A system that includes a controller for enabling an enumeration operation. The enumeration operation is performed by a controller (110) and logic elements (120) in a system, such that each logic element in the system assigns itself a unique identifier. Each logic element can then be controlled by another source or have a means to communicate with other logic elements in the system. The unique identifier enables greater system flexibility, thereby reducing cost and improving efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a means of generating unique identifiers using hardware such that multiple hardware resources can possess a means to communicate and/or be controlled by another source.
With the proliferation of electronic circuitry comes more complex and intricate systems composed of many different circuits that must work together to accomplish a task. Often such parameters as speed and cost drive the system designs. Reliability, resource usage, and flexibility of the systems are also factors that contribute to design.
For example, in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, test systems are a very large component of cost. Testing is typically time consuming, and requires specific equipment, overhead, and resources. Furthermore, testing varies from IC design to IC design, requiring more system flexibility. Current testing systems, formats and infrastructure do not efficiently accommodate such a wide variety of required tests.
2. Brief Summary of the Invention
An embodiment described herein provides a flexible system, which, for example, reduces power consumption during test, enables modification of test specifications to improve yield, and reduced pin count diagnostic operations, as well as other advantages not listed here but as can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art.
The system includes a controller for enabling an enumeration operation, and at least one logic element. Multiple circuits under test (CUT) are coupled to logic elements, which execute the testing operations according to test data structures (e.g. files, patterns, etc.).
Each logic element has a unique ID that it assigns to itself when given the enumeration command by the controller (generally at power up). Typically the enumeration command is performed only once but is not limited to a single run. The system performs tests on the CUTs by instructing the controller and the logic elements. Tests can be performed by all logic elements, a subset of logic elements, or a single logic element. For example, the system can issue a command to test all of the SRAM CUTs by specifying that the logic elements coupled to SRAM CUTs are to perform the test. Likewise, the system may perform a test operation on a CUT or CUTs controlled by a single logic element.
The system provides greater flexibility in the test environment. For example, the system provides: power savings by testing only CUTs that require a given test operation; the ability to adjust margins for specific CUTs that will normally operate at slower speeds; a diagnostic mode such that select logic elements are adjusted to collect diagnostic information such as, for example, bit fail maps.

Method and apparatus for self identification of circuitry

International Business Machines Corporation


A radio-frequency, RF, slab laser 10 with a Z-fold resonator cavity defined by an output mirror 32, a first fold mirror 34, a second fold mirror 36 and a rear mirror 30. The second fold mirror 36 is rotated by an adjustment angle away from the angle it would have if the mirrors were all plane mirrors and directed the round trip beam path by direct reflection. Moreover, the rear mirror 30 is rotated by an adjustment angle that is approximately twice the adjustment angle of the second fold mirror 36. These rotations of the rear mirror 30 and second fold mirror 36 suppresses parasitic mode paths that would otherwise exist.

An RF slab laser is a laser with a kind of flat planar construction in which a pair of electrodes are arranged so that their mutually facing inner surfaces form a gap of a certain thickness. When an RF drive signal is applied to the electrodes, a plasma discharge of a gas, such as carbon dioxide, is formed in the gap as a gain medium capable of supporting stimulated emission within a resonator cavity. If the slab is of sufficiently small thickness in relation to the lasing wavelength, the slab forms a waveguide supporting only a finite number of one or more modes across the gap. However, other designs have slabs whose thicknesses are large enough to support an effectively infinite number of non-waveguide free space modes.
The lasing medium of a slab laser is a plasma of a gas, most commonly carbon dioxide as the active molecule, although other gases such as carbon monoxide, helium and nitrogen as well as gas mixtures containing one or more of these gases are known. The electrode gap of a slab laser is hollow and so needs a vacuum-tight envelope to allow the gas plasma discharge to be formed across the gap, the plasma being induced either between a ground electrode and an RF driven electrode, or two RF electrodes that are driven with complementary phases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,639 A (Tulip) shows an example slab laser design, which now may be viewed as conventional. The slab is defined by a pair of rectangular slab electrodes, namely a grounded lower electrode and an upper RF driven electrode, the pair of electrodes having a gap between them of a size corresponding to the slab waveguide thickness. A vacuum enclosure, which is electrically grounded, is arranged to contain the electrodes. An electrical, vacuum-tight, feed-through is provided through a sidewall of the vacuum enclosure to the RF electrode so that RF energy can be supplied to the upper RF electrode via an external impedance matching network. This RF power creates and maintains an excited gas discharge in the slab waveguide between the electrodes. This design approach for the vacuum enclosure is typical. Namely, the vacuum enclosure is made of metal, e.g. aluminum, is electrically grounded, and encloses the electrodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,460,577 B2 (Morrow) shows an example design with two slabs. A single resonator fold is formed with a mirror arranged to deflect light by about 160 degrees to create a V-shaped resonator cavity in which the two slabs extend at an angle to each other. (Another common folded cavity design is Z-shaped, i.e. two folds, see e.g. US 2005/0094697 A1 (Armier).) The design of U.S. Pat. No. 7,460,577 B2 is not unusual by virtue of its V-folded slab design, but rather because of how its gas enclosure is realized. The gas enclosure is not arranged outside the electrodes, as is conventional, but rather inside the electrodes. The electrodes sit outside the vacuum enclosure, being arranged in recesses of a convoluted vacuum container surface. As a consequence, the RF energy for exciting the plasma discharge has to be applied through the walls of the vacuum enclosure. The vacuum enclosure cannot therefore be made of metal or other electrically conductive material, as is conventional, but is rather implemented in a ceramic material. (The disclosed construction is with two ceramic halves bonded together.) RF energy supplied to the upper electrode excites a gas discharge through the ceramic material of the gas enclosure, so that the walls of the ceramic material need to be quite thin in these areas. An advantage of this "outboard" enclosure design, compared with the conventional "inboard" enclosure design (exemplified above by U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,639 A), is that a vacuum feed-through is not required to supply RF energy to the driven electrode. A disadvantage is the difficulty caused by having two walls of the vacuum enclosure arranged in the electrode gap, as well as the difficulty of making the two enclosure halves in ceramic material to high precision and then bonding them together in a vacuum tight manner.


