In order to solve the problem of a prior art biological attribute measuring device, i.e., measurement data is apt to vary because of unstable contact due to difficulty in controlling a thickness of a saliva layer and pain caused during the measurement, is provided a biological attribute measuring device including a contact device having a portion, at least part of which is a curved surface, for abutting against a measuring region to apply light to the measuring region, a light detecting means for detecting at least one selected from the group consisting of transmitted light, reflected light, scattered light and transmitted/reflected light from the measuring region and a measuring means for measuring a specific component in the measuring region based on the detection result.

Conventionally, there have been proposed various methods of measuring a specific component in a living body or a specimen such as a solution using an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) measurement device.
A patient with advanced diabetes owns an easy-to-use blood glucose determination device of blood-collecting type so that she can adopt a method of determining a blood glucose level by collecting blood by herself. Recently, however, development in noninvasive measurement is in progress. For example, there has been proposed a method of using an ATR (attenuated total reflectance) prism, in which attenuated total reflection of incident light is repeated at an interface between a reflection surface of the prism and a living body, and then light emitted to the outside of the prism is analyzed. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HEI 9-113439 (page 3 and FIG. 1) discloses a measuring method by sandwiching an ATR prism in a mouth or between fingers.
In the method of the above-described publication, evanescent wave (so-called penetrating wave) is applied to a quantitative analysis. As shown in FIG. 4, light 53 propagated through an optical fiber 54 travels in an ATR prism 51 while slightly seeping out, and the seeped light goes into lips 52 and then is reflected. That is, part of the light 53 enters the lips 52 and is affected by components in body fluid existing in the lips 52. For this reason, variations in reflectance and absorptance of the body fluid can be detected by measuring the amount of the reflected light, or returned light. Thereby, information about the components in the body fluid can be obtained.
According to "Fiber Optics User's Manual", of Spectra-Tech, Version 2.0 (pages 2 and 9), an optical fiber ATR probe 61 as shown in FIG. 5 is disclosed as a form of a prism. When an ATR probe 62 is made contact with a lip 52, light propagated from the light source side (not shown) of an optical fiber 63 through the ATR prove 62 enters the lip 52 and is reflected, and then the reflected light is propagated to the light reception side (not shown) of the optical fiber 63. However, conventional measuring devices as described above have the following problems.
For example, a penetration depth is calculated by a known formula under the conditions that light of 10 microns in wavelength and an ATR prism made of a ZnSe crystal (refractive index: about 2.0) are used, an incident angle is set at 45° and water is used as a surrounding medium (refractive index: about 1.24). The penetration depth obtained herein is 4.7 microns. If the refractive index of the surrounding medium is varied, the penetration depth is also varied. In any event, however, the penetration depth is a few microns at the highest.
In other words, conventional measuring devices allow measurement of information about the surface and its vicinity of the living body. However, if a disturbance layer such as saliva exists between the ATR prism and the subject, light may not reach the living body or the depth of light entering the living body may vary, which makes the obtained signal unstable.
Further, if water and air exist in part of a sensing part of the ATR prism, or water exists on the whole surface of the sensing part of the ATR prism, a spectrum obtained is varied in shape. An intervenient air layer is also a cause of the variation in spectrum.
Therefore, when the ATR prism is sandwiched between the lips to be pressed by them as in the above-described prior art technique, the degree of contact varies depending on a force closing the lips. Accordingly, the contact between the ATR prism surface and the lips becomes unstable and the thickness of the saliva layer becomes difficult to control. Further, due to the influence of an intervenient air layer or the like, measurement data is apt to vary. Even if the saliva layer is wiped off, the contact is insufficient because a oral mucosa has a surface with fine irregularity, and therefore the air layer may exist if the contact is not achieved.
The larger the contact region of the ATR prism is, the more difficult it becomes to realize completely uniform contact. Then, an optical fiber ATR probe 61 as shown in FIG. 5 is considered as the one having a small contact region. The linear ATR probe has a corner 62 which is edged or slightly rounded. Accordingly, when pressed strongly against the lip for contact, the corner may cause pain in the lip contacting thereto. This may weaken the pressing force, resulting in unstable contact.
According to BME, Vol.5, No. 8 (Japanese Society for Medical and Biological Engineering, 1991), there has been proposed a method of measuring a blood glucose level and an ethanol concentration in blood by bringing an ATR element made of an ZnSe optical crystal or the like into contact with a labial mucosa, introducing a laser beam of 9 to 11 microns in wavelength into the ATR element to cause multiple reflection of the laser beam in the inside of the ATR element, and analyzing absorbed light, scattered light or reflected light.
This method allows real-time and noninvasive measurement of a concentration of a specific component such as glucose, ethanol or cholesterol. Also in this method, evanescent wave (penetrating wave) is applied to the quantitative analysis.
Light traveling in the ATR element slightly gets into the lips and is affected by components contained in a body fluid existing there. For example, glucose shows a light absorption peak at a light wave number of 1080 cm−1.
Therefore, if light of this wave number is applied to a living body, the amount of light absorption varies depending on variations in glucose concentration in the living body. Thus, variations in light absorption due to variations in concentration of body fluid components are detected by measuring light returned from the living body, thereby obtaining a concentration of each component.
In general, however, the ATR measurement device is used for surface analysis of a substance and an incident angle of 45° is adopted in most cases. Therefore, the depth to which the evanescent wave enters is almost at the same level as the wavelength, i.e., the light passes only a small distance in the living body.
Accordingly, an optical path of light passing through the body fluid is extremely short and hence the amount of light absorbed in the body fluid is very small. Therefore, a sufficiently large signal strength cannot be obtained by a single total reflection.
For this reason, there has been attempted to increase the signal strength by repeating the total reflection. However, in order to reflect the light many times, the element itself needs to be upsized, which is problematic because the cost of the optical element increases. Further, as a result of the upsizing of the element, the region to be measured becomes large, and hence it becomes relatively difficult to obtain a signal from a region which is truly required to be measured.
In view of the foregoing points, a first object of the present invention is to provide a biological attribute measuring method and a biological attribute measuring device that allow highly accurate measurement by easily bringing a prism comprising a contact device into contact with a measuring region.
Further, a second object of the present invention is to provide a biological attribute measuring method and a biological attribute measuring device for measuring a concentration of a specific component by obtaining a large measurement signal with a small optical element.

Apparatus for measuring biological information and method for measuring biological information

Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co., Ltd.


This invention is about an activated charcoal-wooden composites or charcoal-wooden composites and its manufacturing method, which is composed of fancy natural veneered wooden material as a surface layer, activated charcoal board or charcoal board as a central layer and wooden material with round boring holes as a back layer, and especially, which contains both the lined grooves of the surface layer and the round boring holes perforated through the back layer, and also in the function, the activated charcoal-wooden composites or charcoal-wooden composites takes the hidden gas adsorbing room in one or above of each layer, through which many gases can be adsorbed into either one or both sides of the central layer, that is, the above hidden gas adsorbing room can not only adsorb radon gas which comes from the ground or wall of building itself, but also can simultaneously adsorb various harmful gases indoors.

