A penile ring implant of soft biocompatible material is formed in situ and implanted beneath the skin of the penis of an incontinent male by use of a rod and a probe to form a protuberance which permits the patient to securely attach and easily remove the flexible sheath of the urinary collection device without the assistance of others. A kit for forming and implanting the ring implant includes an elongated D-shaped soft rod, a malleable probe and a connector.

Incontinent male patients, such as those suffering from spinal cord injuries, often wear devices for the collection of urine. The urinary collection device most widely used with incontinent male patients is commonly called a "Texas Catheter" and it consists of a flexible condom-like sheath which is secured to the patient's penis and a tubular member which connects the condom-like device to a suitable urine receptacle. A device of this type is shown in the Rogers et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,857, granted Sep. 17, 1974.
One of the problems involved in the use of the "Texas Catheter" is that the sheath which depends upon its elasticity to stay in place can be accidently removed quite easily from the patient's penis without the patient being aware of its removal. Another Rogers et al patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,638, discloses a liner pad which has an adhesive coating which clings to the penis and which is designed to retain the elastic sheath on the penis. Still another patent relating to a sheath liner useful for this purpose is U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,851.
Although the use of an adhesive coated sheath liner is an improvement on the use of the sheath itself in preventing accidental removal, it is not without disadvantages. For example, the liner normally has to be either placed on or removed from the penis of the patient by a person other than the patient. In addition, the liner and its adhesive layer can cause tissue irritation.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,381,767 and 4,387,705, I disclosed implantable rings which can be implanted under the penile skin to form a outwardly extending, circumferential protuberance that assists in retaining a Texas Catheter in place. Although both of these patented devices are useful, they do require making a circumcision type incision completely about the penile shaft.
Obviously, it would be advantageous to have an improved ring and a simplified method for implanting a ring to more securely attach the sheath of a Texas Catheter to the penis of an incontinent male patient.


A front of the club head consists of a round opening that accepts a corresponding round member on the end of the shaft. The face of the club inside the round opening on the club head as well as the face of the shaft member that opposes the face of the club inside the round opening on the club head includes half-spherical divots. Opposing divots are positioned in-line when the shaft is at an allowable angle. A ball bearing inserts into the in-line divots prior to sliding the shaft member into the club head opening to prevent movement when tightened. Inside the club head round opening is a smaller round opening that extends through the back of the club head. The round member on the end of the shaft has an attached threaded post that inserts into the smaller round opening on the club head.

This invention relates to the field of golf, specifically technology that allows the angle of the shaft of a golf club (ie. the lie) to adjust in small increments. A golf club shaft is typically fixed to the head and cannot be adjusted in such a way as to change the lie. This fixed angle is not always the best position for a golfer addressing the ball due to the golfer's size, stature, and/or style of play. This invention was conceived when a method was sought to allow for not only an adjustable shaft angle, but also the ability to adjust the shaft angle in small increments and prevent movement at the point where the shaft connects to the club head, when tightened. This invention improves on the technology described in my prior patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,649.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Golf club shaft angle adjustment technology


In an amplifying type solid-state imaging device having a pixel MOS transistor, the occurrence of blooming can be suppressed and an amount of signal charges can be increased. A second conductivity-type overflow-barrier region (23) and a first conductivity-type semiconductor region (24) are sequentially formed on a first conductivity-type semiconductor substrate (22). A pixel MOS transistor (29) comprising a source region (27), a drain region (28) and a gate portion (26) is formed on the first conductivity-type semiconductor region (24), and a second conductivity-type channel stopper region (41) for signal charges accumulated in the first conductivity-type semiconductor region (24) of the gate portion (26) is formed within the first conductivity-type semiconductor region (24) formed just below the drain region (28).

The present invention relates to an amplifying type solid-state imaging device and a method of manufacturing the same.
Recently, in accordance with an increasing demand that a solid-state imaging device provides a higher resolution, there has been developed an amplifying type solid-state imaging device in which charges of light signal are amplified at every pixel. This amplifying type solid-state imaging device includes an MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) transistor disposed at every pixel for carrying out a certain signal-conversion in which photoelectric-converted charge is accumulated in the pixel and this charge is outputted as a current-modulated component of a transistor.
FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings show an amplifying type solid-state imaging device.
As shown in FIG. 2, an amplifying type solid-state imaging device 1 comprises a first conductivity-type, e.g., p-type silicon semiconductor substrate 2 on which a second conductivity-type, i.e., n-type semiconductor region, i.e., overflow-barrier region 3 and a p-type semiconductor well region 4 are formed. Annular gate electrodes 6 capable of transmitting light are formed on the p-type semiconductor well region 5 through a gate-insulating film 5 made of SiO.sub.2 or the like. On the p-type semiconductor well regions 4 corresponding to a central aperture and outer peripheries of the annular gate electrodes 6 are formed an n-type source region 7 and n-type drain regions 8 by self-alignment using the gate electrode 6 as a mask, thereby resulting in an MOS transistor (hereinafter referred to as "pixel MOS transistor") 9 serving as one pixel being arranged. The annular gate electrode 6 may be made of a thin or transparent material which can be prevented from absorbing light as much as possible. In this embodiment, the annular gate electrode 6 may be made of a thin film polycrystalline silicon. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 depicts an interlevel insulator.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of pixel MOS transistors 9 are disposed in a matrix fashion. The source regions of the pixel MOS transistors 9 corresponding to respective columns are connected to common signal lines 11 of first aluminum (Al) layer, for example, formed along the vertical direction. Vertical scanning lines 12 made of second Al layers, for example, are formed at the positions corresponding to respective rows of the pixel MOS transistors 9 so as to become perpendicular to the signal lines 11 in the horizontal direction.
An interconnection layer made of polycrystalline silicon, i.e, U-shaped contact buffer layer 13 is formed across the annular gate electrodes 6 of two pixel MOS transistors 9 adjacent in the horizontal direction and which is extended to the corresponding vertical scanning line 12. Both ends of the contact buffer layer 13 are electrically connected to the two pixel MOS transistors, i.e., the gate electrodes 6, 6 and the intermediate portion of the contact buffer layer 13 is connected to the vertical scanning line 12.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 15 denotes a contact portion provided between the contact buffer layer 13 and the vertical scanning line 12, and reference numeral 16 denotes a contact portion provided between the source region 7 and the signal line 11.
A drain power-supply line 18 made of a first Al layer, for example, connected to the drain region 8 is formed between the pixel MOS transistors 9 which are not provided across the contact buffer layer 13. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 17 denotes a contact portion between the drain region 8 and the drain power-supply line 18.
In the pixel MOS transistor 9, as shown in FIG. 2, light passed through the annular gate electrode 6 produces electrons-holes, and holes h are accumulated in the p-type semiconductor well region 4 formed under the annular gate electrode 6 as signal charges. When the pixel MOS transistor 9 is turned on on application of high voltage to the annular gate electrode 6 through the vertical scanning line 12, a drain current I.sub.d is flowed to the surface channel and this drain current I.sub.d is changed by the signal charge h so that this drain current I.sub.d is outputted through the signal line 11 and the changed amount is developed as the signal output.
In the above-mentioned amplifying type solid-state imaging device 1, only the n-type source region 7 and the n-type drain region 8 are formed on the p-type semiconductor well region 4 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 which are a fragmentary plan view and a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the pixel MOS transistor 9.
As shown in a potential diagram of FIG. 5 which illustrates a simulated result of potential obtained in the charge accumulated state of the pixel MOS transistor, a potential barrier at the drain portion serving as a channel-stopper region is not formed at all except the surface of the drain region. Moreover, a potential barrier of the overflow-barrier region 3 is at about a diffusion potential and is not formed substantially.
As a result, a blooming in which accumulated signal charges are leaked to adjacent pixel MOS transistor side tends to occur, and hence an amount of signal charges accumulated in the pixels is not sufficient for the amplifying type solid-state imaging device.

