Using a novel water-soluble, active ester amide-containing functionalized controlled radical polymerization initiator, stimuli responsive polymers have been grown from the surface of a protein, exemplified by chymotrypsin or any protein having surface amino acids that will covalently bind to the active ester amide-containing functionalized initiator. It is shown that changes in temperature or pH can change the conformation of the polymer surrounding the enzyme, which in turn enabled the rational tailoring of enzyme activity and stability. This method has afforded an increase in the activity and stability of the enzyme by an order of magnitude at pH's where the enzyme is usually inactive or unstable. Multimodal temperature responsive protein-block copolymer conjugates are described.

The covalent attachment of polymers to therapeutic proteins (such as the addition of poly(ethyleneglycol) (PEG) to interferon) has led to extensive commercial use. Since the advent of protein PEGylation in 1979 (Veronese, F. M. Biomaterials 2001, 22, 405), much of the research devoted to improving the efficacy of protein therapeutics has been focused on increasing circulation time and reducing immunogenicity. As of 2011, at least nine PEGylated protein drugs had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of diseases including Hepatitis C (O'Sullivan, A. K.; Buti, M.; Delong, K.; Prasad, M.; Sabater, F. J.; Esteban, R.; Weinstein, M. C. Value Health 2008, 11, A437), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Dinndorf, P. A.; Gootenberg, J.; Cohen, M. H.; Keegan, P.; Pazdur, R. Oncologist 2007, 12, 991.), and Crohn's disease (Nesbitt, A.; Fossati, G.; Bergin, M.; Stephens, P.; Stephens, S.; Foulkes, R.; Brown, D.; Robinson, M.; Bourne, T. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2007, 13, 1323; Alconcel, S. N. S.; Baas, A. S.; Maynard, H. D. Polym Chem-Uk 2011, 2, 1442.). While PEGylation is a useful tool to hide protein based therapeutics from the immune system, and to increase size to slow elimination from the body, little additional specific functionality is added by PEGylation. In recent years, targeted drug delivery and drug carriers with responsive functionality (Chilkoti, A.; Dreher, M. R.; Meyer, D. E.; Raucher, D. Adv Drug Deliver Rev 2002, 54, 613; Su, J.; Chen, F.; Cryns, V. L.; Messersmith, P. B. J Am Chem Soc 2011, 133, 11850; Nasongkla, N.; Bey, E.; Ren, J.; Ai, H.; Khemtong, C.; Guthi, J. S.; Chin, S.-F.; Sherry, A. D.; Boothman, D. A.; Gao, J. Nano Lett 2006, 6, 2427) have been investigated to improve efficacy of current therapeutics.
Polymer conjugation to proteins can be completed using one of two methods: "grafting to" or "grafting from." In "grafting to," pre-synthesized, end functionalized polymers are coupled to accessible amino acid side chains or end termini on the protein surface. The "grafting-to" technique dominates the literature. The grafting site of a functionalized synthetic polymer to a protein surface through a coupling reaction is often a random process in which the density and site(s) of the grafted polymer cannot be controlled. Naturally, once a first polymer chain has "grafting-to" the protein surface steric hindrance will often prohibit further polymer binding to near-by sites on the protein surface, resulting in a low density of the grafting polymer. (Lele, B. S.; Murata, H.; Matyjaszewski, K.; Russell, A. J. Biomacromolecules 2005, 6, 3380-3387; Yang, Z.; Domach, M.; Auger, R.; Yang, F. X.; Russell, A. J. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 1996, 18, 82-89.) Although "Grafting to" techniques provide a wide range of polymerization reactions and monomers to select from, a large excess of polymer is often required to overcome steric limitations caused by coupled polymers. In addition, separation of protein-polymer conjugates from unreacted polymer can prove to be difficult when using the "grafting to" method.
Many pH-responsive polymers show a reversible phase transition between expanded and collapsed forms due to ionization and deionization of the side groups on the polymer that leads to alteration in hydrodynamic volume and solubility in aqueous media. Early studies on pH-responsive polymer-protein conjugates showed that conjugation of carboxylated polymers such as poly(acrylic acid) to proteins influenced the pH dependence of solubility and activity. (see Charles, M.; Coughlin, R. W.; Hasselberger, F. X. Biotech. Bioeng. 1974, 16, 1553-1556; Van Leemputten, E.; Horisberger, M. Biotech. Bioeng. 1976, 18, 587-590) Thermo-responsive polymers respond to changes in temperature and exhibit reversible transitions between collapsed and expanded forms at temperatures above and below their critical solution temperature. For example, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm) has a low critical solution temperature (LCST) around 32° C. in the aqueous solution. At temperatures above the LCST, pNIPAm becomes dehydrated and collapses into micelle-like particles which precipitate from solution. This property of temperature-responsive polymer-protein conjugates has been used to enhance purifications using pNIPAm-modified Protein A and monoclonal antibodies that were synthesized with the "grafting-to" approach. "Grafted-to" enzyme-pNIPAm conjugates are unpredictable however in that some enzymes exhibit modulated bioactivity but others do not.
In order to provide an alternative approach to synthesis of polymer-enzyme conjugates that would allow higher densities, and finer site control, a protein surface initiated "grafting from" technique was previously developed (Lele et al, Biomacromolecules 2005, 6, 3380-3387) This resulted in a higher density of polymer on the enzyme surface but because the initiator binding and polymerization were done in an organic solvent-water biphasic medium the recovery of activity was low and the density was still not optimal. (see also Heredia, K. L.; Bontempo, D.; Ly, T.; Byers, J. T.; Halstenberg, S.; Maynard, H. D. J Am Chem Soc 2005, 127, 16955)
"Grafting from" techniques initiate polymerization directly from the surface of proteins using controlled radical polymerization. Most often, either atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) (see Lele, B. S.; Murata, H.; Matyjaszewski, K.; Russell, A. J. Biomacromolecules 2005, 6, 3380; Nicolas, J.; San Miguel, V.; Mantovani, G.; Haddleton, D. M. Chem. Commun. 2006, 4697; Heredia, K. L.; Bontempo, D.; Ly, T.; Byers, J. T.; Halstenberg, S.; Maynard, H. D. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 16955; Qi, Y.; Amiram, M.; Gao, W.; McCafferty, D. G.; Chilkoti, A. Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2013, 34, 1256; Gao, W.; Liu, W.; Mackay, J. A.; Zalutsky, M. R.; Toone, E. J.; Chilkoti, A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2009, 106, 15231) or reversible-addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) (Liu, J.; Bulmus, V.; Herlambang, D. L.; Barner-Kowollik, C.; Stenzel, M. H.; Davis, T. P. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 3099; De, P.; Li, M.; Gondi, S. R.; Sumerlin, B. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 11288) are used, because each provide low polydispersity indices (PDI), a large library of monomers, and biologically relevant reaction conditions (aqueous solvent and ambient temperature). In "grafting from," unreacted monomer is easily separated from the bioconjugate and high polymer density is achieved more easily due to the lack of steric limitations seen in "grafting to." One drawback to "grafting from" is the necessity to have vinyl monomers for radical polymerization. Thus, some polymers, such as PEG, must be slightly modified to use with the "grafting from" approach.
Another major limitation of the current "grafting-from" ATRP techniques for polymer based protein engineering is in the attachment or immobilization of an ATRP-initiator to the enzyme. Until recently most functionalized ATRP initiator compounds were insoluble or of low solubility in aqueous solution. Thus, immobilization of an ATRP initiator to a protein was performed in mixtures of water and organic solvents such as dichloromethane, methanol, DMF, or DMSO. (Nicolas, J.; San Miguel, V.; Mantovani, G.; Haddleton, D. M. Chem. Commun. 2006, 46, 4697-4699; Magnusson, J. P.; Bersani, S.; Salmaso, S.; Alexander, C.; Caliceti, P. Bioconjugate Chem. 2010, 21, 671-678; Yaayan, G.; Saeed, A. O.; Fernández-Trillo, F.; Allen, S.; Davies, M. C.; Jangher, A.; Paul, A.; Thurecht, K. J.; King, S. M.; Schweins, R.; Griffiths, P. C.; Magnusson, J. P.; Alexander, C. Polym. Chem. 2011, 2, 1567-1578; Averick, S.; Simakova, A.; Park, S.; Konkolewicz, D.; Magenau, A. J. D.; Mehl, R. A.; Matyjaszewski, K. ACS Macro Lett. 2011, 1, 6-10.) Such mixtures often lead to inactivation and/or denaturation of enzymes during the immobilization reaction. Further, initiator immobilizations performed on chymotrypsin (CT) in a biphasic solution and on trypsin in 2% DMSO resulted in 21-50% and 46% occupation of available conjugation sites, respectively.
Techniques to synthesize protein-polymer conjugates have developed rapidly in recent years due to advancements in both protein and polymer science. One of the first, and still most common polymers to attach to proteins is poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), (see Alconcel, S. N. S.; Baas, A. S.; Maynard, H. D. Polym. Chem. 2011, 2, 1442), which imparts stealth properties on the protein by reducing immunogenicity and increases in vivo stability by slowing renal clearance and degradation. However, this polymer does not add specific functionality to the protein and often results in reduced activity. (see Veronese, F. M. Biomaterials 2001, 22, 405) More recently, different polymers have been utilized to synthesize "smart conjugates" (see Hoffman, A. S.; Stayton, P. S. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2007, 32, 922 that respond to external stimuli such as pH (Lackey, C. A.; Murthy, N.; Press, O. W.; Tirrell, D. A.; Hoffman, A. S.; Stayton, P. S. Bioconjugate Chem. 1999, 10, 401; Strozyk, M. S.; Chanana, M.; Pastoriza-Santos, I.; Pérez-Juste, J.; Liz-Marzán, L. M. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2012, 22, 1436.). In addition, specific polymer choices for tailored applications, such as increased substrate affinity (Keefe, A. J.; Jiang, S. Y. Nat. Chem. 2012, 4, 60) have been reported. Polymer-based protein engineering refers to these tailored polymer conjugation applications that target problems that previously could only potentially be solved with molecular biology-dependent techniques.
Poly(sulfobetaine methacrylamide) (pSBAm) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm) are two polymers that have been investigated for a wide range of chemical and biological applications. Specifically, pNIPAm can be used in applications for cardiac repair (Naito, H.; Takewa, Y.; Mizuno, T.; Ohya, S.; Nakayama, Y.; Tatsumi, E.; Kitamura, S.; Takano, H.; Taniguchi, S.; Taenaka, Y. ASAIO J. 2004, 50, 344), protein drug release, and biomolecule separations (Zhou, P.; Yu, S. B.; Liu, Z. H.; Hu, J. M.; Deng, Y. Z. J. Chromatogr. A 2005, 1083, 173). pSBAm is used frequently for non-fouling surface modification (Zhang, Z.; Finlay, J. A.; Wang, L.; Gao, Y.; Callow, J. A.; Callow, M. E.; Jiang, S. Langmuir 2009, 25, 13516; Smith, R. S.; Zhang, Z.; Bouchard, M.; Li, J.; Lapp, H. S.; Brotske, G. R.; Lucchino, D. L.; Weaver, D.; Roth, L. A.; Coury, A.; Biggerstaff, J.; Sukavaneshvar, S.; Langer, R.; Loose, C. Sci. Transl. Med. 2012, 4, 153ra132). Both pSBAm and pNIPAm respond to changes in temperature by predictable alterations in polymer folding. pNIPAm has a lower critical solution temperature (LCST), where above ˜32° C. in deionized water the polymer experiences a reversible collapse, in which it becomes hydrophobic and dehydrated. (Schild, H. G. Prog. Polym. Sci. 1992, 17, 163.) pSBAm exhibits a similar, but opposite behavior known as upper critical solution temperature (UCST) phase transition. pSBAm UCST values are more dependent on molecular weight than the LCST of pNIPAm, but below a given temperature polymer chains collapse from a coil to globule orientation as they phase separate and become insoluble in aqueous media. (Chen, L.; Honma, Y.; Mizutani, T.; Liaw, D. J.; Gong, J. P.; Osada, Y. Polymer 2000, 41, 141.) Free block copolymers with both UCST and LCST properties have been reported previously (Arotcarena, M.; Heise, B.; Ishaya, S.; Laschewsky, A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 3787; Weaver, J. V. M.; Armes, S. P.; Butun, V. Chem. Commun. 2002, 2122), but protein-polymer conjugates are most often only synthesized with single temperature responsiveness imparted by homopolymer conjugation (Kulkarni, S.; Schilli, C.; Muller, A. H. E.; Hoffman, A. S.; Stayton, P. S. Bioconjugate Chem. 2004, 15, 747; Boyer, C.; Bulmus, V.; Liu, J. Q.; Davis, T. P.; Stenzel, M. H.; Barner-Kowollik, C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 7145). While block copolymers are sometimes conjugated to proteins with the "grafting to" approach, there are few reports of block copolymers being grown from proteins using "grafting from." Previously, Sumerlin and coworkers used "grafting from" to synthesize a block copolymer using two consecutive RAFT polymerizations from lysozyme (Li, H. M.; Li, M.; Yu, X.; Bapat, A. P.; Sumerlin, B. S. Polym. Chem. 2011, 2, 1531) and bovine serum albumin (Li, M.; Li, H. M.; De, P.; Sumerlin, B. S. Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2011, 32, 354.). Kulkarni et al. synthesized a block copolymer with modified temperature sensitivity, but used the "grafting to" process for protein conjugation (see Kulkarni, S.; Schilli, C.; Grin, B.; Muller, A. H. E.; Hoffman, A. S.; Stayton, P. S. Biomacromolecules 2006, 7, 2736).

