A combination ganging and stacking bar assembly for chairs. The bar assembly comprises a pair of substantially identical bar members each adapted to be secured between a pair of front and rear legs of the chair. The bar members each have integral offset medial segments extending outwardly of the plane of the outwardly facing surfaces of the legs of the chair. The offset medial portions of a pair of said bar members having cooperating male and female connecting structure for releasable ganging together a pair of such chairs in side-by-side relationship. Each bar member having bumper pads secured thereon on opposite sides of the medial segment constructed and arranged to engage leg portions of the chair below it in a stacked formation of like chairs.

Chairs having ganging or bracket devices by means of which chairs can be releasably coupled together in rows are commonly used in classrooms, entertainment and lecture halls, synagogues and churches where temporary additional seating capacity is necessary. In such chairs, the ganging mechanism is provided along opposing side edges of the chair seat so as to enable adjoining chairs to be secured one to the other whereby to prevent inadvertent lateral separation of adjoining chairs during use thereof, especially when an occupant rises from the chair, such ganging mechanisms serve to prevent inadvertent separation of adjacent chairs so that an established row of chairs is maintained.
The ganging of chairs in rows is a matter of concern to fire prevention authorities throughout the country. In the event of fire or other panic-creating occurrence, chairs not so ganged become loose chairs as attendees bolt from the chairs. The chairs become scattered in the room and interfere with orderly exits from the room. People attempting to escape from the room can fall over such scattered chairs in their haste to escape. Ganging of chairs prevents such inadvertent scattering of loose chairs.
A problem encountered with such chairs is economic storage of the chairs in convenient access for ganging them in rows in the room or hall. A known expedient for resolving this problem is to provide such a chair capable of being stacked one upon another in close proximity to the desired floor area of intended use. In other words, the optimum chair of this type would be one which could be ganged into rows for use and stacked one upon another when not in use.
A chair capable of being both ganged and stacked is taught, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,984, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,686 in U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,963, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,328,075, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,031 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,168.
A salient feature of this invention is to provide a chair having a combination stacking bar with an integrated ganging mechanism adapted to be secured between the front and rear legs of the chairs, said structure also being esthetically compatible with said chair legs.
Another feature of this invention is that the combination stacking and ganging capabilities are provided in a single integral stacking bar for the chair.

Ganging mechanism and stacking bar assembly for stacking chairs


A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device disclosed herein comprises: forming a first protrusion; forming a second protrusion which is higher than the first protrusion; forming a first sidewall on a side surface of the second protrusion; forming a first film so that a surface of the first film is located lower than the second protrusion; forming a mask on a side surface of the first sidewall on a side surface of the second protrusion which protrudes from the surface of the first film; and etching the first film with the mask so as to form a second sidewall on the side surface of the first sidewall on the side surface of the second protrusion but not to form the second sidewall on a side surface of the first protrusion, the second sidewall being formed of the mask and the first film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device, and particularly relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device including a first protrusion and a second protrusion higher than the first protrusion.
2. Related Background Art
There exists a FinFET in which a gate electrode and source/drain regions are three-dimensionally formed to improve the degree of integration of field effect transistors (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-9289, Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-150519). A FinFET has two protrusions, the source/drain region of the Fin and the gate electrode. The gate electrode as a second protrusion is formed higher than the Fin as a first protrusion.
When a sidewall is formed on a side surface of the gate electrode in such a FinFET, a sidewall is also formed on a side surface of the Fin, which causes a problem that application of doping and silicidation to the source/drain regions on the Fin is difficult. Namely, doping and silicide formation can be performed only on an upper surface of the Fin.
However, by application of doping and silicidation in the aforementioned manner, it is very difficult to form the uniform source/drain regions in a depth direction of the Fin, and, in usual, the effective channel length between the source and the drain region differ depending on the depth of the Fin. A lower portion of the Fin has a high series resistance, and the resistance degrade the drive current of the FinFET.
Such problems may arise not only in the FinFET but also in semiconductor devices including plural protrusions with different heights.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device


A variable rate pressure sensitive electrical device or switch. The switch includes a first substrate and a plurality of electrical circuit traces thereon. A first electrical trace is provided having a first set of raised contact features or bumps projecting from a prevalent planar portion of first electrical trace. At least a second electrical trace is provided having a second set of raised contact features or bumps extending above a planar portion of second electrical trace. The first and second electrical traces and associated raised contact features are constructed and arranged so that the height of the first set of raised contact features is greater than the height of the second set of raised contact features. A second substrate is provided with an electrically conductive element. At least one of the first and second substrates is deflectable and at least one of the first and second substrates is moveable with respect to the other so that the second substrate can make contact with the first set of raised contact features in a first position, and in a second position the second substrate can make contact with both sets of raised features to provide an electrical path across the first and second electrical traces.

A variety of contact switches are known. Filion et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,028, discloses an arm rest electrical switch arrangement for soft interior trim panels. The switch has a flexible skin including indented or depression areas shaped and oriented to receive a person's finger tip. A membrane switch is encapsulated in a foam layer adjacent to the depression area and positioned inside a soft interior trim panel and fixed in position during foaming and curing of the foam layer. The application of pressure with a finger in the depression area will close the membrane switch. This is an on/off type switch and can be utilized to raise or lower windows or to move mirrors in an automobile.
Latasiewicz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,586, discloses a membrane switch assembly having a plurality of contact bearing layers. Each contact bearing layer contains a plurality of contact members connected to a plurality of leads which extend from the switch assembly. The contact members are placed as desired in registration with each other or with apertures in spacer layers. This arrangement permits contact between desired contact members themselves, between desired contact members in a base/ground layer or between individual contact members in the base layer. A substantial number of possible combinations of contact members enables such a switch assembly to be readily adapted to a number of control patterns as dictated by the switching requirements of the desired device. Nevertheless, this assembly is also limited to on/off type switching.
Bennewitz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,234, discloses a tactile feel membrane switch assembly. A plurality of membrane switches in a keyboard array are provided with tactile feel utilizing a metal snap dome and a force actuator positioned above the membrane switch. The tactile feel is provided by a sudden decrease in force during actuation of the switch. A snap dome, a force actuator, a dome enclosure and an overlayer are mounted above the membrane switch. These are all provided with a planar, layered construction which enables the metal dome to be free to deflect through its specified travel. The full travel of the metal dome will provide acceptable tactile feel response. When the dome snaps through, it engages a force actuator which forces the membrane down causing the switch contacts to close. Again, this type of switch is also limited to on/off switching.
Larson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,272, discloses a membrane switch interconnect tail and printed circuit board connection. The switch includes a substrate and a membrane layer with a plurality of conductive elements formed on each of the layers. The layers are conveniently separated by a spacer. The conductive elements are arranged into a pattern forming switch sites or locations. A particular switch is closed by applying pressure to a membrane at the switch location. A connecting tail is attached to a substrate layer. The tail includes a raised portion including a plurality of individual bumps. The bumps may be formed by embossing them in the tail member. Similarly, this switch is also limited to on/off applications.
The present invention provides alternatives and advantages over the prior art.

Switch having raised contact features and a deflectable substrate


Information about a base position at which a cursor operation has been started is stored in a storage section (212). When an operation of moving the cursor is accepted from a remote controller (217), the information about the base position of the cursor is acquired from the storage section (212), and is compared with information about the position to which the cursor has been moved, whereby it is determined that the cursor has returned to the base position. In this case, an operation sound generation section (216) acquires an operation sound different from the normal one from an operation sound ROM (215), and a sound signal superimposing section (207) superimposes the different operation sound onto a sound signal which is to be outputted from a speaker (211). Thus, a user can easily recognize that the cursor has returned to the base position.

Along with improvement in performance of a microprocessor or the like stored in consumer electronic apparatuses and professional electronic apparatuses, the functions of the electronic apparatuses have dramatically improved. As a result, a conventional mechanical push button is insufficient as an input method for operating the electronic apparatuses. Instead, a combination of an operation screen and a push button, or a touch panel type of operation screen is frequently used. Such an operation screen has a multilayer configuration to orderly group the functions, thereby facilitating the operation which tends to be complicated.
Meanwhile, in the case where such an input operation using an operation screen is provided, a user with impaired vision may not be able to view the operation screen or may have difficulty viewing the operation screen. Therefore, an apparatus that allows such a user to perform an operation being assisted by sound for explaining each item, is used. However, given that a large number of candidate items are displayed on the screen and that there are a large number of multilayer screens, assistance by only sound information is not necessarily sufficient. That is, problems occur in which a user repeatedly returns to the same item or a user hardly recognizes which screen the user is operating, of the multiplayer screens.
In order to solve or relieve such problems, for example, Patent Literature 1 changes the kind or tone of sound produced when an operation button is pressed, depending on each layer, thereby facilitating identification of the current layer that a user is operating. For example, the tone of sound is changed in accordance with the depth of the layer.
In Patent Literature 2, if a user repeatedly returns to the same menu item being confused about the operation, a special explanation is outputted as sound when a cursor has moved to the menu item, whereby the user's operation is assisted. For each menu item, a counter counts the number of times the menu item is designated by the cursor. If the number of times exceeds a predetermined value, the special explanation is outputted.