A Transfermix cold feed extruder having a plasticizing section that includes a plurality of screw flights therein in a transfer zone that is formed over a common length of the screw and barrel of the extruder. In the transfer zone, a helical groove in the screw varies in cross section from a full area to a zero area, and a helical groove of opposite hand in the barrel correspondingly varies in cross section from a zero area to a full area. The extruder is provided with a set of flow deflectors in a cut in the screw positioned immediately upstream of the plasticizing section. By the coaction of the flow deflectors with the plurality of screw flights, an increase of throughput for difficult-to-extrude compounds, with an improvement in the quality of the extrudate, is obtained in a surprising manner.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to cold feed rubber extruders.
2. Description of Related Art
Cold feed rubber extruders, generally comprising a feed-opening, a compression-section, a plasticizing section and an exit section leading to an extrusion head, have been replacing warm feed rubber extruders throughout the Industry, though for certain compounds and applications the latter still persist.
With advances in design, mainly in the plasticizing section, the range has been extended to include more rubber compounds which had been found difficult to extrude on account of high viscosity (Mooney values), nerve (natural rubber compounds), hardness, high fillercontent or special sensitivity to heat build-up.
Such a plasticizing section has been the Transfermix (U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,287 Parshall & Geyer 1956, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,147 of 1967 or UK Pat. No. 842,692 Frenkel of 1956 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,969 Meyer of 1979 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,772, Meyer of 1979) having the generic feature that in a transfer-zone formed over a common length of screw and barrel, in the screw a helical groove varies in cross-section from full area to zero area and in the barrel the cross-section of an opposite handed helical groove varies from zero area to full area, whereby in the said transfer-zone the compound is transferred from the said screw into the said barrel, while being mixed and plasticized. The said plasticizing section may comprise only one such transferzone or more, where a second one is conversely adapted by way of changes in cross-sections of helices to effect a return-transfer from barrel to screw.
For a given cross-sectional area between the bottom of the screw-helix and that of the barrel helix, such a Transfermix geometry provides a uniform action of flow division and rearrangement, treating on one transfer each subdivision just once and none repeatedly, unlike other plasticizing systems, which operate non-uniformly to different degrees and are therefore less effective.
Mathematics can be developed to show that for the earlier (1956) generation of Transfermix having invariant numbers of helical grooves in each transfer-zone, this number is limited by the condition of maintaining continuity of transport by shear stress transfer in the rubber. Expressed simply, this means avoiding grooves which get too deep and narrow so that there can be no more forward transport in the bottoms of the grooves due to the relative rotation of the screw and barrel and the grooves are no longer self-cleaning.
This limitation is, to a large measure, overcome in the second (1979) generation of Transfermix, where the number of helical grooves varies inversely as between screw and barrel within the same transfer-zone, whereby the width/depth ratio of individual helical channels can be kept such that transport flow--and thereby the important practical feature of self-cleaning--is maintained while effecting a much more intense flow-division and rearrangement, which in equal intensity can be realized for any diameter of Transfermix. Hence the designation "Multi Cut Transfermix" and the considerable widening of its plasticizing action into the range of difficult-to-extrude compounds, as well as its solution of the scale-up problem, enabling an equal plasticizing action to be designed into any diameter of a range of extruders similar in outline dimensions, such as L/D ratio.
To quote numbers on the example of a 90 mm Transfermix: In the first generation the maximum number of helical grooves in both screw and barrel for an output typical for this size would be 4-6 in the screw and 4-6 in the barrel, making 16 to 36 subdivisions, whereas the Multi Cut Transfermix would bring about 40 to 80 subdivisions.
This concentrated action, compared to other types of plasticizing section, has for both generations led to transfer-zones of a length of 1 to 1.5 screw diameters, which has allowed "easy to extrude" compounds to be plasticized homogeneously at relatively low temperatures with throughput restricted by the die-resistance only, while for more "difficult" compounds various degrees of throttling in addition to the die-resistance bring uniformity into the plasticization, thus greatly extending the range of compounds.
A disadvantage noted in the compression-section as an area serving a Transfermix plasticising section has been the following:
According to experience with Transfermix systems gained particularly on tough natural rubber (NR) and highly loaded compounds, a plain screw-compression-section leads to very high torques on the screw by leaving practically the total work of plasticization to the Transfermix-section--so much so that in certain cases a drive installed for normal compounds was stopped. Some relief was obtained by notching the screw flights over a part of their depth and at a flight-angle higher than that of the groove, not only in the entry-zone, where this is a useful measure for gripping the feed, but additionally up to about three-quarter way into the compression zone, which had a preplasticising effect and made the drive adequate again.
This, however, reduced the pressure-build up and could not produce a pre-plastication extending over the full depth of the screw channels.
Of other known plasticizing systems, especially the type called Pin Barrel Extruder (U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,104 Menges et al of 1979 corrected to 4,199,263 of 1980) has found wide application in the last 15 years. In this, at various positions along the length of a screw, rings of radially arranged flow-interruptors, mostly pins of circular cross-section, extend from the barrel into corresponding circular cuts in the screw, reaching to the bottom of the helical grooves. In each such ring, the diameter of the pins must be sufficient to withstand the considerable forces exerted by the flow of the rubber and the number of pins is limited by the fact that they must avoid throttling the forward flow.
With rotation and corresponding forward transport of compound, these pins, which loosely fit into the cuts in the screw, exert a kneading action which, on account of the above limitations on diameter and number of pins, is non-uniform around the circumference.
This kneading action is repeated in a number of so-called pin-planes, each at least one pitch-length of the screw away from the next, and has been used for plastification in extruders up to large diameters. The number of such pin-planes ranges from about 6 for easy-to-plasticize compounds to 10 or more for more difficult compounds, where excessive temperature development has generally limited the application of such extruders at the difficult end of the range of compounds.
It can be observed that in a pin plane, some elements of the flow of material are being deformed, rather than sliced, circumferentially while others slip undeformed between the pins, whereas in a Transfermix this flow is being sliced circumferentially into elements, each one a part of a thin shell, of substantially equal area and distributed over the radial depth of the screw in an orderly fashion. The deforming action in a pin plane, having regard to the necessarily small number of pins around the circumference in order to avoid throttling the flow, can not be anything like as concentrated as in any Transfermix that way, nor can this be lengthwise of the screw on account of the intervening lengths of screw between the pin-planes.
In each pin plane, however, the rotation of the compound is reduced relative to that of the screw so that on being gripped again by the rotating screw thereafter, the pressure-build-up is increased locally and forward transport tends to be improved.
This improvement in transport-action over that by the screw on its own is very limited for these reasons:
In order to be effective as a kneading element; the fit of the pins in the cuts of the screw has to be very loose. Furthermore, the number of starts of the screw that reinduce rotation of a segment of the compound is generally not above two. As a general comparison, in an axial flow pump a large number of vanes would be mounted in the rotor for inducing pressure-build up at as many circumferential positions as possible.
In the second generation of Transfermix, the problems of plasticization have been solved by providing a multiplicity of flights in the screw and the barrel in special arrangements, where at the beginning of the plasticizing zone the screw already has many more flights than in the preceding compression-zone.
It is an object of this invention to provide, in combination with a Transfermix plasticizing section, a means for effecting at the end of the compression zone a pre-plasticizing effect which extends over the full depth of the helical grooves.
It is a further object of this invention that such a preplasticizing effect be achieved with a substantial increase of the pressure build-up immediately upstream.

Plasticizing sections of cold feed rubber extruders


A method and apparatus for performing the remote identification of the contents of containers by means of multiple radio frequency identification systems.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for performing the remote, real-time identification of the contents of containers by means of multiple radio frequency identification systems.
Radio Frequency ID (RFID) systems allow for the identification of objects at a distance and out of line of sight. They are comprised of transponders called radio frequency (RF) tags and RF interrogators (also called readers). The tags are smaller, sometimes as small as a grain of rice, less expensive than interrogators, and are commonly attached to objects such as product packages in stores. When an interrogator comes within range of an RF tag, it may provide power to the tag via a querying signal, or the RF tag may use stored power from a battery or capacitor to send a radio frequency signal to be read by the RFID interrogator.
RF tags may consist of single integrated circuits, circuits and antennae, or may incorporate more complex capabilities such as computation, data storage, and sensing means. Some categories of RFID tags include the following: passive tags that acquire power via the electromagnetic field emitted by the interrogator, semi-passive tags that respond similarly, but also use on-board stored power for other functions, active tags that use their own stored power to respond to an interrogator's signal, inductively coupled tags that operate at low frequencies and short distances via a coil antenna, single or dipole antenna-equipped tags that operate at higher frequencies and longer distances, read-write tags that can alter data stored upon them, full-duplex or half duplex tags, collision arbitration tags that may be read in groups, or non-collision tags that must be read individually.
RFID systems present a number of advantages over other object marking and tracking systems. A radio frequency interrogator may be able to read a tag when it is not in line of sight from the interrogator, when the tag is dirty, or when a container obscures the tag. RFID systems may identify objects at greater distances than optical systems, may store information into read/write tags, do not require a human operator, and may read tags hidden from visual inspection for security purposes. These advantages make RFID systems useful for tracking objects.
Generally, less expensive RFID systems have lesser capabilities. For instance, passive tags may have very low cost per unit, facilitating widespread use, but they also have limited range. RFID systems may also fail when applied to groups of objects, containers of multiple objects, or nested containers of objects. For shipping and warehousing of large containers on pallets, which often contain nested containers, inexpensive passive tags on individual objects may not provide adequate identification rates. Human manipulation of such objects may afford acceptable identification rates, but it also increases the cost of identifying each object. Active tags have greater range, but they may be impractical in many instances because of cost, shelf life, RF interference or other reasons. There is a need for a system that allows for the use of multiple tag types for groups of objects in potentially mobile containers that delivers a high read rate under a variety of conditions, at a distance, and at a reasonable cost. Such a system presents an advantage over prior art by surmounting compatibility issues presented by environments equipped with RFID systems of one type that need to process items tagged by a system of a different type.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,928 discloses an apparatus and method for a radio frequency document control system that enables the location of documents, such as office files, to be automatically and rapidly identified. The apparatus differs from this invention in a number of regards: the intermediate transceiver is not attached to a mobile container or described as operating while in motion; it requires a personal computer or other computation means to process the identity of documents; and its order of communication between transceivers does not allow for switched, efficient scanning of a container's content.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,446 discloses an interactive medication container or console that holds or otherwise organizes one or more medication vials or containers. The system automatically acquires information from memory strips on the vials or containers that is then made available to an external data processing system. It differs from this invention in several important regards: the medication container does not communicate via RFID with the external world, and the invention does not facilitate the rapid remote inventory of a mobile container.
U.S. Pat. Application No. 2002/0183882 A1 discloses a point of sale and delivery method and system using communication with remote computer and having features to read a large number of tags. The system resembles that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,446. It automatically acquires information from tags on the products within a container and then presents them to an external data processing system. It differs from this invention in several important regards: the external container does not communicate its contents via RFID with the external world. Instead, it uses, in one embodiment, an external RFID system to restrict access to the container. The invention does not provide the advantage of translating between incompatible RFID systems. The invention does not provide the advantage of effective remote inventory of clustered or nested containers via an external RFID system.

Remote identification of container contents by means of multiple radio frequency identification systems


A handle for a toner cartridge may include an opening and be constructed of elastically deformable materials. The handle may deform when inside of an image forming device to provide at least some force to press an image carrier against a developer carrier.

