An apparatus for detaching a supporting fabric from a substantially-elongated piece of elastomeric material includes at least one plane for supporting the piece, first rollers located close to an exit edge of the plane, at least one second roller, and at least one actuator for moving the second roller. The second roller moves between a first position, not in proximity to the first rollers, and a second position, in proximity to the first rollers. In the second position, the first rollers and the second roller detach the fabric from the piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for automatically detaching the supporting fabric attached to an element of elastomeric material, generally a length of tread band, in order to maintain its adhesiveness unchanged before it is used in a machine for tyres manufacturing.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a device designed to automatically detach said supporting fabric; said device eases the task of the operator involved in the operation of detachment and, at the same time, makes it possible for said element to be moved towards a manufacturing drum mounted on the abovementioned machine.
More particularly, the present invention relates to the automatic detachment of the supporting fabric attached to a length of tread band for tyres of the giant type, i.e. for tyres which are suitable to be used on heavy duty vehicles and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the following of the present invention and in the pending claims, the term "elastomeric material" is intended to mean a rubber mixture in its entirety, i.e., containing at least a basic polymer, the reinforcing fillers, as well as further product and process additives normally used for manufacturing and curing a pneumatic tyre.
Tread bands for tyres of the giant type, as described further on in the course of the present description, are normally extruded continuously, because of their sizes and their weight considerably greater than the sizes and weight of the tread bands of car tyres. Thus said tread bands are cut up into pieces of predetermined length, stored in a store and taken therefrom for subsequent feeding to a tyre manufacturing machine.
Said working procedure is substantially used also in the process of tyres manufacturing for cars where, however, it is generally preferred to store the tread band temporarily in the form of a continuous piece on a storage reel together with a supporting fabric which separates the overlapping turns of the elastomeric material from each other, the cutting to length operation of said tread band being performed subsequently, after separation of the supporting fabric, during the stage in which the tread band is delivered to said manufacturing drum.
For greater simplicity of description, reference will be made in the following of the present description to processes for the manufacturing of pneumatic tyres which use lengths of tread band which have been precut to length during their manufacturing stage.
Furthermore, whenever not expressly indicated otherwise, said lengths of tread band are to be understood to be either for tyres of the giant type or for car tyres, without distinction.
In accordance with tyres manufacturing processes known in the art, the operation of removing the supporting fabric from a length of tread band is performed manually by an operator who is responsible, among other tasks, for preparing and positioning said tread band on a suitable feed device placed upstream from a manufacturing drum.
More specifically, lengths of tread band are placed on the supporting planes of a distributor means, generally a moving trolley, positioned close to the aforesaid feed device, and the operator is required to handle each piece separately.
Said pieces are carefully placed on said supporting planes in such a way that the supporting fabric is in contact with the surface of said planes.
Therefore, the operator works on each piece, turning it over a first time so that the supporting fabric is uppermost, and then detaching said fabric in a completely manual way, using only his own strength.
Once the supporting fabric has been removed from the surface of the piece, the successive operations performed by the operator depend on the nature of the process and the manufacturing machine used.
In the case where the abovementioned feed device delivers the tread band in a position above the manufacturing drum, the piece of tread band must be turned over a second time to ensure that it is correctly positioned on the cylindrical surface of the drum.
Once said second overturning movement has been performed the operator has to manually push the tread band up onto said feed device, which is upstream from the manufacturing drum, and which is provided with motor-driven rollers or with a conveyor belt which deliver said tread band to the manufacturing drum.
When, however, said feed device delivers the tread band to a position below the manufacturing drum, the operator does not have to turn said piece over a second time once the supporting fabric has been removed, and merely has to push it towards said feed device.
According to Applicant's perception, manual performance of the abovementioned operations of turning the tread band over and detaching the supporting fabric attached to the latter is particularly onerous for the operator, because of the appreciable weight of the piece, and he is required to make a more than negligible repeated physical effort which is quite harmful to the integrity of the piece that undergoes a plurality of stretching movements and dimensional changes because of the plasticity of the nonvulcanized material, which compromise the quality of the finished product.
In fact, it should be emphasized that in the case of tyres of the giant type, each piece of tread band has a weight which generally varies between 25 and 30 kg.
Furthermore, said physical effort is not only required for turning the piece of tread band over and for detaching the supporting fabric, which must be performed at the same time over the full width of the piece, and progressively in a longitudinal direction along it, but also for conveying said piece, pushed by the operator's force, towards the feed device of the manufacturing drum.
The process of producing a tyre, in particular a tyre of the giant type, makes use of manufacturing machines which, operating according to a predetermined sequence of stages performed partly in a wholly automatic way and partly semiautomatically on two or more manufacturing drums, make it possible to assemble the plurality of semifinished components which make up a finished tyre.
Said semifinished components are represented by: the liner, i.e., a layer which is impermeable to air and which coats the inside of the carcass of a tubeless tyre, the carcass ply, the chafers, the fillers beneath the belt ply, the belt plies (in general, three separate strips of belt ply overlapped by a further strip with circumferential cords), the tread band, and the sidewalls.
The structure and the operation of a manufacturing machine as a whole are not described in the following since they are not relevant to said invention, and any manufacturing machine of the known art may therefore be taken into consideration.
As mentioned above, the tread band represents one of the semifinished products used in the manufacturing process of a tyre, and is produced by an extrusion operation by using a mixture of predetermined formulation which results in the production of a continuous piece of elastomeric material.
Through the use of dies of predetermined cross section, said continuous piece is shaped into a profile which is substantially trapezoidal in transverse cross section.
Thus, the obtained continuous piece of the tread band is subjected to a cooling stage which is conventionally performed by immersing it into a cooling liquid, e.g. water at ambient temperature.
Once said cooling stage is complete, the lower surface of said piece of tread band, that is the surface which constitutes the larger base of the abovementioned trapezoidal cross section and which comes into contact with the abovementioned belt package during manufacturing, is attached to a supporting fabric.
Said fabric performs the function of preserving the adhesiveness of the mixture on the lower surface of the tread band, that is the surface which will come into direct contact with the underlying belt package during the tyre manufacturing process.
In fact it should be emphasized that for reasons relating to the process and the stocks in store, generally the tread band, once it has been produced, is not immediately used but remains stored in the stores for a variable period of time of between few hours and few days.
During said period of time the tread band is inevitably in contact with dust and/or dirt present in the surrounding environment; there is therefore a need to protect its surfaces, in particular to preserve its adhesiveness, by coating it with a supporting fabric.
More particularly, in the case of tread bands for vehicle tyres, a continuous piece of tread band approximately 100 metres long is wound onto a reel together with a suitable fabric, e.g. Meraklon®.
On the other hand, in the case of tread bands for giant tyres the tread band is coated with a supporting fabric which generally consists of a sheet of polyethylene.
The tread band attached to the supporting fabric is then subjected to a cutting to length operation so as to produce pieces of tread band which have predetermined dimensional features for use during the manufacturing stage, said features being suitable for the manufacturing of a particular tyre.
As mentioned above, the cut pieces of the tread band are placed on the supporting planes of a carrying trolley, known in the technical language as "book trolley", which has the special feature of having the supporting planes all hinged so as to rotate along the same side, i.e. the longer side of said planes, the latter adopting an arrangement similar to that of the pages of a book.
Once it has been loaded, said trolley is brought up close to the manufacturing machine, upstream of a manufacturing drum, where the operator, as indicated above, manually detaches the supporting fabric from the tread band and delivers it to a roller or belt feed device which feeds said manufacturing drum.

Apparatus for detaching supporting fabric from elastomeric material


One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for improving asynchronous programming execution at runtime. Asynchronous programming code can comprise more than one level of hierarchy, such as in an execution plan. Respective aggregation operations in a portion of the asynchronous programming code are unrolled, to create a single level iterative execution, by combining elements of the multi-level iterative execution of the asynchronous programming code. In this way, the aggregation operations are concatenated to local logic code for the aggregation operations. Thread context switching in the unrolled portion of asynchronous programming code is performed merely at an asynchronous operation, thereby mitigating unnecessary switches. Exceptions thrown during programming code can be propagated up to a top of a virtual callstack for the execution.

Programming code can be written in a synchronous manner, which may comprise executing the code in a sequential manner. For example, a first operation may be performed, and a result of the first operation can be used as input for a second operation. This type of programming is typically easy to write, but may not be efficient to execute (e.g., where output of a first operation is used as input for a second operation, the second operation may have to wait a considerable amount of time for the first operation to complete execution before the second operation can begin execution). For example, a code execution process thread may become blocked in synchronous programming execution when there is a long Input/Output call, where a result may take a long time to return. In this example, the continued execution of the programming may be stalled while the thread is blocked from continued execution. Asynchronous programming may provide a multi-thread execution of the programming, by performing some asynchronous operations on a separate thread. Therefore, if one thread becomes blocked, it may not cause the execution of the programming to be blocked. However, while more efficient, asynchronous programming is more difficult to write.

