The invention is a thin film composite solid (and a means for making such) suitable for use as an electrolyte, having a first layer of a dense, non-porous conductive material; a second layer of a porous ionic conductive material; and a third layer of a dense non-porous conductive material, wherein the second layer has a Coefficient of thermal expansion within 5% of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the first and third layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thin film composite electrolyte structures that are preferably ionically conductive and are therefore suitable for use in electrochemical cells, such as secondary batteries based on sodium and sulfur.
2. Related Art
Solid, ionically conductive electrolyte components are utilized in high temperature electrochemical cells, such as secondary batteries based on sodium and sulfur or sodium and a metal chloride. Such electrochemical cells are typically comprised of: a) a liquid anodic reactant; b) a liquid cathodic reactant; and c) a solid electrolyte component that separates the cathode from the anode and that is permeable by either ions from the anodic or cathodic reactants. For example, when the cell is a sodium-sulfur cell, the anodic reactant is liquid sodium, the cathodic reactant is liquid sulfur or a mixture of sulfur and sodium polysulfides, and the electrolyte component is typically comprised of materials such as beta double prime alumina ((β″-Al2O3) or (Na2O.5Al2O3)), NASICON (Na3Zr2Si2PO12) or other materials that are permeable only by sodium ions. A complete description of the fabrication and operation of sodium-sulfur cells can be found in the publication by J. L. Sudworth and A. R. Tilley entitled "The Sodium-Sulfur Battery" (Chapman and Hall, New York, 1985). The cell reaction that produces power (discharge cycle) in this device is most generally given as:2Na+xS→Na2Sx
During the discharge cycle, sodium is oxidized (i.e., gives up an electron to form a sodium cation) at the anode and sodium ions migrate from the anode compartment through the solid electrolyte. Therefore, the reaction at the anode during discharge is:2Na0→2Na++2e−
Simultaneously, the following reaction takes place at the cathode where elemental sulfur is reduced:S0+2e−→S=The flow of electrons through the external circuit from the anode to the cathode produces power to drive equipment such as electric motors.
A critical component of the sodium-sulfur battery is the solid electrolyte that allows only the transport of sodium cations while blocking the transport of sulfur anions. Since the original conception of the sodium-sulfur battery, the electrolyte of choice has been β″-Al2O3 (Na2O.5Al2O3). Other materials, such as NASICON, have shown promise.
There are certain important requirements that the electrolyte component must meet in order to perform effectively in a high temperature electrochemical cell. One of these is a high ion flux; and because ion flux is inversely proportional to the thickness of the electrolyte component, it is desirable to make the electrolyte layer as thin as possible. Another important requirement is low electronic conductivity and this is governed by the choice of electrolyte materials.
There are several conventional methods for fabricating such electrolyte components. For example, there are teachings describing the fabrication of solid electrolyte structures (typically tubes or plates) from β″-Al2O3 powder and assembly of the resulting tubes or plates into a structure that is typically hermetically sealed for use in automotive and electrical utility load leveling applications. While β″-Al2O3 tubes can be prepared by isostatic compression of the powder, the preferred method of fabrication is electrophoretic deposition as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,896,018; 3,896,019; 3,900,381; and 3,976,554 (all of which are incorporated herein by reference). Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,464 (incorporated herein by reference), discloses the use of fibrous mats in both electrode compartments to enhance the conductivity of the electrodes. The fabrication of β″-Al2O3 in shapes other than tubes for greater cell efficiency is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,226,923; 4,568,502; 5,053,294; and 5,112,703 (all of which are incorporated herein by reference).
There are several inherent disadvantages to cells made by conventional methods. One disadvantage is that electrolytes made from materials such as β″-Al2O3 have low ion flux, because the electrolyte must be thick enough to also provide mechanical support. So, while it is generally known that thinner electrolytes have higher ion flux, these unsupported electrolyte tubes of the prior art can typically not be optimized for high flux because of the limitations of their mechanical strength.
Another disadvantage of conventional methods results from forming the electrolyte as tubes on mandrels (typical of the electrophoretic deposition method) because there is a limit on the minimum diameter of the tube and also on its maximum length. This, in turn, limits the surface area to volume ratio, and thus the energy density, of the resulting electrochemical cell. For example, sodium-sulfur cells made by conventional techniques have relatively low surface area to volume ratios; and, consequently, they have lower energy densities than desired.
One approach to mitigating these disadvantages is to support the solid electrolyte as a thin film on a suitable microporous support. U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,986 (incorporated herein by reference), discloses the application of a precursor to β″-Al2O3 (in the form of a solid) onto supports such as α-alumina, mullite or zirconium oxide. One concern with respect to this approach is the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between β″-Al2O3 (8.6×10−6/° C.) and the preferred supports a-alumina (8.2×10−6/° C.), zirconium oxide (8.2×10−6/° C.) and especially mullite (5.2×10−6/° C.). A second concern is that none of the listed refractory ceramic supports are electrically conductive, thereby limiting the configuration of a sodium-sulfur cell made by this process to one in which the anode reactant is on the support side.
While U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,844 (incorporated herein by reference) discloses that NASICON can also be used as the solid electrolyte in a sodium-sulfur cell, there are no actual examples showing that a thin film composite of such a material was ever made. This may be because of the significant mismatch in CTE between NASICON (˜1×10−6/° C.) and most microporous substrates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,497 (incorporated herein by reference) discloses the fabrication of a composite, ion-conductive electrolyte member comprised of a first layer of an ion conductive material such as β″-Al2O3, and a second, or substrate layer, comprised of a material selected from aluminum silicon carbide, doped tin oxide, graphite, or composites, compounds, mixtures, and/or combinations of these materials. A preferred material is selected from the titanium dioxide family as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,422,917 and 3,985,575 (both of which are incorporated herein by reference) (tantalum or niobium-doped TiO2). According to the '497 patent, the first layer is much thinner than the second in order to provide higher ion flux and the second layer is substantially thicker to provide suitable mechanical support. The first layer can be applied by, among other techniques, electrophoretic deposition.
U.S. Serial No. 20020172871A1 (incorporated herein by reference) describes one method of fabricating an improved electrochemical cell a) with an anode (and corresponding anodic reactant); b) a cathode (and corresponding cathodic reactant); and c) a composite ion-conductive electrolyte structure with: i) a first layer, preferably thin-film in nature, that is a mixture of two or more chemically distinct compounds, at least one of which is ion-conductive; and ii) a second layer bonded the first layer, where the second layer is any refractory support structure having: (1) an effective porosity that will allow an effective flow of anodic or cathodic reactants to the first layer; and (2) a coefficient of thermal expansion within 5% of the first layer's material. The objective of utilizing a mixture of two or more chemically different compounds in this application was to achieve a match in the coefficient of thermal expansion.
Another attempt to construct a suitable solid electrolyte is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,733 (incorporated herein by reference). This patent describes a two layer beta alumina structure. The first layer is a thin (50-1,000 microns) conductive dense layer of β alumina, and the second layer is a thicker substrate or backing of porous beta or beta double prime alumina. The conductive dense layer is coated on the substrate (plasma or slurry spraying, or granular deposition), and sintered to a final temperature between 1,500 to 1,800° C. Unfortunately, such an asymmetric two layer composite is subject differential shrinkage in the sintering process, making the composition unreliable as a structural material.
Therefore, while conventional methods have provided solid ion-conductive electrolyte components for sodium sulfur electrochemical cells with varying commercial success, there is still a need in the art for solid ion-conductive electrolytes with improved ion-conductive properties and improved mechanical properties that can withstand the stresses associated with wide temperature swings. There is also a need in the art for improved methods of making these solid ion-conductive electrolytes. The present invention addresses these needs.


Apparatus for controlling the deformation of an implant during deployment thereof, comprising: a force application mechanism for applying deformation force to the implant, by motion of a force applicator against the implant; and a restraint element positioning mechanism that positions a restraining element such that the deformation of the implant is controlled by restraint of the restraining element on allowable deformation; and a synchronizer that synchronizes the motion of the restraining element and the force applicator, to achieve a desired deformation of the implanted.