A known tandem image forming apparatus is provided with image carriers corresponding to yellow, magenta, cyan and black toner. Such a tandem image forming apparatus can print in color at substantially the same speed as printing in monochrome, because a toner image of each color is formed at substantially the same time on each corresponding one of the image carriers and each of the different colored images is sequentially laid on top of a sheet while the sheet passes the image carriers.
As disclosed in one example of this type of tandem image forming apparatus, an image carrier cartridge supports image carriers, each associated with one color. The image carrier cartridge is slidably installed in or removed from a body casing of the image forming apparatus. A developing cartridge for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on each of the image carriers is removably set in the image carrier cartridge.
In one example of an image forming apparatus, four developing cartridges are installed in a frame of the image carrier cartridge with little space. Therefore, it is not easy to install in or remove the developing cartridges from the image carrier cartridge.

Image forming apparatus and developing cartridge with deformable handle


A spearhead assembly (10) comprises a base (12) provided with a slot (14) at one end (16) which opens onto an outer surface (13) of the base (12). The outer surface (13) is composed of three contiguous surface portions (18, 20 and 22). A spearpoint (20) is pivotally coupled at its proximal end (26), which is disposed in the slot (14), to the base (12). A distal end (28) of the spearpoint (24) extends or projects beyond the slot (14) and the surface (13) of the base (12). A spearpoint positioning system (30) urges the spearpoint (24) toward one of three annually spaced positioned. These positions are characterised by the spearpoint (24) extending substantially perpendicular to parallel opposed edges of the slot (14) which open onto, or are flanked by, the surface portions (18), (20 and 22). Moving the spearpoint from one position to another requires the application of an external force.

In various areas of downhole drilling, for example core drilling, a spearhead assembly is attached to a downhole tool to facilitate connection of that tool to an overshot which in turn is attached to a wireline. This allows the tool to be lowered into a drill hole and subsequently retrieved.
The spearhead assembly has a base in the shape of a squat cylindrical having a diametrically extending slot at one end in which one end of spearpoint is pivotally coupled. An opposite end of the spearpoint is configured for releasable latching to the overshot. When connecting a spearhead assembly to an overshot above ground, an operator can easily align the spearpoint and the overshot to ensure coupling. The tool can then be lowered through the drill string by virtue of the coupling of the overshot to the spearhead assembly. When the tool has reached the desired location, the overshot can be decoupled from the spearhead assembly and withdrawn from the drill string to allow drilling to proceed. When it is necessary to withdraw the tool from the drill string, the overshot is again lowered into the drill string for coupling with the spearhead assembly.
The downhole coupling of the overshot and the spearhead assembly is generally reliable. However due to its pivot coupling, from time-to-time the spearpoint can become locked against an internal surface of the drill string and thus cannot be engaged by the overshot to allow withdrawal of the tool. In this instance, it is necessary to withdraw the entire drill string in order to retrieve the tool.


In preferred embodiments, a utility vehicle (such as, e.g., a skid steer vehicle) having a raised and lowered utility boom includes: a vehicle body; an engine supported within the vehicle body; a boom supported over the body; a utility mechanism supported on the boom; an operator cab supported on the vehicle body; and a forward tilt mechanism about which the cab tilts forward for maintenance or service; and a boom linkage moveable between a retracted position and an extended position; wherein, in the extended position the boom linkage provides a substantially unobstructed access to the vehicle body from left and right sides of the vehicle. The vehicle can also include a removable cover that enables access to the vehicle body behind the cab and/or a rear-end door that enables access from a rear end of the vehicle for maintenance or service.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to, among other things, utility vehicles having an extendable utility boom and certain preferred embodiments relate, more particularly, to vehicles having heavy duty boom linkages, including, e.g., various skid loaders and the like.
2. Discussion of the Background
There are a variety of known utility vehicles having extendable utility booms. These boomed utility vehicles are often used for construction and/or other utilitarian purposes, such as, e.g., for lifting, pushing, scraping, digging, plowing and/or various other purposes. In many instances, the vehicles include a) a main body having at least one seat for a vehicle operator (such as, for example, a seat located within a protective cab), b) wheels and/or other supports mounted on the body portion for supporting the same, c) a raised and/or lowered utility boom, and d) a utility mechanism mounted to the utility boom. In some illustrative cases, the utility mechanism mounted to the utility boom can include, e.g., one or more of the following: a) an auger; b) a backhoe; c) a dozer blade; e) a bucket; f) a fork (e.g., for pallets, manure or the like); g) a grinder; h) a rake; i) shears; j) a roller; k) spike (e.g., for bails of hay or the like); l) a jig boom; m) a broom; n) a scraper; o) a tree spade; p) a plow; q) a mower; r) a trencher; s) a four-in-one bucket; and/or various other utility mechanisms.
Because these vehicles are often used for work related purposes, ease of maintenance and/or service can often be important for increased work efficiency and/or increased performance capabilities. Nevertheless, existing devices often have access limitations rendering maintenance and/or service of such devices relatively problematic and/or cumbersome. These ease-of-access deficiencies can in many cases decrease work efficiency and/or performance. Thus, these ease-of-access deficiencies can often result in decreased production, increased costs and/or other drawbacks.
For example, boomed utility vehicles, such as, e.g., various skid loaders or skid steers (such as, e.g., wherein the vehicles front wheels skid rather than turning) often have a vehicle body with a boom structure that rises vertically from the vehicle body. This boom structure typically hinders service and/or maintenance by obstructing parts, such as, e.g., engine and/or drive systems, requiring service and/or maintenance.
For example, most skid loaders or the like have pivot points for their booms that are located in a position that results in obstruction of maintenance and/or service abilities (such as, e.g., pivot points located on wide pillars above a vehicle body) and/or include cabs that tilt around pivot points that are located in a position that results in obstruction of maintenance and/or service abilities (such as, e.g., pivot points located proximate a rear of a cab).
As some examples, certain XT SERIES skid loaders manufactured by CASE CORPORATION include, among other deficiencies, an obstructive boom structure with, for example, wide pillars that obstruct maintenance and/or service abilities. In addition, certain 200 SERIES skid loaders manufactured by JOHN DEERE, such as the 270 MODEL, includes, among other deficiencies, a rearwardly pivoted cab and an obstructive boom structure with, for example, wide pillars that obstruct maintenance and/or service abilities. In addition, the JOHN DEERE 7775 MODEL includes, among other deficiencies, a cab-over feature that attempts to make repair work easier but that requires special tools for operation and use. In addition, certain skid loaders manufactured by GEHL CO., i.e., their 7800 MODEL, include, among other deficiencies, a cab structure that pivots towards the rear and obstructs maintenance and/or service abilities.
There remains a need for, among other things, improved vehicles having a raised and/or lowered utility boom, such as, e.g., improved skid loaders.

Easy maintenance and/or service utility vehicle with extendable utility boom


Provided are a pulse width stretcher and a chirped pulse amplifier including the same. The pulse width stretcher includes first and second multiple reflection mirrors, and a pulse group-delay dispersion block disposed between the first and second multiple reflection mirrors and configured to refract a pulse laser beam to stretch a pulse width of the pulse laser beam.

The present disclosure herein relates to an optical amplifier, and more particularly, to a pulse width stretcher that stretches the pulse width of a pulse laser beam, and a chirped pulse amplifier including the same.
In the mid-1980s, there was an important advance of optical technology that overcomes the output power limit of a pulse laser beam according to the damage threshold of a gain medium. That is a chirped pulse amplification technique. The chirped pulse amplification technique may provide a pulse laser beam having output power significantly higher than a general pulse amplification technique. A conventional chirped pulse amplifier may generate a pulse laser beam having maximum output power lower than or equal to about 1 GW. The chirped pulse amplifier may control the pulse width of a pulse laser beam to minimize the effect of the damage threshold of an optical medium. Thus, the chirped pulse amplifier may generate a pulse laser beam having maximum output power equal to higher than about 1 TW.

Pulse width stretcher and chirped pulse amplifier including the same

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The present assembly provides a coupling element for an adjustable hand lever mechanism. The coupling element having an disk shaped body, an extension and a projection. The disk shaped body has a D-shaped opening extending longitudinally therethrough. The coupling element may be made from a material, e.g., metal, that is harder than the material, e.g., plastic, from which the hand lever is made. The extension of the coupling element protrudes radially outward from the outer circumference of the disk shaped body. The projection is situated outside the disk shaped body of the coupling element and extends upward from the upper surface of the extension in a direction substantially parallel to the D-shaped opening of the disk shaped body. The D-shaped opening allows for ease of manufacturing by using a die having a D-shaped core for molding a hand lever about a coupling element. The D-shape ensures that the extension of the coupling element will be accurately oriented within the handle of the hand lever prior to and during the molding process.