1. Field of the Invention
This application claims the prior right to the invention of Korean patent application number "10-2011-0110831" under the title of "Manufacturing method and gas adsorbing and sound absorbing structure of the fancy wood overlaid charcoal board wood composites for indoor air quality".
This invention is not only about the method of manufacturing the Charcoal-Wooden material Composites or the Activated Charcoal-Wooden material Composites (hereafter referred to as CW-Composites or ACW-Composites) made of wooden material laminated with the Charcoal Board (hereunder referred to as C-Board) or the Activated Charcoal Board (hereunder referred to as AC-Board) which is composed of the Surface Layer (hereunder referred to as S-Layer) of wooden material such as Fancy plywood, the Central Layer (hereafter referred to as C-Layer) of AC-Board or C-Board, the Back Layer (below referred to as B-Layer) of wooden material such as holes-perforated plywood, but also about "the gas adsorbing and sound absorbing Composite Structure" (below referred to as Com-Structure) which fulfills functions on adsorbing gases such as formaldehyde, Total Volatile Organic Compounds (below referred to as TVOC) etc. evaporated in the room of dwellings into the Surface of Indoor Side (hereunder referred to as IS-Surface) on AC-Board or C-Board as well as adsorbing the Gas of Radon radioactivity (below referred to as R-Gas) radiated out from the concrete wall itself or the ground beneath the building into the Surface of Wall Side (below referred to as WS-Surface) on AC-Board or C-Board through making up and setting the specified Gas Adsorbing composite Structure (below referred to as G-Adsorbing Structure) on both S-layer and B-Layer made of wooden material such as Fancy Natural Lumber (hereunder referred to as FN-Lumber), Fancy Veneer of Natural lumber (hereafter referred to as FN-Veneer), plywood, particle board, Glued Laminated Wood (below referred to as G-Laminated Wood), fiber board so as to give the full ability and property of Gas Adsorbing Function (below referred to as G-Adsorbing Function) to the both surface of AC-Board or C-Board which are placed in C-Layer of the above said CW-Composites or ACW-Composites.
In addition to the above presented description, if we consider that AC-Board or C-Board has the high qualified ability of Sound Absorbing Action (below referred to as S-Absorbing Action), this invention is also related with "the Activated Charcoal-Wooden material Composites made of the Thin Fancy Natural Veneer overlaid on the Activated Charcoal Board laminated with Wooden Material (below referred to as ACW-Composites of TFN-Veneer on AC-Board with W-Material)", which contains 'the Hidden Gas and Sound Sorbing Room (hereafter referred to as H-GS-Sorbing-Room) where both Gas and Sound Sorbing Action (hereunder referred to as GS-Sorbing Action) can be simultaneously generated, by the way, the higher quality of Gas and Sound Sorbing Function (below referred to as GS-Sorbing Function) originates from the structural shape, as it were, 'the shape of H-GS-Sorbing-Room joined with the straight Line type depressed Grooves () of the Surface Layer (below referred to as Lined Grooves of S-Layer) can not only take out the space and square from Lined Grooves grooved up to half a depth of C-Board in both S-layer and C-layer, as well as from H-GS-Sorbing Room enlarged to be wider than the width of Lined Grooves of S-Layer, but also from adding 'Prominent and Sounds Reflecting Prism (Δ) built up on incident parts to which sounds enters through the straight Lined depressed Grooves () of the Surface Layer' (below referred to as S-Reflecting Prism built up on the incident parts through Lined Grooves of S-Layer).
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern human beings live indoors during more than 90% of a day. If we see the WHO reports in 2002 2,400,000 persons lose their lives from air pollution every year, especially 1,500,000 men among them die of indoor air pollution, we can feel how much important the quality of indoor air is for human life.
We can stare at TVOC, formaldehyde, fine dust, R-Gas, etc. as important materials which pollute indoor air, and among them, we should fix our eye on TVOC, formaldehyde which many governments regulate to control the quality of air in the world. R-Gas, as a invisible, odorless and tasteless gas, can be one of the most dangerous gases, as lung cancers are caused by the α-particle emitted from R-Gas during a Half Period of a radioactive element (below referred to as H-Period) {Rn 222; 3.82 day and daughter nuclide, Po 218; 3 minutes, Porstendofer 1984}. Nowadays concrete or gypsum boards are adopted for most of interior materials in building constructions, accordingly Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) in USA and the Ministry of Environment in Korea recommend the concentration of R-Gas in indoor air to be less than 4 pCi/L. It was reported that 15˜17 pCi/L of R-Gas was being emitted from gypsum boards, 30˜34 pCi/L from asbestos slate, 8˜10 pCi/L from wooden plates for cement, 15˜18 pCi/L from closed cement pack by data of EPA, USA in 1986 (Test on Radon emitting volume among panel typed building materials based on Desiccator Method).
By the way, the charcoal or the activated charcoal has its own characteristic properties to purify and remove VOC or formaldehyde by adsorbing the gas, as well as to intercept electromagnetic waves or harmful radio waves, on the contrary, to radiate useful far infrared lights or anions, which results from the its own function of holding water, air ventilation, adsorbing gas and accumulating heat. Accordingly we can dare to say that because they have properties to adsorb the R-Gas which enters indoor rooms from interior materials of the concrete building or via wall cracks from the ground under the building over 4 times more than recommended volume, when there are not any other methods of removing R-Gas except ventilating facilities by this time, the CW-Composites or ACW-Composites is certainly one of the most human friendly materials as an Interior Material for Building (hereunder referred to as BI-Material) via changing the harmful R-Gas of 3.8 days' H-Period into the solid state for the block of internal radiation exposure, as it were, by 'adsorbing R-Gas into AC-Board or C-Board of C-Layer through G-Adsorbing Structure with Round Boring Holes (below referred to as RB-Holes) on WS-Surface of B-Layer'. Moreover, the said CW-Composites or ACW-Composites will really provide inhabitants with both the better health and the more comfortable environments by offering the multi-function on GS-Sorbing Action, because it has the highly qualified effects on the shown work due to the structural area and shape of both Lined grooves on S-layer and H-GS-Sorbing-Room accompanied with Lined Grooves to be wider than Lined Grooves on S-Layer beneath S-Layer at the interior parts of C-Board or AC-Board in C-layer which are linked with Lined Grooves on S-layer, thus resulting in acting as the 'Com-Structure, which has the excellent ability of adsorbing indoor polluted materials like formaldehyde, TVOC, etc. though the above said Lined Grooves into the IS-Surface of C-Board or AC-Board in C-layer as well as absorbing sounds originated from indoor room in dwellings through the above said Lined Grooves into the IS-Surface of C-Board or AC-Board in C-layer, and which shows remarkably the natural beauty of N-Lumber with beautiful design on the S-Layer from the indoor view'.
While C-Boards mainly made of carbon, have been made of various materials and by many kinds of methods until this time, I, the applicant, registered the method manufacturing CW-Composites or ACW-Composites applied to the Wall Finishing Material (hereunder referred to as WF-Material) in building construction under Patent No. 10-0572591 with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), where I presented "The method manufacturing the Com-Structure of AC-Board or C-Board used for BI-Material, which got the excellent function on gas adsorption, water holding stability, far infrared lights radiating ratio and anions emitting rate" with detailed data of various physical and mechanical properties including gas adsorption. Besides, I developed 'the technology manufacturing C-Board only of the charcoal powder (hereunder referred to as C-Powder) and adhesives' without adding any fiber ingredients, and I improved 'The method making the beautiful looks better while uniting C-Board with other wooden material in order the strength to be reinforced', that is, I realized the method of overlaying pattern printed wallpaper or non-woven fabric on C-Board for the purpose of reforming the beauty of IS-Surface from the black color of C-Board while maintaining G-Adsorbing Function of C-Board (Patent No. 10-0667371, 2007). Moreover, I particularly reported that C-Board itself 10 mm thick had been continuously keeping G-Adsorbing Function at a rate of 87.9% compared with the initially measured value in the past 6 years at each measurement per year after being left alone with a gas of 20 ppm in a pot (2010).
For all that, although I had presented 'Siding Type', 'Louver Type' and 'Sliding Type' as several kinds of G-Adsorbing Structure composed of a Natural Lumber Panel (hereunder referred to as NL-Panel) as S-Layer seen from indoor side which was set before C-Board invisible from indoor side (Air ventilating window in human friendly Com-Structure used for residential buildings, which was made of C-Board & wooden material of different kind in Patent No. 0517139, 2005), I found out the necessity for improving the said structure because it was hard to install the fragile box filled with C-Board when there was a empty space between S-Layer and C-Board as a separated type. And I discovered a insufficient point in the method in Patent No 10-0572591, which symbolized 'the needs for improving the Com-Structure by both reinforcing the strength and changing the shape of structure under considering beautiful sense and manufacturing process, because I had given 'my consideration only to the adsorption of indoor gas, but not to the adsorption of R-Gas' which had come out from the inside wall of concrete itself or the outside ground of building by using general plywood without any air ventilating holes as a B-Layer, as well as because I stroke upon it was be able to sufficient to adsorb the R-Gas through Round Boring Holes formed (bored) less than 25% ratio to all the surface area on the Back Layer (hereunder referred to as RB-Holes below 25% on B-Layer), which was previously presented by me. Moreover, I detected 'the possibility to combine the manufacturing process into one lot' which had been divided into 2 steps; the one was the process to manufacture AC-Board or C-Board and the other was the process to stick both S-layer and B-Layer of wooden material to C-Layer of AC-Board or C-Board by heating pressed process. Besides the method of Patent No 10-0667371 applied by me, where pattern printed papers or non-woven fabrics are overlaid on AC-Board or C-Board, was required to grow an operating efficiency on works such as a nail driving work, drilling work, etc. as well as the transporting and handling work to make them easy because it is too weak to be used for WF-Material.
Until now the type of the Sound Absorbing composite Structure (hereunder referred to as S-Absorbing Structure) has been classified into 'Porous material type', 'Board Vibrating material type', or 'Resonating material type', and the Com-Structure mixed with more than one type among above shown 3 types has been normally put to use, because it has been known to the world until present time that the acoustic absorptivity was closely related with frequency, the properties and structure of wall making materials (Wooden Physics and Dynamics published in 1989). If we investigate Sound Absorbing Materials (below referred to S-Absorbing Materials) usually used in the market by this time, in the view of the outlooks and structure of materials, we can meet following products as the mainstream such as Medium Density Fiberboard (hereunder referred to as MDF Board or MDF), Insulation Fiberboard (hereunder referred to as IB or IF-Board), Insulation Fiberboard carried with Round Boring (perforated) Holes (below referred to as IF-Board with RB-Holes or Perforated IB), Medium Density Fiberboard carried with Round Boring (perforated) Holes (below referred to as MDF-Board with RB-Holes or Perforated MDF), Narrow Fancy Board (hereunder referred to as F-Board) arranged at regular intervals as a line type, or Fancy Veneer of natural wood overlaid on Medium Density Fiberboard (below referred to as F-Veneered MDF) which composed of Sound Absorbing Board (hereunder referred to as S-Absorbing Board) with Lined Grooves grooved up to a fixed depth from the surface and with RB-Holes perforated up to the opposite end of the remained depth on S-Absorbing Board to be put together in the line of Grooves like Topakustik® (Please refer to M-1 and M-3 of FIG. 6), and where as a surface finishing work for non-flammable function, either non-flammable sheets were pasted or non-flammable paints were coated on the above shown F-Veneered MDF. Besides, as other looks and processes, we can be faced with products where if decorating plywoods are adopted as a WF-Material, they contain grooves generally processed to be either 'V-shape (V)' or 'Depressed shape ()' and 'painted with black or dark brown color on grooves' to be different from the color of S-Layer, in order to show solidity by forming shadow line as well as to use the grooves as a jointing parts between each plywood at the time of installing WF-Material. (Wooden engineering, 1981).
Therefore, under the consideration of the said points, I, the applicant, 'putting into practical use both the Gas and Sound Sorbing Properties (hereunder referred to as GS-Sorbing Properties) of AC-Board or C-Board', invent the 'CW-Composites or ACW-Composites' as a BI-Material, that is, WF-Material or Surface Finishing Material (hereunder referred to as SF-Material), which contains 'H-GS-Sorbing-Room' where both gas adsorbing and sound absorbing actions can be simultaneously produced, moreover, 'the excellent quality of Gas and Sound Sorbing Efficiency (hereunder referred to as GS-Sorbing Efficiency) results from the structural shape'; such as 'H-GS-Sorbing-Room in the AC-Board or C-Board is wider than Lined Grooves on IS-Surface of S-Layer and joined to Lined Grooves on S-Layer, or adding to it, H-GS-Sorbing-Room can additionally take S-Reflecting Prism built up on the incident parts of Grooves of S-Layer' (Refer to T-3 of FIG. 6), and thus I herewith present "ACW-Composites of TFN-Veneer on AC-Board with W-Material or CW-Composites of TFN-Wood on C-Board with W-Material" and its "Manufacturing Method", composed of 'Gas and Sound Sorbing composite Structure (hereunder referred to as GS-Sorbing Structure or GS-Sorbing Com-Structure)', which must be able to provide inhabitants with the better health and the more comfortable environments through the multi-function of GS-Sorbing Action, when the CW-Composites or ACW-Composites can make it possible not only to do the highest qualified GS-Sorbing Function among all the methods introduced in the world by this time, but also to resolve matters of R-Gas which is able to be removed only by air ventilation at present, as well as to get rid of indoor polluted gas or stink such as TVOC, etc. besides, it can give the naturally beautiful looks by using natural wooden material carried with fancy design on S-Layer from the indoor view.

