A film positioning system for dental X-ray procedures including a plurality of film carriers each including a film holder on one end and an attachment rod extending therefrom; and an X-ray tube aiming device including a plurality of distinct attachment rod holders for separately positioning each film carrier in the proper orientation with respect to the X-ray tube.

Dental radiographs are made using x-ray examination units suited for dental purposes. Dental x-ray films have been developed for intraoral shots and generally have a plate-like construction and standardized dimensions so that the film can be introduced into the oral cavity.
In one procedure, the film alone is placed within the patient's mouth and held in place proximate the tooth or teeth to be filmed when the patient closes her mouth over the film. It has been determined, however, that proper orientation of the film with respect to the tooth or teeth to be filmed, for example, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tooth, is required to eliminate distortions, improper focus, and the like.
Therefore, film carriers are used including a back plate for mounting the x-ray film and a bite plate orientated at a right angle to the back plate. The x-ray film is held against the back plate, the film carrier is introduced at the proper location within the patient's mouth, and the patient is instructed to bit down on the bite plate.
There is still a need, however, to assure proper orientation of the X-ray tube with respect to the X-ray film mounted against the back plate. Hence, Furhrmann (U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,885) teaches a film carrier capable of engaging with one end of a guide rod at different locations on the film carrier by means of a plurality of spaced bores in the bite plate. The other end of the connecting rod is slideably received through an orifice in a sighting ring affixed circumferentially around the X-ray cone. The U.S. Pat. Nos. to Updegrave (3,745,344) and Levy (1,947,014) teach similar constructions.
One problem with such constructions, however, is that the X-ray technician is still left with the task of assuring proper a orientation of the film carrier within the patient's mouth and also a proper orientation between the film carrier and the aiming ring. X-ray technicians, although skilled, may not always be able to assure proper orientation of the film carrier in the patient's mouth or proper orientation of the film carrier with respect to the aiming ring as it presently has been constructed in prior art devices.
In prior art devices such as Furhrmann, two positioning procedures must be performed. First, the guide rod must be placed in the proper bore in the biting plate; second, the guide rod must be properly positioned within the aiming ring to assure the correct distance between the X-ray cone and the film. If the doctor orders X-rays of the upper right, lower left and anterior portions of the patient's mouth, it may not always be readily apparent to the technician which arrangements and configurations are proper for best filming. Worst, once the proper adjustments are made, realignment may be needed if the patient moves his head or the guide rod improperly moves with respect to the aiming ring. Improper film orientation resulting from the use of such devices is inefficient, results in unnecessary radiation exposure, and patient discomfort. The technician may not be aware of movement resulting in improper exposures, and the need for additional X-rays may not be known until the x-ray plates are exposed.
Another, related problem is that prior art devices may require a separate uniquely configured aiming ring for each film holder. This adds to the overall expense of prior art systems, and also increases the possibility of confusion in matching the correct film holder with the correct aiming ring.

Film positioning system for dental X-ray procedures


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, a plurality of first regions that are spaced apart from each other along a first direction by portions of the semiconductor layer, each of the first regions including a first semiconductor region of a second conductivity type, a second region between the first regions in the first direction, the second region including a second semiconductor region of the first conductivity type and a first insulator between the second semiconductor region and the semiconductor layer, and a third region between the first region and the second region, the third region including a third semiconductor region of the first conductivity type and a second insulator.

A vertical metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), in which a p type (or n type) semiconductor layer is buried in an n type (or p type) semiconductor layer, and which has a super junction structure (hereinafter, also referred to as a SJ structure) having an n type region and a p type region that are alternately arranged, has been used as a power control semiconductor device that has a high breakdown voltage and a low ON resistance. In the SJ structure, the amount of n type impurities which is included in the n type region is equal to the amount of p type impurities which is included in the p type region, whereby an undoped region is simultaneously formed and a high breakdown voltage is achieved. Since impurity concentration of a semiconductor layer is increased by an increase of the breakdown voltage of the semiconductor device, it is possible to achieve an increase in the breakdown voltage and a low ON resistance.
A method for forming the SJ structure includes, for example, a method in which a trench is formed in an n type semiconductor layer, and a p type semiconductor is buried in the trench to form a p type semiconductor layer. However, in this method, a hollow portion (e.g., hole or void) is easily formed inside the p type semiconductor layer.


A skin treating implement, a callus removing hand piece, is used to remove skin calluses. The hand piece is connected to a vacuum suction device. The hand piece has a main body that is bent at a certain degree for greater usability. Below the bend, there is a detachable mount for a cutter with a desired shape. In the upper part of the main body, connectors with nipples can be mounted to be inserted into a suction tube connectable to a vacuum device to ensure compatibility with the suction device. Because the lower portion of the main body of the hand piece is bent, it facilitates removing calluses and permits mounting and unmounting cutters permitting a choice of cutter appropriate for the king of callus to be removed. Connectors with nipples of suitable diameters permit use of suction tubes of existing high-priced vacuum suction devices to make the callus removing hand piece economical. A disposable sheet fixer injection molded with synthetic resins is attachable to the cutter. Use of the hand piece can minimize incidence of skin diseases and efficiently remove calluses.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns the callus-removing hand piece used to remove calluses of the skin which directly causes the human skin to age. More specifically, in configuring this hand piece connected to the vacuum suction device, the lower part of the main body of the above mentioned hand piece is bent at a certain degree for greater usability. Below the bend there is a detachable cutter so that you can mount a cutter with a desirable shape. In the upper part of the main body, connectors with nipples can be mounted so that they are inserted into the suction tube near the already equipped vacuum suction device to ensure compatibility with the vacuum suction device.
As the lower part of the main body of the hand piece is bent, it is easy to remove calluses, and possible to mount and unmount cutters. So you can choose a cutter appropriate for the kind of callus you want to remove.
Besides, as you can choose connectors with nipples of the right diameter for the suction tube, you can use your existing high-priced vacuum suction device. So it is very economical.
Another application of this invention is that you can attach a disposable sheet fixer injection-molded with synthetic resins to the cutter. Therefore it will be possible to minimize incidence of skin diseases and efficiently remove calluses.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, the facial callus, enlarged pores, pimple scars, striae distensae, Keratosis Pilaris, small scars, drab and rough skin, skin damaged due to sunlight can cause not only cosmetic problems unless treated properly, but also many skin troubles like skin diseases, so they are considered as serious cosmetic problems.
Accordingly, people tried to solve the above problems by using the usual cleaners or makeup remover (e.g. cold cream), but these solutions were not good enough, and recently callus removers have been developed to remove calluses.
The above-mentioned callus removers are connected to the suction tube of the vacuum suction device to remove aged calluses on the skin surface. Crystal callus remover and diamond callus removers are used to remove calluses of the skin.
On the other hand, each part of the above crystal callus remover is integrated into the main body, and there are two passages inside the main body. Through one passage (central passage) crystal powder is sprayed to contact the skin and cause friction so that calluses are removed, whereas through the other passage (suction hole) both the removed calluses and crystal powder are sucked out. As the crystal powder rubs against the skin to remove calluses, this method is noticeably inefficient, and if carelessness leads to a gap between the callus remover and the skin when calluses are removed, the crystal powder and the removed calluses may not be sucked into the suction hole, and instead they may be sprayed onto the operator or the person whose calluses are being removed, thereby sticking to the eye, hair or clothes, and inhaled through the respiratory organ. So it is unsanitary.
Moreover, as it is an all-in-one type, you will need to have a set of callus removers of various shapes, and after you use it on one person, you will need to wash and sterilize them before using them again to remove another person's calluses. So you used to need several sets of callus removers, making them uneconomical and unsanitary.
On the other hand, the diamond callus remover makes up for the weaknesses of the above-mentioned crystal callus remover. Inside the main body is a passage, and in the lower part that comes into contact with the skin is a cutting surface made of diamond with minute embossments.
In other words, the diamond callus remover has a vacuum passage inside, and the top part has the nipple that connects to the suction tube next to the vacuum suction device, and the cutter in the bottom has a cutting surface made of diamond. While the diamond callus remover is in use, the nipple in the top connects to the suction tube next to the vacuum suction device, and the cutting surface in the bottom comes into contact with the skin. The cutting surface removes skin calluses, and the removed calluses are sucked into the vacuum suction device through the internal passage.
However, as the diamond callus remover also consists of a set of multiple callus removers of various shapes, the user must purchase several sets of callus removers, making it uneconomical. Besides, as it is straight like a stick, when you hold it in your hand to remove calluses, you will need to rub against the skin to remove calluses while holding the callus remover at right angles to the skin, making it inconvenient to use.

Hand piece for removing the calluses of the skin


Microelectronic imagers and methods of manufacturing such microelectronic imagers are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for manufacturing a microelectronic imager can include irradiating selected portions of an imager housing unit. The housing unit includes a body having lead-in surfaces and a support surface that define a recess sized to receive a microelectronic die. The method also includes depositing a conductive material onto the irradiated portions of the housing unit and forming electrically conductive traces. The method further includes coupling a plurality of terminals at a front side of a microelectronic die to corresponding electrically conductive traces in the recess in a flip-chip configuration. The microelectronic die includes an image sensor aligned with at least a portion of an optical element carried by the housing unit and at least partially aligned with the recess. The method can then include depositing an encapsulant into the recess and over at least a portion of the microelectronic die.

