When an organic EL display apparatus enables display of a standard luminance mode and a high luminance mode, it takes long time to reset the gate potential of the OLED drive TFT to a given value in a standard mode. In the reset operation of the gate potential of an OLED drive TFT at the time of writing an image signal, in a standard mode, a precharge current is allowed to flow in the OLED element for a short period before the reset operation to set an initial value of the gate potential of the OLED drive TFT to be close to a supply potential or a reference potential. With the above operation, the variation of the OLED drive TFT gate potential after resetting is reduced. As a result, the light emitting period during one frame can be extended. Also, since a blanking period can be extended, it is possible to measure the characteristic of the OLED element by using the blanking period.

Up to now, the main display apparatus has been CRT. Instead of the CRT, a liquid crystal display apparatus or a plasma display apparatus which are flat display apparatuses are put into practical use, and increasingly demanded. Also, in addition to those display apparatuses, a display apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "organic EL display apparatus (OLED)") using organic electro luminescence and a display apparatus (FED display apparatus) in which electron sources using field emission are arranged in a matrix, and illuminate phosphors that are arranged on anodes to form an image are increasingly developed and put in practical use.
The organic EL display apparatus has the following features. (1) No backlight is required because the organic EL display apparatus is of the light emitting type as compared with liquid crystal. (2) There is the possibility that the power consumption can be reduced because a voltage required for light emission is 10 V or lower. (3) The organic EL display apparatus is suitable for lightweight and thinning because no vacuum structure is required as compared with the plasma display apparatus and the FED display apparatus. (4) The organic EL display apparatus is excellent in the moving picture characteristic because a response time is several microseconds which is short. (5) A viewing angle is 170 degrees or more which is wide.
Because the organic EL display apparatus can be lightened in weight and thinned, the device can be widely used also as a portable display apparatus. In order to keep the viewability of a screen even outdoors where outside light is strong, it is necessary to display the screen with high luminance. On the other hand, a normal display mode can be applied in use indoors. From the viewpoint of the power consumption, it is desirable that the display mode can be changed over.
FIG. 11 shows a relationship between the voltage and the luminance of an OLED element 1. The emission luminance of the OLED element 1 increases more as an applied voltage is higher. When a supply voltage increases, a current that flows in the OLED element 1 increases, and the recombination of electrons with holes is increased to enhance the emission intensity. Accordingly, a display apparatus having plural maximum luminance, that is, a display apparatus that can change over the display mode is generally realized by changing the supply voltage.
On the other hand, the organic EL display device using a thin film transistor (TFT) is excellent in image quality such as contrast. However, when gradation display is conducted, the display characteristic is varied with being affected by the characteristic variation of the respective TFTs. As an example of the conventional art that copes with the above drawback, there is a technique shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, which is called "first conventional example" in the present specification.
FIG. 12 shows a driver circuit for a pixel portion in the first conventional example. In FIG. 12, an OLED element 1, a lighting TFT switch 2, and an OLED driving TFT 3 are connected in series between a power supply line 51 and a reference potential. In this example, the reference potential is a potential that is a reference of the display apparatus, which is a broad concept including an earth potential. In FIG. 12, the lighting TFT switch 2 is a switch for determining whether a current is made to flow in the OLED element 1, or not. The OLED driving TFT 3 controls the current that flows in the OLED element 1, and determines the gradation of the emission of the OLED element 1. The image data is written in a retention volume 4 from a signal line 54.
When a threshold voltage Vth of the OLED drive TFT 3 is varied, it is impossible to precisely conduct the gradation display. A reset TFT switch 5 in FIG. 12 is used in the reset operation for preventing the electric charges of the retention volume 4 which reflect a data signal from being affected by the threshold voltage Vth. The gradation display that precisely reflects the image data can be conducted by the reset operation.
FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram showing the entire display apparatus using the pixels shown in FIG. 12. The screen is formed by a large number of pixels, but FIG. 13 indicates only four pixels. Scanning signals and the data signals are inputted to the respective pixels by means of a timing controller 110.
A gate driver circuit 200 is located in a lateral direction of the screen. Reset lines 52 and scanning output lines 151 extend from the gate driver circuit 200. Each of the reset lines 52 is connected to the gate of a reset TFT switch 5, and each of the scanning output lines 151 is inputted to a lighting switch OR gate 150. A lighting control line 105 is inputted to the lighting switch OR gates 150. A signal is outputted to the gates of the lighting TFT switches 2 from the lighting switch OR gate 150 according to any one of the signals from the scanning output lines 151 or the signals from the lighting control lines 105.
A signal driver circuit 100 is located above the screen. The image signal is supplied to the signal driver circuit 100 from the external through a signal input line 1001. The signal lines 54 extend toward the screen from the signal driver circuit 100. Not only the image data signal but also a chopping wave from a chopping wave generator circuit 111 are inputted to the signal lines 54. The chopping wave is to determine the emission start times of the respective OLED elements 1 on the basis of the data signal.
FIG. 14 shows a timing chart for driving the driver circuit of FIG. 12. The driver circuit divides one frame into a write operation period, an emission period, and a blanking period as shown in the upper portion of FIG. 1. The gradation signal is written in each of the pixels in the write operation period. The write operation position in FIG. 14 shows an appearance in which the data is written in the order of the scanning lines. The lower portion of FIG. 14 shows a write timing of one pixel. In FIG. 14, the reset TFT switch 5 first turns on to short-circuit the gate and source of the OLED drive TFT 3. Thereafter, the lighting TFT switch 2 turns on to allow a current to flow in the OLED. In this state, the inverter can be formed by the OLED element 1 and the OLED drive TFT 3. The gate and source of the OLED drive TFT 3 are short-circuited by the reset TFT switch 5. With the above configuration, the gate potential of the OLED drive TFT 3 is set to a point where the source and gate of the OLED drive TFT 3 become identical in the potential with each other on a characteristic curve that determines the relationship of the gate and source of the OLED drive TFT 3. In this case, the gate potential of the OLED drive TFT 3 is uniquely determined according to the threshold voltage Vth of the OLED drive TFT 3. Hereinafter, the gate potential is called "given potential". Since the signal voltage is written in the gate potential, it is possible to remove an influence of the variation of Vth on the OLED drive TFT 3. Thereafter, the reset TFT switch 5 and then the lighting TFT switch 2 are turned off. As a result, electric charges that correctly reflect the signal voltage are stored in the retention volume 4 to enable correct gradation electric charges.
After the write operation has been conducted on all of the scanning lines, the period is shifted to the emission period. The chopping wave is inputted to the retention volume 4 during the write period. As a result, the OLED element 1 emits a light according to the potential that is retained in the gate of the OLED drive TFT 3 with a time difference to conduct the gradation display.
Another example that copes with the variation of Vth of the OLED drive TFT 3 is shown in FIGS. 15 to 17. This example is called "second conventional example". FIG. 15 is a driver circuit of one pixel. In FIG. 15, the OLED drive TFT 3, the lighting TFT switch 2, and the OLED element 1 are connected in series from the power supply line 51. The lighting TFT switch 2 controls whether the light emission of the OLED element 1 is enabled, or not. The OLED drive TFT 3 conducts the gradation display by a voltage that is determined by the electric charges that have been stored in a first retention volume 41 and a second retention volume 42. Similarly, in this case, in order to suppress the emission characteristic of the OLED element 1 from being varied by the variation of Vth of the OLED drive TFT 3, the reset TFT switch 5 is used.
FIG. 16 is a circuit diagram showing the entire display apparatus using the pixels shown in FIG. 15. The screen is formed of a large number of pixels. However, FIG. 16 indicates only four pixels. The scanning signals and the data signals are inputted to the respective pixels by the timing controller 110.
The gate driver circuit 200 is located in the lateral direction of the screen. A select switch line 55, a lighting switch line 53, and a reset line 52 extend from the gate driver circuit 200. The select switch line 55 is connected to the gate of the select switch 6, the lighting switch line 53 is connected to the gate of the lighting TFT switch 2, and the reset line 52 is connected to the gate of the reset TFT switch 5.
The signal driver circuit 100 is located above the screen. The image signal is supplied to the signal driver circuit 100 from the external through the signal input line 1001. The signal line 54 extends from the signal driver circuit 100 toward the screen. The input/output of the signal from the signal line 54 to the pixel is controlled according to the signal line select switch control line 104.
The operation of the driver circuit shown in FIG. 15 will be described with reference to FIG. 17. Since the TFT used in FIG. 17 is of the p-type, the TFT turns on when receiving a negative signal. In the second example, when the gradation voltage is written in each of the pixels, the gradation voltage is maintained for one frame period, and the OLED element 1 emits a light. In FIG. 17, the lighting TFT switch 2 is in an on-state. In this state, the select switch 6 turns on. As a result, it is possible to input data from the signal line 54 to the pixels. Subsequently, when the reset TFT switch 5 turns on, the drain voltage of the OLED drive TFT 3 shown in FIG. 16 and the gate voltage of the OLED drive TFT 3 are forcedly short-circuited. Subsequently, when the lighting TFT switch 2 turns off, the gate potential of the OLED drive TFT 3 converges on a value lower than the supply voltage by Vth of the OLED drive TFT 3. Thereafter, when the reset TFT switch 5 turns off, and the signal voltage is written from the signal line 54, the electric charges that reflect the signal voltage are stored in the second retention volume 42 and the first retention volume 41 regardless of the variation of Vth of the OLED drive TFT 3, to thereby enable the gradation display.
The above techniques are disclosed in JP-A 2003-5709, JP-A 2003-122301, and "Digest of Technical Papers, SID98, pp. 11-14".