Gas adsorbing and sound absorbing composite structure of activated charcoal-wooden material composites for improving indoor air quality and removing radon gas, and manufacturing method thereof


In a radiation detector, a response is approximated as a primary delay system, and when a time constant T indicating the characteristic of the response is known, a final response value N0 is forecasted from dose rates or counting rates N1 and N2 of two points in the initial or middle stage of response. When the time constant T is unknown, the final response value N0 is forecasted from dose rates or counting rates N1, N2, and N3 of three points in the initial or middle stage of response. Simultaneously, a time constant is obtained and the soundness of the radiation detector is also evaluated. Thereby, a dose rate in an existence field of radiation or a counting rate in an existence field of radioactive materials is quickly and accurately forecasted, whereby the measurement time is shortened.

A radiation detector such as a conventional radiation detector to be used as a survey meter is for obtaining a dose rate as a dose per unit time and/or a counting rate as a count per unit time. In this case, first, a place where a natural radiation level (hereinafter, referred to as background) is significantly exceeded is found while moving, and next, at this place, measurement is performed for an appropriate period of time, and then a final dose rate or counting rate (also referred to as a final response value in a stationary state) is measured after stable indication is obtained in general.
Therefore, for example, in the case of an accidental radiation exposure emergency, to measure an air dose rate and/or a counting rate of a contaminated site, a wide range is measured while moving the radiation detector such as a survey meter, and at a place recognized as abnormal, the radiation detector is made stationary for measurement more than 30 seconds to 60 seconds, so that completion of the measurement consumes a great deal of time. When a measured value is read while the survey meter or the like is moved for inspecting contaminated sites, for example, when the distance to a measuring target is 10 mm, a time constant is 10 seconds, and a movement speed is 50 mm per second, an output suddenly lowers to about 10% to 15% of the final response value in a stationary state, so that it is difficult for unskilled persons to find abnormal sites under the present circumstances.
In the case of human body contamination inspection, when it takes a long time per one examinee, if a large number of examinees must be inspected, delay of the inspection and the exposure of the inspecting person become serious problems. Furthermore, routine radiation control takes a long time if the number of measuring sites is large.
On the other hand, a forecast responsive clinical thermometer which forecasts a final response value of a body temperature has been made practicable as one similar to the present invention. However, the number of electrons to be emitted from a thermistor or the like is large and the time constant is fixed and known, so that the forecasting is simple, and it cannot be used for a radiation detector in which emission of radiation occurs one by one as a probabilistic event and is greatly scattered.

Radiation detected value forecasting method and forecast responsive radiation detector

National Institute of Radiological Sciences


Provided are a computer program, method, and system for determining and assigning a default value to a current server response if the current server response is not received from the server within a time-limit. An indication of a submission of a request is transmitted to the server for receiving a current server response. A default value is assigned to the current server response if the current server response is not received from the server within a time-limit with respect to the current submission of the request. A set of operations being performed from the assignment of the default value to the current server response is logged. An actual value of the current server response is received from the server and the logged operations are rolled-back and the current server response reset to the actual value if the actual value is different from the default value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program product, system and method for determining and assigning a default value to a current server response if the current server response is not received from the server within a time-limit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Distributed applications are commonplace in modern data-processing systems, especially in the Internet. In a distributed application, a server computer (or simply server) offers a service that may be exploited by a large number of users accessing the server by means of their client computers (or simply clients)—in general remotely through a communication network. In this way, it is possible to partition the distributed application into a processing layer (on its server-side) and a presentation layer (on its client-side). This allows concentrating the processing operations in the server, which shares its resources with all the clients (with a consequent simplification of a management of the distributed application and of the clients). A typical example of distributed application is the access to a web site in the Internet. In this case, the user of each client exploits a web browser (or simply browser) to download desired web pages of the web site. The user may then interact with the web pages for entering data, submitting commands and displaying information.
The interaction with the distributed application involves the submission of a series of user requests on the client (through the web browser, or any other user interface), which are then transmitted to the server. The server processes the user requests and returns corresponding server responses to the client. Generally, after the submission of each user request, the user has to wait until the corresponding server response is returned from the server before continuing the interaction with the distributed application.
A problem of the distributed applications is that the server responses may be received on the client with a relatively long delay from the submission of the corresponding user requests in critical operative conditions. A cause of this delay may be a stress condition of the server, because of either technical issues (i.e., limited resources or malfunctioning) or scalability issues (i.e., high number of clients accessing it). The result is that the server cannot serve the user requests promptly. Another cause of this delay may be limited bandwidth of the communication network, because of either technical issues (i.e., limited infrastructures or broken lines) or scalability issues (i.e., high traffic), which results in the transmission of information between the clients and the server slowing down.
In critical operative conditions the user may have to wait a relatively long time without doing anything. This waiting time may be far longer than expected for a normal service level in standard operative conditions (for example, several tens of seconds against a fraction of seconds). Such delays may annoy the user and degrade the responsiveness and performance of the distributed application.
The above-mentioned problem is generally addressed by increasing the resources of the server and the infrastructures of the communication network, and their redundancy. However, this solution involves high costs and may be impractical in specific situations.
Another solution is to apply caching techniques to the server responses.
Particularly, the caching techniques may be implemented in proxy computers, or simply proxies (close to the clients, between them and the server) and the server responses are saved onto the proxies, so as to be retrieved from them at next submissions of the corresponding user requests (instead of going up to the server again). An example of these caching techniques is described in JP-A-2004078756 (the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference).
Alternatively, it is also possible to apply the caching techniques in the client (for example, in its web browser) so that the server responses are saved locally onto a cache memory of the client for retrieval for next submissions of the corresponding user requests (without the need of transmitting them to the server). Examples of these caching techniques are described in US-A-2010/0138485, US-A-2009/0094377 and "Caching in HTTP-http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec13.html" (the entire disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference). U.S. Pat. No. 7,096,418 (the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference) describes invalidating server responses in the cache memory of the client when they not up-to-date any longer (so to avoid providing wrong information to the user).
Additionally, as described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0049243 (the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference), it is also possible to transmit information about objects relating to the server response that are cached on the client to the server, together with the corresponding user request. In this way, the server response that is returned to the client only comprises a delta with respect to these objects (already available on the client), so as to reduce the amount of information that is transmitted over the communication network. However, the same drawbacks mentioned above are still experienced when this (reduced) server response is late.

Determining and assigning a default value to a current server response if the current server response is not received from the server within a time-limit

International Business Machines Corporation


A content outputting system includes a client, a content server, a mediation server and an outputting apparatus. Upon reception of a request for outputting content data, the client transmits a request for outputting, which includes a storage location of the content, to the mediation server, so that the mediation server transmits a request for acquisition of the content data to the content server. The content server retrieves the content data from a storage section thereof, and transmits the retrieved content data to the mediation server. The mediation server creates output data on the basis of the received content data, and then, transmits the created output data to the outputting apparatus.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technologies for outputting contents via a network.
2. Related Art
Recently, technologies for outputting images from printers connected to a network such as the Internet have been proposed (refer to JP-A-2003-271356, JP-A-2003-8569 and JP-A-2010-157208). Further, technologies for inputting images from scanners connected to a network have been proposed (refer to JP-A-2010-114946 and JP-A-2009-278420).
In such existing technologies, however, when utilizing printers or scanners connected to a network, it is necessary to use application software (or driver software) which is dedicated to print processing or scan processing, and which is installed at the client sides; thereby causing the clients to be subjected to excessive loads.

