There are provided a printing head substrate, an ink jet printing head and an ink jet printing apparatus, which accurately detect a temperature state in the central part of a heater array on the substrate and restrict an area of the substrate to a minimum. A printing head substrate has a plurality of heating elements, a plurality of ink supply openings, a logic circuit for driving the heating elements; a substrate temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of the printing head substrate, and input and output pads for carrying out reception and supply of a signal between a printing apparatus, and the logic circuit and the substrate temperature detecting element, wherein a beam integral with the substrate is provided between the plurality of ink supply openings, and the substrate temperature detecting element is arranged on the beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing head substrate, an ink jet printing head and an ink jet printing apparatus, and particularly, to a printing head substrate, an ink jet printing head and an ink jet printing apparatus, which are provided with a substrate temperature detecting element.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printing head mounted in an ink jet printing apparatus ejects ink droplets from ejection openings in various ways to attach the ink droplets onto a print medium such as a print paper, thus carrying out the printing. Among others, the ink jet printing head using heat as energy for ejecting ink can relatively easily realize a multi-nozzle system in high concentration, carrying out the printing with high resolution, of high image quality and at high speeds. There is known a so-called side shooter type of ink jet printing head as one of systems for ejecting ink using this kind of thermal energy, which ejects ink droplets perpendicularly on a surface on which heating resistive elements (heating elements) generating thermal energy are formed. In this type of printing head, ink supply at ink ejecting is generally carried out through ink supply openings penetrating through a substrate from a backside of the substrate provided with the heating resistive elements.
In the substrate of this side shooter type ink jet printing head, a plurality of heating resistive elements (hereinafter, also referred to as heaters simply) are provided at one side of the ink supply opening penetrating through the substrate centering the ink supply opening. Further, members are formed for forming ink ejection openings and ink flow passages for ejecting ink to correspond to the respective heating resistive elements. Such an ink jet printing head is formed of a monolithic configuration by a silicon semiconductor substrate based upon a semiconductor manufacture technology. Further, the ink jet printing head is provided with substrate temperature detecting elements because of a close relation between an ejection characteristic of ink droplets from the ejection opening and a substrate temperature.
FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showing a construction of a conventional printing head substrate. There is, as shown in FIG. 21, known the conventional printing head substrate in which substrate temperature detecting elements 7 made of diode are arranged in the adjacency of input and output pads 12 and 13 (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-050637). The substrate temperature detecting element 7 detects a temperature of the substrate, and a drive pulse is adjusted based upon the detected temperature information. This adjustment allows the printing without variations in image density even if a temperature difference occurs in the printing head substrate.
There is further known a printing head substrate on which substrate temperature detecting elements such as diode sensors are formed (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H2-258266 (1990)). It is possible to read a substrate temperature with high accuracy by forming the temperature sensor in the printing head substrate. This type of temperature sensor is used for controlling an ink ejection characteristic changing with heat generated at the time each power source consumes electric current. This type of temperature sensor is further used for forcibly and temporarily stopping the sequence by using a monitor value of the temperature sensor when an abnormality such as power source short occurs on the substrate to create an abnormal temperature increase.
In most of recent ink jet printing apparatuses, there is mainly used a printing head which has a plurality of ink supply openings within one substrate and a plurality of heaters are arranged in high concentration to correspond to the ink supply openings for obtaining an image with high resolution and of high image quality at high speeds. Since a high concentration arrangement of heater arrays is recently possible, the printing head substrate is, as shown in FIG. 21, configured to have one heater array to the one ink supply opening at one side thereof for downsizing the printing head substrate. Further, for achieving high-speed printing, the number of heaters per one heater array increases, and in consequence, there is a printing head substrate in which the heater arrangement array has a length of one inch or more. In such a substrate construction, the temperature detecting location is required to be a plurality of locations, such as locations not only near the pad as conventional but also in the adjacency of the central part in the heater array.
In the printing head substrate as shown in FIG. 21, however, in a case where an abnormal temperature increase occurs in the central part of the heater array 6, since a difference in the temperature distribution in the substrate occurs because of a distance from the central part of the heater array 6 until the temperature sensor 7 in the adjacency of the pad 12, a temperature in the central part of the heater array 6 may not be detected accurately. This problem is the more remarkable as the printing head substrate becomes the longer. Therefore, it is required to set the temperature sensor at a desired position for accurately detecting the temperature in the central part of the heater array.
FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram showing the construction of the printing head substrate in which the temperature detecting elements 7 are arranged near the central part of the heater array 6. In the substrate shown in FIG. 22, a logic circuit 15 such as a shift resister and a driver transistor 16 are arranged in such a manner as to be capable of reading out the temperature detecting sensors individually.
Even in the printing head substrate as constructed above, the substrate temperature detecting element made of diode has a large occupying area, and therefore, it is required to further provide a space for the temperature detecting element. That is, in a case of locating the temperature detecting element at the central part of the heater array, it leads to an increase in chip size, that is, substrate size.
In a case of detecting temperatures of the temperature sensors at plural locations, a logic circuit such as a shift resister is required for selecting a desired temperature sensor. In this case, it is preferable to locate the logic circuit near the temperature sensor in such a manner as to constitute one integral system. However, when the logic circuit is too close to the heater, it possibly causes instability in an operation thereof due to heat and therefore, it is required to locate the temperature sensor near the heater and locate the logic circuit at a position where it is not so much influenced by heat of the heater. However, when the temperature sensor is arranged in the center, the substrate size remarkably increases. In a case of the elongated substrate, a length of the printing substrate tends to be much larger than a lateral width thereof. Such a substrate of a large aspect ratio also possibly creates the problem with a mechanical strength of the substrate itself.

Printing head substrate, ink jet printing head and ink jet printing apparatus with substrate temperature detecting element


A vehicle hood airbag device in which an in-hood reinforcement (28) is arranged in a hood width direction at a rear end portion of an inner hood panel (20). The in-hood reinforcement (28) has longitudinal opposite end portions coupled to left and right hood hinge reinforcements (40) that are disposed on the respective lateral sides of the inner hood-panel (20) to increase the rigidity of the inner hood panel (20). Further, by fixing the airbag case (46) to the in-hood reinforcement (28), the rigidity of the inner hood panel (20) is further increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hood airbag device that deploys an airbag over a hood of a vehicle when the vehicle collides against an impact object.
2. Background of the Invention
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-262955 describes a hood airbag device in which an opening is formed at the rear end portion of an inner hood panel and extends along the lower end portion of the windshield in the lateral direction of a vehicle and an airbag module is mounted through the opening.
The airbag of the above-cited reference has a generally U-shape when viewed from above and generally large enough to cover the bottom area of a front pillar as well as the rear end portion of the hood and the cowl. This requires that the opening formed in the inner hood panel and an in-hood reinforcement should be relatively large. For this reason, the rigidity of the inner hood panel, and potentially the hood, are reduced.


A method of conducting a shear strength test on a semiconductor element with improved pressing force direction includes pressing a peripheral surface of the semiconductor element with a shear tool in a direction inclined to gradually head away from the surface of the substrate along the direction of pressing to conduct a shear strength test with a die shear strength tester.

The present disclosure relates to a method of testing the bond strength of a semiconductor element.
Semiconductor elements are usually bonded to substrates. For example, JP2017-163014A discloses a method of measuring the bond strength between a semiconductor element and a substrate by inserting a hook provided at the tip of a shear tool into the space made by bonding the semiconductor element to the substrate and pulling the semiconductor element up perpendicularly to the surface of the substrate with the hook of the shear tool to detach the semiconductor element.
One object of certain embodiments of the present invention is to provide a method of easily testing a semiconductor element for the bond strength.

Method of testing a semiconductor element with improved pressing force direction


A chord estimation apparatus includes: frequency-component extraction means for extracting a frequency component from an input music signal; scale-component information generation means for mapping the frequency component extracted by the frequency-component extraction means onto each tone and generating scale-component information including each tone and loudness thereof; folding means for folding the scale-component information generated by the scale-component information generation means for each two octaves to generate scale-component information including 24 tones; and chord estimation means for inputting the scale-component information including 24 tones into a Bayesian network in order to estimate a chord.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for estimating a chord corresponding to an input musical signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, as a technique for estimating a chord corresponding to an input musical signal, a technique, in which frequency-component data extracted from a musical signal is folded for each one octave (12 tones including C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B) to generate an octave profile, and the octave profile is compared with a standard chord profile to estimate a chord, has been known (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-298475).
Also, in recent years, a technique, in which a chord is estimated using a Bayesian network having the frequency of a frequency peak after performing short-time Fourier transform on a musical signal and the loudness thereof, a root (root tone), a chroma (chord type: major, minor, etc.), etc., as nodes, has also been known (refer to Randal J. Leistikow et al., "Bayesian Identification of Closely-Spaced Chords from Single-Frame STFT Peaks.", Proc. of the 7th Int. Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx'04), Oct. 5-8, 2004).