Microelectronic imagers are used in digital cameras, wireless devices with picture capabilities, and many other applications. Cell phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), for example, are incorporating microelectronic imagers for capturing and sending pictures. The growth rate of microelectronic imagers has been steadily increasing as they become smaller and produce better images with higher pixel counts.
Microelectronic imagers include image sensors that use Charged Coupled Device (CCD) systems, Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) systems, or other systems. CCD image sensors have been widely used in digital cameras and other applications. CMOS image sensors are also very popular because they are expected to have low production costs, high yields, and small sizes. CMOS image sensors can provide these advantages because they are manufactured using technology and equipment developed for fabricating semiconductor devices. CMOS image sensors, as well as CCD image sensors, are accordingly "packaged" to protect the delicate components and to provide external electrical contacts.
Conventional packaged microelectronic imagers, for example, generally include a die, an interposer attached to the die, and a plastic or ceramic housing attached to the interposer and surrounding the periphery of the die. The die includes an image sensor and a plurality of bond-pads electrically coupled to the image sensor. The interposer is typically a dielectric fixture having a plurality of external contacts arranged in a desired array for providing an electrical pathway between the bond-pads on the die and a board or module of another external device. The housing includes a transparent cover to allow light or other forms of radiation to pass through to the image sensor on the die. Conventional imagers further include an optics unit carried by the housing and having a lens positioned at a desired location relative to the image sensor.

Microelectronic imagers and methods for manufacturing such microelectronic imagers


A non-agile channelization method for multichannel medium access control (MAC) is provided, in which an available channel is categorized as an agile or non-agile channel, an operation mode of the channel categorized as the non-agile channel is selected, and multichannel switching is performed according to the selected operation mode. The non-agile channelization method for multichannel MAC enables non-agile channel switching to create a connected network, and allows agile and non-agile channel switching to coexist to avoid a change in existing hardware.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a channelization method for multichannel Medium Access Control (MAC). More particularly, the present invention relates to a non-agile channelization method for multichannel MAC.
2. Description of the Related Art
The latest Common Channel Framework (CCF) introduced in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11s standard is designed to support an agile or dynamic multichannel operation. However, a non-agile multichannel operation is also very useful when channel switching is performed for a fixed time. In many cases, however, the non-agile switching has difficulty in defining a boundary of the channel switching, although it is expected that the non-agile switching will provide a heterogeneous hardware capability in unmanaged networks. In addition, even though a cluster based multichannel operation is beneficial, channel switching of a mesh point (MP) group is not supported in the agile channel switching. Accordingly, there is a demand for supporting non-agile channelization in the CCF.
That is, in the multichannel MAC, there is a need to enable non-agile channel switching, and determine how to make the network connected. In addition, there is a need to determine how to make agile and non-agile channel switching coexist, and how to avoid a change in hardware.

Non-agile channelization method for multichannel MAC


Fiber optic connectors, including SC and MPO connectors that include a strain relief boot operably coupled with a release mechanism for releasing the connector from an adapter or other termination device or receptacle. The strain relief boot can be operably coupled to move axially together with the outer housing of the connector.

Telecommunications systems typically employ a network of telecommunications cables capable of transmitting large volumes of data and voice signals over relatively long distances. The optical cables carry optical fibers that transmit optical signals. Networking and distributing the data-transmitting optical fibers typically requires coupling optical fibers to each other, e.g., by connecting one or more "input" fibers to one or more "output" fibers, which route signals to/from one or more destinations, such as homes, businesses, or particular pieces of hardware, such as computers, etc.
Coupling of optical fibers can take place at, e.g., fiber distribution panels such as patch panels, at or within telecommunications closures, or other distribution equipment. Coupling of optical fibers to each other can include one or more of optical splices, optical connectors, and/or optical alignments devices.
Optical connectors are commonly employed to couple optical fibers to one another, particularly when a high density of optical coupling is required in a limited space, e.g., at a patch panel. Different optical connectors can be used depending on the user's specific connectorization needs. For example, optical connectors can be ruggedized for outdoor or extreme environments. In addition, optical connectors can be single fiber connectors or multi-fiber connectors, such as MPO connectors.
Optical connectors can also vary in form factor, which are standardized within the industry by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). Examples of single fiber connectors having different standardized form factors are SC and MPO connectors. The standardization protocol requires, for example, that all SC connectors be compatible/interchangeable with SC adapters and SC termination receptacles, that all MPO connectors be compatible/interchangeable for a given MPO adapter or other MPO termination receptacle, etc.
For example, there is a Fiber Optic Connector Intermateability Standard (FOCIS) for SC connectors (FOCIS 3). FOCIS 3 covers, for example, adapter interface dimensions, adapter sleeve characteristics, adapter mounting characteristics, adapter keying characteristics, connector interface dimensions, ferrule characteristics, etc. FOCIS 5 covers MPO connectors and adapters.
Typical SC connectors include an inner housing and an outer housing that moves relative to the inner housing. The inner housing supports a ferrule that terminates the optical fiber. Pairs of SC connectors are coupled to each other via some sort of adapter which optically aligns and couples the ferrule faces of the two connectors. Typically, the ferrule is spring loaded in its respective connector inner housing to improve coupling and optical transmission at the ferrule face.
The outer housing of a typical SC connector is axially movable relative to the inner housing. Shoulders/catches on either side of the inner housing of the SC connector snap into complementary features of an optical adapter or other compatible termination device. The outer housing includes windows that expose the inner housing shoulders/catches. The outer housing, by axially sliding relative to the inner housing, cooperates with the inner housing to release the connector from the adapter or other termination device/receptacle. A technician can grasp the outer housing and pull back to actuate this release mechanism.
Typically, a rear housing is coupled to the inner housing. A load/bend resisting element, such as a strain relief boot, is then coupled to the rear housing and extends rearward of the connector. Thus, the outer housing moves independently of the rear housing and the boot.
A prior art SC connector and SC adapter are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,663, filed May 20, 1993, which disclosure is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Typical MPO connectors include an inner housing supporting a multi-fiber ferrule and an outer housing moveable relative to the inner housing against an axially biasing spring. Pairs of MPO connectors are coupled to each other via some sort of adapter which optically aligns and couples the ferrule faces of the two connectors. Typically, the ferrule is spring loaded in its respective connector inner housing to improve coupling and optical transmission at the ferrule face.
Latch arms on opposing sides within an MPO adapter socket or other compatible termination device lockingly snap into notches on opposing sides the outer surface of the inner housing. When latched, the inner wall of the outer housing covers the latch arms. By axially sliding the outer housing rearwards (i.e., against the spring bias) relative to the inner housing, the latch arms become uncovered by the outer housing. Further rearward pulling of the outer housing causes the portions of the latch arms that engage the notches to ride up ramps at the front of the notches, such that the latch arms disengage the notches, thereby releasing the MPO connector from the adapter or other termination device/receptacle.
A technician can grasp the outer housing and pull back to actuate this release mechanism. A rear protruding stop on the inner housing can stop the outer housing from being pulled back too far, e.g., from being pulled rearward beyond the inner housing or from damaging the spring that axially biases the outer housing. A strain relief boot can be attached to the rear of the inner housing. Thus, the outer housing is not operably coupled to the strain relief boot and moves independently of the strain relief boot.
There is a need for simplified fiber optic connectors, including, e.g., SC and MPO connectors, having fewer parts and improved release mechanisms.

Fiber optic connector with boot-integrated release and related assemblies


Provided herein are embodiments of layouts for applying impact ionization potentials across the channel of a selected floating body cell in an array without having to impose the potential on other unselected cells.