A common medical situation is that of a ruptured spinal disc. Material that exits the disc may press against the spinal cord, causing severe pain. A ruptured disc is typically treated by a surgical procedure, in which the damaged disc is partially or completely removed, and spinal fusion, in which at least the two vertebrae adjacent the removed disc are fused.
Disk removal may be performed percutaneously, for example via a tube through which tissue removal devices and/or an endoscope are provided.
Several approaches exist for spinal fusion. In one approach, the two vertebrae are connected using a plate and/or screws. In another approach, a spacer (also called a "cage device") is inserted between the two vertebrae, so that bone growth into the space will fuse the adjacent vertebra. Typically, the axis of the spacer is perpendicular to the axis of the spine and to the plane of the body. Sometimes the spacer includes a plurality of holes, to encourage bone growth into the spacer. PCT publication WO 98/38918, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a spacer that is inserted in a collapsed condition and expanded to fill the inter-vertebral space. Another type of spacer, exemplified by U.S. Pat. 5,123,926 (and others) to Pisharodi, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, functions like a concrete anchoring screw, in that a portion of the spacer, usually a center portion-thereof, expands by a relatively small amount to engage the adjacent vertebrae.
U.S. Pat. 5,800,549, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a flexible disc replacement that is inserted using a syringe. However, this replacement does not fuse adjacent vertebrae, rather, it is designed to replace the form and function of a removed inter-vertebral disc.
One disadvantage of some of known fusion devices is that a relatively large entry hole in the body is required to insert the device. In some, a regular-sized surgical incision is required. In others, a minimally invasive laproscope-size hole is required, which is still quite large. Often, the spinal processes and/or other spinal structures are damaged by the insertion of the fusion device.
Another disadvantage of some known fusion devices is lies in a relative complexity of procedures for delivering the devices.
Another disadvantage of some known fusion devices is a requirement to trade/off the invasiveness of the procedure (e.g., do the spinal processes need to be cut or the abdomen opened) and the surface contact area between the fusion device and the bone. Generally, if the contact surface is small, the fusion device embeds itself in the bone and the spine slowly shrinks.


A method of fabricating an heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) structure in a bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (BiCMOS) process selectively thickens an oxide layer overlying a base region in areas that are not covered by a temporary emitter and spacers such that the temporary emitter can be removed and the base-emitter junction can be exposed without also completely removing the oxide overlying the areas of the base region that are not covered by the temporary emitter or spacers. As a result, a photomask is not required to remove the temporary emitter and to expose the base-emitter junction.

Heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's), e.g., as used in bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (BiCMOS) processes, include an emitter formed as a pedestal over a planar base region (e.g., formed of silicon-germanium) that overlies a collector. The emitter is bounded on opposing sides by dielectric spacers, which overlay a portion of the base region. The base region directly under the junction with the emitter is typically referred to as an intrinsic base region, while the base region falling outside of the emitter and the spacers is referred to as an extrinsic base region, as the extrinsic base region is typically heavily doped via extrinsic doping to reduce the resistance between the base-emitter junction and the base contact. The region between the intrinsic and extrinsic regions is referred to as a link base region, and directly underlies the dielectric spacers. The length of each link base region must be carefully controlled to minimize resistance across the region while minimizing leakage currents due to the proximity of the heavily doped emitter to the heavily doped extrinsic base region. However, it has been found that the alignment of the various steps used to fabricate the various regions of the base region, the base-emitter junction, and the emitter can be difficult to control.
In one conventional process, for example, an emitter is formed by first fabricating a temporary emitter and depositing the spacers on the sidewalls of the temporary emitter. The extrinsic base region is then doped, with the temporary emitter and spacers forming a mask over the intrinsic and link base regions. After the temporary emitter is etched away, the final emitter is deposited in the cavity defined between the spacers.
It has been found, however, that the step of etching away the temporary emitter can be problematic in conventional processes. Specifically, conventional processes etch away the temporary emitter and expose the base-emitter junction through an opening defined in a patterned photoresist layer deposited over the temporary emitter. Desirably, the edges of the opening are registered over the spacers to ensure that photoresist cannot overlay any portion of the emitter. Due to the difficulty in flowing photoresist over the topography formed by the temporary emitter and spacers, as well as the rounded profiles of the spacers, proper registration of the opening can be difficult to obtain. Furthermore, as the feature widths of the emitter and spacers continue to decrease in successive technologies, proper registration of a patterned photoresist layer will become increasingly more difficult. The patterned photoresist layer covers and protects regions of a dielectric layer adjacent to the temporary emitter and spacers during the etching process that removes the temporary emitter.
Therefore, a substantial need exists in the art for an improved process for forming the emitter of a BiCMOS HBT structure, and desirably a process that eliminates the need for a photomask to etch away a temporary emitter used in the process and exposing the base-emitter junction underlying the same.

BiCMOS devices with a self-aligned emitter and methods of fabricating such BiCMOS devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A substrate processing apparatus includes: a processing container; an injector provided inside the processing container and having a shape extending in a longitudinal direction along which a processing gas is supplied; a holder fixed to the injector; a first magnet fixed to the holder and disposed inside the processing container; a second magnet separated from the first magnet by a partition plate and disposed outside the processing container; and a driving part configured to rotate the second magnet, wherein the first magnet and the second magnet are magnetically coupled to each other, and wherein by rotating the second magnet by the driving part, the first magnet magnetically coupled to the second magnet is rotated, and the injector rotates about the longitudinal direction as an axis.

There is known a batch-type substrate processing apparatus, which is capable of performing, for example, a film forming process on a plurality of substrates in a state where the substrates are held in multiple stages by a substrate holder in a processing container.
In the batch-type substrate processing apparatus, an injector is provided along an inner wall of the processing container, and a horizontal portion of the L-shaped injector is inserted and fixed in a through-hole formed in a lower end flange of the processing container. In addition, in a vertical portion of the injector, a plurality of gas ejection ports is provided along a direction in which the substrates are stacked (i.e., a vertical direction), and further, a mechanism for rotating the injector is provided.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method


An improvement is proposed relating to an optical isolator for bonding of the polarizer and analyzer of polarizing glass to the respective holder rings for position adjustment. The improvement comprises: (a) forming a metallized layer of a specific composition over at least two of the side surfaces of each of the polarizer and analyzer on the area of the surface excepting for the linear areas of 50 to 150 .mu.m width from the top and bottom surfaces of the polarizer or analyzer; and (b) bonding the polarizer and analyzer to the respective holder rings by soldering using a solder alloy with intervention of the metallized layer between the polarizer or analyzer and the holder ring. The invention further provides an optical part having, on at least one of the surfaces, a heat-resistant anti-reflection coating film which is a double-layered film consisting of a thin film of the titanium oxide TiO.sub.x (x=1.9 to 2.2) as the underlayer of high refractive index and a thin film of silicon dioxide as the overlayer of low refractive index.

