A television viewer can select among a choice of available camera angles and audio feeds when viewing a sporting event such as a football game without changing the television channel. Audio, video and control data is transmitted in a packetized data stream with control data providing a pre-assigned channel designation (e.g., channel 10 for network X). A set-top terminal receives and processes the data stream according to user-provided commands. The terminal includes software which can be downloaded via the data stream or installed locally. The control data in the data stream is used to provide an on-screen graphical display on the television that allows the user to select the audio and video which correspond to certain areas of the football stadium, for example. Optionally, the viewer may select alternative story lines in a movie or similar program. A default setting provides primary audio and video signals. Alternative audio and video signals are selected by the user and mapped to the channel designator of the primary signal so that the different camera angles and audio feeds may be seen and heard. The viewer is therefore given the opportunity to customize the programming to enhance the entertainment or educational value.

The present invention relates to a system for processing packetized audio and video data at a television set-top terminal. More particularly, the system allows a television viewer to select specific camera angles and audio feeds of an event which is broadcast by a programming service provider.
Digital transmission of television signals has become increasingly popular since it can deliver video and audio services of much higher quality than analog techniques. Digital transmission schemes are particularly advantageous for signals that are broadcast via a cable television network or by satellite to cable television affiliates and/or directly to home satellite television receivers. It is expected that digital television transmitter and receiver systems will replace existing analog systems just as digital compact discs have replaced analog phonograph records in the audio industry.
However, a substantial amount of digital data must be transmitted in any digital television system. Furthermore, transmission bandwidths and carrier frequencies are often constrained by the need to maintain compatibility with existing equipment. Conventional analog radio-frequency (RF) television programming is transmitted in an assigned 6 MHz bandwidth in the spectrum from 54 to 890 MHz. For example, conventional televisions recognize "channel three" as the designation of the television signal in the spectrum from 60 to 66 MHz, while "channel four" is assigned the spectrum from 66 to 72 MHz. Moreover, in many digital set-top terminals, the received audio/video signal is converted to a predefined spectrum, typically channel three or four, before being provided to the television for display.
While a digital television signal is converted to a television-compatible spectrum at the terminal, the signal may be transmitted to the terminal from the service provider in a variety of ways. For example, the digital transmission may be provided over a cable system, or via satellite at a frequency (e.g., 1.2 GHz) which is well above the terrestrial broadcast band. Transmission within the assigned 6 MHz bandwidth is known as an "in-band" transmission, while transmission outside of this region is known as an "out-of-band" transmission. Moreover, while video and audio data which comprise a television program are transmitted in the 6 MHz band, auxiliary control data for all channels is transmitted out-of-band (e.g., at 75.25 MHz).
Digital transmission techniques are superior to analog techniques since they can use the available spectrum more efficiently. For example, using known digital compression techniques, up to ten conventional television programs may be carried in a 6 MHz bandwidth with standard resolution. Proposed high-definition television (HDTV) systems provide greater resolution but consume additional bandwidth.
One way to transmit compressed digital data to a receiver is in the form of packets contained within a packetized data stream. Typically, the packets carrying the compressed video data will be multiplexed with other packets which, for example, carry corresponding audio data and control information which are necessary to reconstruct a television signal. One standard for transporting digital television signals in this manner is the MPEG-2 standard, details of which can found in document AVC-491, version 1, Apr., 1993 published by the Telecommunications Standardization Sector, Study Group 15, Experts Group 4ATM-Video Coding of the International Organization for Standardization, ISO-IEC/JTC1/SC29/WG11 entitled "Coded Representation of Picture and Audio Information," incorporated herein by reference. Further details of the video syntax and semantics for MPEG-2 video can be found in International Organization for Standardization document ISO/IEC 11172-6 dated Apr. 2, 1993 and entitled "Revised Syntax and Semantics for MPEG-2 Video," also incorporated herein by reference. Also of interest, and incorporated herein by reference, is document MC68VDP/D, a preliminary data sheet entitled "MPEG-2/DCII Video Decompression Processor," .COPYRGT.Motorola Microprocessor and Memory Technologies Group, 1994 which describes a video decompression processor using the MPEG-2 and DigiCipher.RTM. II standards.
In the MPEG-2 system (and the similar DigiCipher.RTM. II system proprietary to General Instrument Corporation, the assignee hereof) a transport stream, or transport multiplex is made up of a contiguous set of fixed length packets. Each packet is 188 total bytes in length, with the first four of those bytes being defined as the packet header. The payload portion of each packet, which includes either video, audio or other data, is thus normally 184 bytes. However, a variable length adaptation field may be provided to extend the header, when required. When an adaptation field is present, the payload portion of the packet will be correspondingly shorter.
Furthermore, various timing and identification information is provided in different portions of the transport stream. These include a packet identifier (PID) found in the transport header of each transport packet to provide a reference number for identifying the transport packets carrying a specific service component. This number is included in a service definition (e.g., service map, or channel map) used by the receiver to identify those transport packets required to reconstruct a television program signal. The PID may also be referenced for various grooming and remultiplexing functions. In the case of video, audio or isochronous control data, the stream of packets labeled with a single PID represents a single video, audio or isochronous data service elementary stream, respectively. Each type of packet will have a different PID identifying the packet type.
The packetized data stream of a programming service is received by a subscriber via a receiver/descrambler that is typically embodied in a set-top terminal. The terminal decompresses and decodes the digital data and provides the corresponding video, audio and data to an output device (e.g., a television, video recorder, and/or separate high-fidelity audio system). In particular, the viewer selects a channel designation (e.g., channel 2) that corresponds to a particular programming service provider (e.g., network X). The channel map data of the packetized data stream maps the data from the channel designator to the corresponding programming service provider. For example, when a viewer selects "channel 2" on the set-top terminal, programming from "network X" will be processed at the terminal and provided to the television at a fixed, pre-defined carrier frequency, for example, in the spectrum from 60 to 66 MHz (television channel 3).
Moreover, data carried in the packetized data stream may be used by a graphics processor in the terminal to provide an on-screen display of available programming. For example, the display may provide a program guide which lists the program name, viewing time and channel. Additionally, such data may be addressed to particular terminals to provide individual account and billing information.
When the viewer selects a particular programming service to view, the corresponding data packets are retrieved and decompressed to allow reconstruction of the corresponding video and audio signal. In particular, data packets with the appropriate PID are demultiplexed, unpacked and provided to a video decompression processor. Finally, the video and audio signals are modulated at a specific carrier frequency and provided to the television for display.
As can be seen, the advent of digital television transmission techniques provides high fidelity video and audio to subscriber's homes, and further provides the opportunity for new services and features for both entertainment and educational purposes. Moreover, such programming presents lucrative marketing opportunities for service providers and others who market programming to specific demographic groups, including, for example, those who enjoy sports programs, movies, children's programs and the like.
However, conventional systems are somewhat constrained by existing television signal spectrum requirements and channel mapping formats. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a digital transmission system for re-mapping the channel assignment of one or more selected audio and video signals of a programming service. Furthermore, such re-mapping should occur according to user-provided commands. Additionally, it would be advantageous to provide a graphical user interface to assist the user in selecting the audio and video signals. The user interface should be able to group the alternative audio and video signals which are associated with a primary channel of a programming service. The system should be able to group additional audio and video signals of an additional programming service provider when, for example, two or more service providers are covering the same event. Furthermore, the system should be compatible with existing packetized data transmission protocols and channel assignment data provided by programming service providers and/or cable system headend operators.
Such a system would have numerous advantageous applications. For instance, a viewer could tune in to a primary channel which was associated with a particular programming service. The programming service could provide additional video and audio choices that the viewer could select. For example, a viewer watching a sports event could select different camera angles and different audio feeds that are provided on the different audio and video signals of the service without tuning away from the primary channel. The selection process could be carried out via an on-screen display (OSD) that is intuitively easy for the viewer to operate. For instance, a display of a football stadium with different color-coded or numbered regions can allow the viewer to easily select the desired viewing angle, thereby providing the sensation that the viewer is actually in the stands.
Furthermore, it would be advantageous for such a system to be arranged so that other channel assignments would remain intact, thereby enabling other viewers to view other primary channels at another television in the same home at the usual pre-assigned channel designation. The present invention provides the above and other advantages.