The present invention relates generally to memory and in particular to floating body memory structures.
So-called floating body memory, e.g., floating body dynamic random access memory (FB-DRAM) generally comprises an array of floating body memory cells. A floating body cell is typically formed from a MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) disposed atop an insulator such as with silicon on insulator (SOI) type processes or bulk processed chips with separately added insulator areas. An FB cell uses the so-called "history" effect where some of the charge conducted through a transistor having a floating body is retained in the body like a capacitor. The amount of retained charged is affected by different parameters such as the quality of the insulator insulating the body, the amount of body field strength bias, and of course, the amount of charge conducted through it, which is a function of the transistor′s threshold voltage, along with the applied gate and drain/source voltages.
FIG. 1a shows a portion of a conventional layout for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) array such as for a floating body cell DRAM. Illustrated are active strips 102 (102A to 102C), bit line conductor strips 104 (104A to 104c), wordline conductor strips 106 (106 to 106F), conductive source lines 108 (108A to 108C), conductive traces 110 and vias 111, to accommodate transistor cells. The active areas 102 comprise the channel conduction terminals (sources, drains), along with the bodies, which have at least a portion between the conduction terminals to form the channels when suitably biased. (A portion of the body between the source and drain forms a channel to conduct charge carriers between the source and drain when the gate is sufficiently biased. If the gate is so biased and a sufficient potential is dropped across the channel, depending on the direction of the potential, then a ′1 or a ′0 will be written into it. It should be appreciated that as FETs are typically symmetrical devices, either of the channel conduction terminals may be the source or drain, depending on how they are biased.)
For each transistor, a first channel conduction terminal (e.g., drain) is coupled to a bit line 104 by way of a via 111 and conductor 110; a second channel conduction terminal (e.g., source) is coupled to a source line 108; and the gate is coupled to a wordline conductor strip 106. In this layout, vertically adjacent transistors share common source lines, and vertically aligned cells share a common bit line 104. Also in this depiction, the source lines are coupled to a fixed supply reference (e.g., ground), while the bit lines and wordlines are addressable.
With reference to FIG. 1B, in this depiction, the FB cells use a relatively high bit line (BL) bias to assert (e.g., write a data ′1 into) or erase (write a data ′0 into) a cell using impact ionization. (Note that the terms: erase and assert are arbitrarily assigned ′0 and ′1, respectively, and could be reversed.) In particular, if a selected cell is erased, then a −2.0 V potential is dropped across the bit and source lines. Conversely, if a cell is to be asserted, then a 2.0 V potential is dropped across the bit and source lines.
FIG. 1B shows applied voltage levels for the channel conduction and gate terminals, along with the body, of four neighboring transistors (T1 to T4) from FIG. 1A. (Note that the body is not directly coupled to a bias voltage but rather is exposed to a corresponding field from the insulator, e.g., below it, which is biased and acts like a capacitor.) During programming, selected cells to be programmed (word line selected, T2 and T4 in this figure) are programmed by the bit line, which causes either a positive or negative 2.0 V potential to be dropped across the bit and source lines, depending, respectively, on whether a ′1 or ′0 is to be programmed into the cell.
Unfortunately, with this configuration, cells such as T1 and T3 that are vertically aligned with and neighbor a selected cell also have their channels exposed to write potentials of −2.0 or 2.0 V. Due to the effects of gate induced drain leakage (GIDL), this can cause their data to be flipped or otherwise lost, even though their gates are not selected.


An iPVD system is programmed to deposit uniform material, such as barrier material, into high aspect ratio nano-size features on semiconductor substrates using a multi-step process within a vacuum chamber which enhances the sidewall coverage compared to the field and bottom coverage(s) while minimizing or eliminating overhang.

In the metallization of high aspect ratio vias and trenches on semiconductor substrates, it is required that the barrier and seed layer have good sidewall coverage.
Ionized Physical Vapor Deposition (IPVD) is used for barrier and seed layer metallization in advanced IC substrates. Ionized PVD provides good sidewall and bottom coverage in via and trench structures. However, as the geometries shrink and as the via dimensions go down below 0.15 micrometers, ionized deposition requirements become more critical. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have an ionized PVD process where bottom and sidewall coverage are well balanced and overhang is minimized.
Accordingly, there is a need to further control step coverage of the metal or the overhang that typically develops during the deposition step.


The inventive technology generally relates to the field of animal feed distribution systems. In particular, the inventive technology includes general as well as specific methods and apparatus for the loading and/or distribution of baled animal feed. The inventive technology may provide for a hydraulically-controlled bale feeding device that may be used to load, and laterally discharge bale “flakes” through a cantilevered hydraulic armature. The system may also utilized a hydraulic slicing arm to aid in the flaking process as well as be adaptable to lifting devices, such as a pallet head on a traditional tractor and/or steer-skid.

The use of bales may be an efficient and effective way to collect and store certain kinds of materials that otherwise may exist in a loosely gathered form. In agriculture, for example, bales may be a widely used method for collecting and storing grasses and other components such as hay, alfalfa and the like. Generally speaking, such bales may be formed by compressing the collected components into bundles, and then tying down or wrapping the bundles as bales to maintain the collected components in a compressed state. Such bales may be a variety of sizes, however a square 3′×3′×7′ bale may be typically. Moreover, a bale may contain variably sized "flakes" or portions that may be defined by sheer fault lines that more easily break and separate in response to an applied force. In many instances such bales may be broken up to be used for the feeding of animals. For example, a bale may broken off, or "flaked" into multiple portions, with each individual "flake" being distributed, for example, throughout a field.
In many applications which are known in the art, the end result is not to flake, but shred the bale during distribution. However, especially in the case of livestock feeding it is desirable to have larger chunks of hay pulled off of the bale in a relatively gentle manner. Thus, fewer small pieces of hay, which tend to get ground into the soil or fall out of the bottom of a feeding apparatus, rather than being consumed by an animal, may be avoided.
While the effort to form and flake individual bales is significant, additional time and labor may be required to handle and process the individual bales in order to put them to a more productive use. For example, individual bales may be formed in a field environment directly from cut grass. This may result in numerous individual bales sporadically located throughout a field. To put these individual bales to a productive use, however, it may be required to collect them and store them at a centralized location, and then transport them to a desired location to be flaked and distributed, for example, so as to provide feed for livestock. The effort required to collect and distribute such individual bale flakes may entail an inefficiency capable of improvement.
Various attempts have been made to produce a baler capable of providing the desired "flaking" capabilities described above, however, each has fallen short for a number of reasons. Most principally, many balers known in the art, such as Griller (U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,120), Hughes (2003/0062433) and/or Maclay (U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,274), all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, all utilize large and complex balers with multiple moving elements that are each susceptible to mechanical failure. As the number of elements and steps in such processes increase, there may be an increased risk of failure for any given step, perhaps adversely impacting the reliability of such baler. In addition, such systems are generally large and cumbersome, and may not be easily adapted to a variety of transports, such as a tractor, front end-loader, truck and/or skid-steer as some examples.
The foregoing problems regarding baling and feed distribution systems and processes may represent a long-felt need for a simple and effective solution to the same. While implementing elements may have been available, actual attempts to meet this need may have been lacking to some degree. This may have been due to a failure of those having ordinary skill in the art to fully appreciate or understand the nature of the problems and challenges involved. As a result of this lack of understanding, attempts to meet these long-felt needs may have failed to effectively solve one or more of the problems or challenges here identified. These attempts may even have led away from the technical directions taken by the present inventive technology and may even result in the achievements of the present inventive technology being considered to some degree an unexpected result of the approach taken by some in the field.


A striker compresses a bumper of a jounce bumper assembly. The striker includes a contact surface configured to face the bumper of the jounce bumper assembly. The striker also includes at least one ridge extending from the contact surface. The at least one ridge is engageable with the bumper for minimizing radial expansion of the bumper at the contact surface as the bumper is compressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a jounce bumper assembly. More specifically, the present invention relates to a jounce bumper assembly for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jounce bumper assemblies have been used on vehicles to limit jounce of a suspension system. Generally, the suspension system absorbs an impact force experienced by tires of the vehicle to limit transmission of the impact force to a frame of the vehicle. For example, when the vehicle travels over a bump, components of the suspension system will jounce or collapse to absorb the impact force generated by the bump. However, when the suspension system cannot completely absorb the impact force, the components of the suspension system may impact the frame of the vehicle. Impact of the components of the suspension system with the frame can damage the frame and/or the components of the suspension system, which is not desirable.
The jounce bumper assemblies are typically positioned between the components of the suspension system and the frame of the vehicle to manage the jounce experienced by the suspension system to prevent the components of the suspension system form impacting the frame.
Generally, the jounce bumper assemblies gradually stiffen the suspension systems as the suspension system approaches an end of its jounce travel, i.e., before the components of the suspension system impact the frame of the vehicle. As such, the jounce bumper assemblies separate the components of the suspension system and the frame member of the vehicle to prevent the suspension system from directly impacting the frame member. The jounce bumper assemblies are compressed between the components of the suspension system and the frame for absorbing the impact face to limit the jounce of the suspension system.
However, as the jounce bumper assemblies are compressed, they expand radially. As the jounce bumper assemblies expand radially, the jounce bumper devices may rub against the frame of the vehicle or the component of the suspension system, which can result in noise generation, such as squeaking. Additionally, when the jounce bumper assemblies contact water or oil, a common occurrence in vehicle applications, the noise generation due to the compression of the jounce bumper assemblies is exacerbated. Noise generation by the jounce bumper assemblies is undesirable, especially in vehicle applications. As such, there is a need to prevent the jounce bumper assemblies from generating noise as the jounce bumper assemblies are compressed.


Systems and methods for generating a three-dimensional representation of a surface using frustrated total internal reflection. The system may obtain a two-dimensional image of an object in close proximity to an imaging surface. The intensity of the electromagnetic radiation received for individual points on the object may be determined. The system may determine a distance between the imaging surface and the object at each of the individual points based on a correlation between the electromagnetic radiation transmitted towards the imaging surface and the electromagnetic radiation reflected from the imaging surface. The determined intensity of the electromagnetic radiation may indicate the electromagnetic radiation reflected from the imaging surface. A three-dimensional representation of the object may be generated based on the two-dimensional image and/or the determined distances between the imaging surface and the object at each of the individual points.