A package structure for a recording medium or other items is composed of a plastic support frame and a laminated flexible body. The package structure consists of a molded plastic frame having two sections forming the lid and the base of the package, separated by a hinge which allows the lid and base sections to fold together to close the package. In a preferred embodiment, the package body is formed of a folded paperboard blank. The plastic frame is slotted at opposite ends to allow the paperboard blank to extend through the frame from outside to inside. The blank is folded at the slots, and is folded onto itself to form the surfaces of the package. The frame is formed with recesses adapted to receive the body surfaces to protect the surfaces and the edges of the outer body surfaces. The portions of the body which respectively form the inner and outer surfaces of the lid, and the inner and outer surfaces of the base are secured together and/or to the corresponding frame section. A portion of the body overlies, but is not secured to the frame hinge so that the two move separately when the package opens and closes.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a package structure and, more particularly, to a package structure having a plastic support frame laminated to a body of folded sheet material to form the package surfaces. It is particularly suited for but not limited to a package for optically readable media such as compact audio discs, CD ROM's, for any other items.
2. Description Of The Related Art
Traditionally, compact audio discs (CDs), have been packaged in clear plastic boxes, popularly called "jewel boxes." Suitable graphics and information for the consumer are printed on sheets placed inside, or between panels of the jewel box, and on booklets inserted inside the box.
To discourage theft, and to accommodate existing display facilities, jewel boxes have usually been packaged in large cardboard containers, or alternatively, in semi-rigid plastic shells. In both cases, the outer containers are intended to be discarded after purchase.
Popular protest about the environmental inefficiency of traditional packaging led to development of several alternatives allowing sale with the container in an open position and eliminated some of the excess packaging material. These enjoyed brief success, but the music industry is yielding to demands for no excess packaging and CD's will ultimately be sold in plastic film wrapped jewel boxes closed to their normal storage size.
Yet dissatisfaction still exists.
One problem is that the traditional jewel box consumes a relatively large amount of plastic which is not customarily derived from recycled materials. Another problem is that package graphics will play an important point of sale advertising role if the jewel box is not in an outer package. Viewing the printed material through the jewel box detracts significantly from the color and "snap" of the graphics. Graphic impact is further reduced due to distracting reflections generated by the plastic surface.
A further problem is that the jewel box is rather fragile. The surfaces, and particularly, the hinges, can easily break if the package is dropped.
Some of the better designs which resulted from earlier consumer demand for environmentally better packaging involved folded paperboard. Unfortunately, these packages have generally not been durable, particularly along the exposed paperboard edges, and at the folds, or have suffered from the need for expensive special purpose machinery both to assemble the package and to load the CD and accompanying booklet. There is clearly still the need for a package structure that overcomes the known problems with prior paper packages and with the traditional CD jewel box design.


To provide a semiconductor device capable of improving accuracy in finishing a hole in which a conductive plug right under a capacitor, and a manufacturing method of such a semiconductor device comprising the following steps: a step of forming first and second conductive plugs 32a, 32b in first and second holes 11a, 11b in a first insulating film 11; a step of forming a first opening 14a in an oxidation preventing insulating film 14; a step of forming an auxiliary conductive plug 36a in the first opening 14a; a step of forming a capacitor Q on the auxiliary conductive plug 36a; a step of forming third and fourth holes 41a, 41b in a second insulating film 41 covering the capacitor Q; a step of forming the second opening 14b in the oxidation preventing insulating film 14 under the fourth hole 41b; a step of forming a third conductive plug 47a in the third hole 41a; and a step of forming a fourth conductive plug 47b in the third hole 41a.

For a nonvolatile memory capable of retaining information even when power is turned off, a flash memory and a ferroelectric memory are known.
Of the two, flash memory, which has a floating gate embedded in a gate insulating film of an insulated-gate field-effect transistor (IGFET), stores information by accumulating the charge representing the information and storing it in the floating gate. Flash memory, however, is disadvantageous in that a tunneling current has to flow through the gate insulating film when the information is written or erased, and this requires a relatively high voltage.
On the contrary, ferroelectric memory, which is also called FeRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory), stores information by utilizing the hysteresis properties of a ferroelectric film formed in a ferroelectric capacitor. The ferroelectric film becomes polarized depending on the voltage applied between the upper electrode and the lower electrode of the capacitor, and the spontaneous polarization remains even when the voltage is removed. When the polarity of the applied voltage is reversed, the spontaneous polarization is also reversed. Information is written to the ferroelectric film by relating the direction of the spontaneous polarization to "1" and "0". The FeRAM is advantageous in that the voltage required for writing is lower than in a flash memory and that information can be written therein faster than in a flash memory.
The FeRAM is broadly grouped under either stack-type or planer-type depending on its structure. The latter, the planer type, has a MOS transistor and capacitor lower electrode formed on a semiconductor substrate which are electrically connected through metal wiring above the capacitor. The planar type tend to have a larger capacitor area.
On the contrary, in a stack-type FeRAM, a capacitor lower electrode is formed directly on a conductive plug connected to source/drain regions of a MOS transistor. The lower electrode and the MOS transistor are electrically connected through the conductive plug. This structure allows the capacitor to have a smaller area compared with the planer-type. Hence, the stack-type is advantageous to the miniaturization of FeRAM desired in the future.
In the stacked type FeRAM an opening in which the conductive plug is embedded directly under the capacitor must to be formed with high accuracy in order to achieve the desired miniaturization. Improving the accuracy in finishing the opening is an important factor in regard to miniaturization.
Examples of the abovementioned stack-type FeRAM are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-358311 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-68993.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same


A multi-port check-valve for a fuel vapor emissions system coupled to an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine with forced induction and of the type including a purge canister and a purge valve, comprising a first port coupled to the purge valve, a second port in fluid communication with the first port and having a first check-valve with a fixed orifice arranged to open in response to engine vacuum, and bleed intake manifold boost pressure.

Modern internal combustion engines generate approximately 20% of all of their hydrocarbon emissions by evaporative means, and as a result, automobile fuel vapor emissions to the atmosphere are tightly regulated. For the purpose of preventing fuel vapor from escaping to the atmosphere an Evaporative Emissions Control (EVAP) system is typically implemented to store and subsequently dispose of fuel vapor emissions. The EVAP system is designed to collect vapors produced inside an engine's fuel system and then send them through an engine's intake manifold into its combustion chamber to get burned up as part of the aggregate fuel-air charge. When pressure inside a vehicle's fuel tank reaches a predetermined level as a result of evaporation, the EVAP system transfers the vapors to a charcoal, or purge canister. Subsequently, when engine operating conditions are conductive, a purge valve opens and vacuum from the intake manifold draws the vapor to the engine's combustion chamber. Thereafter, the purge canister is regenerated with newly formed fuel vapor, and the cycle continues.
As opposed to vacuum in naturally aspirated applications, at higher throttle levels a turbocharged/supercharged engine's intake manifold can see relatively high boost pressures generated by forced induction. A purge valve, which is not designed to withstand high boost pressures, can sometimes be damaged under such conditions. Damage to the purge valve, in tun, is sufficient to incapacitate an EVAP system. Typically, a simple check-valve is employed in a purge harness of an engine with forced induction to prevent high boost pressures from impacting the purge valve.
In addition to fuel vapor recovery function, an EVAP system is required to perform a leak-detection function. To that end, a known analog leak-detection scheme employs an evaporative system integrity monitor (ESIM) switch which stays on if the system is properly sealed, and toggles off when a system leak is detected. When the ESIM switch is toggled off, an engine control unit (ECU) detects the change and alters an operator of the vehicle with a malfunction indicator.
Furthermore, an EVAP system's ability to detect leaks must be regularly verified in engine key-off mode via a so-called rationality test. The rationality test confirms the ESIM switch functionality through a simulated system leak which is generated by opening the purge valve to relieve a low level of system vacuum (approximately 0.5 KPa) retained from when the engine was running. An ECU then looks for the ESIM switch to toggle from on to off, which is an indicator that the switch is functioning correctly. For the rationality test to be performed in a forced induction engine, however, a leak-detection scheme utilizing an ESIM switch requires a two-way low airflow communication between the purge valve and the intake manifold. A simple check-valve does not permit two-way flow, therefor it will not support both purge valve over-pressure protection and ESIM functions in an EVAP system of a forced induction engine.
In view of the above, an effective apparatus is needed for permitting an EVAP system to accomplish its prescribed fuel evaporative emissions purge and leak detection functions in forced induction applications, while also protecting the system components from damage that can result from high boost pressures.