In the method for controlling reeling in a reel-up of a paper web, a paper web (W) is guided via a rotating reeling cylinder (1) around a reel spoil (2) into a reel (R) in such a way that the paper web (W) is passed onto the reel via a nip (N) between the reeling cylinder (1) and the reel (R). The paper web (W) running onto the reel is subjected to a load by means of actuators of the reel-up, which load affects the structure of the reel and is controlled by means of measured variables determined during the reeling process. A reel density is used as the measured variable, the reel density being determined during the reeling process continuously or at intervals, wherein it is possible to implement a closed control loop.

The invention relates to a method for controlling reeling in the reel-up of a web. The invention also relates to an apparatus for controlling reeling in the reel-up of a web.
The reel-ups of web-like materials are used for reeling a material passed as a continuous web into a tight reel, so that it can be transferred to further processing. For example in reel-ups of a paper web, a continuous paper web passed from a paper machine, coating machine or a corresponding paper processing apparatus is wound around a reel spool to form a reel. The web is brought onto the reel via a reeling cylinder which is arranged rotatable and against which the reel is pressed by means of a loading device provided in connection with the reel spool. Thus, the web enters the reel so that it is pressed in between the preceding layers of the reel and the mantle surface of the reeling cylinder. At this point, where the web enters in contact with the preceding layers of the reel, the web is subjected to a particular nip load, linear pressure, produced by the aforementioned loading device. In current reel-up types, the reel spool is also centre-driven, and by means of the torque of the reel spool it is also possible to affect the peripherical force of the web to be reeled.
The reeling nip between the reeling cylinder and the reel is primarily used to prevent air from entering the reel. By controlling the load applied to the web, it is, however, also possible to control the tightness of the roll that is building, and furthermore, the aim is to change the load during the reeling so that at different points of the radius of the reel, the tightness of the reel would correspond to the quality requirements set in accordance with the paper grade and after-treatment of the reel. The properties correlating with the tightness of the reel include reel hardness and reel density.
Methods for affecting the web in order to attain a suitable hardness or density distribution in the direction of the radius of the reel, are described for example in the Finnish patent 71107 in which the reel spool rests on supporting rails and is loaded towards the reeling cylinder, and this loading force is adjusted in such a way that the loading force is reduced e.g. in accordance with a predetermined loading program as the radius of the reel grows. When adjusting the loading force, one has to take into account the geometry of the loading mechanism, which requires a separate sensor application therein so that it is possible to make the necessary corrections when reducing the loading force. Moreover, other disturbing factors of the loading mechanism and the loading device which affect the actual load of the web, are disregarded.
Furthermore, the Finnish public patent application 884651 discloses a method in which the mass of the web reeled around the reel spool is continuously calculated so that it would be possible to take into account the effect of the weight of the reel when the reel is placed against the reeling cylinder before moving onto,the supporting rails where most of the reel is formed.
The purpose of the invention is to present a method of a new kind for controlling the reeling process during the entire process of reel formation. The purpose of the method is to eliminate the disturbance factors due to the mechanics, as well as other external disturbances, and to enable the reeling in such a way that each paper grade is provided with the correct density in different parts of the reel.
The control of the reeling process utilizes the reel density as a measured variable determining the load to be applied to the web. The reel density of the formed reel can be determined by measurements and calculations conducted with suitable sensors, either continuously or at sufficient frequent intervals.
Because the measured variable used is the reel density, i.e. the variable which is the final objective of the reeling process, it is possible to determine for each paper grade e.g. an optimal density curve, or, with respect to different purposes, optimal density curves as a function of the size (diameter or radius) of the reel. During the reeling process, this curve can be achieved as accurately as possible by taking the reel density corresponding to each momentary size of the reel as a set value and by changing the load applied to the web in such a way that this set value is attained.
Furthermore, the purpose of the invention is to present an apparatus for controlling the reeling process, by means of which the apparatus the aforementioned objectives to produce a reel with the desired density distribution are achieved. The apparatus constitutes a closed loop which comprises a calculating unit for calculating the reel density according to the measurement values issued by from a sensor, and a comparator and control unit for comparing the value with the set value and for adjusting the manipulated variables affecting the density on the basis of the information.

Method and apparatus for control of reeling


A wireless power transfer system comprises at least one power receiver (105) for receiving a power transfer from the power transmitter (101) via a wireless inductive power transfer signal. Configurers (207, 306) of the power transmitter and receiver may perform a configuration process to determine a set of power transfer parameter values which are used in a first power transfer. The power transfer parameter values and a first identity for the first power receiver (105) are stored. After a detection of an absence of the power receiver by a first controller (211), a detector (213) may detect a presence of a candidate power receiver. If the candidate power receiver is detected within a given duration and has an identity matching the first identity, an initialization processor (215) initializes a second power transfer using the set of stored parameter values. Otherwise it discards the set of stored parameter values.

Most present day systems require a dedicated electrical contact in order to be powered from an external power supply. However, this tends to be impractical and requires the user to physically insert connectors or otherwise establish a physical electrical contact. Typically, power requirements also differ significantly, and currently most devices are provided with their own dedicated power supply resulting in a typical user having a large number of different power supplies with each power supply being dedicated to a specific device. Although, the use of internal batteries may avoid the need for a wired connection to a power supply during use, this only provides a partial solution as the batteries will need recharging (or replacing). The use of batteries may also add substantially to the weight and potentially cost and size of the devices.
In order to provide a significantly improved user experience, it has been proposed to use a wireless power supply wherein power is inductively transferred from a transmitter inductor in a power transmitter device to a receiver coil in the individual devices.
Power transmission via magnetic induction is a well-known concept, mostly applied in transformers having a tight coupling between a primary transmitter inductor and a secondary receiver coil. By separating the primary transmitter inductor and the secondary receiver coil between two devices, wireless power transfer between these becomes possible based on the principle of a loosely coupled transformer.
Such an arrangement allows a wireless power transfer to the device without requiring any wires or physical electrical connections to be made. Indeed, it may simply allow a device to be placed adjacent to, or on top of, the transmitter inductor in order to be recharged or powered externally. For example, power transmitter devices may be arranged with a horizontal surface on which a device can simply be placed in order to be powered.
Furthermore, such wireless power transfer arrangements may advantageously be designed such that the power transmitter device can be used with a range of power receiver devices. In particular, a wireless power transfer approach known as the Qi Specifications has been defined and is currently being developed further. This approach allows power transmitter devices that meet the Qi Specifications to be used with power receiver devices that also meet the Qi Specifications without these having to be from the same manufacturer or having to be dedicated to each other. The Qi standard further includes some functionality for allowing the operation to be adapted to the specific power receiver device (e.g. dependent on the specific power drain).
The Qi Specification is developed by the Wireless Power Consortium and more information can e.g. be found on their website: http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/index.html, where in particular the defined Specification documents can be found.
The continued development of wireless power transfer specifications and procedures is attracting significant resource and research interest. For example, the Wireless Power Consortium is developing a specification for cordless power transfer to higher power applications, such as to support kitchen appliances. In this approach, a cordless appliance being placed on a power transmitter leads to a negotiation procedure being started to determine a power transfer contract. This contract depends on the expected power demand of the appliance and the capability of the power transmitter to deliver power. The contract includes, e.g., a specification of the amount of power that a cordless appliance is allowed to draw from the power transmitter. The negotiation may establish a minimum value for this power such that it can be ensured that sufficient power for correct operation of the appliance will be available. The appliance may e.g. need to be able to draw at least 1000 W of power to guarantee good heating of the food in a pan.
However, whereas the approach may provide very efficient and reliable operation in many scenarios, it may also in some situations be suboptimal and may have associated disadvantages. Specifically, the process of negotiation and establishing of power contract tends to be relatively complex and slow. Also, the process of establishing a safe communication link typically takes considerable time (e.g. due to NFC communication initialization). These features tend to introduce a significant delay in initializing a power transfer and tends to reduce the user experience for some applications.
Hence, an improved power transfer approach would be advantageous. In particular, an approach that allows improved operation, improved power transfer, increased flexibility, facilitated implementation, facilitated operation, improved power transfer, improved user experience and/or improved performance would be advantageous.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method of fabricating an integrated circuit, having copper metallization formed by a dual damascene process, is disclosed. A layered insulator structure is formed over a first conductor (22), within which a second conductor (40) is formed to contact the first conductor. The layered insulator structure includes a via etch stop layer (24), an interlevel dielectric layer (26), a trench etch stop layer (28), an intermetal dielectric layer (30), and a hardmask layer (32). The interlevel dielectric layer (26) and the intermetal dielectric layer (30) are preferably of the same material. A via is partially etched through the intermetal dielectric layer (30), and through an optional trench etch stop layer (28). A trench location is then defined by photoresist (38), and this trench location is transferred to the hardmask layer (32). Simultaneous etching of the trench through intermetal dielectric layer (30), stopping on the trench etch stop layer (28) if present, simultaneously with the etching of the remainder of the via through the interlevel dielectric layer (26) that stops on the via etch stop layer (24), is then performed. After clearing the via etch stop layer (24) from the via bottom, a copper conductor (40) is then formed into the trench and via, for example by electroplating and planarization by chemical mechanical polishing over a barrier layer (41).