Unrolling aggregation operations in asynchronous programming code having multiple levels in hierarchy


A wire-wound coil component includes a core having a spool and a flange, a wire wound around the spool, and an outer electrode to which an end portion of the wire is electrically coupled. The flange has a lateral surface and a bottom surface. The outer electrode has a metal thin-film section in contact with the lateral surface and a thick-film electrode section which is a metal composite film in contact with the bottom surface.

Wire-wound coil components typically have outer electrodes, and these outer electrodes are usually formed by coating flanges of a core with a conductive paste containing metal and glass, baking the coatings into base electrodes, and plating the base electrodes to form upper electrodes (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008-210978 and 2011-109020).
A proposed alternative to these existing methods is to form the outer electrodes by plating alone (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-40084). This method, for fabricating a multilayer coil component that has a ceramic body and inner electrodes therein for example, includes exposing multiple end portions of the inner electrodes along an edge of the ceramic body, with the exposed end portions close to each other, exposing dummy terminals called anchor tabs along the same edge of the ceramic body as the end portions of the inner electrodes, with the exposed portions of the dummy terminals close to each other, and electrolessly plating the ceramic body. Layers of the plating metal grow from the exposed end portions of the inner electrodes and anchor tabs, forming outer electrodes.

Wire-wound coil component and method for producing wire-wound coil component


The combination of a portable article and a security system. The security system has a flexible element/tether with a length. The flexible element/tether is connected between the portable article and a support to confine movement of the portable article within a range dictated by the length of the flexible element/tether. The flexible element/tether has a flexible core and a protective layer over the core. The protective layer is made at least partially from a material that is resistant to being cut to thereby avoid severance of the flexible core.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to security systems and, more particularly, to a security system using a flexible element/tether connecting between a) a portable article and a support, or b) other spaced components in the security system, wherein the flexible element/tether is resistant to being severed.
2. Background Art
Myriad types of security systems currently exist for avoiding theft of portable articles. The electronics industry has created an ever increasing need for better security measures to avoid unauthorized removal of articles, as from at point of purchase displays.
In a typical display, a flexible element/tether connects between each article and a support. A prospective purchaser is allowed to engage and move the portable articles within a range dictated by the length of their associated flexible element/tether.
These systems are generally classified as either mechanical or electromechanical in nature. Purely mechanical systems rely on the strength of the flexible element/tether, and its connection to both the support and portable article, to prevent theft. In one exemplary system, the flexible element/tether consists of a braided metal core component that may be exposed, but is more commonly covered by a plastic or rubber layer.
The purely mechanical systems are defeatable by severing the flexible element/tether or compromising the connection between the flexible tether and the support and/or portable article that is being secured. These systems are generally considered lower end systems in that, once defeated, the associated portable article can be removed from the premises without there being any indication of the fact that the breach has occurred.
Electrical systems have the added capability of integrating an alarm system that is capable of producing a detectable signal in the event that there is a breach. A flexible element/tether in these systems typically has one or more conductors that define part of a detection circuit between a connector, attached to the portable article that is being monitored, and the alarm system. Commonly, the flexible element/tether is made with relatively little mechanical strength beyond that afforded by the conductor(s). These systems rely upon the fact that a detectable signal will be generated in the event that the flexible element/tether is severed or separated from the associated article.
One difficulty that is encountered with these types of systems is that they are often improperly managed by store personnel. The systems may be improperly set up, in which event they are not operational to generate a detectable signal in the event that the flexible element/tether is severed or released from an article. In other environments, alarm events occur so frequently that little notice is paid to the fact that a detectable signal has been generated as would indicate a breach. A response to these conditions may be to either ignore the alarm event or shut the system down to avoid disturbance of other customers.
In large operations, it is known to piggy-back components of alarm systems to monitor portable articles that may be distributed over a wide area in a showroom, or the like. Between electrical components, flexible elements/tethers are provided to define a part of a circuit. These flexible elements/tethers are likewise prone to being tampered with, as by severance, to thereby release a monitored article.
At any point in a system wherein a flexible element/tether can be severed, an article or articles associated therewith are susceptible to being taken by thieves. Even if such severance triggers a detectable signal, by the time the location of the breach is arrived at, the thief may have already been lost in a crowd or departed from the premises.
At any number of locations within a security system, there may be exposed flexible elements/tethers, be they mechanical or electromechanical in nature, that are prone to being severed. Once this occurs, the integrity of the system is compromised and losses due to theft of portable articles may result.
The industry continues to seek out ways to improve the integrity of both the mechanical and electromechanical security systems. In analyzing how to meet this objective, the cost of a system is always balanced against its effectiveness and the dollar value of thefts that it is estimated such a system has averted.


A method of effecting commerce in a networked computer environment in a computerized system is disclosed. A database of vendor product data and an associated database interface is established on a first computer. The interface allows remote access by one or more user(s). A local user interacts with the database by querying the database to specify a local users product/service specification. The database provides the local user with a selection of remote vendor network sites, where the selection is determined on the basis of the user querying the database. After the local user interactively connects with one or more of the remote vendor network sites, the user selects products/services from the information provided on the remote vendor network site. The selection of a particular product/service triggers a transaction notification which records the users selection and associated financial transaction data which is transmitted to the database and associated database interface. The local user may connect to subsequent remote vendor network sites, and each selection of a product/service also triggers a transaction notification which is transmitted to the database. The database and associated database interface provides information relating to the users realtime selection of products/services. During or at the conclusion of a local users shopping session, the user confirms the selection(s) whereby the database and associated database interface transmits purchase/ordering data to the remote vendor sites corresponding to the users selection.

The present invention is described in the context of the world wide web. However, the present invention may find application in any networked environment where one or more remote vendor product/service databases are accessible to a local user. In such environments, vendors can provide user accessible databases (for example commercial websites) which allow a local user to view information related to the products/services and purchase those products/services. In the following discussion the primary context will be the internet and the world wide web.
As the internet is becoming more commercially oriented, providers of products/services are exploring ways to promote and sell a wide range or products and services, Such efforts to date have generally taken the form of a vendor (or vendor company) establishing a website on a machine connected to the internet.
Such websites generally have a display and purchase functionality which is limited to a "filling in an order form" type of approach. A website is, in general terms, a server application which accepts connections from client programs. Client programs, such as browsers, allow a remote user to access the information stored on the website. Such information can include a broad range of multimedia data including textual, graphical, audio and animation information. A common client application is in the form of a web browser which, via mouse, keyboard or command line input, allows a user to `navigate` his or her way around a website.
Commercial vendor websites are similar to other types of website except that they usually incorporate functionality to enable financial transactions between the remote user and the vendor. For example, a book publisher (vendor) might create a website devoted to a range of titles. This information can be made accessible to a remote user in the form of (for example) a text-searchable database which accepts standard query language (SQL), or similar, input and provides titles matching the search criteria which the remote user can then order. The user typically provides credit card details and the product is despatched by the vendor company.
This is an adequate way of effecting commerce on the internet in situations where a user knows precisely which website to connect to. However, although a number of vendors promote or advertise web capability, increases in the use of the internet has resulted in an unmanageable amount of information being accessible to a user. If a user merely wishes to browse for a particular product, or wishes to restrict the scope of potential remote vendors sites to visit, the only practical way is to carry out a search of the web using one of the available search engines. However, such search facilities are not effective in discriminating commercial from non-commercial sites and it may be very difficult to narrow a search sufficiently so that non-vendor sites are excluded and vendor sites satisfying desired criteria are identified. It would be an advantage if there existed an integrated interface and associated method which allowed a user to select a vendor site or range of vendor sites, where that selection can be made on the basis of a users particular requirements, and where a wide variety of consumer transactions can take place in an integrated environment while accessing a wide variety of vendor locations.
Accordingly, the present invention provides for a method and apparatus for organizing and integrating commercial interactions in a networked environment whereby a local user can locate and interact with a range of remote vendor locations and purchase goods/services where the local user has a high degree of control over the location of the remote vendor locations which are accessed. The present invention further provides for an integrated environment in which commercial transactions resulting from such interactions can be effected and further provides the public with a useful choice.