Polymer-based protein engineering methods to rationally tune enzyme activity, pH-dependence and stability


In an electric connection box, even if accuracy of a relative position between a first screw passage hole and a first screw hole, as well as accuracy of a relative position between a second screw passage hole and a second screw hole, is low, the relative positional relation between the first screw passage hole and the first screw hole, as well as the relative positional relation between the second screw passage hole and the second screw hole, can be adjusted because of the provision of a gap between an outer peripheral surface of a constricted engagement portion of a provisionally-placing projection and a hole-defining peripheral surface of a mounting member at the time of mounting a connection box body on the mounting member so that the passage of a first screw through the first screw passage hole and the first screw hole, as well as the passage of a second screw through the second screw passage hole and the second screw hole, can be easily carried out.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric connection box (that is, an electric junction block) such as a relay box and a fuse box used in a vehicle such for example as an automobile, and more particularly to an electric connection box provided with a mounting structure for mounting a connection box body of the electric connection box (in which electric parts such as relays and fuses are received) on a mounting member such for example as a vehicle body panel of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
There is known one conventional electric connection box in which the electric connection box is fixed to a bracket (mounting member) by a bolt and a nut while inserting cylindrical retaining pins (retaining projections) into respective retaining holes in the bracket (see JP-A-7-39042 Publication).
For mounting this electric connection box on the bracket, the retaining pins on the electric connection box are mated respectively with the retaining holes in the bracket, and the bolt is inserted into a through hole formed at the electric connection box. Then, when the nut is threaded on the bolt, and is tightened, a slanting surface of the electric connection box abuts against an upper end surface of the bracket. As the nut is tightened, the upper surface of the bracket slides on the slanting surface, and pushes a connection box body upward. As a result, each retaining pin is forcibly fitted into the retaining hole, while elongate protuberances on the retaining pin are crushed. Then, when the nut is completely tightened, the retaining pins are engaged in the respective retaining holes, and a plate portion is fixed to the bracket by the bolt and nut.
In this electric connection box, merely by rotating the nut, the connection box body, while pushed up, can be turned toward the bracket, and besides the retaining pins can be forcibly fitted into the respective retaining holes. Therefore, the connection box body can be easily mounted on the bracket, so that the efficiency of the mounting operation can be enhanced.
By the way, in the case where a pair of bolt-fastening through holes are provided at each of the above electric connection box and the bracket, there is a possibility that because of this structure (in which the retaining pins are forcibly fitted (or press-fitted) into the respective retaining holes), it becomes difficult to mount the electric connection box on the bracket if accuracy of a relative position between each bolt-fastening through hole of the electric connection box and the corresponding bolt-fastening through hole of the bracket is low (that is, a dimensional tolerance is large).


A connector is mateable with a mating connector comprising a mating contact. The connector comprises a contact which is brought into contact with the mating contact at two points under a mated state. The contact has a first spring portion, a protruding portion protruding from the first spring portion, a slide portion extending flat and a second spring portion. The protruding portion has a first contact portion while the slide portion has a second contact portion. The first contact portion is movable by first resilient deformation of the first spring portion while the second contact portion is movable by second resilient deformation of the second spring portion. One of the first contact portion and the second contact portion is moved because of both the first resilient deformation and the second resilient deformation when the connector is transited from a mating start state to the mated state.