This invention is in the field of integrated circuit manufacturing, and is more specifically directed to the formation of metal conductors in modern integrated circuits.
In the field of integrated circuit manufacturing, a fundamental goal to design and manufacture integrated circuits to be as small as possible. As is well known in this art, the manufacturing cost of an integrated circuit corresponds strongly to the wafer area occupied by each integrated circuit die or chip. This is because the chip area correlates directly to the number of possible integrated circuits per manufactured wafer, and because the theoretical yield, for a given manufacturing defect density, increases as chip area decreases. In addition, the smaller feature sizes that result in decreasing chip area also provide improved device performance and increased functionality per unit area.
An important advance that has reduced the necessary chip area for modern integrated circuits is the technology for forming multiple levels of metal conductors. Increases in the number of available metal levels has provided dramatic reduction in chip area and in device and functionality density.
Of course, the implementation of multiple metal levels presents many challenges and tradeoffs. The cross-sectional area of each metal conductor is preferably minimized, especially in the lower levels, to permit overlying levels to make vertical connections, or contacts, to lower metal levels and to the underlying active devices. These narrower-pitch metal lines require high resolution photolithography. In addition, current density increases as the cross-sectional area of the conductors decrease, which increases the vulnerability of the finished conductors to electromigration. It is also desirable to make the dielectric insulating layers between adjacent metal levels as thin as possible, to facilitate the making of contacts from upper metal levels to underlying metal levels and active devices. These factors affect the selection of materials and fabrication methods for modern integrated circuit metallization.
Copper has become a popular metallization material in modern integrated circuits, replacing aluminum metallization in many instances. Copper is significantly more conductive than aluminum, and is also less vulnerable to electromigration failure than is aluminum. Damascene processes are often used to form multiple levels of copper conductors. In general, damascene processes refer to the inlaying of copper (or another metal) into grooves or trenches that are etched into an insulator to define the conductor lines. In contrast, traditional metallization is formed by the depositing of a film of metal over insulating films on the wafer surface, followed by the patterned etching of the metal film to define the conductors.
In general, dual damascene copper metal processes refer to metallization systems in which the deposited metal fills both trenches and vias in the etched insulator layer. Vias correspond to the locations at which the copper metal will make contact to an underlying feature, and as such vias are etched completely through the insulator layer. Trenches correspond to the locations of copper conductor runs, and as such trenches only partially extend into the insulator layer. Some processes are referred to as "trench first", in which case the trenches are etched into the insulator before the vias are etched, while other processes are referred to as "via first", because the vias are defined prior to trench etch. In either case, copper metal is deposited, typically by electrochemical deposition (e.g., electroplating), over the surface of the wafer and into the trenches and vias. In some processes (i.e., single damascene processes), a conductive plug of tungsten or polysilicon is formed into the vias before copper deposition. Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) is then performed to remove excess copper from the surface of the insulator, leaving the copper conductor inlaid within the trenches and vias. An insulator layer is then deposited over the structure, to insulate the newly-formed copper conductors from conductors in the next metal level.
In conventional dual damascene processing, trenches are coincident with vias, so that the single deposition of metal both forms the conductors and contacts a conductor in a previous, or lower, level. Because the exposures of the trench and via patterns are separate and independent from one another, in either the trench-first or via-first processes, misalignment of the trench pattern relative to the via pattern can often occur. The risk and extent of this misalignment is heightened for those levels in which the vias are being formed to the process limits, in order to attain maximum device density.
FIGS. 1a and 1b illustrate a conventional dual damascene process, and the effects of misalignment between trenches and vias. This process is similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,426, assigned to Texas Instruments Incorporated and incorporated herein by this reference. In this example, lower level conductor 2 is a metal or other conductive structure disposed within insulator film 1, and overlying active structures (not shown) in the device. According to this example, an overlying copper metallization element (not shown), formed according to a dual damascene process and thus disposed in a trench in insulating film 4, is to make connection to conductor 2 through a via that is formed through insulating film 4. Etch stop layer 3 is disposed at the surface of insulating film 1 and conductor 2. Insulating film 4, for example a low dielectric constant insulator, is disposed over etch stop layer 3, and is capped by cap layer 5, which is silicon carbide, tantalum nitride or another similar material for protecting insulating film 4 from the harsh etches used to form vias and trenches there through.
As shown in FIG. 1a, via V has been etched through insulating film 4, at a location defined by photolithography in the conventional manner. This via V extends to etch stop layer 3, which is resistant to etching by the reagent used to etch insulating film 4. At the state shown in FIG. 1a, photoresist pattern 8, with the assistance of bottom anti-reflective coating layer 6, has been photolithographically patterned to define the location of trench opening T, overlying the location of via V so that the conductor to be formed in the eventual trench contacts underlying conductor 2 through via V. However, as shown in FIG. 1a, the pattern of trench opening T is misaligned relative to via V, with photoresist 8 overlapping into via V. If trench opening T through photoresist 8 were perfectly aligned to via V, trench opening T would be centered and symmetric about via V. The misalignment of via V and trench opening T through photoresist 8 is shown in plan view in FIG. 1b. In addition, whether misaligned or not, BARC filament 7 will be present at the bottom of via V, as BARC layer 6 is dispensed after via formation. BARC filament 7 protects etch stop layer 3, at the bottom of via V, during the etching of the trench into insulating film 4.
Several manufacturing problems are endemic to conventional processes of this type. As evident from FIG. 1a and as mentioned above, BARC filament 7 is disposed within via V. Because of the depth of via V, the full extent of which has been formed through insulating film 4 at this point in the process, the top surface of BARC filament 7 will be some distance below the level of BARC layer 6 over insulating film 4 and cap dielectric 5. Considering today's high resolution photolithography processes and equipment, and the very short wavelengths used in this photo-exposure, it is believed, in connection with this invention, that the photolithography of trench opening T is made quite difficult by this differential height of BARC filament 7 relative to BARC layer 6. Because BARC layer 6 is spun-on, it thins at the edges of via V, resulting in non-optimal thickness and thus degraded anti-reflective properties at the edges of via V. This in turn reduces the fidelity of the photoresist pattern at trench location T. In addition, the depth of vias V exacerbates the natural thinning of photoresist 8 at locations where the via density is high; if photoresist 8 thins too much, it may not survive the trench etch process. For these reasons, it is contemplated that the proper exposure of photoresist 8 at the location of trench opening will be compromised in this conventional process, especially in the manufacture of modern high performance integrated circuits with small feature sizes and high via densities. As such, many modern via-first damascene processes, similar to that shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b, avoid the use of BARC layer 6 to avoid this very problem. This comes at a cost of suboptimal photolithographic results relative to that which can be achieved through the use of a BARC layer, resulting from reflection fringes, standing wave effects, and the like caused by reflection of the exposing light from the surface of cap layer 5 and etch stop layer 3.
By way of further background, other conventional dual damascene trench-via processes use an intermediate etch stop layer to define the depth of the trench in a trench-via dual damascene process. An example of such a process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,384. It has been observed, in connection with this invention, that misalignment of the trench pattern relative to the underlying via pattern in these conventional processes not only causes difficulty with the photolithography of the trench pattern, but also reduces the width of the via itself. Reduction in via width can result in poor conductivity between metal levels, and in extreme cases can result in voids or opens in the metal deposited into the via.
FIGS. 2a through 2d illustrate this reduction in via width, due to such misalignment in a conventional dual damascene process. Structure 10 may be an underlying conductor, such as a lower level copper conductor disposed in a trench. In this example, masking layer 11 (e.g., a silicon nitride) is disposed over structure 10, and insulating layer 12 is disposed over masking layer 11. Masking layer 13 is disposed over insulating layer 12, and has been photolithographically patterned and etched to have via opening V thereat; via opening V defines the location of a via through insulating layer 12, as will become apparent from the following description.
Following the opening of via opening V in masking layer 13, insulating layer 14 is then disposed overall. In similar fashion as before, masking layer 15 is disposed over insulating layer 14, and trench opening T is etched through masking layer 15 at trench location T, which is defined by photolithographically patterned photoresist 16. In this example, however, the patterning of trench opening in photoresist 16 (and thus in mask layer 15) is misaligned relative to via opening V, as shown in FIG. 2a. The misalignment of this example is sufficiently severe that trench opening T does not entirely overlie via opening V in masking layer 13. This is not an uncommon situation, especially as the dimensions of via opening V and trench opening T are pushed to their process limits for this level.
FIG. 2b illustrates the structure following the removal of photoresist 15, after trench opening T is formed in masking layer 15. The structure is then subjected to an etch, removing the exposed portions of insulating layer 14 and insulating layer 12. For minimum size features, this etch is preferably an anisotropic etch that is selective to insulating layers 14, 12 relative to masking layers 15, 13, and to masking layer 11 (serving as an etch stop at the bottom of the via); in this way, trench opening T in masking layer 15 and via opening V in masking layer 13 define the locations at which insulating layers 14, 12, respectively are etched. The resulting structure after this etch is shown in FIG. 2c, which illustrates the good masking performance of the remaining portions of masking layers 13, 15. Masking layer 15, and the exposed portions of masking layer 13 and of masking layer 11 (at the bottom of the via), are then removed by an etch that selectively etches masking layers 13, 15 relative to insulating layers 12, 14, and conductor 10. The completed structure is shown in FIG. 2d.
As evident from FIG. 2d, the misalignment of trench opening T relative to via opening V causes a narrowing of the via through insulating layer 12. The resulting via through insulating layer 12 in FIG. 2d is evidently narrowed from the patterned via opening V, as evident by the setback of patterned masking layer 13 from this via (along the left edge of the via, in the view of FIG. 2d). This narrowing of the via, resulting from misalignment of the trench and via openings in this conventional process, can result in poor step coverage of the metal to be plated or otherwise deposited into the via, voids in this metal, and poor or open contacts to underlying structure 10.