Operation sound guide apparatus and operation sound guide method

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A coupler and a method for installing an instrumentation line, such as fiber optic cable, into a wellbore. The coupler places upper and lower instrumentation lines in communication with one another downhole to form a single line. The coupler comprises a landing tool and a stinger that lands on the landing tool, thereby placing the upper and the lower instrumentation lines in communication. The landing tool is run into the wellbore at the lower end of a tubular, such as production tubing. The upper instrumentation line affixes to the tubing and landing tool and extends to the surface. The lower instrumentation line affixes along the stinger. In this manner, the lower instrumentation line may be installed after expansion of a well screen or liner and may be later removed from the wellbore prior to well workover procedures without pulling the production string.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for connecting instrumentation lines in a wellbore. More particularly, the invention provides methods and apparatus for delivering a fiber optic cable to a selected depth within a hydrocarbon wellbore.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical oil or gas well, a borehole drilled into the surface of the earth extends downward into a formation to provide a wellbore. The wellbore may include any number of tubular strings such as a string of surface casing cemented into place and a liner string hung off of the casing that extends into a producing zone, or pay zone, where the liner is perforated to permit inflow of hydrocarbons into the bore of the liner. Alternatively, the wellbore may be completed as an open hole which may include a sand screen positioned at the end of the casing to support the formation and filter hydrocarbons that pass therethrough. During the life of the well, it is sometimes desirable to monitor conditions in situ. Recently, technology has enabled well operators to monitor conditions within a wellbore by installing permanent monitoring systems downhole. The monitoring systems permit the operator to monitor such parameters as multiphase fluid flow, as well as pressure and temperature. Downhole measurements of pressure, temperature and fluid flow play an important role in managing oil and gas or other sub-surface reservoirs.
Historically, permanent monitoring systems have used electronic components to provide pressure, temperature, flow rate and water fraction data on a real-time basis. These monitoring systems employ temperature gauges, pressure gauges, acoustic sensors, and other instruments, or "sondes," disposed within the wellbore. Such electrical instruments are either battery operated, or are powered by electrical cables deployed from the surface. Typically, conductive electrical cables transmit the electrical signals from the electronic sensors back to the surface.
Recently, optical sensors have been developed which communicate readings from the wellbore to optical signal processing equipment located at the surface. The optical sensors may be variably located within the wellbore and do not require an electrical line from the surface. For example, optical sensors may be positioned in fluid communication with the housing of a submersible electrical pump. Such an arrangement is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,860, issued to Maron, et al., in 1999. The '860 patent is incorporated herein in its entirety, by reference. Optical sensors may also be disposed along the tubing within a wellbore to sense the desired parameters. As another example of an optical sensor, a distributed temperature sensor system is a known measurement technique that provides a continuous temperature profile along the entire length of an optical fiber. Distributed temperature sensor systems operate on the principle of backscattering, the known velocity of light and the thermal energy in the optical fiber. Regardless of the type of optical sensor, an optical waveguide or fiber optic cable runs from the surface to the optical sensor downhole. Surface equipment transmits optical signals to the downhole optical sensors via the fiber optic cables which transmit return optical signals to an optical signal processor at the surface.
Therefore, both optical and electronic sensors often require an instrumentation line such as a fiber optic cable, a wire or a conductive electric cable that runs down the wellbore to the sensor. The instrumentation line may run down the outer surface of one of the tubular strings in the wellbore such as production tubing and clamp thereto at intervals as is known in the art. When the instrumentation line is on the outside of a liner or sand screen, the instrumentation line may be subjected to trauma or damage as the liner or sand screen runs into the wellbore. Trauma further increases where the instrumentation line is disposed along the outer surface of an expanded liner or sand screen since the instrumentation line compresses between the outer surface of the liner or sand screen and the surrounding formation.
Further, the instrumentation line may be exposed to the harsh effects of chemicals used in well completion or remediation operations. For example, it is oftentimes desirable to wash the tubing in order to remove grease and contaminants during a last stage in well completion. This is accomplished by circulating acid through the tubing. In addition, an acid wash or other stimulant may clean the sand screen and tubing of paraffins, hydrates and scale that accumulate along the sand screen and tubing during the life of a producing well. The application of such chemicals may be detrimental to the integrity of the instrumentation line. This is particularly true where the instrumentation line is a fiber optic cable of a distributed temperature sensor system. A packer may isolate an upper section of the instrumentation line from the chemicals used in the well completion or remediation operations such that only a lower section of the instrumentation line is subject to the harsh chemicals.
The expandable sand screen may include protective features that help protect the instrumentation line disposed along the outside of the sand screen as the sand screen is run and expanded. For example, the instrumentation line may pass along a recess in the outer diameter of the sand screen. Arrangements for the recess are described more fully in the application entitled "Profiled Recess for Instrumented Expandable Components," having Ser. No. 09/964,034, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,553 issued Apr. 12. 2005. which is incorporated herein in its entirety, by reference. Alternatively, a specially profiled encapsulation around the sand screen which contains arcuate walls may house the instrumentation line. Arrangements for the encapsulation are described more fully in the application entitled "Profiled Encapsulation for Use with Expandable Sand Screen," having Ser. No. 09/964,160, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,161 issued Aug. 23, 2005, which is also incorporated herein in its entirety, by reference. However, these protective features fail to protect the instrumentation line from the chemicals used during well completion and remediation operations. With the instrumentation line clamped to a liner or sand screen and/or disposed in a protective feature of a sand screen, it is not possible to pull the instrumentation line during an acid wash or other remedial operation, at least not without pulling the tubular and/or sand screen.
Therefore, there exists a need for a method of installing an instrumentation line into a wellbore after expansion of a sand screen or other liner, after setting of a packer, and/or after conducting an acid wash. Further, a need exists for a coupling apparatus that permits a lower instrumentation line to connect downhole with an upper instrumentation line after the upper instrumentation line is placed in the wellbore. There exists a further need for a coupling apparatus that allows the lower instrumentation line to be detached and removed from the wellbore without removing the upper instrumentation line.

Apparatus and methods for installing instrumentation line in a wellbore


A quantizing error removing circuit for a rotational control device applied to a servo circuit and the like of a video cassette recorder, designed to removing the quantizing error generated upon controlling the speed and phase, minimizing a change of gain characteristic of a control device, thereby improving its efficiency. The circuit according to the present invention includes a moving average filter which comprises a predetermined number of delay elements connected in series to each other in order to delay by a predetermined set time, a phase error control signal outputted from a phase control filter; a summer for summing the phase error control signal and each output of the delay elements; a divider for dividing a summed output value of the summer by the number of summing signals, thereby outputting the divided quotient as a phase control signal; and another delay element for delaying the remainder value outputted from the divider by a predetermined set time, thereby feeding the remainder value back to the summer. The remainder value fed back from said other delay element to the summer is summed with the summed value of the summer at the next sampling time point, and according to this, generation of quantizing error caused by the presence of the remainder value is prevented.

The present invention relates to a quantizing error removing circuit of a rotational control device, and more particularly, in the rotational control device of a motor servo circuit in a video cassette recorder, or the like it relates to a quantizing error removing circuit which detects and removes the quantizing error of a rotational body so as to improve the efficiency of the rotational control device.

Quantizing error removing circuit for a rotational control device


A method for editing an OLE control wherein changes may be made to the control in a direct graphically interactive manner. The user drags an icon representation of the control and drops the control onto a form of a container which supports OLE controls, such as Visual Basic. When the user drops the control, the container constructs the control. When the user selects the control for an editing transaction the control creates a property page dialog and displays the control in the property page dialog. The user makes changes directly to the control displayed in the property page dialog with an input device, such as a mouse. These changes are applied to the control's data and are thus reflected in the control displayed in the preview window and in the form window. The method is particularly useful for setting initial run-time values of controls.

Microfiche Appendix
The present disclosure includes a microfiche appendix comprising 1 microfiche and 69 frames. The microfiche appendix comprises appendix A, which contains source code listings of one embodiment of the present invention. (Note to Examiner: a hard copy of this Appendix is being filed with the application. A microfiche copy will be provided subsequently as a substitute for the hard copy, and this note will be deleted from the application.)

System and method for editing a control via direct graphical user interaction


A separating device for separating a multiphase medium includes a cyclone separating device (1) that provokes an at least partial distribution of at least two phases of the medium with the formation of a vortex flow for the medium. Each phase having a lower density compared to the other phase is separated from the other phase and can be guided out of the separating device by a collecting device (35, 37).