In forensic science, fingerprints have been used as a form of identification for centuries. Fingerprints (i.e., friction ridge signatures) illustrate a pattern of friction ridges and valleys having features that may be identified. Conventional fingerprint imaging technology generates two-dimensional images in which the top of the friction ridges are typically represented by varying gray scale values in the image. The gray scale variation of these friction ridges that make up the friction ridge pattern is due, in part, to the fingerprint ridge being physically like a mountain range, undulating up and down with areas of lower relative elevation and areas where peaks exist. Often, these variations are not obvious or visible in typical two-dimensional fingerprint representations and this may lead to conventional fingerprint imaging technology acceptance of spoofed, or faked fingerprints, through the use of silicon fingers cast from real people, high-resolution prints on transparent slides, and/or other forms of artificial fingerprints.
Using imaging surfaces to identify patterns or variations is a helpful or necessary endeavor in other fields as well. However, like conventional fingerprint imaging technology, the two-dimensional images typically generated can often be imprecise, unable to detect small surface variations, and/or easily circumvented. As such, there is a need for a means to generate high-resolution three-dimensional images of surfaces that include variations not visible in two-dimensional images.

Systems and methods for generating three-dimensional images of an object based on frustrated total internal reflection


A process and apparatus generates a sequence of steps for assembly or disassembly of a mechanical system. Each step in the sequence is geometrically feasible, i.e., the part motions required are physically possible. Each step in the sequence is also constraint feasible, i.e., the step satisfies user-definable constraints. Constraints allow process and other such limitations, not usually represented in models of the completed mechanical system, to affect the sequence.

This invention relates to the field of assembly of mechanical systems, specifically automated planning of a sequence of steps for assembly or disassembly of a mechanical system comprising a plurality of parts.
Product creation has traditionally been separated into at least two stages: first a designer specifies the geometry and physical qualities of the finished product to perform the function needed, then a manufacturing engineer takes over and tries to find a way to manufacture the product. If it is too difficult to manufacture, the product is sent back for redesign, and the cycle repeats. Because the design of the product and the design of the manufacturing process are only loosely coupled, many cycles may be required to find a satisfactory design, while the final artifact usually remains more expensive to build than necessary.
Concurrent design of a product and the process to make it is one way to address this problem. In concurrent design, the manufacturing process is created simultaneously with the product plans, so that constraints arising from manufacturing can be directly incorporated into the product design, thereby reducing global iteration. In addition, automated tools support this process at a high level. Human engineers use computer workstations to build a shared product model, which is continually updated and critiqued to give the designers manufacturing and servicing feedback about the design. Some of the tools affecting the developing product model are computer programs, which do process planning, check for consistency, and perform other tasks previously left to human engineers.
A proficient assembly planner is an integral part of a concurrent design system. A good assembly process can reduce assembly time, raise quality and reliability, allow greater flexibility in responding to equipment failures, and reduce capital costs for robots and fixtures. Furthermore, many of the manufacturing constraints that influence a product design come from the need to assemble constituent parts of the product. For example, the assembly scheme of a product influences the tolerances imposed on individual parts, the shape of mating surfaces, and the design of fasteners.
Assembly planning for production is typically performed by an industrial engineer. Service and repair technicians devise reasonably efficient and error-free disassembly and reassembly plans on the fly. However, assembly planning is complicated and time-consuming for a human. Besides avoiding the high cost of an engineer's time, an automated assembly planner can accelerate the generation of an assembly plan. With higher planning speed comes faster introduction of manufacturing constraints into the design process, as well as shorter time-to-market.
Intuition, rules of thumb, and approximate reasoning help human engineers to quickly find good assembly plans, but they also may lead them to overlook the best assembly plan. An automated assembly planner can evaluate many feasible assembly plans to ensure that no better procedure exists. Furthermore, by exploring the set of alternative plans generated by the planner, or "plan space," a designer can come to a better understanding of the manufacturing aspects of the design.
Current automated assembly planners rely on a broad array of techniques, each addressing certain aspects of the problem. These techniques can be roughly divided into Artificial Intelligence approaches to planning, planners specifically designed for assembly sequencing, physical reasoning to validate single assembly operations, and computational geometry approaches.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PLANNING
STRIPS, NOAH, and SIPE are examples of traditional Al (artificial intelligence) planning systems. See, e.g., Fikes et al., "Strips: A new approach to the application of theorem proving to problem solving," Artificial Intelligence, 2:189-208, 1971; Wilkins, "Domain-independent planning: Representation and plan generation," Artificial Intelligence, 22(3):269-301, 1984. The blocks world was an early Artificial Intelligence ("Al") planning system consisting of blocks that could be stacked and unstacked. NOAH was originally aimed at supplying instructions to a human to repair an air compressor, including disassembly and assembly plans. In typical domains for these planners, actions are quite varied (for instance moving between rooms, grasping objects, recharging batteries), while geometric constraints are expressed in a few simple logical predicates, such as ON(A, B) or IN(pen, Rooml). In contrast, an automated assembly planner need only consider a few types of operations joining two subassemblies, certain fixturing operations), while the constraints arising from geometric models are so complicated that expressing them in a logical notation would be exhausting and inefficient. Hence Al planning techniques can be ill-suited to the geometric reasoning required for automated assembly planning.
ASSEMBLY SEQUENCING
A number of planning systems have been targeted specifically at assembly sequencing. An early planning system started with a liaison graph of the assembly, which is a graph of connections between the parts. Liaisons usually, but not always, involve contact between the two parts. An assembly sequence corresponds to a particular order in which the liaisons can be established. Geometric reasoning was supplied by a human, who answered carefully constructed, yes-no questions about whether certain liaisons can be established before or after others. From the answers to these questions, the assembly sequences for the product were inferred.
A later planning system reduced the number of questions and answers required to represent the physical knowledge. DeFazio et al., "Simplified generation of all mechanical assembly sequences," IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, RA-3(6):640-658, 1987. The user answered each question with a logical formula characterizing the situations in which a liaison can be established. Unfortunately, these formulas became complicated and difficult to create accurately for realistically large assemblies.
A planning system at Carnegie-Mellon University used disassembly planning to automatically generate assembly sequences. Disassembly planning computes a way to disassemble the product, then reverses the sequence to produce an assembly sequence. To identify a single feasible operation, the method generates all possible subassemblies and tests the operation removing each subassembly from the rest of the assembly. An operation is tested by a predicate that includes geometric, mechanical, and stability checks. Local freedom was the main geometric test computed in the Carnegie-Mellon system; a subassembly is locally free when it can move a small distance relative to the rest of the assembly considered as a solid. In this generate-and-test approach, a number of candidate operations exponential in the number of parts can be generated before a feasible operation is found, rendering the approach impractical for large assemblies.
Wolter computed linear assembly sequences for a product, in which each operation joins a single part to a subassembly. Wolter, "On the automatic generation of assembly plans," in Computer-Aided Mechanical Assembly Planning, de Mello and Lee, editors, pages 263-288, Kluwer, 1991. The sequences were optimized according to certain criteria. However, the input to the method included possible motions for each part, and sets of other parts that interfere with each motion. No systematic way of generating the possible part motions was given, and the sequencer did no geometric computation.
A number of other approaches to automatic assembly sequencing have been proposed. One involved a number of heuristics to group parts of an assembly into subassemblies, but parts could only move along the major axes, and some operations may not be found. Another generated disassembly sequences involving complicated motions. However, some assembly sequences can be missed, and the directions of motion were required as input.
MOTION PLANNING
An assembly sequencing problem can be seen as a motion planning problem with multiple moving objects. Each part can be viewed as an independent robot, and a collision-free path must be found for the individual parts to move from an unassembled state to the assembled state. However, the general motion planning problem is known to take time exponential in the number of degrees of freedom; for an assembly of n rigid parts this formulation yields 6n degrees of freedom, so using a general path planning system in this naive way is impractical.
Motion planning plays a more limited role in determining feasible insertion trajectories for single assembly operations. Many general methods make assumptions that are not compatible with assembly planning, while answering more complex questions than are needed. For instance, some motion planning systems approximate the shapes of objects or assume the objects do not come in contact, both drawbacks for assembly planning.
Some motion planning methods have been developed specifically to suit the requirements of assembly planning. Valade found disassembly trajectories by calculating the interactions between concavities and objects and trying to reduce those interactions, until the parts were separated. Valade, "Geometric reasoning and automatic synthesis of assembly trajectory," Proc. Intl. Conf. On Advanced Robotics, pp. 43-50, 1985. In the preimage backchaining approach to fine-motion planning, the uncertainty of both sensing and control are modeled explicitly to find guaranteed plans to achieve a goal despite the high relative uncertainties present in assembly operations. Another method for analyzing insertion of flexible parts modeled them as compliant connections between rigid bodies.
The above methods are useful to verify the feasibility of individual assembly operations. Unfortunately, they all require that a large number of assembly operations be generated and then tested; none supply a way to generate only those operations that satisfy the constraints.
COMPUTATIONAL GEOMETRY
Research in computational geometry addresses limited cases of geometric assembly sequencing. Arkin et al. used the concept of a monotone path between obstacles to deduce a removable subassembly and a single extended translation to remove it. Arkin et al., "On monotone paths among obstacles, with applications to planning assemblies," Proc. 5th ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry, pp. 334-343, 1989. However, the parts were limited to polygons in the plane, and the extension to three dimensions is not obvious. Pollack et al. considered sequences of translations to separate polygons. Pollack et al., "Separating two simple polygons by a sequence of translations," Discrete and Computational Geometry, 3:123-136, 1988. The algorithm is limited to planar assemblies of two parts, but is able to find separating motions consisting of several distinct translations. Most of these methods are limited to two dimensions or allow only polyhedral parts; in addition, it is unclear how additional constraints, for instance arising from clamping forces or stability, can be included.
SUMMARY
Current methods for evaluating the manufacturing aspects of a product design can require extensive human judgment, and designers complain that they are tedious to use. One current planning system requires computationally expensive determinations of mating paths for each trial assembly. Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,563. Another uses an AND/OR graph to unfold all the assembly/disassembly steps that might be followed. Jeong, U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,960. The AND/OR graphs of realistic assemblies are generally far too complicated for timely planning. A fast, automatic assembly planning system would allow a designer to ask "what if" questions, quickly find the consequences of design decisions, and more easily evaluate the manufacturing impact of alternative designs.
Small batch manufacturing requires that assembly machines, people, and processes switch from one product to another quickly and often. An automated assembly planning system can help to merge the assembly schemes for several products and allow faster changeover. In addition, small batch size only amplifies the importance of low capital costs and fast creation of a manufacturing process.
A hybrid system, allowing a human to work in tandem with an automated assembly planner, could relieve the engineer from much of the repetitive and tedious work of devising an assembly plan. Meanwhile, the computer would check the human reasoning for consistency. A more competent, efficient, and accurate assembly planning system would result.
An automated assembly planning system can have great utility in both concurrent engineering and more mainstream manufacturing planning. There is a need for an automated assembly planning system that has the following characteristics:
Autonomy. Using the assembly planning system must require minimal effort from the designer. A human will quickly tire of doing detailed geometric reasoning, or even supplementing the assembly model to help the assembly planning system. As a result, the assembly planning system should build its model of the target assembly from readily available data, such as a CAD model of the product. Furthermore, the assembly planning system must include automated geometric and physical reasoning capabilities to allow it to generate assembly plans from just the assembly model given by a designer. Any required human input should be sparse, be useful to the designer, and lack tedium.
Accuracy. If an assembly planning system returns bad assembly plans or fails to find plans when they exist, it will quickly lose what little trust the human will place in the computer. Thus the employed geometric reasoning methods cannot ignore important details, the search algorithms must be correct and complete, and approximations must be relevant to the assembly planning domain.
Speed. If the engineer has to wait a long time to get assembly feedback from the system, it will be used infrequently, and the advantages of concurrent design will be lost.