Multi-port check-valve for an evaporative fuel emissions system in a turbocharged vehicle


A bow comprises: a riser; first and second limbs attached to the riser; first and second pulley members rotatably connected to the respective bow limbs; draw, power, and tensioning cables; and a tensioning pulley. The draw cable engages draw cable journals of the pulley members and rotates them as the bow is drawn and the draw cable is let out from the draw cable journals. The tensioning cable is secured at its first end to the first bow limb and engaged at its second end to be taken up by a power cam of the first pulley member as the bow is drawn and the first pulley member rotates. The tensioning pulley includes a tensioning cable journal and is arranged with the tensioning cable engaged therewith. The power cable is connected at its first end to the tensioning pulley and at its second end to the second bow limb.

The field of the present invention relates to compound archery bows. In particular, compound archery bows are disclosed herein that include a pulley-and-cable mechanism for applying tension to a power cable of the bow.
For purposes of the present disclosure and appended claims, the terms "compound archery bow" or "compound bow" shall denote an archery bow that uses a levering system, usually comprising one or more cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs as the bow is drawn. A wide variety of compound archery bows include one or two power cables. Conventionally, each power cable is connected at one end to one bow limb and is engaged at its other end to be taken up by a power cam of a pulley member rotatably mounted on the other bow limb. Tension developed as the bow is drawn and the power cable is taken up by the power cam causes deformation of the bow limbs and storage of potential energy therein. A portion of that potential energy is transformed into the kinetic energy of the arrow shot by the bow. Examples of compound bows include dual-cam bows, bows that employ a Binary Cam System®, hybrid-cam bows, or single-cam bows. A few examples of these various compound bow types are disclosed in the following patents, all of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein:    U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,955 entitled "Compound archery bows" issued Aug. 18, 1987 to Larson, disclosing an example of a dual-cam compound bow;    U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,979 entitled "Dual-cam archery bow with simultaneous power cable take-up and let-out" issued Dec. 11, 2007 to Yehle, disclosing an example of a compound bow that employs a Binary Cam System®;    U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,643 entitled "Eccentric elements for a compound archery bow" issued Mar. 29, 2005 to Cooper et al, disclosing an example of a hybrid-cam compound bow; and    U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,006 entitled "Dual-feed single-cam compound bow" issued Nov. 29, 1994 to McPherson, disclosing an example of a single-cam compound bow.
An example of a conventional dual-cam compound bow 10 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2B. FIG. 1 shows the entire bow in an undrawn state (i.e., at brace), and FIGS. 2A and 2B show details of the pulley members and cables at brace and at full draw, respectively. The bow 10 comprises a substantially rigid riser 15, first and second resilient bow limbs 11 and 12, respectively, first and second pulley members 20 and 30, respectively, draw cable 16, and first and second power cables 22 and 32, respectively. The first and second bow limbs 11 and 12 are attached to corresponding first and second end portions of the riser 15. The first pulley member 20 is rotatably connected to the first bow limb 11 at a corresponding pulley connection point and includes a draw cable journal (on the periphery of a draw cable cam 24) and a first power cam 26. The second pulley member 30 is rotatably connected to the second bow limb 12 at a corresponding pulley connection point and includes a draw cable journal (on the periphery of a draw cable cam 34) and a second power cam 36. The draw cable 16 is engaged with the respective draw cable journals of the draw cable cams 24 and 34. The draw cable 16 is arranged to rotate the first and second pulley members 20 and 30 as the bow 10 is drawn and the draw cable 16 is let out from the draw cable journals of cams 24 and 34. The first power cable 22 is engaged at its first end to be taken up by the first power cam 26 as the bow 10 is drawn and the first pulley member 20 rotates (FIG. 2B), and is connected at its second end to the second bow limb 12. The second power cable 32 engaged at its first end to be taken up by the second power cam 36 as the bow 10 is drawn and the second pulley member 30 rotates, and is connected at its second end to the first bow limb 11.
When bow 10 is drawn, the power cams 26 and 36 take up the respective power cables 22 and 32. The resulting tensioning of the power cables 26 and 36 deforms the bow limbs 11 and 12, thereby storing potential energy in the limbs. When the drawn bow is released to shoot an arrow, a portion of the stored potential energy is converted to kinetic energy of the arrow. The relative sizes, shapes, positions, or orientations of the draw cable cams 24/34 and the power cable cams 26/36 can be arranged in any suitable way to provide desired draw force characteristics of the dual-cam bow 10. The relative sizes, shapes, positions, and orientations shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2B are exemplary only.