Separating devices are prior art, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,775. These devices are used, for example, for separating media that in a liquid phase contain a second liquid phase (for example, aqueous phase/hydrocarbon phase) or a gaseous phase or suspended solids, or for media that in a gaseous phase contain a second gaseous phase and/or a liquid phase (for example, aqueous phase) and/or suspended solids.

Separating device comprising a cyclone separating device


The present disclosure relates to a repairing method for Mura in a display panel, including: configuring a rectangular-shaped first black area in a first image displayed in a display region of a display panel to be a width of a first predetermined pixel, determining a boundary “a” of the white area, configuring a second white area in a second image displayed in the display region of the display panel to be a width of a second predetermined pixel, determining a boundary “b” of the black area, obtaining a boundary “c” of an actual-displaying image of the display panel according to a width of a third predetermined pixel within an image captured by a charge couple device (CCD), cutting the image captured by the CCD along the boundary “c”, and conducting a Mura repairing process on the image which has been cut down.

With the development of the three-dimensional display technology, high-resolution has been greatly demanded. Liquid crystal panel is the main component to achieve the high-resolution.
The offset generated during the manufacturing process of liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and the characteristic differences between liquid crystal molecules may cause the differences of brightness between each position of the LCD panel when displaying in a fixed grayscale value, resulting in non-uniform brightness of the display panel, which referred to as Mura effect.
Conventionally, the Mura repairing system of the LCD panel mainly includes a camera and a corresponding software algorithm. The Mura condition in the grayscale value of the LCD panel is captured by the camera, and the software is configured to perform an image processing calculation process basing on the brightness of the central area of the panel. The software is further configured to obtain the brightness difference between the surrounding area and the center area, so as to obtain the compensating grayscale value indicating that the brightness required to be adjusted at the Mura position under the current grayscale value (the grayscale value of the dark area requires to be increased, and the compensating data is positive; the grayscale value of the bright area requires to be reduced, and the compensating data is negative) according to the gamma curve of the panel (one-to-one correspondence curve of the brightness and the grayscale value). Then, the Mura compensating data configured to fix the positioning pixel is stored in the flash memory by the format required by the time controlling integral circuit (TCON IC). When the TCON IC starts to operate, the Mura compensating data is read from the flash memory, and the TCON IC may calculate the Mura compensating data and the input signals (grayscale value). The brightness of the panel may be adjusted by adjusting the grayscale values of each area, thereby improving the uniformity of overall brightness and darkness of the panel.
In the prior art, the Mura compensating data is one of the factors that may determine the accuracy of the Mura repairing system. That is, the grayscale value, required to be adjusted, calculated by the software according to the brightness, may determine the accuracy of the Mura repairing system. Another important factor is to accurately locate the effective display region of the LCD panel. The software may calculate the exact position of the Mura in the display region of the LCD panel, as such the correct Mura compensating data may not be associated to the wrong position.
However, light-leakages may occur at the rim of the LCD panel. When the software locates the display region of the LCD panel according to the grayscale image captured by the camera (positioning by the edge of the bright image and dark image), the light-leakage area may also be calculated as the display region of the LCD panel, causing the calculated display region of the LCD panel is greater than the actual size of the LCD panel. The calculated compensating data of the light leakage area may still be performed on the display region of the LCD panel in the actual size, which may result in compensation errors, thereby affecting the overall performance of the Mura repairing system of the LCD panel.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new Mura compensating method for display panels to solve the above problem.

Repairing method for Mura in display panel

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A startup assistance device, which assists startup of an internal combustion engine in which fuel is supplied from an electronically controlled fuel injection device and ignition is performed by an ignition device, includes a recoil starter which is driven by manpower and which performs cranking for starting up the internal combustion engine, an electric rotary machine which adds torque to a crankshaft of the internal combustion engine during at least one of a startup period of the internal combustion engine using the recoil starter and a standby period before the startup period, a power source unit which supplies power to the electric rotary machine, and a control unit which controls the magnitude and time of the torque output by the electric rotary machine.

Patent Literature 1 describes a power tool having an engine, a recoil starter, and an electric motor. In the power tool, when a recoil starter handle is operated by a user and a sensor detects that a recoil rope has been pulled, a controller controls the electric motor to turn a crankshaft. Specifically, in a compression process in which a piston moves toward top dead center, the controller controls the electric motor to rotate the crankshaft. In this case, the rotation speed of the electric motor is controlled so as not to exceed the rotation speed of the recoil rope. That is, the electric motor assists the crankshaft in the rotation, thereby reducing the force to pull the recoil rope by a user.

Startup assistance device for internal combustion engine


In a buckle of the present invention, inertia force F.sub.1 acts in a direction opposite to a direction toward a disengaging position of a main body 4d of a lock member when the buckle is pulled by a pretensioner. Clockwise torque T.sub.1 is developed on a lever 12b and counter-clockwise torque T.sub.2 is developed on a mass body 12c. Since the torque T.sub.2 of the mass body 12c is larger generally, the lever 12b and the mass body 12c rotate together in the counter-clockwise direction so that the lever is set in the restricting position. At the bottoming of the pulling action of the buckle, the inertia force F.sub.2 acts in a direction toward the disengaging position of the main body 4d. Therefore, the mass body 12c rotates in the clockwise direction and the lever 12b is held in the restricting position so that the movement of the lock member in the direction toward the disengaging position of the main body 4d is prevented. As a result of this, unexpected disengagement between the buckle and the tongue is prevented even with extreme acceleration, the operational feeling of an operational button is improved, interchangeability is provided to the operational button, and the assembly condition of components such as the operational button is improved.

The present invention pertains to a technical field of a seat belt device for restraining an occupant which is provided for a seat of a vehicle such as an automobile. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a technical field of a buckle on which extreme inertia force is exerted by, for example, pulling action by a pre-tensioner when a seat belt device restraints an occupant.
Nowadays, in various vehicles including automobiles, seat belt devices for protecting occupants in emergency such as collision are mounted for seats thereof. In order to facilitate the occupant to wear on and off such a seat belt, a buckle is normally provided. In general, the buckle comprises a latch member provided with a joggle portion which latches a tongue. The engagement and disengagement between the tongue and the buckle are achieved by that the latch member is biased by a spring in such a direction as to latch the tongue and by that the latch member is pivoted by an operational button in such a direction as to release the tongue.
A buckle of a type that is pulled by a pre-tensioner when the seat belt restraints an occupant is known in the art. The buckle of this type is rapidly pulled by the pre-tensioner so as to cause extreme acceleration. Because of this acceleration, inertia force is developed in a direction opposite to the direction of the acceleration. Due to the inertia force, there is a possibility of unexpected disengagement between the tongue and the buckle.
Therefore, a buckle for a safety belt has been proposed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 08-228809, which can securely prevent such unexpected disengagement between a tongue and the buckle even when the buckle is subjected to extreme acceleration.
In the buckle disclosed in this publication, a release button has a pair of limit stops spaced from each other with a predetermined distance and, on the other hand, a lever has a pair of first and second lever arms, which are formed integrally with each other, and a mass body. The first and second lever arms and the mass body are disposed on a frame in such a manner that they can rotate together. The first lever arm is located to confront one of the limit stops of the release button and the second lever arm is located to confront the other one of the limit stops.
In case of normal releasing operation of the release button, one limit stop strikes the first lever arm and pivots the first and second lever arms and the mass body while the release button moves in a direction of disengaging the tongue from buckle. As extreme acceleration is exerted on the buckle in a direction opposite to the disengaging direction of the release button, inertia force in the disengaging direction of the release button is developed on the release button, the first and second lever arms, and the mass body, so the first and second lever arms and the mass body are pivoted whereby the first lever arm is brought in contact with one of the limit stops. Since the release button is therefore prevented from moving in the disengaging direction, the disengagement between the tongue and the buckle is prevented. As extreme acceleration is exerted on the buckle in the disengaging direction of the release button, inertia force in the direction opposite to the disengaging direction of the release button is developed on the release button, the first and second lever arms, and the mass body, so the first and second lever arms are pivoted whereby the second lever arm is brought in contact with the other limit stop. This prevents the release button from moving in the direction opposite to the disengaging direction.
In the buckle disclosed in the publication, unexpected disengagement between the tongue and the buckle during extreme acceleration or deceleration can be securely prevented.
In case that the buckle is pulled by the pre-tensioner, the terminal of this pulling action causes acceleration in a direction opposite to that of the acceleration developed during the pulling action. This acceleration exerts inertia force on the buckle in the direction opposite to that of the acceleration. That is, there is a possibility that the direction of inertia force is suddenly reversed at the termination of the pulling action by the pre-tensioner. Such sudden reversion may cause unexpected disengagement between the tongue and the buckle.
In the buckle disclosed in the aforementioned publication, however, since the first and second lever arms and the mass body are formed integrally with each other, the inertia moment must be large. Therefore, it is quite difficult to reverse the direction of the lever which is pivoted. Accordingly, it should be difficult to securely correspond such sudden reversion of the direction of the inertia force to prevent the unexpected disengagement between the tongue and the buckle.
Since the first and second lever arm and the mass body are pivoted together during the movement of the release button in the disengaging direction, larger operating force is required as compared to a case where only the release button is moved, so it is hard to say that the operational feeling of the buckle is excellent without any problem.
Further, the limit stops of the release button make the release button's configuration special so that the release button does not have interchangeability with release buttons of other buckles. The first and second lever arms are disposed on a frame separate from the release button while the limit stops are disposed on the release button. In order to secure the operation of the limit stops and the first and second lever arms, the spaces among them should be exactly set, so it is hard to say that the assembly condition of the release button, the first and second lever arms is excellent.


