Recreational vehicle roofing coatings, recreational vehicle roofs, recreational vehicles, and methods of waterproofing recreational vehicle roofs are provided. The recreational vehicle roofs have polyurethane coatings that are single layer coatings that form waterproofing membranes on the recreational vehicle roof. The coatings can be applied to a recreational vehicle roof before or after the installation of the roof on the vehicle.

The present invention relates to recreational vehicle roofing coatings and, in particular, to recreational vehicles and recreational vehicle roofs having coatings. The present invention further relates to methods of waterproofing recreational vehicle roofs.
Recreational vehicles can be exposed to a variety of weather conditions during their normal use. For example, recreational vehicles can encounter low temperatures, snow, and heavy rain. Therefore, recreational vehicles roofs need to be properly waterproofed so that the inside of the vehicle is not damaged. Recreational vehicle roofs can comprise an ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) sheet that is glued to the roof top by an adhesive. However, these EPDM sheets can exhibit a loss of waterproofing properties as the sheets age. The EPDM sheets can cause an accumulation of dirt or debris that can damage or deface the recreational vehicle, and the EPDM sheets can exhibit significant chalking throughout the life of the sheets. Additionally, the EPDM sheets require a two step roofing process to apply the adhesive and subsequently apply the sheet.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for improved recreational vehicle roofing and methods of applying recreational vehicle roofing.


A memory cell structure comprises a first memory capacitor that is arranged in a first local area, and includes a first lower electrode, a first upper electrode, and a first dielectric oxide film interposed between the first lower electrode and the first upper electrode; a second memory capacitor that is spaced apart from the first memory capacitor and arranged in the first local area, and includes a second lower electrode, a second upper electrode, and a second dielectric oxide film interposed between the second lower electrode and the second upper electrode; and a first local interconnection layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device that includes an oxide dielectric and a method for manufacturing the same, particularly (i) the surrounding structure of a local interconnection that electrically interconnects memory cells that include a metal oxide dielectric film and a method for manufacturing the same, and (ii) a semiconductor memory device that includes the surrounding structure of the local interconnection and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, interconnections used in a semiconductor device can be classified as a global interconnection and a local interconnection. An electrical connection over great distance is provided by a global interconnection. Therefore, a global interconnection is generally composed of a conductive material having a low resistance rate in order to reduce wiring delay. On the other hand, an electrical connection over short distance is provided by a local interconnection, in contrast to the above described global interconnection. Because of this, a local interconnection has a lower level of demand for reducing wiring delay compared to the global interconnection. Therefore, the local interconnection can be composed of a conductive material having a resistance rate that is higher than that of the global interconnection.
The above described heretofore known points are hereinafter explained by using a semiconductor memory device as an example. The semiconductor memory device includes a two-dimensional matrix array of a plurality of memory cells. In addition, each memory cell is comprised of at least a capacitor and a switching transistor. Therefore, a memory cell array of a semiconductor memory device has a plurality of capacitors. It is preferable to increase the number of memory cells because storage capacity is increased by the increased number of memory cells. However, problems related to the wiring delay tend to be caused by the increase in the number of memory cells.
The amount of the wiring delay is increased by the increase in the capacitance connected to one wiring. In particular, when numerous capacitors are connected to one global interconnection and the total capacitance connected to the global interconnection grows large, a large wiring delay tends to be caused in the global interconnection. Therefore, the local interconnection that electrically connects a plurality of capacitors located within a local region of a memory cell is generally provided. Thus, the capacitance connected to the global interconnection is lowered by connecting the local interconnection to the global interconnection through a switching transistor. This structure makes it possible for a semiconductor memory device to have high speed operation properties.
The distance of the local interconnection is shorter than that of the global interconnection. Therefore, the demand for lowering the resistance rate of conductive material composed of the local interconnection is lower than that of the global interconnection. For example, the global interconnection can be composed of aluminum (Al). On the other hand, the local interconnection can be composed of titanium nitride (TiN). Japan Patent Application Publication JP-A-11-54716 (especially paragraph number 0035 and FIG. 13) discloses a local interconnection composed of titanium nitride (TiN).
Recently, demands for increasing the degree of integration of the above described memory cell array have been increasing. In order to increase the degree of integration of the memory cell array, technologies in which the capacitor obtains high capacitance and each memory cell is miniaturized are in demand. It is widely known that metal oxide ferroelectrics or metal oxide high dielectrics are used as a capacitor dielectric comprising a capacitor in response to these demands.
On the other hand, it is also well known that the ferroelectric properties of the metal oxide ferroelectrics or the high dielectric properties of metal oxide high dielectrics are deteriorated by means of the reduction of the metal oxide ferroelectrics or the metal oxide high dielectrics. Specifically, reduction reactions are caused between hydrogen and the metal oxide ferroelectrics or the metal oxide high dielectrics, and thus the ferroelectric properties or the high dielectric properties are deteriorated. An upper electrode of a capacitor having a capacitor dielectric comprised of the metal oxide ferroelectrics or the metal oxide high dielectrics is connected to an interconnection layer through a contact hole. In general, after the interconnection layer is formed, an interlayer insulating film is formed above a capacitor and a conductive contact plug is formed in a contact hole that is formed in an interlayer insulation film with the chemical vapor deposition method (the CVD method). In this step, in which the CVD method is conducted, hydrogen that functions as the reducing agent is generated. In other words, hydrogen that functions as the reducing agent is generated in a manufacturing step, such as a step in which the CVD method is conducted, after an interconnection layer that has a contact with the upper electrode of the capacitor is formed.
However, the above described interconnection layer having a contact with the upper electrode is generally comprised of a conductive hydrogen permeable conductive substance, such as titanium nitride (TiN) and aluminum (Al). In addition, the above described upper electrode is comprised of a conductive hydrogen-permeable substance. Therefore, hydrogen penetrates into a capacitor dielectric through the interconnection layer and the upper electrode in a contact hole. Thus, reduction reactions are generated between hydrogen and the metal oxide ferroelectric or the metal oxide high dielectric. As a result, there is a possibility that the ferroelectric properties or the high dielectric properties of the capacitor dielectric will deteriorate. This deterioration makes it difficult for a capacitor to obtain high capacitance. Consequently, it becomes difficult for each memory cell to be miniaturized and further difficult for the degree of integration of the memory cell array to be increased.

Memory cell structure and semiconductor memory device


A system and method are presented by which data on a graphics processing unit (GPU) can be output to one or more buffers with independent output frequencies. In one embodiment, a GPU includes a shader processor configured to respectively emit a plurality of data sets into a plurality of streams in parallel. Each data is emitted into at least a portion of its respective stream. Also included is a first number of counters configured to respectively track the emitted data sets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processor with variable frequency output.
2. Background Art
Processors, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), can provide fast solutions for a variety of complex algorithms due to their highly parallel structure. However, although multiple threads (or programs) can run in parallel on a conventional GPU, their output data can only be grouped into a single output stream. This limits the performance of the processor when multiple threads line up to output data into the single output stream.
What is needed, therefore, is a technique for enabling output data from multiple threads to be grouped into multiple output streams.

Variable frequency output to one or more buffers


A modular necktie includes a knot enclosure having an attachment channel, a fabric stem that is configured to insert into the attachment channel, and a tie portion that is secured to the fabric stem such that the tie portion extends downwardly from the knot enclosure when the fabric stem is inserted into the attachment channel. The knot enclosure can couple to a wearer's shirt in various ways including via a recess that is configured to receive a button of a wearer's shirt or via lateral collar wings that allow a collar band or ratcheting strips to be used. Various types of electronic components can be included in the knot enclosure.

This invention relates to neckties and menswear and more particularly relates to detachable synthetic neckties.
Neckties are well known in the art and have become a staple of common business attire. Conventional neckties comprise an elongated strip of fabric commonly tied at the neck using knots known to those of skill in the art, including the Windsor knot, the Christensen knot, the Merovingian knot, the small knot, and the like. Other types of neckties also proliferate in the art, including bowties.
Neckties have evolved slowly over centuries and continue to evolve with provision of the present invention. Roman soldiers adorned themselves in scarfs and neckwear as part of their uniforms and the concept of the necktie in menswear grew slowly through Europe subsequently. In medieval battles, including the Thirty Years' War and the Battle of Steenkerque, officers commonly wrapped cravats around their necks and twisted the ends of the fabric cravats together, passing the twisted portions through a buttonhole. These cravats were sometimes used in the battlefield as tourniquets.
With the industrial revolution, cravats gave way to leather collars and finally to more traditional neckties arraying a series of knots and styles. These traditional neckties are not entirely efficient, however. Traditional neckties still include the collar band, which is uncomfortable particularly in the heat, and are difficult and time consuming to tie. The collar band is useless and not even visible under the collar. It can be difficult to interchange traditional neckties and these inefficiencies have given way to abandonment of the necktie altogether by some professionals in hot or casual business environments.
Previous attempts to remedy these inefficiencies have been made in the art, including with the evolution of "clip-on" neckties, which eliminate the neckband of the tie and provide alternate means of collar attachment which simulates the Windsor knot. Clip-on neckties often show the clip, do not allow interchange of the elongated fabric portion of the tie, do not allow customizable knots, and do not include simulated knots beyond those previously known in the art. As the art, stylistic preferences of wearers, and manufacturing technologies continue to evolve, so too do neckties.
It is desirable to provide to the modern man a more efficient necktie with modularized, rapidly-interchangeable components adaptable to meet a variety of stylistic and aesthetic preferences, which makes use of improved manufacturing and design technologies.