Multi-channel television system with viewer-selectable video and audio


An inspection system 1 includes an image pickup apparatus 2 for picking up an image of a defect, an inspection and classification apparatus 4 for performing inspection and automatic classification of defects, and a host computer 5. The host computer 5 performs learning for automatic classification at the inspection and classification apparatus 4. For creation of training data to be used for learning, defect images are arranged on a display of the host computer 5 on the basis of sizes of defects or imaging positions for picking up images of defects. A visual sign is provided to the defect image indicating a category assigned thereto. Further, in response to an operation by an operator, a statistical value of feature values of defect images included in a category, data obtained in inspection, images after being subjected to image processing, similar images or dissimilar images similar to or dissimilar to a defect image targeted for classification, an area directed to calculation of feature values in a defect image targeted for classification, and the like, are suitably displayed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of classification of an image of an object to be inspected.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate, a printed circuit board, a mask used for exposure of a substrate or the like (all of which will be inclusively referred to as a "substrate"), visual inspection has been performed using an optical microscope or a scanning electron microscope, for example, to detect the existence of defects such as foreign objects, flaws, or etching failures. These defects thus detected in the inspection process have conventionally underwent detailed analysis. As a result, the cause of the defects have been specified, to take action such as countermeasures in response to the defects.
A substrate has been patterned with complicated and fine pattern features recently, so that the type and the amount of the detected defects are increasing. In response, auto defect classification (hereinafter referred to as "ADC") has been suggested which allows automatic classification of each defect detected in the inspection process into a class to be included (hereinafter referred to as a "category"). Even when various types of defects are detected in large quantity, ADC allows rapid analysis of the defects with high degree of efficiency. By way of example, attention may be directed to a category including defects with a high frequency of occurrence among those classified by ADC, so that such category can be given high priority for its countermeasures.
Automatic classification of the results of inspection is not limited to ADC for classifying defects, but it is also directed to various objects. For example, as a classifier for making classification into different categories, a neural network, a decision tree, discriminant analysis and the like, are employed.
In order for the classifier to be operative to perform automatic classification, training data responsive to a desired category is prepared in advance, and learning is necessary to the classifier. By way of example, in the classification under ADC, an operator observes a plurality of defect images, determines a category suitable for each defect image and teaches the result of determination, whereby the training data is created.
The performance of automatic classification largely depends on the quality of the training data to be learned by the classifier. In order to provide high quality of the training data, the operator is required a large amount of teaching work with high precision, taking a good deal of effort. In view of this, an environment for efficiently assisting the operator has been required to realize teaching work with sufficient rapidity and high precision.
When correction of or addition to existing data is to be taught, the operator should be provided with information to determine whether modification necessitated by the correction or addition is reasonable. Otherwise, such modification may not necessarily result in improvement in quality of the training data.
In order to assist classification by the operator, images may be arranged and displayed on the basis of feature values of the images, the exemplary technique of which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-156135. However, information other than feature values is not used for assisting classification, and therefore, the operator cannot be provided with information for assisting the operator to determine whether decline in quality of the training data occurs due to the conditions for calculating feature values (in other words, the image is singular) or not. Due to this, this technique cannot necessarily provide the environment for adequately and efficiently performing classification.
In a so-called in-line inspection system including connection of an inspection apparatus and a classification apparatus for performing ADC, an image obtained by the inspection apparatus has a low resolution. Therefore, inadequate teaching work by the operator will quite likely. Further, although the inspection apparatus creates various types of useful information for classification and the classification apparatus creates useful information for inspection, effective use of such information has not been allowed.

Apparatus and computer-readable medium for assisting image classification


A motorcycle has a frame assembly in which the main frame is separable into a left side and a right side. Each side of the main frame includes a portion of a steering head pipe and one or more engine mounts. The engine joins rearward portions of the left and right sides of the main frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates a vehicle body frame of a motorcycle that can support an engine while reducing the number of parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Racing motorcycles must possess a high degree of frame rigidity, as do motorcycles styled after such racing motorcycles. Accordingly, there recently has been proposed a split motorcycle body frame. The frame includes a pair of main frames that are split into left and right sides from a steering head pipe. The pair of main frames extend rearwardly and downwardly from that location. A pair of left and right rear arm brackets extend downwardly from rear ends of the respective main frames. The steering head pipe also is split into left and right split steering head pipes. The left and right split steering head pipes, the left and right main frames and the left and right rear arm brackets are integrated into left and right split frames (see, for example, JP-A-63-315384, pages 1-5 and FIG. 3).
In such a split frame construction, the left and right split frames are connected together using a cross member and an engine is suspended on the pair of left and right split frames. Accordingly, the number of parts used during construction is increased due to the need for the cross member. The increase in parts and the associated manufacturing steps results in increased manufacturing costs. Moreover, the increased number of parts results in an increased weight for the frame.


The present invention is directed to an adjustable yoke assembly adapted to pivotally connect components of a continuous haulage system designed for use in underground excavation environments. The yoke assembly is vertically adjustable relative to the component it is carried on by selectively securing the assembly to the component through a series vertically aligned openings.

When performing underground excavation, such as for example coal mining operations, it is desirable for efficiency purposes to continuously operate the mining apparatus breaking coal away from the face. In order to do so, means must be available for quickly and continuously hauling the loosened material from the mining site to an area removed from the mining site.
One such continuous haulage system presently available and used in coal mines comprises a series of conveyor mechanisms pivotally linked together. The components of this system wind there way through the mine from a continuous miner which breaks up the solid coal deposits to material sized to be more easily transported to an area distal therefrom. Some of the components which comprise these systems may be self-propelled mobile conveyor units while others may be conveyors which span or bridge an area between mobile units. The mobile units used in the continuous haulage system are sometimes referred to as mobile bridge carriers and are generally crawler mounted chain conveyor units.
In a continuous haulage system which may include, for example, several mobile bridge carriers, the first of the several mobile bridge carriers is positioned adjacent to the discharge end of a continuous miner. The mobile bridge carrier moves in concert with the continuous miner and accepts the mined material in a small hopper at its receiving end. Alternatively, a Feeder breaker may be positioned between the continuous miner and the mobile bridge carrier to break up the larger pieces of mined material. The discharge end of the mobile bridge carrier is pivotally connected to another continuous haulage system component, generally a bridge conveyor. A series of pivotally connected mobile bridge carriers and bridge conveyors provide the means to articulate the continuous haulage system around corners and allows it to move in concert with the continuous miner. The continuous haulage system thus provides a quick and efficient means for transporting the mined material from the face.
The pivotal connections between the various components of the continuous haulage system are generally provided by a yoke assembly including cooperating male and female portions. The yoke assembly, in the past, has been welded in a predetermined fixed position on the ends of the various components of the continuous haulage system. While welding yoke assemblies to the components does provide considerable structural strength which is necessary in the rugged environment of an underground excavation site, welding yoke assemblies also poses some considerable drawbacks.
The environment in which these continuous haulage systems are used may include seams in an underground excavation that may be as low as 32 inches high. One problem with welding the yoke assemblies in a fixed position, particularly when the continuous haulage system is maneuvered in a mine environment where the floor has undulations or rough spots, is that adjacent ends of the series of pivotally connected components have a tendency to interfere with each other. Additionally, seam heights in underground excavations are not consistent. Thus, in order to allow the system to be moved through a seam in concert with the continuous miner, the height of the yoke assembly connecting the various components is generally selected and welded at its lowest height so that it is movable through a seam of a low height. However, setting the yoke at a low level does not address the problem of interference between components. Furthermore, setting the yoke assembly at its lowest height limits the flow of material through the conveyor. Thus, if the continuous haulage system were being used in a seam which would permit the yoke assembly to be raised, running the system with the yoke assembly at its lowest height severely reduces the efficiency of the operation. Adjusting a welded yoke assembly is no easy task, and in order to raise a welded yoke assembly to a higher level when the seam height will allow such adjustment' the welded yokes would have to be severed and rewelded generally requiring several days work.