Pulley-and-cable power cable tensioning mechanism for a compound archery bow


A mobile body surrounding surveillance 1A apparatus according to the present invention includes: an image capturing section 2; a particular region setting section 31 for setting a particular region for image data captured by the image capturing section; an own mobile body movement direction detection section 11 for detecting a movement direction of the own mobile body and outputting a movement direction information indicating the detected movement direction; a movement vector information extraction section for taking the image data of the particular region for each of one or a plurality of frame images captured by the image capturing section in time series and adjusting a detection sensitivity based on the movement direction information so as to extract a movement vector information on another mobile body; and a change detection section 35 for detecting a moving state of the other mobile body which is present in the surrounding of the own mobile body based on the movement vector information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus for surveillance of safety during movement of a manned or unmanned mobile body, such as a ship or a car (a vehicle, such as a two-wheeled vehicle (e.g., a motorcycle or a bicycle), a four-wheeled vehicle (e.g., an automobile), a train, etc.), a human or the like. For example, when a mobile body (own mobile body) moves laterally and there is a risk such that the mobile body contacts or collides with another mobile body (other mobile body) existing therearound, the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus is used to assist confirming the safety by warning a human involved with the mobile body by informing the danger caused by the approach of the other mobile body. The present invention also relates to a mobile body surrounding surveillance method using the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus, a control program for causing a computer to execute the mobile body surrounding surveillance method, and a computer-readable recording medium recording the control program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recent increase in accidents of mobile bodies, such as traffic accidents (e.g., collision of automobiles, etc.) raises a significant public concern. Particularly, when moving an automobile to the left or right to make a lane change or turning right or left, a collision or crash frequently occurs in spite of the automobile driver's caution. The reason for such collision or crash is considered as follows: the automobile driver does not sufficiently confirm a rear and side direction with respect to the moving direction of his/her driving car (own mobile body) using a rearview mirror or the like; or there is another car (another mobile body) which is not covered by a rearview mirror or the like, i.e., a so-called blind spot.
To prevent such a traffic accident, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-285245 discloses a mobile body crash prevention apparatus which takes an image of a rear view using a camera mounted on a car, detects the presence of another car from the captured image, and employs an informing section to inform the driver of the car of the approach of another car by giving a warning, if there is a risk of collision or crash of another car coming in a rear and side direction when moving to the left or right (e.g., making a lane change, etc.) or turning left or right.
With the mobile body crash prevention apparatus, line edges which constitute a white line on a road or a ridge line of the road, and a vanishing point (point at infinity) which is an intersection of the line edges, are detected in each image of a plurality of frames captured in time series by the capturing section. Based on the white line and the ridge line and the positional information of the vanishing point, a detection region is narrowed. The detection region is divided into small regions (blocks). Movement amounts of the small regions between each frame are calculated by a technique called optical flow. In this case, the detection region is an image region E which is about a half of a screen indicated by slanted dashed lines in FIG. 12. The movement amount information of other vehicles thus calculated in the image region E is used to detect, for example, a passing car rapidly approaching from a rear and side direction of the own vehicle.
However, the conventional mobile body crash prevention apparatus of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-285245 has the following problem.
When driving an own vehicle, a white line is detected to confirm a lane, a vanishing point is calculated to obtain the moving direction of another car, and optical flow is used to determine how each block obtained by dividing the detection region (image region E) is moved. Thus, advanced computation is required. In addition to the computation quality, the computation amount is huge, because the large image region E which is about a half of a screen indicated by slanted dashed lines in FIG. 12 is required as a detection region.
Thus, real-time processing cannot be performed due to the huge computation amount. To reduce the computation amount, a method of predicting a movement amount associated with the passage of time is used, for example. Therefore, the movement direction of another car cannot be correctly detected, likely leading to occurrence of error. Further, some roads may have no white lines, so that the movement amount of the mobile body cannot be calculated. Thus, the apparatus is not practical.
In order to solve the problem described above, the applicant proposes a method in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-222424. The method is capable of monitoring the surrounding of a mobile body without performing a large amount of advanced computation by reducing the size of a detection region (image region E) and furthermore without performing a white line detection or a vanishing point tracing.
Hereinafter, a mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus and a mobile body surrounding surveillance method using the same in embodiments of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-222424 will be described with reference to the accompanying figures.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a structure of a mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus according to in an embodiment of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-222424. FIG. 14 is a top view schematically showing the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus of FIG. 13 which is attached to an automobile and its vicinity.
As shown in FIG. 13, the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus 1 includes an image capturing section 2 for capturing an image of a surrounding of an automobile, a computation section 3 for executing a warning detection computation based on the captured image of a surrounding of an automobile to detect a risk due to the approach of another mobile body (described in detail later), and a change informing section 4 for giving a warning to a relevant person (driver) in accordance with warning detection information from the computation section 3.
The image capturing section 2 is a camera, such as an analog output camera, a digital output camera or the like. The image capturing section 2 is used to capture an image of a surrounding of an automobile. In FIG. 14, the image capturing section 2 is attached as an image capturing apparatus to an own mobile body 5 at a position (a top or bottom portion of a rearview mirror) which enables the image capturing apparatus to capture a rear and side view. The image capturing section 2 captures an image of a rear and side range which is a captured image region A indicated by slanted dashed lines in FIG. 14. Another mobile body 6 indicates another automobile which approaches the own mobile body 5 from a left and rear direction. When the image capturing section 2 is an analog output camera, an analog image signal is converted into a digital image signal by an A/D converter (not shown) before the image data is input to the computation section 3.
The computation section 3 includes a particular region setting section 31, an image processing section 32, a storage section 33, a change detection threshold setting section 34, and a change detection section 35. The computation section 3 detects the other mobile body 6 which is present in the vicinity of the own mobile body 5 from the image data captured by the image capturing section 2.
The particular region setting section 31 sets a particular region which is sufficiently small with respect to the image captured by the image capturing section 2. The particular region is a region (detection region) in which the image processing section 32 and the change detection section 35 detect the other mobile body 6 which is present in the vicinity of the own mobile body 5. A movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (distance relationship between the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6) varies. The particular region is defined as a rectangular (band-like, landscape (having a width greater than length)) region which is horizontally parallel to a frame image, with respect to the image captured by the image capturing section 2. Thus, the reason why such a particular region having a rectangular shape in the horizontal direction is provided is that the computation amount is significantly reduced, thereby making it possible to achieve real-time and effective computation.
From the image capturing section 2, the image processing section 32 receives image data of the particular region set by the particular region setting section 31 for each of a plurality of frame images captured in time series by the image capturing section 2. The image processing section 32 extracts movement vector information based on the received image data of the particular region by an extraction process described later. The extraction process of the movement vector information will be described later in detail with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16.
The storage section 33 temporarily stores a result of the extraction process by the image processing section 32. The storage section 33 has a memory structure as shown in FIG. 17. Specifically, the storage section 33 has a previous image data storage region 331, a current image data storage region 332 and a movement vector storage region 333. Among them, the previous image data storage region 331 and the current image data storage region 332 are switched on a frame-by-frame basis by switching the memory address.
The change detection threshold setting section 34 sets a change detection threshold so as to determine the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (so as to determine whether or not it is dangerous).
The change detection section 35 detects the other mobile body 6 which is present in the vicinity of the own mobile body 5 based on the movement vector information which is extracted by the image processing section 32 and is stored by the storage section 33, using a process described later. The change detection section 35 further determines whether or not the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (distance relationship between the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6) is dangerous, based on the determination threshold set by the change detection threshold setting section 34. When the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (distance relationship between the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6) exceeds the determination threshold, the change detection section 35 outputs warning detection information as a result of determination by the change detection section 35 to the change informing section 4. The detection process of the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 18.
The change informing section 4 informs a driver of the own mobile body 5 of a danger by generating a warning sound or displaying a warning based on the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 which is detected by the change detection section 35, such as, for example, warning detection information which is output when the other mobile body 6 is very close to the own mobile body 5 so that there is a risk of a crash (when the relative movement state exceeds the danger determination threshold).
The computation section 3 and the change informing section 4 are packaged into a single mobile body detection apparatus 10 of FIG. 14 and are accommodated in a front portion of a driver seat in an automobile. Therefore, it is possible for the driver to easily confirm a warning (a sound or a display).
Hereinafter, a mobile body surrounding surveillance method using the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus 1 of the embodiment thus constructed will be described.
FIG. 15(a) is an image diagram schematically showing a captured surrounding image of the own mobile body 5 captured by the image capturing section 2 of FIG. 13. FIG. 15(b) is an image diagram schematically showing a captured surrounding image of the own mobile body 5 captured by the image capturing section 2 at a time t (frame time; a time between temporally adjacent frames) after that of FIG. 15(a).
As shown in FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b), the image capturing section 2 captures a view in a rear and side direction from the own mobile body 5. It is shown that the other mobile body 6 is approaching the own mobile body 5 from the rear and side direction.
A particular region 7 is a region for checking a changed state of a captured image set by the particular region setting section 31. The particular region 7 is a rectangular (band-like, landscape) region which is horizontally parallel to a frame image, with respect to the image captured by the image capturing section 2. The particular region 7 does not contain a captured image of the own mobile body 5 and contains at least a portion of a captured image of the other mobile body 6.
The particular region 7 is processed by the image processing section 32 and the change detection section 35 to detect the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (distance relationship between the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6).
In FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b), an object which is located at a side of a road and does not move, such as a utility pole 8 or the like, is shifted in a right direction indicated by arrow B in the captured image at a later time t. In contrast, an object which approaches the own mobile body 5 from a rear and side direction, such as the other mobile body 6 or the like, is shifted in a left direction indicated by arrow C in the captured image at the later time t as indicated by a position 9 of a left edge of the other mobile body 6 (a right edge in FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b)). Therefore, the object (the other mobile body 6) approaching the own mobile body 5 and the fixed (static) object (the utility pole 8) have opposite (different) moving directions (movement vectors) in the particular region 7. Thus, by using such movement vectors, the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (positional relationship or distance relationship between the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6) can be accurately detected to detect the other mobile body 6 approaching the own mobile body 5, without using advanced computation, such as optical flow or the like, to calculate a vanishing point, a white line or the like.