This invention relates to a connector which is mateable with a mating connector comprising a mating contact, wherein the connector comprises a contact to be brought into contact with the mating contact at two points.
For example, this type of connector is disclosed in each of JP-U S63-61774 (Patent Document 1) and JP-A 2010-272320 (Patent Document 2), the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As shown in FIG. 24, a first connector (connector) 900 of Patent Document 1 is mateable along a mating direction with a second connector (mating connector) 920 comprising contacts (mating contacts) 930. Each of the mating contacts 930 has two contact portions, namely, a first mating contact portion 932 and a second mating contact portion 934. The connector 900 comprises contacts 910. Each of the contacts 910 has two contact portions, namely, a first contact portion 912 and a second contact portion 914. Under a mated state where the connector 900 and the mating connector 920 are mated with each other, the first contact portion 912 is brought into contact with the second mating contact portion 934 while the second contact portion 914 is brought into contact with the first mating contact portion 932.
As shown in FIG. 25, a second connector (connector) 960 according to a second embodiment of Patent Document 2 is mateable along a mating direction with a first connector (mating connector) 950 comprising first contacts (mating contacts) 952. The connector 960 is a floating connector. In detail, the connector 960 comprises a cylindrical portion 962, a mating portion 964 and second contacts (contacts) 966. The mating portion 964 is supported by the cylindrical portion 962 to be movable in a plane perpendicular to the mating direction. The contacts 966 are held by the mating portion 964. Each of the contacts 966 is to be brought into contact with the corresponding mating contact 952 at two points.
As can be seen from FIG. 24, the first contact point 912 of the connector 900 is supported to be substantially unmovable while the second mating contact portion 934 of the mating connector 920 is resiliently supported to be movable in an up-down direction perpendicular to the mating direction. When the connector 900 is moved relative to the mating connector 920 in the up-down direction, a contact force between the first contact point 912 and the second mating contact portion 934 or a contact force between the second contact point 914 and the second mating contact portion 932 might be weakened. Thus, according to the structure of Patent Document 1, contact reliability between the contacts might be degraded.
As can be seen from FIG. 25, the contacts 966 of Patent Document 2 are moved when the mating portion 964 is moved relative to the cylindrical portion 962. Accordingly, contact reliability between the contact 966 and the mating contact 952 might be degraded.

JAPAN AVIATION ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY, LIMITED


The use of mucic acid gallate compounds in a non-sugar sweetener such as a steviol glycoside-containing consumable to provide lingering aftertaste specific masking effect is provided.

Rechargeable lithium batteries are attractive energy storage devices for portable electric and electronic devices and electric and hybrid-electric vehicles because of their high specific energy compared to other electrochemical energy storage devices. A typical lithium cell contains a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and a separator located between the negative and positive electrodes. Both electrodes contain active materials that react with lithium reversibly. In some cases, the negative electrode may include lithium metal, which can be electrochemically dissolved and deposited reversibly. The separator contains an electrolyte with a lithium cation, and serves as a physical barrier between the electrodes such that none of the electrodes are electrically connected within the cell.
Typically, during charging, there is generation of electrons at the positive electrode and consumption of an equal amount of electrons at the negative electrode. During discharging, opposite reactions occur.
Current Li-ion cells are reaching their theoretical maximum energy storage capability and are still unable to provide an economical battery with energy storage sufficient to enable electric vehicle ranges of greater than about 100 miles. A next generation all solid-state lithium ion battery is an area of active research. One factor inhibiting the commercialization of next generation solid-state batteries is the lack of a suitable solid electrolyte. Existing solid electrolytes exhibit one or more deficiencies, including insufficient conductivity (e.g., polymers), poor processability and high boundary resistances (e.g., ceramics), and/or chemical instability to air and water (e.g., sulfidic materials). What is therefore needed is a solid electrolyte which enables this next generation of batteries.


An engine system is provided, which includes a cylinder block, a cylinder head, a piston, a main combustion chamber, a subchamber, an injector that injects fuel into the main combustion chamber, a main spark plug that ignites a mixture gas inside the main combustion chamber, a subspark plug that ignites the mixture gas inside the subchamber, and a controller electrically connected to the injector, the main spark plug and the subspark plug. When an engine load is above a given reference load, the controller controls, in a low-speed range below a given reference engine speed, the ignition devices so that the subignition is performed after the main ignition, and the controller controls, in a high-speed range exceeding the reference engine speed, the ignition devices so that only the subignition is performed, or so that the main ignition is performed at the same timing as or after the subignition.

Engines provided with a main combustion chamber using a cylinder, and a subchamber which communicates with the main combustion chamber are known. For example, JP2007-255370A discloses an engine where a fuel injection device and a spark plug are disposed at both the main combustion chamber and the subchamber. According to this engine, unburnt mixture gas which exists in the main combustion chamber combusts by combusting a mixture gas inside the main combustion chamber, and then combusting the mixture gas inside the subchamber to blow off flame inside the subchamber to the main combustion chamber. Therefore, the unburnt mixture gas remaining inside the main combustion chamber can be suppressed, and as a result, fuel efficiency and emission performance can be improved.
Unlike the engine of JP2007-255370A, if a configuration in which the fuel injection device is disposed only at the main combustion chamber for the purpose of simplifying the structure is adopted, it may become difficult for the mixture gas to be introduced into the subchamber. For example, in a low-speed high-load operating range of the engine, the supply of the flame from the subchamber may become insufficient, and the combustion of the unburnt mixture gas may become inadequate. In addition, in a high-speed high-load operating range, there is a problem in which knocking tends to occur in the main combustion chamber. As a result, an improvement effect of fuel efficiency and emission performance which is acquired by providing the subchamber in addition to the main combustion chamber, may not fully be demonstrated.


A plug body is adapted to be fitted into a socket body in a first direction, and formed with a groove extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Each of plug contacts has a first contact piece and a second contact piece opposing to each other with a gap therebetween. The plug contacts are arrayed such that the first contact piece and the second contact piece are disposed in the groove. Each of projections is extended from the first contact piece so as to oppose the second contact piece, and is formed with a slant face so that a thickness thereof is reduced toward a distal end thereof. The slant faces of the projections form V-shaped lines when the projections are viewed from the first direction.

The present invention relates to an electric connector suitable for press-connecting a sheathed wire, and a method for manufacturing such an electric connector.
An electronic instrument, which has been desired to be reduced in size particularly thickness in height, often employs a sheathed wire (which is hereinafter referred to as a cable) as a wiring member, in which two or more conductive wire elements are twisted together to form a core conductor and the periphery of the core conductor is covered with an insulative sheath. As a method for connecting such cables, Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-345640A discloses an electric connector which collectively press-connects two or more cables without using soldering.
Specifically, the above electric connector comprises: a housing formed with an opening; a plurality of contacts, each of which is formed with a blade portion, arranged within the housing; and a cover-shaped presser movably supported on the housing. A plurality of cables are inserted into the housing from the opening. When the presser is moved so as to close the opening, each of the cables is pressed against the blade portion of an associated one of the contacts, thereby collectively connecting the cables with the contacts.
In an electronic instrument of which cost reduction is required, there has been also increasing the need for enhancement in the efficiency of the connecting operation of an electric connector used in the interior of the electronic instrument. Therefore, it is desired that the electric connector is able to cope with this need as well as can enhance the reliability of the connection thereof.
In the above publication, it is described that the blade portion may extend perpendicularly to or in parallel to the cable inserted in the housing. In a case where the blade portion extends perpendicularly to the cable and a strong pressing force is applied by the actuation of the presser, a blade edge of the blade portion may excessively bite into the core conductor, thereby deteriorating the conductivity of the core conductor or, in an extreme case, cutting off the core conductor. In a case where the blade portion extends in parallel to the cable, the blade edge tends to slip on the periphery of the cable sideways, so that the blade edge cannot bite into the core conductor properly and a reliable electrical connection cannot be established. Especially when a solid sheathe is used to enhance the stiffness of the cable, such slip is likely to occur more easily.
The above electric connector further comprises a connecting member adapted to connected with a contact of a mating connector, and extending in parallel to the blade portion. In a case where the electric connector is disposed on a circuit board such that the connecting member is made parallel to the circuit board, an installation area including the mating connector becomes large, thereby hindering the size reduction requirement.