Integrated interface for vendor/product oriented internet websites


An apparatus having a zero-pole that is dependant on an equivalent series resistance (ESR) and a load is provided. The apparatus comprises an amplifier stage that receives a first input voltage and a bias voltage, an intermediate stage that is coupled to the output node of the amplifier stage (where the intermediate stage outputs an intermediate voltage to an intermediate node), a first capacitor coupled between at least one of the internal transistors at an internal node and the intermediate node, a power transistor coupled between a second input voltage and the intermediate node, a second capacitor coupled between the internal node and the power transistor, and a feedback stage coupled to the intermediate node and to the amplifier stage. The amplifier stage also has an output node and includes a plurality of internal transistors. The second capacitor provides a third input voltage to the power transistor, and the ratio of the capacitance of the first capacitor to the capacitance of the second capacitor controls the position of the zero-pole. Additionally, the feedback stage is adapted to output an output voltage to a load, and wherein the feedback stage provides a feedback voltage to the amplifier stage.

Wide band amplifiers typically suffer from multi-pole response due to their topology. A very standard technique to improve stability in differential amplifiers is to intentionally add pole zero pairs and improve phase margin. Some examples of conventional circuits can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,518,737; 7,432,693; and 7,235,959 and U.S. Patent Pre-Grant Pub. Nos. 2007/0241731 and 2006/0273771.

Amplifier for driving external capacitive loads


A passive semiconductor structure for reduction of the mutual capacitance between parallel conductors, with two parallel conductors separated from a substrate by a first dielectric layer and covered by a second dielectric layer. The second dielectric layer having a cavity formed between these conductors, whereby the effective relative dielectric constant of the medium between these conductors is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor processing and more specifically to structures and methods to reduce the capacitance of conductors on integrated circuits for an increase of switching speed and a reduction in cross-talk between conductors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The increase in component density and need for ever increasing switching speed in integrated circuits invites a reevaluation of process developments and other methods to reduce detrimental parameters impeding these requirements, like distributed capacitances.
Generally, the performance of integrated circuits semiconductors is dependent on switching speed and noise immunity. The transition time from one logic state (one defined voltage level) to another logic state (another defined voltage level) is dependent on charging or discharging a circuit capacitance between these two voltage levels. The charging or discharging voltage versus time follows a curve given by the basis of the natural logarithm, with an exponent comprising the elapsed time "t" divided by a time constant "RC", where "R" is the resistance of the charging conductor and "C" is the capacitance of the charged element. The switching time to cross the gray, undefined region between logic states to the other logic level is about one time constant.
For a parallel plate capacitor the capacitance is C=(area times eO times eR)/d, where "eO" is the absolute permittivity in vacuum, "eR" is the relative permittivity of the medium between capacitor plates, and "d" is the distance separating the capacitor plates. The relative permittivity "eR" of vacuum or air is 1.0 by definition, while that of silicon dioxide is 3.9, for example.
Regarding a decrease of the time constant "RC", one can consider first the specific resistivity of a conductor per unit length lines on an integrated circuit. Resistivity is a material-specific factor which together with the geometry of the conductor results in its resistance. Conductors comprise metal (e. g. aluminum) lines with a relatively low resistivity or doped polysilicon lines. Within processing constraints one can increase the doping level of the polysilicon in order to decrease its specific resistivity.
The distributed capacitance per unit length of conductor is the other critical factor for a reduction of the time constant "RC". It can be decreased by using a material with a relative permittivity approaching the value of one for the medium surrounding the conductors. The distributed capacitance consists of two portions:
a) the (vertical) "substrate capacitance", which can be decreased, for example, by increasing the thickness of the insulator between conductor and substrate; and PA1 b) the (horizontal) "mutual capacitance" between conductors in close proximity, which results in undesirable capacitive coupling between conductors, called crosstalk. It can be decreased, for example, by increasing the distance between conductors.
However, these approaches for decreasing the distributed capacitance are not practical design options.

Conductor capacitance reduction in integrated circuits


A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes receiving a data object from a first application running on a computing device, a unique identifier (ID) of the data object assigned by the first application, and an access permission for the data object from the first application. The computer-implemented method also includes storing the data object, the unique ID, and the access permission in a data repository in a data distributor layer on the computing device. The computer-implemented method also includes receiving, at an access controller layer of the computing device, a request for the data object from a second application, the request including the unique ID, and retrieving, by the access controller layer, the data object from the data distributor layer using the unique ID in response to the request. The computer-implemented method includes providing, by the access controller layer, the data object to the second application.

The present invention relates to device file management and more specifically, this invention relates to adaptive on-device storage management across multiple applications.
There are many applications which are capable of sharing data with a plurality of other applications. Such applications include photo sharing applications, text conversation applications, social media applications, etc. Each application typically stores a separate copy of the data on a mobile device or elsewhere. The large volume of data stored and consumed by applications on mobile devices affects the efficiency and/or speed of retrieving such data.

Adaptive on-device storage management across multiple applications

International Business Machines Corporation


A fiber article having excellent hydrolysis resistance, characterized in that the article is fiber structure composed of 10 to 90% by weight of a fiber (A) comprised of a biodegradable plastic formulated with a carbodiimide compound as a stabilizer against hydrolysis and 90 to 10% by weight of at least one fiber (B) selected from a natural fiber, a regenerated fiber, a semi-synthetic fiber and a synthetic fiber, which fiber structure has been subjected to at least one treatment processing selected from scouring processing, bleaching processing, liquid ammonium processing, mercerization processing, biological processing, dyeing processing, or resin treatment, and concentration of total terminal carboxyl groups derived from the fiber (A) in said fiber article is not higher than 30 equivalents/ton based on the fiber (A), etc. It is an object of the present invention to solve conventional problems of a fiber or a fiber article comprising a biodegradable plastic, such as poor hydrolysis resistance, poor heat resistance, strength reduction and coloring by yellowing, and in particular to provide a fiber article superior in hydrolysis resistance, alkali resistance and dyeing resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fiber article having excellent hydrolysis resistance and containing a biodegradable plastic, and more specifically relates to a fiber article having excellent hydrolysis resistance, alkali resistance, and dyeing resistance, by formulating a stabilizer against hydrolysis comprising a carbodiimide compound to a fiber using a biodegradable plastic.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a biodegradable plastic degradable by an enzyme or a microbe, an aliphatic polyester is noted, and as the biodegradable aliphatic polyester, polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, poly(3-hydroxybutylate), poly(3-hydroxybutylate-3-hydroxyvalerate), polycaprolactone, and a polyester comprising a glycol such as ethylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol, and the like and a carboxylic acid such as succinic acid, adipic acid, and the like are known.
However, these aliphatic polyesters have very high hydrolytic property in water at room temperature or high temperature, and further have tendency to be degradable even by moisture in atmosphere. Due to the above nature to be easily degradable, there were various problems as follows. For instance, when they are used as fibers, dyeing at high temperature in an aqueous solution dispersed with dye abruptly decreases tear strength of a cloth, and thus only dyeing under comparatively low temperature condition is allowed, which in turn makes deep color dyeing impossible. Furthermore, when they are used in water for marine materials such as a fishermen's net, service life thereof is limited to extremely short period. Furthermore, since they have poor stability with elapse of time, they cannot exhibit initial performance owing to deterioration after elapse of long period after production.
To solve such problems as above, technique to cap terminal carboxylic groups of polylactic acid, which is a sort of an aliphatic polyester, by a condensation reaction with an aliphatic alcohol, is disclosed (for example, see JP-A-7-316273 (Claims and the like)).
However, the technique of capping terminal ends is a condensation reaction, and to remove reaction byproducts, it is necessary to the presence of an aliphatic alcohol together in polymerization of the polylactic acid, and there have been such problems as follows. Polymerization rate thereof is low, and accordingly industrial production is impossible, or many unreacted materials having low molecular weight reside, and since they vaporize in molding, appearance of a molded article is inferior, or thermal resistance of the article is poor. Further, there has been such a problem as, during re-melting and molding a polymer (a chip) having capped terminals, which polymer has been obtained by a condensation reaction, terminal carboxylic groups are regenerated, and uncapped terminal ends occur, which makes hydrolysis resistance of molded articles insufficient.
Moreover, technique is disclosed to decrease concentration of terminal carboxylic groups of polylactic acid fiber, by lowering spinning temperature, in addition to capping of terminal carboxylic groups with an aliphatic alcohol (for example, see JP-A-9-21017 (Claims and the like)).
However, because melt viscosity of an aliphatic polyester represented by polylactic acid has relatively high dependency on temperature, there has been a problem that it is necessary to decrease molecular weight of a polymer sufficiently in response to spinning at low temperature, and thus polylactic acid fiber having sufficiently high strength as a commonly used fiber, and the like cannot be available.
On the other hand, to improve hydrolysis resistance, technique to formulate a carbodiimide compound with a biodegradable plastic, is disclosed (for example, see JP-A-11-80522 (Claims and the like)).
However, with a mono-carbodiimide compound disclosed in Patent Reference 3, there has been such a problem as insufficient thermal resistance, that means, thermal degradation is apt to occur during processing, which causes environmental pollution owing to occurrence of stimulative smell components and decrease in the addition effect owing to vaporization.
To improve this, a polycarbodiimide compound is used, but there was a problem of coloring (yellowing) in processing, and therefore it has been difficult to use in applications where hue is made much of (for example, use of a fiber for clothing).
Further, when a fiber comprising a biodegradable plastic is processed for dyeing, there has been such a problem as remarkable decrease in strength of the fiber comprising a biodegradable plastic.
From such situations, some proposals have been made to improve hydrolysis resistance of a biodegradable plastic or a fiber comprising the same. For instance, an aliphatic polyester resin such as polylactic acid and a molded article such as a fiber or a film comprising the same, characterized in that a part of or substantially whole of terminal carboxyl groups in an aliphatic polyester is capped with a mono-carbodiimide compound having temperature of 5 wt % decrease of not lower than 170° C. as measured by TG-DTA (for instance, concentration of terminal carboxyl groups is not higher than 10 equivalents/103 kg of an aliphatic polyester) (see JP-A-2001-261797 (Claims and the like)); and a fiber of polylactic acid having excellent hydrolysis resistance, wherein terminal carboxyl groups thereof are capped with a poly-carbodiimide compound, characterized in that b* value, which is an index of color tone, is not higher than 7 (see JP-A-2003-301327 (Claims and the like)), are disclosed.
However, with an aromatic mono-carbodiimide compound as disclosed in JP-A-2001-261797 (Claims and the like), weatherability to sunshine, and the like is poor, which means unpractical. And in a fiber of polylactic acid wherein terminal carboxyl groups thereof are capped with a poly-carbodiimide compound as disclosed in JP-A-2003-301327 (Claims and the like), a problem of poor thermal stability (or thermal resistance) in fiber production is adjusted by spinning condition and by the addition amount of a poly-carbodiimide compound, however, this method had still a problem that appropriate condition range was narrow, resulting in not stable quality, and additionally insufficient levels of color hue stability (for example, yellowing) and hydrolysis resistance, which brought about no durability in dyeing processing of a fiber article conducted under the above-described acid and alkali conditions. There was also a problem of insufficient durability after producing an article.
Moreover, in the case of a fiber article by combination of a biodegradable plastic and a cellulose fiber, and the like, applying chances of liquid ammonium processing, silket processing (mercerization processing), dyeing processing, or bleaching processing seem to increase. However, with these processings, treatment with an alkali, an acid, chlorine, heat, and the like increases and especially by passing an alkali processing step, such a problem may happen as significant decrease in strength of a fiber article comprising a biodegradable plastic.
As above, conventionally, attempts to improve hydrolysis resistance have been challenged by decreasing concentration of terminal carboxyl groups in an aliphatic polyester, such as polylactic acid, but a fiber or a fiber article comprising an aliphatic polyester having both sufficient thermal resistance and hydrolysis resistance has not yet been attained.