An attachment structure is constituted by: a rigid circuit board having a suitable circuit pattern formed on its back surface, having one or a plurality of attachment holes for mounting an electronic component on the rigid circuit board, and having soldering lands provided at the circumferential edges of the attachment holes on the back surface of the rigid circuit board; an electronic component having one or more clip pass-through holes located in positions corresponding to the attachment holes on the surface of the rigid circuit board so that the attachment holes and the clip pass-through holes agree with each other on the surface of the rigid circuit board; and clips which can be subjected to soldering, the clip penetrating the clip pass-through holes and the attachment holes from above the electronic component so that the rigid circuit board and the electronic component are positioned fixedly by the clips.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an attachment structure to a circuit board, for example, for attaching an electronic component such as an instrument movement or the like to a rigid circuit board, and a clip used in the attachment. Particularly, the present invention relates to an attachment structure of an electronic component to a circuit board, by which the workability and economy in attachment of an attachment member to a rigid circuit board can be enhanced, and a clip for use in the attachment.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a conventional structure with which an instrument movement (electronic component) for use in assembling an on-vehicle instrument apparatus is attached to a rigid circuit board of the on-vehicle instrument apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 10. The reference numeral 1 represents a rigid circuit board. A predetermined printed pattern circuit 2 is formed in the lower surface of the rigid circuit board 1.
The reference numeral 3 represents an instrument movement such as a speedometer, an engine tachometer, or the like, attached to the upper surface of the rigid circuit board 1. Although the instrument movement 3 does not have a feature in internal configuration, the schematic configuration thereof will be described as follows. The reference numeral 4 represents a housing made of resin. The housing 4 also has a function as a coil bobbin. Inside the housing 4, a movable magnet 5 is rotatably supported through a pointer shaft 6. In addition, a pair of coils are wound and retained around the housing 4 perpendicularly to each other so as to form a cross coil 7.
The reference numeral 8 represents a shield case disposed to cover the outside of the cross coil 7; 9, connection terminals connected to the cross coil 7; and 10, a pointer attached to a forward end of the pointer shaft 6.
When the instrument movement 3 configured thus is attached to the rigid circuit board 1, the instrument movement 3 is put on the upper surface of the rigid circuit board 1. Further, attachment holes 11 provided in the rigid circuit board 1 are made to agree with threaded holes 12 formed in the housing 4 of the instrument movement 3. Then, attachment screws 13 are made to pass through the attachment holes 11 from the lower surface (back side) of the rigid circuit board 1. The attachment screws 13 are screwed down into the threaded holes 12 of the instrument movement 3 so that the rigid circuit board 1 and the instrument movement 3 are screwed to each other.
In such a manner, in the attachment structure in which the rigid circuit board 1 and the instrument movement 3 are screwed to each other by the attachment screws 13, a plurality of attachment screws 13 for screwing must be prepared in advance, and a screwing step for screwing the plurality of attachment screws is required. From such a point, the attachment structure is inferior in the workability and economy in attachment of the instrument movement.
In addition, after the instrument movement 3 is screwed to the rigid circuit board 1, the lower surface of the rigid circuit board 1 is immersed in a flow soldering tank so that the connection terminals 9 projecting from the lower surface of the rigid circuit board 1 are soldered with the printed circuit 2. At this time, however, there arises a problem that solder balls repelled by the head portions of the attachment screws 13 adhere to a circuit portion of the rigid circuit board so as to cause an electric connection failure (short-circuit due to a solder bridge or the like).
As mentioned above, when the head of each attachment screw is immersed into the flow soldering tank, the head thereof might repel the solder to form the solder balls. On occasion, the solder balls are attached to another soldering potion which might arise a loose connection in the circuit board 1. In order to avoid the loose connection, in the conventional art, the IC, the resistor and the like except for the instrument movement 3 are flow-soldered in the flow soldering bath to electrically fix them to the circuit board 1. After that, the instrument movement 3 is screwed and fixed to the circuit board 1, and then the terminals of the instrument movement 3 are spot-soldered with the wiring pattern of the circuit board 1 so that the instrument movement 3 is fixed and electrically connected with the circuit board 1. Therefore, the soldering of the instrument movement 3 and the soldering of other electronic components, such as an IC, a resistor and the like, have to be performed in separate steps, respectively. Two soldering steps are required in total.
To solve such a problem, it can be considered to give surface treatment to the head portions of the attachment screws 13 so as to make solder easy to adhere to the head portions. However, it is not practical because the treatment cost increases when surface treatment is given to the respective head portions of the attachment screws 13 so as to make solder easy to adhere to the head portions.
On the other hand, if the soldering is carried out by a robot without using the flow soldering tank as means for soldering the connection terminals 9 with the circuit portion of the rigid circuit board, it is possible to restrain generation of solder balls on the head portions of the attachment screws 13. However, in such robot soldering means, it is necessary to solder respective portions to be soldered one by one. Therefore, it takes much time for soldering so that the assembling productivity deteriorates.
Alternately, there has been proposed to provide a resin engagement nail integrally formed with a resin bobbin with which a coil is wound. In the attachment process, the resin engagement nail is fixed to the circuit board 1. However, since the engagement nail is made of resin, the resin engagement nail deforms due to the heat generated in the flow soldering. To avoid the deformation of the resin engagement nail, only the IC, the resistor and the like are flow-soldered in the flow soldering bath to electrically fix them to the circuit board 1. After that, the instrument movement 3 is fixed to the circuit board 1 through the resin engagement nail, and then the terminals of the instrument movement 3 are spot soldered with the printing pattern of the circuit board 1 so that the instrument movement 3 is fixed and electrically connected with the circuit board 1 without deformation of the resin engagement nail. In this method, the two soldering steps are also required in total.
To improve the attaching efficiency of the instrument movement 3, it is possible to use a bobbin a resin engagement nail made of high heat resistance resin. However, the high heat resistance resin is expensive in general, which increases the manufacturing cost thereof, and therefore it is not practical.
The present invention is made in consideration of such facts in the conventional. It is an object of the present invention to enable an electronic component such as an instrument movement or the like to be fixed to a rigid circuit board simply and easily without using any attachment screw when the electronic component is attached to the rigid circuit board, so that the number of man-hours for fastening attachment screws is omitted.
It is also an object of the present invention to carry out the soldering work for a connection circuit in the lower surface (back surface) of the rigid circuit board by use of a flow soldering tank so that the workability and economy of the soldering are enhanced.
To attain the foregoing first and second objects, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an attachment structure of an electronic component to a circuit board comprising: a rigid circuit board having a suitable circuit pattern formed on a back surface thereof, having one or more attachment holes formed in the rigid circuit board for attachment of an electronic component, and further having soldering lands provided at circumferential edges of the attachment holes on the back surface of the rigid circuit board; an electronic component having one or more clip pass-through holes formed in positions in which the clip pass-through holes are coincident with the attachment holes correspondingly on a front surface of the rigid circuit board; and solderable clips for passing through the clip pass-through holes and the attachment holes correspondingly to perform fixed positioning of the electronic component to the rigid circuit board, each of the clips having an engagement portion portion at one end thereof and a pair of elastic engagement portions at the other end thereof, the engagement portion portion being engaged with a clip entrance side hole edge of corresponding one of the clip pass-through holes formed in the electronic component, the elastic engagement portions being engaged with a land formation surface side hole edge of corresponding one of the attachment holes provided in the rigid circuit board so that the elastic engagement portions can be displaced elastically in a direction of a hole diameter of the attachment hole; wherein, at the time when the rigid circuit board and the electronic component are fixedly positioned by the clips, the engagement portion portions of the clips are engaged with the electronic component, and forward end portions of the elastic engagement portions are soldered with the lands formed on the rigid circuit board.
Thus, according to this attachment structure, the attachment of the electronic component to the rigid circuit board can be ensured by the engagement force of the clips and the soldering between the clips and the lands provided on the rigid circuit board. As a result, the workability in attaching the electronic component to the rigid circuit board is improved on a large scale.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a clip for fixing the electronic component to the rigid circuit board is characterized by comprising: a solderable and flexible/elastic metal piece which is bent into an V-shape along a longitudinal direction thereof and along a center thereof so as to form a bent piece; a pair of flexible/elastic pieces formed by forming a notch slit along a ridge line formed by bending the metal piece into the pair of bent pieces in the longitudinal direction and from a middle of the ridge line toward a forward end of the metal piece; engagement protrusions formed in vicinities of forward end portions of the flexible/elastic pieces, the engagement protrusions being inserted into and engaged with attachment holes formed in a rigid circuit board, respectively; and engagement portion formed at edges of the bent piece parallel to a ridge line of the bent piece and opposite to the flexible/elastic pieces of the bent piece, the engagement portion being pressed into and engaged with a clip pass-through hole formed in an electronic component.
Thus, by using such a clip to fix an electronic component to a rigid circuit board, the rigid circuit board and the electronic component can be fixedly positioned by one touch. In addition, by fixing the clip to the rigid circuit board by soldering, it is possible to ensure the connection among the clip, the electronic component, and the circuit board. Thus, the workability in attachment of the electronic component to the rigid circuit board becomes excellent.