Method of manufacturing an amplifying solid-state imaging device


A method for allocating resources in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) mobile communication system where data is transmitted by Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) is provided, in which a multiplexing mode is selected for multiplexing a Distributed Resource Channel (DRCH) and Localized Resource Channel (LRCH) over orthogonal frequency resources, in which it is determined whether to use persistent resource allocation for each slot, if the selected multiplexing mode is a multiplexing mode that punctures the DRCH onto the LRCH, resources are allocated in an Synchronous HARQ S-HARQ scheme if the persistent resource allocation is used, and resources are allocated in a Resource Adaptive S-HARQ (RAS-HARQ) scheme if the persistent resource allocation is not used and resources are to be reused when early termination of HARQ transmission occurs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) method in a mobile communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for performing HARQ according to multiplexing and resource allocation in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, wireless communication systems are designed to provide communication services to users, irrespective of location. The wireless communication systems have been developed to accommodate multiple users by multiple access schemes. A major multiple access scheme is Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). CDMA has evolved from voice communication to relatively high-speed data transmission. A driving force behind the CDMA development is a drastic technological development along with user demands for high-speed data transmission. Owing to the technological development, most of 3rd Generation (3G) mobile communication systems have been standardized and have also been commercialized.
Due to limited CDMA resources, however, there is a limit on increasing data rate. Nonetheless, user demand for higher data rates continues to increase. In this context, many studies and attempts have been made to improve high-speed data transmission in the wireless communication field.
One of the studies is OFDMA. OFDMA is a technology in which a plurality of channels are configured using orthogonal frequencies and at least one of the channels is allocated to each user, for data transmission.
A brief overview of OFDMA communications will be presented below.
In OFDMA, communication is made by allocating a downlink subchannel and an uplink subchannel. That is, a downlink period and an uplink period are separated within a given time period and the downlink and uplink subchannels are allocated to a user in the downlink and uplink periods, respectively. An OFDMA cellular mobile communication system uses an available frequency in two ways. The frequency utilization is based on a frequency reuse factor.
One of the frequency utilization methods, which is more popular than the other, is that a frequency reuse factor is larger than 1, such as 3 or 7.
Typically, OFDMA physical channels support two types of resource channel structures: Localized Resource Channel (LRCH) and Distributed Resource Channel (DRCH).
In the LRCH structure, a user is assigned a set of contiguous subcarriers at the same positions through a few OFDMA symbols. The set therefore defines time-frequency resources with regularly spaced contiguous subcarriers on contiguous OFDMA symbols. With the LRCH structure, a time-frequency region at a good channel status is allocated to a Mobile Station (MS) in a good channel environment.
With the DRCH structure, a user is allocated a set of subcarriers scattered across a particular time-frequency region. Hence, the DRCH is allocated to an MS that intends to achieve frequency diversity.
FIG. 1 illustrates the LRCH structure and the DRCH structure in the OFDMA system. Referring to FIG. 1, a total available frequency band has a plurality of LRCHs or DRCHs. The total number of the available channels varies depending on certain situations. In the LRCH structure, the entire frequency band is divided into a plurality of subbands along the frequency axis, each being defined as an LRCH for use in subband scheduling.
FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary DRCH structure in the OFDMA system. The horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents frequency. Referring to FIG. 2, a minimum time unit is an OFDMA symbol and seven OFDMA symbols form one minimum transmission unit (e.g. slot) along the time axis. A minimum frequency unit is a subcarrier. One DRCH is formed with subcarriers regularly spaced by 8 subcarriers. Different DRCHs are marked differently. In the case illustrated in FIG. 2, each DRCH is repeated once every 8 subcarriers. This is called a repetition period, N. In FIG. 2, N=8. Each DRCH starts at a different subcarrier position in every OFDMA symbol. The starting subcarrier position is represented by an offset. DRCH 1 has an offset of 0 in a first OFDMA symbol, an offset of 3 in a second OFDMA symbol, and an offset of 6 in a third OFDM symbol. In this manner, DRCH 1 can be defined by an offset sequence of {0, 3, 6, 1, 5, 2, 7} on contiguous OFDMA symbols.
As described above, the total frequency band may have LRCHs or DRCHs during one slot. The DRCH and LRCH structures can both be used in one system. There are two resource channel Multiplexing (MUX) modes, MUX mode 1 and MUX mode 2 for the channel assignments, which are described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
FIG. 3 illustrates MUX mode 1. Referring to FIG. 3, DRCHs are defined across a total frequency band, and LRCHs are defined as time-frequency resources in preset subbands. An LRCH is configured with the remaining time-frequency resources except for time-frequency resources (one subcarrier per OFDM symbol) allocated to a DRCH in a subband mapped to the LRCH.
As more DRCHs are sent, the number of time-frequency resources on which the DRCHs are punctured onto LRCHs increases. The remaining DRCH resources can be utilized for the LRCHs. Consequently, resources are efficiently utilized.
FIG. 4 illustrates MUX mode 2. Referring to FIG. 4, the DRCH structure and the LRCH structure are only used on different zones. An LRCH zone is first defined, and the remaining zone is used as a DRCH zone. In MUX mode 2, the same number of LRCHs are configured along the total frequency band and then DRCHs are configured in the remaining zone. Due to the strict distinction between the DRCH zone and the LRCH zone, even though more users are allocated DRCHs, fortunately the amount of resources allocated to LRCH users is not changed. However, since DRCHs should be filled in the remaining time-frequency resources other than those for the LRCHs, resources are wasted when there are a small number of DRCH users or no DRCH users.

HARQ method in a mobile communication system


Systems and methods for an information system security infrastructure are described. One embodiment of the present invention comprises global Internet-scale defense infrastructure, referred to as the Intrusion Detection Force (IDF). The IDF comprises a virtual infrastructure implemented on top of an existing network, such as the Internet. The IDF enables secure information sharing and intelligent data analysis and response. The node (e.g. 102 of FIG. 1) is the most primitive entity in the IDF architecture, and may be a switch, router, server, or workstation. The IDF may be implemented in small networks of computers or may be utilized by millions of hosts throughout the Internet, spanning different organizations, countries, and continents.

Since its inception more than 20 years ago, the field of intrusion detection has been growing rapidly. Early intrusion detection systems (IDSs) catered only for a single host at most, a small network. As networks expanded and organizations grew, there was clearly a need for large-scale distributed intrusion detection. This led to the emergence of distributed IDSs such as NADIR, Distributed Intrusion Detection System (DIDS) (S. R. Snapp, J. Brentano, G. V. Dias, T. L. Goan, L. T. Heberlein, C. L. Ho, K. N. Levitt, B. Mukherjee, S. E. Smaha, T. Grance, D. M. Teal, and D. Mansur. "DIDS distributed intrusion detection system)-motivation, architecture, and an early prototype." In Proc. of the 14th National Computer Security Conference, pages 167-176, October 1991.), GrIDS (S. Staniford-Chen, S. Cheung, R. Crawford, M. Dilger, J. Frank, J. Hoagland, K Levitt, C. Wee, R. Yip, and D. Zerkle. "GrIDS—a graph-based intrusion detection system for large networks." In Proc. of the 19th National Information Security Conference, Baltimore, Md., October 1996.), and AAFID (J. S. Balasubramaniyan, J. O. G. Fernandez, D. Isacoff, E. Spafford, and D. Zamboni. "An architecture for intrusion detection using autonomous agents." Technical Report 98/05, COAST Laboratory, Purdue University, May 1998). Commercial IDSs have also adopted the distributed data collection and processing paradigm.
Although these conventional IDSs handle distributed intrusion detection, they focus primarily on intrusion detection within only the one organization in which they are located. An IDS in one organization does not communicate with an IDS in a second organization. Without inter-organizational information sharing, the potential of the IDSs and intelligence-gathering ability of these organizations become severely limited. For example, the stand-alone configurations present in conventional systems makes it difficult to detect distributed and stealthy attacks that span across the Internet, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
The conventional infrastructure of the Internet is another factor limiting the ability of organizations to conduct better attack detection and prevention. Since the TCP/IP protocol suite was not designed with security in mind (S. M. Bellovin. "Security weaknesses in the TCP/IP protocol suite." Computer Communications Review, 2(19): 32-48, 1989), it is infeasible to rely on it as the foundation for security.
The effectiveness of IDSs at detecting sophisticated attacks would increase significantly if there were inter-organizational communication and sharing of information among IDSs.