Method and apparatus for automated assembly


Flexographic photosensitive printing plates are made with formulations comprising triblock polymers of poly(vinylpyridine)-poly(butadiene) or poly(isoprene)-poly(vinylpyridine). The polymers may be quaternized or neutralized with an organic acid. When made with quaternized polymers, the plates after imaging with UV may be developed in aqueous solutions. The acid neutralized polymers offer further advantages as to ease of synthesis, safety and improved resolution.

Triblock copolymers having poly(4-vinylpyridine) end blocks and a polybutadiene center block can be prepared by sequential anionic polymerization of butadiene and of 4-vinylpyridine using an organolithium initiator; see M. S. Jacovic, "Ionomer-like materials based on 4-vinylpyridine copolymers," Maromol. Chem., Rapid Commun, vol. 10, 217-225 (1989).
Quaternization of triblock polymers of polystyrene-polybutadiene-polyvinylpyridine is disclosed by Ohnuma et al. in Chemical Abstracts, 111(16):134883 (1989).
Quaternization of poly(4-vinylpyridine) is known: Boucher et al., "Kinetics and Mechanism of the Quaternization of Poly(4-vinylpyridine) with Ethyl, n-Propyl, n-Butyl, n-Hexyl and Benzyl Bromide in Sulfolane", J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. I, 73, pp. 1629-1635 (1977).
Diblock and triblock copolymers of butadiene and 2-isopropenylpyridine have been synthesized by anionic polymerization, using a difunctional lithium initiator: Soum et al., "Synthesis and Characterization of New Block Copolymers of Butadiene and 2-isopropenylpyridine," Polymer, vol. 29, pp. 1528-1534 (August, 1988).
Triblock copolymers of polystyrene-polybutadiene (or polyisoprene)-polystyrene have been used in the preparation of photosensitive printing plates: U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,637, Chen et al., "Use of Cover Sheet and Interposed Flexible Film with Block Copolymer Compositions" (1982). The copolymers were not quaternized, nor were the resulting formulations water-developable.
As noted (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,231 et al.) triblock polymers of the type polystyrene-polybutadiene-polystyrene have been used in printing plates, but have not been quaternized. Such plates are not water-developable. We have discovered that plates made with polymers of the type polyvinylpyridine-polybutadiene or polyisoprene-polyvinylpyridine are water-developable. So far as can be determined, quaternized triblock polymers of the type XYX (i.e., a central block polymer terminated on each end by two identical polymer blocks) were unknown prior to this invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,919, Richter et al. (1979), discloses a 2-block copolymer of styrene-isoprene (or butadiene) for use in flexographic printing plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,027, Takeda et al. (1981), discloses a photosensitive composition comprising copolymers of vinylpyridine and a polyvinylidene halide, optionally with an olefin, e.g., butadiene or isoprene, plus a light sensitizing element, e.g., iodoform, quinones, or diazonium salts, capable of forming a quaternary salt with the polyvinylpyridine on heating or on exposure to actinic light. The instant invention differs, inter alia, in that our triblock copolymer has no polyvinylidene component, and further in that when we quaternize it is prior to formulation and exposure.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,271,259 and 4,272,610, both to Breslow et al. (1981), disclose a copolymer of butadiene or isoprene with vinyl pyridine as a component in a photosensitive composition. The copolymer is not specified as ABA, and it is not quaternized. The composition requires an oxidizable component containing allylic hydrogen and a photooxygenation sensitizer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,417, Heinz et al. (1984), discloses ABA triblock copolymers in making flexographic printing plates. A is styrene-butadiene, B is isoprene.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,531, Hein (1979), discloses ABA triblock copolymers ("Kraton".RTM.) - Shell Chemical Co.) in making printing plates where A is a styrene and B is a diene such as isoprene or butadiene. A polythiol is required in the formulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,231, Toda et al. (1977), discloses a styrene-butadiene-styrene triblock copolymer in a printing plate formulation.
Chem. Abstracts 111(6):39978k, Moeller et al., discloses iodine doped AB diblock copolymers of poly(2-vinylpyridine) and either polybutadiene or polystyrene.
Chem. Abstracts 109(10):74182b, Shimazaki et al., discloses triblock copolymer, polystyrene-polyisoprene-poly(vinylpyridine) quaternized with chloromethylstyrene. Use in photosensitive compositions is not disclosed.
Chem. Abstracts 104(20):169705k, Y. Mihaki, discloses isoprene-styrene-4-vinylbenzyldimethylamine block copolymers treated with di-iodopropane to prepare an amphoteric ion exchanger.
Chem. Abstracts 103(20):166031f, Lelah et al., discloses quaternization of triblock poly(styrene-butadiene-4-vinylpyridine), with crosslinking of the butadiene segment and sulfonation of the styrene block.
Chem. Abstracts 101(6):39114u, Kudose et al., discloses quaternizing triblock butadiene-styrene-4-vinylpyridine copolymer with methyl bromide.
Chem. Abstracts 88(2):75242, Fielding-Russell et al., discloses HCl quaternization of butadiene-styrene-2-vinylpyridine block copolymer.

Photosensitive elastomer polymer compositions for flexographic printing plates


A downhole assembly includes a wave seal packer including a wave portion having a wave form shape in an un-expanded condition. The wave portion configured to radially encircle a tubular with alternating and interconnected uphole and downhole portions. The packer having a substantially uniform internal radius in the un-expanded condition.

In the drilling and completion industry, the formation of boreholes for the purpose of production or injection of fluid is common. The boreholes are used for exploration or extraction of natural resources such as hydrocarbons, oil, gas, water, and alternatively for CO2 sequestration. A liner is a tubular member that is usually run inside of a borehole casing of the borehole and suspended within the casing. Liner packers and liner hangers are commonly used together to seal the liner to the outer casing. The liner hanger acts as an anchor during the process of setting the packer seals. Mechanically or hydraulically set slips of the liner hanger are used to effectively interconnect the liner hanger to the casing. As the slips move radially outwardly, the toothed surfaces of the slips bitingly engage the inner wall surface of the casing.
Typical liner packer seals incorporate elastomers at the seal interface. The material selected for the packer seal must take into consideration the caustic fluids, high temperatures and high pressures that are encountered in a downhole environment so as to prevent premature seal degradation. In addition, as time, manpower requirements, and mechanical maintenance issues are all variable factors that can significantly influence the cost effectiveness and productivity of a downhole operation, the art would be receptive to improved apparatus and methods for increasing the rate of expansion of a liner packer without deleteriously affecting the sustainability of the liner packer in the downhole environment.