Fiber article comprising a biodegradable plastic


Efficient methods for assigning, revoking, and realizing access to stored data involve a cryptographic key hierarchy and a set of operations performed on cryptographic keys and performed on the data objects to be protected. In addition to providing confidentiality and integrity for data objects, the methods allow access to selected data objects to be permanently revoked for all entities without requiring all instances of the data objects to be destroyed or overwritten. The methods also support access right modifications for a data object without requiring the re-encryption of the entire data object; instead, certain keys are selectively re-encrypted and re-authenticated to implement access control changes. The key hierarchy is parameterized to enable flexible performance tuning, and to provide efficient random access, keying and other security operations are performed for individual blocks within a data object rather than only for the entire data object.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to cryptographic techniques for protecting stored data that is maintained in and transferred between various media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cryptographic techniques often are employed to achieve data security objectives such as confidentiality, integrity, origin authentication, and version verification. Examples of cryptographic operations used to realize these security objectives include encryption, one-way hash functions, pseudorandom number generators, and digital signatures.
Data to be protected may be in transit over an interconnection network or at rest on a storage device. A logical data object consists of an arbitrary quantity of data as well as identifying metadata such as the object name, object size,—etc. In storage—or in-transit, the data object may be logically encoded using N bits. A data object that has been subjected to operations to ensure one or more security goals (such as confidentiality and integrity) is henceforth referred to as a protected data object.
Symmetric-key encryption algorithms such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES) or the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) often are used to provide confidentiality for data objects. Encryption algorithms provide confidentiality by disguising and encoding sensitive data such that an unauthorized entity cannot obtain the encrypted data given a reasonable amount of time and computation resources. FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of a symmetric-key encryption algorithm. A publicly known symmetric-key encryption algorithm accepts as inputs a secret key, K, and the sensitive data to be encrypted, P. The input data P, which is also known as plaintext, may consist of a multiple data objects, a single data object, or a subset of bits from a data object. The secret key is a quantity of information (often random and ranging from 1 bit to thousands of bits in size) that is only known to authorized parties. The output of the encryption algorithm is the ciphertext, C, which can be stored on publicly-accessible data storage media without significant risk of exposing P so long as K remains secret. Upon retrieving C, only authorized entities can compute P using a publicly known symmetric-key decryption algorithm that corresponds to the chosen encryption algorithm. FIG. 2 illustrates a symmetric-key decryption algorithm. As shown in FIG. 2, given the ciphertext C and the secret key K, the decryption algorithm outputs the plaintext P. In many systems, this same secret key K is used to protect multiple plaintext inputs.
Cryptographically-strong one-way hash functions (examples of which include SHA-256 and SHA-512) often are used to provide data integrity for data objects. These hash functions are used to generate keyed message authentication codes (e.g., HMACs) that serve as "fingerprints" for data objects. Fingerprints are appended to their associated data object, and they can be inspected to ensure that the data has not been modified by an unauthorized party. FIG. 3 illustrates the generation of a Hash Message Authentication Code ("HMAC") by an authorized entity using a one-way hash function. The HMAC generation function F accepts a secret key K and an arbitrarily-sized input Z. Only authorized entities possess knowledge of the secret key K. Z consists of data to be protected as well as other data such as the logical or absolute location of the data within the data object. The function F employs multiple iterations of the hash function over encodings of the two inputs to produce a hash fingerprint (i.e., the HMAC) G. The hash fingerprint G is a fixed-sized value (often between 128 and 512 bits in size) that corresponds to the input values, and G is stored or transmitted along with the data Z.
The verification of an HMAC by an authorized entity is illustrated in FIG. 4. An authorized entity applies the secret key K and the data input Z (retrieved from a data object or other sources) as inputs to the function F. The output of F is the HMAC G′. Let G be the value of an HMAC retrieved from the associated data object. The authorized entity then compares the value of G to the value of G′. If they are equivalent, then the integrity of Z is verified; if not, corruption or forgery, i.e., unauthorized writing of new data, has occurred.
By the properties of strong hash functions, it is highly unlikely that two different sets of inputs will yield the same fingerprint, and it is highly unlikely that the value of K can be calculated given a hash fingerprint G and the data input Z. These properties ensure that if an unauthorized entity attempts to write data to a data object without knowledge of K, then it is highly unlikely that the entity would be able to compute a new valid HMAC. Thus, if an unauthorized write occurs, this can be detected by an authorized entity during a subsequent reading of a data object through the process illustrated in FIG. 4.
Symmetric-key encryption algorithms and one-way hash functions can provide a high degree of protection for data, but performance and access control issues do arise in many data security systems when applying these cryptographic techniques.
First, in order to read or write an arbitrary number of bytes at an arbitrary offset within a data object, the security system may require that all or a significant portion of the data object be decrypted/encrypted and hashed to complete the read or write operation. For example, if the encryption algorithm is implemented in the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode of operation, certain write requests will require the entire data object to be written and encrypted to generate the desired ciphertext. This requirement can be mitigated to some degree by employing alternative modes of operation for encryption, but performance issues remain with respect to hashing for data integrity and other security goals.
If one or a small number of HMACs are created and stored for a given data object, the entire data object often may need to be processed in order to verify the HMAC(s) or to generate a new HMAC. That is, many systems require the entire encrypted or plaintext data object to be hashed even when verifying the integrity of a small number of bytes. In systems that employ relatively large data objects, the performance impact of entire-object hashing per each read/write can be prohibitively expensive.
Second, as described above, secret keys must either be provided to or maintained by authorized entities in order for an authorized entity to perform read and write operations on protected data objects. At a given time, there exist a set of entities that are authorized to access a data object, and those access rights are enabled by the ability to retrieve the relevant data object keys. These keys are used as inputs to encryption and one-way hashing algorithms to ensure data confidentiality, data integrity, and other goals. Any entity that has knowledge of such keys and the ability to read/write a data object may possess the ability to interpret the plaintext contents of the data object as well as write arbitrary data to the data object. Thus, if access to a data object for a particular entity is revoked, it is essential that access to the keys corresponding to that data object is prevented for that entity.
In systems where data object keys are made available directly or indirectly to authorized entities in order to perform data object input/output operations, it is possible for the entity to retain direct or indirect knowledge of the data object keys for use at a future time. Thus, in order to guarantee that unauthorized entities cannot access a data object to which they formerly enjoyed access, the data object must be "re-keyed". That is, the data object must be decrypted and hashed with the current data object keys and then re-encrypted and re-hashed with new data object keys. This process ensures that future data written to a data object is not readable by revoked or unauthorized entities, and it ensures that revoked or unauthorized entities cannot write new data to the data object without being detected. If data objects were not re-keyed following access revocation, a revoked entity could employ previously acquired knowledge of the cryptographic keys in conjunction with the most current version of the data object to read or write arbitrary bytes stored within the data object. When access modifications are frequent, this requirement leads to frequent re-keying, which is a significant performance problem in systems with many data objects or with large data objects.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for cryptographic delegation and enforcement of dynamic access to stored data


A positioning device includes a positioning element that is situated movably in a first direction and a second direction, the first and the second directions being opposed to one another, and a first piezoelectric actuator and a second piezoelectric actuator, the first piezoelectric actuator moving the positioning element in the first direction and the second piezoelectric actuator moving the positioning element in the second direction.