Systems and methods for enhanced network security


A process for forming self-aligned silicide which is suitable for high-integrity processes after applying planarization technology. The present invention can protect the self-aligned silicide from being over-etched during subsequent contact etching process by means of forming a thicker silicide layer on the positions with shallower contact windows. At first, a polysilicon layer and a titanium layer are suquentially formed on a substrate having a field oxide, and defined to form a gate in an active region and a polysilicon line on the field oxide with titanium thereon. Then, impurities are implanted to form an LDD, an insulating layer is deposited and etched back to form a sidewall spacer of the gate and polysilicon line, and source/ drain regions are formed on the sides of the gate. After source/drain regions are formed, another titanium layer is formed so that titanium on the gate and polysilicon line is thicker than that on other regions. Accordingly, self-aligned silicide can be achieved by activating the reaction of titanium and silicon and selectively removing unreacted titanium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for forming self-aligned silicide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, the salicide process is one of the most widely-used technologies in sub-micron (0.5 um) semiconductors, and the titanium (Ti) salicide process is the most frequently-used salicide technology. Therefore, the following descriptions will concentrate primarily on titanium salicide technology. Referring to FIG. 1a to FIG. 1e (Prior Art), a conventional process for forming self-aligned titanium salicide is shown. In FIG. 1a, a polysilicon layer is formed on substrate 5. The polysilicon layer is then patterned and etched using photo-resist layer 10 in order to define gate 12 of a device in an active region, and to define polysilicon line 16 on field oxide 14. As shown in FIG. 1b, impurities are implanted to form an LDD structure, and a non-conducting layer deposited over substrate 5 and etched back to form sidewall spacer 18 of gate 12 and polysilicon line 16. Then impurities are implanted to form source 20a and drain 20b on the side of gate 12 in substrate 5. As shown in FIG. 1c, after source 20a and drain 20b are formed, metal layer 22 is formed by sputtering which can react with silicon to form a silicide. Referring to FIG. 1d, the reactions of sputtered metal layer 22 and the silicon material on substrate 5 are activated by a thermal process, e.g. a rapid thermal process (RTP), so that silicide layer 24 is formed on the surface of polysilicon line 16 and in the active region. As shown in FIG. 1e, the unreacted metal is selectively etched away, so that only silicide layer 24 remains. Then a thermal process is used in order to improve the structure of formed salicide layer 24, and to reduce the resistance.
With the shrinking of semiconductor device dimensions and the planarization techniques ,e.g., chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), introduced in the process of fabricating ICs, several restrictions have arisen in conventional salicide processes:
(1) Although the metalization of a polysilicon gate/line can reduce the sheet resistance of the device, the sheet resistance can not be minimized when the line width continues to narrow. Therefore, a approach to solve the problem involves increasing the thickness of the formed self-aligned silicide layer, that is, to increase the thickness of the metal layer sputtered over the wafer so that a thicker self-aligned silicide layer can be formed on the surface of the polysilicon line and in the active region. While this method indeed reduces the problem caused by the narrower line width, a leackage current is unexpectedly increased at the same time. Since a smaller device must have a shallower junction in order to form an active region, the thickness of the formed self-aligned silicide layer in the active region has to be properly controlled. On the average, the thickness of the formed self-aligned silicide is maintained at around one-half of the juction depth in order to prevent unexpected leakage currents. Accordingly, conventional salicide processes can not satisfy these requirements at the same time. PA1 (2) Referring to FIG. 2(also Prior Art), because of the planarization techniques introduced into the process of IC production, especially CMP technology, the depths of the contact windows 30a and 30b will be quite different. In general, the polysilicon line regarded as an interconnect is often above field oxide 32. Therefore, the depth of contact window 30b is the shallower. The depth of contact window 30a is the deeper. The depth difference between the contact window 30a and 30b is about 2500 .ANG. to 5000 .ANG.. In this case, several problems will arise because of the different depths of the contact windows. When a process for contact etching is performed, because the depth of the contact windows 30b is shallower, the etching of the contact window 30b is first accomplished. At this time, the etching of the contact window 30a is not yet accomplished, so the etching process continues until the etching of the contact window 30a is also finished. However, long-term etching will cause the over-etching of the self-aligned silicide in contact window 30b. When the sputtered titanium is about 300 .ANG. to 500 .ANG., the formed self-aligned silicide is about 660 .ANG. to 1100 .ANG.. Further, when a general dry etching process is applied, with the selectivity ratio of the inter-layer dielectric (ILD) and silicide within 10, self-aligned suicide layer 33 in the contact window 30b is at least 250 .ANG. to 300 .ANG. over-etched by the end of the etching of the contact window 30a. Accordingly, a method to reduce this problem involves determining a high selectivity ratio of the oxide and the silicide. However, it is not easy to acquire proper etching solutions with high selectivity ratios for polysilicon lines and the salicide layer on them.

Process for forming self-aligned silicide


An embodiment of the present invention is a semiconductor fabrication process that deposits an oxide layer after a step to make contact openings in a BPSG layer and before a contact reflow step. The oxide allows implant dopants to be properly activated in the contact reflow step without excessive reflow of the BPSG.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication and more particularly to using BPSG in an integrated circuit process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical semiconductor device fabricating process is shown in the exemplary sequence of FIGS. 1A through 1D. In FIG. 1A, an n-substrate 12 is processed to the point where a p-well 14 has been diffused with two n+ regions 16 flanking a polysilicon gate 18 over a gate oxide 20 to make a n-channel transistor. Two p+ regions 22 flanking a polysilicon gate 24 over a gate oxide 26 are diffused in the n-substrate 12 to form an p-channel transistor. Field oxide 27 separates the various structures. A deposition of borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) 28 then follows. PSG could also have been used. The BPSG layer 28 is shown, in FIG. 1B, after an annealing step and contact opening, e.g. openings 30. An ion implant is made for n+ contacts through the respective contact holes 30 for the n-channel transistor. An ion implant for p+ contacts is then made through the respective contact holes 30 for the p-channel transistor. FIG. 1C shows how contact reflow softens the slopes of the contact. Such softening and too much reflow can cause problems, but the contact reflow step must be hot enough and long enough to activate the dopant implanted in regions 16 and 22. In FIG. 1D, a first connecting metal ("metal-1") 36 is deposited.
The composition and thickness of the borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) layers are chosen such that the BPSG material will liquify a bit and flow out over the wafer topography to form a smooth layer during the above BPSG annealing step. The resulting BPSG layer has to be thick enough to keep the metal layer capacitance with the lower layers low.
The contact opening step typically comprises an isotropic etch is typically followed by an anisotropic etch. When the design rules are very tight, the isotropic contact etch step has to be minimized to avoid exposing underlying structures that can then be shorted to the metal when it is deposited in the contact hole. For example, the gate electrode polysilicon can be exposed.
Such constraints often cause one or more problems to manifest themselves during the contact reflow step. These include:
crystals of BPSG that occasionally form around the contacts due to an interaction of BPSG and the ambient; PA1 increases in p-type contact resistance due to phosphorus outgasing from BPSG and getting into silicon and boron segregate out of silicon into oxide therefore need high dose of p+ contact implant; PA1 metal step coverage problems stemming from the BPSG material flowing so much that it causes a re-entrant contact profile in the topography and a nonuniform BPSG composition; PA1 oxide in the n+ contact being much thicker than that in the p+ contact, therefore need to dip off a lot of BPSG before metal deposition; and PA1 the silicide occasionally lifting off when the silicide is exposed by contacts.

Method for preventing the exposure of borophosphosilicate glass to the ambient and stopping phosphorus ions from infiltrating silicon in a semiconductor process


A servo valve for precisely controlling a position of a pneumatic cylinder does not require a servo amplifier and a small sized and/or high durability servo valve unit. The servo valve comprises a unit body having first and second portions, first and second valve portions, first and second seal members that open and close the first and second valve portions, respectively, first and second drive mechanisms that drive first and second seal members by first and second electric pulses, respectively, a supply flow path between the first end and first valve, an exhaust flow path between the second end and second valve, a common flow path connected to the supply and exhaust flow paths via first and second valve portions, and a drive flow path connected to the pneumatic actuator. First and second drive mechanisms are arranged in a drive mechanism arrangement portion located between first and second end portions.

