire, and or other disasters.

In low lying areas prone to flooding, large volumes of floodwater may enter public sewer systems through floor drains, toilets, and open lines causing a supercharged condition and placing extra demands on the waste water treatment plants. Additional, when sewer systems become supercharged, a backflow condition can result in the discharge of sewer through a facilities drains and toilets resulting in property damages due to water and unsanitary sewer contamination. If the facility is in a low lying area, the sewer discharge may be directed to public or private waterways and lands which will become contaminated. Due to the potential of contamination in these areas the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandates and regulation to prevent this type of contamination. Failure to comply with the EPA mandates and regulations may result in decrees, fines, and other legal actions against municipalities who are not in compliance. As a result, municipalities have developed codes restricting the development of properties with sewer connections which are below the base flood elevation (BFE).
There are backflow preventing valves commonly used in sewer lines, but there is no known system which prevents the ingress of flood waters into the sewer systems. It is desirable to have a bi-directional isolation system which can isolate the sewer system during high water (High water herein is defined as "the state of tide when the water rises to its highest level in coastal areas, rivers, and lakes) or floodwater events to prevent both the ingress of floodwater into sewer systems and backflow of sewer at a given facility. If such a system were available, the development of properties at or below BFE could be allowed and existing grandfathered properties could be retrofitted with such a system bringing them into compliance with EPA regulations. With such a system, facilities including public restrooms, restaurants, homes, businesses, RV parks, public parks and venues could be allowed to develop along waterways such as beaches, lakes, rivers, or other flood prone areas. As used herein bi-directional means a valve which will block flow in either direction, or also deemed a bi-directional block valve.
Systems for preventing floodwater contamination in building structures have been a concern for years. Various methods have been tried to prevent floodwater ingress in cities and/or building structures. For example, DE 10258554A1 describes a system for preventing or restricting floodwater comprising a tube system arranged in the region of each bank of a river in the form of a fast lane in which part of the water flows at a faster rate. This reference provides a system to deal with floodwaters at the river level. Other methods to control flood waters include levies or dams. The present invention does not deal with controlling the water level of natural water medias, but prevention of the floodwaters from ingress into the sewer system.
When dealing with structures in municipalities, one needs to consider the effect of the water level on the infrastructure piping, such as sewer and utility piping. Often the water level in rivers, lakes, etc. and tidal areas will rise and cause backflow into the sewer lines depending on the piping arrangement in buildings. As mentioned, the water and sewage may backflow into the building through the plumbing devices within a facility which have a drain line of some type.
Intelligent flood prevention baffle systems are known (e.g. CN 204898605U) which introduce water level monitoring systems having automatic operations for opening and closing of plates. GB 2383342A describes a line valve for use in preventing backflow and serving as a floodwater/sewage protection system for buildings. Clogging of valves with solids or semi-solids from sewage mixture trapped in the lines is often a concern.
An objective of the present invention is to prevent bi-directional flow during flooding or high water events. The present invention protects municipality's sewer system infrastructure from the ingress of floodwater and backflow of sewage into the structure through the building's plumbing devices, hereinafter defined as items containing open floor drains or open sewer drains, such as toilets, sinks, bathtubs, showers, equipment and appliance drains, and the like. Examples of equipment include ice machine and appliances such as washing machines.
Many references discuss systems for floodwater prevention or backflow of sewage protection. No information has been identified for a system which address the bi-directional control of flow in sewer lines for the prevention of floodwater ingress and backflow of sewage. A need continues to exist for a system which addresses these issues within present building standards.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention are described in the detailed description below and in the claims.

Building utility floodwater isolation system


A method and apparatus for a terminal to access a base station in a heterogeneous environment are provided. The terminal acquires RAT (Radio Access Technology) selection criteria based on reference information. Then, the terminal selects, for each service, at least one of multiple transceivers that provide access to the base station according to the RAT selection criteria, and provides the corresponding service by accessing the base station through the selected transceiver.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for accessing a base station by service in a heterogeneous network environment.
(b) Description of the Related Art
While the standards for the previous communication systems have been individually developed, the concept of multi-RAT (Radio Access Technology), which is a combination of several standards such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), WiFi, etc., and the concept of multi-layers such as macrocell, femtocell, etc, which provides different coverage with a single standard, have emerged in recent years. Hence, the optimum integration and operation of these concepts are under active discussion from the systems point of view.
To optimally configure such a heterogeneous network and provide various services based on various QoSs (Qualities of Services), a block, such as a coordinator or JRRM (Joint Radio Resource Management), is placed at a base station's end or the network's end to integrate the heterogeneous network's radio resources acquired by multiple RATs and manage them in conjunction with each other; however, a user terminal has no functional block for such a function.
One of the important requirements for next-generation mobile communication systems is quality experienced by the user. Quality of experience differs from the conventional QoS, which is given as a system requirement, and involves subjective measurement from the user's perspective. It can be represented by QoE.
The conventional wireless communication systems did not take quality experienced by the user into account, and therefore user complaints about service rose and it was impossible to allocate the most appropriate radio resources reflecting the quality experienced by the user of various services.