This invention relates to a coupling element for a hand lever mechanism. More particularly this invention relates to a metallic coupling element used in combination with a non-metallic handle in order to form a hand lever mechanism where the metallic coupling element is designed to ensure safe, consistent molding of the coupling element within the handle. The invention also relates to a method of molding a metallic coupling element within a non-metallic handle.
Adjustable hand lever mechanisms and similar items are well known in the clamping, fastener and hand lever art. These devices are used in applications in which frequent, multiple adjustments and/or clampings are required, e.g., on various industrial equipment where tools are not practical due to space or cost restrictions. Typically, these mechanisms may attach to a spindle, shaft or similar device. As such, the adjustable hand lever mechanism must be able to rotatably engage and disengage the device to be rotated.
Various hand lever mechanisms are described by Kipp in U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,614 which is incorporated herein by reference. Kipp addresses adjustable hand lever mechanisms comprising a non-metallic hand lever and a metallic coupling element. Kipp explains that cost and weight considerations favor a nonmetallic, preferably a plastic, hand lever mechanism, but torque considerations favor a metallic coupling element since this element almost always engages a metallic fastening element. As further described by Kipp, if the hand lever mechanism is to be useful for its intended purpose, then the metallic coupling element must be incorporated into the non-metallic handle in such a manner that one does not rotate with respect to the other during operation of the hand lever mechanism. Kipp addressed this concern by designing the coupling element to have an annular configuration equipped with anchoring elements, e.g., projecting elements arranged uniformly along the outer periphery of the coupling element. These anchoring elements are imbedded in the hand lever and, as such, resist rotation of one about the other during operation of the hand lever mechanism. While this design may be generally effective for its intended purpose, alternative coupling designs are desirable for a number of reasons including cost of manufacture, ease of assembly, operational effectiveness, quality assurance in molding, protection of dies, the ability to manufacture it from metals not as susceptible to corrosion and/or contaminating food, medical devices, etc., such as stainless steel. Of particular interest are coupling elements that allow for convenient alignment and support of such a coupling element within a handle prior to and during molding. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a coupling element that can be molded into a handle in an accurate, safe and inexpensive manner.

Coupling element for hand lever mechanism


An improved method of extracting nutrients from soil samples using hot water. The improved method utilizes an expresso coffee machine to force hot water through soil samples to which no filler materials such as silica sand has been added. Tests were performed with an expresso machine that generates a pressure of 2.5 bar and a temperature of 93.degree. C. The method was performed with the following steps. Soils to be tested were air dried at a maximum temperature of 25.degree. C. and passed through a 2.0 mm (number 10 mesh) screen. A 5.0-gram soil sample was placed in the expresso machine filter basket, which was lined with a 5.50-cm diameter medium filter paper. 100 ml of distilled water was placed in the expresso machine's boiler, and allowed to heat for 2.0 minutes. The heated water was released and passed through the soil sample until the boiler was empty and the filter basket without surface water. Extraction aliquots were allowed to cool. 10 ml samples from the extraction aliquots were tested for nitrate, phosphorus, sulfate, and potassium content, as well as for nitrate clarity and pH. Measured values correlated well with those obtained using standard nutrient extraction techniques.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to soil nutrient extraction methods and, more particularly, to hot water nutrient extraction systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Increasing demand for soil analysis, prompted by environmental and economic factors, has intensified the need for an inexpensive, fast, convenient, and precise extraction method. Wet chemistry extractions for soil analyses are often labor intensive, complicated or environmentally hazardous. The extractions are generally tedious, typically involve expensive equipment, require considerable laboratory space, and normally involve the use of numerous chemical reagents. These factors render contemporary soil analysis methods prohibitively expensive for all but the most serious agronomic and horticultural pursuits. Simplified soil analysis procedures, if commercially available, are unlikely to extract multiple nutrients in one step and generally require varied reagent use for extractions.
The search for a simple, one-step, nutrient extraction method utilizing hot water was probably initiated early in the twentieth century by Konig (1906). Anion exchange resin, in combination with water, has been used to measure the total desorption of phosphorus (Amer, et al., 1955). Van der Paauw (1969) proposed that phosphorus (P) extraction efficiency could be improved by using a soil-water ratio of 1:50. Korschens, et al. (1984) used the Soxhlet extraction technique, which utilizes water, to extract and measure carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soils. Suntheim and Matzel (1985) used a continuous water extraction technique to determine phosphorus conent in soils. Most recently, a hot water percolation method to extract both macro and micro nutrients was reported for acidic soils of Hungary by Fulkey and Czinkota (1993). Using this method, a mixture consisting of a 30 g soil sample and 10 g of sand was placed on the filter of a coffee percolator and water preheated to 102-105.degree. C. was percolated through the sample under a pressure of 120 to 150 kilopascals (equivalent to about 1.2 to 1.5 bar or 17.4 to 21.75 lbs./in.sup.2) until about 100 to 500 ml of extract were collected. Results obtained from this latter extraction process compared favorably with plant uptake experiments for acidic soils. Fulkey and Czinkota determined that the time required to obtain 100 ml of extract for percolation through pure soil samples averaged 41 minutes, while an average of 188 minutes was required to obtain 500 ml of extract. Because of such unreasonably long percolation times, they determined that it was necessary to dilute the soil samples with sand. They determined that too much sand resulted in such rapid percolation that the amount of nutrients released into the accumulated extract was insufficient for accurate quantitative analysis of the soil sample. Through trial and error, it was determined that a mixture of 25% sand and 75% soil sample, by weight, provided the best combination of reasonable percolation times (an average of 2.6 minutes for 100 ml of extract) and adequate release of nutrients into the extract.
What is needed is an improved method for hot water extraction of nutrients from soil samples which is inexpensive, rapidly performed, capable of providing excellent analytical results for a variety of nutrients, and which does not require the mixing of sand with a soil sample. Ideally, such an improved method would make use of readily available equipment which could be used, without modification, to practice the improved method, or which could be readily and inexpensively modified for such practice.

Soil nutrient extraction method using pressurized hot water


A wideband phase and frequency modulator using a direct digital synthesis alias frequency band is described. The modulator is spurious free by the utilization of a fixed frequency at the output of the direct digital synthesizer wherein only certain submultiples of the clock frequency are used. Known frequency ratios relative to the clock frequency of the direct digital synthesizer (DDS) cause the DDS to function as a simple divider resulting in extremely low spurious levels when additional conditions are met. An additional frequency synthesizer may be utilized to achieve a tuning range since the DDS output is preferably held at a fixed frequency. At least one additional mixing operation is utilized for upconversion to a microwave frequency. Since fixed frequency ratios are used, implementation simpler than a full DDS may also be constructed consisting of digital modulators, multiplexers, digital to analog convertors, and filters.

The present invention generally relates to the field of video transmitters, and more particularly to a wideband precision phase modulator for utilization in video transmitters.
A desire existed for a wideband precision phase modulator for utilization in video transmitters. Typical implementations of wideband precision phase modulators comprise analog voltage controlled phase shifters, I/Q modulators, or wideband phase locked loops. All of the prior art analog modulator designs are adversely affected by environmental conditions such as temperature and vibration, especially when wide modulating frequency bandwidths are required. However, a completely digital implementation of a wideband precision phase modulator would not suffer from adverse vibration and temperature environmental conditions.
The principle of modulating a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) for phase or frequency modulation is well known. However, where high precision wideband modulation is desired (i.e. greater than 10 megapixels per second of video) the existing DDS designs do not meet stringent design criteria.
The specifications for high precision wideband video dictate extremely low spurious levels. For an arbitrary tuning frequency, the spurious levels of available DDS designs do not meet these requirements. The DDS is further required to have a high clock frequency to properly sample the input modulation, equivalent to meeting a Nyquist criteria, and to provide an output high enough in frequency to avoid multiple frequency upconversions to the final frequency band. Available DDS devices either provide an adequate number of phase modulation bits but have an insufficient overall clock frequency, or provide an adequate clock frequency but have an insufficient number of modulation bits.

Spurious free wideband phase and frequency modulator using a direct digital synthesis alias frequency band


A method of processing a wooden piece into a predetermined shape by compressing the wooden piece, includes bending a raw-material piece which is a wooden piece to be processed and is placed in a humid condition of high temperature, cutting out a blank-material piece from the raw-material piece bent in the bending so that the blank-material piece includes at least a part of a bent portion of the raw-material piece, and compressing the blank-material piece cut out in the cutting out in a water vapor atmosphere of a temperature and a pressure higher than those of an atmospheric air.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing a wooden piece into a predetermined shape by compressing the wooden piece.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, wood which is a natural material attracts attention. With a wide variety of grain patterns, wood products exhibit individual features depending on positions of raw wood from which the particular wood products are cut out. In addition, surface flaws and discolorations caused by a long-term use create unique textures which tend to evoke warm and familiar feeling in the user. Thus, the wood attracts attention as a material for products of uniqueness and taste which cannot be found in products made of synthetic resin or light metals. Techniques for processing wood are also developing dramatically.
According to one conventionally known technique for processing a wooden piece: a wooden board is softened with water absorption and compressed; the compressed wooden board is cut along a direction substantially parallel with a direction of the compressive force, whereby a primary fixed product with a board-like shape is obtained; and the primary fixed product is deformed into a predetermined three-dimensional shape under heat and moisture (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3078452). Further, according to another conventional technique, a softened wooden board is compressed and temporarily fixed and left in a prepared mold until the wooden board recovers, so that a wooden product with a desired shape can be obtained (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-77619). According to the techniques as described above, thickness of the wooden piece and compression rate are determined based on various aspects such as an individual difference, a kind, required strength after processing, and a purpose of use.