Via formation for damascene metal conductors in an integrated circuit


Pre-processing is applied to a raw VideoSAR (or similar near-video rate) product to transform the image frame sequence into a product that resembles more closely the type of product for which conventional video codecs are designed, while sufficiently maintaining utility and visual quality of the product delivered by the codec.

The documents listed below are incorporated herein by reference.    [1] Eichel, P., Ives, R. W., "Compression of Complex-Valued SAR Images" IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 8. NO. October 1999    [2] Eichel, P. H., LCDR Ives, R. W., "Very low rate compression of speckled SAR imagery", Sandia Report, SAND97-2383/1, Internal Distribution Only, October 1997.    [3] Wang, Z., Bovik, A. C., Sheikh, H. R., Simoncelli E. P. "Image Quality Assessment: From Error Visibility to Structural Similarity, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 13, NO. 4, April 2004    [4] Ives, R. W., Eichel, P., Magotra, N., "A New SAR Image Compression Quality Metric", IEEE Trans., pp. 1143-1146, May 1999    [5] Salomon, D., "Data Compression: The Complete Reference", Fourth Edition. Springer, 2007, ISBN 9781846286026    [6] Jao, J. K., "SAR Image Processing for Moving Target Focusing", Proc. 2001 IEEE Radar Conf., pp. 58-63    [7] Cumming, I. G., Wong, F. H., "Digital Processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar Data: Algorithms and Implementation", Artech House 2005, ISBN: 9781580530583    [8] Jakowatz, C. V., Wahl, D. E., Eichel, P. H., Ghiglia, D. C., Thompson, P. A., "Spotlight-Mode Synthetic Aperture Radar: A signal Processing Approach", Kluwer Academic Publishers, 4th printing, 1999, ISBN 0-7923-9677-4    [9] Rohwer, J. A., "Open-Loop Adaptive Filtering for Speckle Reduction in Synthetic Aperture Radar Images", Sandia Report, Sand2000-1421, Unlimited Release, June 2000    [10.] Doerry, A. W., "Anatomy of a SAR Impulse Response", Sandia Report SAND2007-5042, Unlimited Release, August 2007    [11] Lim, J. S., "Two-Dimensional Signal and Image Processing", Prentice Hall PTR, 1990, ISBN 0-13-935322-4    [12] Reddy, B. S., Chatterji, B. N., "An FFT-Based Technique for Translation, Rotation, and Scale-Invariant Image Registration", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 5, NO. 8, pp. 1266-1271, August 1996    [13] Unser, M., Thevenaz, P., Yaroslaysky, L., "Convolution-Based Interpolation for Fast, High-Quality Rotation of Images", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 4, NO. 10, pp. 1371-1381, October 1995.    [14] Turkowski, K., "Filters for Common Resampling Tasks", www.worldserver.com/turk/computergraphics/ResamplingFilters.pdf, Apr. 10, 1990    [15] Acton, S. T., Yu, Y. "Speckle Reducing Anisotoropic Diffusion", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 11, NO. 11, pp. 1260-1270, November 2002
U.S. Pat. No. 7,498,968 (incorporated by reference herein) describes a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system that is capable of forming high-resolution SAR images at near video rates, e.g., many times a second. The rate of image update allows users to determine when moving targets start moving, when and where they stop, the direction of motion, and how fast they are moving. Further, the radar shadows of moving targets can be used to determine the position and identity of the targets (including even slow moving targets), and display the target motion from frame to frame. SAR systems and techniques such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,498,968 are also referred to herein generally as "VideoSAR".
In airborne SAR systems, the digitized radar return (echo response) from the target scene is often referred to as a phase history. VideoSAR collects a continuous stream of phase histories without a defined aperture center. With no specified aperture center, the stream of phase histories can be processed into any arbitrary aperture. Full-size synthetic apertures with mutually overlapping phase histories, are used to form respectively corresponding images. The overlapping apertures enable the near video frame rate, and each aperture provides the basis for an independent, fine-resolution SAR image. The greater the aperture overlap, the higher the SAR image rate. The images can be displayed and analyzed in sequence, yielding a 'movie-like' appearance of the scene.
The video product produced by VideoSAR is typically either a clip or a stream that contains a relatively large amount of data. A VideoSAR clip product is a file containing a closed set of SAR images, for example, thousands of SAR images captured over a few minutes. A VideoSAR stream product may be a true real-time video constructed as a sequence of SAR images whose length is not known a priori. The number of bytes needed for a typical 2000×2000 pixel high-resolution SAR image is on the order of 3.5 megabytes for an 8-bit SAR intensity image. As an example, assuming a frame rate of 3 frames/second, the bit rate required for transmission of the data would be approximately 84 megabits/second (84 Mbps).
Communication links conventionally available for real time transmission of the data are typically bit rate-limited, and may have an effective bit rate as low as, for example, 1.5 Mbps. Data compression may be implemented to accommodate the bit rate limitations of the transmission link, but the aforementioned high data rates associated with VideoSAR products dictate correspondingly high compression ratios. Consider, for instance, the example of the aforementioned 84 Mbps VideoSAR product transmitted on the aforementioned 1.5 Mbps link. This requires a 56:1 compression ratio, without even accounting for typical communication overhead such as protocol headers, metadata, and data link intermittency. The amount of compression applied may also be quantified in terms of bits/pixel (bpp). For instance, in the aforementioned 35 megabyte VideoSAR sequence example, each pixel represents the scene intensity as an unsigned 8-bit integer (UINT8), and there are thus 8 bits/pixel (8 bpp). The aforementioned 56:1 compression ratio would correspond to compression of the bpp parameter from 8 bpp to about 0.143 bpp. (Note that, all other things being equal, the bpp parameter relates directly to the bit rate of the communication link—multiplying the bit rate of the link by a factor of n results in multiplication of the permitted bpp rate by the same factor n.) By any measure, however, high compression ratios such as mentioned above will of course degrade quality at final display. For example, critical image details are eliminated and unwanted artifacts are introduced.
Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) video codecs are appealing due to the transportability of the resulting products, the availability of compatible display client software, and the availability of other features such as multiple product streaming, vector overlays, extensible metadata and multicast delivery schemes. However, the most appealing COTS codecs are typically designed for optimal performance with cinematic and broadcast television content, and consequently are not particularly effective at providing the aforementioned large compression ratios required by VideoSAR.
There are known compression algorithms that provide effective spatial, i.e., intra-frame compression of individual SAR image frames. Compression of VideoSAR products has also been investigated. Examples of various known approaches are described in documents [1], [2] and [3] above. The known approaches typically utilize custom designed codecs that are tailored to the algorithms. Moreover, the known approaches do not addresses temporal compression, i.e., frame-to-frame (inter-frame) compression techniques which, as recognized by the present work, would be useful in conjunction with the aforementioned movie-like nature of VideoSAR products.
Referring again to the aforementioned example of a nominal minimum compression ratio of 56:1, and assuming that each frame of a VideoSAR sequence can be spatially compressed by a factor of 30:1 while maintaining sufficient image quality, the corresponding bpp value would be 0.2667. Temporal compression could help achieve the desired value of 0.143 bpp, but that requires an additional compression ratio of about 1.9:1. (The 30:1 spatial compression ratio and the 1.9:1 temporal compression ratio would multiply to provide the desired 56:1 ratio.) Available COTS codecs are capable of providing spatial and temporal compression.
It is desirable in view of the foregoing to provide for the use of COTS codecs with spatial and temporal compression capabilities to compress highly data intensive image streams, such as VideoSAR products, sufficiently to achieve adequate image quality at the receiver over relatively low capacity communication links.