Next, an exemplary process for extracting movement vector information using the image processing section 32 of FIG. 13 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 16.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the process for extracting movement vector information using the image processing section 32 of FIG. 13.
As shown in FIG. 16, in step S1, the particular region setting section 31 sets the particular region 7 with respect to an image captured by the image capturing section 2. As shown in FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b), the particular region 7 is a rectangular (landscape) region which is horizontally parallel to a frame image. A lateral position of the particular region 7 is set so that the captured image of the own mobile body 5 is not included and at least a portion of the captured image of the other mobile body 6 is included.
In step S2, image data corresponding to the particular region 7 is taken by the image processing section 32 from image data captured by the image capturing section 2.
In step S3, in order to obtain a movement vector in the particular region 7, the particular region 7 is divided into a plurality of regions, and a sum of image data values is calculated for each divided region. As the image data value to be summed, for example, a brightness signal can be used. Alternatively, any one or all of color signals (R, G, B, Y, U and V) may be used. The number of divisions of the particular region 7 may be increased, depending on the computation ability of the image processing section 32. Particularly, the size of each divided region is desirably 8×8 pixels or more in order to prevent erroneous detection due to noise or the like.
In step S4, the sum value of each divided region is stored in a corresponding divided region of the current image data storage region 332 in the storage section 33 (FIG. 17).
In step S5, the sum value data which has been stored in each divided region of the storage section 33 at an earlier time t, is read out from the previous image data storage region 331 of the storage section 33 of FIG. 17.
In step S6, current image data and previous image data are compared with each other so as to extract a divided region of the previous image data which has a minimum difference in sum value between the current image data and the previous image data, for each divided region of the current image data. The extracted divided region of the previous image data which has a minimum difference in sum value between the current image data and the previous image data, is considered to be a location at which the divided region of interest of the current image data was present at the earlier time t. Although an image captured at the earlier time t is the previous image herein, several images may be captured for time t.
In step S7, it is determined whether a positional relationship of the region extracted in step S6 between the previous image and the current image indicates "left" or "right". When the position of the extracted region in the previous image is left with respect to the position of the extracted region in the current image ("YES" in step S7), the process goes to step S8. When the position of the extracted region in the previous image is right with respect to the position of the extracted region in the current image ("NO" in step S7), the process goes to step S9.
In step S8, movement to the left is stored in the movement vector storage region 333 of the storage section 33 of FIG. 16 for individual divided regions.
In step S9, movement to the right is stored in the movement vector storage region 333 of the storage section 33 of FIG. 16 for individual divided regions.
As described with reference to FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b), the movement to the left indicates an object or the like (the other mobile body 6) approaching the own mobile body 5, while the movement to the right indicates an object or the like (the utility pole 8) which goes away from the own mobile body 5 or is fixed and does not move. Only left and right vector directions are extracted as movement vector information. In addition, if using a movement vector amount, a relative speed of the other mobile body 6 and the own mobile body 5 can be obtained.
In step S10, it is determined whether or not an instruction to end the process is input by the driver. Steps S2 to S9 are successively repeated until the process end instruction is input by the driver. When the process end instruction is input by the driver (YES), the process is ended.
Next, the process of detecting the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 (distance relationship between the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6) for determining danger by the change detection section 35 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 18.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the process of detecting the movement state of the other mobile body 6 relative to the own mobile body 5 by the change detection section 35 of FIG. 13.
As shown in FIG. 18, in step S11, a change detection threshold (danger determination threshold) is set in the change detection threshold setting section 34. The change detection threshold is previously determined based on the size and position of the other mobile body 6. Typically, the change detection threshold is preferably set, based on the size and distance of the other mobile body 6, to be about a half of the number of divided regions.
In step S12, the image processing section 32 is used to read out the movement vector information stored in the movement vector storage region 333 of the storage section 33 to the change detection section 35.
In step S13, it is determined whether the movement vector information thus read out indicates "left" or "right". When the movement vector information indicates "left" ("YES" in step S13), the process goes to step S14. In step S14, a left movement vector number (the number of left movement vectors) is incremented. When the movement vector information indicates "right" ("NO" in step S13), the process goes to step S15.
In step S15, steps S12 to S14 are repeated until all divided regions are processed. As a result, a left movement vector number from the earlier time t to the current time (the incremented value of the left movement vector number) is calculated. Herein, the left movement vector number is calculated. Conversely, when the image capturing section 2 is be placed on a left side of the own mobile body 5, a movement vector having a right direction indicates the approach of the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6. In this case, aright movement vector number (the number of right movement vectors) is calculated.
In step S16, when the left movement vector number (incremented value) thus calculated is greater than the danger determination threshold set in step S11, it is determined that there is the other mobile body 6 approaching the own mobile body 5.
In step S17, the change informing section 4 is used to inform the driver of the own mobile body 5 of a risk due to the approach of the other mobile body 6 via a warning sound, a warning display or the like to draw the driver's attention to the risk. Herein, when the other mobile body 6 approaching the own mobile body 5 has a risk of crash or the like, a warning sound or a warning display is output. Alternatively, a warning sound or a warning display may be output when the other mobile body 6 approaches the own mobile body 5 but is considered to be safe. Warning may be given via vibration, heat or the like in addition to a sound or a display (e.g., an image, light, etc.). With such a warning, the driver can become aware of a risk of collision or crash of the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6, and therefore, can avoid collision, crash or the like of the cars. Also herein, the change (warning) is given to the driver of the own mobile body 5. Alternatively, the change (warning) may also be given to the driver of the other mobile body 6, or alternatively, others who are present outside (around) the mobile bodies.
In step S18, it is determined whether or not the process end instruction is input by the driver. Steps S12 to S17 are successively repeated until the process end instruction is input by the driver. When the process end instruction is input by the driver (YES), the process is ended.
As described above, according to the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus 1 and the method using the mobile body surrounding surveillance method, the particular region setting section 31 is used to set the rectangular (landscape) particular region 7 which is parallel to the horizontal direction of a frame image, with respect to image data captured by the image capturing section 2. The image processing section 32 is used to take image data of the particular region 7 for each of a plurality of frame images and extract a movement vector from the image data. Further, when a sum value of vector values in a predetermined direction (in movement vector information) exceeds the threshold set by the change detection threshold setting section 34, the change detection section 35 determines that the other mobile body 6 is close to the own mobile body 5 to a dangerous level and the change informing section 4 is used to inform the driver of the risk via a warning sound, a warning display or the like to draw the driver's attention. Thus, the other mobile body 6 present in a surrounding of the own mobile body 5 can be accurately and reliably detected in real time without advanced computation or a large computation amount which are required for conventional techniques. Therefore, when there is a risk of collision, crash or the like, it is possible to give a warning to the driver to avoid the risk.
However, the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus and the mobile body surrounding surveillance method using the same disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-222424 have the following problems.
FIG. 19 shows a top view of the image diagram shown in FIG. 15. In FIG. 19, streets are assumed to be straight. In FIG. 19, reference numerals 5, 6 and 8 denote the own mobile body 5, the other mobile body 6 and the utility pole 8 shown in FIG. 15(a), respectively. In FIG. 19, the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6 in FIG. 15(b) at a time t after that of FIG. 15(a) are denoted 5′ and 6′, respectively. The utility pole 8 is located at the same position at the later time t since the utility pole is an object in a fixed position.
The extraction of the movement vector information corresponds to projecting the other mobile body 6 or the surrounding objects in a fixed position (e.g., utility pole 8) of the other mobile body 6 onto a projection plane fixed on the own mobile body 5 and thereafter, observing the movement of the positions of the projected objects in either the left or right direction. The movement vector B of the utility pole 8 and the movement vector. C of the other mobile body 6 shown in FIG. 15 correspond to the movement vectors B and C denoted by the same reference numerals in the projection plane at the later time t in FIG. 19, respectively.
It is assumed that the angle of the other mobile body 6 viewed from the own mobile body 5 at the time of FIG. 15(a) (previous image) is α and the angle of the other mobile body 6′ viewed from the own mobile body 5′ at the time of FIG. 15(b) (current image), which at the later time t, is β. When the other mobile body 6 is approaching the own mobile body 5, the relationship α<β is satisfied. In other words, when the movement vector in the left direction is detected, it is determined that there exists an object (another mobile body 6) which is approaching the own mobile body 5.
FIG. 20 shows a top view showing a case where the own mobile body 5 is not moving straight (e.g., a case where the own mobile body 5 is approaching a right curved street from a straight street). In FIG. 20, the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6 are both moving straight and at the later time t, the own mobile body 5′ is approaching the right curved street and the other mobile body 6′ continues to be moving straight.
When the own mobile body 5 is moving straight as shown in FIG. 19, the projection plane before the passing of the time t and the projection plane after the passing of the time t are parallel to each other. However, when the own mobile body 5 is approaching the right curved street as shown in FIG. 20, the position of the other mobile body 6 projected onto the projection plane is different from the one when the own mobile body 5 is moving straight since the projection plane is inclined.
In the case of FIG. 20, it is assumed that the angle of the other mobile body 6 viewed from the own mobile body 5 before the passing of the time t (previous image) is α, the angle of the other mobile body 61 viewed from the own mobile body 5′ after the passing of the time t is β. Even if the relationship α<β is satisfied and the movement vector in the left direction is detected, it can not be determined whether or not the other mobile body 6 is approaching the own mobile body 5.
Similar to this case, when the own mobile body 5 is approaching the left curved street from the straight street, there is a possibility that the other mobile body 6 is approaching the own mobile body 5 even if the relationship α>β is satisfied and the movement vector in the right direction is detected.
As described above, it is determined whether or not there exists the other mobile body 6 which is approaching the own mobile body 5 by detecting the movement vector in the left direction in Japanese Laid-Open Publication 2005-222424. However, this is only effective when the own mobile body 5 and the other mobile body 6 are both moving straight or moving on a curved street with a constant curvature. Thus, when the own mobile body 5 is approaching a curved street or the curvature of the curved street itself changes, there is a problem that the approaching mobile body 6 can not be necessarily accurately detected.
The present invention is made to solve the problems described above. The objective of the present invention is to provide: a mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus capable of detecting another mobile body in the surrounding of an own mobile body with high precision in real time without requiring a large amount of an advanced computation and further capable of detecting danger, which has not been readily detected, by automatically adjusting the sensitivity of detecting the other mobile body approaching the own mobile body in accordance with a change of movement direction of the own mobile body by detecting the movement direction of the own mobile body; a mobile body surrounding surveillance method using the mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus; a control program for causing a computer to execute the mobile body surrounding surveillance method; and a computer-readable recording medium has recorded thereon the control program.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile body surrounding surveillance apparatus, mobile body surrounding surveillance method, control program and computer-readable recording medium