Many large enterprises and capable researchers have been researching robots for at least 50 years, but practical humanoid robots that can actually work on behalf of humans in disaster sites, nursing care sites, homes, etc. have not yet been realized.
Conditions for Realizing a Human Robot
In order to realize a humanoid robot, it is necessary to design a large number of actuators and related parts according to the number of joints with a weight equivalent to that of a human being and to accommodate them in a volume equivalent to that of the human being, and moreover, each actuator is required to have a strong power according to the work.
Actuator Type
There are three types of actuator: electric, hydraulic, and pneumatic. However, for the reasons described below, no actuator satisfying the above-mentioned conditions has been realized in any of the types above.
Electric Servo Motor Control Technology
This is the most advanced control technology and is widely used in industries. Many researchers have also been developing humanoid robots using electric servo motors, and robots that can act closely to human performance by using AI and others have also been developed. On the other hand, there is a problem that the motor and the speed reducer are very heavy and the power per unit volume of the actuator is small. If the power is to be increased, the actuator becomes larger and heavier, and the effects are canceled out. When a large current is applied to a small actuator to generate power, the amount of heat generated increases, resulting in breakage. In order to prevent this, cooling is required, and the weight and volume are eventually increased. Even if only weight and volume problems are considered, it is impossible to realize a humanoid robot using many electric servomotors. In addition, a servo amplifier is required for operation control, and a torque detection and a protection circuit are required to prevent breakage when an overload or a reaction force is applied, resulting in a problem that the structure is complicated.
Hydraulic Servo Control Technology
Like the electric servo motor control technology, this technology is widely used in many industries and is an indispensable technology for manufacturing machine and industrial machines. The greatest advantage is the large power per actuator unit volume. The control equipment is abundant, and the servo technology of the hydraulic pressure is also highly evolved. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of application to a humanoid robot, the greatest drawback is that an oil hydraulic pressure source must be mounted. Since the hydraulic pressure source is driven by a motor or an engine, the weight and volume become very large. A servo amplifier is also required. Therefore, it is very difficult to realize a humanoid robot by a hydraulically driven technology. In addition, oil is poor in compressibility, and there is a possibility that the oil pressure may cause damage to surrounding objects and people due to an overload, or that oil leakage may contaminate the surroundings, making it difficult to use the hydraulically driven technology in human related applications.
Pneumatic Servo Control Technology
Pneumatic cylinders (pneumatic actuators) can have a reduced weight because aluminum can be used as main components, have advantages of large power per unit volume, and are widely used as drive sources in various fields. However, servo control of pneumatic cylinders is a very difficult technique. Although the purpose of the servo is to control the piston position and/or speed, the drive of the pneumatic cylinder is basically accompanied by compressibility and friction, making accurate control difficult compared to the electric and hydraulic systems.
FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a conventional pneumatic servo control. This block diagram is basically the same for the electric servo and the hydraulic servo. The output signal of the position sensor may be digital or analog. Typically, the command signal will be a digital signal.
The pneumatic servo amplifier generally detects a difference between the command signal and the position sensor information, and controls the pneumatic servo valve on the basis of the digital calculation processing such as PID, which is optimal control. However, currently commonly available pneumatic servo valves are limited to analog types. Presently available pneumatic servo valves mainly employs a spool type servo valve (Patent Document 1) or a flapper type servo valve (Patent Document 2), both of which are of an analog system.
FIG. 8 is a spool type servo valve of Patent Document 1, which includes a sleeve 16 having a supply flow path 40, an exhaust port 42 and a load flow path 44 and a spool 14 having three lands 20, 22, and 24. The spool 14 is driven in the X direction by a solenoid type linear motor 50. When the land 22 is moved in the +X direction from the state in which the land 22 coincides with the load flow path 44, air Pa is supplied from the pneumatic source Ps to the pneumatic cylinder (not shown), when the land 22 is moved in the −X direction, air is exhausted from the pneumatic cylinder, and when the land 22 coincides with the load flow path 44, the supply and exhaust are stopped. The position or speed of the pneumatic cylinder is adjusted by the opening of the load path 44 due to the movement of the land 22.
FIG. 9 is a flapper type servo valve of Patent Document 2, in which the exhaust port 32 is opened and closed by the movement of the flapper 22 in the X direction by the solenoid type linear motor 14, and the position of the movable body 6 is controlled by supplying a back pressure Pa as reduced in accordance with the opening degree of the exhaust port 32 to the pneumatic cylinder 2.
Each of the above servo valves is an analog system in which the valve opening degree is adjusted by controlling the spool 14 or the flapper 22 with a solenoid, and a servo amplifier is indispensable. In addition, since the valve opening degree must be precisely controlled, a very advanced manufacturing techniques and controlling techniques are required. Further, since each of the servo valves needs to be operated while bleeding air in order to reduce friction or the like, the necessary amount of the compressed air becomes large as the number of servo valves increases. These are considered to be the reasons why pneumatic cylinders have hardly been developed in the field of position control where certain degree of accuracy is required, such as a humanoid robot.
The drawbacks of the electric and hydraulic servos described above are fundamental and principally unavoidable irrespective of any effort. Although humanoid robots using electric servo control will continue to be studied in the future due to the ease of precise control and the like, the present inventor believes that even if a huge budget and a large number of human resources are invested, the realization is impossible. In the case of an electric servo, first, the magnetic force is converted into a magnetic force by a coil, and then the motor is rotated by repulsion between magnetic forces. Here, the electric current value itself is a source of the output power. When an electric current flows, heat is generated and a part of the energy becomes thermal energy. Further as the rotational energy at a higher speed rotation is required to be decelerated again, the energy efficiency drops rapidly as the deceleration is performed in order to generate a force. The power is decreased by the heat, and the available energy decreases as the deceleration increases.
If a high-power actuator, which can be called an artificial muscle, is developed, it is considered that there is a new development. Because human muscles are present, equivalents will eventually be able to artificially be developed. However, the present inventors believe that, in the present state in which such an actuator does not exist, the pneumatic servo control system is the only option for realizing a humanoid robot.
Compressed air can be produced by rotating a compressor with an electric motor for a certain period of time. Here, the size and the power of the electric motor and the compressor are not limited. In other words, the compressed air is the energy itself of high density and acts directly for the driving a cylinder. Therefore, it is possible to generate power necessary for the humanoid robot without increasing the volume and weight. The disadvantages of the pneumatic system are as described above, but those are not fundamental. Compressibility is inevitable in pneumatic servos, but cylinder friction is reduced to an extreme, depending on the design. In addition, in a humanoid robot, accurate control such as in machining tools or industrial machines is not necessary, because humans do not perform such accurate movements at all. In conventional pneumatic servo valves, servo amplifiers and extremely sophisticated machining techniques are required because they employ analog systems for controlling air pressure.


An improved tamper-resistant seal for use with generally U-shaped flexible closure devices, such as tabs and wire wraps, comprising an annular band dimensioned to encircle a flexible closure device and heat-shrinking the band to closely fit about the closure device to prevent removal of the closure device without prior destruction of the annular band.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to tamper-resistant seals and is particularly directed to means for providing tamper-proofing for sack-type packages which are sealed with flexible closure devices, such as wire wraps, flexible snap-on tabs and the like.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases which have involved food tampering. As a result, tamper-resistant seals are now required on many medical and food items and public concern over the matter has become significant. Also, it has become widely recognized that, even where food adulteration is not involved, unsealed packages are subject to pilferage and other undesirable events. However, there are still many food items which are not protected by tamper-resistant seals. Many of these food products, such as fruits, vegetables, loaves of bread, etc. are sold in plastic bags or sacks which are closed merely with a flexible closure device, such as a wire wrap, a plastic snap-on tab, or a similar device which provides virtually no protection for the articles contained in such bags. Unfortunately, little, if any, attention has been given to protecting these sack-type packages. Some prior art sealing devices have been proposed for protecting the closures of sack-type packages, but have been difficult for legitimate persons to remove. other prior art sealing devices have failed to provide adequate assurance against tampering. Still other prior art sealing devices have been complex and expensive to install and remove. A search in the U.S. Patent office has revealed the following:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 2,465,349 W. M. Brooks Mar. 29, 1949 2,48.0.,543 W. M. Brooks Aug. 3.0., 1949 2,992,.0.34 H. L. C. Wenk, Jr. Jul. 11, 1961 4,898,412 H. L. C. Wenk Feb. 6, 199.0. ______________________________________
Each of these references is subject to the disadvantages discussed above. Thus, none of the prior art sealing devices for sack-type packages has been entirely satisfactory.


A radio apparatus is disclosed which includes a modulator that modulates an input signal having an input offset voltage held by an input sample and hold circuit and outputs an output signal having an output offset voltage. A demodulator of the radio apparatus demodulates the output signal and outputs a demodulated signal. The radio apparatus also has an offset compensating circuit which makes the output offset voltage coincide with a demodulated offset voltage of the demodulated signal by comparing the input offset voltage with the demodulated signal in order to output a feedback signal to the modulator.