Positioning devices for purposes of fluid injection are known from the related art, in varying embodiments having needle-shaped positioning elements, which are operated with the aid of a ceramic piezoelectric actuator in order to perform rapid injections of fluid. A particular disadvantage of such devices is that as a result of the characteristic degradation of the piezoelectric actuators as a function of the number of electric cycles, it is not possible to establish a direct correlation between the voltage applied and the expansion of the piezoelectric actuator. This means that the actual position of the positioning element cannot be determined exactly at any point in time of the injection process. In addition, every individual piezoelectric actuator has to be measured and coded in the manufacturing process, which is time-consuming and costly, in order to ascertain the individual lifting capacity for metering the fluid.


A diagnostic binocular viewing instrument includes a housing having a defined inner cavity, and a pair of adjustable eyepiece assemblies slidingly attached to said housing, each of the sliding eyepiece assemblies having an adjustable mirror for aligning to a fixed centrally disposed mirror. The eyepiece assemblies include depending locking fingers which provide releasable engagement with the instrument housing and the mirror each of retained in the eyepiece assemblies can be adjusted using a pair of spaced adjustment members in combination with a biasing spring and a oppositely arranged T-shaped projection to allow the mirror to be adjustable in at least two axes.

This invention relates generally to a binocular viewing device and in particular to a binocular otoscope for stereoscopic observations of the ear canal.
It has been determined in the prior art that binocular type applications are desirable for producing a stereoscopic inspection for endoscopic uses, that is, for viewing the eye, the ear canal, or other targets for diagnostic purposes.
To that end, binocular ophthalmoscopes, otoscopes, and the like are known in which a pair of ocular eyepiece assemblies are retained and are slidingly movable within a housing to allow changes to the interpupillary distance, as needed, for the user. The eyepiece assemblies are defined by a body member, along with a prismatic member or mirror which reflects light to and from a centrally disposed set of fixed mirrors.
The mirrors must be aligned in a specific orientation relative to each other during the assembly phase of the instrument in order to insure a single stereoscopic image is produced when a user views a target through the twin eyepiece assemblies.
Furthermore, there may be occasions in which a user might elect to utilize the apparatus for other purposes and may require other forms of eyepieces. In an otoscope, the eyepiece optics are typically conventionally plano lens. A user may elect to use filtered or other optics to perform a specific function. Alternately, a user might elect to use a different type of mirror. Prior art scopes do not provide a convenient way of assembling the eyepiece assemblies to the housing. U.S. Pat. No. 2,757,574 describes an eyepiece assembly in which the eyepieces themselves are separately screw threaded to the remainder of the assembly. Additionally, the eyepiece assembly must be allowed to slide to preserve the ability to change the interpupillary distance.


An apparatus for processing substrates, the apparatus including a plurality of molecular dissociation furnaces. Each dissociation furnace produces a directed beam of neutral dissociated reactive species. Each reactive beam is directed at a surface of the semiconductor substrate. A photon source is also directed at the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The intensity and wavelength of the photon source are selected to enhance the reaction rate over that of the reactive beam acting alone on the surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of surface etching and cleaning. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for etching and cleaning surfaces, especially semiconductor substrates, using photon-enhanced neutral atomic beam surface reactions.
2. Statement of the Problem
Dry and wet etching and cleaning processes are widely used in the semiconductor industry for etching and cleaning semiconductor substrates. It is important that cleaning and etching processes do not damage the semiconductor substrate, are capable of etching anisotropically, and yet do not damage the process apparatus or micron-scale features formed on the semiconductor substrate. Also, the etching apparatus is desirably easily scaled to process many substrate sizes, including large area wafers that are 200 millimeters or more in diameter.
Plasma and wet chemical processes require production, transportation, and storage of a variety of highly reactive and toxic materials such as acids, chloro fluorocarbons, fluorine, and chlorine, for example. These materials create a personal and environmental hazard. A need exists to etch, clean, and deposit films on substrates using processes with reagent gases having reduced toxicity and reactivity and processes compatible with storage of the reactant species in a low reactivity state.
Dry etching often uses atomic oxygen plasmas to remove photoresists and clean hydrocarbon films from substrates. Atomic oxygen plasmas are formed at low pressure (about 10 Torr) and can be initiated using a direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) field that creates oxygen ions. A serious limitation of plasma processing is that the energy of the plasma system can damage the substrate being processed. To achieve highly anisotropic etching required for modern high aspect ratio devices, the oxygen ions must be accelerated to high energy. Hence, to achieve anisotropic etching the substrate is exposed to higher levels of radiation and high frequency energy. A need exists for a method and apparatus to treat surfaces with highly directional beam for high anisotropy and high aspect ratio feature fabrication without using the high levels of radiation and high frequency energy required in plasma processing.
Although plasma processing techniques provide high quality etching and deposition, they require a large amount of process gases. In fact, only a small percentage of these process gases are activated (i.e., brought to an energy state sufficient to chemically react) and participate in useful chemical reactions. Hence, a large portion of the process gases is wasted. Even worse, a large portion of the process gases actually etch and damage the reaction chamber containing the plasma, requiring frequent maintenance. A need exists for an etching, cleaning and deposition technology that reduces the gas load of the reactor to use less of the reactant gases and produce less toxic waste while simplifying the processing apparatus. Similarly, a need exists to reduce exposure of the apparatus itself to the harmful effects of plasmas, radiation, and highly reactive ions.
Another side effect of plasma processing is that the substrate that is being processed is often exposed to the high temperature and radiation of the plasma. Semiconductor devices with fine geometry features can easily be damaged by the temperatures and radiation. For example, it is well known that thin gate oxides can be ruptured or permanently damaged by hot electron injection into the oxide during plasma etching. Also, because the plasma creates a wide variety of reactive species and ions due to the variety of reactions that take place, the surface of the substrate is exposed to all of the reactive species. Often, some of these reactive species create unpredictable and undesirable process variations. Again using the gate oxide structure, it is known that hydrogen ions can be trapped in thin oxide films during plasma etching or cleaning thereby creating unpredictable electrical performance. Further, high temperatures severely limit the kinds of processes which are available. Substrates having metal structures, polyamide structures, or soft glass structures cannot be exposed to high temperatures. A need exists to treat surfaces with reactant neutral atoms that avoids or minimizes the substrates' exposure to high temperatures, radiation, and plasma fields.
An apparatus for producing a single beam of atomic oxygen is described in a paper entitled "New Molecular--Dissociation Furnace for H & O Atom Sources" by Bert Van Zyl and M. W. Gealy published Nov. 10, 1985 in Review of Scientific Instruments 57, (3). This article describes a molecular dissociation furnace which produces a single atomic beam using an electron bombarded furnace tube. While the single beam apparatus was useful in research studies on atomic beams, it was inapplicable to commercial applications requiring treatment of a large surface area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,977 issued May 5, 1987 to Motley et al. describes a neutral beam processing apparatus that uses an ionizing plasma to create ionic reactants and form them into a beam and then neutralizes the ion beam. Like the apparatus described in the Van Zyl/Gealy article, this atomic beam is difficult to scale and suffers many of the difficulties of plasma processing because plasma fields are involved.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,608 issued to Cross et al. on Oct. 25, 1988 illustrates an atomic beam apparatus using a sustained laser discharge to dissociate oxygen molecules into oxygen atoms. The neutral oxygen atoms are formed into a beam; however, the beam apparatus is not easily scaled for processing large diameter substrates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,671 issued to Zinck et al. on Feb. 23, 1993 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,667 issued to Suzuki et al. on Feb. 20, 1990 describe molecular beam apparatus for forming large and small area molecular beams. Molecular beams can be formed at lower temperature than atomic beams since there is no need to dissociate the molecules into atoms. Molecular beams thus require either more reactive chemicals or subsequent plasma or thermal enhancement to cause reactions at the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,094 issued to Nagawa et al. on Apr. 24, 1990 illustrates a superconducting thin film deposition apparatus that uses both neutral beams and photon enhancement in a sputtering apparatus. The neutral oxygen beam is formed by oxygen ionization and subsequent neutralization and so suffers the difficulties of any plasma processing system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,544 issued to Mizutani et al. on Feb. 8, 1994 describes a neutral beam generating apparatus that creates an ion beam using a plasma reactor that neutralizes the ion beam before treating a surface. The Mizutani method uses a microwave plasma generator and combines a neutral beam with a radical supply source from the plasma to encourage surface treatment. Ions are prevented from reaching the surface by an ion screen or grid; the latter, however, is subject to sputtering and erosion, which can contaminate the surface being treated.
3. Solution to the Problem
The above-identified problems are solved by a method and apparatus that generates a plurality of low-energy reactive neutral beams at a semiconductor substrate. The neutral reactive beams are generated by dissociation and are directed to the semiconductor substrate to etch or clean without electrical or radiation damage associated with plasma processing. Because any number of beams may be used, the process and apparatus are scaleable to any substrate size. The neutral reactive beams are highly directional even at low energy, and so avoid physical damage to the substrate. Because the beam is highly directional and can be fairly uniform chemically, a large portion of the generated beam participates in desired reactions thereby minimizing the gas load on the processing apparatus and minimizing waste gas production. Also, the reactant species can often be stored as a low reactivity molecule in the preferred embodiment, minimizing the hazards of production, transportation, and storage of the reagent chemicals.