An actuation system used to actuate one or more buttons on a remote control device, such as a key fob of a vehicle, based upon commands generated from a mobile device, such as a smartphone. The actuation system includes a key fob drawer that defines an isolation enclosure that prevents RF signals from entering into or leaving the isolation enclosure. A controller receives the command signals from the mobile device and converts the command signals into position commands that are used to activate a button actuator to move a plunger into alignment with one of the buttons on the key fob. The button actuator moves the plunger into contact with one of the buttons which generates an RF signal from the key fob. The key fob is contained in the isolation enclosure and the system includes a RF receiver and transmitter to re-transmit vehicle command signal for receipt by the vehicle.

Electronic systems in automotive vehicles and other devices may utilize handheld remote controls with finger-pressable buttons. These devices can be utilized to remotely actuate vehicle or device functions by hand, where such functions may be difficult to access otherwise by a vehicle operator. The remote controls of these electronic systems generally permit secure remote actuation of unlocking, locking, power door and trunk opening, remote engine starting, activation of horns, lights and panic features as well as other types of vehicle or device functions.
In recent years, the rapid and widespread growth in long-range wireless connectivity and sophisticated hand-held mobile devices with touch-type graphical user interfaces and short or long-range wireless connectivity has led to the proliferation of machine-to-machine connectivity solutions and "anywhere at any time" device interactivity. Consumers now expect all of their vehicles, homes and devices to be connected and able to be interacted with via their mobile technology from anywhere and at any time.
An increasing number of new vehicles come equipped with built-in wireless connectivity that enables connectivity to these vehicles via mobile devices and web-enabled devices for remote function actuation. Vehicles from General Motors, for example, equipped with ONSTAR telematics connectivity can be remotely started or unlocked with a smartphone running a downloaded software application ("app"). This is a proprietary, designed-in solution available only to purchasers of these vehicles and requires the purchase of an ongoing subscription from ONSTAR for the cellular data connectivity to the vehicle to enable this function.
It is generally known that vehicle electronics suppliers have been offering retrofitted systems to expand the remote control capabilities available to vehicle owners. Directed Electronics, for example, offers aftermarket systems that control more functions and provide longer-range of connectivity, including the addition of telematics communications for control from any location with a smartphone application. One primary limitation of these systems includes the need for extensive custom engineering efforts to enable the electronics to interface to and work with the electronics of the vehicles. In addition, consumers may be required to employ a professional technician for all installation efforts due to the technical complexity of the different vehicle installations. Consequently, these installations are generally expensive for consumers to consider.
More recently, suppliers of aftermarket vehicle electronics have introduced systems that consumers can self-install at low-cost and complexity. Delphi Automotive, for example, has recently introduced a system that can be plugged into a standardized on-board diagnostics (OBD-II) connector found on all light-duty vehicles since 1996. The vehicle owner can easily install the system and, after downloading a smartphone application, can have remote control of vehicle access functions from their smartphone or a web-enabled device. By leveraging features found standard in many vehicles, this system advantageously allows for the addition of a new radio-frequency (RF) transmitter to operate as a secure remote control using procedures built into the vehicle by its manufacturer. Other suppliers are attempting to reverse engineer data bus commands for each vehicle to permit long-range remote control of the functions of the vehicle by transmitting data bus commands onto the OBD-II connector from a consumer-installed device. The main limitations of the RF control technique are that many vehicles do not have any available method for adding a new transmitter by the owner. Additionally, many vehicles have such sophisticated secure RF designs that no method can be found practically to transmit the proper secure codes to a vehicle.
The main limitation of a data bus control technique is the extensive effort to reverse-engineer data bus commands for each vehicle. Additionally, many vehicles cannot be controlled via this connector at some or all of the time, such as when an owner is away from their vehicle due and/or due to a lack of available data bus commands.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0108989 A1 describes a remote control actuation system using a controller and solenoid(s) to press one or two remote control actuation buttons of a vehicle remote control. The system would be placed in a location within the confines of the vehicle. The '989 application describes an actuation method specific to a single type of remote control with a specific button location layout. The '989 application does not describe a configurable, or adaptable, system for mounting or actuating more than 2 buttons. The '989 application also fails to accommodate the numerous and widely-varying remote control multi-button designs found on vehicle remote control fobs, for example. Vehicle remote controls can have from 2 to 8 buttons in any type of layout and orientation on up to 3 surface planes of the remote control, varieties of package sizes and designs without a mechanical key blade and ones with fixed or movable mechanical key blades.
The '989 application also fails to provide for the linkage of remote control actuation to a user's mobile devices, e.g., a mobile smartphone application. Furthermore, the '989 application fails to describe a technique for blocking the vehicle detection of the remote control within the vehicle by low-frequency techniques used in vehicle immobilization or push-button engine start features. It is generally understood that vehicles and their remote controls can include a low-frequency circuitry that enables secure detection of the presence of the remote control within the vehicle. As such, blocking the RF function of the remote control and detection of the presence of the remote control can be used to prevent or alleviate the vehicle from being a target of drive-away theft.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a remote control to control the functions of a vehicle and/or other device, specifically for a singular design for wireless connectivity enhancements of linkage to mobile devices which can be added to all existing vehicle or device remote control systems without special tools or training.

Remote control button actuator with removable tray


The invention relates to a method and to a test device (12) which is used to determine an error rate during the transfer of data (1) in a mobile radio system. Said mobile radio system comprises at least one transfer channel, wherein several data partial flows (2.1, 2.2, 2.6) are transferred. The several data partial flows (2.1, 2.2 . . . 2.6) are produced in a signal generator unit (8). A transport format is determined, in an individual manner, for each data partial flow (2.1, 2.2 . . . 2.6). The data partial flows (2.1, 2.2 . . . 2.6) are sent, respectively, to a number of transfer blocks which belong together (5.1, . . . 7.1). A device which is to be tested captures the transfer blocks (5.1, . . . 7.1) of the data partial flows (2.1, 2.2 . . . 2.6) and evaluates them. According to the accuracy of the evaluation, a positive or negative actuation signal (ACK, NACK) is sent back by the device which is to be tested. An error rate of each data partial flow (2.1, 2.2 . . . 2.6) is determined by the test device (12) from the actuation signals (ACK, NACK) which are captured by the test device (12).

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method of determining an error rate during a data transfer in a mobile radio system and also to a testing device.
2. Related Technology
In a third-generation mobile radio system, data are transferred in packets. For this purpose, the physical transfer channel is divided into consecutive signal frames that have in turn time slots as subdivisions. Each of said time slots subdivides a signal frame into a specified number of transfer blocks. In this connection, a plurality of mutually corresponding transfer blocks in consecutive signal frames is used in each case for the transfer of a data subflow. Every transfer block of a signal frame therefore transfers a portion of the total data transferred. Consequently, a plurality of data subflows is transferred in so-called concurrent processes between the base station and the mobile radio devices communicating with it.
In order to determine whether the transfer of an individual transfer block was error-free, a confirmation signal is sent back by the subscriber receiving the transfer block. The confirmation signal is a positive confirmation signal for the case of correct reception or a negative confirmation signal for the case of an incorrect reception, respectively. To test devices in the mobile radio system, said confirmation signals are recorded and an error rate is determined from the ratio of the negative confirmation signals to the total number of confirmation signals. In the case of the known procedure of the method as it is described in the 3GPP standard, a fixed transport format is used for this purpose in which all the data subflows are therefore transmitted with a common set of parameters. This has the disadvantage that it is necessary to wait a complete run of this test loop to determine an error rate that occurs in the case of a different transport format. In addition, the test method is static since the mobile radio device addressed in consecutive transfer blocks has in each case to receive and decipher a transmitted signal transmitted with the same parameters. Consequently, additional errors that occur in a dynamic process, that is to say with varying transport formats, are not detected.
The invention provides a method as well as a testing device that make possible the simultaneous determination of error rates for different transport formats.
The invention provides a method of determining an error rate during a data transfer in a mobile radio system having at least one transfer channel in which a plurality of data subflows is transmitted, comprising the following method steps: generating the plurality of data subflows by a signal generator unit, specifying transport formats individually for each data subflow, transmitting the data subflows in a number of associated transfer blocks in each case to a device to be tested by a testing device, receiving and evaluating the transfer blocks by the device to be tested and sending back a positive or negative confirmation signal for every transfer block, and determining at least one error rate from the received confirmation signals of all the data subflows by the testing device. The invention also provides a testing device for determining an error rate during the transfer of data in a mobile radio system, wherein the testing device comprises a signal generator unit for generating a plurality of data subflows, a configuration block for specifying transport formats individually for every data subflow, a transceiver for transmitting the data subflows in a number of associated transfer blocks in each case and for receiving a positive or negative confirmation signal, and an evaluating unit for determining an error rate from the received confirmation signals.
In the case of the method according to the invention, the testing device first generates a plurality of data subflows by means of a signal generator unit. A set of transmission parameters is then specified individually for each of these data subflows by a configuration unit. In this connection, each set of transmission parameters defines a particular transport format with which the respective data subflow is transmitted. The data subflow is transmitted in each case in a number of associated transfer blocks by a transceiver unit in the testing device. The device to be tested receives the transfer blocks and evaluates them. During the evaluation the data transferred in the transfer blocks are checked for correct transfer and, accordingly, a positive confirmation signal is sent back in the case of correct transfer or, respectively, a negative confirmation signal in the case of incorrect transfer. The testing device receives the confirmation signals sent back by the device to be tested and determines therefrom an error rate for the device to be tested.
In the case of the method according to the invention, it is advantageous that the device to be tested is additionally loaded in that the transport format may vary from one transport block to the next transport block. On the one hand, this increases the loading on the mobile radio device so that a realistic value for an error rate is determined even in the case of a combined evaluation of all the confirmation signals over all the data subflows, and on the other hand, it is possible to determine an individual error rate for every data subflow that is transmitted with a particular transport format, that is to say with a specified set of parameters.
The following description describes various preferred embodiments of the method according to the invention as well of the testing device according to the invention.
In particular, it is advantageous to determine an error rate individually for every data subflow by means of separate evaluating blocks in an evaluating unit. In this connection, the individual error rate gives an indication of whether, for example, an accumulation of detection errors can be correlated systematically, for example, with a chosen type of modulation.
Furthermore, it is advantageous to specify for each of the data subflows the maximum number of repetitions of the transfer block that are re-transmitted after a negative confirmation signal is sent back before the transfer block is discarded. Consequently, a redundancy version sequence can be separately specified for every data subflow. That makes it possible to eliminate effects that result from the repeated transmission of the same data content.
It is a further advantage to specify by means of a configuration block which transfer blocks are how often repeatedly transferred, in which connection, just like the redundancy version used, said repetition is specified independently of a confirmation signal.