Poly(alkylene ether) aminocarbamates having the formula: ##STR1## wherein A is a polyamine moiety having at least one basic nitrogen atom; R.sub.1 is a hydrocarbyl group having a sufficient number of carbon atoms to render the poly(vinyl ether) aminocarbamate soluble in hydrocarbons boiling in the gasoline or diesel fuel range; R.sub.2 is an alkylene group having 2 to about 8 carbon atoms; R.sub.3, R.sub.4, R.sub.5, R.sub.6, R.sub.7 and R.sub.8 are each independently hydrogen or a lower alkyl group having 1 to about 4 carbon atoms; R.sub.9 is an alkyl group having 1 to about 10 carbon atoms; m is 0 or 1; and n is an integer from 5 to 99.. The poly(vinyl ether) aminocarbamates of formula I are useful as fuel additives for the prevention and control of engine deposits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel end-functionalized poly(vinyl ethers). More particularly, this invention relates to novel poly(vinyl ether) aminocarbamates and their use in fuel compositions to prevent and control engine deposits.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that automobile engines tend to form deposits on the surface of engine components, such as carburetor ports, throttle bodies, fuel injectors, intake ports and intake valves, due to the oxidation and polymerization of hydrocarbon fuel. These deposits, even when present in relatively minor amounts, often cause noticeable driveability problems, such as stalling and poor acceleration. Moreover, engine deposits can significantly increase an automobile's fuel consumption and production of exhaust pollutants. Therefore, the development of effective fuel detergents or "deposit control" additives to prevent or control such deposits is of considerable importance and numerous such materials are known in the art.
Deposit control additives, however, differ in their effectiveness for preventing or controlling deposits on various engine components. This is believed to be due primarily to the fact that each engine component has a different operating temperature and some deposit control additives are not sufficiently stable on the surface of certain engine components to perform their intended function. In this regard, deposits on intake valves are particularly difficult to control, since intake valve operating temperatures can exceed 3000C. At such high temperatures, many fuel additives are too volatile to be effective, while others thermally decompose.
Therefore, it would be particularly desirable to provide effective deposit control additives which have improved thermal stability at normal engine intake valve operating temperatures and which further have a sufficient molecular weight so as to be nonvolatile at such temperatures. The present invention discloses a new class of poly(vinyl ether) aminocarbamate fuel additives having such properties.
Polyether fuel additives are well known in the art. These polyether additives, however, have a poly(oxyalkylene) "backbone", i.e. the polyether portion of the molecule consists of repeating oxyalkylene units, i.e. [--CHR--CHR--O--].sub.x. In contrast, the fuel additives of the present invention have a vinyl ether polymer backbone consisting of repeating vinyl ether units, i.e. [--CHR--CR(OR)--].sub.x.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,537, issued Mar. 4, 1980 to R. A. Lewis et al., for example, discloses a fuel composition comprising a major portion of hydrocarbons boiling in the gasoline range and from 30 to 2000 ppm of a hydrocarbyl poly(oxyalkylene) aminocarbamate having a molecular weight from about 600 to 10,000, and at least one basic nitrogen atom. The hydrocarbyl poly(oxyalkylene) moiety is composed of oxyalkylene units selected from 2 to 5 carbon oxyalkylene units. These fuel compositions are taught to maintain the cleanliness of intake systems without contributing to combustion chamber deposits.
Similar hydrocarbyl poly(oxyalkylene) aminocarbamates and fuel compositions containing such additives are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,160,648; 4,197,409; 4,236,020; 4,270,930; 4,274,837; 4,288,612; 4,778,481; 4,881,945; 5,055,607; and in PCT International Patent Application Publication No. WO 90/07564, published Jul. 12, 1990. The aminocarbamates described in each of the aforementioned patents have a poly(oxyalkylene) backbone.
End-functionalized poly(vinyl ethers) are also known in the art. For example, A. Verma et al. in Polymer Preprints, 1991, 32, 322, describe the synthesis and characterization of functionalized poly(butyl vinyl ether) oligomers having an aldehyde or a primary hydroxyl endgroup. These is poly(vinyl ethers) are prepared by the living polymerization of butyl vinyl ether using a hydrogen iodide/zinc iodide initiating system. The polymerization reaction is terminated with aqueous potassium carbonate to form the aldehyde endgroup, which can subsequently be reduced to form the primary hydroxyl endgroup.
Poly(vinyl ethers) having amine end-groups are also known. C. G. Cho et al., Polymer Preprints, 1987, 28, 356, describe the synthesis of amine-terminated poly(alkyl vinyl ethers) by quenching the living polymerization of alkyl vinyl ethers with p-methyl styrene and an amine. The resulting poly(alkyl vinyl ether) is covalently linked to the amine through a p-methyl styrenic unit.
M. Miyamoto et al., Macromolecules, 1985, 18, 123, describe the synthesis of poly(vinyl ethers) having a terminal amine group by quenching the living polymerization reaction of vinyl ether monomers with aliphatic amines. The resulting poly(vinyl ether) amines have an .alpha.-amino ether endgroup.
Similarly, M. Sawamoto et al., Polymer Bulletin, 1987, 18, 117, describes quenching vinyl ether polymerization reactions with anilines to form aniline-terminated poly(vinyl ethers).
Amine-terminated poly(isobutyl vinyl ethers) having a primary amine at the beginning of the vinyl ether polymer are described by T. Hashimoto et al. in J. Poly. Sci. Polym. Chem. Ed., 1990, 28, 1137. These poly(vinyl ethers) are prepared by initiating the living polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether with 2-(vinyloxy)ethyl phthalimide. The phthalimide group is then removed with hydrazine to produce a poly(isobutyl vinyl ether) having a 2-aminoethyl ether moiety on the first vinyl ether unit of the polymer.
It has now been discovered that the thermal stability of polyether fuel additives can be substantially improved by is replacing the poly(oxyalkylene) component of such additives with a poly(vinyl ether) component. The resulting poly(vinyl ether) aminocarbamates are surprisingly effective for controlling fuel system deposits, particularly intake valve deposits.