Attachment structure of electronic component to circuit board and clip used in attachment of the electronic component


A storage system includes a cache and a collection of metadata, organized by their associations with regard to the data they represent. In one embodiment, the cache stores data blocks in a first plurality of locations. A first metadata storage stores metadata including block addresses of data blocks within the cache. A second metadata storage includes a second plurality of locations, each for storing metadata including a block address identifying a corresponding data block within the cache. The metadata stored within the second metadata storage also includes a first pointer to the corresponding data block. In addition, at least one of the second locations may store a second pointer to another of the second locations that stores metadata corresponding to a related data block. The cache and the first metadata storage are non-volatile storages; however, the second metadata storage may be a volatile storage.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to storage system caches and, more particularly, to metadata design within the storage system cache.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many storage systems employ non-volatile caching as a means of improving input/output (I/O) performance between the storage subsystem and the host(s). In addition, the non-volatile cache may be used to improve internal storage system operations such as error logging, recovery, and reconstruction for example.
Many such storage caches include data storage as well as metadata storage. Metadata typically includes information that describes the data. For example, metadata may include validity information and a pointer to the location of the data. Thus, at any point in time, the integrity of the metadata is critical. For systems having a high reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) rating, in addition to the data, the metadata is generally stored in a storage medium that is non-volatile and which can survive from such catastrophic failures as system crashes and power failures.
Generally speaking, the storage cache may be implemented to be addressable in either the CPU memory space or in the I/O space. There are design implications for both approaches. For example, if the storage cache is placed in the CPU memory space, as the size of the storage cache increases, it may become impractical to address the entire cache in the CPU memory space. In addition, there may be limited memory bandwidth. Further, to place the storage cache in the CPU memory space may require a large part of the system memory to survive a power loss, thereby requiring a large battery backup. If the storage cache is placed in the I/O space, data requests may be markedly slow due to such conditions as slower I/O buses compared to the CPU memory bus and constrained accessibility of the I/O buses, for example. This may be particularly true for read operations into the I/O space. However, one positive attribute of having the storage cache placed in the I/O space is that the requirement for battery backup may be reduced.
In high availability systems, the system may employ cache mirroring. In such systems, a storage cache may be mirrored onto another cache system in an independent failure domain. Such systems typically employ a fixed structure, self-describing cache in the I/O space. The self-describing cache uses a portion of the cache space to store enough information to identify the dirty and the valid blocks in the storage cache. However, when the primary cache fails, there is a delay associated with reconstructing the metadata from the self-describing cache. This reconstruction delay impacts the availability and performance of the system under failure conditions. Therefore a key aspect of the storage cache design is the structure and management of the metadata.
In addition, in various systems, the cache may be used to store more than one copy of the user data that is stored in the underlying storage volume at a given time. For example, data having a related association with the data stored in the underlying storage volume may also be stored in the cache. One example of such related data is generational data. Another example of related data is the Exclusive OR or "Parity" data of current data and newly written data. One technique used for storing related data in the cache involves dis-aggregating or splitting the cache and using the different portions of the cache to store different types of data and their associated metadata. However, as more powerful metadata structures are employed, the metadata size may increase, thereby increasing the metadata overhead. In addition, splitting the cache may increase the cache management burden by having to manage more than one type of cache with respect to allocation, population and de-staging, for example.

Storage system structure for storing relational cache metadata


A receptacle for cutting and chopping machines having a central circular feed opening with four circular lateral openings that partially overlap the circular feed opening. The four circular openings are grouped in two pairs of two opposed openings each around the central, circular fee opening.

The present invention relates to a receptacle means for cutting and chopping machines, intended in particular to reduce in size garden waste or plant material and the like, having at least one feed or filler opening.
Such receptacle means must prevent direct access to the interior of the machine as well as any unintentional contact with the cutting tools mounted inside the machine. Different receptacle means are known in prior art having circular or longitudinal openings with parallel side walls.
The disadvantages of this prior art are, however, that in order to observe the safety regulations according to German Industrial Standard DIN 31001, Part 1 and DIN 11004, Part 1, the sides of feed openings having parallel side walls are only permitted to have a maximum distance of 30 mm and their circular feed openings are only permitted to have a maximum diameter of 50 mm. This results in a considerable restriction of the feeding or charging capacity of the known receptacle means, in particular in the case of bulky plant material such as twigs and branches.


The present invention provides a process for depositing a planarized metal film on a dielectric surface having nonuniform conductor material deposits formed thereon. The planarized metal layer is formed using a warm physical vapor deposition process at a temperature greater than about 150.degree. C., preferably greater than about 250.degree. C. The nonuniform deposits of electrically conducting material are typically formed during selective chemical vapor deposition of a metal in high aspect ratio, subhalf micron apertures. The selective CVD deposition is directly followed by warm physical vapor deposition to obtain a planarized metal film. The metallization process is preferably carried out in an integrated processing system that includes both a PVD and CVD processing chamber so that once the substrate is introduced into a vacuum environment, the metallization of the apertures to form interconnects occurs without the formation of oxides between the layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metallization method and apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for depositing a planarized metal film on a dielectric surface having nonuniform conductor material deposits formed thereon by using a warm physical vapor deposited metal. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to the selective metallization of apertures in insulative layers to form void-free interconnects between conducting layers, including apertures such as contacts or vias in high aspect ratio, i.e., sub-half micron wide aperture applications, and subsequent deposition of planar blanket films over surfaces suffering from loss of selectivity.
2. Background of the Related Art
Sub-half micron multilevel metallization is one of the key technologies for the next generation of very large scale integration ("VLSI"). The multilevel interconnect that lie at the heart of this technology require planarization of interconnect features formed in high aspect ratio apertures, including contacts, vias, lines or other features. High aspect ratios are features having a depth/width ratio of one or greater, typically of a depth of 1.2.mu.. Reliable formation of these interconnect features is very important to the success of VLSI and to the continued effort to increase circuit density and quality on individual substrates and die.
Two conventional methods for depositing conducting film layers on substrates are chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD). Typically CVD provides better step coverage in very small aperture geometries, i.e., the deposition thickness at the base of the aperture is close to that on the adjacent field, while PVD provides desirable crystal structure and desirable orientation of the deposited film. Until recently, CVD and PVD processes were performed on different system platforms which required that the substrates first undergo one processing method and subsequently moved with an air break into a second platform for processing with another method. Transfer of the substrates from one platform to another decreases throughput of a substrate to complete device fabrication thereon, and exposes the most uppermost deposited surfaces to the atmosphere, typically forming an oxide layer. Therefore, it has not been considered effective to use the two processes to take advantage of the strengths of each process, i.e., good step coverage and good crystal orientation and reflectivity.
Two conventional methods for depositing conducting material by chemical vapor deposition ("CVD") include a blanket process and a selective process. CVD processes typically involve the deposition of a film layer which occurs when a component of the chemical vapor contacts a "nucleation site" on the substrate. The component attaches to the nucleation site, creating a deposit surface on which further deposition proceeds, i.e. grows laterally and vertically. A blanket CVD process typically deposits a film on the entire exposed surface of the substrate, including the sidewall and bottom of apertures, as well as the field, i.e., the uppermost exposed surface of the substrate, because surface exposed to the vapor serve as nucleation sites for deposition.
Selective CVD deposition is based on the fact that the decomposition of the CVD precursor gas to provide a deposition film usually requires a source of electrons from a conductive nucleation film. In accordance with a conventional selective CVD deposition process, the conducting film should grow in the bottom of an aperture where either a metal film, or doped silicon from the underlying conductive layer are exposed, but should not grow on the dielectric surface of the field and aperture walls. The underlying metal films and doped silicon are both conductive and supply the electrons needed for decomposition of the precursor gas and resulting deposition of the conducting film. The insulative film in its best form does not have free electron sites. Once deposition is initiated, the deposited metal is an electron donor. The result obtained through selective deposition is a "bottom-up" growth of a CVD conducting film in the holes, thereby enabling filling very small dimension (<0.25 .mu.m), high aspect ratio (>5:1) via or contact openings. Although in theory a selective CVD process should be capable of providing a defect free fill of an aperture on every occasion, in reality this is not the case.
Referring to FIG. 1, a drawing prepared from data obtained with a scanning electron microscope shows a top angle view of a patterned wafer which has been precleaned (sputtered with Ar for 60 seconds) and subsequently deposited with a selective CVD Al process. In actual practice of selective deposition processes, there are almost always defects on the surface of the dielectric and on the sidewalls of the apertures which provide free electrons and thus also serve as nucleation sites for CVD Al growth, causing unwanted deposition of conducting material in the form of nodules on the dielectric surface or field. The SEM shows the upper surface of the selectively deposited metal interconnects as well as nodules formed on defects in the dielectric layer surrounding the interconnects.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a top angle view and cross-sectional view of a patterned wafer are shown wherein approximately 6000 Angstroms of PVD Al at 150.degree. C. have been deposited over the CVD layer. The rough surface of the metal film of FIG. 2 is caused by the nodules shown in FIG. 1 even after deposition of a thick PVD metal layer. Such a rough surface interferes with subsequent photolithographic processing of the wafer. Additionally, FIG. 3 shows several grain boundaries between crystals having various orientations dictated by various nodules. These grain boundaries may cause failure of the integrated circuit.
Various methods have been used to minimize or eliminate the loss of selectivity that leads to nodule formation, especially in selective tungsten (W) technology. These methods have included, for example, changing the type of dielectric material, preconditioning the substrate surface prior to selective deposition, and post deposition chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of the surface to remove any nodules which form on the substrate surface during selective deposition. While some of these methods have been able to reduce the extent of nodule formation, selectivity loss almost always occurs in selective CVD deposition processes. Furthermore, these methods complicate the processing steps required to form the desired circuit structure and significantly increase the expense of the integrated circuit manufacturing process. Some processes, such as CMP, cannot reach the sidewalls of the apertures, and thus any nodules formed in that location will remain. In addition, adding steps to the overall process increases the likelihood that defects may result in the formed structures due to handling and/or contamination mishaps.
Therefore, there exists a need for a metallization process for void-free filling of apertures, particularly high aspect ratio, sub-quarter micron wide apertures for forming interconnects and planarization of a subsequent conducting layer. More particularly, it would be desirable to have a simple process that takes advantage of the selectivity and good coverage of CVD processes and good planarization, crystal structure and reflectivity of PVD processes, while overcoming the loss of selectivity on the field encountered in CVD processes and perceived geometric limitations on PVD.