Electric connector and method for manufacturing the same


Temperatures on a chip, including particular regions of a chip are monitored by sensing changes in sub-threshold conduction of a field effect transistor (FET) integrated on the chip due to changes in charge carrier population distribution with temperature therein. Such changes in sub-threshold current with temperature are preferably detected using a current mirror and two FETs with different channel geometry and slightly different gate voltages such that the currents are equal at a specific design temperature. The slightly different gate voltages are conveniently provided by a low current voltage divider with or without on-chip voltage regulation in which resistor ratios can be accurately and repeatably obtained. Variations from that temperature thus yield large current differences and substantial signal swing which improve noise immunity. Hysteresis can be applied to the output (or amplified output) of the current mirror to obtain bistable thermostat-like action. Variant applications provide sensing at plural chip locations (e.g. for sensing temperature gradients and temperatures of autonomously operating portions of the chip) and a plurality of temperatures on the chip. Temperatures thus monitored control implementation of performance enhancing algorithms in regard to the chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to temperature monitoring and power saving arrangements for integrated circuit devices and, more particularly, to on-chip temperature sensors suitable for integration with other circuit elements in memories, processors and logic arrays.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that the electrical characteristics of virtually all types of circuit elements vary somewhat with temperature because they rely to some degree on the bulk properties of the material. Even relatively stable devices such as inductors and capacitors and even metal connections may change dimensions slightly with changes in temperature and thus exhibit some degree of temperature dependency.
Semiconductors, in particular, are subject to substantial changes in electrical characteristics with temperature. In integrated circuits, digital switching speed, off-current and current drive capability can change dramatically with temperature. Switching threshold is also temperature dependent and may affect circuit performance and function if operating margins are small. Further, the temperature of each transistor is subject to wide variation with recent switching history of the device since CMOS circuits ideally only dissipate heat during the switching transition interval. Some additional resistive heating will occur during the conductive state of CMOS field effect transistors (FETs) and in the off state, as well, if the "off-current", Ioff, is not well-limited to near zero. In general, in processors, memories, logic arrays and the like, power and, hence, temperature rise is proportional to clock frequency.
Temperature dependent changes in electrical characteristics of semiconductor devices derive from several physical effects. For example, the population distribution of charge carriers among energy levels is governed by Boltzmann statistics which ascribe an energy distribution width that is proportional to temperature (kT). The effect of changes in charge carrier population distribution is observed as changes of the current-voltage characteristic of forward biased diodes and transistors in which current is limited by carrier emission over an energy barrier (e.g. developed in an FET at gate voltages below the conduction threshold). This change of population distribution of charge carriers with temperature is a comparatively large effect in FETs biased in the sub-threshold region which increases current (e.g. in the nanoamp range) with increase of temperature.
Further, the mobility of conducting carriers is inversely proportional to the rate of scattering by thermally energized scattering centers. This is a relatively weak effect. Increased scattering tends to increase resistance of simple conduction paths with increased temperature and may aggravate the production of heat in FET transistors.
A still more subtle effect is the movement of the Fermi energy toward the center of the band gap with increasing temperature. This effect causes such parameters as the work function and the voltage switching threshold of FETs to change with temperature. A fourth effect comparable in magnitude to movement of the Fermi energy is the thermal generation of charge carriers in the depletion region of a semiconductor device, such as a reverse-biased diode. The leakage current of a reverse-biased diode is limited by the number of carriers which can reach the junction of the device from a point at which they are thermally generated within a depletion region which is large compared to the distance such charge carriers can travel before recombination.
It should be noted that these four effects are highly distinct from each other in the nature and magnitude of the effects produced and the circumstances under which they can occur. For example, changes in conduction due to changes in charge carrier population distribution (Boltzmann statistics) relative to a barrier produce current changes in the nanoamp range in sub-threshold biased FETs which increase with temperature while decreases in carrier mobility due to scattering tends to decrease current with increasing temperature and to produce current changes in the picoamp range. Similarly, while changes in the Fermi level and thermal carrier generation with temperature cause increases in current with increasing temperature, the changes in current for a given increment of temperature are even more subtle by at least one order of magnitude than those caused by scattering and thus far below changes in sub-threshold current in FETs with temperature.
While temperature may cause significant changes in electrical characteristics of semiconductor devices, high temperatures and thermal cycling can also cause degradation of the reliability of integrated circuits by mechanisms such as metal migration in conductors and unintended impurity diffusion in portions of transistor structures. Therefore, to limit temperature rise near the switching frequency design limits of the integrated circuit, some algorithms have been derived to distribute switching loads across a chip or between chips in accordance with temperature. Thus sensitive monitoring of temperature of semiconductor devices is required to implement such algorithms and support extended duration of high performance operation of the integrated circuits.
Thermocouples can be used to accurately determine the temperature of semiconductor devices. They are known to be rugged and reliable and, once calibrated, of high sensitivity and accuracy. However, thermocouples cannot be integrated into the semiconductor substrate and are usually mounted on the package structure. Additionally, thermocouples also require a second bi-metal contact in another location and at a constant temperature for comparison. This requirement is difficult to meet at best, and impractical or impossible in many applications of integrated circuits such as portable processors.
While thermocouples are, themselves, highly accurate and sensitive, thermocouples attached to integrated circuit packages are decoupled from the chip by the heat path through the package and the rate of heat transfer through the material interfaces therein (and the thermal transfer barriers presented thereby) as well as the thermal mass and specific heat of the package materials from the actual instantaneous temperature of the chip. Further, as chip functionality and integration density increases, local temperature variations on the chip become of increasing importance. Thermocouples cannot discriminate temperature differences across such short distances.
Thermal detectors integrated on chips are useful in many applications. For example, dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) capable of storing several megabits of data are now within the purview of commercial manufacturing techniques. Such memories must be periodically refreshed which consumes a significant portion of operating time and limits periods during which the memory can be accessed. The required refresh rate of DRAMs depends directly on temperature. The refresh operation is, itself, a significant contributor to chip heat.
Present refresh schemes assume that each DRAM is operating at its maximum temperature which is an increasingly less well-founded assumption as the size of DRAMs is increased and increased numbers of DRAMs are employed since maximum temperature conditions are typically only reached at high ambient temperature and immediately after a period of heavy, high-speed, continuous use. Accordingly, if temperature can be accurately monitored, the period of accessibility of the memory can be increased and stand-by power consumption limited to only that which is actually necessary. It should be understood that a reduction of refresh rate not only limits stand-by power consumption directly, but reduced refresh rate also reduces heat generation, further reducing temperature and required refresh rate. This further reduces power consumption which is of substantial importance where battery power is relied upon, such as in portable computers. similarly, in processors, power consumption and heat generation is a function of operating temperature. It has been demonstrated that significant reductions in power consumption can be achieved by algorithms which reduce processor temperature. Again, power consumption is of particular importance in portable processors which rely on battery power and in which temperature excursions are more likely to be large since portable processors generally do not include cooling fans. Therefore, it can be appreciated that substantial improvements in power consumption, reliability and the like can be achieved and processor and memory performance maximized when operations are based on actual chip temperature rather than assumed worst case conditions or based on temperature sensors which are decoupled from instantaneous actual chip temperature.
While some efforts have been made to provide an on-chip temperature sensor, success in achieving the potential performance improvements noted above has been limited. As noted above, several temperature dependent effects on electrical characteristics of semiconductors are quite subtle and may be comparable to noise in high speed switching circuit chip environments. For example, leakage of reverse-biased diodes has been used as an on-chip temperature sensor. However, reverse-biased diode leakage currents are typically in the picoamp range and are easily masked by other leakage mechanisms or by noise. Additionally, diode leakage characteristics are not generally monitored as part of normal integrated circuit manufacturing processes and thus the introduction of other leakage mechanisms may go undetected during manufacture.
More specifically, reverse biased diode leakage is due to carriers which are thermally generated within the junction depletion layers or carriers which are generated within a diffusion length of the junction and subsequently diffuse to the junction without recombining. Those carriers reaching the high electric field of the depletion region, due to the applied reverse bias, are accelerated by the field and contribute to the observed current. Although these two leakage current components are distinguishable, the resultant leakage currents are very small, in the picoamp or sub-picoamp range, and the changes due to temperature are correspondingly very small.
Thermal carrier generation is thus a relatively weak effect compared to changes in sub-threshold current in FETs, yielding current changes in the picoamp and fractional picoamp ranges for temperature excursions of interest and extremely variable with very small variations in device geometry. Reduction of the contribution of thermal carrier generation in reverse-biased diode leakage (e.g. to reduce variability) requires the use of extremely pure silicon, a lightly doped graded junction and contacts remote from the junction; all of which increase process cost and complexity and are, to some degree, inconsistent with other requirements of high density integration. Further, reduction of the current component of diode leakage due to thermal carrier generation to levels at all comparable to those due to changes of charge carrier population distribution with temperature, for whatever reason, reduces current level changes to levels comparable to noise.
Further, the temperature sensor itself must have low power consumption, produce little heat itself (which would interfere with the accuracy of measurement). Neither should the sensor produce performance-compromising heat, especially in portions of the chip local to the sensor where temperature would presumably be of particular importance due to high switching speed. Such production of heat would also be counter-productive to overall savings in power consumption. Further, the sensor circuit should ideally produce a relatively large signal which is immune to noise.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,149 to Kimura, a differential pair of field effect transistors is integrated on a semiconductor chip with the transistors in a similar orientation, presumably for common-mode noise rejection. The ratio of width to length of the respective transistors differs from each other but a feedback circuit is provided to alter gate voltage in one of the transistors such that the current is maintained equal in both transistors. This circuit must be operated in a relatively high current regime above the threshold on an FET and produces a signal derived from changes in carrier mobility with temperature which, as discussed above, is a relatively weak effect.