The present invention relates to an optical isolator and an optical part having a heat-resistant anti-reflection coating. More particularly, the invention relates, in a first aspect of the invention, to an optical isolator provided with a polarizer and analyzer of polarizing glass to utilize the Faraday effect. In another aspect of the invention, the present invention relates to an optical part provided with a heat-resistant anti-reflection coating and suitable for use at an elevated temperature of 250.degree. C. or higher.
An optical isolator is constructed from a polarizer and analyzer as well as a Faraday rotator and permanent magnet installed therebetween and these parts are built in a holder. While several particular modifications are known for an optical isolator, it is usual to use polarizing glass for the polarizer and analyzer in a compact optical isolator in view of the possibility of accomplishing a high quenching ratio and a small-thickness design. Several commercial products of polarizing glass are available on the market including Polacore (a product by Corning Glass Works Corp.).
Japanese Utility Model Kokai 5-96830 discloses a structure of an optical isolator, as is illustrated in FIG. 7 of the accompanying drawing, consisting of a polarizer 1, analyzer 7 and Faraday rotator 8 built in a tubular holder 6 and a tubular magnet 9 in which a holder ring 2 is used in order to facilitate exact position adjustment of the polarizer 1, analyzer 7 and Faraday rotator 8. A diaphragm 10 is provided to limit the light incident on the polarizer 1. It is a known method to use an adhesive of an organic polymeric resin for bonding and fixing the polarizer 1 and analyzer 7 to the respective holder rings 2 and the Faraday rotator 8 to the tubular magnet 9.
When the polarizer 1, analyzer 7 and Faraday rotator 8 are bonded to the holder rings 2 and to the tubular magnet 9 by using an adhesive, however, the adhesive has a relatively large thermal expansion coefficient so that a great displacement from the exact setting of the inclination angle is sometimes caused by the variations in the ambient temperature. This phenomenon unavoidably results in a deviation of the optical axis once optimized by adjustment due to the variation in the ambient temperature. In addition, volatile organic matters are emitted from the adhesive to cause contamination and degradation of the laser as the light source decreasing the long-term reliability of the optical isolator.
As a solution for the above mentioned problem of low longterm reliability of the optical isolator, it is known that the polarizer, analyzer and Faraday rotator are bonded and fixed to the respective holding parts by the use of a solder or brazing alloy or low melting-point glass. As the solder alloy for this purpose, gold-based solder alloys free from lead are used in recent years in consideration of the problem of environmental pollution due to heavy metals such as lead.
In bonding and fixing the polarizer, analyzer and Faraday rotator to the holding parts by soldering, one of the very important requirements is that the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients should be as small as possible between the holding parts and each of the polarizer, analyzer and Faraday rotator because, if the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients is great, cracks are possibly formed in the polarizer, analyzer and Faraday rotator due to the thermal stress resulting in complete loss of the performance of the optical isolator. This phenomenon is particularly remarkable in the bonding and fixing works between a holder ring and a polarizer and analyzer made from polarizing glass.
Following methods are known to solve the problem due to crack formation mentioned above.
(1) A method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai 5-11215 in which the optical element and the holding part are bonded with intervention of a spacer having an intermediate thermal expansion coefficient. The material of the spacer is preferably a ceramic and the spacer has a configuration of a circular ring, optionally, provided with a slit or cutout, a configuration to match the metallized part for soldering in the optical element or a square configuration with a circular openwork at the center, optionally, divided into portions. PA1 (2) Japanese Utility Model Kokai 6-4735 discloses a method in which the holding part is provided with a slit. PA1 (3) Japanese Patent Kokai 6-167675 teaches forming the holding part from an alloy having a thermal expansion coefficient close to that of the polarizing glass such as Fe-32Ni alloy and Fe-42Ni alloy. PA1 (4) Japanese Patent Kokai 6-34861 teaches a method in which the side surfaces of the optical element are metallized and the side surface of the optical element and the holding part are bonded with intervention of the metallized layer. PA1 (5) Japanese Patent Kokai 6-67119 discloses a method in which the surfaces of the optical element, excepting the surfaces to serve for the light beam transmission, are provided with a metallized layer patterned in at least four concentrical rings with regular spaces between the adjacent rings, of which the overall metallized area is in the range from 5 to 25% based on the area for the incident light into the optical element.
The inventors have tried to test the practicability of the above described first to third methods for bonding and fixing of a polarizer and analyzer of polarizing glass to a holder ring by soldering and found a problem that, though without formation of cracks, the quenching ratio is not sufficiently high in the polarizer and analyzer after bonding so that the optical isolator using the same cannot work at a high quenching ratio.
The reason therefor is, like the reason for the above mentioned crack formation, presumably the thermal stress due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients between the polarizer and/or the analyzer and the holder rings. Although cracks are not formed in the above mentioned first to third methods by virtue of the decrease in the thermal stress in the polarizer and analyzer, namely, relaxation of the thermal stress is still incomplete not to ensure a high quenching ratio as an optical isolator.
Following are further known methods for decreasing the thermal stress to accomplish a high quenching ratio of the polarizer and analyzer.
The inventors have tried to test the practicability of the above described fourth and fifth methods for bonding and fixing of a polarizer and analyzer to holder rings by soldering and found a problem that the distribution of the quenching ratio is not uniform within the plane as is illustrated in FIG. 6 and the quenching ratio decreases from the center toward the bonded parts. This result leads to a consequence that optical isolators cannot be so compact as to be smaller than a certain limit and accordingly the costs thereof cannot be decreased as desired. The reason therefor is as follows.
It would be a possible way for obtaining an optical isolator of a high quenching ratio by using a polarizer and analyzer bonded to the holder rings by the above mentioned fourth or fifth method to use a polarizer and analyzer having a sufficiently larger surface area than the light-transmitting surfaces. Namely, the optical isolator can exhibit desirable performance by utilizing the portions of a high quenching ratio only fully isolated from the bonding parts. This method, however, has a problem that the compactness of the optical isolator has a lower limit and the optical isolator cannot be more compact than the limit. In view of the expensiveness of available commercial products of polarizing glass in general such as Polacore mentioned above, on the other hand, it is an important requirement that the area of the polarizer and analyzer should be as small as possible in order to minimize the costs of optical isolators. Accordingly, it is almost impossible by the conventional technology to have compatibility between these requirements for compactness and inexpensiveness of optical isolators with a high quenching ratio.
The above described attempts undertaken by the inventors have led to a conclusion that a quenching ratio sufficiently high for an optical isolator could hardly be accomplished by the first to third methods only teaching selection of the materials and configurations of the holder rings although the problem of crack formation could be solved thereby. Further, a compact and inexpensive optical isolator having a high quenching ratio can hardly be obtained by utilizing the above described first to fifth methods either singly or in combination because of the great non-uniformity in the distribution of the quenching ratio within the plane although the quenching ratio can be partially high enough.
While the overall stress by bonding can be reduced by decreasing the bonding area, the disclosure in Japanese Patent Kokai 6-67119 teaches that the bonding area cannot be decreased below a certain level in order to ensure a bonding strength suitable for practical use of the optical isolator. Thus, it is a conclusion that none of or no combinations of the above described first to fifth methods could satisfy all of the requirements for an optical isolator relative to a high quenching ratio, high bonding strength, compactness and inexpensiveness simultaneously.
Turning now to the second aspect of the invention, it is usual that various kinds of optical parts or elements such as optical glass bodies, single crystals, plastic-made optical parts and the like are provided with an anti-reflection coating film on the surface with an object to decrease reflection of light. Such an anti-reflection coating film is either a monolayered film or a multilayered film depending on the particular intended application of the optical part. When the anti-reflection coating film is a monolayered film, the film is formed from TiO.sub.2, Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5, ZrO.sub.2 and the like to have a very small thickness while the coating film having a multilayered structure consists, in many cases, of the above mentioned thin film of a titanium oxide and the like which is overlaid with another thin film having a low refractive index such as SiO.sub.2. These anti-reflection coating films are formed on the surface of the optical part by the method of vacuum vapor-phase deposition, ion plating, sputtering or the like.
The reflectivity of an anti-reflection coating film depends on the wavelength of the incident light, angle of incidence of the light, optical film thickness, i.e. the product of the refractive index and the thickness of the film, of each layer and structure of lamination of layers. When a high refractive index is desired, the anti-reflection coating film is formed from an oxide of titanium such as TiO.sub.2 while titanium oxide used for forming the anti-reflection coating film on an optical part include TiO, TiO.sub.2, Ti.sub.3 O.sub.5 and the like or, in a general formula, TiO.sub.x of which the value of the subscript x largely depends on the method of film formation, conditions of film formation and types of the source material for film formation. As a method for the formation of a coating film of TiO.sub.x, K. Narasimha Rao, et al. in Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A11, pages 394-397 (1993) teach a method of vapor-phase deposition in which a TiO.sub.2 film is formed by the deposition of TiO onto the substrate surface at 250.degree. C. while the substrate surface is under irradiation with oxygen ion beams. H. Demiryon, et al. in Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A2, pages 1457-1460 (1984) teach a method in which TiO.sub.2 is deposited onto the substrate surface under irradiation of the substrate surface with ion beams of an argon-oxygen mixture.
On the other hand, it is sometimes the case that an optical part is bonded and fixed to another optical part or to a casing by using a metallic or inorganic bonding agent such as solder alloys and glassy materials of low melting point. When these bonding agents are used for such a purpose, needless to say, the bonding agent must be heated up to or above the melting point of the solder alloy or softening point of the glass. When the solder alloy is a gold-tin alloy, for example, the heating temperature must usually be 280.degree. C. or higher.
A problem caused by this heating for the bonding work of optical parts is that the anti-reflection coating film suffers a change in the optical film thickness. When an optical part provided with an anti-reflection coating of TiO.sub.2 is bonded and fixed with soldering under heating up to 280.degree. C. or higher, for example, an increase is caused in the reflectivity of the anti-reflection coating film after bonding. Incidentally, the above mentioned literature by K. Narasimha Rao, et al. does not assume a case in which the heating temperature of a TiO.sub.2 film in the bonding works exceeds 250.degree. C.

Optical isolator and optical part having heat-resistant anti-reflection coating


Disclosed herein is a small-sized hand-operated spray pump. The spray pump includes a spray nozzle (10) for spraying content, a housing (100) constructed in a narrow and long cylindrical structure to allow the content to be vertically moved therethrough, a cap (20) for controlling the operation of the spray nozzle, a container (130) for containing the content, a closure (80), constructed in a symmetrical wing structure, fixed to one side of housing, a shaft (30) vertically movable along the inner surface of the housing, a piston (92) mounted to the shaft while surrounding the lower end of the shaft, a compression spring (90) for providing a restoring force to the shaft at the time of pumping, a ball (120) for opening and closing an inlet port of the housing at the time of pumping, and a case member (70) constructed in a three-stage frame structure.