Process for overcoming CVD aluminum selectivity loss with warm PVD aluminum


A coating system and coating method for damping vibration in an airfoil of a rotating component of a turbomachine. The coating system includes a metallic coating on a surface of the airfoil, and a ceramic coating overlying the metallic coating. The metallic coating contains metallic particles dispersed in a matrix having a metallic and/or intermetallic composition. The metallic particles are more ductile than the matrix, and have a composition containing silver and optionally tin. The method involves ion plasma cleaning the surface of the airfoil before depositing the metallic coating and then the ceramic coating.

The present invention generally relates to airfoils, and more particularly to coatings and methods for vibrational damping of fan and compressor airfoils of gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines employ airfoils that extend radially across the airflow path through the engine. Airfoils of rotating components of a gas turbine engine, usually termed blades ("buckets" in industrial turbines), extend radially outward from disks or rotors within the fan and compressor sections of the engines. During engine operation, the air flowing over these blades will vary in terms of speed, temperature, pressure, and density, resulting in the blades being excited in a number of different modes of vibration that induce bending and torsional twisting of the blades. The resulting vibration-induced stresses in the blades can cause high cycle fatigue (HCF), particularly if blades are excited at their resonant frequencies.
Several technologies have been investigated to address the need for damping fan and compressor airfoils. Notable examples include visco-elastic constraint layer damping systems (VE/CLDS), air-films, and internal dampers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,530 to Lull discloses a damping coating system that makes use of inner and outer metallic coatings, wherein the inner coating has a modulus of elasticity between that of the outer coating and the blade material. According to Lull, shear stresses generated by the differing moduli of elasticity are able to absorb energy and damp vibration in the blade. Another example of a damping coating system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,233 to Cross et al., in which a ceramic material is employed as an outer coating that overlies an inner coating containing a mixture of the ceramic material and the blade material.
The existing damping technologies generally have limitations related to temperature, structural integrity, aerodynamic efficiencies, and manufacturing difficulties. While the use of thin damping coating systems are attractive from the standpoint of structural integrity, aerodynamic efficiencies, and manufacturing, the ability to survive at the operating temperatures of a gas turbine engine remains a challenge. Additional challenges associated with such coatings include spall resistance under thermal cycling conditions, erosion resistance, impact resistance, high temperature stability, and minimum impact on the fatigue lives of the airfoils. Finally, maximizing the damping effectiveness of the coating (lowest possible Q with the thinnest coating) is understood to be an important goal of any damping coating system.

Coating system and method for vibrational damping of gas turbine engine airfoils


The invented apparatus is a relatively small-volumed chamber useful for processing a substrate. The apparatus includes a reference member with a substantially flat surface. The apparatus also includes a stage member with a surface that supports the substrate, and that has a gas bearing surrounding this support surface. Gas flows through the bearing are regulated to generate a seal of the substrate from ambient gases upon bringing the gas bearing close to the reference member's flat surface. The seal generated by the gas bearing can also be used to contain process gas in proximity to the substrate. Such process gas can be introduced into and exhausted from the chamber through an inlet and outlet, respectively, defined in the reference member. The apparatus can include a window fixed in the reference member. Patterned light or a particle beam can be directed through the window to the contained substrate to cause selective reactions to occur thereon. The gas bearing allows the stage member to be moved relative to the reference member without affecting their relative spacing. Therefore, patterns formed on the substrate can be stepped and repeated without the need for significant refocusing of lithography equipment used to form a pattern on the substrate. The invention also includes a related method.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a process chamber used to contain inert or reactive process gases for carrying out one or more process steps on a wafer substrate. For example, the process chamber can be used to contain gas reactants for steps such as etching, doping, or growing materials in a process for making integrated electronic, optical or micromechanical devices on the wafer substrate, or for the performance of micromachining, for example. The chamber can also be used to contain an inert gas for a process step that does not require a reactive atmosphere, such as the exposure of a resist layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because of their relatively large volume, typically on the order of a few liters or more, previously developed process chambers are generally required to be filled with far more reactant or inert gas than is actually necessary to carry out a particular process step on a wafer substrate. Consequently, such chambers can waste significant amounts of such gases. Also, some gas species are caustic, in which case the relatively large volume of caustic gas required to fill the chamber leads to corrosion of correspondingly large areas of the chamber walls, wafer support surface, piping and other chamber equipment that must be replaced at significant expense. Further, some reactant gas species are toxic, and the accidental release of a large volume of toxic gas from such chambers poses a significant threat to workers in the vicinity of such chamber. Additionally, disposal of large volumes of caustic, toxic or pollutant process gases raises significant health and environmental issues. Furthermore, such large-volume process chambers require significant time to purge and fill with reactant gases, which lowers the wafer throughput of processed wafer substrates attainable with such chambers. It would be desirable to overcome these disadvantages of previous process chambers.
Also of relevance to the subject invention is another problem existing in previous stepper lithography equipment used to pattern devices on a wafer substrate. In the use of such stepper equipment, the wafer stage is repeatedly moved by increments (or in other words `stepped`) relative to lithography projection equipment, and a pattern is exposed on the substrate after each increment of movement. In general, because stage movement relative to the lithography equipment causes the wafer's top surface to move out-of-focus with respect to the lithography equipment, refocusing is necessary after stepping the stage. Such refocusing consumes time and thus lowers the throughput that could otherwise be attained if such refocusing were not necessary. It would be desirable to overcome this disadvantage of previous stepper equipment.


An apparatus, a computer program and a computerized method for determining constituent words of a compound word are provided. Constituent words constitute a compound word. When the constituent words comply to split decision criteria then the constituent words can be used in a separate form. The separate form of the constituent words is used in the search to retrieve the related documents from the document collection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for determining constituent words of a compound word. The invention also relates to an information retrieval system incorporating such an apparatus and a computerized method for determining constituent words of a compound word.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
A compound of words is common in a number of languages such as German, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Finnish. Since compound words may be joined freely, this vastly increases the vocabulary size. These languages are likely to include very long words that are not found in any dictionary of the language. A typical example of such a word is the German compound word "Abschreibungsmöglichkeiten". This compound word is constructed by concatenating the two words "Abschreibung" and "möglichkeiten" by means of the linking morpheme "s".
In the description of the present invention that follows, the decomposition of a compound word into its constituent words and linking morphemes, if any, is referred to as a segmentation of the compound, or splitting the constituent words of a compound word into the words in a separated form, and is represented by character strings separated by the symbol "+". For example, the segmentation of the compound word "Abschreibungsmöglichkeiten" is represented as "Abschreibung+s+möglichkeiten". Other linking morphemes such as "−" or "es" could be used.
Word compounding is an active way of creating new words in these languages. This gives challenges for a number of applications such as machine translation, speech recognition, text classification, information extraction, and information retrieval. Finding constituent words constituting a compound word showed to be a challenge. There are basically three solutions known in the art.
The first solution is to keep a list of 'all' the compound words that exist in a language and the way the compound word should be split. A drawback, however, is that it is impossible to keep a list of all the compound words in a language, for there are literally an endless number of compound words in the compound word languages. For this reason the precision of this solution is low and this method is tedious. The approach applies for one language.
The second solution is simple: finding constituent words constituting the compound words based on rules, sometimes combined with statistics that state when to split. The problem here, however, is that this method often splits the compound word in words that do not exist or in word combinations that do not relate to the meaning of the compound word. Further, it works for the general cases of compound words, but is not robust. The approach applies for one language.
The third and last solution uses a digital dictionary. Based on the dictionary and some rules, the finding of constituent words constituting the compound word takes place. An example of this last solution is disclosed by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0097252A1. According to that disclosure, finding the constituent words is based upon a set of compound word probabilistic breakpoints. Breakpoint weights are assigned to the breakpoints in the compound word based on an analysis of n-graphs drawn from an appropriate lexicon. This method may find words within a compound word, but the main drawback is that wrong word splitting can occur.