A probe needle for testing semiconductor chips includes one end that is fixed in a holding element and a free end that includes a contact tip. The probe needle is provided—at least on the surface of the contact tip—with a layer consisting of a chemically inert, electroconductive material which is hard in relation to the material of contact surfaces of the semiconductor chips. For example, the layer can be titanium nitride.

Semiconductor chips are tested individually or in wafer form. Contact surfaces, e.g., the bond pads, are electrically contacted on the chip and connected via a probe needle to a test circuit. Electronic test signals are applied to the circuit on the chip via this test circuit, and the response to these test signals is measured and evaluated. If behavior deviating from the desired function is determined, the measured chip is rejected as defective, or defect parameters for the subsequent correction of defects are determined.
In order to carry out the contact of the probe needle with the contact surfaces, the relative movement between the given probe needle and the corresponding contact surface and toward one another is necessary. This movement is generally designated as touchdown. The probe needle is provided with a tip in order to improve the contact of the probe needle with the contact surface.
However, in practice, the tips oxidize after a number of touchdowns and exhibit deformation. This results in greater contact resistance with the contact surfaces. But high mechanical stability of the contact tips and low contact resistance are of crucial importance in semiconductor measuring technology.
In present practice, various cleaning methods for the contact tips, such as intermediate contacting of adhesive films or cleaning of wafers, are used to increase measurement reliability. However, conventional cleaning methods result in increased curvature of the contact tips. Also, an increase of the so-called overdrive or a double touchdown is possible for breaking up the oxide on the needle tip. However, this results in damage to the contact pad, which has disadvantages in subsequent process steps, such as wire bonding, or in further contact for measuring purposes.
The contact tips are damaged when making contact with the contact surfaces of the semiconductor chips. On the one hand, this takes place by scratching the contact tips on the contact surface, which is partially intentionally produced in order to decrease the contact resistance. On the other hand, material is also torn from the surface of the contact tip as a result of microweldings that occur when a test voltage is applied. This damage to the contact tip results in unreliable measurements, high maintenance costs, and low service life of the probe needles. In particular, when probe cards are used, the low service life of the probe needles contributes to an early failure of the cost-intensive probe cards.
The use of probe needles for testing semiconductor structures has long been known in the prior art and is described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,561 or in EP Patent No. 0 660 387 B1. These publications also concern the design of probe needles, particularly the shaping of the tips, but do not solve the basic problem.

Probe needle for testing semiconductor chips and method for producing said probe needle


Semiconductor wafer processing methods are described. In one implementation, a semiconductor wafer is provided with a layer of photoresist thereover. A matrix is defined within the photoresist and comprises a plurality of exposed grating patterns which are formed through successive exposure passes of a mask which defines the grating pattern. The wafer is exposed to conditions which are effective to remove at least some of the photoresist and to clear substantially all of the photoresist over a wafer portion underlying at least one of the exposed grating patterns. The wafer is inspected and at least one processing parameter associated with photoresist which was removed during processing can be ascertained. In a preferred aspect, the processing parameter comprises an illumination exposure dosage. In a preferred implementation, two exposure passes with the mask are made with a second of the passes being shifted by a predetermined amount relative to the grating pattern defined by the first pass. The predetermined amount includes first and second adjustment amounts, with the first adjustment amount being equal to a pitch dimension of the mask, and the second adjustment amount being equal to a value associated with a difference between first and second stepping intervals.

In the manufacture of most integrated circuits, particularly very large scale integrated circuits such as arrays of DRAMs (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or PROMs (Programmable Read Only Memory), numerous identical circuits are placed on the same wafer of semiconductor material. This is accomplished by creating various elements of the circuits in multiple layers. Each element is ordinarily produced by a lithographic process wherein an image of one or a few of the individual circuit elements is projected onto the wafer at a time with the wafer being secured to a movable stage. After a first projection is made, the stage is stepped to a new position where the same image is projected again. This process is typically repeated until all of the desired elements of that particular layer are imprinted on the wafer. That layer is then treated to form the desired elements and then subsequent layers of elements are added over the first until all of the elements of the circuit are produced.
Because of the high circuit density on the wafer and the need to make uniform and repeatable connections to the circuits thereon, it is very important that the masking material which is used to define such elements and connections be patterned in a manner which is repeatable and accurate. Typically, photoresist is used as a masking layer and is exposed to illumination through a mask which defines desired circuit elements and connections. Various processing parameters can affect the accuracy with which the photoresist can be patterned. For example, if a mask is misaligned, images will not be accurately reproduced within the photoresist. Similarly, if the illumination exposure dosage is too great or not enough, the photoresist will be over-exposed or underexposed respectively thereby rendering inaccurate images. Needless to say, maintaining accurate control over parameters such as illumination exposure dosage, light scattering, focus, and/or photoresist developing parameters is very important.
This invention arose out of concerns associated with providing methodologies that facilitate monitoring and control of semiconductor processing conditions.

Methods for determining illumination exposure dosage


A method and apparatus for performing a software upgrade are disclosed. The method determines a plurality of mobile endpoint devices affected by a wireless network access software upgrade, and schedules a deployment of the wireless network access software upgrade. The method transmits a notification to the plurality of mobile endpoint devices, wherein the notification is configured to cause each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices to store user settings in a memory of each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices. The method downloads the wireless network access software upgrade wirelessly to the plurality of mobile endpoint devices, wherein the wireless network access software upgrade is configured to cause each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices to install the wireless network access software upgrade and to restore the user settings from the memory of each of the plurality of mobile endpoint devices.

Wireless network operators may use Over-the-Air (OTA) procedures to deploy major wireless network access software and/or firmware upgrades to mobile endpoint devices (e.g., cellular phones, mobile phones, smart phones, and the like). However, since such OTA upgrades affect the software/firmware operating at the lowest levels of the network architecture (e.g., Open System Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model levels 1-3), such OTA upgrades often cause the target device to lose all user settings, causing inconvenience and frustration to affected subscribers/users. Consequently, network operators have not widely used OTA procedures to deploy major wireless network access software and/or firmware upgrades to mobile endpoint devices.

Method and apparatus for maintaining user settings for over-the-air upgrades


A semiconductor device includes a plurality of CML buffering units configured to buffer, in parallel, a plurality of serially applied data signals to CML levels in a sequence responding to multi-phase source clocks; and a CMOS amplification block configured to amplify a plurality of buffered data signals, sequentially outputted from the plurality of CML buffering units, to CMOS levels in response to the multi-phase source clocks, and output amplified data signals in parallel at the same timing.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor design technology, and more particularly, to a receiver circuit for receiving a data signal in a semiconductor device.
A typical semiconductor device includes a receiver circuit configured to receive an external data signal.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional circuit for receiving data in a semiconductor device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the receiver circuit includes a data buffering unit 10 and a data synchronization unit 20. The data buffering unit 10 is configured to buffer an external data signal DATA_SIG in a CMOS region based on a voltage level of a data reference signal DATA_REF, determine the logic level of the external data signal DATA_SIG, and amplify a swing width of the external data signal DATA_SIG. When the external data signal DATA_SIG is composed of 1 bit, the data synchronization unit 20 is configured to output buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG, which are outputted from the data buffering unit 10, in synchronism with source clocks CLK and CLKB. When the external data signal DATA_SIG is composed of multi-bits which are serially inputted, the data synchronization unit 20 is configured to output the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG, which are outputted from the data buffering unit 10, in synchronism with multi-phase source clocks CLK and CLKB, such that the multi-bits are outputted in parallel.
For reference, when the external data signal DATA_SIG is composed of 2 bits which are serially inputted, the data synchronization unit 20 illustrated in FIG. 1 outputs the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG, which are outputted from the data buffering unit 10, in synchronism with the multi-phase source clocks CLK and CLKB, such that the 2 bits are outputted in parallel.
In the semiconductor device having the above-described configuration, variation in power supplied to the data buffering unit 10 and the data synchronization unit 20 may change the time taken until the data buffering unit 10 buffers the data signal DATA_SIG and outputs the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG.
That is to say, if the level of a power supply voltage (VDD) supplied to the data buffering unit 10 rises (i.e., the power supplied thereto becomes strong), the operating speed of the circuit included in the data buffering unit 10 becomes relatively faster than when normal power is supplied. Hence, the data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG buffered at a timing earlier than the timing at which the data signal DATA_SIG is applied are generated.
Conversely, if the level of the power supply voltage (VDD) supplied to the data buffering unit 10 drops (i.e., the power supplied thereto becomes weak), the operating speed of the circuit included in the data buffering unit 10 becomes relatively slower than when normal power is supplied. Hence, the data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG buffered at a timing later than the timing at which the data signal DATA_SIG is applied are generated.
In addition, the duty ratios of the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG outputted from the data buffering unit 10 are distorted.
In designing the data buffering unit 10, it is preferred that the duty ratios of the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG outputted at a specific target level of the power supply voltage (VDD) are matched with each other. However, if the level of the power supply voltage (VDD) is higher or lower than the specific target level, threshold voltages of transistors included in the data buffering unit 10 increase or decrease, causing distortion in the duty ratios of the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG.
Furthermore, if the data synchronization unit 20 is operated while receiving the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG whose generation timing is changed and whose duty ratios are distorted by the variation in the supplied power, it cannot precisely sample the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG in synchronism with the source clocks CLK and CLKB no matter how well it operates.
Moreover, in the data synchronization unit 20, a sampling point also changes according to the variation in the supplied power. Thus, it may be further impossible to precisely sample the buffered data signals BUF_DATA_SIG and /BUF_DATA_SIG.
As such, if the receiver circuit receives the data signal DATA_SIG applied when power noise occurs, a setup/hold time (tDSH) characteristic of the conventional semiconductor device is degraded, possibly causing the semiconductor device to malfunction.