Pre-processing SAR image stream to facilitate compression for transport on bandwidth-limited-link


The present invention relates to a hair treatment composition capable of imparting good finger combability, body and manageability to the hair treated therewith and dried, and to a method for producing the composition. The hair treatment composition contains a cationized hydroxypropyl cellulose (A) and at least one treating agent (B) selected from a hair-coloring dye, an oxidizing agent, an alkali agent and a keratin-reducing agent.

Recently, with the growing diversity of various hair styles, hair has become often damaged by chemical treatment with hair color, hair bleach, permanent wave agent, straight perm agent, sustainable hair set agent, hair relaxer, etc., or by daily hair care action of over-brushing or blowing, or by living environments exposed to UV rays, etc. Consequently, various ideas have been devised for hair treatment compositions to coat the surface of hair to thereby restore a silky feeling of hair.
For example, for improving finger combability, softness, manageability and the like of hair, a hair conditioner contains a cationized polymer, and an oil such as a silicone, an ester oil, a mineral oil or the like. However, when the amount of the additives is increased, then the hair treated with the conditioner would get an oily sensation after dried, and the feeling in use of the conditioner may worsen; but when the amount is decreased, then the conditioning effect would be insufficient.
Consequently, a hair treatment composition having a high conditioning effect is desired.
For example, Patent Reference 1 discloses a hair color/bleach composition excellent in miscibility of the base material and improved in the feeling in rinsing and in the hair touch after treating, which includes a first pack containing a cellulosic polymer such as hydroxypropyl cellulose or the like, an alkali agent, a cationic surfactant and a higher alcohol and having a pH of from 8 to 13, and a second pack containing an oxidizing agent and having a pH of from 2 to 5.
Patent Reference 2 discloses a method for producing a cation-modified cellulose derivative such as a cationized hydroxypropyl cellulose or the like, saying that the derivative can be used as an additive to cosmetics, shampoo, rinse, treatment, etc.
Patent Reference 3 discloses a hair spray composition containing a cationized hydroxypropyl cellulose and an alcohol solvent.


The present invention is a golf ball ejecting apparatus that comprises a sleeve and a main body featuring a solenoid system and surrounded by and attached by sealants to the sleeve. The main body comprises a solenoid-driven plunger, a guide tube, a power source, a housing for the power source, phototransistors, solenoid coil, tapered coil springs, insulating tape, a control circuit panel, a flag stick tube, a golf cup and an end plate. The end plate is positioned under the guide tube and serves as a bottom cover for the main body. The solenoid-driven plunger slides in the guide tube which is positioned under the flag stick tube. The golf cup is positioned above the flag stick tube. The insulating tape is wrapped around the solenoid coil which is wrapped around the flag stick tube. Tapered coil springs connect the power source to the solenoid coil. The control circuit panel is placed on the insulating tape and is connected to the phototransistors. The phototransistors are embedded in the housing for the power source and are actuated and are used to selectively actuate the golf ball ejecting system upon a quick removal of a shadow previously cast upon them. Upon triggering the phototransistors, an electrical circuit is established through the power source and the conductive strip, resulting in an exertion of an abrupt upward force by the solenoid coil on the solenoid-driven plunger.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a golf ball ejecting apparatus and to the method of operation of the golf ball ejecting apparatus. The golf ball ejecting apparatus comprises a sleeve and a main body that is surrounded by and attached by sealants to the sleeve. The main body, featuring a solenoid system, comprises a guide tube, a solenoid-driven plunger sliding in the guide tube, a power source, a housing for the power source, phototransistors that are embedded in the housing for the power source and that are actuated upon quick removal of a shadow previously cast upon them, a flag stick tube positioned above the guide tube, solenoid coil wrapped around the flag stick tube, insulating tape wrapped around the solenoid coil, tapered coil springs connecting the power source to the solenoid coil, a control circuit panel placed on the insulating tape and connected to the phototransistors, a golf cup positioned above the flag stick tube and an end plate positioned under the guide tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of golf ball ejecting apparatuses for retrieving balls from target golf cups have been developed within the past few decades.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,374, by Clark, Jr., issued Aug. 29, 1995, a golf driving range system is patented that includes a flag pole and a sensor which detects the presence of a golf ball. An actuator and a vacuum pump are used to move a door. Upon detecting the presence of the golf ball, the sensor actuates the door and enables the golf ball to pass through a tube in which a vacuum is applied so that the golf ball returns to the original player who hit the ball. However, there is no provision for the ejection of the golf ball from the cup.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,861, issued on Feb. 19, 1974, by Coleman a ball projecting golf cup is patented. The ball projecting golf cup comprises a hollow body that is open at its top, includes a ball supporting and ejecting member mounted in the golf cup for vertical shifting below an upper limit position and has a compression spring. There is a mechanical downward displacement of the ball supporting and ejecting member, causing a subsequent displacement of the golf ball by an upward displacement of the golf ball supporting and ejecting member. An upwardly facing suction cup is mounted below the compression spring and is engageable by a downwardly facing surface portion of the ball supporting and ejecting member when the ball supporting and ejecting member is forced downwardly. A putter handle is used to push the golf ball down so as to set the compression spring. When the compression spring is released, the golf ball is projected upward and out of the golf hole.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,665, issued on Apr. 1, 1975, by McCulloch et al., a golf cup featuring the use of flexing diaphragm and/or impacting cup to impart impacting force to a golf ball is patented. A telescoping coil and magnet system operates to trigger a control circuit which, in turn, causes the telescoping coil and magnet system to interact and impart impacting force to the golf ball. A pivoting impacting cup provides a multidirectional, pivotal movement to the golf ball.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,603, issued on Sep. 22, 1981, by Barnes, a ball-ejecting golf cup utilizing a spring-biased plunger disposed within the golf cup is patented. The ball and the spring-biased plunger are depressible by the golfer with any suitable tool, causing the ejection of the golf ball upwardly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,730, issued on May 28, 1991, by Iliuta, a golf ball cup ejecting apparatus is patented. The golf ball cup ejecting apparatus has an elongate cylindrical aligned housing that includes a solenoid organization. The solenoid organization causes displacement of the golf ball from the golf ball cup through an audibly actuated switch. Upon actuation, a plunger moves upward toward a diaphragm which then moves upward toward and hits the resting golf ball, resulting in the ejection of the golf ball from the golf ball cup. The actuation of the golf ball cup ejecting apparatus via a hand clapping noise usually requires the use of both hands simultaneously. A limitation of the patent is that the golfer usually is most probably holding his putter club in one hand while actuating the golf ball cup ejecting apparatus. Additionally, there is no provision for a flag pole in the golf ball cup.
The above-listed patents and many other similar inventions have been developed.
Inasmuch as there are inherent limitations with the current state of the art, there remains a need for a suitable golf ball ejecting apparatus without such limitations which is simple enough so as to be readily accepted by the golfing public. The invention herein described meets the criteria. The construction of a full-size prototype has completely verified its performance as described herein.