A multichannel access (MCA) system is a system in which different users share the use of plural channels, and is also used widely for business use. And the MCA system is also used in various kinds of data communications in addition to a radio communication for voice.
The number of users in the MCA system has been rapidly increased in recent years, and systems suitable for data transmission are also in great demand. Thus, specifications of a digital MCA system have come to be determined and turned to practical use.
In such a system as this, a multilevel quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is used and for example, a multilevel quadrature amplitude modulation is used which may have states of 16 levels by performing a 4-level amplitude modulation by means of the respective two carrier waves different in phase by 90 degrees from each other.
In a digital MCA system of STD-32 set as a standard of Research & Development Center for Radio Systems, Incorporated Foundation (RCR) for a modulation method of a digital MCA system, an M16QAM method is adopted and four subcarriers are assumed to be used.
Such a system as this is composed to perform a time division transmission by means of a time division multiple access (TDMA) method so that plural radio stations can use the same frequency.
Now, a multilevel QAM modulated signal can be represented by the following expressions; EQU I(t)=A cos .PHI.(t) (1), EQU Q(t)=A sin .PHI.(t) (2).
Namely, the multilevel QAM modulated signal is modulated so as to have information of phase and amplitude. Such a modulated wave signal having information of phase and amplification as this needs to have an amplification with excellent linear characteristics applied to it. In case of thinking much of the linear characteristics, a class-A amplification is desired to be performed, but has a problem that it is poor in efficiency.
On the other hand, a radio apparatus used in mobile communication needs an amplification high in efficiency so as to suppress its battery consumption. Therefore, a power amplification stage in a mobile radio apparatus or in a portable radio apparatus used in mobile communication performs a class-AB amplification rather than a class-A amplification.
Thus, a circuit called a linearity compensation circuit (linearizer) of Cartesian-loop method is used as a linear-characteristics compensation means for keeping a high accuracy by suppressing distortion in phase and amplitude liable to be caused by a class-AB amplification.
FIG. 9 is a structural diagram showing a radio apparatus performing a linearity compensation by means of a linearizer. In FIG. 9, digital data generated by a DSP 101 are converted by D/A converters 102 and 103 into analog data. The analog data are signals (I signal and Q signal) which have direct-current offset voltages and are of waveform oscillating around the offset voltages. The analog data are orthogonally modulated by a quadrature modulator 104. The quadrature modulator 104 receives a quadrature local oscillation signal from an OSC 105 and generates a transmission IF signal. And a transmission IF circuit 106 IF-amplifies the transmission IF signal having a frequency (IF frequency) of the OSC 105, and a frequency converter 107 converts the frequency of the IF-amplified signal into a desired frequency by means of a local oscillation signal from an OSC 108 to generate a transmission signal. And a power amplifying circuit 109 power-amplifies the transmission signal having the desired frequency by means of a class-AB amplification and the like.
At this time, an attenuator 201 attenuates a part of the transmission signal from the power amplifying circuit 109 and a linearizer IF circuit 203 IF-amplifies the transmission signal whose frequency has been converted to the IF frequency by the local oscillation signal from the OSC 108. And the signal of IF frequency is orthogonally demodulated by the quadrature local oscillation signal from the OSC 105 in a quadrature demodulator 204. The transmission signal orthogonally demodulated in this manner is supplied to the quadrature modulator 104 as a feedback signal and a negative feedback is performed inside the quadrature modulator 104. Such a negative feedback makes it possible to keep linear characteristics of high accuracy by suppressing distortion in phase and amplitude generated in the power amplifying circuit 109 and the like.
(1) In case of applying the above-mentioned negative feedback, a potential slippage in an offset voltage contained in a feedback signal becomes a problem. Namely, since a baseband bandwidth of a transmission signal includes the vicinity of its direct-current component, the offset voltage cannot be removed from the feedback signal. PA1 (2) Further, when performing the above-mentioned negative feedback, a phase difference between signals generated by the D/A converters 102 and 103 and a feedback signal generated by the quadrature demodulator 204 comes into question. Namely, a phase difference between the signals is caused by difference in length of physical paths and variation in circuit devices. PA1 (3) Further, since a multilevel QAM modulated signal needs to be amplified accurately in both of phase and amplitude, it has been also expected to materialize a radio apparatus capable of compensating linear characteristics of the power amplification stage by means of a negative feedback of a linearizer by automatic adjusting both of such an offset voltage and a phase difference as described above. PA1 (1) A first embodiment of the invention is a radio apparatus which compensates linear characteristics of a power amplification stage by feeding back to a quadrature modulator a signal component obtained by quadrature demodulation of a transmission signal detected from the power amplification stage at a transmission slot timing repeated at intervals of a specified time, said radio apparatus comprising an error voltage compensating means for making the respective offset voltages of signal components obtained by quadrature demodulation coincide with the respective offset voltages of signal components obtained by quadrature modulation by comparing the respective offset voltages of the signal components obtained by the quadrature demodulation during non-transmission periods with the respective offset voltages of the signal components obtained by the quadrature modulation. The non-transmission periods are periods other than transmission slot timing periods. PA1 (2) A second embodiment of the invention is a radio apparatus which compensates linear characteristics of a power amplification stage by feeding back to a quadrature modulator a signal component obtained by quadrature demodulation of a transmission signal detected from the power amplification stage at a transmission slot timing repeated at intervals of a specified time, said radio apparatus comprising a phase adjusting means for making a signal component obtained by quadrature demodulation of a transmission signal coincide in phase with a signal component obtained by quadrature modulation through adjusting in phase a local oscillation signal to be supplied to the quadrature demodulator. PA1 (3) A third embodiment of the invention is a radio apparatus which compensates linear characteristics of a power amplification stage by feeding back to a quadrature modulator a signal component obtained by quadrature demodulation of a transmission signal detected from the power amplification stage at a transmission slot timing repeated at intervals of a specified time, said radio apparatus comprising;
However, a slippage in direct-current potential (offset voltage) between signals generated by the D/A converters 102 and 103 and a feedback signal generated by the quadrature demodulator 204 is generated due to a little difference in characteristics of the respective circuits of the D/A converters, the quadrature modulator and the quadrature demodulator, variation of temperature and the like. The slippage in direct-current voltage is greatly amplified when applying a great amount of negative feedback, which may reversely deteriorate the linear characteristics of the power amplification stage.
Up to now, therefore, parameters of the various parts have been fixed by manually adjusting the offset voltage. However, since some error is caused by aging or variation of temperature, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain stable characteristics. And there is also a problem that the adjusting operation by hand itself is complicated.
Although there is a technique for automatically adjusting a slippage of the offset voltage only in a quadrature modulator, there is not an apparatus for automatically adjusting a slippage in offset voltage all over the transmission and the negative feedback system as described above.
Therefore, it has been expected to materialize a radio apparatus capable of automatically adjusting a slippage in offset voltage between the transmission system and the negative feedback system in a radio apparatus using a linearizer as described above.
Such a phase difference is not preferable to applying of a negative feedback. Hence, it has been attempted to compensate the above-mentioned phase deference by adjusting in phase either one of local oscillation signals to be supplied to the quadrature modulator and the quadrature demodulator.
A method of adjusting a variable resistor of a phase shifter composed of an electrical circuit is thought as such a phase adjustment. In this case, up to now, parameters of the various parts have been fixed by manually adjusting the offset voltage. However, since some error is caused by aging or variation of temperature, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain stable characteristics. And there is also a problem that the adjusting operation by hand itself is complicated.
Further, a method of adjusting physical paths in length or the like is thought as another phase adjusting method. Although such a method is not as susceptible to aging or variation of temperature as the variable resistor adjusting method, an apparatus where physical paths are adjusted has an increased size and high cost.
Furthermore, in case that the apparatus is used in a frequency different from the frequency in which a phase adjustment has been made, any of the phase adjusting methods has a problem that a further phase lead or phase lag is caused by variation of LC components of the circuit devices and variation in electrical path length. In case of changing a transmission frequency of a radio apparatus, linear characteristics of the power amplification stage may be reversely deteriorated by the negative feedback of the linearizer.
Therefore, it has been expected to materialize a radio apparatus capable of automatically adjusting a slippage in offset voltage between the transmission system and the negative feedback system in a radio apparatus using a linearizer as described above.