Semiconductor device and method for operating the same


An automatic portioning and weighing arrangement for loose products (15) comprises at least one store drum (2) whereby the store drum (2) comprises at least one portioning capacity (6) wherein separate portions of the products (15) are formed. The weighing arrangement (4) comprises at least one collecting capacity (40) for the loose products. The store drum (2) has been arranged almost horizontally and the portioning capacity (6) extends over almost the complete length of the store drum (2). As a consequence, the chance for choking ups is almost nonexistant on delivery of the loose products (15).

The invention relates to an automatic portioning and weighing arrangement for loose products, the arrangement comprising at least one store drum whereby the store drum comprises at least one portioning capacity wherein separate portions of the products may be formed and whereby the weighing arrangement comprises at least one collecting capacity. Examples of such "loose products" are popcorn, chips, french fries, sweets, pastery, small metal products or products made from a synthetic material.
Such automatic portioning and weighing arrangements may be used in automated rapid kitchens, but also in automations which may be served by means of a coin or insert piece.
Such an automatic portioning and weighing arrangement is known from the American patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,247. The store drum of this portioning and weighing device is obliquely arranged so that with a rotating drum the loose products make their way to the lowest part. The portioning capacity is at the level of this lowest part. The portioning capacity consists of parts which radially project from the jacket of the drum. With a rotating drum these parts carry each time a portion of products which is delivered somewhat further in a collecting capacity. This rotation of the drum continues until a specified weight is reached in the collecting capacity. Then the rotation stops.
This arrangement according to the state of the art, however, displays different drawbacks: First, the portioning capacity is rather small, as a consequence the chance for choking ups with the delivery of products is great. Next, a lot of space is needed around the store drum because of the structure of the portioning capacities. The weighing is also mostly inaccurate: Rest product may be wedged at the delivery valve of the portioning capacity and may, after the rotation of the store drum has ended, so after the desired weight has been reached, still fall into the collecting capacity in such a way that the eventually obtained weight is greater than the adjusted weight. Finally, the store drum is difficult to clean.
The object of the invention is to avoid the above mentioned drawbacks.
The invention provides an automatic portioning and weighing arrangement for loose products, the arrangement comprising at least one store drum whereby the store drum comprises at least one portioning capacity wherein separate portions of the products may be formed and whereby the weighing arrangement comprises at least one collecting capacity. The store drum is almost horizontally arranged and the portioning capacity extends over almost the complete length of the store drum. Hence there is a rather large portioning capacity, which makes the chance for choking ups almost non-existant.
According to a preferable embodiment, the store drum is cylindrical and the portioning capacity is completely within the circumference of the store drum. This has the advantage that the store drum takes little space.
Preferably, the portioning capacity is formed by a part of the outer jacket of the store drum and by the delivery valve. Preferably, the delivery valve is rotatable around an axle which is excentric and almost parallel to the axis of the store drum over the whole length of the store drum and the rotation of the delivery valve is commanded by means of a cam. Preferably, the arrangement is further provided with a filling valve which is rotatable around the same axle as the delivery valve and whereby the delivery valve rests on the filling valve in the delivery position. To fill the store drum the delivery valve is not in the delivery position and the filling valve is brought against the delivery valve. The advantage of such a system of valves is that there is a minimum amount of machine parts and that cleaning is easy.
According to a preferable embodiment, the portioning and weighing arrangement is further provided with an endless conveyor belt where the loose products fall on on delivery from the portioning capacity. This belt carries the products to the weighing arrangement. Such an embodiment has as an advantage that the belt functions as a kind of buffer between the store drum with the portioning capacity and the weighing arrangement : The weighing arrangement does no longer order the rotation of the store drum. Rest product falls always on the belt and not in the collecting capacity of the weighing arrangement such that accurate measurements may be done. Preferably, the circumferential velocity of the belt and the rotation of the store drum are so regulated that the belt receives one portion of loose products every half revolution.
According to another preferable embodiment, the weighing arrangement is provided with a blocking slide which may block all possible delivery of loose products to the collecting capacity of the weighing arrangement. Such an embodiment also increases the chance for accurate measurements: Once the adjusted weight has been reached, the blocking slide closes and no products, even no rest product, may enter the collecting capacity.
According to a particular and preferable embodiment, the portioning and weighing arrangement is provided with two cylindrical store drums which are in parallel positioned adjacent to one another in such a way that both may deliver portions of loose products to the same weighing arrangement. Such a positioning allows for a continuous working if one of both store drums must be filled or cleaned.
According to another particular and preferable embodiment the portioning and weighing arrangement is provided with two collecting capacities which are horizontally movable and which may serve two separate working up installations. Such an embodiment leads to an accelerated working : while the one quantity is being weighed, the other quantity may already be delivered to the working up installation.

Automatic portioning and weighing arrangement


A method for monitoring blade frequencies of a wind turbine and a monitoring system are provided. An accelerometer is attached to a rotating hub of a wind turbine measuring vibrations of the hub. To extract vibration signals originating from each blade, the vibration signals are combined with measuring signals from the azimuth angle sensor. Alternatively, the azimuth angle is found by using the measured accelerations in two directions representing the centrifugal forces and vibrating forces of the hub and feeding these signals into a phase locked loop unit establishing a phase of the rotating hub representing the azimuth angle. To extract each blade frequency, a Fast Fourier Transformation is used on the signals from the accelerometer. To monitor a severe change in each blade frequency, each blade frequency is compared to other blade frequencies and an alarm is set when a given level is reached and the wind turbine is stopped.

It is known to monitor blade frequencies of a wind turbine to monitor if the frequencies of each blade are changing due to e.g. material faults in the blades, lightning strikes or other influences. The monitoring is usually done by placing one or more fast responsive sensors like accelerometers, in each blade of a wind turbine as described in WO 99/57435 A1 and shown on FIG. 1. This is an expensive solution because of the need of many expensive sensors.
On existing wind turbines which do not have the mentioned sensors built into the blades to monitor the blade frequencies, it is very difficult and expensive to build in the sensors afterwards as they have to be placed in each blade.