Poly(alkylene ether) aminocarbamates and fuel compositions containing the same


In an ink tank, a main ink chamber is contiguous to a sub ink chamber containing an absorption member, and an air communication hole is formed on the top of the sub ink chamber. The absorption member holds ink pressure constant by capillary attraction of the absorption member. First, ink in the sub ink chamber is consumed with consumption of ink. When ink is consumed in a predetermined amount, air passes through the absorption member and a meniscus forming portion to form bubbles, which then move to the main ink chamber. Ink pressure is held constant by surface tension of the meniscus forming portion. Even if ink remains in a small amount, the ink leading portion makes the meniscus forming portion wet for holding ink pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink supply device for supplying ink to a recording head in an ink jet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional ink supply mechanism used with an ink jet recording apparatus, an ink absorber is loaded into an entire ink tank communicated with a recording head and is previously impregnated with ink and the ink in the ink absorber is supplied to the recording head, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 63-87242. Porous material such as a sponge, fibrous material such as felt, or the like is used as the ink absorber. With such an ink supply mechanism, ink only in an amount as much as about 40%-60% of the capacity of the ink tank can be used so that use efficiency is low. Thus, if an attempt is made to prolong the life of the ink tank, inevitably the ink tank becomes large-sized, as a result of which a demand for miniaturization is not met.
Since the conventional ink supply mechanism holds ink by capillary attraction of the ink absorber, appropriate negative pressure is generated for the recording head. Thus, when the amount of ink held in the ink absorber decreases with consumption of the ink, negative pressure acting on the ink with which the ink absorber is impregnated rises gradually from a decrease in water head, impeding ink supply to the recording head. When the phenomenon develops and the negative pressure applied to the ink exceeds a given value, bubbles flow reversely from a print nozzle section of the recording head and the spout operation of ink is performed with no ink supplied to the recording head. Thus, spout failure causes a record image to become defective, lowering the picture quality. This phenomenon also causes the use efficiency of ink to lower.
To solve such problems, in ink supply devices described in Japanese Patent Laid Open Nos.Sho 59-500609, Hei 1-148559, 3-180357, etc., for example, a hermetically sealed ink tank is filled only with ink and a capillary having one end open to the air is communicated with the ink tank or the ink tank is formed with a small hole. According to the ink supply devices, when negative pressure in the ink tank increases with consumption of ink in the ink tank, air is introduced through the capillary or small hole into the ink tank for holding the negative pressure value in the ink tank substantially constant, enabling the ink in the ink tank to be stably supplied to the recording head.
When environment changes, for example, if air in the upper space of the ink tank expands, the ink in the ink tank flows reversely through the capillary. Thus, there is a chance that the reversely flowing ink will spout in the ink supply device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 59-500609 or in one example of the ink supply device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 1-148559 because the air and the ink tank are communicated with each other only via the capillary. Although the capillary may be lengthened, the structure becomes complicated.
Another example of the ink supply device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 1-148559 or the ink supply device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 3-180357 has a small chamber. If air in the upper space of the ink tank expands, the ink in the ink tank is temporarily saved in the small chamber, thereby lowering pressure in the ink tank, thus effectively preventing ink from leaking from the recording head or the capillary or small chamber communicated with the air.
However, the ink supply devices have the small chamber disposed in the lower portion of a main ink chamber. Therefore, when the ink moved to the small chamber to relieve pressure change in the ink tank is restored to the main ink chamber, the ink must overcome capillary attraction and be moved against the gravity direction. Thus, the ink in the ink tank cannot completely be restored to the main ink chamber and some of the ink remains in the small chamber. That is, the capacity efficiency is lowered by the remaining amount of ink.


Model compression is combined with model compensation. Model compression is needed in embedded ASR to reduce the size and the computational complexity of compressed models. Model-compensation is used to adapt in real-time to changing noise environments. The present invention allows for the design of smaller ASR engines (memory consumption reduced to up to one-sixth) with reduced impact on recognition accuracy and/or robustness to noises.

Embedded noise robust automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems need to conserve memory due to the small size and limited resources of devices such as cell phones, car navigation, digital TVs, and home appliances. However, ASR systems are notorious for consuming large amounts of computational resources, including Random Access Memory (RAM). This tendency of ASR systems can be especially problematic in embedded devices that also need to allocate such resources for other functions that often need to run concurrently with ASR functions. Yet, reducing the amount of memory consumed by a noise robust ASR heavily impacts recognition accuracy and/or robustness to noise.
Referring to FIG. 1, model domain methods try to improve the performance of pattern matching by modifying the acoustic models so that they are adapted to the current noise level, while leaving the input signal 100 unchanged. In particular, a noise estimation module 104 estimates noise in the input signal 100, and model compensation module 106 adjusts the acoustic models 108 based on these noise estimates. Then, extracted features obtained from the unmodified input signal 100 by feature extraction module 102 are pattern matched to the adjusted acoustic models 108 by pattern matching module 110 to achieve recognition 112.
What is needed is a way to reduce the memory requirements of embedded noise robust ASR systems with reduced impact on recognition accuracy and/or robustness to noise. The present invention fulfills this need by making several changes to a noise robustness system employing a model domain method.

Block-diagonal covariance joint subspace tying and model compensation for noise robust automatic speech recognition


To improve an area cut-out ratio, a difference value between coefficients which are neighboring in an image block is calculated by a difference value calculation unit, an average value and a dispersion value of the difference value data are calculated by a distribution state calculation unit, and the average value and the dispersion value are compared with preset threshold values by a threshold value determination unit, thereby determining whether the relevant block is a character pattern area or not.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to image processing method and apparatus for cutting out a desired area by performing an orthogonal transforming process to an image and to a storage medium which is used in those image processing method and apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in a device such as copying machine, OCR (Optical Character Reader), or the like, a method of converting an image into data on a space frequency base and separating a photograph image area, a dotted image area, or a character image area has been proposed.
(1) In the Record 93-01-02 of the society for research of The Institute of Image Electrical Engineers of Japan, a method of separating an image area by paying attention to a difference between a character image and a dotted image (hereinafter, this method is referred to as a first prior art) has been disclosed. According to this method, first, image data is divided into small blocks of a size of (8.times.8) and a DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) process is executed. The DCT is widely used in an image encoding system such as a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) standard or the like and converts image data to data on a frequency base. Thus, as for a coefficient of each block, one row and one column indicate a DC component of the block, a column direction shows a frequency in the horizontal direction, and a row direction indicates a frequency in the vertical direction. In each of the directions, a higher frequency is shown with an increase in number of the row (column).
Subsequent to the DCT, a zigzag scanning process is executed and 2-dimensional block data is converted to 1-dimensional block data. The zigzag scanning process is also a processing method which is used in the JPEG standard or the like. As shown in FIG. 11, a scan is performed in the oblique direction from a low frequency portion to a high frequency portion. As a next step, a "zigzag rate" is calculated in accordance with the following equation (1). EQU ZigZag.sub.-- Rate[i]=ZigZag[i].times.2-ZigZag[i-1]-ZigZag[i+1](1)
(where, i: 1 to 63)
Subsequently, product calculations in the low frequency portion and the high frequency portion of the zigzag rate are performed and the calculation results are set to (ZZ.sub.-- Rate.sub.-- moji) and (ZZ.sub.-- Rate.sub.-- HT), respectively. When a determining condition of the following equation (2) is satisfied, the block is decided to be a character image. When a determining condition of the following equation (3) is satisfied, the block is decided to be a dotted image. This discriminating method is realized by using a nature about the zigzag rate such that a value of the low frequency portion of a character image is large and a value of the high frequency portion of a dotted image is large . EQU ZZ.sub.-- Rate.sub.-- moji+Key.gtoreq.constant 1 (2) EQU ZZ.sub.-- Rate.sub.-- HT+Key.gtoreq.constant 2 (3)
Now, constants 1 and 2 are experimentally set and a value obtained by calculating a determination result of four peripheral blocks in accordance with the following equation (4) is obtained as Key. Further, "flag" in the equation (4) has a negative value if the determination result indicates the character image and has a positive value if it shows the dotted image. ##EQU1##
(2) The processes in "The DCT encoding method using the adaptive quantization" of Vol. 20, No. 5, the magazine of The Institute of Image Electrical Engineers of Japan will now be described. It is an object of this method to prevent deterioration in character image and to improve a compression ratio of a dotted image portion by separating the character image and the dotted image and switching quantization tables of the image compression (hereinafter, this method is referred to as a second prior art).
According to the above method as well, image data is first divided into blocks of a size (8.times.8) and the DCT is performed. Subsequently, the sums of the absolute values of coefficients included in areas 90 to 94 shown in FIGS. 12A to 12E are calculated, respectively. When the maximum value of the sums of the coefficients in the areas 90 to 94 is larger than 90 and the maximum value of the sums of the coefficients in the areas 91 to 94 is larger than a predetermined threshold value A, the block is determined to be a dotted image. In FIG. 12F, when the sum of the absolute values of the coefficients in the area 95 is larger than a threshold value B and the block is not decided to be a dotted image block, the block is determined to be a character image block. (3) The processes in "facsimile apparatus" disclosed in JP-A-2-202771 will now be described. It is an object of this method to clarify the separation between a binary image area and a halftone image area (hereinafter, this method is referred to as a third prior art). In an image area separation parameter determination unit in this method, image data is divided into blocks of a size (4.times.4) and a 2-dimensional Hadamard transforming process is executed. Now, assuming that Y.sub.ij is a coefficient element of an Hadamard transformation, an image area separation parameter is calculated by the following equation (5). EQU L=.SIGMA..SIGMA.yij.sup.2 (i+j=3, 4, 5, 6) (5)
A slice level for binarization is determined in accordance with a value of L. It is based on a theory "an energy in the transformation result which is assumed in a binary image area is larger than that of a high band of a space frequency". In other words, this means that in an area of a binary image, L has a large value and, in an area of a halftone image, L has a small value.
In the above prior arts, however, a cut-out ratio in the case where characters and a halftone image mixedly exist is low. The first and second prior arts are techniques for detecting a dotted image and have a problem such that they don't correspond to the cut-out from the halftone image. The third prior art has a problem such that an image area cannot be smoothly cut out in dependence on an image pattern. Particularly, in case of an image which was irreversibly compressed at least once, a coefficient of a high frequency portion (high band coefficient) has a low value. There is, consequently, a case where the square sum of the high band coefficients doesn't reach a threshold value and the image is not detected as characters. In case of including a character pattern of a bold line, since the coefficient is also distributed to low frequencies, a case where the image cannot be detected occurs.