Content outputting method, content server and mediation server


An elongated bonding pad comprises two areas, a bonding area and an elongated probing area. The bonding area is located on the edge of an integrated circuit device for wire bonding. The elongated probing area is located on the inner area of the device. The long dimension of the elongated probing area is large enough for carrying a probing mark and the short dimension of the probing area is electrically and mechanically connected to the bonding area. Such elongated bonding pad can reduce the possibility of bonding wire open failures caused by wafer sort probing and increase the device's capacity of hosting more electrical components.

This invention relates generally to bonding pad structures for integrated circuits. More particularly, this invention relates to a bonding pad structure that has separate areas for wire bonding and wafer sort probing such that smaller pad pitches can be assembled without increasing the yield loss due to probing and a probing pin can make a better contact with an integrated circuit without increasing the circuit size.

Elongated bonding pad for wire bonding and sort probing


The method of the invention comprises accumulating experimental data or obtaining existing data with regard to the optimal time-temperature relationship of the deposition process on various film-formation stages for various materials, forming nuclei of a selected material on the surface of the treated object in the first stage under first temperature-controlled conditions for the formation of nuclei of said selected material, converting the nuclei of the aforementioned selected material into island-structured deposited layer of said material by causing lateral growth of the nuclei under second temperature-controlled conditions; converting the island-structure layer into a continuously interconnected cluster structure by causing further lateral growth of said island-structured deposited layer under third temperature-controlled conditions; forming a first continuous film of said material under fourth temperature controlled conditions which provides said first continuous film with predetermined properties; and then completing the formation of a final coating film by growing at least one subsequent continuous film of said material under fifth temperature-controlled conditions until a film of a predetermined thickness is obtained. The fifth temperature-controlled conditions may be characterized by a pulse-mode or step-like variations of temperature in time with rapid cooling or heating for obtaining high degree of crystallinity or for increase in the rate of deposition. The method of the invention could be realized with the use of the electroless deposition apparatus with instantaneous cooling or heating of the object, e.g., a semiconductor substrate, in a deposition chamber.