Radio apparatus with offset compensating circuit


A beam projecting apparatus which includes a light source emitting a laser beam; and a beam projecting device which includes a beam projecting portion from which the laser beam is projected outwardly so that the laser beam has a beam waist position at a predetermined position apart from the beam projecting apparatus. The beam projecting apparatus further includes a beam waist position adjusting optical system which is disposed along a light path from the light source to the beam projecting portion, at least one lens element of the beam waist position adjusting optical system being movable along an optical axis thereof; a temperature detecting device for detecting a temperature in the beam projecting apparatus; and a controller for controlling a movement of the at least one lens element in association with the temperature detected by the temperature detecting device so that a deviation of the beam waist position from the predetermined position due to a temperature change is minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a beam projecting device for forming a reference plane by projecting a light beam, such as a laser beam, while rotating a light beam projecting portion of the beam projecting device.
2. Description of Related Art
A known example of the type of device mentioned above is a laser surveying device or so called "laser planer". In this device a rotating member projects a laser beam emitted by a laser light source in, approximately, a horizontal direction toward an object to be surveyed, which is then scanned so as to form a reference plane. In this case a height of a laser beam spot against the object to be surveyed can be either visually observed by the eye or through the use of a detector. This type of laser surveying device is known (refer to Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-322564).
Known laser surveying devices are mostly used for forming a reference plane in a wide distance range, from a short distance (e.g. 0.5 m-1.5 m) to a long distance (e.g. 100 m-200 m). In this case, simple focusing is desired, and detection sensitivity should be prevented from varying when a beam position is detected by a detector. Also it is desirable that a beam detector can precisely detect a position of a laser beam, emitted by a laser surveying device, and that the projected laser beam is clearly visible to the naked eye.
Since laser surveying devices are often used outdoors in extreme conditions (e.g. -20.degree. C. to +50.degree. C.) the focal point may deviate due to an expansion or contraction of a lens and/or a lens supporting frame caused by a variation in temperature.
Normally, variations in temperature cause the beam waist position to shift due to an expansion or contraction of the lens supporting frame, variations in the refractive index of a lens itself, the variation of an oscillation wavelength of a laser light source, etc.
FIGS. 68 and 69 are graphs showing the relationship between a projecting distance of a laser beam and a beam diameter at a constant temperature. In FIG. 68, the initial projecting beam diameter W is 8 mm. In FIG. 69, the initial projecting beam diameter W is 12.5 mm. In both cases, the wavelength of laser beams is the same, and symbol "x" in each figure indicates a beam waist position.
It is understood that when the beam waist position x varies, the beam diameter varies at each distance in both figures. For example, in FIG. 69, when the laser surveying device is used at a close distance range, ranging from about 10 m to 70 m, the beam waist position x should be set at 50.879 m. On the other hand, when the device is used for a long distance range, ranging from about 100 m to 200 m, the beam waist position x should be set at 97.505 m.
FIGS. 66 and 67 are graphs showing variations in beam diameters at different projecting distances while using the variation in temperature as a parameter. In these figures the diameter of a laser beam at different projecting distances is plotted under the condition that a laser surveying device is provided with a lens system for making a parallel beam of an adequate size and where the diameter of the laser beam at the projecting end of the device (i.e. initial projecting beam diameter), and a predetermined beam waist position X (i.e. a distance from the projecting end of the device to a position where the beam waist is formed) are given. In FIGS. 66 and 67, the initial projecting beam diameters W are 8 mm and 12.5 mm, respectively.
FIG. 66 shows the effect of when the temperature is varied from -20.degree. C. to +50.degree. C., where the variation of the diameter of a laser beam at different projecting distances for a laser surveying device having a projecting beam wavefront with a radius of curvature R of 78 m, under the condition that the beam waist position X is initially set at 39.578 m at a temperature of 20.degree. C. That is the distance from the projecting end of the device to the position at which the beam waist is formed is 39.578 m.
Likewise, FIG. 67 shows the effect of when the temperature is varied from -20.degree. C. to +50.degree. C., where the variation of the diameter of a laser beam at different projecting distances for a laser surveying device having a projecting beam wave front with a radius of curvature R of 190 m, under the condition that the beam waist position X is initially set at 96.605 m at a temperature of 20.degree. C. That is, in this case, the distance from the projecting end of the device to the position at which the beam waist is formed is 96.605 m.
As can be understood from FIGS. 66 and 67 even if an initial projecting beam diameter, a beam waist diameter, and a beam waist position are adequately determined initially, the beam waist position X varies due to variations in temperature and the beam diameters are not equal at each beam waist position X for different temperatures.
When a semiconductor laser is used as a light source, since it provides a diverging laser beam, a collimating lens is used to obtain an approximately parallel laser beam. Transverse magnification of the optical system of the laser projecting device is given as the ratio of the numerical aperture of an incident side of a laser beam from the semiconductor laser, to the numerical aperture of an outgoing side thereof. When it is desired to effectively utilize a laser beam of the semiconductor laser, since the numerical aperture of the incident side of the collimating lens should be approximately 0.2-0.4, and the numerical aperture of the emitting side of the collimating lens should be approximately 0.00002-0.0005, a magnifying and projecting system with a very large magnifying power thus needs to be constructed.
Since a laser beam with the above mentioned large magnifying power is projected from the laser surveying device, a slight variation to the laser beam in the laser surveying device causes quite a large variation to the laser beam when it is projected from the laser surveying device. This variation increases over distance. Therefore, in a conventional laser surveying device, the following problems may occur: a converging point is greatly deviated from a designed position; the beam diameter becomes too large at a distance far away from the device so as not to be precisely detected by the laser detector; and the luminance required for visual observation is insufficient, which causes the problem of only having a short usable distance, when a long distance may be required.
In order to solve the problem described above, in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,928 a lens has been proposed which has an overall index of refraction which changes with temperature and wavelength. This change in index of refrection changes the focal point of the lens for the laser beam in an amount which substantially compensates for defocusing caused by temperature effects on the mounting length and laser beam wavelength. However, optical glasses used in a collimator are not available to precisely compensate for all variations in temperature that may occur. Additionally, in the case when a semiconductor laser with a large radiation angle is used as a light source, a collimating lens with a large numerical aperture (NA) is required, this makes it much more difficult to completely compensate for the variations in temperature.
However, since the variation in oscillation wavelength is not always the same in all semiconductor lasers, and a laser surveying device is designed according to a standard semiconductor laser, a desired performance may not be attained when the laser surveying device is provided with certain semiconductor lasers.
Previously, even when a laser surveying device was designed so as to completely compensate for variations in temperature, it was quite difficult to completely eliminate the influence of temperature variation. The reason for this is because temperature distribution occurs in each member constituting the laser projecting device, for example, the laser projecting device includes a light source such as a semiconductor laser and the like, and the light source itself is a heat source which causes a difference in temperature between the device and the outside, which causes a variation in temperature. Further, heat generated by a motor used to rotate a laser beam projecting portion of the device cannot be neglected. Therefore, even if a laser surveying device was previously designed, in theory, so as to completely compensate for variations in outside temperature, a desired beam diameter at a prescribed distance could not be obtained, where various types of temperature change occur.


A hydraulic excavator capable of achieving suppression of decrease in weight of a counterweight and appropriate arrangement of an exhaust gas treatment device is provided. A rear leg portion forming a leg portion supporting the exhaust gas treatment device against the revolving frame has a main body portion formed to have a U-shaped cross-section, and an open side of the U-shape of the main body portion is opposed to a counterweight. The counterweight has a pair of groove-shaped recesses formed, in which a pair of end portions of the U-shape of the main body portion is inserted.

An exhaust gas treatment device is mounted on a hydraulic excavator. As the exhaust gas treatment device, for example, a diesel particulate filter device (DPF), a diesel oxidation catalyst device (DOC), a selective catalytic reduction device (SCR), and the like are available. In particular, the selective catalytic reduction device purifies an exhaust gas by reducing a nitrogen oxide in the exhaust gas.
In a hydraulic excavator in WO2011/152306 (PTD 1), a columnar member is erected on a main frame of a revolving unit. A beam member is coupled to an upper end of the columnar member and a frame member is fixed to the beam member. In order to attach a treatment device for treating an exhaust gas from an engine to the frame member, a bracket is provided.


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to display devices and electronic devices incorporating a data line distribution segment between neighboring pixel electrodes. Specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure employ a uniformly distributed data line distribution segment coupled to a data line so as to cause a substantially uniform data line-to-pixel electrode capacitance with the neighboring pixel electrodes even when the data line is disposed closer to one of the neighboring pixel electrodes than the other.

The present disclosure relates generally to electronic device displays, and, more particularly, to reducing non-uniform capacitance coupling between a data line and neighboring pixels.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
During the fabrication of electronic device displays, a data line is aligned between a plurality of neighboring pixels. Often times, numerous electronic device displays are fabricated at one time by creating a large display panel glass that is divided into individual electronic device displays. As the large display sections are fabricated, extra precaution may be required to provide uniform spacing between the data line and the neighboring pixels. Large display sections may increase the risk of the data lines having a non-uniform alignment with neighboring pixel electrodes. Further, as these displays increase in resolution, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain proper alignment between the data line and these neighboring pixels. Improper alignment of the data line may result in the capacitance between the data line and one neighboring pixel to be substantially greater than the capacitance between the data line and another neighboring pixel. Such non-uniformity in capacitance may result in decreased brightness and image quality for the display device.


A small region panorama image group (I1P, I2P, I3P) is generated in advance. The small region panorama image group (I1P, I2P, I3P) includes images including a common shooting range, being composed of a plurality of common partially overlapped regions (A, B, C, D), and having independency from each other in each partially overlapped region (A, B, C, D). With the use of the small region panorama image group (I1P, I2P, I3P), a predicted background image is generated in which light source environment is the same as that of a shot target image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for generating a predicted background image for a currently shot image with the use of images shot in advance under circumference where light source environment and a shooting angle of a camera change and to a technology for detecting an object from the shot image by utilizing the predicted background image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For object detection using a pan-tilt (PT) camera or the like, a method is effective in which one large panorama image is synthesized from a plurality of shot images of which angles of view are different from each other and image processing of a background difference or the like is performed with the use of the synthesized panorama image as a predicted background image.
As a prior art technique relating to such a predicted background image, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2002-150264A discloses a method for synthesizing a panorama image in which a motion vector is obtained from camera position, camera posture, and an input image set through an image analysis, a camera parameter is calculated on the basis of the thus obtained motion vector, and images are joined according to the calculated camera parameter. By this method, the respective images can be aligned accurately, so that a predicated background image with less position distortion can be synthesized. Hence, accurate object detection can be performed with the use of this predicted background image.