A blade driving device includes an opening forming member, and a plurality of groups of blades that are pivotably disposed in a ring form around an opening portion of the opening forming member. The plurality of groups of blades include a first group of blades and a second group of blades, in a process of changing from a first circular light passage opening formed by the first group to a second circular light passage opening formed by the second group, the first group that is adjacent to the second group and has finished forming the first circular light passage opening remains in the opening portion, thereby acting to substantially suppressing warp, in an optical axis direction, of the second group that forms the second circular light passage opening on an inner side thereof.

It is preferable that the shape of an aperture serving as a light passage opening formed in a blade driving device (diaphragm device) is as close to circular as possible. In order to form an aperture having a shape close to a circular shape, three or more multiple diaphragm blades (light amount adjustment blades) are often used. Also, an aperture having a polygonal shape close to a circular shape is formed by pivoting multiple diaphragm blades by a driving ring capable of pivoting around a fixed opening formed in a base member (opening forming member).
Here, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-123299 (PTL 1) discloses a diaphragm device that switches a plurality of sets of diaphragm blades such that the aperture shape approximates a circular shape.
However, with the diaphragm device of PTL 1, each of the diaphragm blades needs to be provided with a pivot center dowel and an open-close driving dowel, which is disadvantageous to size reduction.

Blade driving device and optical apparatus


Techniques and system configurations for generating and implementing recipes and scripts to enable the orchestration of actions, activities, and configurations within smart devices and device networks (including the Internet of Things “IoT” network topologies) are described herein. In an example, a method for smart device orchestration and configuration includes: obtaining an orchestration recipe that defines a sequence of actions to be performed among multiple types of smart devices; activating the orchestration recipe for use upon multiple smart devices associated with a user, based on at least one condition to perform the sequence of actions; associating the orchestration recipe with respective configurations of the multiple smart devices associated with the user; and initiating the orchestration recipe, to cause the sequence of actions to be performed with the multiple smart devices, including via cloud-based device services that control the multiple smart devices associated with the user.

Smart home devices are becoming prevalent in many home settings. Whether in the form of a smart TV, sound system, curtains, refrigerator, oven, garage door, washing machine, dryer, coffee pot, light bulb, smoke detector, thermostat, or the like, users enjoy being able to monitor and control their smart home devices remotely from other devices. In this manner, a user can warm their home, lock their front door, start dinner, play music, monitor food levels, or the like, from a remote location within or outside the home. This adds convenience and saves time for individuals busy with other life activities. Such smart devices are commonly referred to as devices connected to the "interne of things" (IoT), with the IoT being generally defined as technology that enables the interconnection of everyday objects to send and receive data for the real-world use and operation of such objects.
Some smart device platforms enable coordination between monitored conditions and activities among multiple devices, for example, to turn on a smart light switch in another room of a house when a garage door opener receives a command to open. However, such coordination is often limited to the particular smart device ecosystem and the configuration capabilities that are exposed by a smart device manufacturer. The possibility of more advanced device orchestrations and actions involving multiple smart home devices has been limited to settings where complex setup and home automation or building control systems have been provided by professional installers. Accordingly, many home users operate individual smart devices using commands sent from separate software apps, and such smart devices are not involved in complex settings.
Further complicating smart home device use cases, are the many different manufacturers, service providers, and communication networks involved with different devices, as many smart home devices are simply incompatible or unable to talk or coordinate actions with one another. As a result, many smart home devices may be misconfigured or may conduct actions that are in conflict with one another, leading to user dissatisfaction and an inability to perform many real-world actions.

Automatic device orchestration and configuration


The switched-mode power supply includes an output value sensor circuit measuring a current flow through a switching device and a switching control circuit implementing overcurrent protection. Also included in the power supply are: a second output voltage sensor circuit detecting a high output voltage for the second load; and a short-circuit device quasi-shorting the terminals of the second load when the detected value of the voltage is more than or equal to a specific value. Therefore, if the short-circuit device shorts out, the secondary load increases, and the output for the relatively low load can be restrained by overcurrent protection. Thus, a reliable overcurrent protection can be achieved using a simple construction by means of cross-regulation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an electrical construction of a typical conventional switched-mode power supply 1. The power supply 1 supplies multiple loads 11, 12 as multiple secondary circuits with desired constant output voltages vo1, vo2 respectively.
As shown in the figure, in the power supply 1, the AC voltage (AC power) taken from, for example, a commercial power source 2, is fed to the AC input section. The AC voltage is then passed through a rectifier diode d0 and a smoothing capacitor c0 to transform it to a DC voltage on which the power supply 1 itself will operate (alternatively, the power supply 1 may be arranged to operate on a battery or other DC power source).
Still referring to FIG. 6, in the power supply 1, the smoothing capacitor c0 is provided across a switching device q and the primary winding 3a of a transformer 3 which are connected in series.
The series circuit stores magnetic energy in the primary winding 3a when the switching device q is on. The energy is then drawn from the first secondary winding 3b of the transformer 3 through the rectifier diode d1 and smoothed by the smoothing capacitor c1 when the device q goes off. The actions produce a relatively low power (low consumption) output to the first load l1 at the output voltage vo1 of a relatively low value.
In the power supply 1, the output voltage sensor circuit 4 detects the output voltage (DC output voltage) vo1 and provides the result as a feedback to the primary-side switching control circuit 5 through a photocoupler and other devices (not shown in the figure) disposed for insulating purposes. The switching control circuit 5 controls the switching action according to the magnitude of the output voltage vo1 to regulate the output voltage (supply voltage) vo1.
Still referring to FIG. 6, in the power supply 1, DC power is drawn also from the second secondary winding 3c of the transformer 3 through a rectifier diode d2 and smoothed by a smoothing capacitor c2 when the switching device q is off. The actions produce a relatively high power (low consumption) output to the second load l2 at the output voltage vo2 of a relatively high value.
The power supply 1 is adapted to provide the relatively low output voltage vo1 as a feedback to the switching control circuit 5, because the first load l1 to which is supplied a lower voltage is a kind of load that requires the output voltage vo1 to be highly precise and that needs to be fed with the output voltage vo1 even when the electronics are standing by (e.g., microcomputer), whereas the second load l2 to which is supplied a higher voltage is a kind of load that can operate on the less precise output voltage vo2 and that does not need to be fed with the output voltage vo2 when the electronics are standing by (e.g., a motor). Exemplary electronic devices with such two power outputs are printers, copying machines, facsimiles, and other like printing machines.
Still referring to FIG. 6, in the primary side of the power supply 1, there is provided an output value sensor circuit 6 detecting the current flow through the switching device q. The output value sensor circuit 6 senses a voltage value which is in proportion to the total power output (total power) to the secondary circuits (voltage drops, etc. by a resistor (not shown in the figure) and other components connected in series with the device q). The result is given to the switching control circuit 5. This enables the power supply 1 to provide overcurrent protection to the secondary circuits.
Thus, the power supply 1 is adapted to implement overcurrent protection, depending on a value in proportion with the total power output to the secondary circuits.
Suppose, for example, that the first load l1, to which is supplied a lower voltage, requires an electric power at 3.3 V, 5 A, and also that the second load l2, to which is supplied a higher voltage, requires an electric power at 24 V, 2 A. The total power output to the secondary circuits is 3.3×5+24×2=64.5 W. Note that we ignore various power dissipations including the forward voltage drops by the diodes d1, d2 for simple description.
Suppose further that settings are made so that overcurrent protection is activated when the total power output to the secondary circuits reaches 65 W. In this situation, overcurrent protection starts when the current flow through the first load l1 reaches 65/3.3=19.7 A if the high power consuming second load l2 is small (for example, there is no second load l2 or its resistance is extremely high).
In this manner, in the power supply 1, if the second load l2, to which is supplied a higher voltage, is provided with a low power supply, the current flow through the first load l1, to which is supplied a lower voltage, becomes as high as 19.7 A, far exceeding its rating (5 A), before overcurrent protection starts. To avoid such overcurrent, changes should be made to the design: for example, the DC resistance may be lowered, the current rating of the rectifier diode d1 constituting one of the secondary circuits may be increased, or the cross-section of the second secondary winding 3b of the transformer 3 may be increased. Any of the changes can be made only at an additional cost.
The problems can be addressed also by an individual current sensor circuit connected to each of the secondaries' outputs. However, the arrangement inevitably requires that the outputs be terminated or controlled independently from each other based on the two detected current values or together by feeding both the values to the primary. The circuit therefore becomes complex and induces additional cost as in the previous case.