Manufacturing of semiconductor devices, in particular integrated circuits having multiple-layered structures with various metal and non-metal layers laminated on a semiconductor substrate, typically involves application of several metal layers onto a substrate or onto other previously deposited layers. These layers may have a complicated planar topology since these layers may constitute thousands of individual devices, which in combination form an integrated circuit or so-called "chip". Modern chips may have metal or dielectric layers with thickness from tens of Angstroms to fractions of a micron.
It is understood that thin metallic films used in integrated circuits of semiconductor devices function as conductors of electric current. Furthermore, it is known that densities of signal currents in metallic interconnections used in integrated circuit may reach extremely high values that generate such phenomena as electromigration associated with spatial transfer of mass of conductor films. Therefore the characteristics and properties of the deposited metal films (uniformity of film thickness, low electrical resistivity, etc.) determine performance characteristics and quality of the integrated circuit and of the semiconductor device as a whole.
In view of the above, thin metal films used in the integrated circuits should satisfy very strict technical requirements relating to metal deposition processes, as well as to repeatability and controllability of the aforementioned processes.
A wide range of metals is utilized in the microelectronic manufacturing industry for the formation of integrated circuits. These metals include, for example, nickel, tungsten, platinum, copper, cobalt, as well as alloys of electrically conductive compounds such as silicides, solders, etc. It is also known that coating films are applied onto substrates with the use of a variety of technological processes such chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), electroplating, and electroless plating. Of these techniques, electroplating and electroless plating or deposition tend to be the most economical and most promising for improvement in characteristics of the deposited films. Therefore, electroplating and electroless plating techniques successfully replaces other technologies.
Electroplating and electroless plating can be used for the deposition of continuous metal layers as well as patterned metal layers. One of the process sequences used by the microelectronic manufacturing industry to deposit metals onto semiconductor wafers is known to as "damascene" processing. In such processing, holes, commonly called "vias", trenches and/or other recesses are formed on a workpiece and filled with a metal, such as copper. In the damascene process, the wafer, with vias and trenches etched in the dielectric material, is first provided with a metallic seed layer, which is used to conduct electrical current during a subsequent metal electroplating step. If a metal such as copper is used, the seed layer is disposed over a barrier layer material, such as Ti, TiN, etc. The seed layer is a very thin layer of metal, which can be applied using one or more processes. For example, the seed layer of metal can be laid down using physical vapor deposition or chemical vapor deposition processes to produce a layer with the thickness on the order of 1,000 Angstroms. The seed layer can advantageously be formed of copper, gold, nickel, palladium, or other metals. The seed layer is formed over a surface, which may contain vias, trenches, or other recessed device features.
A metal layer is then electroplated onto the seed layer in the form of a continuous layer. The continuous layer is plated to form an overlying layer, with the goal of providing a metal layer that fills the trenches and vias and extends a certain amount above these features. Such a continuous layer will typically have a thickness on the order of 5,000 to 15,000 Angstroms (0.5–1.5 microns).
After the continuous layer has been electroplated onto the semiconductor wafer, excess metal material present outside of the vias, trenches, or other recesses is removed. The metal is removed to provide a resulting pattern of metal layer in the semiconductor integrated circuit being formed. The excess plated material can be removed, for example, using chemical mechanical planarization. Chemical mechanical planarization is a processing step, which uses the combined action of chemical removal agents, or a chemical removal agents with an abrasive, which grinds and polishes the exposed metal surface to remove undesired parts of the metal layer applied in the electroplating step.
Disadvantages associated with electroplating are technical problems in connection with designing of reactors used in the electroplating of semiconductor wafers. Utilization of a limited number of discrete electrical contacts (e.g., 8 contacts) with the seed layer about the perimeter of the wafer ordinarily produces higher current densities near the contact points than at other portions of the wafer. This non-uniform distribution of current across the wafer, in turn, causes non-uniform deposition of the plated metallic material. Current thieving, affected by the provision of electrically conductive elements other than those, which contact the seed layer, can be employed near the wafer contacts to minimize such non-uniformity. But such thieving techniques add to the complexity of electroplating equipment, and increase maintenance requirements.
The specific metal to be electroplated can also complicate the electroplating process. For example, electroplating of certain metals typically requires use of a seed layer having a relatively high electrical resistance. As a consequence, use of the typical plurality of electrical wafer contacts (for example, eight discrete contacts) may not provide adequate uniformity of the plated metal layer on the wafer. Reduction in sizes of such features as vias and trenches also requires thinner layers having higher resistivity, which in turn may generate a high potential drop from the wafer edges to the central part, whereby the rate of deposition in the central area is significantly reduced.
Beyond the problems discussed above, there are also other problems associated with electroplating reactors. As device sizes decrease, the need for tighter control over the processing environment increases. This includes control over the contaminants that affect the electroplating process. The moving components of the reactor, which tend to generate such contaminants, should therefore be subject to strict isolation requirements.
Still further, existing electroplating reactors are often difficult to maintain and/or reconfigure for different electroplating processes. Such difficulties must be overcome if an electroplating reactor design is to be accepted for large-scale manufacturing.
One drawback associated with copper deposition by electroplating is the fact that for very small features on microelectronic workpieces (sub 0.1 micron features), copper deposition by electroplating can lack conformity with the side walls of high aspect ratio vias and trenches, and can produce voids in the formed interconnects and plugs (vias). This is often due to the non-conformity of the copper seed layer deposited by PVD or CVD. As a result, the seed layer may not be thick enough to carry the current to the bottom of high aspect ratio features.
An alternate process for depositing copper onto a microelectronic workpiece is known as "electroless" plating which is the deposition of metals on a catalytic surface from a solution without an external source of current. For example, this process can be used as a preliminary step in preparing plastic articles for conventional electroplating. After cleaning and etching, the plastic surface is immersed in solutions that react to precipitate a catalytic metal in situ, palladium, for example. First the plastic is placed in an acidic stannous chloride solution, then into a solution of palladium chloride; palladium is reduced to its catalytic metallic state by the tin. Another way of producing a catalytic surface is to immerse the plastic article in a colloidal solution of palladium followed by immersion in an accelerator solution. The plastic article thus treated can now be plated with nickel or copper by the electroless method, which forms a conductive surface, which then can be plated with other metals by a conventional electroplating method.
Along with the electroplating method, the electroless method also has found wide application in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
As compared to electroplating, the electroless plating or deposition is a selective process, which can be realized with very thin seeds or without the use of seeds at all. Since electroless process is not associated with the use of electric current, the electroless deposition results in more uniform coatings in view of the absence of discrete contacts. Electroless deposition can be realized with the use of simple and inexpensive equipment and with a high aspect ratio gap fill.
Given below are several examples of methods and apparatuses for electroless deposition, specifically for use in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,315 issued in 1996 to J. Calvert, et al. discloses an electroless metal plating-catalyst system that overcomes many of the limitations of prior systems. In one aspect of the invention, the process comprises the steps of: providing a substrate with one or more chemical groups capable of ligating to an electroless deposition catalyst, at least a portion of the chemical groups being chemically bonded to the substrate; contacting the substrate with the electroless metal plating catalyst; and contacting the substrate with an electroless metal plating solution to form a metal deposit on the substrate. The chemical groups can be, for example, covalently bonded to the substrate. In another preferred aspect, the invention provides a process for selective electroless metallization, comprising steps of selectively modifying the reactivity of a substrate to an electroless metallization catalyst; contacting the substrate with the electroless metallization catalyst; and contacting the substrate with an electroless metallization solution to form a selective electroless deposit on the substrate. The substrate reactivity can be modified by selective treatment of catalyst ligating groups or precursors thereof on the substrate, for example by isomerization, photocleavage or other transformation of the ligating or precursor groups. Such-direct modification enables selective plating in a much more direct and convenient manner than prior selective plating techniques. Specifically, the aforementioned patent provides selective electroless deposition without the use of a photoresist or an adsorption type tin-containing plating catalyst.
The method described in the above patent includes an electroless catalyst system that requires fewer and simpler processing steps in comparison to current Pd/Sn colloid catalyst adsorption based systems; use of more stable and convenient catalysts, including tin-free catalysts; and improved catalyst adhesion to a substrate allowing plating of more dense initiation and of greater uniformity and selectivity. The invention also provides selective patterning of substrate ligating groups, thereby enabling a selective metal deposit without the use of a conventional photoresist patterning sequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,524 granted to D. Woodruff, et al. in 2001 discloses a universal electroplating/electroless reactor for plating a metal onto surfaces of workpieces. An integrated tool for plating a workpiece comprises a first processing chamber for plating the workpiece using an electroless deposition process and a second processing chamber for plating the workpiece using an electroplating process. A robotic transfer mechanism is used that is programmed to transfer a workpiece to the first processing chamber for electroless deposition thereof and, in a subsequent operation, to transfer the workpiece to the second processing chamber for electroplating thereof.
It should be noted that a common problem in using bathes, which is especially true for the electroless deposition process, is that foreign particles or contaminants will be deposited on the substrate surface of the wafer when transferring the wafers from one bath to another bath. Another common problem is the exposure of the substrate surface of the wafer to air during the transfer (from bath to bath) can cause the non-wetting of deep and narrow trenches in the surface or small (contact) holes in the surface because of electrolyte evaporation. And yet another common problem is that exposure to air may cause oxidation of the catalytic surface that will result in poor catalytic activity and poor quality metal deposits. This problem becomes especially troublesome when using materials such as copper that easily oxidize in air. To produce high quality metal deposits in the submicron range, therefore, it is more desirable not to transfer the wafer between the processing chambers and to avoid exposing the wafer to air by using a single bath or processing chamber and moving the different fluids for each step in the process through the processing chamber.
The above problems are solved by the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,805 issued in 1998 to Y. Shacham-Diamand, et al. This patent discloses an electroless deposition apparatus and method of performing electroless deposition for processing a semiconductor wafer that use a closed processing chamber to subject the wafer to more than one processing fluid while retaining the wafer within the chamber. The invention is useful for manufacturing processes that include depositing, etching, cleaning, rinsing, and/or drying. The processing chamber used in the preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the above patent is an enclosed container capable of holding one or more semiconductor wafers. A distribution system introduces a first fluid into the chamber for processing the wafer and then removes the first fluid from the chamber after processing the wafer. The distribution system then introduces the next fluid into the chamber for processing the wafer and then removes the next fluid from the chamber after processing the wafer. This procedure continues until the manufacturing process finishes. The fluids used in the present invention depends on the process performed and may include fluids such as DI water, N2 for flushing, and electrolytic solutions comprising reducing agents, complexing agents, or pH adjusters.
The fluid enters the sealed processing chamber through an inlet, and exits the chamber through an outlet. As the fluid enters the processing chamber, the fluid is dispersed across the wafer in a uniform flow. A recirculation system moves the fluid through the processing chamber using a temperature control system, chemical concentration monitoring system, pump system, and a filtration system before re-circulating the fluid back through the processing chamber.
Additional embodiments include: a rotatingly mounted tubular wafer housing with a wafer mounted on either or both sides of the housing surface; an inner core mounted inside of the tubular housing when mounting a wafer on the inside surface of the housing; and a dispersal apparatus for dispersing the fluid in a uniform flow over the wafer. The processing chamber can be provided with a heater and a temperature control system.
In spite of their advantages, the known electroless processes have temperature of the working chemical solution as one of the main parameters. It is known that speed of deposition in an electroless process depends on the temperature in a degree close to exponential. For example, in the article published in "Electroless Nickel Plating, Finishing Publications Ltd., 1991, W. Riedel states (page 39 of the article) that temperature is the most important of parameters affecting the deposition rate and that for Ni—P electroless process the deposition rate increases twofold for every 10 degrees of bath temperature.
Furthermore, for the metal interconnects on the surface of the wafer one of the major requirements is low resistivity. Copper was chosen as the close second best for fulfilling this requirement. However, due to the presence of various additives in the interface between the PVD Cu seeds and ECD [electroplating copper deposition] Cu, resistivity is disproportionally increased as compared to the one in much thinner electroless-deposited Cu layer. This phenomenon was reported by S. Lopatin at AMC, 2001.
It has been also shown by Y. Lantasov, et al. in "Microelectronics Engineering", No. 50 (2000), pp. 441–447, FIG. 2, that resistivity of ELD Cu strongly depends on deposition conditions, and that at higher temperatures it is possible to obtain a material with low resistivity.
However, it is understood that electroless deposition at high temperatures leads to significant non-uniformities in the deposited layers. This occurs due to local temperature fluctuations. The higher is the temperature, the greater are such fluctuations. Stabilization of elevated temperatures in large volumes of the solution tanks is associated with the use of complicated temperature control systems and temperature maintaining systems (seals, thermal insulations, etc.). This, in turn, increases the cost of the equipment and maintenance.
For the reasons described above, manufacturers of semiconductor equipment prefer to use electroless processes carried out at room temperature. Low speeds of deposition are compensated by utilizing a multiple-station deposition equipment with simultaneous operation of a number of substrates in a number of chambers arranged in series. Such equipment requires a large production space and dictates the use of large volumes of the solutions. Furthermore, an additional space is needed for the preparation, storage, and post-use treatment of the solutions. This, in turn, creates environmental problems.
Another common drawback of existing electroless deposition apparatuses is low speed of deposition, which in general depends on the type of the deposited material and even in the best case does not exceed 100 nm/min, but normally is much lower. For example, for CoWP the speed of deposition can be within the range from 5 nm/min to 10 nm/min.
In earlier U.S. patent application Ser. No. 103,015 filed on Mar. 22, 2002, the applicants have substantially solved the problems of electroplating and electroless deposition associated with processes and apparatuses described above. More specifically, the apparatus described in the aforementioned patent application has a closable chamber that can be sealed and is capable of withstanding an increased pressure and high temperature. The chamber contains a substrate holder, that can be rotated around a vertical axis, and an edge-grip mechanism inside the substrate holder. The deposition chamber has several inlet ports for the supply of various process liquids, such as deposition solutions, Dl water for rinsing, etc., and a port for the supply of a gas under pressure. The apparatus is also provided with reservoirs and tanks for processing liquids and gases, as well as with a solution heater and a control system for controlling temperature and pressure in the chamber. The heater can be located outside the working chamber or built into the substrate holder, or both heaters can be used simultaneously. Uniform deposition is achieved by carrying out the deposition process under pressure and under temperature slightly below the boiling point of the solution. The solution can be supplied from above via a showerhead formed in the cover, or through the bottom of the chamber. Rinsing or other auxiliary solutions are supplied via a radially moveable chemical dispensing arm that can be arranged above the substrate parallel thereto.
Furthermore, the apparatus of aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 103,015 provides uniform heating of the entire working solution by means of a heater located either outside of the deposition chamber with heating of the solution on the way to the chamber, or inside the cover of the deposition chamber. The main idea is to maintain the entire volume of the working solution at a uniform temperature. In general, the temperature can be adjusted, but should remain constant and at a relatively high level (e.g., 80 to 90° C.) all the time. However, although an elevated temperature of the working solution leads to essential increase in the productivity of the deposition process, the process requires constant replacement of the working solution since high temperature causes rapid thermal decomposition of the solution. Constant replacement of the solution should be carried out with high flow rates, and this, in turn, increases the cost of the production.
The undesired effect of permanent high temperature on the working solution can be explained as follows:
The electroless deposition is a process of reduction of metal ions, e.g., cobalt, tungsten, or the like, on the catalytically-active surface by electrons released during oxidation of a reducing agent (e.g., hypophosphite anions). Oxidation of the reducing agent is catalyzed by a substrate, and, in the case of the most widely accepted model, it can be assumed that the charge from the reducing agent is transferred to metal ions through the substrate and thus produces metal atoms on the substrate surface.
A simplified combined chemical reaction for the above process can be expressed as follows:H2PO2−+H2O+Co++=COo+H++H2PO3
The reducing agent is consumed by deposition of metal on the processed part, by hydrolysis at high temperature (especially on hot spots of heating elements), by catalytic oxidation on particles generated by the deposition tool hardware, and by a reaction of reducing agent with reactive components (such as ethylene bonds, carboxyl groups, etc.) of the polymers used in tool construction.
At sufficiently high concentration of contamination particles and/or at the boiling point of the solution, the composition can be spontaneously and completely decomposed by metal reduction at the surfaces of the aforementioned particles (and defects). As soon as few metal atoms are formed, they become new nucleation sites for further continuous decomposition of the solution.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 02/34962 (hereinafter referred to as International Application) disclosed on May 2, 2002 describes an electroless apparatus, in which the problem of thermal decomposition of the working solution is partially solved by utilizing a substrate holder with a heating device. The substrate holder of this apparatus has a substrate chuck for clamping the substrate during deposition in the working chamber in a position of the treated surface facing down.
The main disadvantage of the apparatus of the aforementioned International Application is that the substrate is oriented with the treated surface facing down. It is known that in a static condition of the solution or in processes with low-velocity flows of the solution, the aforementioned orientation of the substrate leads to accumulation of gas bubbles on the treated surface. The gas bubbles, in turn, violate conditions required for uniformity of deposition. In order to solve this problem, in the apparatus of the International Application the deposition chamber has a curvilinear bottom surface for guiding the flows of the working solution in specific paths over the facing-down surface of the substrate. However, even though the flows of the working solution generate some dynamic conditions on the edge surfaces of the substrate, a certain stagnation point will always remain in the central part of the substrate. This local area may accumulate gas bubbles. Furthermore, differential of velocities of the flow on the substrate surface may lead to non-uniform temperature distribution. In other words, the apparatus of the International Application does not provide uniformity of electroless deposition.
In order to eliminate problems associated with accumulation of gas bubbles and stagnation of the solution in the central area of the chuck, one of the embodiments of the aforementioned apparatus includes a complicated kinematic system with wobbling motions of the rotating chuck. Such a complicated system makes the apparatus and products more expensive, while the process becomes difficult to control.
The above problem was solved with the use of an electroless method and apparatus disclosed in another earlier U.S. patent application Ser. No. 247,895 filed by the same applicants on Oct. 20, 2002. More specifically, the above application relates to a method and apparatus for electroless deposition of a coating material, which may be a metal, semiconductor, or dielectric, that is carried out at a relatively low temperature of the working solution compensated by an increased temperature on the substrate which is controlled by a heater built into the substrate chuck. A decrease in the temperature of the working solution prevents thermal decomposition of the solution and reduces formation of gas bubbles, normally generated at increased temperatures. Accumulation of bubbles on the surface of the substrate is further prevented due to upwardly-facing orientation of the treated surface of the substrate. The substrate holder is equipped with a substrate heater and a substrate cooler, that can be used alternatingly for quick heating or cooling of the substrate surface. In addition to the thermally-controlled substrate holder, the apparatus of the invention is provided with oscillating nozzles located in the deposition chamber above the treated surface and used for rapid and uniform wetting of the entire treated surface of the substrate at the initial stage of filling of the working chamber with the solution.
In spite of the advantages provided by the last-mentioned invention, the method of thermally-controlled electroless deposition disclosed in the above application does not takes into account the specificity of the formation of a coating film on various stages of the film-growth process and therefore does not use to full extent all the technological possibilities of the apparatus disclosed in the above application.