On-chip thermometry for control of chip operating temperature

International Business Machines Corporation


A SQUID bias current adjustment device supplies a sinusoidal current at 40 kHz, for example, to a coil to generate magnetic field at a SQUID. The amplitude of the field corresponds to a half period of a field-voltage characteristic. Voltage generated from the SQUID at this time is filtered by using a filter to pick out components of 40 kHz and 80 kHz. The picked out signal components are rectified and converted to direct current, and the bias current is adjusted such that the maximum value is obtained. In this way, a SQUID bias current adjustment device can be provided capable of automatically adjusting bias current properly in a short period of time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for adjusting a working point of a superconducting quantum interference device (hereinafter referred to as SQUID). In particular, the invention relates to a device and a method for achieving automatic adjustment of a working point of a SQUID.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 23 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional control circuit for a SQUID with a flux locked loop (hereinafter referred to as FLL). Referring to FIG. 23, the conventional SQUID FLL circuit includes a SQUID 81 having two Josephson junctions formed at predetermined positions and a constant current source 88 supplying constant current to SQUID 81. Magnetic flux to be measured is input from a pickup coil (not shown) to SQUID 81. Voltage output through both ends of SQUID 81 is converted by a transformer 83a, amplified by a preamplifier 83b and then output from an output portion through a multiplier 84 and an integrator 85. A modulation signal at 40 kHz is added by a modulating unit 87 to the output from multiplier 84 for feedback to a field application coil 82 adjacent to SQUID 81. Accordingly, external magnetic flux detected at SQUID 81 is cancelled.
The output of SQUID 81 is input partially to the X axis of an oscilloscope 90 and the output of preamplifier 83b is input to the Y axis of oscilloscope 90.
According to the method above for adjusting the working point of the SQUID by the conventional SQUID control circuit, the amplitude should be adjusted to the maximum by using oscilloscope 90 with a predetermined bias current Ib being applied to the SQUID, and consequently a problem arises of time-consuming adjustment before use. Further, since the adjustment must be made manually, automatic adjustment of the SQUID is impossible.
FIG. 24 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional non-modulation type SQUID control circuit with a flux locked loop (FLL). Referring to FIG. 24, the non-modulation type SQUID control circuit is basically identical to the modulation type control circuit in FIG. 23 except that the former does not include modulating unit 87.
In the initial setting of the non-modulation type SQUID control circuit, a magnetic field bias current is adjusted at an optimum value by watching a waveform on an oscilloscope 90.
According to the method above for adjusting the working point of the SQUID by the conventional SQUID control circuit of non-modulation type, the field bias current applied to a field application coil 82 should be adjusted to allow the amplitude of the waveform of an output signal from the SQUID to attain the maximum by watching oscilloscope 90 with a predetermined bias current Ib applied to the SQUID, and consequently a problem arises of time-consuming adjustment before use. In addition, since the adjustment must be made manually, automatic adjustment of the SQUID is impossible.
Although the SQUID can detect an extremely weak magnetic flux when used for a magnetometer, for example, the SQUID cannot fully fulfill its function due to the influence of noise such as thermal noise caused by an amplifier employed and the like, due to stability concern of circuits such as amplifier, and the like. In order to solve this problem, a circuit according to the synchronous detection system as shown by the block diagram of FIG. 25 has been employed.
Referring to FIG. 25, an output of a SQUID element 91 detecting magnetic flux is input to a lock-in amplifier 93 via a step-up transformer 92. Lock-in amplifier 93 performs synchronized detection based on a synchronizing signal supplied from an oscillator 87 and supplies the result of detection to a DC amplifier 95. The synchronizing signal from oscillator 87 is also superimposed on an output current from DC amplifier 95 and applied to a feedback coil 96. Accordingly, coil 96 generates a magnetic field on which alternating field corresponding to the synchronizing signal is superimposed, this magnetic field is detected by SQUID element 91 and thus a flux locked loop is formed. DC amplifier 95 outputs a signal proportional to the flux density detected by SQUID 91.
A heater 97 is provided in the vicinity of SQUID element 91. Magnetic flux is trapped within a hole of SQUID element 91 when a magnetic field existing in cooling of SQUID element 91 attains a temperature equal to or less than the critical temperature of the superconductor. The trapped flux is released by increasing the temperature by heater 97 to a temperature of at least the critical current. Heater 97 is driven by a power supply circuit 98 and current is supplied to heater 97 as required.
As a conventional heater for releasing magnetic flux, wire dedicated to the heater is processed to form the heater or a resistor having a capacity corresponding to the power supplied to the heater has been employed. Therefore, a resistor having an allowable input greater than 1 W, if 1 W of input power is required for releasing the magnetic flux, or fabrication of a heater having such an allowable input is necessary.
FIG. 26 shows an outside view of a superconducting magnetic sensor using a resistor with an allowable input of 1 W. Referring to FIG. 26, superconducting magnetic sensor 74 includes a SQUID element 75 of about 5 mmxc3x975 mm in size and a resistor 76 of 1 W having a length of about 10 mm that is placed adjacently to SQUID element 75, which are provided on a chip carrier 77 with a diameter of about 30 mm. Resistor 76 occupies a large area on chip carrier 77 as shown in FIG. 26.
The conventional heater employed must have a large allowable input, so that the SQUID cannot be made compact.
One object of the present invention is to provide a device and a method which are easy to use for adjusting a working point of a SQUID.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device and a method for adjusting a working point of a SQUID which improve precision of SQUID adjustment and enable automatic adjustment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a device and a method for adjusting a working point of a non-modulation type SQUID which improve precision of SQUID adjustment and enable automatic adjustment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use SQUID magnetometer capable of easily performing the entire operation including working point adjustment in a short period of time.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a compact heater for a superconducting magnetic sensor.
The objects above are accomplished by a SQUID working point adjustment device including following elements. Specifically, a SQUID working point adjustment device according to one aspect of the invention includes a SQUID, a unit for supplying a bias current to the SQUID, a unit for applying an alternating source at a predetermined frequency to the SQUID to which the bias current is being supplied to generate magnetic field, a unit for picking out from the generated field a signal corresponding to a half period, and a unit for determining an optimum value of the bias current based on the signal corresponding to change of the field.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of adjusting a working point of a SQUID includes the steps of supplying a bias current to the SQUID, applying an alternating source at a predetermined frequency to the SQUID to which the bias current is being supplied to generate magnetic field, picking out from the generated field magnetic field corresponding to a half period, and determining an optimum value of the bias current based on an output corresponding to change of the picked out field.
The magnetic field is generated at the SQUID to which the bias current is being applied, and the optimum value of the bias current is determined based on an output corresponding to change of the field. Accordingly, the optimum value of the bias current can automatically be determined. Further, precision of the adjustment of the bias current is improved.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a SQUID working point adjustment device includes a SQUID, a unit for supplying a predetermined bias current to the SQUID, and a coil for applying magnetic field to the SQUID. An alternating current at a first frequency and an adjustable direct current are applied to the coil. The SQUID working point adjustment device further includes a unit for picking out a field-voltage characteristic signal corresponding to a half period from the SQUID to which the bias current is being supplied, a filter for passing only a component of the first frequency in the picked out field-voltage characteristic signal, and a monitor for monitoring the signal component passed through the filter.
Preferably, the adjustment device further includes an adjusting unit for adjusting the direct current applied to the coil such that the signal component passed through the filter is at its maximum. At this time, the field sensitivity of the SQUID is maximized.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a method of adjusting a working point of a SQUID includes the steps of applying a predetermined bias current to the SQUID and applying magnetic field to SQUID using a coil. An alternating voltage at a first frequency and an adjustable direct voltage are applied to the coil. The adjusting method further includes the steps of picking out a field-voltage characteristic signal corresponding to a half period from the SQUID to which the bias current is being applied, picking out from the picked out field-voltage characteristic signal only a component of the first frequency, and monitoring the signal component.
The magnetic field is generated at the SQUID to which the bias current is being applied, and an optimum value of the field bias current is determined based on an output corresponding to change of the field, so that the optimum value of the field bias current is easily determined. The bias current is also adjusted more precisely. Further, as the optimum value of the field bias current can be determined, the working point of the SQUID can automatically be adjusted.
A SQUID magnetometer according to the present invention includes a SQUID, an application unit for applying a predetermined bias current to the SQUID, a detector for detecting an output of the SQUID to which the bias current is being applied, a feedback unit for feeding the output of the SQUID back to the SQUID, an application unit for applying a bias field to the feedback unit, and a controller for automatically adjusting the bias field in a state that the bias current is adjusted such that an output voltage of the SQUID is at its maximum.
The bias field is accordingly adjusted automatically in the state that the bias current is adjusted to allow the output voltage of the SQUID to be the maximum one. Manual manipulation of an oscilloscope as conventionally done is thus unnecessary. An easily operable SQUID magnetometer can be provided in this way.
Preferably, the controller includes a data storage unit for storing flux data measured by using the SQUID magnetometer.
Still preferably, the controller further includes an analyzer for analyzing flux data measured by using the SQUID magnetometer.
Still preferably, the SQUID magnetometer further includes a heater for releasing trapped flux, and the controller controls the heater for releasing the trapped flux.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a heater for a superconducting magnetic sensor employing a SQUID element for releasing flux of the superconducting magnetic sensor has a fixed allowable input power. A predetermined input power is applied to the heater for releasing the flux, the allowable input power of the heater being lower than the predetermined applied power.
At a low temperature (about xe2x88x92200xc2x0 C.) which releases the flux of the superconducting magnetic sensor with the SQUID, a rated allowable power at a room temperature has no meaning, and accordingly a resistor having a lower allowable power can be employed. The heater with an allowable input power smaller than the actual input power is used so that the heater and thus the entire device can be made compact.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Device and method for easily adjusting working point of SQUID