A storage area network (“SAN”) and a system is provided. The SAN includes, a host bus adapter operationally coupled with a credit extender, wherein the credit extender receives frames from a Fibre Channel network and sends the received frames to the HBA based on buffer space available in the HBA. The HBA notifies other Fibre Channel ports of buffer space available in the credit extender. The HBA sends a signal to the credit extender notifying the credit extender of available buffer space in the HBA. The HBA includes a management port for interfacing the HBA with the credit extender.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to networking systems, and more particularly, to coupling a host bus adapter with an in-line credit extender.
2. Background of the Invention
Storage area networks ("SANs") are commonly used where plural memory storage devices are made available to various host computing systems. Data in a SAN is typically moved from plural host systems to storage systems through various controllers/adapters.
Host systems typically include several functional components. These components may include a central processing unit (CPU), main memory, input/output ("I/O") devices, and streaming storage devices (for example, tape drives). In conventional systems, the main memory is coupled to the CPU via a system bus or a local memory bus. The main memory is used to provide the CPU access to data and/or program information that is stored in main memory at execution time. Typically, the main memory is composed of random access memory (RAM) circuits. A computer system with the CPU and main memory is often referred to as a host system.
Host systems often communicate with storage systems via a host bus adapter ("HBA", may also be referred to as a "controller" and/or "adapter") using the "PCI" bus interface. PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, a local bus standard that was developed by INTEL Corporation®. The PCI standard is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
PCI-X is another standard bus that is compatible with existing PCI cards using the PCI bus. PCI-X improves the data transfer rate of PCI.
Various other standard interfaces are also used to move data from host systems to storage devices. Fibre Channel is one such standard. Fibre Channel (incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) is a set of AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD INSTITUTE (ANSI) standards, which provide a serial transmission protocol for storage and network protocols such as HIPPI, SCSI, IP, ATM and others. Fibre Channel provides an input/output interface to meet the requirements of both channel and network users.
Fibre Channel supports three different topologies: point-to-point, arbitrated loop and Fibre Channel fabric. The point-to-point topology attaches two devices directly. The arbitrated loop topology attaches devices in a loop. The Fibre Channel fabric topology attaches host systems directly to a fabric, which are then connected to multiple devices. The Fibre Channel fabric topology allows several media types to be interconnected.
Fibre Channel is a closed system that relies on multiple ports to exchange information on attributes and characteristics to determine if the ports can operate together. If the ports can work together, they define the criteria under which they communicate. In Fibre Channel, a path is established between two nodes where the path's primary task is to transport data from one point to another.
Fibre Channel fabric devices include a node port or "N_Port" that manages fabric connections. The N_port establishes a connection to a fabric element (e.g., a switch) having a fabric port or F_port.
In Fibre Channel, a buffer-to-buffer credit mechanism is used to control frame flow on a Fibre Channel link. This mechanism requires a transmitter to receive credit in the form of an R_RDY primitive, before sending a frame. The destination sends an R_RDY only when it has adequate buffer space to accept an entire frame.
Once a transmitter has sent a frame for every R_RDY it has received, it stops transmission until another R_RDY arrives from the destination. Unless the transmitter receives enough R_RDYs to cover the time needed for a frame to travel across the link to the destination and an R_RDY to return across the link from the destination, the transmitter stalls and waits for an R_RDY.
Data throughput is hindered as the length of the Fibre Channel link increases in distance. In conventional systems, additional data buffering is used to allow more R_RDYs to be sent and minimize idle periods. This solution has drawbacks. For example, devices with large buffers waste memory resources when used in an environment that only uses short links. Also, using external memory buffers is expensive and requires additional pins and data ports.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that allows efficient data transfer without using additional memory buffers permanently.

Method and system for using an in-line credit extender with a host bus adapter


A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a module configured to operate based on a clock signal, a voltage controlling unit configured to change a power supply voltage supplied to the module, a clock generating unit configured to supply the clock signal to the module, and a test circuit configured to operate at the power supply voltage based on the clock signal to emulate a delay of a critical path provided in the module, thereby testing whether the module properly operates at the power supply voltage, wherein the clock generating unit supplies a different signal, in place of the clock signal, to the module while the voltage controlling unit is changing the power supply voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor integrated circuits, and particularly relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit in which an internal operating voltage is changed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to reduce the power consumption of semiconductor integrated circuits, voltage levels are generally optimized. With the development of the semiconductor process technology, processors or the like are now manufactured with a technology that achieves fine patterns such as 0.13 micrometers or less. In such a case, leak currents that are conventionally regarded as errors account for a significant proportion that can no longer be ignored. The leak currents not only flow all the time regardless of the active/inactive operating state of processors, but also have such characteristics that the amount of currents increases in response to a rise in the internal operating voltage. Further, an increase in chip temperature responsive to the rise of the operating voltage also results in an increase in the leak currents. Because of this, the presence of leak currents is a major issue that needs to be addressed to achieve low power consumption.
In order to keep the influence of leak currents to a minimum, a generally employed method lowers the internal operating voltage to reduce the leak currents during a period in which the processor or the like do not need to operate at high speed, and raises the internal voltage during a period in which high-speed operation is required. In such technology, the voltage level may not be changed at once from a given voltage level to another voltage level, but may be changed gradually in a stepwise manner by the units of small voltage steps while spending an extended period of time, thereby keeping the influence of voltage changes to a minimum. In order to implement such voltage control, there is a need for a chip to be informed of the lower voltage limit at which proper operation is possible. When the internal operating voltage is to be lowered, the control of voltages has to insure that the internal operating voltage does not drop below this lower voltage limit. If the voltage goes down below this lower voltage limit, the delay of semiconductor devices making up the processor increases, thereby presenting a risk of the processor failing to properly perform the execution of instructions and thus suffering a hangup.
Patent Document 1 discloses an invention that provides a voltage testing circuit for an operation unit inside a CPU, and that tests the operation unit while lowering the voltage little by little, thereby determining the lowest voltage at which the operation unit can properly operate. Patent Document 2 discloses a technology that can be used to obtain optimum voltage levels supplied to a plurality of processors implemented on a system board. A voltage margin test is conducted with respect to each of the processors at the time of power-on of the system, thereby supplying optimum voltage levels from the voltage source to each of the processors.
Further, Non-patent Document 1 shoes a general trend of recent technologies regarding the dynamic control of an operating frequency and an internal operating voltage of a processor by use of program instructions in response to a required performance level.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-203163
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-34502
[Non-patent Document 1] "Dynamic Power Management for Embedded Systems", [online], Nov. 19, 2002, IBM, [searched on 2004, Apr. 27], Internet <URL: http://www.research.ibm.com/arl/projects/papers/DPM_V1.1.pdf>
When the voltage is gradually changed, increasing the internal voltage does not present a problem since a state transition is made toward the improvement of operating conditions of the CPU. Decreasing the internal voltage, on the other hand, presents a risk of the processor failing to perform the execution of instructions and suffering a hangup. Processors manufactured by semiconductor process have performance variation due to process variation. If it is desired to change the internal voltage dynamically while ensuring safety, a voltage range that permits proper operation needs to be identified in advance with respect to individual processors, and the voltage needs to be controlled within this voltage range while maintaining a sufficient margin.
Semiconductor integrated circuits may have the performance thereof deteriorating due to factors such as a temperature increase even during an ongoing operation. A range that permits proper operation may differ depending on operating conditions. A voltage range that is identified under certain operating conditions as permitting proper operation may no longer allow proper operation after a change in the operating conditions. In order to avoid such shortcomings, there may be a need to provide an excessively large margin.
Accordingly, there is a need for a semiconductor integrated circuit that can set an optimum voltage level in response to chip-specific operating characteristics as well as environment-specific real-time operating characteristics so as to prevent malfunctions such as a hangup when changing the operating voltage of a processor dynamically.

Changing of operating voltage in semiconductor integrated circuit


An electromagnetic relay includes a spool, a coil wound on the spool, an armature inserted in the through hole of the spool, a yoke fixed to the spool by fitting, hinge springs, a movable spring, a hinge spring fixing portion, an attaching/fixing portion, and at least one terminal. The armature operates upon excitation of the coil. The yoke has first and second opposing upright portions. One end of the armature is in contact with an end face of the first upright portion, and the other end thereof opposes the end face of the second upright portion. The hinge springs set the armature at a predetermined angle with respect to the yoke, and urge one end of the armature against the end face of the first upright portion to ensure magnetic connection. The movable spring has a movable contact and extends from one side of the hinge springs. The movable spring is connected to the armature. The hinge spring fixing portion extends from the ends side of the hinge springs that are not connected to the movable spring, to support them and the movable spring. The attaching/fixing portion attaches and fixes the hinge spring fixing portion on the first upright portion by a single operation. The terminal member is fixed to one end portion of the spool by press fitting and has a stationary contact adjacent to the movable contact.