A semiconductor device has a first semiconductor die containing a low pass filter and baluns. The first semiconductor die has a high resistivity substrate. A second semiconductor die including a bandpass filter is mounted to the first semiconductor die. The second semiconductor die has a gallium arsenide substrate. A third semiconductor die including an RF switch is mounted to the first semiconductor die. A fourth semiconductor die includes an RF transceiver. The first, second, and third semiconductor die are mounted to the fourth semiconductor die. The first, second, third, and fourth semiconductor die are mounted to a substrate. An encapsulant is deposited over the first, second, third, and fourth semiconductor die and substrate. A plurality of bond wires is formed between the second semiconductor die and first semiconductor die, and between the third semiconductor die and first semiconductor die, and between the first semiconductor die and substrate.

Semiconductor devices are commonly found in modern electronic products. Semiconductor devices vary in the number and density of electrical components. Discrete semiconductor devices generally contain one type of electrical component, e.g., light emitting diode (LED), small signal transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor, and power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). Integrated semiconductor devices typically contain hundreds to millions of electrical components. Examples of integrated semiconductor devices include microcontrollers, microprocessors, charged-coupled devices (CCDs), solar cells, and digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs).
Semiconductor devices perform a wide range of functions such as signal processing, high-speed calculations, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, controlling electronic devices, transforming sunlight to electricity, and creating visual projections for television displays. Semiconductor devices are found in the fields of entertainment, communications, power conversion, networks, computers, and consumer products. Semiconductor devices are also found in military applications, aviation, automotive, industrial controllers, and office equipment.
Semiconductor devices exploit the electrical properties of semiconductor materials. The atomic structure of semiconductor material allows its electrical conductivity to be manipulated by the application of an electric field or base current or through the process of doping. Doping introduces impurities into the semiconductor material to manipulate and control the conductivity of the semiconductor device.
A semiconductor device contains active and passive electrical structures. Active structures, including bipolar and field effect transistors, control the flow of electrical current. By varying levels of doping and application of an electric field or base current, the transistor either promotes or restricts the flow of electrical current. Passive structures, including resistors, capacitors, and inductors, create a relationship between voltage and current necessary to perform a variety of electrical functions. The passive and active structures are electrically connected to form circuits, which enable the semiconductor device to perform high-speed calculations and other useful functions.
Semiconductor devices are generally manufactured using two complex manufacturing processes, i.e., front-end manufacturing, and back-end manufacturing, each involving potentially hundreds of steps. Front-end manufacturing involves the formation of a plurality of die on the surface of a semiconductor wafer. Each semiconductor die is typically identical and contains circuits formed by electrically connecting active and passive components. Back-end manufacturing involves singulating individual semiconductor die from the finished wafer and packaging the die to provide structural support and environmental isolation. The term "semiconductor die" as used herein refers to both the singular and plural form of the words, and accordingly, can refer to both a single semiconductor device and multiple semiconductor devices.
One goal of semiconductor manufacturing is to produce smaller semiconductor devices. Smaller devices typically consume less power, have higher performance, and can be produced more efficiently. In addition, smaller semiconductor devices have a smaller footprint, which is desirable for smaller end products. A smaller semiconductor die size can be achieved by improvements in the front-end process resulting in semiconductor die with smaller, higher density active and passive components. Back-end processes may result in semiconductor device packages with a smaller footprint by improvements in electrical interconnection and packaging materials.
Another goal of semiconductor manufacturing is to produce higher performance semiconductor devices. Increases in device performance can be accomplished by forming active components that are capable of operating at higher speeds. In high frequency applications, such as radio frequency (RF) wireless communications, integrated passive devices (IPDs) are often contained within the semiconductor device. Examples of IPDs include resistors, capacitors, and inductors. A typical RF system requires multiple IPDs in one or more semiconductor packages to perform the necessary electrical functions.
In a wireless RF system, an RF front end module (FEM) is coupled to an antenna for transmission and reception of wireless RF signals. The RF FEM separates and filters the transmit RF signal and receive RF signal to avoid conflict or cross-over between the RF signals. The separated transmit RF signal and receive RF signal are routed to or received from an RF transceiver for demodulation and conversion to baseband signals for further signal processing. The RF system can be part of a cellular telephone, PDA, or other wireless communication device.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional RF FEM 10 coupled to antenna 12. RF FEM 10 has a transmit section and receive section. In the transmit section, the transmit RF signal from the RF transceiver is routed to an input of power amplifier 14 to increase signal power and amplification. The output of power amplifier 14 is coupled to RF coupler 15 which detects the transmit signal power level. The transmit RF signal is filtered by LC filter 16 and routed to TX/RX switch 18 which switches between the transmit RF signal and receive RF signal. When selected by TX/RX switch 18, the transmit RF signal is routed to diplexer 20 which performs frequency multiplexing from two ports to one port for transmission by antenna 12.
In the receive section, the receive RF signal from antenna 12 is processed through diplexer 20 for frequency de-multiplexing from one port to two ports. When selected by TX/RX switch 18, the receive RF signal is routed to surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter 22. SAW filter 22 converts an electrical signal to a mechanical wave using a piezoelectric crystal or ceramic. The mechanical wave is delayed by the piezoelectric structure to provide a narrow passband response by rejecting out-of-band signals. The filtered wave is converted back to an electrical signal and routed to the RF transceiver as the receive RF signal.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional semiconductor package 23 for implementing RF FEM 10. Substrate 24 is a multilayered low temperature co-fire ceramic (LTCC) laminate with a plurality of internal dielectric layers 26 and conductivity layers 28, such as silver or copper. LTCC substrate 24 includes internal passive components, such as resistor 30, capacitors 32, and inductors 34, as well as embedded RF circuits 36, within the multilayered substrate. A TX/RX switch die 38 and discrete resistor 40 are mounted to a top surface of LTCC substrate 24 and electrically connected to conductive layers 28. A SAW filter die 42 is mounted to LTCC substrate 24 and electrically connected to conductive layers 28. SAW filter 42 is relatively large due to its mechanical features, but can be placed in a recess formed in LTCC substrate 24 in an attempt to reduce the height of semiconductor package 23.
RF FEM 10, as implemented semiconductor package 23 with SAW filter die 42, represents a relatively bulky and complex structure and involves high manufacturing costs. As the demand for smaller packages and lower cost drives the market, additional work is needed to improve the RF FEM design.

Semiconductor device and method of forming RF FEM and RF transceiver in semiconductor package


A differential having an overrunning clutch provided. The differential includes an inertial compensation assembly that is configured to counteract movement of a roller cage relative to a clutch cam housing to prevent unintended roller cage and clutch cam housing engagements. Unintended roller cage and clutch cam housing engagements may occur when the differential is subject to rotational accelerations caused, for example by, vehicle acceleration/deceleration, sudden braking, sudden changes in traction, road irregularities, bumps, jumps, u-joint phasing, etc.

Vehicle differentials transfer torque between a driveshaft and driven shafts (or half shafts). A differential allows the half shafts to rotate at different rotational speeds with relation to each other when a vehicle turns to prevent tire scrubbing, reduce transmission loads, and reduce under-steering during cornering (the tendency of the vehicle to go straight in a corner). In four-wheel drive applications, bi-directional overrunning clutches (ORC) have been employed in differentials to transmit torque to the wheel via the half shafts when needed. For example, in a front differential example, the front differential is designed to transfer torque when the rear wheels are rotating faster than the front wheels.
Vehicle wheel and driveline speeds are not constant (i.e. rotational accelerations are always present). The rotational acceleration can be positive or negative. Causes of the accelerations include vehicle acceleration/deceleration, sudden braking, sudden changes in traction, road irregularities, bumps, jumps, u-joint phasing, etc. Over-running clutch designs typically incorporate a roller cage. A roller cage has different modes of operation. A rotational position of the roller cage relative to a clutch cam housing determines the operating mode of the drive.
If the cage is retarded from its neutral position, the drive operates as an over-running clutch (ORC mode). If the cage is in its neutral position, the drive is fully disengaged. If the cage is advanced, the drive operates as an under-running clutch. If inertial torque of the roller assembly etc. is greater than the neutral mode maintaining roller centering spring, an unintended operating mode will result. This unintended operation mode may cause sudden engagements, driveline shock and unintended vehicle dynamics. Hence, it is desired to prevent inertial engagements of an unintended operating mode.

Differential having an overrunning clutch with inertial compensation tuning


A fuel filler assembly, particularly for a motor vehicle, having a filler tube, pipe, or body connectable to a supply pipe of a fuel tank, a cap for closing the filler tube or pipe, a casing fitted to the vehicle body and defining internally a compartment for housing the filler tube or body and the cap, and a lid hinged to one side of the casing so as to close the compartment by means of a snap-engaging bolt for locking the lid in a closed position; the filler assembly also having articulated connecting components for connecting the cap to the lid and defined by a support integral with the lid and having a hollow seat defined internally by a hemispherical surface, and by a spherical head integral with the cap and which engages inside the hollow seat so as to keep the cap connected to the lid in any open position of the lid, and to position the cap facing the inlet of the filler tube or pipe so as to close the filler tube or body when the lid is moved to the closed position.