Method of determining an error rate and a suitable testing device


A data transmission apparatus suitable for use for a VOD system etc. able to supply program data in response to a request made at any time. In the data transmission apparatus (1) of the present invention, the video data to be supplied is first transferred to a high speed accessible recording apparatus in the transmitter (10.sub.-i). This recording apparatus for example performs high speed access in less than a fraction of the real time of the video data and reproduces several locations predetermined time intervals apart simultaneously. At this time, preferably an error correction code is pre-recorded at the time of recording in the recording apparatus. At the time of reproduction, the apparatus reads data from the recording apparatus at a high speed in units of physical blocks of the transfer data of the recording apparatus, adds header information etc. by the formatter (20.sub.-i) to make the formats match, produces ATM cells, and outputs them through the data exchange (60) to the transmission lines. Due to this, it is possible to provide a data transmission apparatus with a simpler configuration of the format converting device, having a format converting circuit able to perform high speed processing with a simple configuration, able to increase the rate of transmission, and able to easily handle multiple channels.

Realization of a practical video-on-demand (VOD) system which can instantly provide program data in response to a request from a receiver has been desired. A VOD system able to individually respond to requests made at all times, however, requires an extremely large sized data transmission apparatus which performs complex processing.
Accordingly, a near-video-on-demand (NVOD) system which can simplify the configuration of the data transmission apparatus while realizing a function similar to that of a VOD system has been proposed. An NVOD system is a system that transmits program data to a plurality of channels at predetermined time intervals and selects the channel for the programs starting from the next time zone in response to requests made in a certain time zone to provide those programs.
The data transmission apparatus used for such an NVOD system also must process a large amount of AV data (audio data and video data) at a high speed. For example, at first the video data to be supplied is transferred from a large capacity recording apparatus in which a lot of data are recorded to a high speed accessible recording apparatus. Next, the data recorded in that recording apparatus is accessed at a high speed in a fraction of the reproduction time of the video data and data recorded at a plurality of locations predetermined times apart are simultaneously reproduced. Further error correction codes are added to the series of reproduced data which are then converted to a predetermined transmission format and transmitted to the transmission lines.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a data transmission apparatus able to perform this processing by a simpler hardware configuration and a data transmission method able to perform it more efficiently.

Data transmission apparatus and data transmission method


A graphene oxide-ceramic hybrid coating layer formed from a graphene oxide-ceramic hybrid sol solution that includes graphene oxide (GO) and a ceramic sol and a method of preparing the coating layer are provided. A content of graphene oxide in the graphene oxide-ceramic hybrid coating layer is about 0.002 to about 3.0 wt % based on the total weight of the graphene oxide-ceramic hybrid coating layer.

(a) Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a graphene oxide-ceramic hybrid coating layer and a method for preparing the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Graphene oxide (or graphite oxide, hereinafter GO) is a sheet-shaped carbon material prepared by acid treatment of graphite, and has a substantial amount of a hydrophilic functional group, for example, a carboxyl group (—COOH), a hydroxyl group (—OH), and the like, on the surface. The surface oxidizing groups produced through an acid treatment process naturally produce hydrogen bonds with water (H2) and thus the GO prepared by such process is hydrated or in a form of a water-containing slurry state. In general, a solid content of the slurry is about 2 to 8 wt % without further treatments.
When the GO is appropriately included in a film or a structure, it provides improved strength and suitable thermal conductivity. However, a treatment that removes contained moisture may deteriorate such properties. In general, GO may be prepared in a form of graphene through a chemical reduction method (e.g., a hydrazine treatment and the like) and a thermal reduction method. Hereafter, the reduced graphene is particularly referred to be as reduced graphene oxide (RGO).
It is evidenced that at least a part of the oxidizing groups on the RGO surface is not thoroughly removed. Generally, an oxygen content of the surface oxidizing groups is less than or equal to about 5 wt % of total carbon backbone content. Thus, the graphene oxide (RGO) of the present invention has an oxygen content of less than or equal to about 5 wt % of total carbon backcone content as being consistent with the oxygen content of the surface oxidizing group.
A heterogeneous mixture of GO or RGO and conventional materials has been recently highlighted which may provide synergic effects of conventional materials and eliminate limitations of those. The heterogeneous mixture may be used for a high strength composite material and a fuel cell. Various developed technologies include, a graphene-nanowire (e.g., semiconductor) hybrid structure where light energy is absorbed in a graphene conductive part and electron-hole pairs are generated, a hybrid composite manufacturing method including graphene sheet/carbon nanotube/a polymer nanoparticle, a method of manufacturing a positive electrode graphene material for a lithium rechargeable battery that is a hybrid material formed by adding an iron (Fe) precursor and a phosphate (PO4) precursor, a method of manufacturing a graphene composite calcinated body having an improved charge and discharge ratio by sintering graphene and a metal oxide particle in air, a method of manufacturing a graphene-titanium dioxide (TiO2) hybrid material by mixing a TiO2 nanopowder with graphene at a high temperature and high pressure and reacting them.
Therefore, with the recent needs for the heterogeneous GO coating materials, the present invention provides a coating sol solution for forming a GO-ceramic hybrid layer having transparency and thermal conductivity using GO and a ceramic.

Graphene oxide-ceramic hybrid coating layer, and method for preparing the same

Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology


An approach for reduced size extent identifiers for a file system may be implemented by generating a full-size extent or file identifier and generating a smaller identifier from a portion of the full-size identifier. A check may be performed as to whether the smaller identifier is unique within a file system and if it is unique, the smaller identifier may be used in place of the full-size identifier. If not unique, the size of the smaller identifier may be increased. In some embodiments, the size of the smaller identifier is increased until a unique identifier if found.

In some computing environments, files are identified using a key or identifier created by an algorithm, such as a hash function (e.g., SHA-1). The key may be created in such a way to ensure that is unique within a file system. In this way, file system can use the keys that uniquely identify files to manage and/or organize files within a given file system.
The file keys are typically smaller in size than the respective files that they identify. However, in large file systems, such as in enterprise networks, the cumulative size of just the file keys can require large expensive storage capacities to store the keys and powerful computational resources to manage the keys and/or file system. Similar problems may arise in networks where backups or node cluster based replication is enabled. For example, in a NoSQL (e.g., Cassandra) cluster having many nodes, each node may be required to locally store the file keys managed by the cluster. Further, a single file that is identified by an individual file key may have to be replicated to each node in the cluster, thereby multiplying the required storage capacity to store and manage the file keys.
As the amount of information managed by the file system increases, the amount of storage and computational resources necessary to store and track all of the file keys incurs substantial overhead. As is evident, there is a demand for new approaches efficiently manage file systems using keys.


In some embodiments, a system and method for making a scalable clock gearing mechanism may allow multiple devices operating on different clock speeds to communicate. In an embodiment, a mechanism may be used to input data clocked on a first clock frequency and output the data on a second clock frequency. The mechanism may temporarily store the data until the next clock cycle of the second clock. Further, the mechanism may make use of multiple inputs or outputs to input or output multiple data units during a single clock cycle to keep the delay between the arrival and departure of the data small.

Modern computing systems are made up of various components and subcomponents working together. As these various components and subcomponents are improved, the speed at which they are able to operate often increases. Unfortunately, components tend to be constantly at different stages of improvement in terms of optimization and speed. Accordingly, in a typical system, it may be desirable to operate different components at different speeds to take advantage of the capabilities of faster running components. To accomplish such a goal, multiple clocks may be used in a single system.
One problem associated with operating different components at different speeds concerns passing data between the components. If a fast component feeds data to a slower component, the slower component may be unable to keep up with the speed of the data input. Conversely, if a slower component feeds data to a faster component, the benefits of the faster component may not be realized.
Additionally, if a faster component continuously provides data to a slower component and the slower component attempts to read the data received, the faster component may not hold the data on the data transmission line long enough for the slower component to accurately input the data. This causes great problems and completely destroys any advantages of increasing the speeds of components capable of operating at a faster speed.
To address this problem, computer architects have developed gearing mechanisms to allow a fast component, such as a processor, to interface with a slower component, such as a memory device. The problem with existing gearing mechanisms is that they are custom designed for a particular system. It is desirable for a computing system to be upgradeable to take advantage of ever improving components without necessitating the acquisition of an entirely new system.