The present invention relates to an electromagnetic relay and, more particularly, to an inexpensive, small-height electromagnetic relay having a high breakdown voltage.
Conventionally, an electromagnetic relay is known in which the contacts are switched by driving an armature inserted in the hollow portion of a coil bobbin. Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-94936 discloses a technique as the first prior art technique. According to this technique, a substantially flat plate-like armature is inserted in the hollow portion of a bobbin. A movable spring and the armature are connected to each other with a resin card so that the movable spring and the armature or a yoke will not come into contact with each other. The movable spring and the yoke are insulated from each other with a barrier integrally formed with a base. As a result, an electromagnetic relay having a high breakdown voltage between the contact and coil can be obtained.
The second prior art technique will be described with reference to FIG. 9. According to this prior art technique, a core 1003 is inserted in the cylindrical hollow portion of a spool 1001, and a coil 1002 is wound on the spool 1001 about the core 1003 as the center. One end of an L-shaped yoke 1004 is caulked at the lower end of the core 1003. One end of an armature 1011 supported by hinge springs 1009 caulked on the rear surface of the L-shaped yoke 1004 is in contact with the upper end of the upright portion of the L-shaped yoke 1004. The other end of the armature 1011 opposes the upper end of the core 1003.
The armature 1011 is connected to the hinge springs 1009 through a boss 1010. The other end of each hinge spring 1009 opposite to its hinge portion forms a movable spring 1008. A movable contact 1007 is formed on the distal end portion of the movable spring 1008. Stationary contacts 1006 are arranged to constitute a pair through the movable contact 1007. The opening portion of the case is sealed with an epoxy-based adhesive.
The conventional electromagnetic relay described above has problems as follows. The first problem is the high manufacturing cost. This is because the number of components is large.
The second problem is that the electromagnetic relay does not have a high breakdown voltage. This is because the excitation coil side (primary) and the contact side (secondary) are connected to each other through the space around the card.
The third problem is that the electromagnetic relay cannot be made compact. This is because the yoke needs a space for caulking the hinge spring stationary portion.


A mold and die metallic material, an air-permeable member for mold and die use, and a method for making the same are provided. The mold and die metallic material is made by forming a mixed material containing stainless steel fibers with an equivalent diameter of 30-300 μm and a length of 0.4-5.0 mm, and stainless steel powder, heat sintering a green body of the mixed material, and heating the sintered body thus obtained in a nitrogen atmosphere and nitrided; wherein average open pore diameter thereof is 3-50 μm.

Conventional permeable durable molds for use in vacuum forming methods are disclosed, for example, in JP-A-07-108348 (and counterpart CN1041178C and U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,570A thereof) (Patent Document 1). A method for manufacturing a permeable molded body used in vacuum forming methods is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-07-113103 (and counterparts CN1102607A and U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,967A thereof) (Patent Document 2).

Mold and die metallic material, air-permeable member for mold and die use, and method for manufacturing the same


An electromechanical brake has an element to be braked, at least one friction lining for frictionally engaging with the element, and an electric actuator for displacing the friction lining so that it frictionally engages with the element. A constructively and energetically improved electromechanical brake can be provided by a reversible energy accumulator functionally coupled to the electric actuator which interacts with a force multiplication device such that when the brake is actuated by the actuator, the stored energy is successively supplied to the force multiplication device with increasing actuation travel of the actuator and the device converts the energy in a set manner to an actuation torque that increases with increasing actuation travel of the actuator, the torque being transmitted indirectly or directly onto the friction lining. When the brake is released, a brake-inherent restoring force reacting upon the force multiplication device via the friction lining recharges the energy accumulator.

Electromechanical brakes differ from the hydraulic or pneumatic brakes widely used in the motor vehicle field in that the brake application force is not generated hydraulically or pneumatically but by electromechanical means.
The first generation of electromechanical motor vehicle brakes attempted to produce the considerable brake application force necessary by means of an electric motor on each wheel brake, generally with a downstream reduction gear mechanism, in order to limit the size and therefore the weight of the electric motor. However, the in some cases very high reduction ratios selected in the order of 1:200 greatly impaired the dynamic behavior of the brake, which made such solutions appear unsatisfactory overall. Consequently, solutions of this kind have as yet never gone into commercial production.
Electromechanical brakes with self-energization are much more promising, as this type of electromechanical brake only requires a relatively small electric actuator and derives most of the brake application force from the kinetic energy of the moving brake element to be decelerated, e.g. from a brake disk as it rotates during vehicle operation. The basic operating principle of such electromechanical brakes with self-energization is described in German patent 198 19 654. However, because of this operating principle, high brake application forces can only be achieved when a vehicle in which such an electromechanical brake with self-energization is installed is moving.

Electromechanical brake comprising an energy accumulator and a downstream force multiplication unit


A driving apparatus (2) for cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) includes a primary and a secondary driving circuits (22, 21), a primary and a secondary light tubes (24, 23), a primary and a secondary feedback circuits (26, 27), and two photosensitive elements (25) corresponding to the primary and the secondary light tubes, respectively. The primary and the secondary driving circuits provide power to drive the primary and the secondary light tubes, respectively. The primary feedback circuit receives photoelectric current of a corresponding photosensitive element and provides an output signal to the primary driving circuit. The secondary feedback circuit receives currents of both photosensitive elements, and provides an output signal to the secondary driving circuit to keep a brightness of the secondary light tube the same as the brightness of the primary light tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power supply for a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) system, and more particularly to an apparatus for driving each cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) in a multiple CCFL system.
2. Prior Art
Fluorescent lamps are used in a number of applications where light is required but the power required to generate light is limited. One such application is the backlight for a notebook computer or similar electronic device. One popular type of fluorescent lamp is a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). This lamp typically requires a high starting voltage (about 1500 volts) for a short period of time, in order to ionize the gas contained within the lamp tube and thereby ignite the lamp. After the gas is ionized and the lamp is ignited, less voltage is needed to keep the lamp on.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional CCFL driving apparatus 1. The driving apparatus 1 includes a power supply 11, a buck pre-regulator 12, a self-resonating circuit 13, a CCFL 14, a resistor 15, a capacitor 16, a feedback circuit 17, and a pulse width modulation circuit 18. The CCFL 14, the capacitor 16, and the resistor 15 formed a closed loop.
The power supply 11 supplies a voltage to the buck pre-regulator 12, which regulates an operation current in the driving apparatus 1. The self-resonating circuit 13 receives the input current signal regulated by the buck pre-regulator 12, and outputs a high voltage (about 1500 volts) to start the CCFL 14. After that, the self-resonating circuit 13 outputs a lower voltage (about 600 volts) to maintain the CCFL in a steady illuminated state. The feedback circuit 17 receives a current signal from the closed loop, and feeds the current signal back to the pulse width modulation circuit 18. An output of the pulse width modulation circuit 18 is coupled to the buck pre-regulator 12, to provide a pulse width modulation signal thereto in order to modulate the duty cycle thereof.
The driving apparatus 1 also can be used to drive a multiple CCFL system, in which it is important to have balanced currents in all lamps in the system. The driving apparatus 1 provides a feedback circuit 17 to evenly distribute current through each of the CCFLs. However, in practice, characteristics of the CCFLs in the multiple CCFL system are not exactly the same as each other. Therefore, even when the operation currents in the CCFLs are equal to each other, there are still differences in the brightnesses between the various CCFLs. Furthermore, as the CCFLs randomly age after prolonged use, the differences in the brightnesses between the various CCFLs become even more pronounced.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved driving apparatus which overcomes the above-described disadvantages of conventional driving apparatuses.

Driving apparatus for cold cathode fluorescent lamps


A gaming device including a plurality of reels having a plurality of symbols including at least one replicator symbol. The replicator symbol includes at least two of the same symbols in a single symbol position on the reels. The replicator symbol may include any suitable number of the same symbols. The replicator symbol thereby increases the likelihood that a player will obtain a winning symbol combination on the reels and also an award in a game. In one embodiment, a winning symbol combination includes at least one replicator symbol and at least one other symbol at a plurality of symbol positions on a payline associated with the reels. In another embodiment, the winning symbol combination at least one replicator symbol and at least one other symbol at a plurality of symbol position in at least one symbol position on a plurality of paylines associated with the reels.

To play a conventional slot machine, a player deposits money in the form of coins, gaming tokens or paper currency either into a coin head or bill acceptor. The coins and gaming tokens are collected in a reservoir inside the gaming machine while the paper currency is collected in the bill acceptor inside the gaming machine. If the coins, gaming tokens or paper currency are validated as authentic, the player accrues the appropriate number of playing credits on a credit meter. For example, a twenty-five cent gaming machine will accrue four credits for each dollar deposited into the gaming machine.
After accruing credits on the credit meter, the player determines how many credits to wager on the next spin of the slot reels. The gaming device or player then spins the reels by pressing the spin button or by pulling a handle. When the reels stop spinning, symbols are displayed and the player collects credits for winning combinations of symbols on the reels, if any, according to a pay table.
Specifically, slot machines include a symbol matrix which includes symbols displayed on three or more of the reels (also called "columns" or "reel columns") that are adjacent to each other. The resulting matrix of symbols typically ranges from three columns by three rows with nine total symbols, to five columns by three rows with fifteen total symbols. Each position in the symbol matrix is referenced by column, from left to right, and row, from the top to bottom ("symbol positions"). For example: symbol position 1/2 is located in column 1 and row 2.
Players collect credits for predetermined winning symbol combinations that appear in specific or designated symbol positions (i.e, "pay lines") on the reels. Winning symbol combinations typically require that three or more of the same symbols appear adjacent to each other starting from the leftmost position of a pay line (i.e., a "line pay"). In addition, players may also collect credits for winning symbol combinations that appear anywhere on a pay line (i.e., a "line scatter pay") or anywhere on the reels (i.e., a "reel scatter pay").
Credits are awarded to the player for each winning symbol combination based on a predetermined schedule or paytable. For line pays and line scatter pays, the number of credits wagered on the winning pay line multiplies the number of credits indicated by the pay table. For reel scatter pays, the total number of credits wagered multiplies the number of credits indicated by the pay table.
Following any type of win or payout (e.g., line pays, line scatter pays or reel scatter pays), a designated number of credits are added or transferred to the player's credit balance shown on the credit meter. As long as the player has credits on the credit meter, the player may continue to play the game.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for new gaming devices which provide players with more opportunities to obtain awards in a game.