Method of electroless deposition of thin metal and dielectric films with temperature controlled stages of film growth


A method of adjusting clutch characteristics of a Double Clutch Transmission (DCT) vehicle may include determining whether gear shifting has been initiated, updating a T-S curve of a release-side clutch by a transmission torque that is determined using an equation of motion of an engine and a clutch, when a condition in which a difference between an engine speed and a speed of a release-side input shaft is satisfied to be above a first predetermined reference value during a first reference period of time when the gear shifting is determined to have been initiated, and when a torque handover has not been initiated, updating the T-S curve of a connection-side clutch by the transmission torque that has been determined using the equation of motion during a period of time from completion of torque handover to completion of the shifting of gears.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of adjusting clutch characteristics of a Double Clutch Transmission (DCT) vehicle, and more particularly to a method of adjusting clutch characteristics of a DCT vehicle in which characteristics of transmission torque relating to stroke of an actuator of a dry clutch used in a DCT is learned and thus adjusted.
Description of Related Art
In a dry clutch which is used in a DCT, a transmission torque which can be transmitted by a clutch is controlled by means of an actuator. Because the dry clutch is not provided with an additional sensor for measuring transmission torque of the clutch, characteristics of transmission torque relating to stroke of an actuator are previously measured and then constructed into a map, and stroke of the actuator is controlled at the time of gear shifting, thus allowing the clutch to exhibit a desired transmission torque.
A graph that represents characteristics of transmission torque against stroke of an actuator is referred to as a T-S curve. Since the T-S curve tends to frequently vary depending on temperature of the clutch and decrease in durability, characteristics of the T-S curve contained in a map have to be optimally learned and updated at all times in order to improve quality of gear shifting by accurate control of transmission torque of a clutch at the time of gear shifting.
However, because there is no sensor capable of directly measuring transmission torque of a clutch, characteristics of the T-S curve have to be learned and a map has to be correspondingly amended under the appropriate circumstance and condition of a vehicle. In a conventional technology, since the circumstance and condition under which characteristics of transmission torque of a clutch are learned are restricted to stopping of a vehicle and the like, there is difficulty in continuously obtaining characteristics of a T-S curve that varies with time.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Method of adjusting clutch characteristics of DCT vehicle


An imaging array having a CCD imaging array that includes a plurality of pixels that accumulate charge when exposed to light and a readout amplifier is disclosed. The readout amplifier includes an operational amplifier having an input and an output port and a feedback capacitor connecting the input and output ports and a variable impedance path between the input and output ports, the path having an impedance controlled by a reset signal. A reset signal generator generates the reset signal in three sequential phases in which the path between the input and output ports has three impedance values to provide a starting voltage at the amplifier input prior to the measurement of charge from each pixel that has reduced noise.

The present invention may be more easily understood in the context of low light imaging arrays such as those used in digital photography to record an image. For the purposes of this discussion, an image will be defined as a two-dimensional array of digital values that represent the amount of light received during an exposure period at each pixel on a two-dimensional surface onto which the image is projected. For the purposes of this discussion, it will be assumed that each pixel is a small rectangular area on that surface. In digital photography, the image is projected onto an imaging array in which each pixel includes a photodetector that measures the amount of light that falls on some portion of the pixel area.
The quality of the image is set by the signal to noise ratio at each pixel. The signal is proportional to the number of photons that were converted to electrons at that pixel. As the light levels in the image decrease, i.e., low light applications, the number of available photons at each pixel eventually becomes the limiting factor. If the number is too low, each pixel will have "statistical noise" that is approximately equal to the square root of the number of photons that were converted to electrons. Hence, the pixel parameters must be chosen to assure that a sufficient number of photons are converted at each pixel location.
The ratio of the portion of each pixel in which the light is converted to electrons to the total pixel area is referred to as the "fill factor". The number of photons converted at each pixel depends on the exposure time, the pixel area, the fill factor, and the probability that a photon striking the active part of the pixel actually generates an electron that is captured by the photodetector. There is an upper limit on the exposure time that is set by the scene being imaged. The exposure time must be sufficiently small to "freeze" any motion in the scene. The area of a pixel is likewise constrained by the degree of resolution required in the image, since large pixel areas lead to grainy images. The probability that a photon will be converted to an electron is a property of the material from which the array is constructed, and hence, is not easily changed. Accordingly, imaging arrays having large fill factors are preferred for low light applications.
In one class of imaging array, the detector utilizes an area of silicon to collect electrons that are generated by light that strikes the silicon. During the exposure period, the electrons accumulate in the pixel area. The charge collected in each pixel area is measured at the end of the exposure period by moving the charge to an amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter that provides a digital value for each pixel. The pixels are arranged as a plurality of columns of pixels. Each pixel in a column is part of an analog shift register. The image is readout by shifting the charge collected at each pixel through the shift register until it reaches the end of the column. The charge is then either input to an amplifier or moved to another shift register that finally deposits the charge at the amplifier. Imaging arrays of this type are often referred to as charge-coupled devices (CCDs). CCDs are characterized by large fill factors, since most of the area of each pixel is devoted to generating and storing electrons from the incident light, and hence, such devices have the potential for providing imaging arrays that can operate under low light conditions.
However, other sources of noise degrade the performance of these devices. Since the individual pixels have no amplification circuitry at the pixel, the small charge signals must be moved relatively long distances to the readout amplifiers that are shared by a large number of pixels. The amplifier may be viewed as having a capacitor that is charged by the charge collected by the pixel that is currently being processed. The capacitor must be reset to a known voltage level prior to receiving the charge in question. The charge is then transferred to the amplifier and the voltage across the capacitor is amplified and digitized. Any error in the voltage to which the capacitor is reset between charge measurements contributes to the noise in the measured values. In low light applications, the available charge is already small, and hence, this noise source can limit the performance of the imagining array.