Generally, a hand-operated pump is classified as a drop-type pump used in shampoo containers or cosmetics containers or as a spray-type pump used in perfume containers or mosquito repellent containers.
Especially, a small-sized hand-operated pump has been normally used in cosmetics containers that discharge a predetermined amount of liquid or emulsion content each time because of its convenience. In this case, the hand-operated pump has been widely used because of its characteristics that a predetermined amount of content can be easily discharged each time by the hand-operated pump while the content is stored in the container, and technologies related to the hand-operated pump have been continuously developed.
Meanwhile, the conventional hand-operated pump mainly includes a housing forming the external appearance of the pump, a closure used to mount the housing to a container, a stem communicating with the outlet port of a cap and vertically movable along the housing, a shaft for guiding the vertical movement of the stem and connecting the stem to the cap, a piston mounted to the stem such that the piston can be vertically moved along the inner wall of the housing, a spring mounted to the inner lower part of the housing, and a ball for opening and closing the inlet port formed in the lower end of the housing.
The conventional hand-operated pump is constructed in a structure in which the hand-operated pump is mounted principally in a cylindrical or prismatic container case. To this end, it is required that the conventional hand-operated pump have a specific width.
Also, the conventional hand-operated spray pump is constructed in a structure having a large thickness and a large volume. As a result, the conventional hand-operated spray pump is not suitable for a small-sized spray pump that is mounted in a perfume container to spray a small amount of perfume.
Recently, as the demand of consumers has abruptly changed, a large number of samples for sales promotion have been provided, and the size of these samples is normally small. For this reason, there is high necessity for a small-sized hand-operated spray pump constructed in a light-weighted and thin structure including a small-sized container.


Disclosed herein is an anti-fingerprint coating composition, a coating composition for forming thin films that prevents fingerprints adhered to displays or touch panels from being remarkably visible and exhibits superior durability and slip properties, and a method for preparing the same.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an anti-fingerprint coating composition with superior durability, and a thin film formed using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The surfaces of displays of electronic products, for example, screens of TVs, screens of PC or notebook monitors, screens of mobile equipment such as cellular phones or PDAs, or touch panels of electronic products are readily stained with fingerprints or components of the face such as lipids or proteins. Thus these stains are remarkably visible to the naked eye and the display appears dirty when coming in contact with the hands or face of users during calling.
Accordingly, a method in which an anti-fingerprint coating layer is formed by forming a waterproof and oilproof fluorine-containing thin film on the surface of displays or coating the surface of displays with a waterproof silicone resin skeleton is incorporated.
However, these methods do not prevent adhesion of lipids, the main component of fingerprints and enable the fingerprints to be cleaned. For this reason, fingerprints present on product surfaces dirty the appearance thereof, and problems associated with durability, in which lifespan of thin coating films is only several months, occur when repeatedly cleaned.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Anti-fingerprint coating composition and film using the same

Abstract: The anti-fingerprint coating composition is prepared by mixing a silane compound having an alkyl group with distilled water or acid.


The rigid balloon has a chamber to hold lighter-than-air gas portions to retain a structural member or members and a separate light gas is filled into the chamber through a valve in the balloon. Structural members are inserted into the portion to help retain the desired shape of the balloon. The structural members also provide a counterbalancing weight which prevents the balloon from floating upward. Thus, the balloon, once released into the air, will retain its shape and remain floating at the height from which it was released unless repositioned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighter-than-air balloons, and more particularly, to lighter-than-air balloons having a rigid skeleton.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, it has been difficult to fabricate balloons with continuously curved shapes, and well-defined corners, or edges. Most balloons are formed in spherical shapes in order to allow the greatest volume for the least surface area. Also, the thin material of the balloon naturally becomes spherical as pressure is increased. To achieve the desired non-spherical shape, then, it is necessary to provide a supporting frame to maintain the thin material of the balloon. However, in the past, the weight of such frames, even when the most efficient materials for such purposes were selected, typically required a displaced volume of such size that fabrication for home use or the like would have been impractical. Consequently, helium balloons are typically formed in spherical shapes with some type of tethering device attached for maintaining control of the balloon's elevation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,086, issued Jun. 28, 1977 to W. Cooke, discloses an aerostat or aquastat in which a sealed envelope of flexible material is mounted on a flexible frame which can be caused to expand the envelope after it has been evacuated of internal gas, thereby setting up a vacuum or partial vacuum condition in the envelope. By controlling the frame to adjust the volume of the envelope, the lift or buoyancy of the device can be controlled in flight or precisely determined before ascent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,777, issued Aug. 2, 1977 to S. Schwartz, discloses a gas filled, balloon-like object capable of defining a non-spherical shape. A high modulus graphite impregnated epoxy material is used to prevent distortion of the inflated object. Strings or weights are required to prevent upward ascent of the balloon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,206, issued Sep. 12, 1978 to D. Wheeler, discloses a lighter-than-air apparatus, including a thin, pliable air-tight cuter envelope disposed in overlying relationship over a light-weight, coarse-opening inner frame of a spherelike shape.
Other devices relating to balloons and lighter-than-air apparatuses include U.S. Pat. No. 2001/0003505 A1 issued Jun. 14, 2001 to T. Bertrand, which discloses a lighting apparatus secured to a balloon by string under tension; U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,426 issued May 15, 1990 to C. Lovik, which discloses an open skeletal frame of rigid rod-like formers made of thin strands of plastic, wire, or the like and which permits the insertion of an uninflated balloon of conventional shape and size into the interior thereof so that upon inflation of the balloon, the latex sidewall material of the balloon projects outwardly through the openings of the formers to produce bulbous projections; U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,997, issued May 26, 1992 to J. Peterson, which discloses a tethered surveillance balloon having a relatively low lift-to-weight ratio; U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,998, issued May 26, 1992 to L. Olive, which discloses a double-walled, annular balloon which requires less gas to inflate than its volume would indicate; U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,072, issued Aug. 2, 1994 to M. Epstein, which discloses an inflatable body, such as a balloon, and holder assembly therefore; U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,240, issued Mar. 16, 1999 to B. Larsen, which discloses a toy blimp; U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,984, issued Aug. 21, 2001 to K. Komaba, which discloses a balloon having adhering members disposed upon its surface; Japanese Patent No. 1238890, published Sep. 25, 1989, which discloses plastic film balloons in animal and other complex shapes.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.


Implementations of various techniques for processing seismic data acquired by three or more over/under streamers. In one implementation, the seismic data may be processed by grouping the seismic data into one or more sets of seismic data based on all possible pairs of the three or more over/under streamers, wherein each set of seismic data comprises seismic data that had been acquired by a pair of the three or more over/under streamers, applying a shift and subtract algorithm to the one or more sets of seismic data, and applying a dephase and sum algorithm to the one or more sets of seismic data.

1. Field of the Invention
Implementations of various technologies described herein generally relate to seismic data processing, and more particularly, processing seismic data acquired using over/under streamers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Seismic exploration is widely used to locate and/or survey subterranean geological formations for hydrocarbon deposits. Since many commercially valuable hydrocarbon deposits are located beneath bodies of water, various types of marine seismic surveys have been developed. In a typical marine seismic survey, seismic streamers are towed behind a survey vessel. The seismic streamers may be several thousand meters long and contain a large number of sensors, such as hydrophones, geophones, and associated electronic equipment, which are distributed along the length of the seismic streamer cable. The survey vessel may also include one or more seismic sources, such as air guns and the like.
As the seismic streamers are towed behind the survey vessel, acoustic signals, commonly referred to as "shots," produced by the one or more seismic sources are directed down through the water into strata beneath the water bottom, where they are reflected from the various subterranean geological formations. Reflected signals are received by the sensors, digitized, and then transmitted to the survey vessel. The digitized signals are referred to as "traces" and are recorded and at least partially processed by a signal processing unit deployed on the survey vessel. The ultimate aim of this process is to build up a representation of the subterranean geological formations beneath the streamers. Analysis of the representation may indicate probable locations of hydrocarbon deposits in the subterranean geological formations.
The seismic streamers may be in an over/under configuration, i.e., one set of streamers being suspended above another set of streamers. Streamers in an over/under configuration may be towed much deeper than streamers in a conventional single configuration.
Conventional techniques for processing seismic data acquired by streamers in a twin over/under configuration generally involve a dephase and sum algorithm and a shift and subtract algorithm. In the application of the dephase and sum algorithm, the data recorded at each streamer may be first processed by a correlation step to dephase the individual surface ghost wavelets. However, this requires explicit knowledge of the surface ghost wavelet, which is typically very difficult to obtain. Hence, the surface ghost wavelet is typically assumed to be that of a flat sea-surface, which renders conventional techniques useless in rough sea conditions.
In the application of the shift and subtract algorithm, the data recorded on one of the twin over/under streamers may be time shifted so that the free-surface ghost energy occurs at the same time on both streamers. Subtraction of one data set from the other may remove this ghost energy. Such shift and subtract algorithms, however, may leave a ghost of the up going wave fields in the processed data. This ghost may not easily be removed due to its spectral notches.