Apparatus and computerised method for determining constituent words of a compound word


A battery saving method of controlling the display of a portable telephone is disclosed. The method comprises checking whether a user inputs a SEND key for a call origination to establish a call or an answering key in response to an incoming call; turning off the power supplied to the display when a call is set up according to the SEND key or the answering key; and, turning on the power supplied to the display when the call is terminated. Further, the display is turned off after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the SEND key or the answering key is activated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a portable telephone, and more particularly, to a method for saving battery power consumption by turning off the display unit of the portable telephone during a call connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
If the battery of a portable telephone has to be replaced frequently, it imposes a significant limitation on the usage of the portable telephone. Thus, it is desirable to provide a portable telephone with longer usage time by a given battery. Accordingly, the technology has evolved to contrive new novel batteries that are superior and have a longer lasting lifetime. In addition to the development of the battery technology, many studies have been made on various methods of saving battery power by minimizing power consumption of the portable telephone.
Normally, a user holds the portable telephone to his/her ear during a call connection. Although the user does not pay attention to the display unit of the portable telephone during the conversation, the display unit is turned on in the existing portable telephone. In such a case, the display unit unnecessarily consumes the battery power even though the user does not and can not watch the display unit of the portable telephone during the call connection.

Method for saving battery power consumption by controlling the display of a portable telephone

Maetan-Dong, Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonggi-Do


A specimen analyzing apparatus for measuring a specimen by using a reagent which has a dispensing mechanism which includes a dispensing tube for suctioning and discharging liquid; a reagent container holder from which a reagent container is removable when the reagent container is in a container removal area; a receiving section for receiving a replacement command for a replacement of the reagent; and a controller for controlling the dispensing mechanism so as to retreat the dispensing tube from the container removal area when the replacement command has been received by the receiving section. Also, a control method for a specimen analyzing apparatus.

Conventionally, a specimen analyzing apparatus for measuring a specimen by using a reagent has been known. According to such a specimen analyzing apparatus, a measurement sample prepared by mixing a specimen and a reagent is measured by a measurement section. When such preparation is performed, the specimen and the reagent are suctioned and dispensed by a corresponding pipette or the like, respectively. The reagent is contained in a reagent container and set in the specimen analyzing apparatus. When an amount of the reagent contained in the reagent container gets smaller, a user replaces the reagent container.
For example, in a specimen analyzing apparatus described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0014118, by mounting a container rack holding a reagent container on a reagent table, the reagent container is set in the specimen analyzing apparatus. In this case, the replacement of a reagent container can be realized by employing the configuration in which a container rack holding a reagent container to be replaced is positioned at a container replacement position which can be opened to the outside.
In this configuration, the reagent table is driven in response to a user's command for the replacement of the reagent to transport and the container rack for holding a reagent container as a replacement target is transported to the container replacement position. A user takes out the container rack positioned at the container replacement position and the user replaces the reagent container as a replacement target with a reagent container containing a new reagent. Then, the user mounts the container rack holding the new reagent container on the reagent table. In this manner, the replacement of the reagent is completed.
However, in the above-described configuration, in order to prevent a user from coming into contact with a pipette of a dispensing mechanism during the replacement of the reagent, it is necessary to move the pipette of the dispensing mechanism so as not to come within the range of the container replacement position. Accordingly, the degree of freedom in the layout of the dispensing mechanism is limited by the container replacement position.


A process is disclosed for preparing polyhaloacyl fluorides such as trifluoroacetyl fluoride and difluoroacetyl fluoride by oxidizing 1-chloro-1,2,2,2-trifluoroethanes and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-difluoroethane, respectively with oxygen.

Gotoh et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,647, discloses oxidizing 1,1-dichloro-2,2,2-trifluoroethane (HCFC-123) with oxygen in the presence of water to trifluoroacetyl chloride (TFAC) accompanied by the free acid (TFAA).
Dittman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,407 produces TFAC by reacting HCFC-123 with oxygen in the presence of active radiation.
Jacobson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,113 prepares TFAC by oxidizing HCFC-123 with oxygen over a carbon bed in the absence of water.
Childs, U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,824 discloses preparing perfluoro carboxylic acid fluorides by a reaction sequence involving (1) a metathesis reaction between an unfluorinated carboxylic acid and a perfluoroacid fluoride, e.g. trifluoroacetyl fluoride (TFAF), normally prepared by electrofluorinating acetic acid), to obtain the unfluorinated carboxylic acid fluoride, followed by (2) electrofluorinating the acid fluoride product of the metathetical reaction to the desired perfluorocarboxylic acid fluoride.
The disclosure of the previously identified U.S. Patents is hereby incorporated by reference

Process for producing polyfluoroacyl compositions


A hold down member arranged for projection within a beach surface to secure a blanket and the like is provided, having a conical body including a plurality of rows of rigid legs canted from the side wall of the body towards the uppermost end of the body, with a clamp structure mounted to the uppermost end of the body for securing and receiving a blanket therewithin.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to beach blanket anchor structure, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved hold down clip apparatus wherein is arranged for the positioning and securement of a blanket member onto a beach surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hold down structure of various types have been utilized in the prior art and exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,653 utilizing a clip structure to secure a blanket onto a beach surface.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by employing an improved hold down clip structure having projections to enhance securement of the anchor structure within a beach surface.


An external combustion engine comprises a container (11) with a working liquid (12) sealed therein in a state adapted to flow, a heater (13) for heating and vaporizing the working liquid (12) in the container (11), and a cooler (14) for cooling and liquefying the vapor of the working liquid (12) heated and vaporized by the heater (13). The displacement of the working liquid (12) caused by the vapor volume change is output as mechanical energy by being converted into the mechanical energy. A pressure regulating liquid (18) is sealed in a pressure regulating container (16) communicating with the container (11). A pressure regulating unit (19) regulates the internal pressure (Pt) of the pressure regulating container (16). A control unit (21) controls the pressure regulating unit (19) in such a manner that the internal pressure (Pt) is decreased in the case where it is higher than the saturation vapor pressure (Ps1) of the working liquid (12) at the temperature (T1) of a heated portion (11a) of the container for vaporizing the working liquid (12), while the internal pressure (Pt) is increased in the case where it is lower than the saturation vapor pressure (Ps1).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an external combustion engine for outputting mechanical energy by converting the displacement of a working liquid caused by the volume change of the vapor thereof into the mechanical energy.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the conventional external combustion engines disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 205-330910 is adapted so that a working liquid is sealed in a container and part of the working liquid is heated and vaporized in a heated portion while the vapor of the vaporized working liquid is liquefied by being cooled in a cooled portion, thereby outputting by converting, to mechanical energy, the displacement of the working liquid caused by the volume change of the vapor thereof.
In this conventional technique, the external combustion engine includes a pressure sensor for detecting the internal pressure of the container, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the heated portion of the container for vaporizing the working liquid, a valve for discharging the working liquid from the container into the atmosphere and a control unit for controlling the on/off operation of the valve.
In the case where the internal pressure of the container exceeds the saturation vapor pressure of the working liquid at the temperature of the heated portion, part of the working liquid in the container is discharged into the atmosphere and the volume of the working liquid is reduced thereby to control the internal pressure of the container not to exceed the saturation vapor pressure of the working liquid.
As a result, the internal pressure of the container is prevented from exceeding the saturation vapor pressure of the working liquid and part of the vapor from being condensed and liquefied, thereby suppressing a reduction in the output and efficiency of the external combustion engine (see FIG. 3C as described later).