CCD imaging array with improved charge sensing circuit


Disclosed are compounds of formulas (I)-(IX) for treating or preventing a disease or disorder responsive to antagonism of a P2Y14R receptor agonist in a mammal in need thereof, wherein R1-R8, X, Y, Z, X′, Y′, Z′, and A are as defined herein, that are useful in treating an inflammatory such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, and sterile inflammation of the kidney.

Extracellular nucleotides released by tissue and organs during stress or injury activate a class of cell-surface receptors (P2Rs) to boost the innate and adaptive immune responses (1-3). This mechanism acts as a time-dependent component of the signaling purinome, along with the anti-inflammatory adenosine receptors (ARs, also termed P1 receptors), to protect the organism in various challenged circumstances. The P2Y14 receptor (P2Y14R) responds to endogenous agonists uridine-5′-diphosphoglucose and uridine-5′-diphosphate to mediate inflammatory activity, in part by activating neutrophil motility (4-6). Structurally, the P2Y14R belongs to the 6-branch of rhodoposin-like G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Three subtypes of the P2YRs are preferentially coupled to inhibition of adenylate cyclase through guanine nucleotide inhibitory (Gi) protein: P2Y12R, P2Y13R and P2Y14R. Selective P2Y14R antagonists are sought as potential agents for treating asthma, sterile inflammation of the kidney, diabetes and neurodegeneration (7-12). However, only a few classes of antagonists are known, so there is a clear need for more diverse competitive P2Y14R antagonists. Other subtypes of the P2YR family in general, e.g. P2Y2R and P2Y6R, are also associated with proinflammatory effects, and their antagonists are desired for their anti-inflammatory activity (13, 14).
Antagonists of the P2Y14R were first reported by Black and colleagues (19), and of the two classes reported, naphthoic acids and pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidines, only the former appeared to be competitive antagonists. Thus, there is an unmet need for diverse competitive P2Y14R antagonists.

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


A yarn feed system (10) for a tufting machine comprises multiple pairs of feed rollers (11, 12) disposed one pair above the other. One of each pair of rollers (12) comprises multiple independent side-by-side axially aligned feed roller elements (13), each roller element (13) being mounted on a tufting machine in a releasable mounting (17, 18). In use the feed roller elements (13) can be released from the mounting (17, 18) if it is required to change the pattern to be produced in a tufted fabric or a thread breaks and the yarn feed system of the invention minimises the amount of rethreading necessary in these circumstances.

This invention relates to an improved yarn feed system to deliver yarn from a yarn supply to reciprocating needles of a tufting machine. In particular the yarn feed system has particular application where a number of differently coloured or different types of yarn are fed to different needles in a particular sequence across the width of the machine to produce a predetermined pattern in the tufted fabric.
Conventionally where it is required to feed different yarns in a particular sequence to particular needles across the width of a tufting machine it has been proposed to use multiple pairs of rollers situated one above the other, each pair of rollers extending the full width of the machine and being operable to deliver a selected group of yarns to selected needles of the machine. In arrangements of this type all yarns pass from yarn supplies to one side of the pairs of feed rollers and particular yarns are selected and fed around the required pair of feed rollers and to the desired needles whereby when the machine is operated the pairs of feed rollers can be driven to allow the desired pattern to be produced in the tufted fabric. All feed rollers are fixed within the machine and are not easily removable.
A problem arises with these known arrangements insofar as it can be difficult to rethread yarns which have become broken or which require changing for any other reason. This arises because the yarn feed rollers are fixed in position in the machine and therefore to change the sequence of yarns for a new pattern it is usually necessary to disconnect most or all of the yarns from the feed rollers. All of the disconnected yarns are then required to be rethreaded to allow the machine to become operational again. This task is necessarily time consuming and will result in significant machine down time.


A DRAM memory comprises a memory cell bank comprised of memory cells being activated by means of internal row and column access instructions, a command decoder generating, dependent on an external memory access instruction, at least one column access instruction within a first and at least one row access instruction within a second decoding time, and a clock signal delay circuit for delaying an external clock signal with the first decoding time for generating an internal column clock signal and for delaying the external clock signal with the second decoding time for generating an internal row clock signal. Each memory cell bank comprises an associated APC counter for delaying a column access instruction with autoprecharge. Each of the column access instructions are respectively delayed by an associated shift register being clocked by the internal column clock signal for generating the internal column access instructions. The APC counter is clocked by the internal row clock signal and delays each of the column access instructions in accordance with an associated programmable count for producing an internal autoprecharge instruction for the associated memory cell bank.

The invention relates to a DRAM memory.
DRAM semiconductor memories are integrated circuits for storing binary data. In random access semiconductor memories, the memory cells are arranged in matrix form in a memory cell bank. A semiconductor memory chip can contain a plurality of memory cell banks. A RAM (Random Access Memory) is a main memory which allows rapid storage (writing) and reading of data, writing and reading being separate operations. During reading, the stored data information is not erased. During writing, the previously stored information is overwritten. DRAM stores are volatile memories which lose their information when the operating voltage is switched off, which means that storage requires the presence of the supply voltage and a periodic data refresh operation. A memory cell bank comprises a multiplicity of memory cells arranged in matrix form. These memory cells are activated by means of internal row and column access instructions. This memory cell usually comprises integrated MOS capacitances for storing a charge. A selection transistor can be used to connect the capacitance to a bit data line which is connected to an extremely sensitive amplifier (sense amplifier). The gate of the selection transistor is actuated by the selection line.
To access a memory cell, the row or selection line is first of all selected or activated and then the data lines arranged in column form are selected using a column access operation. An external row precharge instruction or autoprecharge (APC) is used to put the memory cell into a state before it is activated. To this end, the selection line or row of the memory cell is decoupled by the sense amplifier. When a read instruction (Read) or a write instruction (Write) is received, an automatic precharge or autoprecharge is normally initiated within the DRAM chip.
To execute an automatic precharge at a predetermined adjustable interval of clock cycles after a read or write access operation to a DRAM store, an autoprecharge counter or APC counter is provided within the DRAM store, said counter counting an adjustable number of clock cycles and, when this number of clock cycles has been reached, outputting an autoprecharge instruction APC which initiates the precharge within the memory cell bank. Autoprecharge counters are programmable for a flexible counting range.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional DRAM store. The DRAM store comprises at least one memory cell bank with a multiplicity of memory cells which can be activated by means of internal row and column access instructions. For each memory cell bank within the DRAM chip, there is an associated APC counter for delaying a column access instruction with autoprecharge (APC).
The DRAM chip receives an external memory access instruction via an external instruction bus, said instruction being decoded by a command decoder provided in the DRAM chip. The command decoder produces row access instructions and column access instructions. The row access instructions comprise, in particular, an activation row access instruction (ROW-act) and a precharge row access instruction (ROW-pre). Column access instructions comprise, in particular, a write column access instruction (WR) with autoprecharge (APC) and a read column access instruction (RD) with autoprecharge (APC). In addition, there is a read column access operation (RD) and a write column access operation (WR) without autoprecharge (APC), the precharge operation being performed automatically; for the purpose of generating the column access instructions and the row access instructions the command decoder requires different decoding times. In this context, the decoding time for generating column access instructions (WR-APC, RD-APC) is shorter than the decoding times TDEC2 for generating row access instructions such as ROW-act, ROW-pre. The column access instructions WR-APC and RD-APC produced by the command decoder are respectively delayed by an associated shift register SR. These shift registers SR are programmable for the purpose of setting latencies. The shift registers SR output the internal column access instructions (WR-APCint, RD-APCint and WR, RD without APC) delayed in accordance with the programmed latency, and these instructions are supplied to the autoprecharge counter. The shift registers SR are clocked by an internal clock signal CLKint in the DRAM chip. The internal clock signal CLKint is produced from an external clock signal CLKext by delaying the external clock signal using a delay circuit with a particular time delay ΔT. The delay circuit is used to compensate for the different decoding times for the row access instructions and the write access instructions. The APC counter, which, in the case of the DRAM chip based on the prior art which is shown in FIG. 1, is likewise clocked by the internal clock signal CLKint, delays the applied internal column access instruction in accordance with an associated start value which is read from a start value memory. When a set final value has been reached, the APC counter outputs an internal autoprecharge instruction APC. An OR gate receives the internal autoprecharge instruction and logic ORs it with the precharge row access instruction which is output by the command decoder in order to actuate an internal memory bank controller which resets a row selection control signal (ROW-SELECT) for selecting a memory cell row to the memory cell bank, i.e. ROW-SELECT is set with ACT and is reset with PRE.
FIGS. 2a, 2b illustrate access to a memory cell within the memory cell bank based on the prior art. In this case, the DRAM store sends a read instruction via the external instruction bus. First of all, as FIG. 2a shows, a row is activated within the memory cell matrix by virtue of the internal memory bank controller, having received an activation row access instruction (ROW-act) from the command decoder, generating a row selection control signal (ROW-sel) following receipt of a rising signal edge of the internal clock signal, the result being a signal delay in ΔtROW. This signal delay ΔtROW is relatively uncritical, since the actual access to the memory cell does not take place until after a subsequent column access operation, as shown in FIG. 2b. When the memory cell row has been selected, as shown in FIG. 2a, the actual data access follows in a column access operation after the shift register SR has output an internal read instruction (RDint). The delay time between the rising edge of the internal clock signal and the application of the internal read instruction should be as short as possible in this case.
The conventional DRAM store shown in FIG. 1 has the drawback that the delay time ΔT for delaying the external clock signal CLK is determined by the longest decoding time in a command decoder. In order to decode the row access instructions ROW-act and ROW-pre, the command decoder requires a much longer decoding time than for decoding the column access instructions WR-APC, RD-APC. The time delay ΔT for generating the internal clock signal CLKint is therefore set in accordance with the longest decoding time, i.e. in accordance with the decoding time for decoding a row access instruction, in the case of the conventional DRAM store shown in FIG. 1. Since the DRAM chip based on the prior art, as is shown in FIG. 1, has only one common internal clock signal or one clock signal domain which, in particular, also clocks the shift registers SR for the column access instructions, the result of the delay in the clock signal CLK in accordance with the longest necessary decoding time DDECmax within the command decoder is that the column access time and hence the memory access time increase.
Although simply splitting the clock domains into two clock domains for pure row access instructions and column access instructions, as is shown in FIG. 3, results in a reduction in the column access time, this may lead to the internal autoprecharge instruction (APC) being generated one clock cycle too late. In the case of the DRAM chip shown in FIG. 3, the chip contains a clock signal delay circuit having two different delay lines, with an internal column clock signal CLKCOLUMN and an internal row clock signal CLKROW being generated. The DRAM chip shown in FIG. 3 is not a DRAM chip based on the prior art, but rather is used merely to illustrate the problem on which the invention is based. The first delay ΔT1 is used to produce the internal column clock signal and is shorter than the second delay ΔT2 for generating the internal row clock signal. The first delay ΔT1 is set in accordance with the first decoding time TDEC1 in the command decoder for the purpose of producing the column access instruction. The second delay time ΔT for generating the internal row clock signal is set in accordance with the second decoding time TDEC2 in the command decoder for the purpose of generating a row access instruction. Although splitting the clock domains into two clock domains reduces the column access time, it results in a signal transition between two clock signal domains, namely at the location between the outputs of the shift register SR and the inputs of the autoprecharge counter. The internal column access instruction which is respectively output by the shift registers SR initiates the APC counter, but this is clocked by the column clock signal CLKint-ROW, i.e. in the other clock signal domain. This can result in the APC counter counting one clock cycle too many, which means that the internal precharge instruction APC is output one clock cycle too late. In this case, the ROW precharge time TRP, i.e. the period between precharge and activate, prescribed by the specification is infringed.