In known fuel filler assemblies fitted to currently marketed vehicles, the fuel filler and cap are housed inside a compartment which is recessed in the vehicle body and closed by a lid kept in the closed position by a spring or a snap-on device; and the cap is normally separable from the filler body pipe, or tube, and is normally screwed manually onto the filler tube or pipe and/or locked by means of a key-operated locking device.
When refueling, the cap is removed from the filler body or tube and set aside on any convenient supporting surface; and, at times, once the vehicle is refueled, the lid may inadvertently be closed with the cap fitted improperly to the filler tube or pipe, or even with no cap at all, thus resulting in extremely dangerous diffusion of fuel vapors and fuel leakage.

Fuel filler assembly, particularly for a motor vehicle


A track following system for maintaining a read gap substantially centered on a data track by moving the read gap perpendicular to the direction of the data track. This moving of the read gap is performed to compensate for any original misalignment between the read gap and data track and also to compensate for any wander or movement of the data track to a misaligned position with respect to the read gap. The write gap is used as a source of position information to keep the read gap correctly positioned over the data track. During a track following operation, the write gap circuitry is operatively connected to a track following circuit. Several samples of data signals received by the write gap are analyzed by the track following circuit. The track following circuit operates to compare a first sample of such data signals with a second sample. A positioning device moves the read gap in a direction determined from the result of this comparison and also from the last direction in which the read gap was moved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for reducing data errors during the reading back of data recorded on a recording medium.
2. Related Art
As one skilled in the art will appreciate, systems for reducing data errors caused by a misalignment of the read head and the data track, are of great utility. With the variety of recording/reading devices (i.e., computers, tape players and the like) used in so many facets of today's society, the use of such error reducing systems can serve a valuable function in a wide range of contexts. Moreover, as technology advances and data tracks become smaller and smaller, it will become increasingly more difficult to recover data without such data errors occurring. This will be due, in part, to the wandering of the tape with respect to the head, and to the misalignment of the head and data tracks, for example, caused by thermal variations in the tape cartridge and the tape drive. The present invention may be used to reduce the error rate caused by these and other factors, so as to improve the overall performance and efficiency of the tape drive system.
Currently used methods for reducing data errors include the process whereby the read gap is moved over the assumed center of the data track and a read operation, for reading of data, is started. If a data error occurs, the tape is backed up and the data is reread. If the error is still present, then the tape head is moved up or down a few steps and the data is reread again. This process is repeated several times until either the data is reread without errors or a hard error is declared. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes time to back the tape up, move the head up or down, and reread the data, possibly several times to finally recover the data without errors.

System for aligning a read head gap over a track of magnetic data


An assembly fixture having a base with an upper surface. A plurality of blocks, each having a quick release clamp detachably secured to it, are positioned on the base so that the clamps engage the workpiece components when in their clamped position. The blocks are then fixedly secured to the base but the clamps may be easily removed and reattached when desired.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an assembly fixture for a workpiece.
II. Description of Relevant Art
In many shops and manufacturing facilities, fixtures are often created in order to manufacture a particular part or component. These fixtures typically include a generally planar base that is constructed of a rigid material, such as steel, aluminum, or the like. Furthermore, the base is dimensioned so that the component or workpiece being assembled can be positioned, at least in part, on top of the base.
These previously known assembly fixtures are designed to hold two or more components of the final workpiece in a predetermined fixed pattern. Thereafter, the components of the workpiece are secured together by any conventional means, such as welding, riveting, or other fastening. After the components are secured together, the workpiece is removed from the base and new components to form a subsequent workpiece are then positioned on the base in the predetermined pattern.
In order to hold the components of the workpiece in their fixed pattern during the assembly operation, quick release clamps are conventionally mounted to the base around the workpiece components. These quick release clamps are movable from a clamped position in which the clamps engage and hold the workpiece components, and a release position in which the clamps retract away from the workpiece components after assembly to allow the assembled components to be removed from the base. Quick release clamps, furthermore, are desired as opposed to standard clamps since the quick release clamps enable the clamps to be moved from their clamped and to their release position rapidly.
Although different means may be used to secure the quick release clamps to the fixture base, oftentimes the quick release clamps are simply welded to the base. After the fixture is no longer required, at least for the time being, the quick release clamps are oftentimes removed from the base and reused with other fixtures. Such reuse of the quick release clamps is desirable due to the relatively high cost of such clamps.
A major difficulty, however, arises after the quick release clamps are removed from the base of the welding fixture. If the clamps are removed and the fixture stored away for a period of time, the subsequent reassembly of the welding fixture by attaching the clamps to the base is both difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, it is not always evident from the fixture base itself what sort of quick release clamps were attached to the base or the orientation of the clamps relative to the base. When this occurs, essentially a redesign of the welding fixture is required in order to ensure that the workpiece components are properly clamped and held together during the assembly operation. Such redesign of the welding fixture, however, is time consuming and may also introduce error into the assembly of the workpiece components. When this occurs, assembled workpieces from an earlier use of the fixture may differ somewhat from the workpieces assembled with the newly designed assembly fixture.
Furthermore, in the event that the clamp fails, it has been previously necessary to remove the broken clamp and weld a new clamp precisely in its place. Such clamp replacement is time consuming and stops the whole production line using the fixture.


A memory device having an open bit line cell structure uses a wafer burn-in testing scheme and a method for testing the same. The memory device includes a sense amplifier having first and second input terminals; a bit line connected to the first input terminal of the sense amplifier and extended in a first direction; an inverted bit line connected to the second input terminal of the sense amplifier and extended in a second direction; and a voltage supply means for applying the same voltage to the bit line and the inverted bit line in a precharge operation mode and applying a different level voltage to the bit line and the inverted bit line in a burn-in test operation mode. It is possible to efficiently screen defects of memory cells and between bit lines by performing a wafer burn-in test using a wafer burn-in scheme on a memory device having an open bit line cell structure.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a burn-in testing device and method, and more particularly, to a memory device having an open bit line cell structure that uses a wafer burn-in testing scheme and a method for testing the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Wafer burn-in (WBI) testing performed on a wafer has been widely used as a method for screening weak cells in a semiconductor memory device. In the WBI testing method, a high operation voltage is generally applied at a high temperature. To shorten test time, a number of word lines in each memory block are simultaneously activated. Subsequently, data is written to a plurality of memory cells and sensed in a certain time. As such, to screen the weak cells, stress is applied to the memory cells.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical folded bit-line cell structure. In a conventional WBI test, a write operation begins by simultaneously activating even word lines WL0 and WL2 or odd word lines WL1 and WL3 of word lines in memory blocks 110 and 120. A desired voltage is then applied to an external pad so that a voltage VBL is applied and written to all cells in the memory blocks via a voltage equalizing circuit 140.
Further, in a sensing operation subsequent to the write operation for the WBI test, all the word lines in the memory block are simultaneously activated and a sensing enable signal PSE is applied to a sense amplifier 130. The sense amplifier amplifies and senses a voltage difference between a pair of bit lines to screen for defects of bridges between the bit line pairs. The WBI test is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 281900 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,638.
FIG. 2 illustrates a typical memory device having an open bit-line cell structure. Bit lines BL and inverted bit lines /BL extend to both sides of a sense amplifier 230. Memory cells are formed at intersection regions of the bit lines and word lines.
When the same WBI write method as that in the folded bit line structure shown in FIG. 1 is applied to the memory device of FIG. 2, e.g., when first word line WL0 and third word line WL2 in memory blocks 210 and 220 are simultaneously activated, and then, an external voltage VBL is applied and written to memory cells via a voltage equalizing circuit 240, only the same voltage (data) is always written to the memory cells which are connected to the first and third word lines WL0 and WL2 via the bit lines and the inverted bit lines.
Because the same voltage (data) is written to memory cells upon activating all word lines and then applying a sensing enable signal PSE to carry out WBI sensing operation after the write operation is completed, a voltage difference is not generated between the bit line and the inverted bit line. Consequently, sensing operation is not performed and in turn defects of bridges between the bit lines cannot be screened.
Accordingly, a need remains for a method for burn-in test directed to a memory device having an open bit line cell structure.