Monitoring of blade frequencies of a wind turbine


A multipole antenna for conducting logging-while-drilling (LWD), includes a wire for one of producing and receiving an electromagnetic field, the wire having at least one winding for providing a magnetic moment in a first portion of the antenna that is opposite to the magnetic moment of a second portion of the antenna. A method for constructing the multipole antenna is provided. A LWD tool making use of the antenna is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment for making resistivity measurements while drilling a wellbore, and in particular, the invention relates to multipole antennas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electromagnetic induction and wave propagation logging tools are commonly used for determination of electrical properties of formations surrounding a borehole. These logging tools give measurements of apparent resistivity (or conductivity) of the formation that, when properly interpreted, reasonably determine the petrophysical properties of the formation and the fluids therein.
The physical principles of electromagnetic induction resistivity well logging are described, for example, in H. G. Doll, Introduction to Induction Logging and Application to Logging of Wells Drilled with Oil-Based Mud, Journal of Petroleum Technology, vol. 1, p. 148, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, Tex. (1949). Many improvements and modifications to electromagnetic induction resistivity instruments have been devised since publication of the Doll reference, supra. Examples of such modifications and improvements can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,517 issued to Barber; U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,605 issued to Chandler et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,761 issued to Beard et al.
A typical electrical resistivity-measuring instrument is an electromagnetic induction military well logging instrument such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,761, issued to Beard et al. The induction logging instrument described in the Beard '761 patent includes a number of receiver coils spaced at various axial distances from a transmitter coil. Alternating current is passed through the transmitter coils, which induces alternating electromagnetic fields in the earth formations. Voltages, or measurements, are induced in the receiver coils as a result of electromagnetic induction phenomena related to the alternating electromagnetic fields. A continuous record of the voltages form curves, which are also referred to as induction logs. The induction instruments that are composed of multiple sets of receiver coils are referred to as multi-array induction instruments. Every set of receiver coils together with the transmitter is named as a subarray. Hence, a multi-array induction consists of numerous subarrays and acquires measurements with all the subarrays.
Logging-while-drilling resistivity tools employ loop antennas to transmit and receive electromagnetic signals into and from surrounding formations, respectively. These signals provide for determination of resistivity and other electromagnetic properties of the formations. The loop antennas can have magnetic moments pointing parallel or transverse to an axis for the tool (or in any other direction). Such antennas are usually called monopole antennas because they have unidirectional magnetic moments. However, for certain applications, multipole antennas are needed. A multipole antenna can be a dipole, a quadrupole, etc.
For instance, a dipole antenna has the capability of providing the azimuthal direction information of a remote bed relative to the wellbore (Minerbo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,509,738). Conceptually, a dipole antenna consists of two spaced apart monopoles with one pointing to one direction and the other to the opposite direction. A quadrupole antenna consists of two spaced apart dipoles. The two dipoles point to the opposite direction.
What are needed are techniques for providing multipole antennae for conducting logging while drilling.

Multipole antennae for logging-while-drilling resistivity measurements


Methods and apparatus for medical imaging using diffusive optical tomography and fluorescent diffusive optical tomography and ultrasound are disclosed. In one embodiment, the probe comprises emitters and detectors that are inclined at an angle of about 1 to about 30 degrees to a surface of the probe that contacts tissue. In another embodiment, the scanned volume is divided into an inclusion region and a background region. Different voxel sizes are used in the inclusion region and the background region. Appropriate algorithms facilitate a reconstruction of the inclusion region to determine structural and functional features of the inclusion.

This disclosure relates primarily to the field of biological imaging, particularly to medical imaging. More specifically, to medical imaging equipment and methods for medical imaging using combined near-infrared optical tomography, fluorescent tomography and/or ultrasound.
Diffusive optical tomography (DOT) is a form of computer-generated tomography wherein near-infrared light (NIR) is directed at a inclusion (e.g., a lesion, a tumor, a cancer, and so forth) and the amount of light transmitted and/or diffused through the object, and/or reflected from the object, is detected and utilized to reconstruct a digital image of the target area (e.g., the object can exhibit a differential in transmission and/or diffusion from surrounding tissues). This method of imaging is of interest for several reasons, for example, differing soft tissues exhibit differing absorption, transmission and/or scattering of near-infrared light. Therefore, DOT is capable of differentiating optical properties between inclusions and normal soft tissues, wherein alternative tomography methods (e.g., Positron Emission Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, X-Ray, and so forth) cannot. Another example is that near-infrared light is non-ionizing to bodily tissues, and therefore patients can be subjected to repeated light illumination without harm. This in turn allows physicians to increase the frequency at which they monitor and/or track change in areas of interest (e.g., lesions, tumors, and so forth). Yet further, due to differences at which natural chromophores (e.g., oxygen-hemoglobin) adsorb light differently at different wavelengths, optical tomography is capable of supplying functional information such as hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation. For these reasons there is much interest in employing optical tomography for the detection and monitoring of cancerous tissues, especially in breast cancer applications.
Although diffusive optical tomography is a promising medical imaging technique, DOT imaging methods and DOT apparatus have yet to yield high quality reconstructions of inclusions due to fundamental issues with intense light scattering.
Another method of tomography imaging that is of interest is fluorescent diffusive optical tomography (FDOT). Fluorescent diffusive optical tomography is a form of computer-generated tomography wherein an excitation source (e.g., near-infrared light) is directed at an inclusion labeled by a fluorescence targets or dyes or fluorophores. Upon excitation of the fluorophore, the wavelength of the excitation source is shifted to a differing wavelength (e.g., a Stokes-shift) as it is emitted by the fluorophore. The emitted light is then detected and utilized to reconstruct a digital image of the target area, which can exhibit a differential in fluorophore concentration from surrounding tissues (e.g., fluorophore take-up). The digital image can be employed to provide functional characteristics about the inclusion, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) conjugated with a dye fluorophore. However, FDOT methods have exhibited less than desirable reconstruction accuracy due to imperfect uptake of the fluorophore and background fluorophore noise.
While diffusive optical tomography provides benefits over alternative imaging methods, they suffer from drawbacks. Each of these imaging methods is confronted with challenges that impede widespread acceptance and implementation. One of the drawbacks is that the accuracy of reconstructed hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation is low without location information about the inclusion. It is therefore desirable to develop methods that can provide structural and functional characteristics about inclusions while at the same time facilitating accuracy in inclusion location so that accurate information about hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation can be obtained.

Method and apparatus for medical imaging using combined near-infrared optical tomography, fluorescent tomography and ultrasound


A network device which communicates with peers using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) advertises to one or more peers a first Multi-Exit Discriminator (MED) when all sessions are in ‘established’ state, and a second MED when one or more sessions are in a non-‘established’ state. The second MED is higher than the first MED and higher than the MED advertised by the backup network device, causing peers to prefer the backup device. If the device is also configured for Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), when the device advertises the first MED, virtual routers are transitioned to ‘master’ state, and when the device advertises the second MED, virtual routers are transitioned to ‘backup’ state.

The present invention relates to a method for configuring a network device, such as a router, which is configured for Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to automatically cause route selection by a peer of the network device to failover from a route learned through a session with the network device to a route learned through a session with a backup network device in the event of a failure at the first network device, and more particularly, to a method for synchronized BGP and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) failover when the network device also acts as one or more virtual routers in a VRRP network.
BGP is the protocol used to exchange route information between routers of Autonomous Systems (AS). See for example, Rekhter, Y., Li, T., and S. Hares, Eds., "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271 (http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc4271), Jan. 2006.
BGP routers in neighboring ASs (referred to herein as "peers") exchange route information with one another other in BGP sessions (henceforth "sessions"), whereby a router will advertise to its peers, via "UPDATE" messages, routes through which addresses within its AS are reachable. The receiving router stores the routes received from peers in the router's Route Information Database (RIB), which is then used by the router to determine the best route to any particular destination. A single BGP router may be simultaneously engaged in multiple sessions. Further, two or more BGP routers may be active in a single AS, providing the same or different routes to destinations within the AS. Often, these routers are configured for redundancy in a high availability deployment so that if the primary router fails, traffic will be routed through the alternate, or backup, router without incurring extra hops.
VRRP is a protocol used by physical routers that are clustered together to appear as virtual routers in which interfaces of the physical routers can be configured with the same virtual IP addresses which are shared by all routers in the cluster. See for example, Nadas, S., Ed., "Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) Version 3 for IPv4 and IPv6", RFC 5798 (http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc5798), Mar. 2010. Since each physical router has multiple interfaces, each interface can be configured for a different virtual router, therefore a physical router may have some interfaces configured to be master virtual routers and other interfaces configured to be backup virtual routers. As used herein, the term "virtual router" refers to an interface of a physical router which is configured to act as a virtual router using VRRP.
In a high availability router deployment, taking a physical router offline is a very expensive process, especially when the problem is of a temporary nature or only affects a single session. More desirable would be a failover method where traffic can be routed through the backup router temporarily until the problem with the master router is resolved, and automatically routed through the master again once the problem it was experiencing is resolved. There may also be cases where although there may be a problem with the master router, it is nevertheless desired that traffic should continue to be received by the master router from some peers while traffic from other peers is transferred to the backup router. Thus, selectivity is another desirable feature of a failover method wherein some, but not all, sessions can be selected to failover to the backup router if the primary router is experiencing a problem with one or more sessions. Furthermore, since a BGP router may also be a member of a VRRP cluster, it would be advantageous if, when a session on the primary router fails over to the backup router, the primary router would also automatically transition from a VRRP 'master' state to a 'backup' state until the problem is resolved. The reverse is also a true, in that if a virtual router on the primary router transitioned from a 'master' state into an 'init' state, selected BGP sessions should automatically also failover to the backup router. Such a failover method would ensure that a router which has a problem is not acting as master in either capacity.

Method for synchronized BGP and VRRP failover of a network device in a network