A field effect transistor and a method of fabricating the field effect transistor. The field effect transistor includes: a silicon body, a perimeter of the silicon body abutting a dielectric isolation; a source and a drain formed in the body and on opposite sides of a channel formed in the body; and a gate dielectric layer between the body and an electrically conductive gate electrode, a bottom surface of the gate dielectric layer in direct physical contact with a top surface of the body and a bottom surface the gate electrode in direct physical contact with a top surface of the gate dielectric layer, the gate electrode having a first region having a first thickness and a second region having a second thickness, the first region extending along the top surface of the gate dielectric layer over the channel region, the second thickness greater than the first thickness.

As the field effect transistors (FETs) used in integrated circuits become ever smaller, it has been found that many parameters do not decrease (or scale) as the physical dimensions of the FET decrease. One of these parameters is the fringe capacitance between the source/drains of the FET and the gate electrode. As capacitance increases, FETs slow down. Since fringe capacitance does not scale, smaller FETs do not exhibit as much increase in speed as expected. Thus, to achieve continuing performance gain with decreasing FET dimensions there is a need for FET structures having reduced fringe capacitance.

Field effect transistor with thin gate electrode and method of fabricating same

International Business Machines Corporation


A charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a buffer memory including a memory region capable of contemporarily storing writing data for data processing regions, wherein writing data including data files is temporarily stored for each of the data processing regions, a dividing unit to divide the memory region of the buffer memory into a first region being large and a second region being small, a specifying unit to specify the memory region such that a data file being large is preferentially stored in the first region and a data file being small is stored at least in the second region, concerning the data files for each of the data processing regions included in the writing data, and a data processing unit to read data files corresponding to each of the data processing regions from the buffer memory, and to perform data processing using the read data files.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam writing apparatus and a buffer memory data storage method. More specifically, for example, the present invention relates to a writing apparatus that performs data processing for each processing region by inputting writing data into a buffer memory, and a method therefor.
Description of Related Art
The lithography technique that advances miniaturization of semiconductor devices is extremely important as being a unique process whereby patterns are formed in semiconductor manufacturing. In recent years, with high integration of LSI, the line width (critical dimension) required for semiconductor device circuits is decreasing year by year. For forming a desired circuit pattern on such semiconductor devices, a master or "original" pattern (also called a mask or a reticle) of high accuracy is needed. Thus, the electron beam (EB) writing technique, which intrinsically has excellent resolution, is used for producing such a high-precision master pattern.
FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining operations of a variable shaped electron beam writing or "drawing" apparatus. As shown in the figure, the variable shaped electron beam writing apparatus operates as described below. A first aperture 410 has a quadrangular opening 411 for shaping an electron beam 330. A second aperture 420 has a variable-shape opening 421 for shaping the electron beam 330 having passed through the opening 411 of the first aperture 410 into a desired quadrangular shape. The electron beam 330 emitted from a charged particle source 430 and having passed through the opening 411 is deflected by a deflector to pass through a part of the variable-shape opening 421 of the second aperture 420, and thereby to irradiate a target object or "sample" 340 placed on a stage which continuously moves in one predetermined direction (e.g., the x direction) during the writing. In other words, a quadrangular shape that can pass through both the opening 411 and the variable-shape opening 421 is used for pattern writing in a writing region of the target object 340 on the stage continuously moving in the x direction. This method of forming a given shape by letting beams pass through both the opening 411 of the first aperture 410 and the variable-shape opening 421 of the second aperture 420 is referred to as a variable shaped beam (VSB) system.
When reading writing data in which positions, shapes, etc. of patterns to be written are defined into a memory in a writing apparatus, generally, the data is sorted and stored in a memory region (memory space) by a commercial operating system (OS) that controls the control computer. Then, in the processing side wherein data processing is performed, data is read from the memory and conversion of the data is performed to generate data required for writing processing. In the writing apparatus, in parallel with an actual writing operation irradiating electron beams, data processing for a next writing processing region is executed in real time. In the system side, when the amount of memory used exceeds a specified amount, data not being used at the time is deleted from the memory by a garbage collection function performed by the OS. Then, next data is sequentially stored in an empty region. In recent years, the number of patterns written is increased, and their shapes are various. If data of such patterns is read into the memory by the OS control, fragmentation may occur in the memory. Furthermore, if the memory capacity becomes insufficient, the OS performs a swap-out by using the hard disk etc.
As described above, when memory control is performed by the OS, fragmentation or swap-out is performed in the memory. This causes a problem that when data processing is performed in the processing side, the data read-out time becomes long and the data processing speed of writing data is deceased. Accordingly, a problem occurs that data processing itself may be stopped in some cases, thereby causing a stop of writing processing.

Charged particle beam writing apparatus, and buffer memory data storage method


A solid electrolytic capacitor includes a base substrate, a capacitor element, a metal cap, an extractor terminal and an insulating member. The base substrate has electrical conductivity. The capacitor element is provided on the base substrate. The metal cap is coupled to the base substrate and covers the capacitor element. The extractor terminal passes through the base substrate, is coupled to an anode of the capacitor element, and includes a first conductive member acting as a core member and a second conductive member covering the first conductive member. The insulating member is provided between the base substrate and the extractor terminal. Electrical conductivity of the first conductive member is higher than that of the second conductive member. Thermal expansion coefficient of the second conductive member is less than that of the insulating member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid electrolytic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A functional polymer solid electrolytic capacitor is being noticed because the functional polymer solid electrolytic capacitor is superior to frequency characteristics compared to another electrolytic capacitor. Recently, a surface-mounted solid electrolytic capacitor is developed, the capacitor having a capacitance of a few hundreds μF, having ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) lower than 5 mΩ in 100 kHz frequency range and having ESL (Equivalent Series Inductance) of approximately 1 pH in 10 MHz frequency range. The solid electrolytic capacitor is suitable for a decoupling circuit of a power supply line to be coupled to a CPU (Central Processing Unit). A high capacitance capacitor, in which a plurality of solid electrolytic capacitors are stacked and coupled in parallel, is developed.
These solid electrolytic capacitors are surface-mounted capacitors suitable for a power supply line such as a personal computer, a server or the like of which speed and frequency get higher. An exterior of the solid electrolytic capacitor is, generally, molded with epoxy resin. There is, however, some defects with respect to the epoxy resin molding.
Transfer molding is, generally, used as an epoxy resin molding method. The epoxy resin is heated to more than 150 degrees C. and the epoxy resin is put into with a pressure of more than few atmospheres, in the method. A capacitor element is subjected to much stress. This results in increase of a leakage current and generation of electrical short circuit. The epoxy resin of high temperature breaks into between electrode foils of the capacitor element. And the characteristic is possibly degraded because of separation of a polymer of the capacitor element.
The epoxy resin used as the exterior mold includes filler for increasing a filling density of the epoxy resin. There are many voids on molecular level. This results in a defect with respect to humidity resistance. A package crack may be generated because of a heating during mounting, in a case of exterior cladding with the epoxy resin. It is necessary that the thickness is more than a given value in proportion to an exterior size in order to avoid the generation of the package crack. It is therefore not possible to obtain a super slim package.
And so, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-116713 (hereinafter referred to as Document 1) discloses a molding method as a method other than the transfer molding. In the method, a thermocompression tape where a single liquid epoxy resin is impregnated is pasted to a polymerized element. And the epoxy resin dissolved with heat is molded. It is, however, difficult to obtain humidity resistance because an exterior molding material is epoxy resin, with respect to a solid electrolytic capacitor manufactured following the art of Document 1.
And so, the capacitor element may be covered with a metal case. In this case, it is possible to improve the humidity resistance of the solid electrolytic capacitor. It is, however, necessary to improve the humidity resistance and reduce the ESR for purpose.


A method and apparatus for stroke acquisition, and an ultrasonic electronic stylus are provided. The method is applied to the ultrasonic electronic stylus. In the case that the ultrasonic electronic stylus contacts with a writing board and a pressure generated on the writing board by the ultrasonic electronic stylus reaches a first predetermined value, the ultrasonic electronic stylus is controlled to generate a first signal so that a signal receiver of an electronic device acquires a first stroke based on the first signal. After the first signal is generated, an operation parameter of the ultrasonic electronic stylus is adjusted. In the case that the pressure is smaller than the first predetermined value and a preset condition is satisfied, a second signal is generated so that the electronic device continues to acquire a second stroke based on the second signal.