A security apparatus comprises a support assembly and a keyboard retainer. The support assembly comprises a first retaining portion, a second retaining portion pivotally coupled to the first retaining portion, and a lock assembly defining a locked state and an unlocked state. The keyboard retainer comprises at least one base member pivotally coupled to the first and second retaining portions and included a top surface extending along a top surface plane, and an opposing bottom surface. The at least one base member comprises one or more securing members extending from the bottom surface of the first base, and one or more retainers extending above the top surface plane of the first and each retainer comprising a retaining member extending away from the first base.

Retailers sell a wide range of portable or hand held electronic devices that can assist in or perform a multitude of tasks for the a user or customer. One such portable electronic device is the tablet computer or tablet. As tablets have become more and more popular, manufacturers have begun to produce various accessories to be connected to and used with the tablets. Detachable keyboards have become especially popular because they allow the tablet to be used like a laptop computer when the keyboard is attached, but also allow detachment of the keyboard to use a tablet. The detachable keyboard can couple to the tablet in a variety of manners, including a magnetic connection. Another part of the attraction of the detachable keyboard is that it can be articulated in a variety of positions with respect to the tablet in order to suit the needs and comfort of the user. Part of the purchasing experience is having the ability to examine and test the tablet along with the detachable keyboard. This is done using floor models that are fitted with some form of security apparatus to prevent theft of the portable electronic device.
The current security apparatuses used to secure table computers with detachable keyboards in the retail setting are either overly complicated and cumbersome, or they sacrifice security for functional display. Cumbersome and overly complicated security apparatuses tend to be very good at preventing theft of tablets with detachable keyboards, but limit the customer interaction with both devices. These security apparatuses are also expensive to manufacture and purchase. Conversely, simpler and less complex security apparatuses can allow for improved customer interaction with the tablet and detachable keyboard, however are less effective at preventing theft of these devices.
These are just some of the problems associated with current security apparatuses for tablets with detachable keyboards.


An upstanding Self-Adjusting Volume Display and Merchandise Dispensing System designed to increase merchandise and order picking dispensing efficiency and solve major space problems in a direct marketing distribution facility and other product display situations. The inventive system includes a main high-volume, open-top storage bin or hopper with an inclined floor member slanting toward the front of the hopper and a companion, upstanding, telescoping, self-adjusting volume chute vertically and slidably engaged within the interior of the main hopper. The main hopper has a discharge opening at the bottom of the front panel in which a picking portal is inserted, allowing merchandise filled therein to slide forward to be extracted therefrom.

The present invention will now be described in the context of a presently contemplated embodiment as illustrated in the drawings. However, the appended claims should not be construed as limited to the disclosed embodiments.
The present invention is directed to a device and method for storage and dispensing of items. It is presently contemplated that one application of the present invention is in a warehouse where mail order items are stored in the devices of the present invention and dispensed to employees who pack orders for shipment to the customers. However, it is also presently contemplated that the system and method can be applied to other applications such as retail locations and others.
It can be appreciated that stock and merchandise dispensers of various configurations have been in use for years. Typically, these dispensers are constructed in a flow rack or a static rack configuration that accept shipping boxes and cartons as the dispensing reservoir.
The primary deficiencies with available storage and dispensing devices and methods are that they are costly to purchase, occupy an enormous amount of floor space, require frequent replenishing, sometimes require the use of ladders to reach merchandise, restocking interferes with the removal of merchandise from the discharge openings or the order picking process, along with creating major traffic congestion from discarded empty boxes and cartons during restocking. Other problems with conventional dispensers concern difficulty in reaching some of the merchandise on the racks and the fact that individuals removing merchandise must travel many more steps due to the enormous floor space required for conventional dispensers. Still another problem with conventional merchandise dispensers is the fact that unloading merchandise from within the main hopper for inventory purposes is very time-consuming. While in the past, people have accepted the deficiencies in these conventional merchandise dispensers, they are not suitable for efficiently dispensing high-volumes of merchandise in an efficient manner at a low cost nor is the dispensing system so designed to occupy a minimum of floor space. This prevents the owner of such a dispensing system from being able to expand to a greater number of picking stations without requiring additional floor space.
In this respect, the Self-Adjusting Volume Display and Merchandise Dispensing System, of the present invention, substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of available systems, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of rapid response manual order picking not seen in available systems.

Self-adjusting volume display and merchandise dispensing system

Abstract: Attached to the upper front panel of the main hopper, by way of an attachment hook assembly, is an optional removable, open-top, upstanding, low-volume, merchandise hopper vertically stacked directly on top of the picking portal that is slidably engaged within the opening in the lower front panel of the main hopper such that it protrudes out of the front panel of the main hopper. This configuration of low-volume hoppers attached to the main hopper can be repeated again and again creating a nest of multiple, vertically stacked openings for dispensing and extracting merchandise. Each additional low-volume merchandise hopper attached to a main hopper is fitted with a picking portal, allowing each of the many vertically stacked discharge openings to be in the same frontal plane. Also, each additional discharge opening or picking portal adds an additional product to the mix of merchandise available at the multitude of openings for extracting merchandise. High and low-volume hoppers can also be placed side-by-side such as to add even more openings to dispense merchandise. Increasing the number of hoppers in a horizontal plane insures the likelihood that the merchandise extraction openings will remain at a convenient, reachable level.


A method and system of controlling a multicast transmission. The method and system transmits a data packet to multiple slave devices across a UWB wireless network, and detects the reception of any acknowledgement transmissions. These acknowledgement transmissions indicate reception of the data packet by the slave devices. In addition, the method and system retransmit the data packet to at least one of the slave devices when an acknowledgment is not detected for each of the slave devices. The acknowledgments may be received from the UWB network.