Photon-enhanced neutral beam etcher and cleaner


Consistency of a shared disk is secured in system switching in a hot standby system. In the standby system in which an active computer and standby computer share the shared disk, when a write I/O request is issued from the active computer, information about a start of the I/O is recorded in, for example, a memory. When the I/O is completed, the information is deleted from the memory. When a failure occurs in the active computer, the active computer transmits the record of the information about the start of the I/O, to the standby computer. The standby computer verifies the record to recover a disk in which the I/O is to be executed.

The present invention relates to a hot standby system. Particularly, the present invention relates to consistency check of a shared disk in a hot standby system having a shared disk accessible from active and standby computers and to a switching control between the computers.
Recently, in the field of online transaction processes, hot standby structure systems having a shared disk accessible from active and standby computers are used to improve availability of the online transaction processes.
For example, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 1998-289122 discloses this type of hot standby system. The disclosure is as follows. One disk is connected to each of active and standby computers. In normal operation, when data is updated in the active computer, updated data is sent to the standby computer via a network so that data is updated in the standby computer in the same way as the active computer. When a failure occurs in the active computer, the standby computer takes over jobs as a new active computer, and the former active computer functions as a standby computer. After recovery from the failure, updated data after the takeover is sent from the new active computer to a new standby computer, so that synchronization is executed in a shared disk. According to this conventional technique, when the standby computer is switched, jobs can be taken over without further synchronizing data in both disks, so that a time up to a restart of the jobs can be shortened.


During the writing operation, the wafer potential is dynamically detected and corrected. By doing so, the positional accuracy of the circuit patterns written on a wafer can be improved. After a contact resistance between a wafer and a earth pin is measured, the current flowing from the wafer to the ground potential via the earth pin is measured. Then, based on the measurement result, the potential difference is given between the wafer and the ground potential.

As one of the major processes for forming patterns of LSI on a semiconductor substrate, the electron beam writing in which electron beam is irradiated to the wafer coated with photosensitive material to form circuit patterns is known. In the electron beam writer, an electrostatic chuck is used to hold and flatten the wafer in vacuum.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a typical electrostatic chucking electrode used in the conventional electron beam writer. The reference numeral 101 denotes a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as wafer) to be a sample, 102 denotes a dielectric mainly made of alumina, and 103 denotes a chucking electrode buried in the dielectric 102. The chucking electrode 103 is connected to (+) side of a direct current power supply 105 via a switch 104. A holder 106 holds the wafer 101 by its surface so as to prevent the wafer 101 from floating. Meanwhile, a contact terminal (hereinafter, referred to as earth pin) 107 formed in the shape of a sharp needle is pressed to the rear surface of the wafer 101, and the wafer 101 is connected to the ground potential via the earth pin 107. A base pallet 108 is also connected to the ground potential.
More specifically, by applying direct voltage for the electrostatic chucking to the dielectric 102 between the wafer 101 and the chucking electrode 103 functioning as paired electrodes, the electric charge by the dielectric polarization is generated in the dielectric, thereby acquiring the electrostatic chucking force. This electrostatic chuck has a function to hold the sample so as not to move from a predetermined position and a function to flatten a wafer on which the convex and concave patterns of several tens μm are formed through processes such as the film formation and others so as to match with the flat chucking surface.
Note that, in FIG. 1, the earth pin is in contact with the rear surface of the wafer. However, the same function can be achieved even when it is in contact with the front surface thereof. Also, the chucking electrode is connected to (+) side of the power supply. However, the chucking function remains the same even when it is connected to (−) side thereof.
In this case, the wafer 101 is connected to the ground potential via the earth pin 107. Strictly speaking, however, since the current flowing in the wafer passes through the contact resistance formed at the contact portion between the wafer 101 and the earth pin 107, the potential difference occurs between the wafer 101 and the ground potential. The current flowing in the wafer indicates the leakage current from the chucking electrode 103 to the wafer 101 via the dielectric 102 and the beam current for the beam writing. For example, when the current flowing in the wafer 101 is 5 μA and the contact resistance between the earth pin 107 and the wafer 101 is 200 kΩ, the wafer 101 has the potential of 1 V.
As described above, when the wafer 101 is not kept at the ground potential, the trajectory of electrons as the charged particles is disturbed and the writing accuracy is degraded. J. Phys. E: Sci. Instrum. 14, 194 by M. Miyazaki (1981) discloses that the displacement of written patterns occurs because the amount of deflection of irradiated electrons changes depending on the potential of the wafer. Also, when the wafer 101 is not kept at the ground potential, the difference in potential occurs between the wafer 101 and the base pallet 108 which is kept at the ground potential. Therefore, the electric field which distorts the trajectory of electron beam irradiated to the wafer is generated near the wafer edge. As is evident from above, in order to obtain the high writing accuracy in the electron beam writer, it is necessary to keep the wafer 101 at the ground potential in the electrostatic chuck.
FIG. 4 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-257158 discloses an electrostatic chuck in which the chucking electrode of the electrostatic chuck is divided into two parts, the direct current power supply is connected to each part, and an ammeter is connected in series between each direct current power supply and the ground potential. One of the direct current power supplies is a variable direct current power supply. The voltage is applied to the divided chucking electrodes and the voltage applied to the variable direct current power supply is adjusted so as to make the indication values of the ammeters equal to each other. By doing so, the two electrodes form a closed circuit. This closed circuit is formed in order to reduce the amount of leakage current generated between both chucking electrodes and the sample and flowing to the ground potential via the earth pin.
On the other hand, FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-111599 disclose the invention in which potential on the wafer surface is measured by using a surface electrometer to determine the correction voltage value to be applied to the earth pin or the chucking electrode. In this method, since the potential of the wafer is directly measured, not only the leakage current in the dielectric but also the wafer potential by the beam current can be measured at least in principle.
Furthermore, FIG. 2 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-111599 discloses the invention in which the current value flowing from the chucking electrode is measured and the correction voltage value to be applied to the earth pin is determined based on the measured value. In addition, FIG. 4 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-111599 discloses the technology in which two earth pins are provided to the wafer, and the difference in potential between one earth pin and the ground potential is measured, and then, the correction voltage value to be applied to the other earth pin is determined based on the measurement result. According to the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-111599, the wafer potential can be reduced at least in principle.

Charged particle beam application system


The rectifier device has a metallic front cooling plate and a rear cooling plate spaced from each other and extending parallel to each other; positive diodes arranged on one cooling plate and negative diodes arranged on the other cooling plate; a printed circuit board made of insulating material fastened between the cooling plates and having conductors for connecting the diodes with each other and also with a three-phrase generator; electrical connection device for making electrical connection with the front cooling plate comprising a threaded bolt having a flange, an annular shoulder and an axial pin projecting into an opening of the rear cooling plate, the threaded bolt being pressed in a hole in the front cooling plate and the flange and shoulder being dimensioned so that the annular shoulder contacts on a rear side of the front cooling plate, and a nut screwed on the threaded bolt from a front side of the front cooling plate to secure the threaded bolt in the hole; and an insulating material bush received in the opening for electrically insulating the threaded bolt from the rear cooling plate.