System and method for scalable clock gearing mechanism


A method for providing a deglitching circuit for a radiation tolerant static random access memory (SRAM) comprising: providing a configuration memory having a plurality of configuration bits; coupling read and write circuitry to the configuration memory for configuring the plurality of configuration bits; coupling a radiation hard latch to a programmable element, the radiation hard latch controlling the programmable element; and providing an interface that couples at least one of the plurality of configuration bits to the radiation hard latch when the write circuitry writes to the at least one of the plurality of configuration bits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for designing radiation-hardened programmable device such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). More specifically, the present invention relates to circuit designs for a radiation-hardened static random access memory (SRAM) based programmable device.
2. Background
A major concern in building a radiation-hardened SRAM based programmable device such as a FPGA or programmable logic device (PLD) for a space application is the reliability of the configuration memory. Memory devices used in satellites and in other computer equipment, can be placed in environments that are highly susceptible to radiation. A satellite memory cell in a space environment can be exposed to a radiation-induced soft error, commonly called a single event upset (SEU), when a cell is struck by high-energy particles. Electron-hole pairs are created by, and along the path of, a single energetic particle as it passes through an integrated circuit. An SEU typically results from alpha particles (helium nuclei), beta particles or other ionized nuclei impacting a low-capacitance node of a semiconductor circuit. Should the energetic particle generate the critical charge in the critical volume of the memory cell, the logic state of the memory is upset. This critical charge, by definition, is the minimum amount of electrical charge required to change the logic state of the memory cell. It is commonly called Q-Critical (Qcrit).
SEU can change the contents of any volatile memory cell. If that bit of memory is doing something besides merely storing data, such as controlling the logic functionality of an FPGA, or other SRAM-based programmable device the results can be catastrophic. While other technologies may be better suited for the most sensitive control functions of a spacecraft, there is a significant advantage to be had by being able to change a portion of the spacecraft's functionality remotely, either during prototyping on the ground or later during the mission. Spacecraft designers accept the idea that SEUs will inevitably occur. Based on the inevitable, such designers are willing to use SRAM based FPGAs and other programmable devices in non-critical portions of the vehicle provided that the error rate is reasonable, sufficient error trapping is available and the recovery time is reasonable.
When an ion traverses a node within a memory storage cell, the ion can force the node from its original state to an opposite state for a period of time. This change of state is due to the charge that the heavy ion deposits as it passes through the silicon of the metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor of the memory cell. If this node is held in the opposite state for a period of time longer than the delay around the feed back loop of the memory cell, the cell can switch states and the stored data can be lost. The period of time the node is held in the opposite state can depend on several factors, the most critical being the charge deposited.
FIG. 1a is a simplified schematic diagram of a logic gate 104. Logic gate 104 comprises a p-channel transistor 102 and an n-channel transistor 100. P-channel transistor 102 has a source coupled to Vcc, a drain coupled to node Q 105, a gate coupled to node QB 106 and a substrate connected to Vcc. N-channel transistor 100 has a source 165 coupled to ground, a drain 160 coupled to Q node 105, a gate 162 coupled to QB node 106 and a substrate connection 190 also coupled to ground.
FIG. 1b is an illustration of a charged particle strike on a cross-section diagram of transistor 100. Transistor 100 comprises a drain 160, a source 165 and a gate 162. Gate oxide 163 separates gate 162 from drain 160, source 161 and substrate 190. As shown in FIG. 1b, the drain 160 is being struck by the charged particle (ion) 110 along the strike path 180. When the charged particle 110 passes though a semiconductor transistor 100 (potentially at relative velocities of 10,000 miles per hour or more), it ionizes atoms in the silicon leaving a wake of hole and electron pairs 120 behind. If it strikes the output diffusion of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) logic gate 104, as illustrated in FIG. 1a, all of those charge carriers are available as drift current 130 along strike path 180 if an electric field is present. If no electric field is present then the drift current 130 ultimately diffuses. If the output of the CMOS gate is not at the voltage of the surrounding material of the diffusion that is struck (for example, if N+ diffusion 160 is at Vcc and P-substrate 190 is at ground), then such an electric field exists and the current will pull diffusion 160 towards the voltage of the P-substrate 190 or ground.
In such an occurrence, there are two sources of current vying for control of the node Q: the CMOS p-channel device 102 (shown in FIG. 1a) that originally drove the node to the correct logic level and the pool of charge in the so-called "field funnel" 150 supplying drift current 130 in FIG. 1b. The larger current controls the node. If the strength of p-channel device 102 is large relative to the available drift current 130, then the node will barely move. If the strength of p-channel device 102 is small relative to the energy strike, then the drift current 130 in FIG. 1b controls and the node will move rapidly towards ground. When drift current 130 controls, it does so until all its charge dissipates, at which time the CMOS p-channel device 102 can restore the node to the correct value.
Unfortunately, it takes time for a small CMOS device to regain control against a high-energy strike. In the case, for example, of a victimized gate being part of the feedback path in a sequential (i.e. memory) element with the incorrect logic level propagating around the loop, the CMOS device gets shut off and is never able to make the needed correction and the memory element loses state. If the memory element controls something important, system or subsystem failure can result.
FIG. 2a is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a particle strike on cross-coupled transistors. Transistors 102a, 102b, 100a and 100b form two logic gates like the logic gate 104 in FIG. 1a. In FIG. 2a, particle strike 210 is shown hitting the N+ region of n-channel transistor 100a. FIG. 2b illustrates the waveforms associated with this strike.
FIG. 2b is a diagram depicting the voltage waveforms 200 associated with a particle strike 210. The particular case shown is for a particle not quite capable of producing the critical charge required to flip the latch. At time T1, the particle hits and then node Q drops from its equilibrium value of Vcc very quickly due to the drift current in the field funnel 150 and QB rises due to the drop of Q. Meanwhile, transistor 102 pumps current into node Q slowing its fall. At T2, when all the charge in the field funnel 150 in FIG. 1b is exhausted, node Q quickly returns to its original equilibrium value of Vcc. Since the case depicted is close to the maximum amount of charge that the cell can withstand, the voltage on node Q approaches the trip point 230 at Vtrip. If the charged particle had created substantially more charge carriers than the transistor could have overcome, then node Q would have dropped to ground potential and QB would have risen to Vcc potential, and the latch would have flipped into the opposite state permanently.
SRAM in an FPGA may also be specified as CSRAM or USRAM. CSRAM is Configuration SRAM. This CSRAM is used to hold the configuration bits for the FPGA. It is physically spread out over the entire die and is interspersed with the rest of the FPGA circuitry. At least one of the two nodes in the static latch that make up the SRAM cell can be connected to the FPGA circuitry that controls it. When the contents of the CSRAM change, the logic function implemented by the FPGA changes. What is needed is a solution to insure the data integrity is maintained.
USRAM is the abbreviation for user SRAM. This is memory that is part of a user logic design and is concentrated inside a functional block dedicated to the purpose. What is needed is a solution to insure the data integrity of an USRAM is maintained.
In an SRAM based FPGA, there are a variety of separate elements that go into the making of a useful product. There are configuration memory bits in the CSRAM, which allow the user to impose his/her design on the uncommitted resources available. There are the combinational and sequential modules that do the user's logic. There are the configurable switches, signal lines, and buffers that allow the modules to be connected together. There are support circuits like clocks and other global signals like enables and resets, which allow the building of one or more subsystems in different time domains. There are blocks like the SRAM and DLL that allow the user access to more highly integrated functions than can be built out of an array of logic modules and interconnect.
Making each element radiation hardened is not practical due to area consideration since radiation hardened circuits tend to be rather large compared to non-radiation hardened circuits. What is needed is a prioritization of essential circuits to be hardened. Also, what is needed is a reliable radiation hardened FPGA that has a reasonable area that can be produced at a reasonable cost.
Moreover, what is needed is a way of providing a radiation-hardened SRAM based FPGA, which can easily be implemented using conventional CMOS processes, and which has performance and speed comparable to an SRAM based FPGA that has not been radiation-hardened.

Deglitching circuits for a radiation-hardened static random access memory based programmable architecture


Disclosed is a metal working composition comprising a major amount of water and a minor amount of an additive comprising. (A) at least one carboxylic ester characterized by the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sup.0 is hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, --CH.sub.2 COOR.sup.2 or --CH.sub.2 CO(OCHR.sup.5 CH.sub.2).sub.n OR.sup.6, R.sup.1 is hydrogen, methyl or ethyl, R.sup.2 is an alkyl group containing from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, R.sup.3 is hydrogen or --CO(OCHR.sup.5 CH.sub.2).sub.n OR.sup.6, R.sup.5 is hydrogen or a methyl group, R.sup.6 is an aliphatic group containing from 4 to 30 carbon atoms or a phenyl or aliphatic substituted phenyl group wherein the aliphatic substituent contains from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, R.sup.4 is --COOR.sup.2, or --CO(OCHR.sup.5 CH.sub.2).sub.n OR.sup.6 and n is an integer of from 1 to 30; with the proviso that when R.sup.0 does not equal hydrogen, methyl or ethyl that R.sup.1 and R.sup.3 are hydrogen and PA1 (B) at least one rust inhibitor comprising. (1) an amine acid salt or amide; PA2 (2) a nitrogen-containing, phosphorus-free carboxylic composition; PA2 (3) an amine; or PA2 (4) an alkoxylated amine.