Processing of seismic data acquired using over/under streamers and/or over/under sources


A whisk, in particular for culinary use, having a handle and an active part with a predominately pear-shaped general shape and that is mounted on the handle. The whisk also includes an attachment clip mounted on the handle and that has a spatula-shaped end part at its free end. The attachment clip rests on the active part of the whisk and has an angled shape with a concavity that is turned towards the inside of the whisk.

Conventional whisks include a handle and a bundle of shafts, which make up an "active part" that extends from the handle. The active part generally is pear-shaped and designed to optimize mixing ingredients.
After a user discontinues using a conventional whisk, the user generally places the whisk within the mixing bowl, rests the whisk across the top surface of the bowl, or places the whisk on a plate of some sort. One problem with placing the whisk outside the container, such as on a plate, is that mixed ingredients remaining on the whisk's active part drip off onto the plate and, thus, become unusable. If the whisk is placed within the bowl, it is likely that the whisk will slide down (i.e., fall over) thereby causing the whisk's handle to contact the ingredients being mixed.
In an attempt to avoid the aforementioned problems associated with using conventional whisks, additional supporting elements have been designed that allow the user to attach the whisk to the rim of the bowl when not in use. Unfortunately, such items generally are intended for utensils that have long thin handles, such as serving utensils, and therefore are poorly suited for use with whisks. Moreover, these devices often are not in easy reach of a user, and sometimes are simply forgotten about or get lost. Still further, using these types of supporting elements, including positioning them on the container or bowl and their subsequent removal after use, complicates and extends the mixing operation.
Another technique that attempts to address the foregoing problems is to include an open-ended hook on the utensil's handle. After the utensil is used, its hook may be placed on the edge of the bowl or container so that the utensil conveniently hangs down from the side of the container. However, such hooks generally are designed for utensils with long thin handles and typically only for those utensils that are used to serve food, such as ladles and spoons. Unfortunately, hooks are ill-suited for whisks for at least two reasons. First, whisks generally have a relatively short handle and thus it is too easy for the user to grab the hook, and thus hurt oneself, when grabbing the whisk. Second, a whisk is used to stir ingredients within a bowl or other receptacle and thus requires strong, fast movement, which also may result in injury to the user during use if an open-ended hook is placed on the whisk's handle.


A Method for tank venting in an internal combustion engine includes ascertaining a degree of loading of an activated carbon filter. A desired flushing flow is calculated and a pulse duty factor for a tank venting valve is set depending on the level of the degree of loading and a predefined value for a maximum possible fuel mass flow through the tank venting valve. This is done as a function of the desired flushing flow, the temperature of a flushing stream and a pressure gradient at the tank venting valve, in such a way that the lambda deviation, brought about by a flushing procedure, of a lambda controller of the lambda control device, does not exceed a predefined maximum value.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method for tank venting in an internal combustion engine having a lambda control device for controlling an air/fuel mixture to be fed to the internal combustion engine, which includes intermediately storing fuel vapors arising in a fuel supply container in an adsorption container, preferably having an activated carbon filter, the activated carbon filter exhibiting a degree of loading dependent on the mass of fuel vapors adsorbed; initiating a flushing procedure of the activated carbon filter within the context of a regeneration phase, in selected operating regions of the internal combustion engine; continuously varying a passage cross section of a tank venting valve which is connected between the adsorption container and the internal combustion engine and can be driven by an electrical signal with a variable pulse duty factor; and introducing a flushing stream into the intake tract of the internal combustion engine, downstream of a throttle, for feeding to combustion.
The purpose of such tank venting installations, which are primarily used in motor vehicles, is to avoid the evaporation of hydrocarbons from the fuel tank into the atmosphere.
To that end, the tank venting installation generally has a fuel tank and a tank venting valve, which is connected to the intake tract of an internal combustion engine which drives the motor vehicle. As a result, with the aid of a negative pressure in the suction pipe, fuel vapors are sucked up and fed to the combustion in the cylinders of the internal combustion engine. It is normal for the volume located above the fuel in the fuel tank not to be sucked up directly, but for the fuel vapor to be intermediately stored in a separate container, which contains an adsorbent material, as a rule an activated carbon filter. That prevents the emergence of the fuel vapor into the environment. The activated carbon filter adsorbs fuel vapors in those periods in which no suction is being performed by the suction pipe, for example when the internal combustion engine is stopped or the tank venting valve is kept closed on the basis of the current operating state of the internal combustion engine.
Since the activated carbon filter can only store a limited fuel mass, it must be flushed in suitable operating ranges of the internal combustion engine. In that case, the tank venting valve, which is disposed in a line between the activated carbon filter and the suction pipe of the internal combustion engine, is opened by being driven through the use of suitable signals from an electronic control device of the internal combustion engine. The opening cross section of the tank venting valve and therefore the flushing stream of the activated carbon filter can be set through the use of a variation of the driving pulse duty factor of that signal.
However, the flushing rate cannot be selected to be arbitrarily high, since otherwise the lambda controller of the lambda control device reaches a limit (controller stop), and a predefined air/fuel ratio can no longer be adjusted.
German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE 38 13 220 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,712, has disclosed a method and a device for setting a tank venting valve. In order to obtain actuating values for driving the tank venting valve, which is connected to the intake connection of an internal combustion engine, use is made of a control factor which is supplied by a lambda controller calculation step. The control factor modifies a charging factor until a regeneration fuel quantity which leads to no deviation from the lambda desired value is discharged through the tank venting valve. The controlled charging factor modifies pilot control values for the regeneration fuel quantity which may be supplied in the case of an operating state that is present at that time. The maximum possible gas stream through the tank venting valve is calculated as a function of the pressure relationships at the tank venting valve that prevail in the case of the respective operating state. The device contains a flow determining device to take into account the pressure relationships at the tank venting valve, and a charging control device to adapt a provisionally assumed charging factor to the charging factor which is actually present.


This invention relates to methods and compositions useful for detecting mutations which cause Familial Dysautonomia. Familial dysautonomia (FD; Riley-Day syndrome), an Ashkenazi Jewish disorder, is the best known and most frequent of a group of congenital sensory neuropathies and is characterized by widespread sensory and variable autonomic dysfunction. Previously, we mapped the FD gene, DYS, to a 0.5 cM region of chromosome 9q31 and showed that the ethnic bias is due to a founder effect, with >99.5% of disease alleles sharing a common ancestral haplotype. To investigate the molecular basis of FD, we sequenced the minimal candidate region and cloned and characterized its 5 genes. One of these, IKBKAP, harbors two mutations that can cause FD. The major haplotype mutation is located in the donor splice site of intron 20. This mutation can result in skipping of exon 20 in the mRNA from FD patients, although they continue to express varying levels of wild-type message in a tissue-specific manner. RNA isolated from patient lymphoblasts is primarily wild-type, whereas only the deleted message is seen in RNA isolated from brain. The mutation associated with the minor haplotype in four patients is a missense (R696P) mutation in exon 19 that is predicted to disrupt a potential phosphorylation site. Our findings indicate that almost all cases of FD are caused by an unusual splice defect that displays tissue-specific expression; and they also provide the basis for rapid carrier screening in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.

Familial Dysautonomia (FD, Riley-Day Syndrome, Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy Type III) [OMIM 223900] is an autosomal recessive disorder present in 1 in 3,600 live births in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. This debilitating disorder is due to the poor development, survival, and progressive degeneration of the sensory and autonomic nervous system (Axelrod et al., 1974). FD was first described in 1949 based on five children who presented with defective lacrimation, excessive sweating, skin blotching, and hypertension (Riley et al., 1949). The following cardinal criteria have evolved for diagnosis of FD: absence of fungiform papillae on the tongue, absence of flare after injection of intradermal histamine, decreased or absent deep tendon reflexes, absence of overflow emotional tears, and Ashkenazi Jewish descent (Axelrod and Pearson, 1984, Axelrod 1984).
The loss of neuronal function in FD has many repercussions, with patients displaying gastrointestinal dysfunction, abnormal respiratory responses to hypoxic and hypercarbic states, scoliosis, gastroesophageal reflux, vomiting crises, lack of overflow tears, inappropriate sweating, and postural hypotension (Riley et al. 1949; Axelrod et al. 1974, Axelrod 1996). Despite recent advances in the management of FD, the disorder is inevitably fatal with only 50% of patients reaching 30 years of age. The clinical features of FD are due to a genetic defect that causes a striking, progressive depletion of unmyelinated sensory and autonomic neurons (Pearson and Pytel 1978a; Pearson and Pytel 1978b; Pearson et al. 1978; Axelrod 1995). This neuronal deficiency begins during development, as extensive pathology is evident even in the youngest subjects. Fetal development and postnatal maintenance of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons is abnormal, significantly decreasing their numbers and resulting in DRG of grossly reduced size. Slow progressive degeneration is evidenced by continued neuronal depletion with increasing age. In the autonomic nervous system, superior cervical sympathetic ganglia are also reduced in size due to a severe decrease in the neuronal population.
Previously, the FD gene, DYS, was mapped to an 11-cM region of chromosome 9q31 (Blumenfeld et al. 1993) which was then narrowed by haplotype analysis to <0.5 cM or 471 kb (Blumenfeld et al. 1999). There is a single major haplotype that accounts for >99.5% of all FD chromosomes in the Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) population. The recent identification of several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the candidate interval has allowed for further reduction of the candidate region to 177 kb by revealing a common core haplotype shared by the major and one previously described minor haplotype (Blumenfeld et al. 1999).