Gaming device having multiple symbols at a single symbol position


A method of providing signaling information for a wireless communication node includes: obtaining, at first user equipment (UE), first information associated with a first node of a first radio access technology (RAT) network that uses a first RAT, the first UE being configured for wireless telecommunication; and sending, in response to obtaining the first information, second information from the first UE to a second node of a second RAT network that uses a second RAT that is different from the first RAT.

Energy consumption in telecommunications networks is a significant expense. Energy is spent on numerous activities including a mobile device moving from a different network system, layer, or node for communication. For example, when mobile devices move from one radio access technology (RAT) network to another, there is significant latency and processing involved in the synchronization process due to the mobile devices' measurements and identification of the new networks. Further, much energy is expended by mobile devices working to initiate communication with the new networks and to obtain information once communication is established. Further still, energy may be wasted by trying to establish communication with a network node that is not ready to establish communication with a mobile device, e.g., network nodes in a power safe mode
Further, significant delays are typically incurred during call hand-off between network nodes in different RATs leading possibly to dropped calls and significant performance penalties. These delays are mostly due to both the routing delay incurred as the call traverses multiple network entities in the RATs and the synchronization delays at the mobile device.
Further, communication between network nodes is often desirable, but not necessarily possible. For example, it may be desirable to communicate messages with another node to have the node turn on or off. Communication mechanisms between network nodes for these purposes may not exist or may not be standardized. For example, for communication of network energy messages between nodes of different radio access technologies, messages may be assumed to be easily carried using the Resource Information Management (RIM) based signaling, but this may not be true since RIM is optional in the 3GPP standard and may not be implemented by every carrier network.

Mobile assisted disparate radio access technology interfacing


A method and an apparatus (10) for making thin layers from particles, wherein the particles are deposited on a carrier fluid flowing by gravity along a ramp (12) leading to a dam (18). The particles are held back at the bottom of the ramp (12), thereby causing the particles to be piled up one against the other in a monolayer configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for making monolayers of particles or molecules and, more particularly, to such methods and apparatuses suited for large scale production industries.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In today's high technology industry, the miniaturization of electronic circuitry, high-density storage of information, screen display and other devices are reaching sub micrometer level. Decades ago, several methods were invented to achieve small devices and proved to be performing in the sub-millimeter level like smearing, spreading, shearing, microtomization, extrusion or passing between rollers to thin down. While these methods are approaching the micrometer scale, defects are likely to occur like holes, bumps, disorientation, cracks, etc. The production of layers by sublimation of material under vacuum is interesting for inorganic material, and nanometer thick layers were made. Unfortunately, this obliges the use of elevated temperature for metals that destroy fragile material like proteins or magnetic clusters that could be involved in the process. Moreover, the orientation or more generally the organization of matter in such approaches is not possible, atoms or molecules being piled up at random one above the other.
Therefore, it has been proposed to drive particles onto flat planes and packing them side-by-side to construct layers. The organization of matter in such thin layers yields interesting properties in optics, electronics, bio detection, filtration, magnetic storage devices, etc. Indeed, the size of the objects to be manipulated can be anywhere between 1 millimeter and one tenth of a nanometer. Therefore, through the decades, several 2D assembly methods were invented in order to achieve such organization, but most of them proved to be unsuitable for large scale production industries.
The first 2D assembly method was invented at the beginning of the XXth century. It simply consisted in depositing particles onto a flat gas-liquid interface and bringing them together with mobile barriers to form a monolayer. Initially thought as being uniform and defect free, the monolayers being made of particles approached from every direction led to holes and local collapses in the monolayer.
Canadian Patent Application No. 2,291,825 published on Dec. 3, 1998, discloses a method and an apparatus for preparing monolayers of particles. More particularly, this document discloses a Dynamic Thin Laminar Flow (DTLF) method wherein a liquid film, containing a suspension of particles, is injected onto a rotary cylinder. The rotation of the cylinder pushes the particles one against the other to form a continuous monolayer on the rotary cylinder. The rotary cylinder is advanced longitudinally with respect to a substrate on which the monolayer is deposited. According to this method, mechanical devices are necessary to produce the driving force required to bring the particles one against the other. Moreover, the dimensions of the rotary cylinder limit the size of the monolayer that can be produced with this method. The rotary cylinder also contributes to limit the monitoring zone required to control the production of the monolayers.
Although the method described in the above-mentioned patent application is efficient, it has been found that there is a need for a new method and apparatus, which offers flexibility in production while allowing for easier monitoring and control thereof.

Method and apparatus for two dimensional assembly of particles


The present invention provides a n-drive surface emitting laser comprised of an active region, a first mirror region having a first conductivity type, a second mirror region having a second opposite conductivity type, the first and second mirror regions being located on opposite sides of the light generation region, a buffer region having a second conductivity type, and a substrate having a first conductivity type. In the preferred embodiment the first conductivity type is n-type, thus the present invention provides a method of forming an n-drive semiconductor laser on an n-type substrate. Contact is made to the p-type mirror region via a tunnel junction formed by degeneratively doping the areas of the substrate region and the buffer region which abut each other. The tunnel junction is reverse biased so that current is injected through the degeneratively doped p-n junction formed by the n+ substrate and the p-type conducting layer.

The present invention relates generally to surface emitting lasers and more specifically to formation of an n-drive p-common laser fabricated on an n-type substrate.
Originally semiconductor lasers were diode structures where the light emitted from the edge of the laser structure was parallel to the surface of the semiconductor wafer. Unfortunately, this edge emitting laser structure does not lend itself to the cost-effective fabrication of two-dimensional arrays of laser diodes. A second class of laser diodes, well suited for fabrication of laser arrays, is fabricated such that the laser structure is perpendicular to the surface of the semiconductor wafer so that the emitted light is perpendicular to the surface. These laser diodes are commonly known as surface emitting lasers (SELs).
Both classes of lasers are formed on a starting substrate which may be either semi-insulating, p-type or n-type. Referring to FIG. 1A shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional n-drive SEL 100 formed on a semi-insulating substrate 102. The surface emitting laser 100 may be viewed as a n-i-p diode comprised of an n-type mirror region 104, an active region 106, and a p-type mirror region 108. Electrical connection is made via electrode 110 formed on the top surface of the n-type mirror region 104 and electrode 112 formed on the p-type mirror region 108.
To make electrical contact to the p-type region 108, an etch is made through both the n-type mirror region 104 and the active region 106 to the p-type region 108. This is problematic since the p-type contact etch exposes epitaxial layers 104, 106, 108 which have a tendency to oxidize. Further, the p-type contact etch creates a non-planar structure creating device reliability problems and increasing manufacturing complexity. Further, defects added to semi-insulating substrates to make the substrate isolating reduce the reliability of the semiconductor laser device.
Referring to Figure lB, shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional n-drive surface emitting laser 120 formed on a p-type substrate 122. The SEL is comprised of a n-type mirror region 124, an active region 126, and a p-type mirror region 128. Electrical interconnections are made via electrode 130 formed on the surface of the n-type mirror region 124 and electrode 132 formed on the surface of the p-type substrate 122. The preferred method of formation for the n, i, and p-type regions is by molecular beam epitaxy. The only commonly available p-type substrate is zinc doped. However, at typical MBE growth temperatures, zinc outdiffuses causing unacceptable background concentration in the mirror regions 124, 128 and the active region 126. Further, zinc outdiffusion contaminates the molecular beam epitaxy chamber resulting in an additional cleaning step after each zinc contamination.
FIG. 1C shows a cross-sectional view of a surface emitting laser 140 formed on an n-type substrate 142. The SEL is comprised of a n-type mirror region 144, an active region 146, and a p-type mirror region 148. The SEL 140 shown in FIG. 1C is a p-drive SEL. Unlike the n-drive current driven SELs shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the p-drive SEL is typically voltage driven. Although current drivers for p-drive SELs exist, they are problematic. The available silicon pnp drivers typically have insufficient speed for current data rates of optical communication systems and GaAs pnp drivers are expensive.
However, problems are also associated with voltage driven p-drive SELs. Voltage driven p-drive SELs in SEL arrays require precise control so that the Vf of each individual laser in the array is uniform. Nonuniformities in V.sub.f require individually pre-biasing each individual laser in the laser array; thereby increasing the cost of the laser drivers. Of course n-drive SELs may be created from the structure shown in FIG. 1C by sawing between individual lasers and flipping the p-drive SELs. However, this eliminates the possibility of SEL arrays.
A method of forming an array of n-drive semiconductor laser on a n-type substrate is needed.

N-drive p-common surface emitting laser fabricated on n+ substrate