Method and apparatus for accessing base station by service

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The present invention is related to a polycrystalline silicon film containing Ni which is formed by crystallizing an amorphous silicon layer containing nickel. The present invention includes a polycrystalline silicon film wherein the polycrystalline film contains Ni atoms of which density ranges from 2×1017 to 5×1019 atoms/cm3 in average and comprises a plurality of needle-shaped silicon crystallites. In another aspect, the present invention includes a polycrystalline silicon film wherein the polycrystalline film contains Ni atoms of which density ranges from 2×1017 to 5×1019 atoms/cm3, comprises a plurality of needle-shaped silicon crystallites and is formed on an insulating substrate. Such a polysilicon film according to the present invention avoids metal contamination usually generated in a conventional method of metal induced crystallization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a polycrystalline silicon film containing Ni which is formed by crystallizing an amorphous silicon layer containing nickel.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In view of performance, low temperature polysilicon, having low production cost owing to its low formation temperature and which also provides a large-scale display area, is as good as high temperature polysilicon.
There are various methods for forming low temperature polysilicon such as solid phase crystallization (SPC), laser crystallization and the like.
In providing low temperature crystallization under 400° C., as disclosed in (Hiroyaki Kuriyama, et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 31, 4550 (1992)), the laser crystallization fails to provides uniform crystallization and has difficulty in forming polysilicon on a substrate of a large area due to the need for an expensive apparatus and low productivity.
When polysilicon is formed by solid phase crystallization, uniform crystallites are attained using an inexpensive apparatus. However, solid phase crystallization requires high temperature and long processing time for crystallization, which is inappropriate for a glass substrate.
A new method of crystallizing amorphous silicon at low temperature, called metal induced crystallization, is disclosed in (M. S. Haque, et al., J. Appl. Phys. 79, 7529 (1996)). Metal induced crystallization crystallizes amorphous silicon by contacting amorphous silicon with a specific kind of metal which induces crystallization of silicon and then subjecting it to annealing. This allows the lowering of the crystallization temperature.
In Ni-induced crystallization, crystallization is accelerated by the NiSi2 which is the final phase of Ni silicide and works as a crystal nucleus, which is disclosed in (C. Hayzelden, et al., J. Appl. Phys. 73, 8279 (1993)). As a matter of fact, NiSi2, which has a lattice constant of 5.406 Å, similar to that of silicon which is 5.430 Å, also has a structure similar to silicon. Thus, NiSi2 works as a crystal nucleus of amorphous silicon, accelerating crystallization to the direction <111>, which is disclosed in (C. Hayzelden, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 60, 225 (1992)). The crystallization of amorphous silicon is accelerated by metal species.
Metal-induced crystallization is affected by time and temperature of annealing as well as quantity of metal, of which crystallization time is powered in general when the quantity of metal increases.
Metal induced crystallization has an advantage of low crystallization temperature, which unfortunately requires long thermal process time of over 20 hours at 500° C. Therefore, this method has many difficulties for mass production of polycrystalline silicon.
As the quantity of metal increases, metal induced crystallization becomes more effective. However, the intrinsic characteristics of a silicon film are changed due to metal contamination in the crystallized silicon film.
As mentioned in the above explanation, despite the advantage of low temperature crystallization, metal-induced crystallization has a fatal defect in that the intrinsic characteristics of a silicon film are changed due to metal contamination from the metal used for crystallization which remains in the crystallized silicon film.
Accordingly, the quantity of the metal remaining in the silicon film crystallized by metal-induced crystallization should be optimized to be applied to the current semiconductor device fabrication.

Polycrystalline silicon film containing Ni