Methods for detecting mutations associated with familial dysautonomia


Finely divided copper powder suitable for the preparation of copper catalyst for the synthesis of methylchlorosilane is prepared by adding an aqueous copper salt solution to an aqueous suspension of iron powder. Copper salt solutions obtained as process residues from the synthesis of methylchlorosilane can be used in the process of this invention.

The copper catalyst required in the synthesis of methylchlorosilane from methyl chloride and silicon is used in the form of metallic copper such as cement copper, electrolytic copper or oxidic copper prepared from cement copper by pyrometallurgical processes, or copper compounds such as copper oxides, copper hydroxides or other copper salts, or as an alloying constituent of silicon. To improve their activity, stability and reactivity, the copper catalysts contain metals as activators, such as aluminum or zinc, or as promoters, such as tin, antimony or arsenic.
When the direct synthesis is carried out in fluid-bed reactors, fines of silicon and copper catalyst, contaminated with carbon particles and various metal compounds from minor constituents of the technical-grade silicon raw material, are discharged together with the reaction product, the crude silane mixture and unconverted methyl chloride, and are separated off in downstream separating units, e.g. cyclones. A reactor residue consisting of silicon, catalyst and metal halides from minor constituents of the technicalgrade silicon raw materials, and carbon particles, is also obtained and is discharged continuously or discontinuously from the fluid-bed reactors. Drying and filtration processes also result in the production of contaminated dusts of very fine particle size.
The only currently known processes for the recovery of copper from process residues are those where contaminated copper salts are obtained which can only be recycled into the catalyst preparation after expensive purification.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,352 (K. Feldner el al., published on Jul. 19, 1988 in the name of Bayer A. G., Leverkusen) describes a process for the treatment of high-boiling residues from the synthesis of methylchlorosilane where the residues are hydrolyzed with water or dilute hydrochloric acid and oxidized with oxygen. The CuCl.sub.2 -containing solution which is separated off is treated with NaOH and SO.sub.2 to precipitate copper(I) oxide.
This copper(I) oxide has to be worked up in known manner, for example by dissolution in dilute sulfuric acid with a supply of air followed by cementation with scrap iron. A further purification of the resulting copper by melt refining and then by an electrolytic process is usually required if fresh catalyst for the synthesis of methylchlorosilane is to be prepared therefrom.
Copper is ductile and cannot be mechanically reduced to a powder with a suitable particle size and surface. If a copper powder is to be prepared which will be processed further to a pulverulent catalyst for the synthesis of methylchlorosilane, for example by oxidation or doping of the copper surface, it has to be prepared by special processes, such as atomization, from the melt.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple process for the preparation of copper powder which can be utilized as a catalyst in the synthesis of methylchlorosilane. A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for the preparation of copper powder from the copper salt solutions obtained in the working-up of process residues from the synthesis of methylchlorosilane.

Process for the preparation of copper powder


A liquid dispensing system which is designed to use a single pump in conjunction with a plurality of liquid containing containers. The pump can be either manually or electrically operated. Associated with each container is a dispensing valve which prior to usage is closed by a cap preventing leakage of liquid from the container. Once the cap is removed a connector on the pump can be matingly connected to the dispensing valve in a liquid tight manner and subsequent operation of the pump will cause dispensing of the liquid into the ambient. The pump can be covered by a cover which is fixed to the container. An access opening is provided within the cover so as to manually operate the pump. An outlet tube extends from the pump to an outlet hole in the cover. This outlet tube flexes during operation of the pump. The pump and container can be formed into a pistol type configuration. There can be a special shaped connecting configuration between the pump and the dispensing valve to eliminate usage of one manufacturer's liquid product with another manufacturer's pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to dispensing systems which deliver aqueous and alcohol product or high viscosity formulations, and more particularly to an atomizing spray type dispensing system to be used to affect dispensing into the ambient of a liquid medium.
2. Description of Prior Art
Dispensing devices which include atomizing types of pumps, both aerosol and non-aerosol, which dispense consumer product liquids such as colognes, perfumes, antiperspirants, hair sprays, liquid soaps and other types of liquids have long been known. Within recent years, it has been determined that the use of aerosol dispensing containers is hazardous to the ozone layer of the earth. Therefore, aerosol types of liquid dispensing systems are being replaced by non-aerosol types of dispensing systems. Basically, the non-aerosol type of dispensing system, instead of using a gas propellant, utilizes a mechanical force in order to affect the atomization of the liquid. Required mechanical force can be applied manually, or by an electrically operated motor or solenoid utilizing AC or DC current.
Currently there are numerous liquid dispensing systems on the market. Few of these dispensing systems offer a coordinated refill capability. Known to the art, commercially available pumps which are utilized in the current dispensing systems have use-life cycle of hundreds of thousands of activations without failure. The established concept of one pump, one container, utilizes the pump only a few hundred times. It should be noted the cost of the pump is a major cost factor of most dispensing systems. Some companies do provide refill containers of their liquid which is to be utilized as refill for their dispensing system container. However, many companies have not supported the refill program. One objection is that the consumer is inclined to refill an original purchase dispensing container with a competitor's product.
Another major deterrent to the refilling of atomizing dispensing containers is the inconvenient sequence of mechanical manipulation of the refilling procedure: 1) Remove, by unscrewing, pump/container closure from empty liquid container; 2) Remove sealing cap of the liquid refill container; 3) Pour refill liquid into original container; 4) Reset pump/container closure in conjunction with original dispensing container; 5) Reseal refill container; 6) Clean up any spilled residue.
Many modern day consumers consider this refilling procedure to be too messy and too time consuming. Why not just purchase a new unit even though it may be more expensive and never mind that the discarded empty creates more trash. The fact that the discarded pump has a remaining life cycle usability factor capable of evacuating numerous additional liquid containers is totally ignored.


In an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system, a receiver includes a received signal transformer, a frequency offset estimator and a frequency compensator. The received signal transformer removes from a training symbol a guardtone and a sub-carrier deviated from a mean value of effective sub-carrier signals by over a predetermined value. The frequency offset estimator estimates the frequency offset of the OFDM digital signal and the frequency compensator compensates the frequency offset of received signals by using the estimated frequency offset. Thus, data transmission efficiency can be greatly improved and influence from a frequency-selective noise channel can be minimized. Further, by removing data unnecessary for the frequency offset estimation, the calculation amount can be reduced.