Memory device having open bit line cell structure using burn-in testing scheme and method therefor


Pairs of laminated piezoelectric actuator (111) are arranged in plural rows on a base plate (110) to form a laminated piezoelectric actuator unit. A diaphragm (115) is bonded to the upper end surface of the laminated piezoelectric actuator unit, and a flow path plate (118) is bonded to the upper surface of the diaphragm (115). Here, a plurality of pressurizing chambers (116) and an ink flow path (117) are formed in the flow path plate (118) such that each pressurizing chamber (116) is disposed corresponding to each laminated piezoelectric actuator (111). Moreover, a nozzle plate (120) having nozzle holes (119) is connected to the upper surface of the flow path plate (118). Each laminated piezoelectric actuator (111) is deformed in the direction of thickness by applying voltage thereto for ejecting ink inside each pressurizing chamber (116) via each nozzle hole (119) in a direction perpendicular to the base plate (110).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet head which selectively deposits ink droplets on an image recording medium, and the methods of manufacturing and driving the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Of non-impact printers which are largely increasing their share in the market nowadays, ink-jet printers are simplest in principle, and also suitable for color printing. Of the ink-jet printers, so-called drop-on-demand (DOD) type ink-jet printers are the most popular, which eject ink droplets only at the time of forming dots.
As representative head systems in the DOD type ink-jet printers, for example, there is a Kaiser type one as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-12138 or a thermal jet type one as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-59914.
However, they have troublesome problems that the Kaiser type ink-jet head described in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-12138 is hard to be small-sized, while the thermal-jet type ink-jet head described in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-59914 has to apply heat having a high temperature to ink, so that the ink scorches and sticks to the head.
As an inkjet head which eliminates both of such drawbacks, there is the one using a piezoelectric element having a piezoelectric strain coefficient d.sub.33 (referred to as "d.sub.33 mode type" hereinafter). g
The d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head comprises in its schematic structure a strip of piezoelectric material (piezoelectric element) and electrodes respectively formed on both of the confronting surfaces of the piezoelectric element, wherein the piezoelectric element is polarized into the same direction as that of an electric field which is formed across the electrodes to have the piezoelectric distortion constant d.sub.33. The piezoelectric element is extended and contracted in the direction of d.sub.33 by the electric field applied between the electrodes to apply pressure to an ink pressurizing chamber.
As the d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head, there are already known the separate-liquid-chamber-type head as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-52213 and the extendible-liquid-chamber-type head as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-48622.
Of the d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet heads, a structure of the separate-liquid-chamber-type is shown in FIG. 19.
That is, a plurality of pressurizing chambers 202 formed by covering an upper plate 201 made of polysulfone, on the surface of which a plurality of grooves for ink flow path are formed, with a thin diaphragm 203 made of polysulfone. A plurality of electrode patterns are formed on the diaphragm 203.
On the other hand, a plurality of electrodes 206 are provided on a piezoelectric element 204 which is divided by slits 207. The piezoelectric element 204 is arranged adjacent to the pressurizing chambers 202 such that the electrodes 206 are connected to their corresponding electrode patterns 208 on the diaphragm 203.
An electrode 205 is formed on the surface of the piezoelectric element 204 on the opposite side to the electrodes 206. A U-shaped rigid material 209 forming a common electrode 210 is laminated on a surface forming the electrode 205. Further, the rigid material 209 is connected to the edge portions of the upper plate 201 where ink flow paths are not formed through the diaphragm 203.
Each of the electrode patterns 208 formed on the diaphragm 203 is electrically connected to each of the electrodes 206 provided at an end of the piezoelectric element 204, while the common electrode 210 is electrically connected to the electrode 205 provided on the other end of the piezoelectric element 204.
When a voltage is externally applied between each of the electrode patterns 208 formed on the diaphragm 203 and the common electrode 210 so as to generate an electric field in the same direction as that of polarization of the piezoelectric element 204, the piezoelectric element 204 divided by the slits 207 extends toward the direction of the electric field.
Hereupon, if the rigid material 209 and the upper plate 201 are firmly connected to each other and the rigid material 209 is made rigid enough to bear the stress of the piezoelectric element 204, the piezoelectric element 204 deflects the diaphragm 203 to pressurize ink for filling the pressurizing chambers 202. As the result, it is possible to eject ink via nozzles 211.
FIG. 20 shows a d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head according to the other example of a prior art.
The ink-jet head shown in this drawing comprises a laminated piezoelectric actuator 214 formed by alternately laminating plate-shaped piezoelectric material 212 and internal electrodes 213 made of conductive material, instead of the piezoelectric element 204 in the ink-jet head shown in FIG. 19.
This structure in which the deformation of the plate-shaped piezoelectric material 212 is multiplied by the number of laminations can obtain a deformation in the thickness direction (d.sub.33 direction) large enough to eject ink droplets for the laminated piezoelectric actuator 214.
At this time, the laminated piezoelectric actuator 214 is also deformed in the direction perpendicular to that of polarization (d.sub.31 direction). However, the deformation in the d.sub.33 direction in which the amount of deformation is summed up by the number of laminations can generate higher pressure in the pressurizing chambers 202.
FIG. 21 shows the structure of an extendible-liquid-chamber-type d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head.
It is composed of piezoelectric elements 222 each being a piezoelectric material strip such as PZT (Lead-Zirco-Titanate), the piezoelectric elements 222 being arranged in parallel between a conductive supporting plate 221 and an insulating cover plate 223 and fixed thereto.
A plurality of narrow channels are formed between the piezoelectric elements 222. These channels are composed of ink flow channels 225 serving as ink chambers/paths and dummy channels 226 serving as spacers, the ink flow channels 225 and dummy channels 226 being arranged alternatively.
The ink flow channels 225 are connected to a common ink chamber 227 which supplies ink to the ink flow channels 225 at an end thereof. The open ends of the ink flow channels 225 serve as printing nozzles.
The piezoelectric elements 222 is polarized into the direction perpendicular to the supporting plate 221 as indicated with an arrow 230, and electrodes 224 are provided corresponding to the ink flow channels 225 on the upper surface of the piezoelectric elements 222 on the side of the cover plate 223. Each of the electrodes 224 is provided for each pair of piezoelectric elements.
When a voltage is applied between the electrode 224 and the conductive supporting plate 221, the piezoelectric elements 222 arranged on both sides of an ink flow channel 225 extend toward the direction of thickness and contract toward the direction of width. As the result of deformation, the capacity of the ink flow channel 225 is increased.
When applying voltage to the electrode 224 is stopped, the two piezoelectric elements 222 return to their original shape, abruptly reducing the capacity of ink flow path. As the result, an ink droplet 228 is ejected from a printing nozzle formed at the end portion of the path.
A purpose of the present invention is to solve the following problems inherent in the ink-jet head having a structure in which strips of piezoelectric material are polarized into the direction of electric field to have the piezoelectric strain coefficient d.sub.33 as described above, i.e., the d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head.
That is, a first problem is that the d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head is structurally difficult to be miniaturized by increasing the density of arranging the printing nozzles and the degree of integrating the same.
For example, in case of the separate-liquid-chamber-type ink-jet head shown in FIG. 19, the piezoelectric elements 204 are arranged in a line forward the slits 207 among them for separating adjacent piezoelectric elements 204, so that the manufacturing limit of the slits 207 determines the pitch of the printing nozzles 211, and consequently it is impossible to densify the nozzle pitch. Incidentally, the limit of manufacturing slits using the wire-saw electron discharge method is up to about 150 to 200 slits per inch.
Moreover, an extendible-liquid-chamber-type ink-jet head shown in FIG. 21 also has a limited pitch of arranging the piezoelectric elements 222 same as the separate-liquid-chamber-type head and requires also the dummy channels 226 which do not eject ink, in every other row, so that it is all the more difficult to arrange nozzles with high density.
A second problem is that it is difficult to electrically connect power source to the piezoelectric elements to drive the same, and that the number of manufacturing steps is increased and the reliability of electrical connection is low.
For example, in case of the separate-liquid-chamber-type as shown in FIG. 19, the electrodes 205 and 206 have to be manufactured separately on the surface side of the piezoelectric element 204 confronting the diaphragm 203 and on the surface side thereof confronting the rigid material 209.
Furthermore, driving the piezoelectric elements 204 by these electrodes 205 and 206 alone requires tight junction leaving no space therebetween, which was very difficult in the machining technology.
Furthermore, there was a drawback that, in case of forming the other electrode on the piezoelectric element 204, the manufacturing cost was increased.
Furthermore, when the external signal lines are connected to the electrodes, troublesome work is required to connect them individually since the electrode patterns 208 on the diaphragm 203 and the common electrode 210 are differently positioned.
Furthermore, the electrode patterns 208 have to be previously made on the diaphragm 203 in advance, and also the material of the diaphragm 203 is limited to nonconductive one.
Also in case of the extendible-liquid-chamber-type one as shown in FIG. 21, the external signal lines have to be electrically and separatedly connected to the electrodes 224 and the conductive supporting plate 221 which serves as the common electrode.
A third problem is that nozzle holes for ejecting ink droplets are liable to be blocked with or leak ink.
That is, since the nozzles for ejecting ink are formed at the end portions of piezoelectric elements arranged with high density in both of the separate-liquid-chamber-type and the extendible-liquid-chamber-type, it is impossible to secure a space for installing a cap mechanism for preventing the evaporation of moisture from menisci, i.e., the liquid levels of ink in the nozzle holes, or a suction mechanism used when the nozzle holes are blocked with ink.
Moreover, even if the ink-jet head comprises a nozzle plate having a relatively large surface area and the nozzle holes formed at the end portions of piezoelectric elements, it is difficult to seal the nozzle plate so as to prevent ink from leaking, since very thin members such as the base plate, piezoelectric elements, diaphragm etc. have to be connected to the nozzle plate.
Also in case of employing a metal nozzle plate, since the upper plate 201 made of polysulfone and the diaphragm 203 have different coefficients of linear expansion, the change in temperature causes the deformation of members, resulting in the breakage of structure.
A fourth problem is that the energy loss or interference between pressurizing chambers is liable to occur, which causes the insufficiency or fluctuation of the ink ejecting force to reduce the performance of the ink-jet head.
When the piezoelectric element is displaced forward the direction of thickness (d.sub.33 direction), the displacement occurs toward the direction (d.sub.31 direction) perpendicular thereto.
Since the piezoelectric element and the diaphragm or the base plate are connected to each other through an electrode, the d.sub.31 direction displacement of the piezoelectric element causes unimorph deformation between the diaphragm and itself.
Accordingly, in case of the separate-liquid-chamber-type ink-jet head, the unimorph deformation causes the deflection of the diaphragm 203. As the result, there occurs a loss in the thickness-direction displacement of the piezoelectric element 204, so that extra energy is needed for ejecting ink.
In case of the extendible-liquid-chamber-type ink-jet head, the unimorph deformation deflects the supporting plate 221 and the insulating cover plate 223 to cause interference between ink flow channels.
A fifth problem is that it requires the high accuracy assembling and is difficult to manufacture.
In case of the separate-liquid-chamber-type ink-jet head as shown in FIG. 19, the piezoelectric element 204 and the rigid material 209 have to be connected to the diaphragm 203 with high accuracy of positioning which allows no deviation in order to transmit the minute deformation of the piezoelectric element 204 to the diaphragm 203.
In case of the conventional structure in which electrodes 206 are formed at an end of the piezoelectric element 204 and brought into contact with the diaphragm 203, however, it is impossible to flatten the portions of the rigid material 209 and the piezoelectric element 204 which are connected to the diaphragm 203 by machining such as surface grinding. Accordingly, it was difficult to connect with high accuracy.
An object of the present invention is to solve such problems in the d.sub.33 mode type ink-jet head as described above and provides an ink-jet head which causes little energy loss, and can be efficiently driven and manufactured at low cost due to its simple and small-sized structure, and has high reliability, and density, as well as the methods of manufacturing and driving such an ink-jet head.