Image generating method, object detecting method, object detecting equipment, and image generating program


An apparatus for thermally conditioning a semiconductor unit is provided which includes a surface plate for receiving the semiconductor unit thereon which is connected to a thermoelectric device and a closed loop heat exchanger. At least one temperature sensor is disposed adjacent the surface plate for sensing the temperature of the surface plate. The thermoelectric device has first and second sides with the first side disposed against the surface plate. The closed loop heat exchanger is coupled to the second side of the thermoelectric device. The closed loop heat exchanger includes a chamber or cavity having an inlet and an outlet with the chamber disposed adjacent the second side of the thermoelectric device. The closed loop heat exchanger further includes conduit connected to the inlet and outlet of the chamber and a heat transfer unit connected to the conduit opposite the chamber. Heat transfer fluid is contained within the closed loop heat exchanger and a pump is provided for pumping the heat transfer fluid through the closed loop heat exchanger wherein the heat transfer unit transfers heat to or from the heat transfer fluid to control the temperature of the heat transfer fluid. The thermoelectric device transfers heat to or from the surface plate to thermally condition the semiconductor unit disposed on the surface plate while the closed loop heat exchanger transfers heat to or from the second side of the thermoelectric device which increases the range of temperature under which the semiconductor unit may be thermally conditioned.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of handlers for feeding integrated circuit or semiconductor devices to a tester for testing and evaluating the integrated circuit devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a handler apparatus for heating or cooling the integrated circuit or semiconductor devices to temperature conditions under which the devices will operate for testing.
2. Description of the Art
Various types of integrated circuit devices having evolved since the development of the semiconductor. Such devices have innumerable applications in industry and commerce. In many of these applications, it is essential that these devices be accurate to a defined minimum percentage of accuracy. Thus, it is necessary to test the integrated circuit devices to determine whether or not they are operable and to what degree. Various high speed testing devices have been developed to measure to the quality of such integrated circuit devices. Typically, such testers can perform testing upon units at very high rates of speed. Accordingly, it has been necessary to provide handling equipment capable of rapidly feeding integrated circuit devices to a test site.
Depending on the type of the device and the application to which it is to be put, the device will be subjected to different environmental operating temperatures. For example, in one application, the semiconductor device which is being tested will ultimately function in an environment with a temperature significantly higher than ambient room temperature. Alternatively, a semiconductor device may be required to operate throughout a wide range of temperature and may require testing at different temperature extremes.
It is follows that a particularly important feature of any integrated circuit handler is that it brings the integrated circuit or semiconductor devices being handled to the temperatures at which they will ultimately operate and maintains tight control of the temperature. A variety of methods are known in the prior art for thermally conditioning semiconductor devices prior to being tested. For example, it is known to provide a soak chamber adjacent the tester so that as the semiconductor devices are transported through the soak chamber to the tester, the soak chamber brings the temperature of the semiconductor devices to the specified temperature for testing. In heating the semiconductor devices in the soak chamber, typically heaters are utilized to heat the air within the soak chamber. The heating elements may be located at the intake of a blower so that the heated air is then circulated within the soak chamber to heat the semiconductor devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,796 to Amundson et al. discloses an air heating system for use in heating integrated circuit chip carriers prior to the chips being tested by an electronic tester. If it is desired to cool the semiconductor devices to be tested, a typical soak chamber may include a separate cooling system such as introducing a gas of the desired temperature into the chamber to surround the semiconductor devices as they pass through the chamber. For example, a liquid nitrogen tank may be connected to a solenoid valve for introducing nitrogen gas into the soak chamber to cool the devices.
One problem with such methods of heating or cooling the semiconductor devices is the time required for changing the temperature of the soak chamber when the devices are to be tested at different temperatures. For example, to change a typical handler apparatus from testing semiconductor devices at a higher temperature such as +125 degrees Celsius to test devices at a lower temperature such as -25 degrees Celsius, it may take 30 minutes or more for the soak chamber to cool down to the desired temperature to thermally condition the semiconductor devices. Another problem is that the soak chamber constitutes an enclosed area and the system provides for the heating or cooling of the entire soak chamber including the air and the walls and base of the soak chamber as well as the semiconductor devices to be thermally conditioned. This results in wasted energy in heating or cooling of the semiconductor devices. Another problem with such soak chambers is that it is difficult to maintain the temperature of the semiconductor devices at a specific temperature. For example, there may be variations within the soak chamber so that some of the semiconductor devices differ in temperature from other devices within the chamber so that all the semiconductor devices are not tested at precisely the same temperature. Also, the enclosed nature of the soak chamber limits access to the semiconductor devices as they are transported to the tester.
Another example of a method for thermally conditioning semiconductor devices includes heating a rail on which the semiconductor devices are placed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,527 to Wedel discloses an apparatus in which integrated circuits are transported down a track and rail in which the track and rail are heated in order to impart thermal energy to the integrated circuit devices passing down the tracks. A significant problem with such an apparatus is that it is only able to heat the integrated circuit devices and does not provide thermal conditioning for integrated circuits at lower temperatures.
What is needed is an apparatus for thermally conditioning semiconductor devices in which the semiconductor devices are quickly brought to a specified temperature and maintained at that temperature with minimum temperature fluctuation. What is further needed is an apparatus which is able to thermally condition semiconductor devices over a large range of temperatures and is able to change temperatures within a short time frame.

Semiconductor thermal conditioning apparatus and method


A sensor for detecting the level of circulating fluid in a tank comprises a paddle blade disposed at a particular height and oriented generally radially from a rotating shaft in the tank. A sensing device, such as a strain gauge, is attached to the paddle blade to detect when the paddle blade is in at least one of a normal and a displaced position, thereby indicating that fluid is absent or present at a particular level. Additional sensors may be used in the same tank to provide fluid level feedback at more than one height.

The present invention generally relates to level sensing apparatus, and more particularly to fluid level sensors used in mixing devices.
Various types of commercial processes require a supply of liquid, which is commonly provided in a vessel. As the commercial process continues, the level of liquid in the vessel drops. It is important in many instances to maintain a desired level of liquid within the vessel. In a single fluid printing press which uses a pre-mixed ink/water emulsion to form images on paper, for example, a source of ink/water emulsion must continuously supply the fluid during the course of the printing operation. Such presses include a vessel which houses a mixing device for blending the ink and water. The mixing device typically rotates on the order of 1000-2000 rpm to vigorously and thoroughly mix the ink and water to obtain the ink/water emulsion. Accordingly, the vessel is substantially closed, to prevent fluid from leaking. The ink/water emulsion is then supplied to the press to print images on paper.
As is known in the art, it is common to provide a liquid level sensor to provide feedback regarding the amount of fluid in the vessel. Most commonly, control systems for maintaining the level of liquid in a vessel have utilized a float element that is supported on the surface of the liquid. This type of control system depends upon the float element riding up and down as the level of the liquid fluctuates within the vessel to activate respective off and on switches to control suitable valves for selectively replenishing the liquid from a remote source. More specifically, the actuation of the switches that control the valves is typically accomplished either mechanically or by energizing a proximity sensing device. Generally speaking, such control systems are well proven and quite reliable for most applications. They are known to be unsuitable, however, for use in an ink environment, due substantially to the fact that ink has a high viscosity and tack which causes it to adhere to the float element. Accordingly, the buoyancy and weight of the float element in this type of control system is known to change dramatically. As a result, the control system is known to be difficult, at best, to maintain in calibration within an ink environment.
An alternative float-type provides a regulated supply of low pressure air to the vessel through an air supply tube. A bottom end of the air supply tube is positioned at a preselected level within the liquid vessel. An air flow meter having a pressure-responsive floating element in an internal chamber is connected to the air supply tube to sense fluctuations in air pressure. The floating element is movable between a first position and a second position depending upon the air pressure which is sensed in the air supply tube. When the liquid level in the vessel is above the preselected level, the air supply tube is under a higher pressure and the float element of the air flow meter is in the first position. When the liquid level drops below the preselected level, the pressure in the air supply tube drops and the float element of the air flow meter moves to the second position. A liquid supply valve operates according to the position of the float element, so that it is closed when the float element is in the first position, and is open when the float element is in the second position. While this alternative removes the float element from the vessel to avoid the problems noted above, the ink tends to clog the air supply tube, rendering the flow meter useless. As a result, a supply of high pressure air is often needed to unclog the tube by blasting air through the tube. This approach not only requires additional components, but must also be used with open or vented vessels so that the pressurized air supplied to the vessel may escape, and therefore is not suitable for single-fluid printing press applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,974 describes yet another type of fluid level detection system. The system of the ""974 patent comprises a vessel for collecting ink. A rotating shaft is disposed inside the vessel, and upper and lower flexible blades are attached to the rotating shaft. Upper and lower proximity sensors are positioned at the respective heights of the upper and lower blades. When one of the blades is unimpeded by ink, the blade remains straight and actuates the associated proximity sensor as it passes the sensor. When the level of ink in the vessel reaches a blade, that blade flexes due to the viscosity of the ink, to form a greater gap between the proximity sensor and the blade, such that the sensor does not detect the blade. It will be appreciated that for such a system to be effective, the ink must be relatively inert or unmoving so that the blades will bend when submerged in ink. If the shaft rotates too fast, such that the ink circulates in with the shaft, the blades will not flex when submerged. In such systems, therefore, the shaft typically rotates on the order of 60 rpm, which is not suitable for mixing ink and water as needed in a single fluid printing press.
Ultrasound instruments have also been used to control the level of liquid in a vessel. The ultrasound instruments function by detecting an acoustic wave which is reflected from a surface of the liquid in the vessel and by measuring the time which elapses between the emission and detection of the wave thereby to calculate the distance of the liquid surface from the instrument. Unfortunately, the ultrasound instruments are quite unreliable in an ink environment inasmuch as the ink surface is quite irregular, especially when mixed vigorously, thereby preventing a proper reflection of the acoustic wave.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the foregoing problems and achieving one or more of the resulting objects.
According to certain aspects of the present invention, apparatus is provided for detecting a fluid level in a tank of circulating fluid. The apparatus comprises a paddle blade supported inside the tank at a particular level, the paddle blade oriented to resist fluid circulation in the tank and moveable between a normal position and a displaced position. The apparatus further comprises a detector for sensing when the paddle blade is in at least one of the normal and displaced positions and generating a fluid level signal. The circulating fluid acts to move the paddle blade from the normal position to the displaced position so that the fluid level signal is generated responsive to the level of the circulating fluid.
In accordance with additional aspects of the present invention, apparatus for mixing fluid is provided comprising a tank for holding fluid, a rotatable shaft supported inside the tank, and an impeller attached to the shaft for mixing fluid in the tank, thereby circulating the fluid. A paddle blade is supported inside the tank at a particular level, the paddle blade oriented to resist the circulating fluid in the tank and being moveable between a normal position and a displaced position. A detector is provided for sensing when the paddle blade is in at least one of the normal and displaced positions and for generating a fluid level signal. The paddle blade is adapted to move toward the displaced position when the circulating fluid reaches the particular level.
In accordance with additional aspects of the present invention, a method is provided of sensing the presence of circulating fluid in a tank at a particular height. The method comprises the steps of supporting a paddle blade inside the tank at the particular height, the paddle blade moveable between a normal position and a displaced position, and detecting when the paddle blade is in at least one of the normal and displaced positions and generating a signal. The paddle blade will move from the normal position to the displaced position when the circulating fluid is present at the particular height in the tank.