The present invention relates to a rectifier device for three-phase generators in vehicles.
More particularly it relates to a rectifier device having two metallic cooling plates, and diodes inserted in the latter and having a printed circuit board and a positive connection including a threaded bolt.
In a rectifier device of this type known from the German Utility Model G 87 11 178 a connecting bolt for the connection of the rectifier device, which connection is designated by B+ according to German Industrial Standard, is inserted into the outer cooling plate of the two cooling plates of the rectifier diodes lying parallel at a distance to one another in that it is pressed into a corresponding hole of the outer cooling plate with a flange and contacts the annular shoulder of the screw head at the back of the cooling plate. The threaded bolt is tightly screwed to the cooling plate with a nut for protection. The rectifier device is mounted at the so-called B side of the three-phase generator. After the generator is installed in the vehicle a connection cable for the positive pole of the vehicle battery is securely screwed on to the free end of the threaded bolt.
A disadvantage in such solutions consists in that forces can act on the connection during strong vibrations and high starting torques and bending moments resulting in a deformation of the cooling plate or loosening of the fastening at the flange.

Rectifier device for three-phase generators in vehicles


A nonvolatile memory device performs a read operation comprising first and second intervals. In the first interval the device applies a turn-on voltage to string selection lines and ground selection lines connected to the string selection transistors and the ground selection transistors, respectively. In the second interval, the device applies a turn-off voltage to unselected string selection lines and unselected ground selection lines while continuing to apply the turn-on voltage to a selected string selection line and a selected ground selection line. In both the first and second intervals, the device applies a first read voltage to a selected wordline connected to memory cells to be read by the read operation and applying a second read voltage to unselected wordlines among connected to memory cells not to be read by the read operation.

The inventive concept relates generally to semiconductor memory devices, and more particularly, to nonvolatile memory devices and related methods for performing read operations with reduced read disturbance.
Semiconductor memory devices can be roughly divided into two categories according to whether they retain stored data when disconnected from power. These categories include volatile memory devices, which lose stored data when disconnected from power, and nonvolatile memory devices, which retain stored data when disconnected from power.
Examples of volatile memory devices include static random access memory (SRAM) devices, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices, and synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) devices. Examples of nonvolatile memory devices include flash memory devices, read only memory (ROM) devices, programmable ROM (PROM) devices, electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM) devices, and various forms of resistive memory such as phase-change RAM (PRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and resistive RAM (RRAM).
In recent years, researchers have developed three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor memory devices in an effort to increase the integration density of semiconductor memory devices. Structural characteristics of 3D semiconductor memory devices are different from those of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor memory devices, so they require different driving methods compared to the 2D semiconductor memory devices. For example, due to their different structural characteristics, the 3D semiconductor memory devices may experience different electrical parasitics, which may require driving voltages to be provided with different levels and timing compared to 2D semiconductor memory devices.

Three-dimensional nonvolatile memory and related read method designed to reduce read disturbance


System and method for generating lines of data on a photosensitive medium for use with a display or a printing apparatus. The lines of data are generated by two or more modulated and parallel laser light beams onto a resonant pivoting torsional hinged mirror. The pivoting mirror sweeps the two modulated light beams back and forth across the photosensitive medium to provide bi-directional printing. Relative motion between the photosensitive medium and the plane of the sweeping light beam is provided by moving the photosensitive medium when used with a printing apparatus or by also orthogonally moving the sweeping plane of the light beams when used with a display device.

Rotating polygon scanning mirrors are typically used in laser printers to provide a "raster" scan of the image of a laser light source across a moving photosensitive medium, such as a rotating drum. Such a system requires that the rotation of the photosensitive drum and the rotating polygon mirror be synchronized so that the beam of light (laser beam) sweeps or scans across the rotating drum in one direction as a facet of the polygon mirror rotates past the laser beam. The next facet of the rotating polygon mirror generates a similar scan or sweep, which also traverses the rotating photosensitive drum but provides an image line that is spaced or displaced from the previous image line. Since increasing the rotational speed of a polygon mirror is accompanied by even greater increases in cost, printer manufacturers using polygon mirrors as a drive engine often use two or four equally spaced and parallel lasers all directed toward and reflected from a single facet of the polygon mirror.
There have also been prior art efforts to use a less expensive flat mirror with a single reflective surface to provide a scanning beam. For example, a dual axis or single axis scanning mirror may be used to generate the beam sweep or scan instead of a rotating polygon mirror. The rotating photosensitive drum and the scanning mirror are synchronized as the drum rotates in a forward direction to produce a printed image line on the medium that is parallel with the beam scan or sweep generated by the pivoting mirror and orthogonal to the movement of the photosensitive medium.
However, with the single axis mirrors, the return sweep will traverse a trajectory on the moving photosensitive drum that is at an angle with the printed image line resulting from the previous or forward sweep. Consequently, use of a single axis resonant mirror, according to the prior art, required that the modulation of the reflected light beam be interrupted as the mirror made the return sweep or completed its cycle, and was then turned on again as the beam started scanning in the original direction. Using only one of the sweep directions of the mirror, of course, reduces the print speed. Therefore, to effectively use a scanning mirror to provide bi-directional printing, the prior art attempts of bi-directional scanning required that the sweep plane also be controlled in a direction perpendicular to the scan such that the sweep of the mirror in each direction generates images on a moving or rotating photosensitive drum that are always parallel. To achieve such parallel lines required continuous perpendicular adjustment of the sweeping beam, and such adjustment can be accomplished by the use of a dual axis torsional mirror or a pair of single axis torsional mirrors. It has been discovered, however, at very high print speeds both forward and reverse sweeps of a single axis mirror may be used, and that no orthogonal adjustment is necessary.
Texas Instruments presently manufactures torsional dual axis and single axis pivoting MEMS mirrors fabricated out of a single piece of material (such as silicon, for example) typically having a thickness of about 115–125 microns. The dual axis layout may, for example, consist of the mirror surface being supported on a gimbal frame by two silicon torsional hinges, whereas for a single axis device the mirror is supported directly by a pair of torsional hinges. The mirror may be of any desired shape, although an elliptical shape having a long axis of about 4.0 millimeters and a short axis of about 1.5 millimeters is particularly useful. Such an elongated ellipse-shaped mirror is matched to the shape at which the angle of a light beam is received. The gimbal frame used by the dual axis mirror is attached to a support frame by another set of torsional hinges.
Texas Instruments also manufactures a single axis mirror comprising two layers of silicon and a magnet. The multilayered mirror allows the selecting of the most effective torsional hinge while at the same time reduces the flexibility or bending of the mirror surface at high oscillation speeds.
These mirrors manufactured by Texas Instruments are particularly suitable for use as the scanning engine for high-speed laser printers and visual display.
According to the prior art, torsional hinge mirrors were initially driven directly by magnetic coils interacting with small magnets mounted on the pivoting mirror at a location orthogonal to and away from the pivoting axis to oscillate the mirror or create the sweeping movement of the beam. In a similar manner, orthogonal movement of the beam sweep was also controlled by magnetic coils interacting with magnets mounted on the gimbals frame at a location orthogonal to the axis used to pivot the gimbals frame. Inexpensive and dependable magnetic drives can also be used and set up in such a way to maintain the pivoting device at its resonant frequency. Further, although the reflecting surface of a scanning mirror can be of almost any shape, including square, round, elliptical, etc., an elongated elliptical shape has been found to be particularly suitable.

Multilaser bi-directional printer with an oscillating scanning mirror


A 28 kD antigen present in the membranous structure of the inner ear and an immunoassay method for diagnosing Meniere's disease using the 28 kD antigen as a target substance for detecting target binding substance in biological fluid from an animal or human having symptoms of a disease of the inner ear.