A video clamping apparatus is described which uses transistors manufactured in a CMOS process to clamp an input video signal to a reference level during a SYNC period. A closed-loop system is provided which includes a buffer amplifier, a sample-and-hold device, a summer, a low-pass filter and a clamping circuit. The summer compares the output of the sample-and-hold device to a reference voltage which causes an output of an analog-to-digital converter to be the digital word zero.. In order to maintain a high enough bandwidth of the closed loop system, a first current source is operatively coupled to the transistors of the clamping circuit during the SYNC period. When the SYNC period has ended, the first current source is decoupled from the transistors of the clamping circuit. The transconductance of the loop is, therefore, high when needed during the SYNC period. A second current source, smaller than the first current source, is coupled to the clamping circuit when SYNC period is not present so as to control droop during the horizontal scan.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video signal clamping method and apparatus to clamp a composite video signal at a reference level. The invention is specifically directed to a video clamp circuit using MOSFETs.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Video signals are processed in many different applications including televisions, video capture equipment, VCRs and camcorders. Over the years, the features and complexity of these machines have increased while, in some cases, their physical size has decreased. As a result, it has become necessary to provide video signal processing circuitry in smaller packages requiring less power consumption.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional video signal acquisition system 100 includes an input line 114 connected to one node of a capacitor 116. A second node of capacitor 116 is connected to an input element of a buffer amplifier 118. An output of the buffer amplifier 118 is connected to an input of a sample-and-hold amplifier 110. An output of the sample-and-hold amplifier 110 is operatively coupled to an input of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 112. An output of the ADC 112 is operatively coupled to digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry. Further, a clamping circuit 120 is operatively coupled to a reference signal V.sub.REF and also operatively coupled to the input to the buffer amplifier 118.
In operation, a video signal is provided at line 114 and then AC-coupled through the capacitor 116, of capacitance C.sub.in. The video signal is filtered by the capacitor 116 to remove the DC level from the video signal. The filtered video signal is provided as an input to the buffer amplifier 118 which conventionally amplifies the signal and provides a buffered filtered video signal as an output. The buffered video signal output of the amplifier 118 is provided to the sample-and-hold device 110. The sample-and-hold device 110 samples (and "holds") the output of the amplifier 118 and provides a sampled signal to the ADC 112. The ADC digitizes the sampled signal. The digital output word of the ADC 112 then is provided to the DSP circuitry.
By AC-coupling the video input signal to the circuitry, a user is provided with a flexible choice of input DC-level. Prior to the sampled video signal being digitized by the ADC 112, however, DC clamping should be performed to establish a signal reference level. In other words, a DC reference is provided for the filtered video signal so that the ADC 112 outputs a digital word representing zero when the level of the filtered video signal is at its lowest point; thus, maximum headroom and consistent signal processing are provided.
As shown in FIG. 2, a composite video signal 200 has a built-in synchronization interval, represented as a SYNC pulse, which interval is used (by convention) to determine a reference level. The SYNC pulse is repeated for each scan line of an image. DC clamping is provided to adjust the DC value of the bottom level of the SYNC pulse such that the output of the ADC 112 then is equal to the zero level output code. As an example, using the NTSC standard, one horizontal scan is shown as being approximately 63.5 .mu.sec in duration with the SYNC pulse having a duration of approximately 5 .mu.sec. DC clamping must occur during the SYNC pulse duration so that subsequent parts of the video signal can be accurately retrieved. As shown in FIG. 1, a clamp circuit 120 is provided to clamp the video signal at one end of the ADC range, "signal zero," thereby making maximum use of the limited headroom when low voltage power supplies are used. In an acquisition mode, the analog front-end must recover the SYNC pulse from the signal in order to activate the clamp circuit.
One conventional approach to providing a DC-clamp circuit is shown in FIG. 3A. In the open-loop circuit shown, the capacitor 116 is connected between the input line 114 and node 304 at an input of the buffer amplifier 118. A resistor 302 is connected between the node 304 and a reference voltage V.sub.REF. The reference voltage V.sub.REF is the voltage that, when applied to the ADC 112 through the buffer amplifier 118 and the sample-and-hold device 110, results in the zero level output code from the ADC 112.
As above, the capacitor 116 filters the video signal and provides a filtered video signal to the buffer amplifier 118. Since the DC component of the video signal has been removed, the resistor 302 operatively couples the filtered signal at node 304 to the reference level V.sub.REF. This circuit, however, is not optimum for a video application which requires an accurate setting of the reference level. In operation, the voltage level at node 304 is not sufficiently "pulled down" to the reference level V.sub.REF.
Rather, the average of the voltage level at node 304 is equal to V.sub.REF. As a result, when the bottom of the SYNC pulse is received as an input, zero level output code from the ADC 112 does not result.
An alternative conventional approach is shown in FIG. 3B. In the circuit shown, also an open-loop circuit, the capacitor 116 is connected in the same manner as that of FIG. 3A. Instead of resistor 302, however, a diode 306 is provided with its cathode connected to node 304 and its anode connected to the reference voltage V.sub.REF. During operation, when the SYNC pulse pulls the voltage at node 304 low, the diode 306 will turn on and will maintain the voltage level at node 304 equal to V.sub.REF -V.sub.BE (V.sub.BE being the p-n junction voltage drop across the diode which is turned on). Where A is the gain of amplifier 118, the reference level V.sub.REF would be set so that A*(V.sub.REF -V.sub.BE) is equal to the zero reference level of the ADC 112. At the end of the SYNC pulse, the positive-going edge thereof will turn the diode off and node 304 will float in response to the filtered input video signal. It is important, however, to ensure that the voltage at node 304 is less than the reference voltage V.sub.REF prior to clamping. Otherwise, proper clamping will not occur.
There are disadvantages to using the diode clamp as shown in FIG. 3B. It is known that a leakage current associated with the diode 306 will cause the DC level to droop during the horizontal scan of the video signal. In video applications, a certain, but small, amount of droop due to leakage current can be tolerated. The purpose of leakage current is to make sure that even if the voltage at node 304 is higher than V.sub.REF, the leakage current will make sure that the voltage will eventually be less than V.sub.REF. The problem is that the leakage current in the diode 306 can vary significantly from diode to diode due to processing discrepancies and such variations, which cannot be known or predicted, can affect the DC level. Further, the tolerance of the gain A of the amplifier, in combination with the leakage current of the diode 306, can also affect the accuracy of the ADC 112.
A low power DC clamping circuit which can detect a SYNC pulse from a standard composite video signal and clamp the incoming signal to a reference level during the SYNC pulse while consuming relatively little power is desired.

Video signal clamping method and apparatus with negative peak detection