Golf ball ejecting apparatus and method of operation thereof


Challenge-response and probative methods together or independent of each other enable detection of devices participating in denial of service (DOS) and distributed DOS (DDOS) attacks upon a network resource, and upon identification of devices participating in attacks, minimize the effect of the attack and/or minimize the ability of the device to continue its attack by placing the attacking devices in a state of reduced or denied service.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to monitoring and analyzing a communications network for the purpose of detecting "hacker" attacks and computer terrorism, and to providing for defense and counterattack. More particularly, the invention relates to measuring and monitoring of network performance and throughput, including detection of abnormal conditions indicating presence of computer hacker denial of service attacks and reaction to such attacks by a variety of means of depriving required resources to the hacker.
2. Background Art
Managers of information systems for public and private enterprises are required to provide ever increasing network access to their information systems. As business requirements for connection to the Internet grow, system security concerns increase in lock step.
In implementations of information systems prior up to the mid-1960s, no remote system access was possible. Data was fed into and out of computers from consoles, card punches, and card readers all of which were direct-cable attached into the computer. No one outside of the "glass house" (i.e., computer room) had access to the system. The art of data-communications network security did not exist. Security was a local issue enforced by password protection, so that without the proper password, access to the data processing application would be denied. Password protection ensured that no changes could be made to the system or its contents by unauthorized parties.
Later in the 1960s, remote console and remote card read and punch system access became possible using permanent leased line or dial telephone facilities. A user of the system no longer needed to be physically present in the computer room in order to view or to modify information or programs stored in the system. In order to protect information systems from unwanted access and modification, either of which could damage or destroy a business or organization, new means of protection were devised.
For leased lines, security was ensured by identifying to the computer's operating system the specific communications port to which the leased line was connected. Since the communications port on the computer was telephone wired (by telco modem) directly to the phone company's switching station and thence through other switching stations to the modem and communications port of the console or card/read punch at the remote location, it was extremely difficult for someone to achieve unauthorized access to a computer through its communications port. Specifically, to breach the leased line security at the operating system level would require tapping into the phone line, mimicking the remote device, and having the valid application password.
Unlike a leased line connection which is permanently "hard wired" end to end by the telephone company, anyone with a telephone handset can dial the phone number of a computer system that accepts incoming dial calls. So security for computers in dial environments was achieved by either allowing only outgoing calls (and refusing all incoming calls) or else by accepting dial calls and then using a dial-back method. In the dial-back method, a user of a remote console or card device desiring access to the central computer would dial into the system over a public dial network number, providing the remote user's own phone number. The computer at the data center would then terminate the call, check to see if the remote caller's phone number was on the approved phone number list, and, if it were, then the data center's communications equipment would dial the remote user so that communication could occur. As with leased line connections, operating system-level security together with application program-level password security effectively prevented unauthorized access to the computer system. Overall then, in systems of the 1960s and through the 1980s, the user's i.d., the user's device, the user's network connection, and/or the user's password uniquely identified the user for purposes of authorization for system access.
While the dial-back method helped ensure system security at levels comparable to that of the hardwired leased line environment, the dial environment had a security issue peculiar to it and from which leased line systems did not suffer. Anyone who knew the central computer's dial port phone number(s) could repeatedly dial into the system, thereby tying up all of the computer's dial access ports and preventing access by legitimate users. Moreover, system resources would be occupied by the burden of repeatedly checking authorization and rejecting the unauthorized caller, thereby consuming valuable computer system resources, farther disrupting the computer services of the organization. For this reason, armed forces and police agencies kept computer dial access numbers strictly confidential, revealing them only on a "need to know" basis. Businesses learned to do this as well. For example, during the oil shortages of the 1970s, when petroleum product prices skyrocketed, oil companies became highly conscious of ensuring that their computer access dial numbers were kept in strictest confidence for fear that disgruntled parties would "jam" their computer systems with unwanted calls. So, where systems were exposed to general access through the public dial network, the art of network security consisted in part of simply keeping the dial numbers secret in order to prevent disruptive jamming attacks.
In the 1990s businesses and organizations of all types found themselves with a requirement to attach to the Internet in order to engage in commerce with or provide information to the public. The primary purpose of communications systems prior to the Internet was to enable the members of an organization to connect to their own organization's computer systems. In the Internet environment, organizations connect to the worldwide web often for the express purpose of allowing anyone from anywhere to connect to their system. The procedures for system security that predated the Internet, namely, end-to-end hardwired leased line connections, dial-back, and application password protection that had worked well for intra-organization communication needed upgrades to meet the challenges of the new, open environment. In particular, the procedures of leased line connections, dial-back mechanisms, keeping access numbers (network addresses) secret, and operating system definitions and authorization lists were designed specifically to prevent "strangers" from accessing the organization's computer systems. In the Internet environment, it is often desirable for the organization to make its systems known to worldwide web search engines precisely for the purpose of ensuring that anyone, anywhere can locate the systems, traverse the Internet, and gain access to the organization's computing systems.
With "strangers" everywhere able to access the systems of virtually every major organization across the Internet, new procedures were developed for protecting the computer-resident resources of organizations. The new procedures included use of the TCP/IP protocol and firewall technology.
TCP/IP protocol includes the addressing of network transmission packets by means of sockets. A socket consists of an IP network-level address (representing the address of the device's network adapter) plus a TCP application-level address. Each network packet contains a "from" socket and a "to" socket. These sockets represent the originating device's network address and application identifier and the target device's network address and application identifier. Sockets provide a basis for network security because they identify the location of the packet's originator as well as the service (i.e., application) being requested. At the destination site, incoming packets can be examined and it can be determined, for example, whether or not the incoming packet's source address is that of a device that belongs to the organization, and whether or not the application service being requested is a secure (private) or non-secure (public) service. A special device can be set up to "filter" incoming requests by examining their source and destination sockets and thus serve as a gatekeeper that protects an organization's internal processing systems from intruders while allowing all corners to access to the organization's public processing systems. These special devices are called "firewalls," and they examine incoming packets' source and target sockets and determine from customized tables whether the request should be forwarded or discarded. A firewall would be used by, say, an automobile manufacturer to make sure that anyone can connect to its systems through the Internet to get general information about the models it sells and currently available rebates, while also making sure that only authorized parties can access the systems that process that company's accounts payable systems. Often firewalls are set up "behind" the organization's publicly accessible systems so that they only examine packets addressed to the organization's private, restricted-access systems in order to deny service to unauthorized parties. In this design, firewall devices are thus spared the overhead of examining packets targeted for the publicly accessible systems and only examine packets targeted for the organization's private systems and applications.
However, the current art for network and system security, which uses TCP/IP socket protocol and firewall technology does not provide complete protection for an organization's systems. Just as systems with dial ports have an exposure to "jamming" by anyone with a telephone, Internet connected systems have a similar exposure to anyone with an Internet-connected computer. Exacerbating the problem is that while it is possible and desirable for an organization to keep its computer dial access numbers secret, it is usually not desirable to do so with web addresses of systems designed for public access. This leaves the systems of Internet-connected organizations open for attacks, including jamming attacks known as denial of service (DOS) attacks or distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, in which streams of traffic are directed at an organization's Internet-connected systems.
An article from the New York Times illustrates the magnitude of the problem and the current helplessness of even state of the art facilities to cope with such attacks:                The CERT Coordination Center is one of the premier places that the online world turns to for information when computer vandals attack; the federally financed research center, operated by Carnegie Mellon University, has long served as a clearing house for news on new viruses, worms, and other virtual nastiness. But yesterday and Tuesday it was CERT that was being bombarded, and the center did not hold. Its web site was knocked out by a distributed denial of service attack, in which malicious hackers take over computers on the Internet and cause them to flood a target site with demands for data and other small tasks. A denial of service does not involve a break-in at the target site; it just keeps the victim's machine so busy responding to the stream of automated requests that legitimate visitors cannot get in. CERT, which stands for Computer Emergency Response Team, thus became one of thousands of sites each week to be subjected to this form of attack. (The Web site for the White House also came under attack on Tuesday and was blocked for about six hours, Jimmy Orr, a White House spokesman, said.) At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, data flowed into the CERT network at rates "a couple of hundred times higher than any peak we've ever seen before," said Rich Pethia, director of the part of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon that runs CERT. Although computer viruses, worms, and other so-called malware can be countered with good security practices, and up-to-date defensive software, distributed denial of services attacks are hard to protect against, Mr. Pethia said: "There is no good way to defend against it or stop it once it's started. The Internet wasn't built with any built-in flow control, so there's no way to throttle back" on such attacks. He said that no one had determined where the attacks had come from and that the case was being investigated. The commandeered computers, which security experts call zombies, are often programmed to fabricate the Internet's version of a return address so that the sources of the attack are obscured. About 4,000 sites experience denial of service attacks each week, according to a new paper from researchers at the University of California at San Diego . . . New York Times May 24, 2001, section C, page 5, John Schwartz, "Computer Vandals Clog Antivandalism Web site."
As this article illustrates, the current art contains no effective means of defending public web sites from DDOS attacks.
Initially, DOS attacks came from individual machines from which individual hackers streamed data (e.g., ping echo packets) to web-attached servers in an effort to flood the network and burden the server with the overhead of handling the stream of data. Attacked parties learned how to diagnose, stop, and take network traces (a log of all network traffic) of DOS attacks by "lone wolf" hackers.
Today, hackers have the upper hand, because they have learned how to take control of or "borrow" multiple web-attached computers in different organizations ("masters"), use these master machines to infiltrate many more computers in different organizations ("zombies"), embed DOS attack code scripts (or, trojan-horses) in the zombies through the masters, and then issue commands from the masters to the zombies to run the scripts directed at the server(s) of a targeted organization.
The hackers, twice removed from the attacking zombie machines, are difficult to trace. The attacks coming from many different zombies in many different networks comprise DDOS attacks that are hard to detect and control. The scripts run by the zombies are a nasty assemblage of echo packet floods, status requests, incomplete logins, deliberate causes of connection error conditions, false reports of errors, and transmissions of packets requiring special handling. These vicious scripts, run from hundreds or thousands of zombies, are designed to flood the network, tie up system control blocks, and siphon web server computing power to the point that the attacked webserver network and system can no longer provide service to legitimate users. All the while, the zombie computers causing the damage are owned by legitimate organizations which have no idea that their systems are being used in attacks on other organizations.
The current best procedure for defending against such attacks, as documented in the CERT web site, consists of owners of web sites monitoring the network and server equipment they own for conditions of abnormally high utilization. When detected, high utilization is reported to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) through which the organization connects to the Internet. Each ISP network connects to a large number of organizations. The ISPs then search their networks in order to find areas of low utilization. The ISPs trace (i.e., record) all user traffic in that area of low utilization, and then scan the recorded traces looking for devices that are issuing sequences of commands of type and frequency that attacking zombies would issue. Zombies are easier to locate in areas of lower as opposed to higher utilization because the zombies contribute a relatively higher proportion of the records in the trace log, so their activity is more readily identified. Once a zombie is located, the ISP can trace all traffic from that zombie to the attacked system, thereby enabling those fighting the attack to better understand its nature. And although commands from the master computers to the zombies are not necessary once an attack has started, an ongoing trace of the zombie's activity can, with luck, record commands being sent from the zombie's master (the computer which has loaded attack code scripts into the zombie and activated the attack) . When a master is found, it is possible not only to regain control of the master, but also to reclaim all of the zombies under its control. With very good luck, it may also be possible to take traces from a master computer and locate the hacker controlling the master, although skilled hackers usually perform "hit and run" operations in which they start and stop attacks and erase their footprints in a matter of hours, long before the currently available problem diagnosis and identification processes can be effectively employed . A sixteen year old Canadian boy who brought down the sites of Amazon.com, Yahoo, e-Bay, and Charles Schwab, was identified months after his attacks not as a result of the extensive forensic diagnostic effort undertaken in response, but rather because the youth bragged in an online chat group (Ellen Messmer and Denise Pappalardo, Network World, Feb. 12, 2001).
The current procedure thus has deficiencies in the speed with which attacks are detected and the speed and efficacy of reaction to such attacks. In the future, the weak security functions and administration processes that allow hackers to take over innocent systems will be improved, making creation of armies of zombies by hackers a much more difficult task. In addition, filtering intelligence, which currently runs at the processor level and is therefore too slow and expensive to apply in a sophisticated manner to all traffic entering a web site, will be embedded into the microcode on the router cards that control individual network interfaces.
The distribution and lowering of cost of router function can be expected to improve early recognition of attacks and quick reaction by invocation of filtering to slow or stop DDOS attacks. And in the future environment in which distributed filtering prevents attacks involving floods of administrative requests, it can be anticipated that hackers will attempt DDOS non-administrative flooding of servers.
In response to the current DDOS environment, it is an object of the invention to provide system and method for faster, more effective detection of utilization spikes associated with DDOS attacks.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for prevention of both administrative and non-administrative message flooding DDOS attacks.