Hearing problems can result from a variety of disorders, diseases or traumas of the inner ear. Symptoms of inner ear problems include, but are not limited to, hearing loss, dizziness, vertigo and tinnitus. Several inner ear diseases have recently been classified as autoimmune diseases. These include, but are not limited to, Meniere's disease, progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (PSHL), otosclerosis and sudden hearing loss.
Meniere's disease, although idiopathic by definition, has been ascribed to a variety of causes, among which are autoimmune factors. There is evidence to suggest that antibodies generated against inner ear proteins cause inner ear inflammation and swelling that can result in a complete loss of hearing (Dereby, M. Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery 114:360-365, 1996). Symptoms typically associated with Meniere's disease include ringing in the ears, dizziness, a sense of fullness or pressure in the ears, and progressive deafness. These symptoms may be produced by a sudden influx of fluid into the endolymphatic sac, resulting in a rupture of Reisser's membrane in the cochlea. Immunological derangement of the endolymphatic sac or other membranous structures of the inner ear could initiate a cascade of reactions leading to endolymphatic hydrops and presenting as Meniere's disease (Soliman, A. American Journal of Otology 17:70-80, 1996). There are at least four million Meniere's disease patients in the United States, and many more patients report symptoms associated with Meniere's disease but cannot be positively diagnosed.
Researchers have attempted to isolate the antigen or antigens responsible for autoimmune inner ear diseases. A protein is considered to be a potential antigen if it is reactive with antibodies produced by patients exhibiting autoimmune inner ear diseases.
For example, antibodies in the sera of patients having inner ear disease have been found to react with protein bands of 58 kD and of 30 kD on Western blots of guinea pig inner ear extracts (Cao, M. et al., Laryngoscope 106:207-212, 1996). The 58 kD band was shown to be nonspecific to the inner ear when antibodies reacted with a 58 kD band on Western blots of guinea pig brain, lung and liver. In contrast, the 30 kD band was specific to the inner ear. Antibodies from patients reacted with a 30 kD band on Western blots of extracts from Corti's organ, the spiral ganglion and the acoustic nerve fiber, but not with extracts from the spinal ligament and the stria vascularis.
Antibodies against a 30 kD cochlear protein have been in reported in the serum of some patients with Meniere's disease (Joliat, T. et al., Ann. Otol. Rhinol. Laryngol. 101:1001-1006, 1994 and Cao, M. et al., Laryngoscope 106:207-212, 1996). This 30 kD protein has been identified as the major peripheral myelin protein "PO" and is believed to be associated with acoustic nerve and spiral ganglion (Cao, M. et al., Laryngoscope 106:207-212 (1996). Antibodies reactive with the 30 kD protein are not specific for Meniere's disease as these antibodies have been found in patients having other autoimmune diseases such as progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (PSNHL), otosclerosis and sudden deafness and in control subjects. (Cao, M. et al., IMMUNOBIOLOGY IN OTOLOGY, RHINOLOGY AND LARYNGOLOGY (eds. Mogi, G., Veldman, J., and Kawauchi, H.) Kugler Publ. Amsterdam/N.Y., (1994) pp. 263-268).
Antibodies against a 68 kD protein in extracts from bovine inner ear have been reported in the serum of PSNHL patients (Harris J. and Sharp P. Laryngoscope 100:516-524, 1990). This 68 kD protein has been identified as a 70 kD heat shock protein that has been implicated in other autoimmune diseases such as Lyme's disease and ulcerative colitis (Billings P. et al. Ann. Otol. Rhinol. Laryngol. 104:181-188, 1995).
An early diagnosis of autoimmune inner ear disease is critical. Prompt treatment of the disease at an early stage of the illness may preserve any remaining inner ear function. Moreover, the ability to distinguish antigenic epitopes of the inner ear relevant to the pathogenesis of specific autoimmune inner ear diseases will enable clinical investigation and research on autoimmune inner ear disease, and will further enable the clinical diagnosis of autoimmune inner ear diseases and immunologic therapy.
As the availability of human inner ear tissue is extremely limited, there is an on-going need for the identification of disease-specific antigens and for the development of simple, sensitive and reproducible assays for the detection and differential diagnosis of autoimmune inner ear diseases.

Autoimmune inner ear disease antigen and diagnostic assay


A translation gateway for a distributed computing environment including a source computer system and a target computer system, each of which has at least one client, one server and a distributed file system, and wherein the server associated with the source computer system preferably runs on a client of the target computer system. A method for providing authenticated access to files stored in the target distributed file system in response to file requests originating from clients associated with the source distributed file system begins by mapping credentials associated with incoming client requests from the source distributed file system into enhanced credentials containing authentication information associated with an authentication model of the target distributed file system. At least one enhanced credential is then augmented with one or more attributes whose values may be extracted and used in the processing of the filesystem request by the target file system. The source computer system's server then makes file system requests using the enhanced credentials so that each file request appears to the target computer client as if it were made by an authenticated process with equivalent attributes.

Multiple computers are often interconnected into a local area network (LAN) to enable such computers to exchange information and share resources. A local area network provides a distributed computing environment in which users can access distributed resources and process applications on multiple computers. A known distributed computing environment, called DCE, has been implemented using software available from the Open Systems Foundation (OSF). In a distributed computing environment, a group of machines is typically referred to as a "domain." An OSF DCE domain is called a "cell." A DCE cell can be a complex environment involving hundreds of machines in many locations.
As DCE environments become the enterprise solution of choice, many DCE applications may be utilized to provide distributed services such as data sharing, printing services and database access. OSF DCE includes a distributed file system, called Distributed File Services (DFS), for use in these environments. DFS provides data sharing services by making use of Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) for data transfer, a Cell Directory Service (CDS) for naming, and a DCE Security Service for authentication services. In addition to its use of DCE services, DFS itself is rich in features. It provides a uniform global filespace which allows all DFS client users to see the same view of the filespace, and it caches filesystem data at the client for improved scalability and performance by reducing network traffic to file servers. DFS also supports advisory file locking. One of the features of DFS is the ability to export the operating system's native filesystem. In the case of the AIX operating system, the native filesystem is the Journaled File System (JFS). In addition, DFS also provides its own physical filesystem, the DCE Local File System (LFS). The DCE LFS provides support for DCE ACLs (Access Control Lists) on files and directories for securing access to data and advanced data management capabilities such as replication and load balancing.
The OSF DCE DFS was derived from an earlier distributed file system commonly known as AFS. Another known distributed file system was developed by Sun Microsystems and is commonly referred to as Network File System (NFS). Although DCE DFS and NFS are both distributed file system products, the two products are very different in their data-sharing models and semantics. NFS relies on a peer to peer model between machines while DFS operates within an autonomous administrative unit, namely the DCE cell. Semantically, NFS is a stateless system implying that the NFS server does not maintain information about the client requests. DFS maintains state on file and directory information in order to provide Unix single-site semantics through the use of an internal token manager. Administration of a DFS environment is centralized whereby a system administrator can complete the majority of filesystem administration from a single system within the cell. Administration of an NFS environment, on the other hand, often involves updating information on each NFS client system in the environment.
Given these differences, it has proven difficult to allow such distributed file systems to coexist or interoperate in one environment. However, there are several scenarios where this may be desirable. To this end, current DCE DFS provides access to the DFS filespace by allowing an NFS server to export the DFS's client's view of the global filespace (which is the Cache Manager's virtual filesystem implementation accessible via a VFS switch) to an NFS client machine. This functionality, however, is limited to allowing unauthenticated access to the DFS global filespace since NFS is unaware of DCE authentication. As a result, NFS-originated DFS requests are treated as anonymous accesses to the DFS filespace.
There remains a need to provide authenticated access to the DCE DFS filespace from NFS or still other distributed file system products to thereby allow these advanced file systems to coexist and interoperate.

Distributed file system translator with extended attribute support

International Business Machines Corporation


A plasma display apparatus is disclosed, in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in dot matrix, at least one first electrode specifies the addresses of the pixels, a set of electrodes including a second electrode and a third electrode are arranged in a plurality of pixels for generating a pixel display plasma, and a phosphor member arranged in a plurality of pixels for illuminating light due to the ultraviolet light generated from the pixel display plasma. In the process of driving the plasma display apparatus, the pixel display plasma is erased by applying a plurality of erase pulses with progressively shorter pulse durations and intervals alternately between selected two of the first, second and third electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of driving a dot-matrix AC plasma display panel of memory type used with the display unit for personal computers or work stations, wall-hung flat panel TV, advertisement display systems and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional AC plasma display, as disclosed in JP-A-5-119738, for example, illumination display is performed by discharging between a plurality of joint-line X electrodes 16 and a plurality of disjoint-line Y1 to Yn electrodes 17 shown in FIG. 6. For erasing the charge by this method of driving an AC plasma display panel, as shown in FIG. 2, an erase pulse 54 of a waveform 51 applied to the disjoint-line Y electrodes is superposed on a sustaining pulse 53 of a waveform 50 applied to the joint-line X electrodes. As a result, two erase pulses 55, 56 are formed in a waveform 52 representing the relative potential difference between the X and Y electrodes.
Further, with a panel having a great number of pixels, this charge-erasing process is repeated a plurality of times to assure successful erasure of charge. In the process, the sequential discharge erasure for each line of the disjoint-line Y electrodes requires a sustaining pulse to be continually applied to the joint-line X electrodes until complete erasure of all the lines. The erasure process is also required to terminate with the sustaining pulse. Further, the erase pulse 54 has a different potential from the sustaining pulse 57.

Plasma display apparatus and method of driving the same