Metal working operations, for example, drawing, hot pressing, blanking, bending, stamping, rolling, forging, cutting, punching, spinning, and the like generally employ a lubricant to facilitate the same. Lubricants greatly improve these operations in that they can reduce the power for the operation, prevent sticking and decrease wear of dies, cutting bits and the like. In addition, they frequently provide rust inhibiting properties to the metal being treated.
Many of the lubricants applied for the above purposes are liquids. The equipment used for the application of such liquids is often expensive to maintain and inconvenient to use. In addition, a dry-off oven is usually required to remove the water or solvent carrier from the liquid composition, which also greatly adds to the capital costs and operating and maintenance expenses of the method. Difficulties are often encountered in automatic feeding of metal blanks and otherwise handling the metal because the liquid compositions which are normally applied to the metal make it wet and slippery and consequently difficult to handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,203 (O'Halloran, Dec. 19, 1967) relates to the use of an oil-soluble reaction product of a dihydrocarbon dithiophosphoric acid and a lower alkyl alcohol ester of maleic acid or of fumaric acid as an ashless additive for imparting anti-wear properties and anti-corrosion properties to lubricant compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,470 (Lewis, Aug. 17, 1971) relates to hydroxy substituted phosphonates that are produced by reacting a halohydrin with an aliphatic or aromatic phosphite. At high temperatures, an acidic compound is formed instead of, or at least substantially in place of the neutral compound. The neutral ester of the phosphonic acid can be subjected to either acidic or basic hydrolysis to form the free phosphonic acid, which in turn can react with alkyl amines or alkylol amines to form excellent corrosion inhibitors. The neutral esters themselves can be used as additives for extreme pressure lubricants.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,287 (Chiddix et al., Oct. 2, 1973) is directed to phosphorus containing compounds which are particularly useful as antioxidant agents for stabilization of organic compounds which tend to deteriorate in storage or in use due to oxidation or other such reactions. More particularly the reference is directed to phosphites, phosphates, phosphonates, thiophosphates and thiophosphonates derived from .omega.-(3,5-dialkyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) alkanols.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,594 (Rysek, Mar. 17, 1981) is concerned with metal working operations, especially drawing, that are facilitated by applying to the metal a composition which provides lubricity thereto, which melts between about 30.degree. C. and about 150.degree. C., and which contains a minor amount of a phosphorus-containing composition which may be prepared by the reaction of an alkoxylated alkyl phenol with a phosphorus trihalide, or, in combination with water, with a triaryl phosphite. The former reaction also produces, as a by-product, the corresponding halide. The phosphorus-containing compositions are especially useful in combination with a chlorinated wax. The preferred lubricant bases for the metal working lubricants comprise esters or polymers of epoxides or episulfides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,658 (Tincher et al., Aug. 3, 1982) relates to a water-based hydraulic fluid or metal working composition which can be obtained by blending water in a major proportion with minor effective lubricating amounts of a mixture of a phosphate ester, a polyethylene ester, a polyester of an oxyalkylene compound, and an alkyl dialkanolamide.
The metal working fluids and hydraulic fluids of this reference contain a minor effective amount of a phosphate ester salt selected from the group consisting of ##STR2## and mixtures thereof wherein EO is ethylene oxide; R is a monovalent alkylaryl group wherein the alkyl group thereof has about 4 to about 20 carbon atoms, X is individually selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal, an alkaline earth metal, the residue of ammonia, the residue of an amine, and mixtures thereof; n is generally a number from 1 to 50, and preferably 2 to 10.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,481 (Jahnke, Aug. 6, 1985) relates to corrosion inhibitors which prevent corrosion of metal surfaces contacted by aqueous compositions containing them. More particularly the reference relates to corrosion inhibitors which are amine salts of mixtures of polycarboxylic acids and boric acid. The reference also relates to aqueous systems containing the aforedescribed corrosion inhibitors and methods of inhibiting corrosion of metal which comprises contacting metal with said aqueous systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,335 (Rizvi et al., Oct. 22, 1991) relates to lubricating compositions containing hydroxyalkane phosphonic acids and derivatives thereof. Hydroxyalkane phosphonic acids in this reference can be reacted to form salts with basic materials, including detergents, dispersants and amines. These materials can be particularly useful in lubricating compositions to improve anti-wear and extreme pressure properties of lubricating formulations. The hydroxyalkane phosphonic acid is represented by the following formula: ##STR3## wherein Y is a phosphonic acid group or hydrogen, and R is alkyl from 1 to about 100 carbon atoms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,305 (Jolley et al., Apr. 12, 1994) relates to carboxylic esters and more particularly to phosphorus-containing carboxylic esters and their use as synthetic lubricants and as lubricants in liquid compositions containing liquid fluorine-containing hydrocarbons. More particularly, the reference relates to synthetic lubricants and to liquid compositions useful as refrigeration liquids.

Polyethoxylated alcohol-based phosphonates for metal working lubricants


The invention is directed to a solid-state imaging device in which pixels each including a photoelectric conversion portion formed above a semiconductor substrate and an MOS type signal reading circuit as defined herein are arranged in an array form, wherein: the photoelectric conversion portion includes a pixel electrode, a counter electrode and a photoelectric conversion layer as defined herein; a bias voltage is applied to the counter electrode as defined herein; the signal reading circuit includes a charge storage portion, an output transistor and a protection circuit as defined herein; the protection circuit has an impurity region as defined herein; the output transistor has an impurity region as defined herein; and the impurity regions of the protection circuits and the impurity regions of the output transistors are used in common to every adjacent two of the pixels as defined herein.

In order to support higher sensitivity of a solid-state imaging device and increase in the number of pixels in recent years, a photoelectric conversion layer stack type solid-state imaging device in which a photoelectric conversion portion including a pair of electrodes and a photoelectric conversion layer sandwiched between the pair of electrodes is provided above a silicon substrate so that electric charges generated in the photoelectric conversion layer are moved from one of the pair of electrodes to the silicon substrate and stored in the silicon substrate and a signal corresponding to the stored electric charges is read out by a signal reading circuit formed at the silicon substrate, has attracted much attention (see Patent Literature 1).
A configuration in which holes of the electric charges generated in the photoelectric conversion layer above the silicon substrate are stored in a charge storage portion in the silicon substrate and a signal corresponding to the holes stored in the charge storage portion is read out by the signal reading circuit in the photoelectric conversion layer stack type solid-state imaging device has been disclosed in Patent Literature 1. With such a configuration, sensitivity can be prevented from being lowered and spectral sensitivity can be prevented from being broadened even when an organic material is used for the photoelectric conversion layer.
In the solid-state imaging device according to Patent Literature 1, holes generated in the photoelectric conversion layer are stored in the charge storage portion made from a p-type impurity layer in the silicon substrate and a signal corresponding to the holes is read out by a p-channel MOS transistor. Alternatively, various systems are conceived as systems for reading out the signal corresponding to the holes. For example, there is conceived a configuration in which holes generated in the photoelectric conversion layer are stored in a charge storage portion made from an n-type impurity layer in the silicon substrate and a signal corresponding to the holes is read out by an n-channel MOS transistor.
However, in this configuration, there is a possibility that the potential of the charge storage portion will increase up to a voltage high enough to break down the n-channel MOS transistor or the like when excessive light is incident on the photoelectric conversion layer. In order to prevent the breakdown, a configuration in which a protection circuit is provided in the signal reading circuit has been described in Patent Literature 2.

Solid-state imaging device and imaging apparatus


A vacuum insulating glass (IG) unit. Spacers between the substrates are colored (e.g. color tinted) so as to more closely match a color of either a substrate(s) or a low-E coating provided on one of the substrates.