A read circuit of a semiconductor memory according to the present invention is based on a self-reference sensing technique by which data stored in a memory cell is determined by first and second signals read out from a memory cell through first and second read operations. This read circuit includes a sense amplifier which determines the data stored in the memory cell based on a potential of an input node, a transfer transistor which is connected between the memory cell and the input node, a precharge circuit which sets the input node to a precharge potential, and a VBIAS generator which turns the transfer transistor cutoff based on the first signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a read circuit and a read method using a self-reference sensing technique that are employed particularly in a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) utilizing the magnetoresistive effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic random access memory is a memory device that includes magnetoresistive devices as memory cells. Despite being a nonvolatile memory, a magnetic random access memory exhibits high integration, high reliability, low power consumption, and high-speed performance. Therefore, such a magnetic random access memory is expected to be one of the next-generation memory devices.
The magnetoresistive effects are divided into two types: GMR (giant magnetoresistive) effect and TMR (tunneling magnetoresistive) effect.
The "GMR effect" is the phenomenon that causes the resistance of a conductor interposed between two ferromagnetic layers to vary with the spin directions of the two ferromagnetic layers. However, the MR (magnetoresistive) ratio representing the varying ratio of the magnetic resistance with the GMR effect is as low as 10%, and accordingly, read signals become very small.
Therefore, to realize a magnetic random access memory utilizing the GMR effect, it is necessary to secure great read margins. In reality, however, great read margins are not easily secured, and for this reason, a magnetic random access memory utilizing the GMR effect is considered to be inadequate for practical use.
The "TMR effect" is the phenomenon that causes the junction resistance of a ferromagnetic tunnel junction formed with two ferromagnetic layers and an insulating layer (a tunnel barrier layer) interposed between the two ferromagnetic layers, i.e., the tunnel conductance of the insulating layer, to vary with the cosine of the relative angle of the magnetization of the two ferromagnetic layers.
Typical examples using the TMR effect include MTJ (magnetic tunnel junction) devices using magnetoresistance variations caused by a spin-deflecting tunneling effect. In a MTJ device, the tunnel probability becomes the highest and the junction resistance of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction becomes the smallest, if the spin directions of the two ferromagnetic layers are the same (or parallel to each other). If the spin directions of the two ferromagnetic layers are opposite to each other (or anti-parallel to each other), the tunneling probability becomes the lowest and the junction resistance of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction becomes the greatest.
To arbitrarily put the spin directions in one of the above two states, one of the two ferromagnetic layers is normally fixed in one direction of magnetization and serves as a pin layer (a fixed layer) that is not affected by an external magnetic field. Meanwhile, the other one of the two ferromagnetic layers is designed to be a free layer (a memory layer) that can have a magnetizing direction made parallel or anti-parallel to the direction of magnetization of the pin layer in the existence of an external magnetic field. With the TMR effect, the MR ratio that represents the varying ratio of a magnetoresistance can be made 50% or higher, and thus, reliable read operations can be performed.
Accordingly, magnetoresistive devices utilizing the TMR effect are normally employed in the development of magnetic random access memories at present.
Meanwhile, a self-reference sensing technique has been developed for use in magnetic random access memories, so as to achieve reliable read operations that are not adversely affected by variations in the characteristics of memory cells (see "0.24 μm 2.0V 1T1MTJ 16 Kb NV Magnetoresistive RAM with Self Reference Sensing", ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers, 2003).
This technique is characterized in that two read operations are performed on a designated cell to be read, and the value of the data stored in the designated cell is determined by comparing the data read through the two read operations.
For example, after the first read operation is performed on the designated cell, "0" is written in the designated cell, and the second read operation is then performed on the designated cell. If the data (signal) read out through the two read operations are the same, the value of the data stored in the designated cell is determined to be "0". If the data read out through the two read operations differ from each other, the value of the data stored in the designated cell is determined to be "1".
The determination of the value of the data stored in the designated cell is performed by detecting the difference between the signal obtained through the two read operations. For example, a read current I1 is applied to the designated cell in the first read operation, and a read current I2 (>I1) is applied to the designated cell in the second read operation.
By the conventional self-reference sensing technique, however, each of the margins allowed for the "0"/"1" determination to be performed by an operational amplifier is as small as half of the greatest signal difference obtained with the MR ratio of the corresponding magnetoresistive device.
Only such small margins are allowed, because guard bands or offsets (the read currents I1 and I2) need to be set so as to determine whether there is not a difference between the signal obtained through the two read operations (whether the data values are the same). Therefore, there is an increasing demand for a technique to eliminate this drawback.

Read circuit of semiconductor and read method using a self-reference sensing technique


A stable catalyst solution suitable for catalyzing the polycondensation of reactants to make polyester polymers comprising:                (i) M, wherein M is represented by an alkaline earth metal or alkali metal and        (ii) aluminum metal and        (iii) a polyhydroxyl ether solvent,wherein the molar ratio of M:Al ranges from 0.2:1 to 4:1 or less. The catalyst solution is desirably a solution which does not precipitate upon standing over a period of at least one week at room temperature (25° C.-40° C.), even at molar ratios of M:Al approaching 1:1. There is also provided a method for the manufacture of the solution, its feed to and use in the manufacture of a polyester polymer, and polyester polymers obtained by combining certain ingredients or containing the residues of these ingredients in the composition.

Solutions prepared from alkaline earth metal or alkali metals ("M") and aluminum tend to precipitate over time. This problem is especially noticeable as the molar ratio of M:Al drops from 5:1 and approaches 1:1, where precipitation begins to occur at moderate temperatures less than 125° C. It is desirable that the feed of catalyst components to a melt phase polymerization process stay in solution to provide more uniform mixing with the reactants or polymer melt, and to enable feeding a consistent and uniform amount of desired catalyst to the melt phase process.
A catalyst solution has advantages over catalyst slurries, in that a solution avoids the potential for pumping and circulation problems, avoids transfer line fouling and plugging, and avoids the need for vigorous agitation used in slurries to prevent insoluble catalyst precipitates from settling in feed tanks. Precipitates in the feed tanks make feeding a uniform feed of catalyst to the melt phase polymerization process a problem.
Lithium hydroxide and aluminum isopropoxide can be combined in the presence of ethylene glycol to form a solution. This can be accomplished by heating the components to a temperature sufficient to form the catalyst in solution. The temperature for this reaction is normally in the range of 125° C. to 160° C. for one to five hours. Generally, the concentration of aluminum in the solution cannot exceed 3,000 ppm due to lack of solubility.
Precipitates can form under several conditions when a catalyst system is mixed in ethylene glycol. Precipitates can form when the catalyst solution cools down to ambient temperatures. Even when the composition remains as a solution upon cooling, over time (e.g. a matter of a two or three days at the lower Li:Al mole ratios) the solution can change to form precipitates. The amount of actual catalyst fed to a melt phase polymerization line for making the polyester through a feed system set at a given flow rate will fluctuate if precipitates form, thereby leading to inconsistent product types or product quality.
To maintain the catalysts in solution, an ethylene glycol/Li/Al catalyst composition must remain at an elevated temperature of about 150° C. or more when the molar ratio drops below 5:1, especially when the molar ratio is about 3:1 or less and approaches 1:1. Catalyst solutions maintained at high temperatures suffer from several disadvantages. Further, to maintain the catalyst solution at elevated temperatures requires increased plant capital for heated catalyst feed vessels. Another way precipitates form is when the amount of aluminum in the catalyst composition exceeds 3000 ppm. It is desirable to employ a catalyst feed source having a high concentration of Al so that the amount of solvent fed to the melt phase process can be reduced. Dilute catalyst systems can be used but suffer the drawback that a higher volume of the solution is fed to the melt phase process to meet a target catalyst metal content, thereby requiring the removal through evaporation or reaction of larger amounts of solvent from the melt phase process.
Not only can the catalyst precipitate in ethylene glycol solutions when 3000 ppm aluminum or more is used or if the hot solution is allowed to cool, but it can precipitate as the molar ratio of M:Al approaches 1:1. However, we have discovered that a molar ratio of M:Al of about 1:1 is desirable in some applications because the yellowness of the polyester polymer is minimized as the molar ratio of M:Al approaches 1:1.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a catalyst composition which remains in solution at ambient conditions without agitation. Alternatively, or in addition, it would also be desirable if solutions can be made, if desired, at molar ratios of M:Al that approach 1:1 that are stable over a wide variety of temperatures, including ambient conditions. Alternatively, or in addition, it would be particularly advantageous if such solutions can be made using 3000 ppm Al or more to minimize the amount of solvent fed to a melt phase polycondensation process.

Non-precipitating alkali/alkaline earth metal and aluminum solutions made with polyhydroxyl ether solvents


An address translation device includes a receiver that receives a packet that is from a communication apparatus on a private network to a communication apparatus on a global network; an address determiner that determines whether a destination address of a first packet received by the receiver matches a destination address of a second packet that was received before the first packet; a translator that when the address determiner makes a determination of no matching, translates a source private address of the first packet to a source global address that has been allocated to the second packet; and a transmitter that transmits the first packet that has been translated by the translator.