In general, an OFDM technology has its applications in various digital data transmission systems such as a digital audio broadcasting (DAB), a digital television, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless asynchronous transfer mode (WATM), etc. The OFDM is a multiple-carrier signal transmission technology where data modulated by a plurality of carrier signals are transmitted in parallel. Though conventional OFDM systems have not been widely used due to their structural complicities, recent development of various digital signal processing technologies such as a fast fourier transform (FFT) and an inverse FFT allows for commercial realizations of the OFDM systems in various fields. Though the OFDM method is similar to a conventional FDM method, its technical essence lies in that data transmission is performed while maintaining orthogonality between sub-carriers, thus obtaining optimum transmission efficiency for a high-speed data transmission. Accordingly, there have been suggested increasing number of data transmission technologies employing the OFDM method such as an OFDM/CDMA for use in a WATM system.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is provided a receiver of a conventional OFDM system.
The receiver of the OFDM system includes an A/D converter 10, a multiplier 12, a guard interval remover 14, a fast fourier transformer (FFT) 16, a frequency offset estimator 30 having a fine frequency offset estimator 18 and a coarse frequency offset estimator 20, and an adder 22.
The A/D converter 10 converts a baseband analog signal, received by a RF (radio frequency) receiver (not shown) and provided thereto, into a digital signal and then provides the digital data to the multiplier 12. The multiplier 12 compensates a frequency error included in the digital signal by using a predetermined frequency correction signal inputted from the adder 22, thus obtaining a sampled data signal.
Then, the guard interval remover 14 removes a guard interval from the signal outputted from the multiplier 12. To be more specific, the guard interval removing process involves the steps of: setting a window including two OFDM symbols and one guard interval; obtaining correlation values by moving the window on a sample basis on the outputted signal; defining a point in time when a maximum correlation value appears as a starting point of the guard interval; and removing from the outputted signal a data corresponding to the guard interval. The FFT 16 performs a fast fourier transformation on the data provided from the guard interval remover 14 to obtain stream type chip data. The chip data is sent to the frequency offset estimator 30.
Unless a transmitter and a receiver are synchronized during a local oscillating period in a data transmission system using the OFDM method, there may occur a frequency offset between the receiver and sub-carriers. If the frequency offset exists, interference between a received data and a neighboring channel may be incurred, so that the orthogonality between the sub-carriers may not be maintained. Thus, even a very minute offset can cause a deterioration of the efficiency of the receiving system. For this reason, the frequency offset estimator 30 is required in a data transmission system employing the OFDM method in order to compensate such a frequency offset.
The frequency offset estimator 30 calculates a correlation value between the chip data, provided from the FFT 16, and a preset reference signal and, then, outputs an estimated frequency offset. Specifically, the coarse frequency offset estimator 20 outputs an initial frequency offset corresponding to an integer multiple of the interval between carriers while the fine frequency offset estimator 18 outputs a residual frequency offset left after the first synchronization which is equal to or smaller than the integer multiple of the carrier interval.
The adder 22 receives the initial frequency offset and the residual frequency offset provided from the frequency offset estimator 30 and then outputs an estimated frequency offset, which is inputted to the multiplier 12 to serve as the frequency correction signal.
However, the conventional frequency offset estimator 30 as described above has a drawback as follows. In case a temporal domain method is employed to estimate the frequency offset, the detection range for the frequency offset is limited to a maximum of four times of the carrier interval though a small amount of calculation is involved. A frequency domain method, on the other hand, involves a great amount of calculation since all the possible correlation functions for the intervals between the sub-carriers should be calculated though there is no limit to the detection range for the frequency offset.
Assume that the transmitter (not shown) performs the transmission of the data by using N number of sub-carriers and the receiver receives two training symbols for the frequency synchronization in the OFDM system. At this time, the estimated frequency offset outputted from the frequency offset estimator 30 is obtained by using an algorithm to be described in detail hereinafter.
Referring to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a structure of a training symbol applied to the present invention. The training symbol includes guardtones and effective carrier signals. The guardtones serve to prevent the occurrence of noises due to interferences between neighboring training symbols.
The two training symbols X1, and X2, which are outputted from the transmitter, are defined as follows:
                              X          1                =                              ∑                          k              =              0                                      N              -              1                                                                    X              1                                                  (              k              )                                                          Eq.  1                                          X          2                =                              ∑                          k              =              0                                      N              -              1                                                                    X              2                                                  (              k              )                                                          Eq.  2            wherein N represents the size of a data to be FFT-transformed; k, and index indicating a sub-carrier component; and Xk, a complex data allotted to a k-th sub-carrier.
The two signals X1 and X2 are transmitted through a transmission channel and received at the receiver as two received signals, Y1 and Y2, respectively. The received signals Y1 and Y2 are represented as follows.Y1(k)=X1(k)H(k)+N(k)  Eq. 3wherein H(k) stands for a channel transfer function for the k-th sub-carrier and N(k) represents a noise component in the k-th sub-carrier. The offset estimator 30 obtains an estimated frequency offset from the received training signals Y1 and Y2 and compensates frequency offsets (foffset) of the received data signals by using an algorithm as follows.
                              f          offset                =                              1                          2                            π                                          arg                                              ∑                              k                =                0                                            N                -                1                                                                                Y                  2                                                                  (                  k                  )                                                                                Y                  1                  *                                                                  (                  k                  )                                                                                Eq.  4
However, in the offset estimation method using the frequency offset estimator 30 as described above, an excessively large amount of calculation is required since noise components generated by the guardtones, which have no transmission information, are also the subjects of calculation. Further, the offset estimation method using the frequency offset estimator 30 may accompany various problems such as an impulsive noise or a fading phenomenon caused by a frequency selection.

Receiver of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system


A method is provided for determining support of a hypothesis by opinion sentences. The method converts sentence structures in the opinion sentences using various sentence structure conversion methods to obtain converted opinion sentences. For each converted opinion sentence, the method calculates a difference between a proximity label value indicating proximity to the hypothesis and an intermediate score before and after a conversion, adopts the conversion responsive to a condition being met relative to the difference, and adopts the opinion sentence instead responsive to the condition being unmet. The method creates sub-opinions using the various methods applied to adopted conversions and opinion sentences, and obtains an intermediate score for each sub-opinion. The method represents an amount of support for the hypothesis by obtaining and displaying a final score for each adopted conversions and opinion sentences based on the intermediate scores for the sub-opinions and for adopted conversions and opinion sentences.

The present invention generally relates to information processing, and more particularly to an optimized document score system using a sentence structure analysis function.
Many applications and fields benefit from knowing whether an opinion supports a given hypothesis. However, examination of such opinions to determine such support requires a significant amount of labor and time.

Optimized document score system using sentence structure analysis function

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


An inverter apparatus for a battery-powered vehicle drive which is selectively operable in either a normal drive mode or an alternative battery-charging mode. In the drive mode, the inverter functions to invert DC from the vehicle's on-board storage batteries to a polyphase AC to power the vehicle drive motor. In the battery-charging mode, the inverter draws charging current from an external energy supply source and supplies it to the battery as a DC charging current. The apparatus is usable with external energy supply sources varying widely in voltage and frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inverter apparatus for use in battery powered vehicle drives. More particularly, the invention relates to such an inverter apparatus which is selectively operable either to convert DC from a storage battery located on board the vehicle to supply a polyphase AC electric motor or alternatively to charge the battery from an external energy supply source.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The development of battery-powered vehicles for widespread use has presented a number of substantial technical challenges. Much of the effort to overcome these challenges has been concerned with increasing efficiency. This has made weight reduction a primary consideration. Also, the vehicle must be able to operate over a wide range of speed and torque requirements.
Some drive systems for battery-powered vehicles incorporate polyphase AC electric motors as the electro-mechanical energy converters. These drives are known to have relatively high efficiency as well as excellent control characteristics. When such motors are utilized, however, the battery voltage must be converted from DC to polyphase AC. Furthermore, in order for the motor to respond to instantaneous speed and torque requirements, the AC must be variable voltage and frequency. The mechanism for performing this conversion is typically a pulse-width modulated ("PWM") inverter. Such inverters are well known throughout the power electronics community.
No matter how efficient an electric vehicle is made, the storage batteries must inevitably be recharged. This has often required special external equipment. Thus, in order to increase the feasibility of these vehicles, it is desirable that the circuitry necessary to recharge the batteries be carried "on board." This allows the vehicle to be recharged from convenient external energy sources. Typical charging systems added to a vehicle, however, simply increase overall weight. Thus, improvement in convenience has been at the expense of weight which causes an increase in acceleration times and a reduction of vehicle range.