This invention relates to a vacuum insulating glass (IG) unit. More particularly, this invention relates to a vacuum IG unit including at least one colored spacer/pillar.
Commonly owned U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/348,281 entitled xe2x80x9cPERIPHERAL SEAL FOR VACUUM IG WINDOW UNITxe2x80x9d filed Jul. 7, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,242); Ser. No. 09/303,550 entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG PILLAR WITH DLC COATINGxe2x80x9d filed May 3, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,067); Ser. No. 09/404,659 filed Sep. 24, 1999 entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG WINDOW UNIT WITH PERIPHERAL SEAL AT LEAST PARTIALLY DIFFUSED AT TEMPERxe2x80x9d (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,984); Ser. No. 09/440,697 filed Nov. 16, 1999 entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG WINDOW UNIT WITH FIBER SPACERSxe2x80x9d; and Ser. No. 09/480,895 filed simultaneously herewith entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG UNIT WITH ALKALI SILICATE EDGE SEAL AND/OR SPACERS, are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Vacuum IG units are known in the art. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,664,395, 5,657,607, 5,891,536 and 5,902,652, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Prior art FIGS. 1-2 illustrate a conventional vacuum IG unit. IG unit 1 includes two spaced apart sheets of glass 2 and 3 which enclose an evacuated or low pressure space 16 therebetween. Glass sheets 2 and 3 are interconnected by peripheral or edge seal of fused solder glass 4 and have an array of support spacers/pillars 5 therebetween.
Pump out tube 8 is sealed by solder glass 9 to an aperture or hole which passes from an interior surface of glass sheet 2 to the bottom of recess 11. A vacuum is attached to tube 8 (prior to the tube being sealed) so that the interior space 16 between sheets 2 and 3 can be evacuated to create a low pressure area. After evacuation, an end of tube 8 is melted to seal the vacuum in space 16. Optionally, getter 12 may be provided within recess 13 to counteract any rise in pressure due to any out-gassing from the glass.
FIG. 3 is a side cross sectional view of another conventional vacuum IG window unit. This unit differs from the FIGS. 1-2 unit, in that its glass sheets are of different sizes so as to provide an L-shaped step around the unit""s periphery, on which edge seal 4 is to be at least partially located. Moreover, this unit includes low-E coating 6 on the interior major surface of glass sheet 3.
Low-E coatings often appear colored (e.g. color tinted) to a viewer. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,462 (hereby incorporated herein by reference) which discloses a low-E coating having a colored appearance which may be xe2x80x9cslightly blue.xe2x80x9d Moreover, known soda-lime-silica glass sheets may also appear colored (e.g. green, rose, blue, and bronze colored glass sheets are known). For examples of colored glass, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,932,502, 5,069,826, 3,723,142, 3,296,004, and 2,524,719, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, spacers or pillars 5 are typically provided between glass sheets 2 and 3 in the viewing area of the window unit. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,395, these spacers or pillars may be made of nickel, iron, molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, titanium, aluminum, steel or stainless alloys. They may also be made of glass as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,154. Unfortunately, because spacers/pillars are often significantly different in appearance (e.g. differently colored) relative to adjacent low-E coating(s) and/or glass substrate(s), they may be considered an eyesore (i.e., aesthetically non-pleasing) to certain persons viewing a window. In other words, because of the stark contrast in appearance between, for example a steel spacer and a blue tinted glass sheet, the spacer is easily seen by one looking through the window.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a vacuum IG unit in which spacers/pillars more closely match adjacent coating(s) and/or substrate(s) in appearance.
This invention will now be described with respect to certain embodiments thereof, accompanied by certain illustrations.
An object of this invention is to provide at least one spacer/pillar in a vacuum IG window unit, the spacer being tinted in color in order to more closely match a color of an adjacent low-E coating(s) and/or an adjacent glass substrate(s).
Another object of this invention is to provide a vacuum IG window unit wherein spacers of the unit include colorant(s) therein so as to substantially match in color an adjacent low-E coating and/or glass substrate.
Another object of this invention is to provide a vacuum IG window unit including spacers which are colored so as to render them less visibly obtrusive to one viewing the window unit.
Another object of this invention is to fulfill any and/or all of the above-listed objects and/or needs.
Generally speaking, this invention fulfills any or all of the above described objects or needs by providing a method of making a thermally insulating panel, said method comprising the steps of:
providing first and second glass substrates;
providing a plurality of colored spacers between said substrates in order to maintain a low pressure space between said substrates; and
selecting color of the colored spacers based upon color of at least one of (a) one of the substrates, and (b) a coating provided on one of said substrates.
This invention further fulfills any or all of the above described objects or needs by providing a thermally insulating glass panel comprising:
first and second spaced apart glass substrates defining a low pressure space therebetween having a pressure less than atmospheric pressure;
a coating having a color tint, said coating supported by a major surface of one of the glass substrates;
a plurality of spacers disposed between the first and second glass substrates for spacing the substrates from one another in order to maintain the low pressure space therebetween; and
wherein at least one of the spacers includes a colorant therein so that the at least one spacer more closely matches in color the color tint of the coating.


A catheter structure is provided for dilating and for positioning stents. The catheter structure includes a catheter having an inflatable balloon. Two collars are fixed around a catheter part inside the balloon and intended to define two annular shoulders one in front of the other and spaced apart in parallel. A tubular adapter is arranged around the catheter portion between the collar. The balloon, when empty, is wrapped around the collars with the tubular adapter comprised between same. The shoulders form bilateral axial closing means for a stent that is arranged and contracted around the empty and wrapped balloon.

Stents are tubular molds which are made of biocompatible materials and are contracted on their introduction and then dilate for their stable insertion into the desired duct or lumen. Some types of stents dilate mechanically, and for their insertion they require the use of an expandable element arranged along the introducing instrument and acting inside the stent.
As the instrument for the introduction of mechanically dilating stents, a catheter having an inflatable balloon at its distal end of the type already used may also be used, e.g., for dilating arterial ducts or other lumina in a live body. Therefore, for the introduction operation, the balloon, empty, is wrapped tightly around a corresponding zone of the catheter, and the stent, in its turn, is arranged tightly around the balloon in order to remain fixed there during the introduction into a lumen.
In general then, the catheter, at the balloon, has a radiopaque marker in order to be able to control the position of the catheter and, therefore, that of the balloon in the duct or lumen in question.
However the requirements of a catheter for the simple dilation of ducts or lumina most often are incompatible with those of a catheter for the positioning of a stent, which is why specific catheters would be needed for one or the other operation.
A dilating catheter, for example, for angioplasty procedures, or the like, must have a small diameter, a low coefficient of surface friction, and a highly resistant balloon. On the other hand, a catheter for the positioning of stents must have a remarkable friction, at least at the balloon, be made of a material having a surface that is adapted to the interior of the closed, i.e., contracted stent, and have a diameter of the balloon, when closed, i.e., wrapped around the catheter, that is at least slightly greater than the internal diameter of the closed stent. All this is to hold the stent and to prevent its loss during the insertion in a duct or lumen.
Otherwise, a diameter in the zone of the catheter, including the closed balloon wrapped there, that is smaller than the internal diameter of the closed stent that is applied there may cause:
a so-called overlapping resulting from a corrugation and an overlapping of some parts of the stent with possible deformation of its structure, if the stent is contracted too tightly in order to adhere to such a zone; or PA1 an improper fixing of the stent with the possibility of losing it during the introduction if the stent, although suitably and correctly closed, does not adhere to the too-small outer surface of the catheter plus closed balloon.

System for introducing and positioning expandable stents


A method for monitoring a vehicle tool including inputting tool data indicative of the location of the vehicle tool to a data processor, inputting data to the data processor on a topography model in which the vehicle tool is to operate, operating the data processing to compare the vehicle tool location with the model, outputting from the data processor to a visual display, data indicative of the difference in location between the vehicle tool and an adjacent surface of the model, displaying on the visual display an image of the topography model, a representation of the location of the vehicle tool and a representation of the distance of the vehicle tool to the adjacent surface of the model.

Typically before any earth moving operation can commence the terrain to be excavated must be surveyed. Drawings can then be produced showing the existing topographical profile of the terrain and a desired profile of the terrain after excavation has been completed.
If the excavation requires bulldozers the bulldozer driver must continually consult drawings to determine how the earth moving activity is progressing and how close the current terrain profile is to the desired terrain profile. To assist in this regard physical markers can also be located on site and can be re-located as earth moving progresses.
The disadvantage with the above system is that the terrain must be continually surveyed to determine the difference between the current terrain profile and the desired terrain profile.
Because of the inefficiencies associated with the above conventional earth moving systems it would be desirable to produce a system which monitored the operation of earth moving vehicles to provide each driver with up-to-date information on the current status of the terrain profile being excavated.

System for monitoring movement of a vehicle tool


An electrical connector comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals received in the insulative housing. The insulative housing has a mating portion, and the mating portion defines a plurality of receiving slots, an inserting slot communicating with the plurality of receiving slots and a pair of guiding posts respectively and symmetrically disposed at two sides of the inserting slot. The pair of guiding posts locating within the spectrum of the height of the inserting slot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector adapted for mounting on a print circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of the technology of wireless communication and advanced technology of electrics, electrical connectors are designed to establish an electrical connection between a storage device and a print circuit board for high-speed signal transmission.
Usually, these electrical connectors are mounted on a print circuit board or terminated with cable. Please referring to US 2003/0096517 A1, Ho discloses an electrical connector 1, comprising an insulative housing 11 and a plurality of terminals 12 received in the insulative housing 11. The insulative housing 11 is elongated and comprises a plurality of receiving slots 117 for receiving the terminals 12 and a mating port 115 engaging with complementary connector. The insulative housing 11 defines a front face 1101, a rear face 1102 opposite to the front face 1101 and a pair of side walls 1104, 1105 adjoining the front face 1101 and the rear face 1102. The side walls 1104, 1105 respectively defines a guiding post at the middle portion thereof. The height of each guiding post is about equal to that of the side wall. Accordingly, the complementary connector defines a guiding slot cooperating with the guiding post. However, electrical connector accommodated in this electronic device should be with compact structure to comply with the miniature trend. Due to the position and the height of the pair guiding posts, the height of the guiding slot of the complementary should be increased to make sure the tongue plate and guiding slot are respectively corresponding to the mating port and the guiding posts of the electrical connector 1. Therefore, this design is adverse to reduce the total height of the electrical connector and its complementary connector, and also increase the total cost.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.