With the development of technologies, electronic devices have more and more functions in life of people. For some electronic devices such as laptop computer, etc., a use may use a keyboard to input information. Alternatively, an ultrasonic electronic stylus may be utilized for inputting information into the electronic device.
Conventionally, in the case that the ultrasonic electronic stylus is utilized for inputting information into the electronic device, a pressure sensor is provided at the nib of the ultrasonic electronic stylus. When a user writes, if it is detected by the pressure sensor that a pressure generated on a writing board of the electronic device by the ultrasonic electronic stylus reaches a predetermined value, the ultrasonic electronic stylus starts to generate a signal. The electronic device may acquire locations of the ultrasonic electronic stylus with a signal receiver, thereby acquiring a corresponding stroke generated by the ultrasonic electronic stylus.
However, the inventor finds during research that, when a conventional method is used for stroke acquisition, since the user generally writes with a small force at the end of the stroke, the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor does not reach the predetermined value. Therefore, data for the end of the stroke is lost, and accordingly, the accuracy of stroke acquisition is low.

Method and apparatus for stroke acquisition and ultrasonic electronic stylus


Methods and apparatus for reclaiming monoethylene glycol from a produced hydrocarbon stream are described. The method includes directly contacting a stream containing monoethylene glycol (MEG) with a heat transfer fluid, vaporizing the MEG by transferring heat from the heat transfer fluid to the MEG to produce a vapor stream, liquefying the vapor stream to form a liquid stream, passing the liquid stream through a filter comprising an oleophilic material, and removing residual heat transfer fluid from the liquid stream using the filter.

In oil and gas production, management of methane hydrates is a challenge. In certain temperature and pressure regimes common during oil and gas production and transportation, methane coordinates with water to produce methane hydrates, which appear as a crystalline solid and can disrupt fluid flow in pipelines, pumps, and compressors. Many methods are used to inhibit and/or counteract the formation of methane hydrates in produced streams. One such method is to use a chemical additive to inhibit formation of methane hydrates. The most commonly used such additive is monoethylene glycol ("MEG"). MEG changes the temperature range at which hydrates form so that the operating temperature of the system does not promote hydrate formation.
Relatively large amounts of MEG must be used to achieve useful results, and MEG is expensive in large quantities. Thus, reclaiming and recycling MEG is economically attractive. Typical processes for reclaiming MEG from produced streams involve flashing MEG, along with water, from the produced stream and then distilling the MEG/water mixture to recover MEG. The flashing process involves vaporizing MEG by contacting the MEG with a heat transfer fluid ("HTF"). The vaporization process may be performed at temperatures and pressures that result in rapid vaporization of MEG. The vaporization can be so rapid, in some cases, that small amounts of the heat transfer fluid can be entrained in the flashing vapor and can contaminate the reclaimed MEG, resulting in a need for further purification processing. There is a need for methods and apparatus to reclaim MEG while minimizing contamination.

Method and apparatus for filtering heat transfer fluid from a monoethylene glycol stream


A plastic spring consists essentially of a spring support, a web rigidly supported on the spring support, a first spring tongue attached to the web, and at least one auxiliary spring tongue extending from the web between the first spring tongue and the spring support, the spring tongues being parallel to each other. The spring characteristic of such a plastic spring may be adapted to different conditions independently of the material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plastic spring, consisting of a spring tongue attached to a spring support by means of a web.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plastic springs can be used for many purposes, and they are employed for instance in tablet dispensers as a return spring for the tablet ejector. These plastic springs are mostly injection-molded in one single operation together with the spring support, and up to now have consisted of a bow-shaped web ending as a spring tongue at its free end. For safety reasons a material must be chosen for the production of the plastic spring and the spring support, which in case of rupture does not involve a risk of injury by sharp edges, pointed parts or the like, so that the material properties of the used plastic material cannot be adjusted to the required spring properties. Therefore, the known plastic springs are often too weak and cannot satisfy the requirements as regards the spring deflection and the spring force.


A call flow server is disclosed that processes call flow events from a plurality of gateways bridging between traditional circuit-switched networks and packet-switched networks. The call flow server server, which may be implemented with either a single processor or multi-processor design, includes call flow engine and call flow thread manager modules capable of managing a plurality of call flow events by distributing the call flow scripts associated with such events among a plurality of threads executing on the call flow server. Each call flow event in the form of a call flow script is processed on a single thread within a selected processor. Processing each call flow script on a single thread fully utilizes the processor resources and ensures that a call flow script need not be blocked while another call flow script is running. The call flow server includes a thread manager to direct a given call flow script to a thread that has excess capacity.

Two fundamentally different switching technologies exist that enable communications. The first type, circuit-switched networks, operate by establishing a dedicated connection or circuit between two points, similar to public switched telephone networks (PSTN). A telephone call causes a circuit to be established from the originating phone through the local switching office across trunk lines, to a remote switching office and finally to the intended destination telephone. While such circuit is in place, the call is guaranteed a data path for digitized or analog voice signals regardless of other network activity. The second type, packet-switched networks, typically connect computers and establish an asynchronous "virtual" channel between two points. In a packet-switched network, data, such as a voice signal, is divided into small pieces called packets which are then multiplexed onto high capacity connections for transmission. Network hardware delivers packets to specific destinations where the packets are reassembled into the original data set. With packet-switched networks, multiple communications among different computers can proceed concurrently with the network connections shared by different pairs of computers concurrently communicating. Packet-switched networks are, however, sensitive to network capacity. If the network becomes overloaded, there is no guarantee that data will be timely delivered. Despite this drawback, packet-switched networks have become quite popular, particularly as part of the Internet and Intranets, due to their cost effectiveness and performance.
In a packet-switched data network one or more common network protocols hide the technological differences between individual portions of the network, making interconnection between portions of the network independent of the underlying hardware and/or software. A popular network protocol, the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is utilized by the Internet and Intranets. Intranets are private networks such as Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). The TCP/IP protocol utilizes universal addressing as well as a software protocol to map the universal addresses into low level machine addresses. For purposes of this discussion, networks which adhere to the TCP/IP protocol will be referred to hereinafter "IP-based" or as utilizing "IP addresses" or "Internet Protocol address".
It is desirable for communications originating from an IP-based network to terminate at equipment in a PSTN network, and vice versa, or for calls which originate and terminate on a PSTN network to utilize a packet-switched data network as an interim communication medium. Problems arise, however, when a user on an IP-based or other packet switched data network tries to establish a communication link beyond the perimeter of the network, due to the disparity in addressing techniques among other differences used by the two types of networks.
To address the problems of network disparity, telecommunication gateways have been developed to allow calls originating from an IP-based network to terminate at equipment in a PSTN network, and vice versa, or for calls which originate and terminate on a PSTN network to utilize a packet-switched data network as an interim communication medium. Gateway, such as the NetSpeak Model Nos. WGX-MD/24, a 24-port digital T-1 IP telephony gateway, or WGX-M/16, a 16-port analog IP telephony gateway, both commercially available from NetSpeak Corporation, Boca Raton, Fla., have a plurality of ports through which calls are handled.
Unlike traditional Public Branch Exchanges (PBXs), which merely processed the establishment of a call from one location to another, current telecommunication systems are expected to provide many types of optional services, such as call forwarding, call messaging, call waiting, and data entry, all transparently to the caller. In order to process these various functions, the gateways must be able to process the voice data stream and the call events associated with the call. Call events comprise any action related to a call, e.g. off-hook, on-hook, etc. However, it is desirable for gateway architectures to remain relatively rudimentary, performing only the handling of the data stream. Processing of the call events may be handled by a special server, referred to hereafter as a call flow server. In this manner the telecommunication systems may be updated to handle new types of call events by updating only the call flow server, instead of multiple gateways. Accordingly, gateways forward call events associated with a particular data stream to the call flow server and receive instructions from the call flow server as to how to handle or direct the data stream representing a call.
The call flow server uses algorithms known as "call flows" to handle one or more call events. A call flow typically comprises a series of instructions that control how one or more call events are processed. Such call flows are typically written in state tables, but may also be written in JAVA or any other type of computing language proprietary or not. Call flows are state machine operations that are managed on threads executing on a processor. However, the assignment of call flows to threads can cause problems.
In one technique, all call flow scripts are processed on a single thread. This solution is optimal for a single processor environment. However, this solution is not scalable as additional processing resources are added (i.e. the extra processors are ignored). In addition, a processor intensive call flow will block all other call flows from running (i.e. it is single tasking). In another technique, each call flow script is processed on a separate thread. This technique fully utilizes processor resources on multi-processor machines and ensures that a script is never blocked because another script is running. However, it has the following disadvantages: 1) excessive context switches dramatically degrade performance on single processor machines; 2) a single thread per call flow is not realistic for large call flow environments that may process tens of thousands of calls simultaneously; and 3) call flows cannot be spread among multiple threads since one must ensure that events are received in the order they were sent and this cannot be guaranteed across threads.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus that can adjust the call flow load within a single processor or multi-processor environment such that processing of threads associated with the call flows is optimized.
There is a further need for a method and apparatus for a flexible thread manager that has the performance of the single-threaded solution on a single processor system, but which scales intelligently when processors are added.

Method and apparatus for dynamically balancing call flow workloads in a telecommunications system