System and method for the detection of and reaction to denial of service attacks

International Business Machines Corporation


A wireless communication apparatus that communicates data with an external wireless apparatus in a wireless communication range includes a controller and a wireless communication interface device is provided. The wireless communication interface device includes a transmitting unit that transmits response request data to the external wireless apparatus, a counter that counts time for determining whether or not a time limit for waiting for the response data has elapsed, a storage unit that stores the response data, a receiving unit that receives first response data from the external wireless apparatus and that instantaneously receives second response data without an instruction from the controller when the time limit has not elapsed, a frame length checking unit that checks a frame length of the received response data, and an error detector that performs error detection on the response data.

The present invention relates to wireless communication apparatuses. More specifically the present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus incorporating near field communication (NFC) technology.
In a known non-physical-contact communication technology, a compact and lightweight terminal device, such as a mobile phone, incorporates a non-contact IC (integrated circuit) card and communicates with, for example, an IC card reader/writer. See, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-345037. In that publication, a mobile phone incorporates a non-contact IC card and the card of the mobile phone is brought into close proximity to an IC card R/W (IC card reader/writer), thus allowing the information stored in the non-contact IC card to be communicated over electromagnetic waves from the IC card reader/writer.
One short-range wireless communication technology extended to inter-device communication using a communication protocol between non-contact IC cards and IC card readers/writers, called near field communication (NFC) technology, has attracted attention. The NFC technology (an NFC antenna, an NFC circuit, a SAM (secure application module) card, etc.) incorporated in devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs (personal digital assistants), notebook PCs (personal computers), game devices, and computer peripheral devices enables any type of data to be exchanged with other NFC-incorporated devices in a short range less than, for example, 20 cm.
Due to its shorter communication range than wireless communication systems, such as Bluetooth and wireless LAN systems, the NFC system provides high security communication. The NFC technology has also attracted attention in view of a different feature from traditional communication technologies, namely, that the NFC technology enables automatic communication between NFC-incorporated devices within or near a predetermined region. The NFC technology also enables data communication at high transfer rates (e.g., up to 424 kbps), at which high-quality images can be transmitted.
A portable wireless communication terminal, such as a mobile phone or a PDA, including a wireless communication interface device incorporating NFC technology enables credit card settlement and access to network content, such as tickets and games, in a simple manner once the NFC-incorporated device is brought into close proximity. The NFC technology is also expected, by content and service providers, to provide a new mechanism for users to access various services.
A wireless communication control device (e.g., a wireless communication interface device) is typically controlled by a controller (e.g., a baseband controller) during communication between a card of a portable communication device and an IC card reader/writer. When wirelessly transmitting or receiving frames, the controller must read and write the information stored in a register of the wireless communication interface device at a high rate. If the controller cannot access the register of the wireless communication interface device at high rate, communication is not established.
A response check, such as polling, required for detecting a communicating party within a communication range is particularly time-critical because response data, such as polling responses, must be transmitted and received in a limited short period of time.
Thus, a high-performance controller is required for performing response checking and other normal processing. However, due to the demands for saving the energy to prolong the operating time and reducing the size of devices, such as mobile phones, it is difficult to incorporate a high-performance controller into the devices.

Wireless communication apparatus and response data processing method therefor


A method of manufacturing a bearing pin with an external lubrication channel and the bearing pin formed thereby are disclosed. The method includes fixing a rotational orientation of the bearing pin along a pin axis, cutting an outer surface of the bearing pin in a first straight line across a first convex portion thereof to create a first open external groove of the lubrication channel; and cutting an outer surface of the bearing pin in a second straight line across a second convex portion thereof to create a second open external groove of the lubrication channel. The grooves have a concave sectional profile and circumferential open ends disposed intermediate and not intersecting the ends of the bearing pin.

Rollers used in various applications (e.g., rockers or followers of engine valvetrains) may be mounted on a shaft or bearing pin. To reduce wear and extend the useful life of the roller, lubrication may be provided to smooth rotation of the roller. The lubrication may be communicated to the inner diameter of the roller between the shaft or pin and the roller intermittently or continuously.

Method of manufacturing a bearing pin with an external lubrication channel


A steering force assist command value in correspondence with a steering torque is represented by approximation function equations lower than the order of the higher order function equation. The steering torque is sampled at predetermined time intervals and the steering force assist command value in correspondence with the sampled steering torque is calculated by the approximation function equations where when data outputted from a calculation device comprise 16-bit data, upper 8-bit data is outputted to a motor drive circuit and lower 8-bit data is omitted, and the omitted lower 8-bit data is added in calculating operation of next sampling period. An error of the steering force assist command value by omission of the lower 8-bit data is reduced and steering feeling can be improved.