Reconfigurable inverter apparatus for battery-powered vehicle drive


A jog dial emulation input device includes: a pointing device for receiving coordinate data on a panel surface; and a rotation direction detector for determining a rotation direction of a user input to the panel surface to be clockwise or counter clockwise based on the coordinate data received by the pointing device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jog dial emulation input device for use in a computer or the like for performing jog dial inputs such as for example, moving a cursor by making substantially circular strokes with a finger tip an the surface of the input device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user using a computer or the like often gives a command for varying a parameter bidirectionally (e.g., up/down, left/right, increase/decrease, dark/light, positive/negative). For example, in order to select an article (e.g., a command or a choice) from a menu list including a number of articles arranged horizontally or vertically on a display screen, the user is required to move a selection cursor (i.e., pointer) via a mouse horizontally or vertically to the desired article. When drawing a picture on a display screen, it may be necessary to move the pointer exclusively in one direction (e.g., horizontally or vertically). Or, when setting a parameter such as, for example, a clock, font size, counter, thermostat, response parameter of the mouse, etc., the user may open a dialog box or the like and adjust (e.g., increase/decrease) the parameter in the dialog box. The following are other examples of operations where a bidirectional parameter is varied:
Scrolling the display upward/downward; PA1 Enlarging/shrinking the display; PA1 Moving video image frames forward/backward; PA1 Adjusting the contrast, brightness, focus, tint, color, etc., of the display; PA1 Adjusting the volume, tone, stereo balance, etc., for sound; PA1 Selecting a channel on a TV (television), radio, etc.
For performing the above operations via a keyboard, the user can press one of a set of direction keys (e.g., arrow keys) so as to move the cursor or to increase/decrease a value or parameter. By using a mouse, the user can move the pointer/cursor by moving the mouse on a mouse pad in order to drag a scroll box up/down along a scroll bar to increase/decrease the value or parameter; or click an arrow box to increase/decrease the value or parameter.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-104964 describes an invention where an article is selected from the menu list using a stylus pen or the like. A gesture recognition area is provided for each article on a display screen. When the stylus pen is located in one of the gesture recognition areas, gestures of the stylus pen are recognized, thereby selecting an article associated with the region.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-12493 describes an invention where gestures of a stylus pen, a mouse or the like are recognized based on a DP (Dynamic Programming) matching method, which has been employed in, for example, voice recognition.
A jog dial input device has also been proposed as an input device specially designed for the bidirectional adjustment of a parameter. As shown in FIG. 24, the jog dial input device includes a jog dial 21 rotatably attached to a main body, and a concave portion 21a provided at an eccentric position on the jog dial 21. The user places his finger tip A on the concave portion 21a and rotates the jog dial 21, thereby generating jog dial pulses in accordance with the rotational direction he is moving the jog dial (e.g., two pulses having a phase lead or a phase delay depending an the rotation direction). The jog dial pulses are sent to the computer and received by a device driver of the computer which determines the direction of rotation (i.e., clockwise or counterclockwise) of the jog dial 21. The determined rotation direction is sent to an application program or the like which varies a bidirectional parameter according to the direction of rotation. By using the pulses generated by the jog dial as X-/Y-pulses (indicating relative changes in X-/Y-directions, respectively), it is also possible to control mouse location data. The amount by which a bidirectional parameter is varied is represented, for example, by the number of jog dial pulses. The method of varying a bidirectional parameter utilizing the clockwise/counterclockwise rotation generated by the jog dial input device has been employed, for example, in moving video image frames forward/backward and is believed to desirably match the human's thought process.
However, there is a problem in giving a command for varying a bidirectional parameter, for example, by pressing an arrow key on the keyboard. That is, when giving a long-stroke command to move the cursor to a relatively distant position or to vary a bidirectional parameter by a relatively large amount, the user has to repeatedly press the key or hold down the key for a long time to engage the key repeat function. Such an operation may be considerably bothersome.
When using a mouse for giving a long-stroke command for varying a bidirectional parameter by a large amount, the user has to move the mouse over a long distance or quickly (when the response parameter of the mouse is automatically adjusted). Moving the hand holding the mouse over such a long distance or so quickly may be a bothersome operation. Moreover, such a long mouse move may not be complete within the mouse pad area. For example, when the mouse reaches the edge of the mouse pad area during a mouse move, the user has to lift up the mouse and place it at the opposite edge of the mouse pad area, which is quite bothersome. Furthermore, when clicking an arrow box or the like on the display screen to vary a value or other bidirectional parameters (e.g., for darkening/lightening colors), the user has to repeatedly press the mouse button or hold down the mouse button for a long time. Such an operation is as bothersome as the above-described keyboard operation.
Using a stylus pen on a tablet provided separately from the display screen is just as bothersome as the mouse operation. FIG. 25 shows a stylus pen operation described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-104964, where a stylus pen 22 is operated on a separately-provided tablet 23. In FIG. 25, the user is moving a cursor bar 25 from choice 1 at the top of a display screen 24 to choice 5 at the bottom. In such a case, the user has to move the stylus pen 22 over a long distance while keeping the stylus pen 22 close to or on the tablet 23. Accordingly, the user has to move the hand holding the stylus pen 22 over a long distance, or the user may have to lift up the stylus pen 22 during the move and place it at the upper edge of the tablet 23 to complete the move. Such an operation may be bothersome, too.
These problems may be substantially eliminated by employing a jog dial input device with which the user can give a command for varying a bidirectional parameter simply by rotating the jog dial 21 with the finger tip A. However, providing a computer with the jog dial input device merely for giving such a command may not be practical because the input device not only causes the user an additional cost but also requires more space, for example, on the desk where the computer is used.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 7-104964 describes a gesture recognition of the stylus pen or the like for selecting an article. Such a gesture recognition requires complicated computations. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-12493 describes a gesture recognition based on a DP matching method, where a complicated computation such as for example Expression 1 below is performed to obtain angle .theta..
(Expression 1) ##EQU1##
FIG. 26 shows a case where the stylus pen 22 or the like is moved from position P.sub.0 to P.sub.2 via P.sub.1. The move from P.sub.0 to P.sub.1 is represented by a "previous" vector (i.e., a vector of the previous move) whose components are represented by (VX.sub.0, VY.sub.0), and the move from P.sub.1 to P.sub.2 is represented by a "last" vector (i.e., a vector of the last move) whose components are represented by (VX.sub.1, VY.sub.2). Then, the inner (scalar) product of the previous vector and the last vector is expressed as Expression 2 below.
(Expression 2) EQU VX.sub.1 .multidot.VX.sub.0 +VY.sub.1 .multidot.VY.sub.0
The inner product is also expressed as Expression 3 below, where .theta. is the angle defined by the previous vector and the last vector.
(Expression 3) ##EQU2##
Assuming that Expressions 2 and 3 are equal to each other, the angle .theta. defined by the vectors can be obtained by Expression 1 above. Herein, the angle .theta. is within the range of the principal value of the inverse cosine (0.ltoreq..theta..ltoreq..pi.). The angle in the range of -.pi..ltoreq..theta..ltoreq..pi. is obtained by adding negative/positive signs of components of the outer product of these vectors expressed as Expression 4. For example, when the direction of the outer product of the vector P.sub.0 P.sub.1 and the vector P.sub.1 P.sub.2 is positive, the sign to be added is also positive. When the direction of the outer product is negative, the sign to be added is also negative. However, it is also applicable that the sign to be added is negative when the direction of the outer product is positive, and the sign to be added is positive when the direction of the outer product is negative.
(Expression 4) EQU VX.sub.1 .multidot.VY.sub.0 -VX.sub.0 .multidot.VY.sub.1
Thus, in such a gesture recognition process, a complicated computation has to be performed for each location input from the stylus pen 22 or the like. This increases the load on the processing unit and, therefore, real-time operations become difficult to ensure.


In a process for authenticating a user using a data station (16) in relation to a computer system (14) connected to the data station (16), a first value z is determined in the computer system (14) from an identification word (u) stored for the user in the computer system and a random number r generated in the computer system, and a second value y is determined in the computer system (14) from the password a given by the user and the random number r. The password a is encoded before being sent to the computer system (14) and coded there by a one-way function (30). As a result of these measures, the password a does not appear in the clear text at any point in the data transmission.

The inventive method is concerned very generally with the problem of authentication in computer systems which are connected with a plurality of data stations. The data stations can be computers with programs, personal computers or dedicated data stations. As soon as a user or subscriber wants to make connection with a computer through his data station he will be required by the computer to authenticate himself by a password. He transmits the password to the data station which passes it as information to the computer. The involved problem is that an unauthorized user can so modify his data station that he receives a copy of the information sent from the first data station to the computer and withdraws it from the data station. Thereafter the unauthorized user can be authenticated in place of the authorized user because he knows the password. A further problem of this type of authentication resides in that a privileged user who has unlimited access to the data in the computer can acquire the password of a user by reading it from the memory.
In a first known authentication method, in the password announcement the unencoded password is transmitted from the data station of the user to the computer system. There the password is encoded by means of a one-way function and stored in a data file. In usage of the password, that is in the authentication, the password sent in clear text from the data station to the computer system is likewise encoded in the computer system by a one-way function. By "one-way function" is meant a function which is easy to calculate but for which no method exists for calculating its reverse function at reasonable expense.
The resulting value is subsequently compared with the encoded password stored in the data file. Upon identity the user is taken as authenticated. In this method it is not possible to gain knowledge of the password by reading out the password data file. However, the password transmitted in clear text to the computer system can be tapped and subsequently improperly used.
An improvement can be achieved if the authentication takes place in a dialog between the data station and the computer system. In connection with this it has already been proposed to provide a symmetrical ciphering process. In it in the announcement of the password 20 the password is stored in a protected data file in clear text. For authentication a random number is created in the computer system by a random number generator, which random number is encoded by an encoding unit and sent to the data station. This information is decoded in a decoder with the password submitted by the user, is modified by an addition, encoded with the password by the encoder, and returned to the computer system. In the computer system the information is decoded by a decoder and compared with the random number likewise modified by the addition, which must result in equality using a comparator. A disadvantage of this solution is likewise that the password is obtainable by a privileged user, such as a system manager or equipment technician, who can read out the corresponding data file. Therefore in this case the password can also be stolen
Finally, a method has also been developed that requires the storage of at least two values from the user. These keys are created by a keying central unit according to a given method and are not freely selectable by the user, so that the user cannot choose a mnemonic password as in customary password systems. Since the user for security reasons is not permitted to write down the password, this method is practical only in connection with chip cards.
The invention has as its object the provision of a method of the previously mentioned type which offers higher security with simple handling.

Method for authenticating the user of a data station connected to a computer system