The technology relates to techniques for the attachment of priorities and/or reaction time limits to various entities of a system such as, for example, events, event types, queries, etc. The system's processing may be tailored behavior to match these boundary conditions while at the same time increasing (and sometimes even maximizing) the rate of events processed. Advantageously, the system may be made to adapt its behavior to the current situation, which is changeable and may even be changing quite frequently, e.g., as in connection with a potentially rapidly changing stream. Users may, for example, specify policies to control this adaptation and, thus, events (including events of special interest) may be handled appropriately, even in response to changing conditions.

Stream processing typically follows the pattern of continuous queries. Continuous queries are queries that execute for an indefinite amount of time on data that can change very rapidly. Such rapidly changing data are called streams, and streams oftentimes comprise events. Streams exist in many real-world scenarios, e.g. temperature readings from sensors placed in warehouses or on trucks, weather data, entrance control systems (where, for example, events are generated whenever a person enters or leaves), etc. The meanings of these and/or other terms herein may be clarified by referring to the "Event Processing Glossary," published by the "Event-Processing Technical Society" (EP-TS), the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
One typical scenario where continuous queries sometimes are implemented involves the monitoring or surveillance of systems that sometimes are quite complex in nature. A multitude of streams may exist in such an example scenario. However, it will be appreciated that not all events are of equal importance in all such scenarios. For example, in a power plant, the temperature data of the cooling liquid tends to be less important than a security breach. Certain conditions may, however, shift these priorities. For example, very high temperature data, temperature data in the context of low amounts of cooling fluid, etc., may shift priorities.
In many systems, there is a risk that important data may be processed too late to guarantee a timely reaction. Such problems may be caused, for example, by the sheer amount of data arriving in the streams, a lack of resources for handling such data, etc. Although sometimes the delay will not be too problematic, it will be appreciated that there are many scenarios where the failure to timely process large amounts of data based on shifting priorities might become quite serious. For instance, a business enterprise may not be able to timely deliver needed goods and/or services. Of course, the failure to adjust to shifting priorities in the power plant scenario, for example, may be catastrophic.
There are several currently available systems for continuous query processing. TIBCO®, for example, describes what may be termed a "query system." Other query systems are described, for example, in U.S. Publication Nos. 2009/0292877 and 2009/0292759, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. TIBCO®, for example, describes one example query system indicating that:                "At runtime each declaration matches against every instance (and the rule is therefore effectively compared to every combination of instances—or RuleVariable tuples). Example: a declaration of CustomerCallEvent and ActiveCustomer for 2 CustomerCallEvents and 50 Customers will create 100 possible combinations or tuples to be considered. Adding a declaration of CustomerOrder with 100 instances increases this to 10,000 combinations or tuples.        This illustrates both the flexibility and potential cost of production rules—although of course the Rete algorithm can scale to very large tuple numbers."
The TIBCO® example continues by stating that:
"In addition, rules may have names, priority numbers and other metadata. Rule priorities are to aid in 'conflict resolution', a fancy term for what happens when 2 or more rules are valid to fire: which do we want to fire first?"
In the TIBCO® example system, events are fully processed in any case, and there are no apparent means to process important events in a prioritized fashion. Thus, the above-described and other conventional query systems unfortunately do not provide flexible mechanisms that help ensure increased (and sometimes even maximum) data processing while also caring for timely processing of events at the same time.
Thus, it will be appreciated that there is a need in the art for techniques that overcome these and/or other disadvantages. For example, it will be appreciated that there is a need in the art for techniques that provide flexible mechanisms that help ensure increased (and sometimes even maximum) data processing while also caring for timely processing of events at the same time.
One aspect of certain example embodiments relates to the attachment of priorities and/or reaction time limits to various entities of the system such as, for example, events, event types, queries, etc.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to using priorities attached to system entities to tailor the system's processing behavior to match these boundary conditions while at the same time increasing (and sometimes even maximizing) the rate of events processed.
Advantageously, the system may be made to adapt its behavior to the current situation, which is changeable and may even be changing quite frequently, e.g., as in connection with a potentially rapidly changing stream. Users may in certain example embodiments specify policies to control this adaptation in certain example embodiments and, thus, in certain example instances, events (including events of special interest) may be handled appropriately, even in response to changing conditions.
It will be appreciated that in some cases, the appropriate handling of events may involve the at least temporary suspension of some routine activities while events of interest (e.g., "business critical" or "mission critical" events) are processed according to their priorities.
In certain example embodiments, a method for handling a stream of events is provided. The stream of events is received, with at least some of said events having boundary conditions attached thereto, and with the boundary conditions being maximum reaction times and/or priorities. Predefined queries are executed, via at least one processor of a computer system, on the events. For each said event having a maximum reaction time and/or priority attached thereto: whether the event can be processed within the attached boundary condition is estimated, the predefined queries are processed according to a first mode when the event can be processed within the attached boundary condition, and the predefined queries are processed according to a second mode when the event cannot be processed within the attached boundary condition. The second mode is practiced by at least temporarily suspending queries that do no consume events with attached boundary condition instead processing other queries. The second mode is ended and processing proceeds according to the first mode when it is estimated that unconsumed events having attached boundary conditions can be processed within their attached boundary conditions.
In certain example embodiments, a method for configuring a system to handle a stream of events is provided. A plurality of event types is defined. Said event types are stored in an event type registry. The system is able to execute in first and second modes. The stream of events is received, with at least some of said events having boundary conditions attached thereto, and with the boundary conditions being maximum reaction times and/or priorities. Queries are executed, via at least one processor of the system, on the events. For each said event having a maximum reaction time and/or priority attached thereto: whether the event can be processed within the attached boundary condition is estimated, the queries are processed according to the first mode when the event can be processed within the attached boundary condition, and the queries are processed according to the second mode when the event cannot be processed within the attached boundary condition. The second mode is practiced by at least temporarily suspending queries that do no consume events with attached boundary condition instead processing other queries. The second mode is ended and processing is returned to the first mode when it is estimated that unconsumed events having attached boundary conditions can be processed within their attached boundary conditions.
In certain example embodiments, corresponding systems for providing, configuring, and/or executing the above may be provided in addition or in the alternative.
In certain example embodiments, corresponding computer readable storage media tangibly storing instructions for executing such methods also may be provided.
These aspects and example embodiments may be used separately and/or applied in various combinations to achieve yet further embodiments of this technology.

Systems and/or methods for tailoring event processing in accordance with boundary conditions