In an example embodiment, a wireless device is operable to advertise a policy on the inclusion of the wireless device in a radio frequency map. For example, the wireless device may transmit a signal comprising a field in an extended capabilities information that indicates whether mapping of the wireless device is permissible. As another example, the wireless device may perform certain actions, such as changing media access control address, changing transmit power, and/or vary response times to prevent accurate mapping of the location of the wireless device.

Wireless devices can be equipped with capabilities for providing location services. For outdoor environments, global positioning satellites (GPS) can be employed. However, GPS doesn't always work well in indoor environments. Thus, for indoor environments, WIFI networks are frequently employed for providing location services. For example, a site survey may be conducted and a radio frequency (RF) topology map can be constructed. However, a venue may prefer to keep the location of its access points private. For example, a venue may wish to monetize location services. Other reasons may include security and/or privacy.


A system and method for illuminating a surface, comprising: providing a reflective layer around said surface; directing an electromagnetic beam to be incident on said layer; aligning said layer, said beam, and said surface so that said beam undergoes a plurality of reflections on said layer for illuminating a predetermined region of said surface, whereby the size of said region is larger than the size of said beam, and the intensity of illumination on said region is higher than the value obtained by multiplying the intensity of said beam and the ratio of the size of said beam to the size of said region.

Modern electronic devices such as smartphones and high resolution displays are made possible by advances in semiconductor technology. Inside these modern electronic devices lie components known as integrated circuits (IC). ICs provide the processing power and memory that allow the electronic devices to do complex tasks quicker.
ICs are manufactured in semiconductor fabrication facilities (fabs) that employ a variety of semiconductor capital equipment tools maintained in a carefully monitored environment. The capital equipment tools perform hundreds of process steps such as implantation, deposition, photolithography, etching, polishing, and packaging to transform a semiconductor wafer into a number of integrated circuit chips.
The process steps involved in the fabrication of ICs need to be carefully monitored and controlled to maximize production yield. Yield is a percentage value that refers to the ratio of the number of ICs that meet performance specifications in a given batch to the total number of ICs produced in the batch. Maximizing production yield of ICs is important to produce cost-effective electronic devices.
A variety of wafer inspection and metrology tools are employed in semiconductor fabs for monitoring and controlling process steps. Optical tools are used for tasks such as detecting defects on wafers and photolithography masks and for measuring wafer shape, critical dimension, film properties, and overlay.
Detecting yield-limiting defects on wafers, identifying the root cause of such defects, and controlling process parameters to bring defect levels within limits, are important activities in semiconductor fabrication. Advances in semiconductor fabrication technologies have reduced the size of individual components inside ICs from micrometer scale to nanometer scale features. As a result, the size of yield-limiting defects have also come down to the nanometer scale.
Detecting nanometer scale defects with traditional dark field or bright field optical inspection techniques is challenging because nanometer scale defects barely scatter optical radiation. The scattering intensity of defect particles, being proportional to the sixth power of defect diameter, exhibits a strong dependence on defect size. For example, reducing defect size by a factor of 2 results in a reduction in scattering intensity by a factor of 64. In order to detect yield-limiting defects at leading-edge semiconductor technology node, a leading-edge defect inspection tool requires an exponential increase in defect signal detection performance compared to a previous generation tool.
Scattering intensity of defect particles, being inversely proportional to the fourth power of wavelength, exhibits a dependence on wavelength. For example, reducing the wavelength of optical radiation by a factor of 2 increases scattering intensity by a factor of 16. However, developing light sources with high brightness at wavelengths lower than deep ultra violet has been challenging.
Scattering intensity of defect particles also exhibits a linear dependence on the intensity of optical radiation incident on the defects. A factor of 2 increase in the intensity of optical radiation increases scattering intensity also by a factor of 2. However, increasing the intensity of optical radiation increases the risk of damaging the wafer. The risk of laser damage is particularly high in ultraviolet wavelengths where the absorption coefficient of Silicon is high compared to visible and infrared wavelengths. Furthermore, increasing the optical power of a laser increases its complexity, size, and cost.
Accordingly, reducing the wavelength and increasing the intensity of optical radiation are not viable alternatives to adequately compensate the exponential decrease in scattering intensity of decreasing yield-limiting defect sizes. While semiconductor technology node sizes decreased at a fast pace from 130 nm to 14 nm (over 9× reduction) in the last decade, minimum detectable defect sizes decreased at a slower pace from 50 nm to 20 nm (2.5× reduction) in the same time period. This slower pace of improvement in defect detection performance negatively affects the production yield, cost, and timely release of leading-edge semiconductor devices.
Throughput of wafer inspection refers to the number of wafers that can be inspected per hour. Achieving high throughput is desirable in semiconductor fabs to reduce production times and cost.
In traditional wafer inspection tools, there exists a tradeoff between their defect sensitivity and inspection throughput. An increased ability to detect tiny defects comes at the price of reduced throughput. Similarly, an increased inspection throughput comes at the price of reduced sensitivity to tiny defects. This unfortunate tradeoff in traditional wafer inspection tools requires one to choose between two entities that are often equally important to semiconductor fabs.
Dark field wafer inspection tools illuminate a laser spot on the surface of a wafer and collect scattered light originating from the spot. Specular reflection from the spot is carefully prevented from entering the collection optics. Semiconductor wafers are polished to be smooth, so an overwhelming majority of light incident on the spot undergoes specular reflection and is prevented from being collected. The scattered light is so small that it is measured in the units of parts per million. Only a few of the millions of incident photons are eventually collected and detected. The majority of incident optical radiation is wasted. Accordingly, dark field wafer inspection tools suffer from extremely low optical efficiencies.
Darkfield wafer inspection tools inherently suffer from low inspection throughput because of scanning. The diameter of wafers to be inspected can be as large as 450 mm, while the size of the spot illuminated on the wafer is only a few tens of micrometers in size. In order to inspect every point on the wafer, the spot needs to be sequentially scanned to as much as a billion different points of the wafer.
In traditional dark field wafer inspection, techniques to improve inspection throughput by increasing the spot size of inspection results in a decrease in defect sensitivity because of two reasons. Firstly, the increase in spot size leads to a reduction in intensity of incident optical radiation on a defect, leading to a proportional reduction in the intensity of scattered light from the defect. Secondly, increasing the spot size leads to an increase in a background nuisance signal called haze. Haze refers to scattered radiation from surface roughness in wafer. Although the magnitude of surface roughness in a wafer is smaller than yield-limiting defect sizes, the somewhat uniform presence of surface roughness throughout the spot area (as opposed to isolated defects) could create a net haze signal large enough to overwhelm the signal from defects. This in turn leads to reduced defect sensitivity.
In traditional dark field wafer inspection, techniques to improve inspection throughput by increasing the speed of scanning also results in a decrease in defect sensitivity. The higher the scanning speed, the smaller the amount of time the spot spends at each point on the wafer. The amount of scattered radiation collected and detected from a point on the wafer reduces as the amount of time the spot spends at the point is reduced. Therefore, increasing scanning speed leads to a reduction in defect signal, leading to a reduction in defect sensitivity.
Traditional dark-field illumination systems used for wafer inspection suffer from a number of disadvantages. a) reduced defect sensitivity; b) reduced inspection throughput; c) trade-off between defect sensitivity and inspection throughput; d) extremely low optical efficiency; e) large and complex laser sources and illumination systems; f) complex scanning systems; g) change in wafer properties such as shape due to high speed scanning; h) reduced reliability because of motion of components during imaging; and i) increased cost.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved illumination system in wafer inspection systems that can improve defect sensitivity; improve inspection throughput; break the trade-off between defect sensitivity and inspection throughput; offer high optical efficiencies; reduce complexity of laser sources and illumination systems; reduce complexity of scanning systems; preserve wafer properties such as wafer shape during inspection; increase reliability; and reduce cost of the illumination system.

Wide field illumination for wafer inspection


A collapsed bag of unitary construction is made of supple polymeric material, having first and second opposed contiguous flat sidewalls joined at edges and at the bottom but free or with user-releasable weakening at upper edges. The upper edges define a bag mouth. Appropriately situated graspable points at or near bag edges allow the sidewalls to be tensioned or snapped in opposing directions thereby causing the interlayer cling, to which supple polymeric bags are renownedly susceptible, to be readily disrupted for the full distance of contact between the tensioning points and thus for virtually the entirety of the bag mouth to be opened.