The present invention relates to a control apparatus for an electric power steering system.
An electric power steering system for vehicle detects a steering torque generated at a steering shaft by operating a steering wheel and a vehicle speed, calculates a steering assist instruction value on the basis of the detected signal and assists a steering force of the steering wheel by driving a motor in accordance with the calculated steering assist instruction value where an electronic control apparatus including a microcomputer is used for calculating the steering assist instruction value and controlling the motor on the basis of the steering assist instruction value.
In this case, in respect of the steering torque, there are a component in correspondence with road load generated by the steering and a component in correspondence with a frictional force of a steering mechanism. Therefore, there has been proposed a control apparatus for calculating the steering force assist command value by adding a control value in correspondence with the road load determined on the basis of the detected steering torque and a control value in correspondence with the frictional force of the steering mechanism.
According to the constitution, the control value for the road load in correspondence with the steering torque and the control value for the frictional force in correspondence with the steering torque are previously determined and stored in a memory and desired data is read from the memory in correspondence with the detected steering torque whereby the steering force assist command value is calculated (refer to Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. JP 5-10271).
According to the above-described control apparatus for calculating the steering force assist command value, the control value for the road load and the control value for the frictional force are predetermined in accordance with the steering torque and therefore, when the steering torque is determined, the steering force assist command value changes only in correspondence with the car speed.
Accordingly, when the steering force assist command values in correspondence with the steering torques are previously set and stored in a memory with respect to a plurality of the car speeds, the steering force assist command values can be calculated immediately from the detected steering torques and the detected car speeds.
FIG. 10 is for explaining a conventionally known method of setting the steering force assist command value in correspondence with the steering torque with respect to car speeds V1, V2 and V3 where the steering force assist command values I in correspondence with the detected values of the steering torque T1, T2, T3 and T4 are set in accordance with respective car speeds. As shown by FIG. 10, for example, when the car speed is V1, the steering force assist command value I1 is set for the steering torque T1, I2 for T2, I3 for T3 and I4 for T4, and when the constant steering force assist command values I are stepwisely set such that the steering force assist command value I1 is set in the range of the steering torque of T1 through T2, the steering force assist command value I2 in the range of the steering torque of T2 through T3, and the steering force assist command value I3 in the range of the steering torque of T3 through T4, the capacity of a memory can be reduced. However, when the steering force assist command values I are set stepwisely, the steering force assist command values I are not changed continuously in compliance with changes in the car speed and the steering torque and accordingly, the steering assist force is not changed smoothly whereby the steering feeling is deteriorated.
As a measure therefor, the steering force assist command value may be set as finely as possible in correspondence with the steering torque and the car speed, however, a necessary capacity of a memory is significantly increased by this method, resulting in an increase in cost.
Accordingly, the applicant has proposed a method where the steering force assist command values in correspondence with the steering torques are stored in a memory in respect of representative car speeds, when the detected car speed is determined to be at an intermediary of the representative car speeds stored in a memory, the steering force assist command values in correspondence with the steering torques with respect to the representative car speeds faster and slower than the detected car speed, are read from a memory means and the steering force assist command value corresponding to the detected car speed and the detected steering torque is calculated on the basis of differences thereof with respect to the detected car speed and a car speed correction coefficient (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Heisei 8-15095).
However, even with the method where the steering force assist command values in correspondence with the steering torques are stored in a memory with respect to the representative car speeds, when the steering force assist command values in correspondence with the steering torques are finely set, a necessary capacity of the memory is still increased, resulting in an increase in cost. Moreover, when the steering force assist command values are changed, stored data of the memory must be changed which requires time and labor.
As a further problematic point, when the steering force assist command values in correspondence with the steering torques are calculated, in calculating by a limited word length of, for example, 8 bits, lower digits (8 bits) of a result of calculation (constituting of 16 bits) are omitted whereby a quantization error on the basis of a digital calculation is caused. Such a quantization error is not preferable since discontinuous steering feeling is given to a driver when a slow steering operation is conducted.
That is, according to the above-described electronic control circuit for an electric power steering system, a low resolution circuit dealing with 8 bits signals is generally used, even if a result of calculation by a microcomputer is of 16 bit signals, in the case of a low resolution circuit where a PWM signal processing circuit or an A/D (analog/digital) conversion circuit deals with 8 bits signals, whether 0 is to be outputted or 1 is to be outputted cannot be determined as an output value when signals smaller than the resolution are dealt with and accordingly, the output signal is vibrated with a resolution of substantially 1 bit. This is referred to as limit cycle vibration.
Such a vibration includes a vibration component in the steering force assist command value and is felt as an unpleasant vibration in slow steering operation.

Control apparatus for electric power steering system


A method of cold forming a self-attaching female fastener (20) which includes deforming a fastener blank (120) having an annular pilot, (122) an annular flange (128) surrounding the pilot and a groove (132) in the flange having cylindrical walls and annular protrusions (152, 154) on the flange and pilot, then deforming the protrusions toward each other to form an annular re-entrant groove (32) having relatively inclined arcuate walls.

Self-attaching female fastener elements including nuts having a re-entrant groove are presently formed by rolling a continuous metal strip having the cross-section of the female fastener elements including a continuous projecting pilot portion and flange portions on opposed sides of the pilot portion as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,187,796 and 3,648,747 assigned to the assignee of the predecessor in interest of the assignee of the present application. The rolled strip is then pierced to form a cylindrical bore and the rolled strip is then severed or chopped, forming discreet female fastener elements or nuts each having a rectangular pilot portion and rectangular flange portions on opposed sides of the pilot portion. As disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. patents, grooves are rolled into either the side portions of the pilot portion or the flange portions on opposed sides of the pilot portion for attachment of the self-attaching female fastener element or nut to a panel. Self-attaching female fastener elements may be utilized to pierce an opening in the panel, commonly referred to as pierce nuts, wherein the rectangular pilot portion pierces the panel and the panel metal adjacent the pierce panel opening is then deformed into the grooves by a die member or die button. Alternatively, the self-attaching female fastener elements may be installed in a pre-pierced opening in the panel. In a typical application, the self-attaching female fastener elements are received in an installation head in an upper die shoe or platen of a die press having a reciprocating plunger and the panel is received on a die button in the lower die shoe or platen, such that a self-attaching female fastener element is installed in the panel with each stroke of the die press.
In one preferred embodiment as disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,747, re-entrant grooves are provided in the flange portions on opposed sides of the pilot portion providing improved push-off strength of the self-attaching female fastener element following installation in a panel. As used herein, the term "re-entrant groove" refers to a groove having an opening at the end face of the flange portion having a width less than the bottom wall of the groove, wherein the die button includes projecting lips which deform the panel metal adjacent the panel opening against the bottom wall of the groove, deforming the panel metal beneath the restricted opening to the groove and providing improved retention. In a preferred embodiment, the inner and outer groove walls are inclined toward each other forming a dovetail-shaped groove providing further improved retention of the female fastener element in a panel. At present, however, dovetail-shaped grooves can only be formed by rolling, as described in the above-referenced U.S. patents, which also requires that the pilot and flange portions be rectangular using present technology. However, the rectangular pilot portion may form stress risers at the corners of the rectangular opening which receives the pilot portion of the self-attaching female fastener element as described above. Further, there are many applications which require a self-attaching female fastener element which can presently be formed only by cold forming, including cold heading and progressive dies, such as self-attaching female fastener elements having an annular or cylindrical pilot portion and an annular flange surrounding the pilot portion.
The cold forming method of this invention may be utilized to form self-attaching fasteners having an annular or cylindrical projecting central pilot portion, an annular flange portion surrounding the pilot portion and a re-entrant groove in the flange portion which is one of the objects of this invention. The self-attaching fastener formed by the method of this invention may be utilized either as a pierce nut or clinch nut as described above.

Method of cold forming a self-attaching female fastener element


An actuator including a first and second conductor on a dielectric, wherein application of a voltage to the first conductor creates a plasma, thereby modifying a fluid flow in communication with the actuator. Related systems and methods are also provided.

The ability to manipulate, control, and/or modify (collectively, "modify") a fluid flow is important for increasing the performance of, or otherwise altering, a fluid system. Some previous attempts to modify fluid flows have focused on passive flow controls (i.e., where an input of external energy is not required). Some of the known passive controls include boundary layer trips, roughness elements, ejector nozzles, and surface perturbations. These passive controls often create turbulence or disruption in the fluid flow. Since these passive methods do not include any form of external energy input, they do not allow for activation and deactivation of the control. This limits the amount of flow control and does not allow a user to manipulate the flow as desired.
To increase the amount of control, other attempts to modify fluid flow have focused on active flow controls (i.e., requiring an input of external energy). These types of controls enable a user to activate and deactivate the flow control, as desired. Some examples of these controls include acoustic excitation, continuous or pulsed suction and blowing, and surface motion. Similar to the passive controls, these create a turbulence or disruption in the fluid flow. Unfortunately, these active flow controls require moving parts, such as diaphragms or pumps to effectuate the flow control. Over time, these moving parts can fail. Other types of active flow controls require a structure that projects into the fluid flow. This projection can disturb the fluid flow over a surface. For instance, in certain aerospace designs, it is undesirable to have a structure projecting into the air flow. Such structures can negatively impact the desired lifting or other properties of the aerospace structure.
Accordingly, a fluid actuator is needed that can modify a flow of fluid without the need for moving parts. The actuator would allow for activation and deactivation, as desired. The actuator would also be capable of being mounted substantially flush with a surface, such that it may modify the flow without significantly projecting into it. The actuator would also be able to operate as a synthetic jet (such as, an actuator that injects fluid with zero net mass but finite momentum) for directing flow away from the actuator, as well as a suction device for directing flow toward the actuator.

The University of Kentucky Research Foundation


A tank level detection apparatus for indirect measurement of a liquid level in a tank is disclosed. The apparatus includes a second liquid at least partially stored in a reservoir and a one-way valve, which communicates between the reservoir and the tank. A sensor is used to determine a physical characteristic of second liquid from which the level of the liquid in the tank can be determined.

This disclosure relates in general to the measurement of the level or pressure of a liquid, more specifically, to measurement of a liquid in a tank.
Many recreational vehicles have one or more tanks for storing the effluent originating in the toilet or sink. These tanks are often called blackwater or greywater tanks. This effluent can easily clog or otherwise render inoperable a level measurement apparatus or sensors in direct contact with the wastewater. Examples of typical direct wastewater measurement devices are ones that use conductance, capacitance, floats or other direct means for measuring the level of the wastewater in the tank. Despite the numerous cleaning methods and chemicals that have been developed, many of the existing wastewater level measuring methods and systems can fail within several weeks. Thus, the owner of a recreational vehicle either drains the wastewater tank or tanks too frequently or runs the risk of a tank overflow.