Apparatus and method for sensing the fluid level in a mixing device


This invention provides a methanol composition, a method of making the composition, and a method of using the composition. The methanol composition of this invention is supplemented with certain additional alcohols and/or aldehydes, and serves as a particularly desirable feed stream for use in the manufacture of olefins such as ethylene and propylene. Such feed streams result in increased production of ethylene or in the increased production of both ethylene and propylene.

Methanol is a major chemical raw material used to make a variety of products, including acetic acid, formaldehyde, and methyl tertiary butyl ether. Worldwide demand is expected to significantly increase as new applications for the use of methanol become commercialized. Such new applications include the conversion of methanol to gas, such as the Mobil MTG process; the conversion of methanol to olefins, gasoline and distillate, such as the Mobil MOGD process; and the conversion of methanol to olefins, such as the MTO process.
For example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,444,712 B1 and 6,486,219 B1 to Janda, a method for producing olefins from methanol, by way of using natural gas to make the methanol, is described. The method includes converting the methane component of the natural gas to synthesis gas (syngas) using a steam reformer and a partial oxidation reformer. The syngas from each reformer is combined and sent to a methanol synthesis reactor. The combined syngas stream to the methanol synthesis reactor desirably has a syngas number of from about 1.4 to 2.6. The methanol product is then used as a feed in a methanol to olefin production process.
Much of the methanol made today is made under high purity specifications. Grade A and grade AA methanol are commonly produced. U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,806 to Ignore discloses a process for producing the grade AA methanol. The grade AA methanol has a maximum ethanol content of 10 ppm and is produced using a distillation column, and distilling fusel oil at a reflux ratio of at least 5:1.
The use of crude, or substantially unrefined, methanol has been suggested for use in making olefins. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,662 to Vora, there is disclosed an integrated process for producing light olefins from a hydrocarbon gas stream by combining reforming, methanol production, and methanol conversion. The methanol produced is a crude methanol, which is essentially unrefined and comprises methanol, light ends, heavier alcohols. The crude methanol is passed directly to an oxygenate conversion zone to produce light olefins.
As the production of methanol continues to increase, and the new commercial uses of methanol also continue to increase, it would be advantageous to produce methanol streams which have particular advantages for specific end uses. It would be particularly beneficial to produce methanol compositions that provide a greater quantity of end product and/or a better quality of end product for the specific end use.

Methanol feed for producing olefin streams


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. Some wireless communications systems may implement reliability thresholds for transmissions. Base stations and user equipment (UEs) may implement techniques to reduce coding rates in order to improve reliability. For example, a base station may dynamically indicate a UE-specific transport block size (TBS) scaling factor for communication. The base station may include an explicit TBS scaling factor indicator in a downlink transmission, an implicit indication of the TBS scaling factor based on an indicated mode of operation (for example, a repetition mode) for the UE, or a combination thereof. By dynamically selecting between different supported scaling factors, the wireless devices may implement TBS scaling factors that are non-proportional to resource scaling factors, resulting in lower coding rates. For example, the wireless devices may utilize lower scaling factors for repetition-based transmissions than single transmissions to improve the reliability of the repeated transmissions.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to transport block size (TBS) scaling factor indication for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC).
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Some wireless communications systems may implement latency requirements, reliability requirements, or both for transmissions between devices. For example, one such set of requirements may specify that end-to-end (E2E) communications within a wireless communications system have no more than a 1 millisecond (ms) delay with a reliability of at least 1 e-5. The reliability may be measured in terms of a block error rate (BLER) for a communication link. The achievable BLER for a link may decrease as the coding rate for transmission is reduced. Accordingly, to meet the reliability requirements, some wireless devices may need to reduce the coding rate for transmissions. However, some systems may have a minimum achievable coding rate value that is approximately constant across transmission time interval (TTI) lengths based on the transmission parameters for the systems.

Transport block size scaling factor indication for ultra-reliable low-latency communication


Life of a non-volatile memory is extended without increasing processing time due to turning power ON/OFF.

For example, an image forming apparatus such as an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) and the like, which is one kind of electronic apparatus, is equipped with various consumable parts. In a case where a print function, a copy function, a FAX function, a data transmission/reception function via a network, and the like are installed, unit parts that execute these respective functions correspond as consumable parts. Moreover, a rewritable non-volatile memory, a volatile memory used as a work memory for executing a program, and the like also correspond as consumable parts. Note that, in a non-volatile memory, counter information for determining the replacement time or the like of each unit part, setting information related to each function, and the like are stored.
Incidentally, in an image forming apparatus, when the power is turned ON, the above-described setting information, counter information, and the like stored in the non-volatile memory are read from the non-volatile memory and expanded in the volatile memory. Moreover, in the power-ON state, when the above-described counter information is changed or the settings of the various functions are changed, the changed contents are stored in the volatile memory. Then, when the power of the image forming apparatus is turned OFF, the changed contents stored in the volatile memory are written to the non-volatile memory. As a result, when the power to the image forming apparatus is turned ON again, the previous counter information and setting information are taken over.
As described above, the changed contents stored in the volatile memory are written to the non-volatile memory each time the image forming apparatus is switched from power ON to power OFF. Therefore, when the power to the image forming apparatus is frequently switched between ON and OFF, the number of times that the changed contents are written to the non-volatile memory is increased, and the life of the non-volatile memory is shortened.
In order to solve such a problem, Patent Literature 1 proposes a control apparatus for automobiles that, when the key switch is turned OFF, only writes data to the non-volatile memory in a case where the contents of the volatile memory and the contents of the non-volatile memory are compared, and there is a difference between the data of both.

Abstract: An EEPROM stores counter information and setting information, a first RAM and a second RAM store counter information and setting information, a memory management unit manages a storage area in the first RAM for the counter information and setting information so as to be updatable and manages a storage area in the second RAM for the counter information and setting information so as not to be updatable, and a system control unit, when a change in contents of the counter information and the setting information occurs, rewrites the counter information and the setting information in the first RAM in accordance to the changed contents, and when the power is turned OFF, reads and compares the counter information and the setting information in the first RAM with the counter information and the setting information in the second RAM, and writes only different data to the EEPROM.