1. This invention relates to the art of plastic bags, and in particular to a method of opening bags of supple polymeric material subject to interlayer cling. The invention also relates to collapsed bags made of supple materials, such as thermoplastic films, which have, integral to their design, features which render them easy to open from the collapsed state so they can be filled with materials. The invention applies to bags of plain or side-gussetted design.
2. Description of Related Art
Collapsed plastic bags as supplied empty and ready for use from stacks, rolls or various kinds of dispensers are often difficult or tedious to open manually, partly due to being packed for a long period in a flat or compressed state and sometimes due as well to factors arising from manufacture methods, for instance "cold welding" by which cut edges tend to form a weak bond, or materials, for instance "static cling". Such problems affect most severely bags made of thin films. With thick materials, flexing two adhered layers can place tension on the layer outermost in the curve and compression on the layer innermost in the curve and, depending on thickness and elasticity and the radius of flexion, a point may be easily reached where the static force is overcome by the energy stored in the compressed and tensioned layers so that they spontaneously disengage. This process is not reliable with thin-film bags because even with very tight curves the tension and compression differential is small on account of the difference in radius of curvature being small in turn on account of the small layer thickness, and the tension and compression generated is more easily accommodated by elasticity of the material and layers often do not disengage. Thin film bags are used routinely as checkout bags, produce bags, and general purpose bags. It is thus of advantage to design such bags to be more easily opened, in order to save time and reduce wastage of bags that are damaged during the opening attempt or discarded in frustration.
Additives may sometimes help to make layers separable, but additives generally add cost and also add a further control step in the manufacturing. Furthermore, additives may have unwanted effects such as odor or allergenicity, and some plastic additives have derived from animal fats that in some traditions and religions strictly prohibited—for example animal-derived components even as an ingredient in food packaging materials may be unacceptable under Kosher, Halal, Hindu, or strict vegetarian standards. The public has also been sensitised to animal-derived substances used in non-traditional ways by the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) problem, and also by the recent finding that some plastic additives act as hormone analogues with implications for human health and also ecological effects. Therefore not only is a solution needed to make collapsed bags easier to handle, but that solution is preferable and more consumer-acceptable if it is mechanical rather than chemical.
In confirmation of the above, the number of patents for mechanical methods show that major companies recognise a strong desire for mechanical solutions to ease handling of plastic bags.
CA 916383 (Walsh and Klein assigned to Leco Industries Ltd) teaches a method of selective cooling of a extruded polymeric tube for preparing blown material with thicker and thinner portions in the same sheet. Because increased thickness of material generally reduces the interlayer adhesion problem, this can be used to make bags with thicker material near the mouth while economising on the use of material overall. An added benefit may be relatively increased strength in the area of handles. This approach to improving the opening properties of bags is now public domain and can be seen in the market, including in small bags at retail establishments like Canadian Tire. But if the objective is to have a thickened zone where the bag mouth occurs for greater ease in opening, application of the thick-thin extrusion method is restricted to bags in which the vertical bag axis perpendicular to the direction of extrusion, for example common side-weld bags with punched handles, and not in that sense applicable to bags supplied on rolls, or T-shirt bags, other bags whose vertical axis is parallel to the direction of extrusion.
Block-headed bags, bags with tear tabs at the top, tabs in a stack of bags being block-welded together and provided with a hanger hole, are popular in many department stores. They are commonly based on the T-shirt plan but have a design address ease of handling. Block-headed T-shirt bags are typically used on racks with pegs supporting the bag handles and most critically a block-welded tab of tear-off sections of a wad of bags. These tabs are in the mouth area of each bag and attached by a weakened or partially cut zone to the main portion of the bag. When the bag is removed from the stack the tab remains behind. The principle is that the user can grasp the front of the front-most bag and that the force so applied will gather the front panel until a small region of that panel separates from the back layer, becomes folded and pinched by the user; then the idea is that pulling on the portion of the front panel so grasped will cause failure of the weakened portion whereby the front panel attaches to the block-welded tab and then further pulling against resistance maintained by the corresponding attachment of the back panel. This renders the bag open and supported by the rack for filling. Removal of the filled bag separates the back panel from the back panel tab, leaving the waste tab, leaving exposed the front panel of the next bag. In practise however, while an improvement over plain T-shirt bags, reliable performance requires moist or sticky fingers, and performance is poor if the bags have to be used without racks (many situations are not compatible with racks, and sometimes supply is short and the wrong size bags are all that are available), which presumably is why many stores still do not use this type of bag.
A further type of mechanical approach to easy opening of produce bags is known in the market (Sealed Air Corp. listing U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,941,393; 5,556,019 on product; and QuikStar™ listing U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,666 on product). It is analogous to a deeply gussetted bag which is then folded on its vertical axis, and which has tabs of a stack of bags block-welded and with a hanger hole. Tabs of each bag are connected by weakened zones to a part of either the front or the back panel (four tabs per bag). This concept gives a multiplicity of layers in which ease of opening benefits from the greater tension-compression differential achieved between innermost and outermost layers subjected to bending around a given radius as formed when the user pinches several layers simultaneously. Ease of opening also benefits from the improved chance of the cling between at least two adjacent layers being weak enough to be easily overcome by simple finger friction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,627 to Belias et al. discloses for flat bags a type having at least one main panel top edge cut on an undulating sinusoidal or like pattern and the other panel the other panel being either flat or similarly shaped edge but cut 180 degrees out of phase. This yields upward projections from the mouth of the bag that can be used to grasp and separate main panels and also to tie the bag closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,947 to McDuffie confronts problems associated with semirigid multilayer paper bags that are to be opened for filling with bulk materials and then reclosed by sewing on assembly lines. McDuffie's solution uses gusset panels that are both offset and glued to main sidewalls, reforming the bag mouth as a parallelogram and leaving the remaining gussets to form a pair of planar semirigid struts that come under compression when the bag as a whole is placed under horizontal tension in the plane of the main panels; the struts swing and expand the bag mouth, which is a parallelogram because of the glued gusset panel. In McDuffie's solution the bag opening is limited to a width about one-half of the general cross-section of the bag. McDuffie's approach uses not shearing as much as prying, the bag being semirigid; the pulling on McDuffie's tabs causes the free gusset to rotate away from the adjacent main (front or rear) panel, thus prying the front and rear panels apart (vs. peeling of extra folds or shearing of main panels or portions thereof), as in Hoover or the present invention). Indeed: the ratio of direct outward motion per unit lateral motion (pull) in McDuffie's solution can be calculated as [sin A/(1−cos A)], where A represents the angle so formed between the free gusset and adjacent main panel. Initially this ratio is infinity (i.e. all pull and no shear). Just after initiation, assuming an angle of 1 degree, the outward pull is over 100 times as much as the shear. The only shearing that would occur in McDuffie's solution would be better described as a brief rubbing of some portion of the center of the main panels that remain briefly in contact due to air pressure retarding (but not preventing) the opening of the bag. A planar strut as per McDuffie is unlikely to be practicable in thin-film bags. While the reduced opening in McDuffie's solution suffices to accommodate the ingress of granular goods or goods of relatively small dimensions, Hoover and the present invention allow full opening of the bag mouth for items up to the size of the bag volume itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,560 to Hoover et al (also filed as CA 1,329,384) addresses supple plastic bags and uses an approach that combines shearing of a part of the front and back panels and an unpeeling of extra vertical pleats which are made in the main panels of the bag and arranged in such a way as to collapse or unfold when the is placed under horizontal tension. If the extra pleats are located opposite each other the action is all peeling and no shear, if otherwise there is a combination. To open this type of bag requires a greater amount of movement, and a larger workspace space to accommodate it, to take up the slack provided by unfolding of the extra pleats. This solution creates at least two further problems. In many applications extra folds would be undesirable because of both complication of the printing operation and the subsequent disruption of any printed image that covers the area of the pleats. Also, this approach necessitates extra folds not otherwise required in the bag, so there is added difficulty in manufacture and indeed one source (C. Hutton of East Coast Converters, St. John's) considers it impossible from his experience.
Paper bags and plastic bags may have analogy by virtue of use, but not from the standpoint of practitioners of either art: techniques of man of cutting and gluing paper sheets are unlike those in the business of extruding thermoplastic materials. The former involves already-formed planar feedstock, laminating of multiple layers, cutting into patterned shapes that are perforated, crimped, glued, stapled, or stitched together and requires knowledge of cutters, rollers, stitchers, and glues; whereas the latter involves pelletised feedstock that is mixed, pumped, heated, inflated, cooled, and those ordinarily skilled in the art require familiarity with melting points, extrusion of tubular material and expansion by a controlled bubble of air, frost lines, uniform or structured cooling rates. Training and qualification in the one would be sparse recommendation for employment in the other. Most strikingly, even despite citing McDuffie, Hoover et al did not contemplate the use of offset main panels as an alternative to the additional pleats, and neither is there any evidence that McDuffie's solution influenced any practise in the art of thermoplastic resin bags. In the case of Hoover et al, this implies either that McDuffie did not present itself as a solution, or that Hoover and proprietors chose to patent an inferior solution and rely on McDuffie's solution not being realised by others.
The number of patents addressing mechanical approaches to rendering supple bags easy to open is evidence of a long-felt need and the prospect of commercial returns from solutions to the problem. No convenient solution has so far been found, as is evidenced by the frustration many shoppers feel in the local supermarket.

Method of opening for bags of supple polymeric material subject to interlayer cling


A power outlet capable of providing power in a controlled manner is disclosed. The power outlet may include a notification unit, a power input unit for receiving a power, a power output unit for outputting the power, a switching unit having a controlled switch for controlling the whether the power input unit is connected to the power output unit, in order to control a power supply mode of the power outlet, a configuration unit for generating a configuration signal, and a control unit, according to the configuration signal, for setting up an initial time value, driving the notification unit to generate a first notification signal, and counting down from the initial time value.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to a power outlet, and more particularly, to a power outlet capable of providing power in a controlled manner and a method for powering the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, current-existing electronic devices are capable of being recharged repeatedly when rechargeable batteries serve as one of their primary source of power. However, when the electronic devices with the rechargeable batteries are overly charged the life of the batteries may shorten and the electronic devices may be even damaged.
As such, a power outlet that is capable of not only continuing the power supply with the electronic devices and being able to cut off the power supply before the electronic devices become fully charged may minimize the occurrence of the batteries of the electronic device being overly charged and prevent the electronic devices from being damaged as the result.

Power outlet capable of providing power in a controlled manner and method for configuring the same