Since gaining approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2002, ultra wideband (UWB) techniques have become an attractive solution for short-range wireless communications because they allow for devices to exchange information at relatively high data rates.
Although UWB systems for short-range networks are relatively new, their transmission techniques have been known for decades. In fact, the first radio transmission was made by a UWB technique when Heinrich Hertz discovered radio waves in 1887. This discovery was made with a spark gap transmitter, which can be viewed as an early UWB radio. Later on, such transmitters were banned because they emitted wide spectrum transmissions.
Current FCC regulations permit UWB transmissions for communications purposes in the frequency band between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz. However, for such transmissions, the spectral density has to be under −41.3 dBm/MHz and the utilized bandwidth has to be higher than 500 MHz.
There are many UWB transmission techniques that can fulfill these requirements. A common and practical UWB technique is called impulse radio (IR). In IR, data is transmitted by employing short baseband pulses that are separated in time by gaps. Thus, IR does not use a carrier signal. These gaps makes IR much more immune to multipath propagation problems than conventional continuous wave radios. RF gating is a particular type of IR in which the impulse is a gated RF pulse. This gated pulse is a sine wave masked in the time domain with a certain pulse shape.
IR transmission facilitates a relatively simple transmitter design, which basically requires a pulse generator and an antenna. This design does not necessarily require a power amplifier, because transmission power requirements are low. In addition, this design does not generally require modulation components such as voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) and mixers, because the impulses are baseband signals.
In general, IR receiver designs are more complex than their corresponding transmitter designs. However, these designs are much simpler than conventional receiver designs because they typically do not employ intermediate frequency (IF) signals or filters. However, to fulfill spectral requirements, IR impulses have to be very short in duration (e.g., a couple of nanoseconds). This requirement places stringent timing demands on receiver timing accuracy. The fulfillment of these demands can also provide IR receivers with accurate time resolution and positioning capabilities.
Multicast transmission techniques are well suited for UWB networks. Multicast transmissions involve sending information to multiple recipients simultaneously. Accordingly, such transmissions can conserve bandwidth and reduce transmission latencies. Applications such as data downloading and videoconferencing are well suited for multicast transmission.
It is desirable that recipients acknowledge receipt of transmitted information to ensure that recipients receive transmitted information and to instill confidence in the performance of a communications system. Also, current FCC regulations require that acknowledgment information is sent in UWB systems so that a transmitter knows that an associated receiver is available. Accordingly, there is a current need for techniques involving the processing of acknowledgments.

Method and system for processing acknowledgments in a wireless communications network


A system and method for receiving output signals from each receiver of multiple receivers, the output signals generated based on receipt of a same transmission; incrementing a count value associated with each receiver based on the output signals; and determining whether a fault in a receiver exists based on the associated count values of the receivers.

Receivers in a multiple receiver system occasionally suffer from faults such as poor calibration or hardware malfunction. If the fault goes uncorrected, then information may not be properly received by the multiple receiver system causing faulty voice and/or data communications. Accordingly, multiple receiver systems tend to employ fault detection methods to find these faults and permit timely correction thereof.
In a first example of a conventional fault detection method, a pilot signal is transmitted by a first radio system. The pilot signal is then received by a second radio system. The received pilot signal is processed by a second radio system receiver and then output to other components of the second radio system. The output power of the receiver in the second radio system, as a response to the pilot signal is then compared against the pilot signal transmit power from the first radio system. If a significant power difference exists between the pilot signal transmit power of the first radio system and the output power of the second radio system receiver as a result of the pilot signal, a fault is determined to exist in the second radio system. Problems with this approach for detecting a fault are that two radio systems are needed, one for transmitting a pilot signal and one for receiving the pilot signal. Additionally, extra energy is needed to generate a pilot signal solely for fault detection purposes. Furthermore, it may be difficult to determine which receiver system is faulty where there is more than one receiver system in the second radio system.
In a second example of a conventional fault detection method, only one radio system is used. In the second example of a fault detection system, a pilot signal is output by a first radio system. The pilot signal output is then received by the same radio system—the first radio system. The received pilot signal is then processed by a receiver in the first radio system. The output power of the first radio system receiver is then compared against the original pilot signal output power. If a significant difference in power exists between the output of the first radio system pilot signal and the output of the first radio system receiver, a fault is determined to exist in the first radio system. Problems associated with this approach are that extra energy may be needed to generate the extra pilot signal only for fault detection purposes. Additionally, it may be difficult to determine which receiver system is faulty where there is more than one receiver system in the first radio system.
In a third example of the conventional art, an uplink signal is received from a mobile unit by a first radio system. A receiver of the first radio system determines the power of the uplink signal received. If the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value is below a set threshold, a fault may be determined to exist in the first system. A problem with this approach is that it may be difficult to determine which receiver system is faulty where there is more than one receiver system in the first radio system.

System and method for detecting a fault in a multiple receiver system


A charged particle beam lithography system includes: a charged particle beam source which generates a charged particle beam and irradiates a substrate therewith; an aperture in which has been formed a pattern of a shape corresponding to an arbitrary pattern to be drawn; an illuminator which adjusts the diameter of the charged particle beam and illuminates the aperture with the charged particle beam; a first deflector which deflects the charged particle beam by an electrical field to cause the charged particle beam to be incident on an arbitrary pattern, allowing the charged particle beam to pass through the aperture and be reflected back along the optical axis; a first demagnification optical projection system which demagnifies the aperture image of the charged particle beam which has passed through the aperture with the use of an electrical field or electromagnetic field; a second demagnification optical projection system which demagnifies the aperture image of the charged particle beam which has been demagnified by the first demagnification projection optical system, with the use of an electrical field or electromagnetic field to form an image on the substrate; and a beam diameter adjuster which adjusts the illuminator in such a manner that the beam diameter at crossovers of the charged particle beam, formed between the aperture and the first demagnification optical projection system and within the second demagnification optical projection system, is greater than the size of the pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam lithography system, a pattern drawing method using a charged particle beam, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Related Background Art
A charged particle beam lithography system can draw a pattern at a high resolution on the order of the wavelength of charged particles (such as electrons or ions) that is shorter than the visible wavelengths. Unlike a mask drawing method using light exposure, however, this method has a problem in that the complete pattern is divided into small sections and then is directly drawn by a beam of such a divided pattern, so that the drawing in this charged particle beam lithography system takes a long time. Since such a charged particle beam lithography system has the characteristic of enabling the formation fine line patterns to a high level of precision, however, it is being developed as the next-generation technique after lithography by optical exposure methods, or as a powerful tool for the manufacture of small lots of varied devices such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Methods of forming a direct pattern by an electron beam include a method of scanning the wafer entire surface with a small round beam while turning the beam on and off, and a VSB drawing method of drawing a pattern with an electron beam that has passed through a stencil aperture. An electron beam drawing technique has been disclosed as a development from the VSB drawing method (such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-290727, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. No. 2000-173529, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 34 (1995) Pt. 1, No. 12B, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 15 (6), November/December 1997, and J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 19 (6), November/December 2001) to enable rapid drawing in batches. In this method, a stencil is prepared in which is formed a pattern consisting of a plurality of blocks of a repeating pattern, and this stencil is used for selective drawing.
In the VSB method that is disclosed in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 34 (1995) Pt. 1, No. 12B, an electron beam that has been accelerated to a high acceleration is driven into a resist layer on a wafer to ensure an improved beam resolution. With this high-acceleration voltage method, a phenomenon called the proximity effect occurs in which the irradiating electron beam reflects from the various layers of thin films formed on the lower surface of the resist on the upper surface of a wafer and is again directed through the resist, which leads to blurriness of the pattern to be drawn and a deterioration in the resolution. In this electron beam lithography system of this high-acceleration voltage method, it is therefore essential to exert control to correct this proximity effect, necessitating large-scale systems not only for the electronic optical system but also for the control itself. As a result, the system becomes even more complex, leading to a further problem in that the precision effectively deteriorates. In addition, the use of highly accelerated electrons leads to a fear that the surface of the wafer will become damaged.
To solve this problem with the VSB method when using a high-acceleration voltage charged particle beam, an electron beam drawing method of an aperture style that uses an electron beam with a low-acceleration voltage has been proposed (such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-173529).
However, both the electron beam lithography system disclosed in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 34 (1995) Pt. 1, No. 12B and the electron beam drawing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-173529 have a problem in that a crossover is formed between a second shaping aperture of the optical system and the wafer, at which the diameter of the electron beam becomes small in order to reduce beam blurriness and warping due to optical aberrations. More specifically, the electron beam lithography system disclosed in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 34 (1995) Pt. 1, No. 12B has a high-demagnification optical system of 1/36 and the electron beam drawing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-173529 has a demagnification optical system on the order of 1/10. This means that with respect to each apparatus the aperture angle of the beam starting at the second shaping aperture is extremely small, so that the crossover has dimensions of a few micrometers and this is the smallest beam diameter with each demagnification projection optical system.
If an optical system that forms a crossover of such a small beam diameter is employed in an electron beam drawing apparatus using a low-acceleration voltage, a problem arises in that the blurriness of the beam is increased by the space charge effect and thus the resolution deteriorates.
A common problem in the above-described apparatus is that secondary electrons generated from the surface of the wafer cause contamination and charging of the objective lens and the deflector in the vicinity thereof, which results in a further worsening and drifting of the beam blurriness. Note that the usage of the term "secondary electrons" in this document has a broader meaning that includes reflected electrons.

Charged particle beam lithography system, pattern drawing method, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A method is disclosed for identifying potential perfusion defects in a tissue region through which blood flows in an object under investigation, based on at least one high-energy image data set covering the tissue region and at least one low-energy image data set covering the tissue region. A virtual contrast medium image data set is established based on the high-energy image data set and the low-energy image data set. Furthermore, first candidate perfusion regions within the virtual contrast medium image data set, and second candidate perfusion defect regions within a further image data set based on the high-energy image data set and/or the low-energy image data are detected, the first candidate perfusion defect regions being compared with the second candidate perfusion defect regions and, based on the comparison, potential perfusion defects being identified. Further disclosed are a corresponding image analysis apparatus and a computed tomography system.