In the current Internet communication environment, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is used and on the Internet, only communication by IPv4 global addresses (globally unique, allocated addresses) is performed.
Nonetheless, consequent to the rising number of network connected terminals and the increasing need for protection against upsurges in the exploitation of terminal vulnerability, business and residential networks use private addresses that can be used only for communication within the local business or residential network. When communication with a counterpart terminal is performed via the Internet, typically, an address translation device is used and the private address is converted into a global address (network address translation (NAT)) (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2002-204252 and 2000-156710). A global address and a port number can be uniquely allocated to connections equivalent to global address count×port number count.
Address translation, for example, in the case of businesses, is implemented at the boundary of the local business network and the Internet, and in the case of residences, is implemented at a broadband router setup in the residence.
In recent years, the extent to which the number of network connected terminals has increased is remarkable and it is predicted that available IPv4 addresses will be exhausted; a state of insufficient IPv4 global addresses for Internet communication is approaching.
Although address translation enabling multiple terminals to be consolidated to the same global address is effective, in the case of residences, since address translation is implemented by a broadband router, each residence is allocated 1 global address and consequently, address allocation is not very efficient.
Thus, rather than performing address translation by broadband routers setup in residences, carrier-grade NAT is known that implements address translation collectively at carrier providers such as Internet service providers (ISPs). Carrier-grade NAT is an approach of performing NAT on an extremely large-scale and of exclusively undertaking communication of all ISP subscriber terminals and performing address translation.
Nonetheless, even with carrier-grade NAT, the address translation scheme is identical to the NAT address translation scheme of implementing address translation by the broadband router at residences. Therefore, a paired global IP and port number are allocated for each communication (Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/User Datagram Protocol (UDP) communication) and when the communication has ended, the global IP and port number are reallocated to another communication, making global address use efficient.
However, currently, the extreme rise in the number and types of terminals connecting to the Internet as well as the increase in the number of TCP connections used for one communication are posing problems. For example, for a personal computer (PC) user to merely view a Web page using browser, in the past, 1 TCP connection was used, however, recently, several hundred TCP connections may be used.
Consequent to the problem of increases in the quantity of global addresses used, a further problem arises in that sufficient improvement in the efficiency of global address use by an introduction of carrier-grade NAT cannot be realized (e.g., since there are 65,000 port numbers, when 65,000 TCP connections and UDP communications occur, other global IP addresses have to prepared).

Address translation device, address translation method, and computer product


A method of driving a sectional hollow concrete pile comprises applying a direct driving force to the upper end of a first pile section and driving it into the ground. Thereafter, a second similar pile section is applied to the top of the first driven pile section and the composite sectional pile is driven to the required depth. Further, similar sections may be applied one on top of the other and the composite pile thereby formed after the application of each further pile section is driven to the required depth.

A conventional method of providing piles is to drive a one piece hollow steel casing into the ground to a sufficient depth and thereafter to pour concrete into the interior of the casing (with or without reinforcement) to provide a steel cased concrete pile.
Various methods have been employed in driving such piles including top drive with a hammering action either by the user or a larger mass or a relatively small mass vibrating at a high frequency, or bottom drive using similar techniques, or jacking by applying a downward force to the pile top from an hydraulic jack interposed between the pile top and a fixed reactive member, for example an existing building structure.
As a result of the cost of material employed, piles of the type described above are relatively expensive and attempts have been made in the past to utilize hollow concrete piles which are less expensive to manufacture.
One proposal has involved the use of sectional hollow concrete piles which are driven from above utilizing a pile section carrier or mandrel. Clearly, concrete piles cannot tolerate the same compressive impact loads as steel piles and so that they can be economically driven on past concrete pile driving operations, have involved threading the pile sections onto a central steel mandrel which carried at its forward end a sacrificial nose, the outside diameter of which is slightly greater than the outside diameter of the cylindrical concrete sections. With this arrangement the driving force from the pile driving hammer is transmitted to the nose by the central steel mandrel and the pile sections are simply carried down with the mandrel. When a sufficient depth of pile has been driven, the mandrel can be removed leaving the concrete sections and sacrificial nose in the ground. If desired, the hollow concrete pile can then be filled with reinforcement and concrete.
The method described above is disadvantageous in that if a pile of relatively long length is required, it is often necessary to interrupt the pile driving sequence and insert a longer mandrel after having threaded it through additional pile sections.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate these disadvantages.


This invention is directed to a compound of formula (I),

Adenosine is a well-known component of several endogenous molecules (ATP, NAD+, nucleic acids). Besides, it plays an important regulatory role in many physiological processes. The effect of adenosine on heart function was discovered already in 1929. (Drury and Szentgyörgyi, J Physiol 68:213, 1929). The identification of an increasing number of physiological functions mediated by adenosine and the discovery of new adenosine receptor subtypes give possibilities for therapeutic application of specific ligands (Poulse, S. A. and Quinn, R. J. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry 6:619, 1998).
To date, the receptors for adenosine have been classified into three main classes: A1, A2 and A3. The A1 subtype is partly responsible for the inhibition of the adenylate cyclase by coupling to Gi membrane protein, partly influences other second messenger systems. The A2 receptor subtype can be subdivided into two further subtypes—A2a and A2b-, which stimulate the adenylate cyclase activity. The sequence of adenosine A3 receptors have been recently identified from rat testis cDNA library. Later it was proved that it corresponds to a novel, functional adenosine receptor. The activation of the A3 receptors is connected also with several second-messenger systems: inhibiting of adenylate cyclase, stimulating phospholipase C and D.
The adenosine receptors are found in several organs and regulate their functions. Both A1 and A2a receptors play important role in the central nervous system and cardiovascular system. In the CNS, the adenosine inhibits the release of synaptic transmitters which effect is mediated by A1 receptors. In the heart, also the A1 receptors mediate the negative inotropic, chronotropic and dromotropic effects of adenosine. The adenosine A2a receptors, which are located in a relatively high amount in the striatum, display functional interaction with the dopamine receptors in regulating the synaptic transmission. The A2a adenosine receptors on endothelial and smooth muscle cells are responsible for adenosine-induced vasodilation.
On the basis of mRNA identification, the A2b adenosine receptors are widely distributed in different tissues. They have been identified almost in every cell type, but its expression is the highest in the intestine and the bladder. This subtype probably also has important regulatory function in the regulation of the vascular tone and plays a role in the function of mast cells.
Contrary to A1 and A2a receptors, where the tissue distribution was detected on the protein level, the presence of A2b and A3 receptors was detected on the basis of their mRNA level. Expression levels for A3 adenosine receptors are rather low compared to other subtypes and are highly species dependent. A3 adenosine receptors are expressed primarily in the central nervous system, testis and immune system, and appear to be involved in the modulation of mediator release from mast cells in immediate hypersensitivity reaction.
The A3 antagonists published so far in the literature belong to the groups of flavonoides, 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives, triazoloquinazolines, thiazolonaphthyridines and thiazolopyrimidines. The present invention relates to a novel type of effective A3 antagonists, which have the aminoquinoline structure.
For therapeutic use it is essential to ensure that the molecule does not bind, or bind only in the case of very high concentration, to the A1, A2a and A2b sub-types of the adenosine receptor. Our present invention relates to the compounds of the general formula (I) as well as their salts, solvates and isomers, which have great selectivity for the A3 sub-type of the adenosine receptor.
Our aim was to prepare A3 ligands, within them preferably antagonists, first of all with quinoline structure, which exert strong antagonistic effect and high selectivity for the A3 receptor, i.e. they inhibit the A3 receptor in much lower concentration than they inhibit the A1, A2a and A2b receptors. Further aims were to have stability, bioavailability, therapeutic index and toxicity data, enabling these new compounds to develop into drug substances, and that the new compounds possess favourable enteric absorption to be applied orally.

Imidazoquinoline derivatives as adenosine A3 receptor ligands

Abstract: wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, X, Z, m, n, o, p and r are as defined herein, its preparation, pharmaceutical composition and use as an adenosine A3 receptor ligand preferably an antagonist.


A digital contents distribution system has a multi-layered structure including a server device (CS device) of one or a small number of managers which are each to be a manager main body, a plurality of server devices (DS devices) of middle managers, and client terminal devices (SC terminal devices) of a large number of users. Accesses from the respective users are processed in the server devices of respective ones of the middle managers. It is therefore possible to prevent an inconvenience in which the accesses from a large number of users concentrate on the CS device of the manager. As a result, it is possible to reduce the load imposed on the CS device, and to perform a smooth distribution service of digital contents.

The present invention relates to a distribution system and a distribution method thereof for distributing digital contents, such as game contents, music contents, and movie contents.
In recent years, there have been available network distribution services for distributing digital contents, such as game contents, music contents, and movie contents, via a network such as the Internet.
In the case of such a network distribution service, a user connects his or her client terminal device to a server device of a manager's side via a network. The user directly receives digital contents from the server device of the manager. This is a general contents distribution system of the network distribution service.
However, when the number of users who desire the distribution of digital contents becomes large, the manager needs to distribute the digital contents in response to requests from a large number of users. Therefore, a heavy load is imposed on the server device for performing the distribution of the digital contents. Then, there occurs a problem of a breakdown of the server device, which disrupts the smooth distribution of the digital contents.