For many cardiological investigations, the spatially-resolved imaging of the blood supply to the myocardium by means of medical imaging techniques is an important tool for diagnostic back-up. A typical application example is the continuing checking of the effects of stenoses in the coronary arteries which, for example, have been identified previously in a cardiological computed tomography examination. In order to be able to estimate correctly the prognosis for the patient, it is helpful to investigate stenoses of this type with regard to their hemodynamic relevance. An answer needs to be found to the question of whether the blood supply through a stenosis is reduced at rest and/or under exertion and whether the myocardium is undersupplied or whether a still sufficient blood supply exists.
Normally, nowadays, such perfusion measurements to investigate the blood supply to the myocardium are carried out using magnetic resonance tomography methods ("MR perfusion investigations") or techniques of nuclear medicine, for example, SPECT. However, MR perfusion investigations are only available in specialist centers and are also very complex and costly. The imaging in nuclear medicine techniques such as SPECT suffers from low spatial resolution. They also often result in ambiguous or falsely positive findings. Alternatively, an assessment of the hemodynamic relevance of stenoses can be made through evaluation of the "Fractional Flow Reserve". Here, in the context of angiographic investigations by catheter, the pressure behind and in front of a stenosis are measured and, from these values, the pressure ratio (known as the Fractional Flow Reserve) is calculated. Investigations of this type have the disadvantage that they are invasive.
Computed tomography methods also essentially permit assessments to be made of the blood supply to the myocardium. For this purpose, the heart can be investigated with a conventional cardiac computed tomography protocol, for example, following injection of a, for example, iodine-containing contrast medium. A computed tomography protocol within the meaning of embodiments of the present invention should be understood to be a collection of control commands according to which the computed tomography system (hereinafter called "CT system") is controlled automatically during measurement, once started. Such protocols or measurement protocols are known to persons skilled in the art. In order to investigate the local blood supply to the myocardium, the CT values of the image pixels in the CT images of the myocardium can be evaluated, for example, by visual inspection or using suitable software methods.
In a healthy myocardium, it can be taken that the contrast medium is evenly distributed through the myocardium and therefore the CT values of all the image pixels of the myocardium are evenly elevated. Regions in the myocardium in which the image pixels have lower CT values than the surrounding myocardium can be interpreted as regions with reduced contrast medium uptake and therefore as zones of reduced blood supply, i.e. as having perfusion defects. Unfortunately, however, a local relative lowering in the CT values in the myocardium can also have other causes than a reduced contrast medium uptake, for example, a locally elevated fat content in the myocardium. Therefore with this investigation technique, a relative reduction in CT values for other reasons, cannot be distinguished from a genuine perfusion defect.
One possibility for solving this problem would be to perform the cardiac CT contrast medium recordings using a "dual-energy method". Here, the recordings of the tissue region of interest, that is, during a myocardial examination of the heart, are investigated with two different X-ray spectra, so that a CT raw data set is recorded with at least one first X-ray energy or with a first X-ray spectrum and a second CT raw data set is recorded with a second X-ray energy. A multi-energy method can also be used, in which yet further image data sets are recorded at still other energies. From the different CT raw data sets, a plurality of different image data sets which reproduce the CT values of the imaged tissue regions and of the contrast medium at the different X-ray spectra is reconstructed. Whereas fat and soft tissues have very similar CT values at different X-ray spectra, the CT value of most contrast media, particularly iodine, significantly increases with decreasing X-ray energy. Due to this strong change in the CT value with different X-ray spectra, it is possible to determine the contrast medium content per image pixel quantitatively and to reproduce this in a "virtual contrast medium" image. In a virtual contrast medium image data set, therefore, the contrast medium content of each individual image pixel in the myocardium can be given quantitatively as a measure for the local blood supply. In this way, regions in the myocardium in which less contrast medium has been taken up due to a perfusion defect, can be readily identified with high sensitivity. However, evaluation of the images following such a method is relatively severely laden with artifacts. Due to often unavoidably high contrast medium concentrations, for example, in the right ventricle of the heart, artifacts arise in a contrast medium image data set of this type which can mimic a locally reduced iodine concentration in the myocardium and can therefore simulate a perfusion defect. Due to other inconsistencies between the CT images recorded with different X-ray spectra, for example, beam-hardening, pixel artifacts can arise during calculation of the contrast medium content which, as sites of darkening in the myocardium, mimic perfusion defects in the myocardium.

Identification of potential perfusion defects


A variable displacement compressor comprises a housing containing a cylinder block, a plurality of pistons disposed in the cylinder block, a crank chamber, a rotatable drive shaft, a drive plate mounted on the drive shaft such that it may rotate integrally with the drive shaft, a rotary journal which can be pivoted with respect to the drive plate and a swash plate, supported on the rotary journal, for causing the pistons to compress a fluid. The inclination angle of the swash plate is controlled in relation to the internal pressure in each cylinder, and to the pressure in the crank chamber. The compressor further has a pin mechanism, pivotally mounted on the drive plate, for coupling the drive plate and the rotary journal. The pin mechanism is adapted to slide with respect to the rotary journal and to pivot with respect to the drive plate, when the rotary journal pivots with respect to the drive plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to variable displacement swash plate type compressors. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved mechanism for coupling a rotary journal in a variable displacement compressor with a drive plate which rotates integrally with a drive shaft.
2. Description of the Background Art
Variable displacement compressors have a wide variety of applications including the use as compressors for air conditioning, and refrigeration systems such as automotive air conditioners. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 62-183082 discloses a conventional variable displacement swash plate type compressor, which is illustrated in FIG. 6.
In this compressor, a rotary journal 103 is coupled, via a link pin 102, with a drive plate 101, securely mounted to a piston 106 that is connected to the swash plate 104 by a connecting rod 107. The rotational motion of the rotary journal 103 causes undulating movement of the swash plate 104, which in turn drives the connecting rods and pistons one after another in a linear reciprocating manner.
An arc-shaped elongated hole 109 is formed in a support arm 108, and protrudes from the drive plate 101. The elongated hole 109 serves as a guide for slidably holding the link pin 102. This arrangement keeps the top clearance of the piston 106 located at the top dead center position approximately constant, regardless of the inclination angle of the journal 103, and that of the swash plate 104.
When the dimensional accuracy of the arc-shaped, elongated hole 109 is low, however, the top clearance of the piston 106 cannot be maintained constant. Meanwhile, when the gap between the elongated hole 109 and the link pin 102 is great, noise is generated. It is difficult to further improve the dimensional accuracy of the elongated hole 109, with all the machining techniques currently available.
The discharge pressure of the compressor is generally higher than the internal pressure of the crank case. Therefore, when a certain piston is in its top dead position, the pressure of the gas in each compression chamber, that is exerted on the face of the piston head, will typically be higher than the pressure of the crank case gas acting on the rear side of the piston head. This creates a compressive stress which acts on the swash plate 104 at the point of action Mf.
In this design, the point of support Mk where the link pin 102 contacts the elongated hole 109 in the drive plate 101, will shift depending on the inclination angle of the swash plate 104. Especially in the type of compressor shown in FIG. 6, the line segment drawn between the point of action Mf and the point of support Mk is designed to be parallel with the drive shaft 100, when the inclination angle of the swash plate 104 is the greatest (when the discharge volume in the compressor is maximum). Accordingly, as the inclination angle of the swash plate 104 decreases with the change in the internal pressure of the crank case, the point of support Mk of the compressive stress shifts downward along the elongated hole 109. At the same time, the point of action Mf on the swash plate 104 receiving the compressive stress of the piston 106 located at the top position, shifts upward relative to the point of support Mk, so that the line segment drawn between the point of action Mf and the point of support Mk no longer maintains the parallel relationship with the drive shaft 100.
Thus, the compressive stress produces a moment that acts to further reduce the inclination angle of the swash plate 104. This moment makes it difficult to smoothly control the discharge volume of the compressor. In other words, although this moment promotes inclination of the swash plate 104 in the direction of decreasing discharge volume, it inhibits the inclination of the swash plate 104 in the direction of increasing the discharge volume. Therefore, such conventional compressor has two characteristics. The first is that compressor is sensitive to decrease in the discharge volume, and the second being that it is not sensitive to increase in the discharge volume. Such characteristics are not preferred in the variable displacement compressor.

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho