A network interface device includes a fabric interface, adapted to exchange messages over a switch fabric with a plurality of host processors, the messages containing data, and a network interface, including one or more ports adapted to be coupled to a network external to the switch fabric. Message processing circuitry is coupled between the fabric interface and the network interface, so as to enable at least first and second host processors among the plurality of the host processors to use a single one of the ports substantially simultaneously so as to transmit and receive frames containing the data over the network.

In conventional computer systems, a host computer is linked to a network using a network interface card (NIC), which is connected to the internal bus of the host. The most common example of this type of connection is the use of Ethernet network adapter cards, which plug into the Peripheral Component Interface (PCI) bus of a personal computer and link the computer to a 10BASE-T or 100BASE-T local-area network (LAN). Ethernet cards of this sort are widely available and inexpensive. They provide the necessary physical layer connection between the host and the serial LAN or WAN medium, as well as performing some media access control (MAC) layer functions. Network- and transport-layer protocol functions, such as Internet Protocol (IP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) processing, are typically performed in software by the host.
As network speeds increase, moving up to Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and Ten Gigabit Ethernet, for example, this sort of simple NIC is no longer adequate. Working in a GbE environment at wire speed typically requires that the NIC have a much faster and more costly physical interface and MAC handling functions. It is also desirable that the NIC take on a larger share of the higher-level protocol processing functions. NICs have recently been introduced with "protocol offloading" capability, in the form of dedicated hardware processing resources to relieve the host of network layer (IP) processing and even transport and higher-layer functions. Such hardware resources reduce the processing burden on the host and therefore eliminate a major bottleneck in exploiting the full bandwidth available on the network, but they also add substantially to the cost of the NIC. Since a typical host communicates with a LAN or WAN only intermittently, in short bursts, the high-speed processing capabilities of the NIC are unused most of the time.
The computer industry is moving toward fast, packetized, serial input/output (I/O) bus architectures, in which computing hosts and peripherals, such as NICs, are linked by a system area network (SAN), commonly referred to as a switching fabric. A number of architectures of this type have been proposed, culminating in the "InfiniBand™" (IB) architecture, which has been advanced by a consortium led by a group of industry leaders (including Intel, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Compaq, Dell and Microsoft). The IB architecture is described in detail in the InfiniBand Architecture Specification, Release 1.0 (October, 2000), which is incorporated herein by reference. This document is available from the InfiniBand Trade Association at www.infinibandta.org.
A host processor (or host) connects to the IB fabric via a fabric interface adapter, which is referred to in IB parlance as a host channel adapter (HCA). Peripherals are connected to the fabric by a target channel adapter (TCA). Client processes running on the host communicate with the transport layer of the IB fabric by manipulating a transport service instance, known as a "queue pair" (QP), made up of a send work queue and a receive work queue. The IB specification permits the HCA to allocate as many as 16 million (224) QPs, each with a distinct queue pair number (QPN). A given client may open and use multiple QPs simultaneously. To send and receive communications over the fabric, the client initiates work requests (WRs), which causes work items, called work queue elements (WQEs), to be placed in the appropriate queues. The channel adapter then executes the work items, so as to communicate with the corresponding QP of the channel adapter at the other end of the link.
For any given operation, the QP that initiates the operation, i.e. injects a message into the fabric, is referred to as the requester, while the QP that receives the message is referred to as the responder. (A given QP can be both a requester and a responder in different operations.) An IB operation is defined to include a request message generated by the requester and, as appropriate, its corresponding response generated by the responder. (Not all request messages have responses.) Each QP is configured for a certain transport service type, based on how the requesting and responding QPs interact. Both the source and destination QPs must be configured for the same service type. The IB specification defines four service types: reliable connection, unreliable connection, reliable datagram and unreliable datagram. The reliable services require that the responder acknowledge all messages that it receives from the requester, in order to guarantee reliability of message delivery.
Each message consists of one or more IB packets, depending on the size of the message payload compared to the maximum transfer unit (MTU) of the message path. Typically, a given channel adapter will serve simultaneously both as a requester, transmitting requests and receiving responses on behalf of local clients, and as a responder, receiving requests from other channel adapters and returning responses accordingly. Request messages include, inter alia, remote direct memory access (RDMA) write and send requests, all of which cause the responder to write data to a memory address at its own end of the link, and RDMA read requests, which cause the responder to read data from a memory address and return it to the requester. Atomic read-modify-write requests can cause the responder both to write data to its own memory and to return data to the requester. Most response messages consist of a single acknowledgment packet, except for RDMA read responses, which may contain up to 231 bytes of data, depending on the data range specified in the request. RDMA write and send requests may likewise contain up to 231 bytes of data. RDMA read and write requests specify the memory range to be accessed by DMA in the local memory of the responder. Send requests rely on the responder to determine the memory range to which the message payload will be written.
Although IB does not explicitly define quality of service (QoS) levels, it provides mechanisms that can be used to support a range of different classes of service on the network. Each IB packet carries a Service Level (SL) attribute, indicated by a corresponding SL field in the packet header, which permits the packet to be transported at one of 16 service levels. The definition and purpose of each service level is not specified by the IB standard. Rather, it is left as a fabric administration policy, to be determined between each node and the subnet to which it belongs. Thus, the assignment of service levels is a function of each node's communication manager and its negotiation with a subnet manager. As a packet traverses the fabric, its SL attribute determines which virtual lane (VL) is used to carry the packet over the next link. For this purpose, each port in the fabric has a SL to VL mapping table that is configured by subnet management.
IB fabrics are well suited for multi-processor systems and allow input/output (I/O) units, such as a network interface device with a suitable TCA, to communicate with any or all of the processor nodes in a system. In this manner, a NIC can be used by multiple hosts over an IB fabric to access an external network, such as an Ethernet LAN or WAN. NICs known in the art, however, have only a single network port and are designed to serve a single host. Although the IB fabric and protocols provide the means for multiple hosts to communicate with a given NIC, the IB specification is not concerned with the operation of the NIC itself and does not suggest any way that the NIC could serve more than one host at a time.
The IB specification also does not say how Ethernet frames (or other types of network packets or datagrams) should be encapsulated in IB communication streams carried over the fabric between the host and the NIC. In the local Windows™ environment, for example, the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) specifies how host communication protocol programs and NIC device drivers should communicate with one another for this purpose. NDIS defines primitives for sending and receiving network data, and for querying and setting configuration parameters and statistics. For connecting hosts to Ethernet NICs over dynamic buses such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB), Bluetooth™ and InfiniBand, Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.) has developed Remote NDIS (RNDIS) as an extension of NDIS. RNDIS is described in detail in the Remote NDIS Specification (Rev. 1.00, January, 2001), which is incorporated herein by reference. It defines a bus-independent message protocol between a host and a remote network interface device over abstract control and data channels.
In the IB environment, the control and data channels are provided by QPs established for this purpose between the HCA of the host and the TCA of the NIC. RNDIS messages are transported over the channels by encapsulating them in IB "send" messages on the assigned QPs. Either reliable or unreliable IB connections between the QPs may be used for this purpose. The RNDIS control and data connections enable the host to send and receive Ethernet frames as though the NIC was connected to the host by its local PCI bus.

Sharing a network interface card among multiple hosts


A cotton cultivar designated HAMMER is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of cotton cultivar HAMMER, to the plants and plant parts of cotton HAMMER and to methods for producing a cotton plant produced by crossing the cultivar HAMMER with itself or another cotton variety. The invention further relates to hybrid cotton seeds and plants produced by crossing the cultivar HAMMER with itself or with another cotton cultivar.

The present invention relates to an Acala cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seed, a cotton plant and plant parts, a cotton variety and a cotton hybrid. This invention further relates to a method for producing cotton seed and plants.
Cotton is the world's leading natural fiber and the second largest oilseed crop. Cotton production is a multi-billion dollar industry, and therefore a vital agricultural commodity to both the U.S. and global economies. In addition to textile manufacturing, cotton and cotton by-products provide raw materials that are used to produce a wealth of consumer-based products such as foodstuffs, livestock feed, fertilizer, and paper.
Enhancing the ability of cotton varieties to provide higher and more economically achieved yields and commercial qualities of fiber and oil involves enhancing the genetic potential for these complexly inherited traits. Additionally, constantly evolving diseases, insects, and environmental stresses continually threaten previously resistant and tolerant varieties. To this end, improving cotton varieties is a challenging and ongoing undertaking.


The invention relates to a drive assembly on a twin-clutch transmission for motor vehicles, including two clutches which are axially connected in succession in a transmission housing and are positioned between spaced-apart end walls of the transmission housing and which have each a preferably drum-shaped drive element which is driven by an input shaft of the transmission, with the clutches being in driving relationship, preferably alternatingly, via two preferably pot-shaped output elements with two output shafts in coaxial arrangement to the input shafts. According to the invention, the input shaft (14) which is rotatably mounted in the region of a first end wall (12a) is guided up to the second end wall (10a) located in opposition to the first end wall (12a) and is rotatably mounted there indirectly via the output shafts (24, 26) which are also rotatably mounted in the region of the second end wall (10a).

The invention relates to a drive assembly on a twin-clutch transmission for motor vehicles according to the preamble of patent claim 1.
A number of proposals for twin-clutch transmissions are known from the patent literature, wherein the two multi-disk clutches are arranged in part radially above one another or also axially behind one another. Both output shafts of the clutches are configured as hollow shafts which are nested within one another, and the rolling bearings, when accessible, are arranged on the end walls of the transmission housing and between the shafts (including the input shaft) for receiving axial and radial loads as well as possibly encountered bending moments.

Drive assembly on a twin-clutch transmission for motor vehicles


For optimizing a body structure for a passenger car in the area of the vehicle occupant compartment and of the rollover bar device arranged behind the occupant seats, specifically with respect to a high stability under load, low weight and economical manufacturing, a wall structure of the vehicle occupant compartment extending adjacent to the vehicle occupant seats and the rollover bar device consisting of a high-strength non-metallic material, such as a fiber-reinforced plastic material, e.g., CKF, and being constructionally inseparably combined.

The present invention relates to a body structure for a vehicle, and more particularly to a structure for a passenger car having a vehicle occupant compartment with a rollover bar behind the seats.
EP 0 976 620 A1 describes an open passenger car which is provided with a rollover bar device fastened to a vehicle occupant compartment. The rollover bar device has a single rollover bar which spans a vehicle occupant space of the passenger car in the transverse direction of the vehicle and consists of a non-metallic material.
EP 0 286 058 A2 comprises a self-supporting structural element made of a composite material for a vehicle body. The structural element is formed by a wall part having an intermediate body which is bounded by cover layers. This structural element should have a good strength/weight ratio.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,000 discloses a high-strength, glass-fiber-reinforced component for a wing of an aerodynamic vehicle. The wing is provided with a wall section which has a core, for example, consisting of a honeycomb structure, embedded in covering walls.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Body structure for a vehicle particularly a passenger car

Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft


A medical device such as a retractor or isolation bag including an inflatable member which expands from a collapsed configuration to an expanded configuration when pressurized gas or liquid is supplied thereto. The member can include a plurality of fluid channels, ribs and pre-shaped wire members. The device is inserted into a body cavity through a tube. The device can also be actuated by a honeycomb reinforcing structure with or without the use of pressurized fluid. The device can be manufactured by forming one or more air conduits in a member of expandable material or by enclosing a honeycomb reinforcing structure in a polymer material.

A number of methods have been proposed for forming retractors, among which there may be mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,363 ("Hasson"), U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,042 ("Sinnreich"), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,789 ("Taguchi et al."). The prior art retractors, however, possess either inadequate strength or are somewhat traumatic.
A number of methods have been proposed for forming retractors. For example, see the Hasson, Sinnreich and Taguchi et al. patents. The devices disclosed in these patents are made by methods of manufacture which tend to cause trauma to the organs they are used to move. In addition, the manufacturing techniques disclosed in these patents allow only a limited range of capabilities.
A major problem associated with minimally invasive endoscopic surgical procedures is that of removal of inflamed or diseased tissue or organs. One such procedure is the laparoscopic removal of the gangrenous gallbladder. Withdrawing the infected organ through the abdominal cavity without first isolating it risks the spread of infection and peritonitis. Currently available isolation bags are clumsy and poorly designed. A number of methods have been proposed for forming isolation bags, among which there may be mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,379 ("Clayman") and U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,255 ("Goodman"). The device disclosed in Clayman includes a net which will not prevent the transfer of diseased cells, and with the device disclosed in Goodman there is no way of ensuring the bag deploys properly or conveniently for accepting the organ or tissue.
The present invention provides solutions to the various problems noted above with respect to the prior art retractors, isolation bags and methods of manufacturing such devices.


A cable connector for assembly and mounting on a front section of a housing of a power wrench is arranged to connect at least one operation parameter sensor of the power tool to a multi-core cable. The cable connector includes a multi-contact cable connector plug carried on the multi-core cable, and a one-piece mounting member which is made of an elastically resilient material and which is secured to the front section of the housing and supports a multi-contact jack. The multi-contact cable connector plug includes a coupling sleeve formed with an internal thread, and the mounting member includes an open ring portion to be mounted around the front section of the housing and a tubular coupling portion extending laterally from the ring portion. The tubular coupling portion is divided along an axial plane into two halves, which together forming: (i) an internal socket for receiving and retaining the multi-contact jack, and (ii) an external thread for co-operating with the internal thread of the coupling sleeve upon interconnection of the cable connector plug and the mounting member. The ring portion and the tubular coupling portion halves are elastically expandable to facilitate assembly of the cable connector.

A power wrench of this type has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,575. In this prior art wrench a torque transducer is connected to a remotely located signal processing unit by means of an electric conductor leaving the wrench through the pistol handle. This means that the electric conductor is routed through the wrench housing and, accordingly, the wrench housing has to be designed to provide space for the conductor.
In order to avoid having to specially design the wrench housing so as to enable an internal routing of the signal conducting cables, there may be used an external cable connection mounted directly on the transducer part of the wrench housing. The problems to be solved in such a case are how to prevent the wrench from increasing in weight and size and how to protect the connector from mechanical damage.

Multi-core cable connector for power wrench


Techniques are disclosed herein for providing wireless network communication nodes with opt-out capabilities. Such capabilities may, for example, allow particular customers to opt out of a typical full-scale communication mode such that their associated equipment operates at least temporarily in a limited communication mode. The limited communication mode may limit customer exposure to emissions resulting from RF communications near their homes or other areas, which may be attractive to customers such as those with health or other emission-related concerns.

The reading of electrical energy, water flow, and gas usage has historically been accomplished with human meter readers who came on-site and manually documented meter readings. Over time, this manual meter reading methodology has been enhanced with walk by or drive by reading systems that use radio communications to and from a mobile collector device in a vehicle. Recently, there has been a concerted effort to accomplish meter reading using fixed communication networks that allow data to flow from the meter to a host computer system without human intervention.
Automated systems, such as Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems, collect data from meters that measure usage of resources, such as gas, water and electricity. Such systems may employ a number of different infrastructures for collecting this meter data from the meters. For example, some automated systems obtain data from the meters using a fixed wireless network that includes, for example, a central node, e.g., a collection device, in communication with a number of endpoint nodes (e.g., meter reading devices (MRDs) connected to meters). At the endpoint nodes, the wireless communications circuitry may be incorporated into the meters themselves, such that each endpoint node in the wireless network comprises a meter connected to an MRD that has wireless communication circuitry that enables the MRD to transmit the meter data of the meter to which it is connected. The wireless communication circuitry may include a transponder that is uniquely identified by a transponder serial number. The endpoint nodes may either transmit their meter data directly to the central node, or indirectly though one or more intermediate bi-directional nodes that serve as repeaters for the meter data of the transmitting node.
Some networks may employ a mesh networking architecture. In such networks, known as "mesh networks," endpoint nodes are connected to one another through wireless communication links such that each endpoint node has a wireless communication path to the central node. One characteristic of mesh networks is that the component nodes can all connect to one another via one or more "hops." Due to this characteristic, mesh networks can continue to operate even if a node or a connection breaks down. Accordingly, mesh networks are self-configuring and self-healing, significantly reducing installation and maintenance efforts.
There is a perception among some utility and metering consumers that prolonged exposure to even low levels of radio frequency (RF) communications emissions may possibly be damaging to health. There is also a perception that certain individuals may be particularly sensitive to RF transmissions and that such individuals may experience headaches and other discomforts. With the large scale deployments of electricity meters that incorporate radios for the communication of usage data, outage information and other status data, this segment of consumers may desire the to limit RF communications occurring near their homes. Some public utility commissions may also be making similar requests of utilities to limit RF communications. Typically, this has resulted in installing a dial up hard line modem in a meter or resorting to a traditional manual on-site meter reading method.

Wireless network communication nodes with opt out capability


The manufacturing method includes forming a molecular film 16 of at least one kind of molecule on a part of a conductive film 13 by placing, on the conductive film 13, a solution 12 containing the one kind of molecule dissolved therein, with the one kind of molecule being selected from the group consisting of: a molecule expressed by Formula (1): CF3(CF2)n(CH2)mSH, where n indicates a natural number of 3 to 7 while m denotes a natural number of 8 to 18; and a molecule expressed by Formula (2): CF3(CF2)p(CH2)qSS(CH2)q′(CF2)p′CF3, where p and p′ each are a natural number of 3 to 7 independently while q and q′ each are a natural number of 8 to 18 independently. Subsequently, the conductive film 13 located in a part where the molecular film 16 has not been formed is removed by bringing the conductive film 13 into contact with an etchant for the conductive film 13. Thus, a conductive pattern 17 is formed.

An electrode or wiring is created by forming a metal film in a predetermined pattern. The metal film usually is patterned using a photolithography method.
The photolithography method is useful as a method of patterning metal but has some problems. The first problem is that at least 90% of the resist liquid is wasted in a resist application process and therefore the material is wasted. The second problem is that an organic solvent, which may affect the environment adversely needs to be used in a large amount in a development process and a peeling process. The third problem is that since an expensive photomask is needed for each pattern, the manufacturing cost is high when various patterns are to be formed. In addition, there is a disadvantage in that a number of steps are required to carry out the photolithography method.
In order to solve these problems of the photolithography method, methods of forming a metal pattern using an ink-jet method or a microstamping method have been proposed in recent years. These methods are described below.
(1) Method of Forming Metal Pattern Using Ink-Jet Method
This utilizes a method of drawing images by discharging a fluid (the ink-jet method), which is used for an ink-jet printer.
A metal pattern can be formed by placing a metal paste in a predetermined position using the ink-jet method. With this method, the paste material can be used without being wasted and furthermore, the processes of developing and peeling the resist are no longer required.
In addition, there is a method of forming a resist film in a predetermined pattern by the ink-jet method, as another method that employs the ink-jet method. In this method, first, a resist liquid is applied to a metal film by the ink-jet method to form a resist film in a predetermined pattern. Thereafter, etching and resist peeling are carried out and thereby a metal pattern is formed. In this method, a resist film can be formed with a small amount of resist material. Furthermore, this method does not require the processes of exposing and developing the resist.
JP2002-299833A and JP2002-324966A disclose a method of forming a metal wiring pattern by discharging a paste containing resin and metal microparticles by the ink-jet method. JP10(1998)-204350 discloses a method of forming metal wiring by discharging a liquid containing metal microparticles with a sulfur compound adsorbed to the surfaces thereof, by the ink-jet method. JP2002-134878A discloses a method of forming a circuit pattern by discharging ink of metal microparticles by the ink-jet method. Further, JP2000-155429A discloses a method of forming a resist pattern by jetting liquid resin from a discharge head to form a desired pattern image on a substrate and then thermally curing the pattern image. JP2000-340928A discloses a method of forming a resist pattern by discharging ink that can be melted with heat by the ink-jet method, with the ink being in the molten state.
(2) Method of Forming Metal Pattern Using Microcontact Printing Method
A method of forming a resist pattern of alkanethiol using a stamp formed of silicone resin is disclosed (Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 63, No. 14 (1993), p 2002-2004). This method is illustrated in FIGS. 14A to 14D.
First, a stamp 201 formed of silicone resin is impregnated with an ethanol solution containing alkanethiol (hexadecanethiol in the drawings) and then is pressed onto the surface of a metal film 203 such as gold or copper (FIG. 14A). With this, a monomolecular film 205 of alkanethiol is formed on the surface of the metal film 203 (FIG. 14B). The alkanethiol is bonded to the metal film 203 through a mercapto group (—SH) and thereby the monomolecular film 205 with a thickness of 1 to 3 nm is formed. In the monomolecular film 205, since the molecules are lined up densely, it does not allow an etchant to pass therethrough and thus serves as a resist film.
Next, the metal film 203 is exposed to an etchant and thereby a metal pattern 206 is formed (FIG. 14C). Subsequently, the monomolecular film 205 is removed with, for instance, ozone or heat (FIG. 14D). It is disclosed that a gold pattern with a submicron width can be formed by this method (Synthetic Metals, Vol. 115 (2000), p 5-11).
Since the metal paste has a lower conductivity when it is not treated, the metal paste therefore needs to be baked to increase its conductivity when wiring or electrodes are to be formed with the metal paste. Accordingly, a baking step is required in the method of forming a metal pattern by discharging a metal paste by the ink-jet method. In order to obtain a conductivity equivalent to that of a metal pattern formed by the photolithography method, ideally it is necessary to bake the metal paste at a temperature around the melting point of the metal. Such a temperature, however, causes common substrates to be denatured thermally. Hence, the baking needs to be carried out at as low a temperature as possible. Particularly, when the substrate is a printed circuit board formed of resin, the baking temperature is preferably 200° C. or lower. Accordingly, the conductivity of the metal pattern formed by the ink-jet method is lower than that of one produced by the common photolithography method. The decrease in conductivity of the wiring of a circuit results in deterioration in performance of an electronic device.
The conventional method of discharging a resist liquid by the ink-jet method allows a metal pattern with a high conductivity to be formed easily, which is different from the method in which a metal paste is used. However, when a resist liquid is applied to a substrate by the ink-jet method, the resist liquid 211 that has been discharged spreads on the substrate 212 as shown in FIG. 15. Depending on the relationship between wettability of the substrate and the property of the resist liquid, the area of the resist liquid 211 that has been applied may be at least 10000 times larger than the sectional area of the discharged droplet in some cases. It therefore may be difficult to form a resist pattern with the high precision of the conventional method in some cases.
The method that employs the microcontact printing method hardly causes a pattern to spread since a monomolecular film is formed in only the part with which a stamp has been in contact. It, however, is necessary to produce a stamp for each pattern and therefore it is not suitable for cases where various kinds of products are to be produced in small amounts.

Method of manufacturing conductive pattern and electronic device, and electronic device


There are provided a method of forming a trench for a recessed channel of a transistor and a layout for the same. A layout for the recessed channel according to one aspect of the present invention is formed such that an open region is extended across at least one of a first active region in a lateral direction, and also across another second active region in parallel with the first active region in a diagonal direction, and the extension is cut not to reach an isolation region between two third active regions that are in parallel with the second active region in a diagonal direction, and have noses facing each other in a longitudinal direction, and the layout includes an alignment of a plurality of open regions, which are discontinuously aligned. An etch mask is formed using the layout, and a semiconductor substrate is etched using the etch mask, and a trench for a recessed channel is formed on the active region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention generally relate to a method of forming a trench in a semiconductor device.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 2004-39224, filed on May 31, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent developments in semiconductor devices, the size of components in the semiconductor devices has dramatically decreased. In addition, the integration of the semiconductor devices has rapidly increased. A reduction in chip size is regarded as an important factor in the development of highly-integrated semiconductor memory devices.
Many efforts have been made to reduce the chip size for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device. As a result of these efforts, a cell structure has changed to a planar alignment or a layout of active regions. A conventional layout for active regions is an 8F2 type structure. By changing an alignment of the active regions in such a structure, research is being done to further reduce a unit cell size while still using a minimum line width F in the 8F2 type structure.
As the integration of the semiconductor devices increases, coupled with the reduction in design rule, it has become more difficult to guarantee stable transistor operation. Further, as a width of a gate is reduced, short channel problems increases.
The short channel also produces punch-through between source and drain regions of the transistor. The punch-through is the main cause of transistor malfunctions. Therefore, many methods have been used to ensure a minimum channel length in order to overcome short channel problems. Specifically, attempts have been made to increase the channel length by recessing a semiconductor substrate under a gate in order to expand the channel length relative to a gate line width. There are many conventional methods of forming a MOS transistor having a recessed channel.

Method of forming trench in semiconductor device


An image forming system includes plural image forming apparatuses that form images, and a second memory that stores user identification information for identifying a user and apparatus identification information for identifying an image forming apparatus storing image data corresponding to the user identification information so as to be correlated with each other, wherein each of the image forming apparatuses includes a first memory, a reception component, a first acquisition component, a second acquisition component, a storage controller, and an image forming component that forms an image corresponding to image data acquired by the first acquisition component or the second acquisition component.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming system, an image forming apparatus and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
(ii) Related Art
A technique is known where an image designated by a user maybe formed using any image forming apparatus of plural image forming apparatuses connected to a network.

Image forming system, image forming apparatus and non-transitory computer readable medium


A direct light type backlight unit having a structure in which divided luminance areas are sequentially turned on and off and a liquid crystal display device employing the backlight unit are provided. The backlight unit includes: a base substrate; a plurality of point light sources arranged in a plurality of lines and mounted on the base substrate; and a reflector sheet vertically formed between lines of the point light sources, reflecting light emitted from the point light sources.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display device employing the same and, more particularly, to a direct light type backlight unit having a structure in which divided luminance areas are sequentially turned on and off and a liquid crystal display device employing the backlight unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD), which is one type of flat panel display, is a passive display that forms an image without using self-luminescence but instead using incident light from the outside. A backlight unit is disposed at a rear of the LCD to irradiate light toward the liquid crystal panel.
A cold cathode fluorescence lamp (CCFL) is generally used as a light source for backlight units. However, the CCFL has a comparatively short lifespan and inferior color reproducibility. It is also impossible instantly to turn on the CCFL. Therefore, when a backlight unit using the CCFL is divided into a plurality of luminance areas, the luminance areas cannot be sequentially turned on in synchronization with a screen scanning of a liquid crystal device. Hence, it is difficult effectively to prevent a motion blur in which after-images remain when an image frame is transferred to another image frame in a liquid crystal display device.
To overcome such drawbacks of the CCFL, a backlight unit using a point light source, such as a light emitting diode (LED), recently has been developed instead of the CCFL. Examples of such a backlight unit are disclosed in Korea Patent Application No. 10-2003-0019834, entitled "STRUCTURE OF BACKLIGHT UNIT FOR LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY", and Korea Patent Application No. 10-2003-0023052, entitled "STRUCTURE OF BACKLIGHT UNIT FOR LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY".
In Korea Patent Application No. 10-2003-0019834, a light guide panel is divided into a plurality of divided blocks, and a light emitting diode is mounted on each side of the divided blocks. Groove-shaped boundary regions corresponding to the boundaries between divided blocks are formed on a rear side of the light guide plate, and thus leaking of light emitted from the LED into adjacent blocks is prevented. Meanwhile, in Korea Patent Application No. 10-2003-0023052, a light guide plate is also divided into a plurality of blocks, and an LED is mounted at a side surface of each of the divided blocks. However, instead of forming a groove at a boundary between divided blocks of the light guide panel, each of the divided blocks is formed to have a refractive index decreasing from a central part to a boundary part for preventing the light emitted from the LED from leaking into adjacent blocks.
However, the above mentioned conventional backlight units are edge light type backlight units in which a light source is mounted at an edge of a light guide panel (LGP) and light emitted from the light source is transferred to a liquid crystal panel. The edge light type backlight unit has a difficulty to transfer uniformly the light to the liquid crystal panel and has a degraded light efficiency. When the LGP is divided into a plurality of blocks and the blocks sequentially emit light, it is important to prevent light emitted from a block from leaking into adjacent blocks. However, the conventional backlight units are not able perfectly to prevent light leakage. Particularly, when the refractive index of each block of the light guide panel gradually changes over the block, there must be large light loss in the block and a manufacturing cost of the light guide panel increases. Also, a comparatively large amount of light leaks into the adjacent areas.

Backlight unit and liquid crystal display device employing the same


A photosensitive composition comprising a sensitizing amount of light-sensitive diazonium compound and a polyurethane resin binder in an amount sufficient to improve physical property of the composition, wherein said polyurethane resin has at least one group selected from a phosphonic acid group, a phosphoric acid group and ester groups thereof in an amount sufficient to improve adhesion to a support. The photosensitive composition of the present invention provides an excellent adhesion to a support, an excellent developability with an aqueous alkali developer, and a high printing durability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive composition. More particularly, it relates to a photosensitive composition exhibiting excellent adhesion to a support and suitable for a presensitized lithographic printing plate (hereinafter referred to as "PS plate") which is developable with an aqueous alkaline developer and capable of providing a lithographic printing plate showing excellent durability.
2. Prior Art
Most of the photosensitive substances used in presensitized printing materials are diazonium compounds and most commonly used are diazo resins such as a condensate of p-diazodiphenylamine and formaldehyde.
The photosensitive composition comprising diazo resins for producing photosensitive layers of PS plates can be divided into two groups, one of which simply comprises diazo resins, in other words those free of binders as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,714,066 and the other of which comprises both diazo resins and binders as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,138. However, recently, most of the photosensitive layers of PS plates comprise diazonium compounds and polymers serving as the binder in order to improve physical properties such as printing durability, oleophilicity etc. of the plate.
As such a photosensitive layer, there have been known so-called alkali-developable ones whose un-exposed portion is removed (or developed) with an aqueous alkaline developer as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,138 and so-called solvent-developable ones whose unexposed portion is removed (or developed) with an organic solvent type developer, but the former has become of major interest recently from the viewpoint of safety in operations and health of operators. Such development types of the light-sensitive layer are determined principally depending on properties of binders used. As a method for making binders alkali-soluble, there have been known a method as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,276 which comprises copolymerizing carboxyl group-containing monomers to obtain such a binder and a method as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,861,058 which comprises reacting hydroxyl groups of polyvinyl alcohol with a cyclic acid anhydride such as phthalic anhydride to introduce carboxyl groups into the resultant polymers. However, the polymers obtained by these method generally exhibit poor abrasion resistance due to the chemical structures thereof, and therefore the lithographic printing plates containing those binder polymers in the photosensitive layer thereof show poor printing durability. By using polyvinyl acetal, it is possible to form a strong coating showing good abrasion resistance; however, this polymer has also a drawback that it can give only the organic solvent developable PS plate.
On the other hand, polyurethane resins have been known as a polymer having excellent abrasion resistance. Combinations of diazonium compounds with substantially linear polyurethane resins and combinations of polycondensates of diazonium salts with branched polyurethane resins are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,660,097 and 4,337,307. However, these polyurethane resins have no alkali-soluble group essentially and therefore has an insufficient solubility in an aqueous alkali developer. It is thus quite difficult to conduct the development in such a manner that the photosensitive layer can be completely removed from the non-image area (exposed area).
Further, combinations of diazonium compounds and polyurethane resins having a carboxyl group are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,491. Although they are soluble in the aqueous alkaline developer and have an excellent abrasion resistance, the adhesion thereof to an aluminum support is not always sufficient. Therefore, there has been problems, for example, the photosensitive layer is sometimes peeled off from the support depending on the storage conditions.

Photosensitive composition comprising a diazonium compound and a polyurethane


A bow sight support for mounting to a bow riser including a mount for attachment to the bow riser and a movable part adjustably connected to the mount for positioning the bow sight along an arcuate path defined by the archer's draw radius. The movable part includes a pair of curved channels which slide along a corresponding pair of curved rails of the mount when an adjustment mechanism connected to the movable part is actuated. The mount is adjustable when secured to the riser to permit adjustments in the arcuate adjustment path of the sight to correspond with different draw radii. A pair of support arms are adjustably attached to the movable part to provide horizontal angular adjustment of the sight.

The level of shooting accuracy desired by bow hunters and competition archers exceeds that readily achievable without the use of a sighting device such a simple pin sight or an optical sight capable of magnification. Such sighting devices are typically used in conjunction with a support bracket attached to the bow riser to precisely position the sight between the archer's eye and the target. Conventional bow sight supports are deficient because they are not sufficiently adjustable to maintain the sight within the archer's line of sight to the target as the archer raises or lowers the bow relative to horizontal, depending upon the distance to the target, to provide an arrow trajectory which terminates at the target. Instead, conventional sight supports are typically fixed to the bow riser and provide a pivotal adjustment of the sight so that when the bow is raised, for example, to provide the arrow trajectory required for a distant target, the sight may be tilted downwardly relative to horizontal toward the target. This sight positioning requires an adjustment in the position of the archer's eye relative to the position of the anchor point of the string when fully drawn (i.e., an adjustment in peep height) so that the archer's line of sight to the target passes through the bow sight to thereby realize the aiming benefits of the sight. Since accurate shooting requires a repeatable draw and shooting stance, any adjustments in peep height are considered undesirable.
Other conventional sight supports provide arcuate adjustment of the sight along a path curved or bowed outwardly from the archer's eye to minimize the peep height adjustment required for a particular target. Nonetheless, since this arcuate adjustment path does not precisely correspond to the arc along which the bow is positioned to provide the desired arrow trajectory, some peep height adjustment is still required. Furthermore, the amount of peep height adjustment mounting depends upon the particular archer's draw length (i.e., the approximate distance between the archer's grip on the riser and the archer's anchor point). An archer with a long draw length positions the bow riser for various arrow trajectories along an arc which is more gradual than the aiming arc of an archer with a short draw length. Since the arcuate adjustment path of conventional supports is not adjustable to correspond to bow adjustment paths, the more the archer's bow adjustment path differs from the arcuate path provided by such sight supports, the greater the required peep height adjustment.
Also, conventional sight supports require the use of shims to compensate for the twisting or cantering of the bow riser which occurs under full draw conditions (i.e., when the bow string is drawn). Since the sight support is mounted to the riser, as the riser canters about its vertical axis, the sight also rotates. Thus, the sight must be positioned in a skewed orientation relative to the line of sight to the target under relaxed conditions (i.e., when the string is not drawn) so that it will rotate into alignment with the line of sight under full drawn conditions. Heretofore, shims have been wedged between the riser and the sight support to position the support at an angle to compensate for the riser canter. Such shims vibrate loose and are easy to lose and difficult to install. Additionally, since the degree of canter depends upon the flexibility of the riser and bow limbs, the action of the cams, and the characteristics of the string system, the cumbersome process of shim adjustment must be repeated for each variation in bow setup.


An arrangement of material layers designed and utilized as a filter to mechanical waves entering a sensor. To isolate the sensor, the filter can be designed to attenuate specified frequencies that could propagate from the environment and into the sensor. Provided there is a difference in the mechanical impedance between the environment and the sensor case, then a filter can be designed to amplify a specified range of frequencies, enhancing the coupling of the sensor to its environment. The filters work by altering the transmission and reflection of incident waves. Dissipative mechanisms are not required. Test data is included that demonstrates the effectiveness of layered isolation mounts developed to block inputs that would excite the resonance frequency an accelerometer's seismic mass.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the protection of sensors from mechanical shock, vibration, and impact, and to the enhancement of a sensor's response by improving its coupling to the environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A mechanical isolator for an accelerometer is described in the Sandia National Laboratories technical report number SAND2000-1528, entitled "High Shock, High Frequency Characteristics of a Mechanical Isolator for a Piezoresistive Accelerometer, the ENDEVCO 7270AM6" by Bateman, Brown and Nusser (2000). This device has two metal plates that, when held together by screws, clamp the accelerometer between them. Between each plate and the accelerometer is a thin sheet of a polysulfide elastomer to provide the isolation. The isolator's mass is about 7 grams, compared with 1.5 grams for the accelerometer.
This reference is deficient with respect to the present invention in that it is massive and bulky, and it relies upon an elastomer for the isolation. In some situations, elastomers and other dissipative materials are unsuitable because their stress-strain behavior is non-linear, as well as frequency dependent and temperature dependent. Elastomers may also be unsuitable because they degrade with time, and some react chemically with the environment.
The use of periodically layered media for isolation is described by Sackman, Kelly and Javid in "A layered notch filter for high-frequency dynamic isolation," Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, February 1989, Vol. 111, pages 17-24. They present a mathematical analysis of the propagation of elastic waves through a periodic or repeating arrangement of two alternating layers. Experiments demonstrate the validity of the concept.
This reference is deficient with respect to the present invention in that only repeating arrangements of materials are considered.
The company Brüel and Kjaer markets "mechanical filters for accelerometers," which are described in Brüel and Kjaer product data sheet for parts UA 0553 and UA 0559. These filters are interposed between an accelerometer and the object to which it is mounted in order to prevent the accelerometer from detecting high frequency vibration. The filter is comprised of upper and lower steel parts bonded together with a butyl rubber core. The butyl rubber is the filter medium.
This reference is deficient with respect to the present invention in that it relies upon an elastomer for filtering. The stiffness and damping effect of the butyl rubber depends upon temperature, with optimum damping at ambient temperatures of 20 to 50 degrees Celsius. At higher temperatures the stiffness and damping of the rubber are reduced, while at lower temperatures the stiffness and damping of the rubber are increased.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,675, Cooper et al described an article of protective clothing to protect against blast. The clothing has two sheets of material, chosen so that they have an acoustic decoupling effect which reduces the pressure wave effect on the body of a person wearing the clothing. The design approach is similar to the one used in the current application, in that the garment's layers are chosen specifically so that they will alter the mechanical wave transmitted through them and into the body in a specified manner. The approach is described in greater detail by the authors and a colleague in "The role of stress waves in thoracic visceral injury from blast loading: modification of stress transmission by foams and high-density materials," Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 24, Number 5, 1991, by G. J. Cooper et al.
This reference is deficient with respect to the present invention in that it is not applicable to the end use application intended for the present invention.


A cathode cover for a metal-air cell of the type having an air cathode positioned along an external surface of a cell case provides for improved control over exposure of the air cathode to air. The cathode cover allows a sufficient amount of air to the air cathode for an adequate production of power from the cell but limits the amount of air to which the air cathode is exposed so as to prevent premature failure of the cell from flooding, drying out, or contamination. In addition, the cathode cover avoids the problems of point diffusion of oxygen through the air cathode and localized electrolytic reactions. The cathode cover includes a mask member defining a plurality of openings therethrough and forming at least one substantially unobstructed air chamber between the mask member and the air cathode. The mask member includes at least about three of the openings per square inch of the air cathode and the openings provide between about 0.001 and about 0.01 square inches of total open area per square inch of air cathode. In addition, the air chamber has at least about 0.033 cubic inches of unobstructed volume per square inch of the air cathode.

There is an increasing need for light-weight, high-output power supplies for powering the increasing supply of portable electronic equipment such as personal computers. Electrochemical cells are commonly used as power supplies for a variety of applications but are often impractical for use with portable electronic equipment because the electrical energy densities of the electrochemical cells are too low. In other words, conventional electrochemical cells that produce the desired power output are often too heavy for use with portable equipment.
One electrochemical cell that is an exception is the metal-air cell. Metal-air cells have a relatively high energy density because the cathode of a metal-air cell utilizes oxygen from ambient air as a reactant in the electrochemical reaction rather than a heavier material such as a metal or metallic composition. This results in a relatively light-weight power supply.
Metal-air cells include an air-permeable cathode and a metallic anode surrounded by an aqueous electrolyte. Metal-air cells function through the reduction of oxygen which reacts with a metal to form an electric current. Typically, the oxygen is taken from the ambient air. For example, in a zinc-air cell, the anode contains zinc, and during operation, oxygen from the ambient air is converted at the cathode to hydroxide, zinc is oxidized at the anode by the hydroxide, and water and electrons are released to provide electrical energy.
Cells that are useful for only a single discharge cycle are called primary cells, and cells that are rechargeable and useful for multiple discharge cycles are called secondary cells. Both primary and secondary metal-air cells have been developed. An electrically rechargeable metal-air cell is recharged by applying voltage between the anode and cathode of the cell and reversing the electrochemical reaction. Oxygen is discharged to the atmosphere through the air-permeable cathode.
One problem with metal-air cells is that the difference between the ambient relative humidity and the internal relative humidity of the cell can cause the metal-air cell to fail. Equilibrium vapor pressure of the metal-air cell results in an equilibrium relative humidity that is typically about 45 percent. If ambient humidity is greater than the equilibrium relative humidity value for the metal-air cell, the metal-air cell will absorb water from the air through the cathode and fail due to a condition called flooding. Flooding may cause the cell to leak. If the ambient humidity is less than the equilibrium relative humidity value for the metal-air cell, the cell will release water vapor from the electrolyte through the air cathode and fail due to drying out. In most environments where a metal-air battery cell is used, failure occurs from drying out.
During operation of a metal-air cell, the electrolytic reaction produces heat and increases the temperature of the cell. The heat produced by the electrolytic reaction increases the rate of vaporization of the water contained in the cell and can increase the rate at which the cell dries out.
Drying out and flooding are even greater problems for secondary metal-air cells than for primary metal-air cells. Although ambient humidity may not be a sufficient problem to flood or dry out a cell after a single cycle, cumulative water gain or loss from a series of discharge and charge cycles can cause premature failure of a secondary metal-air cell. Another problem with metal-air cells is that contaminants in the air such as carbon dioxide, smoke, and sulfides, decrease the battery output. For example, carbon dioxide reacts with the metal-hydroxide in the electrolyte. The reaction between carbon dioxide and the metal hydroxide forms a metal carbonate compound that interferes with the electrochemical reaction.
Thus, it has been desirable to control the exposure of the air cathode in a metal-air cell to air so that the amount of air to which the cathode is exposed is sufficient to generate the power demands on the cell but insufficient to cause premature failure of the cell through flooding, drying out, or the accumulation of contaminants. It has been desirable to limit the amount of air over the cathode to an amount approaching the stoichiometric requirements required by the cell to produce the desired power output.
One method for controlling the exposure of an air cathode to air is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,544 which discloses a primary metal-air cell for powering a device such as a hearing aid. The metal-air cell disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,544 discloses a metal-air cell having a thin layer of microporous material sandwiched tightly between a perforated cover and an air cathode. The perforations or apertures in the cover control the exposure of the air cathode to air to limit access of the air cathode to excessive moisture and carbon dioxide. Although such an arrangement is effective to limit the exposure of the air cathode to moisture and carbon dioxide, the exposure of the air cathode to air would be too restrictive if such an arrangement were applied to a larger, more powerful metal-air cell and result in inefficient use of the air cathode. In addition, in such an arrangement or an arrangement where the cathode cover is directly against the cathode, the oxygen from the ambient air tends to diffuse through the air cathode at the points of the apertures and create localized reactions. As a result, the oxygen does not react at areas between the apertures of the air cathode cover and the output of the cell is limited.
Another approach to controlling the exposure of metal-air cell cathodes to air is through the use of an air manager system. In an air manager system, a fan supplies air through a system of sized openings and plenums in a housing containing an array of metal-air cells. The exposure of the air cathodes of the cells to air is controlled by the rate of delivery of air by the fan and the sizes of the plenums and openings in the housing. Such arrangements have been effective; however, they have been costly to produce because of the necessity of air-tight seals and appropriate part tolerances to deliver the appropriate amount of air to the metal-air cells.
Therefore, there is a need for an effective, economical means for controlling the exposure of air cathodes in metal-air cells to air to provide a longer useful life for metal-air cells.


An electrical lead including a conductor assembly, an electrode, and a thermally sensitive material. The conductor assembly has one or more conductors. The electrode is in electrical communication with one of the conductors and has an outer contact adapted for contacting adjacent body tissue of a patient. The thermally sensitive material is electrically connected between the one conductor and the electrode outer contact, and is configured to exhibit high impedance in the presence of currents considered unsafe to the patient, thereby preventing the unsafe currents from flowing through the thermally sensitive material and through the electrode outer contact potentially causing the adjacent body tissue to increase in temperature to an unsafe level. The unsafe currents cause the thermally sensitive material to increase in temperature, thereby causing the material to transition to a high impedance state.

Since the introduction of the first implantable pacemakers in the 1960s, there have been considerable advancements in both the fields of electronics and medicine, such that there is now a wide assortment of commercially available body-implantable electronic medical devices. This class of implantable medical devices (IMDs) generally includes therapeutic and diagnostic devices, such as pacemakers, cardioverter/defibrillators, hemodynamic monitors, neural stimulators, and drug administering devices, as well as other devices for alleviating the adverse effects of various health ailments.
As is known, modern electrical therapeutic and diagnostic devices for the heart and/or other areas of the body generally include an electrical connection between the device and a patient's body. This connection is usually provided by at least one medical electrical lead, which is typically implanted (at least partially) within the patient's body. For example, a neural stimulator delivers mild electrical impulses to neural tissue using one or more electrical leads. Such neural stimulation often results in pain relief or a reduction in tremors depending on where the electrodes are placed. Each electrical lead used with such devices typically takes the form of a long, generally straight, flexible, insulated set of conductors. At its proximal end, the lead is typically connected to a connector of the device, which also may be implanted within the patient's body. Generally, one or more electrodes are located at or near the distal end of the lead and are attached to, or otherwise come in contact with, the patient's body. Such devices may be controlled by a physician or the patient through the use of an external programmer.
Other advancements in medical technology have led to improved imaging technologies, e.g., magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). As further described below with respect to its process, MRI is an anatomical imaging tool which utilizes non-ionizing radiation (i.e., no x-rays or gamma rays) and provides a non-invasive method for the examination of internal structure and function. In particular, MRI permits 3-D imaging of soft tissue better than any other imaging method. During the MRI imaging sequence, a radio-frequency field is applied to the patient. Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) systems are also known and are herein intended to be included within the terminology "MRI" systems or scanners.
Further, shortwave diathermy, microwave diathermy, ultrasound diathermy, and the like have been shown to provide therapeutic benefits to patients, such as to relieve pain, stiffness, and muscle spasms; to reduce joint contractures; to reduce swelling and pain after surgery; to promote wound healing; and the like. Generally, in using such diathermy apparatuses, energy (e.g., short-wave energy, microwave energy, ultrasound energy, or the like) is directed into a localized area of the patient's body.
Traditionally, use of the above-described technologies have been discouraged for patients having IMDs, as the environment produced by the MRI or diathermy apparatuses is generally considered hostile to such IMDs. As is known, the energy fields, generated during the MRI or diathermy processes, have potential for inducing an electrical current within leads of IMDs as well as leads of other medical devices located within the patient. In conventional leads, this electrical current is typically conducted into tissue adjacent to the ends of the lead. Because the tissue area adjacent to the electrodes is often very small, the current conducting through this adjacent tissue results in the tissue heating. This may result in tissue damage when the currents are too large.
Thus, what are needed are medical device electrical lead systems that reduce tissue heating to levels that do not induce tissue damage.

Medical device electrical lead design for preventing transmittance of unsafe currents to a patient


A seat slide apparatus for a vehicle includes an upper rail retaining a seat above the upper rail, a lower rail retaining the upper rail in a state where the upper rail moves relative to the lower rail, a rolling element arranged between the lower rail and the upper rail and a retaining member configured to retain the rolling element between the lower rail and the upper rail, the retaining member including a protruding portion having a top portion arranged to slidably contact with a rolling surface at which the rolling element rolls. The protruding portion includes a spreading portion extending from the top portion in an elongating direction, the elongating direction conforming to a path of the rolling element formed on the rolling surface, the spreading portion tapering to a sharp end form with an increasing distance from the top portion in the elongating direction.

A seat slide apparatus for a vehicle including an upper rail retaining a seat above the upper rail and a lower rail retaining the upper rail in a state where the upper rail moves relative to the lower rail is known. In addition, for example, JP2008-44518A, hereinafter referred to as Reference 1, discloses a seat slide apparatus having a configuration where a rolling element is arranged between a lower rail and an upper rail. In the seat slide apparatus according to Reference 1, a retaining member retains the rolling element between the lower rail and the upper rail. The retaining member includes a protruding portion that is configured to slidably contact with a rolling surface in a state where the protruding portion makes pressure contact with the rolling surface. Note that the rolling surface refers to a surface on either the lower rail or the upper rail at which the rolling element retained by the retaining member rolls.
More specifically, rolling of the rolling element, which is in contact with each of the lower rail and the upper rail, may provide a smooth movement of the lower rail and the upper rail relative to each other in a state where the lower rails and the upper rails move relative to each other in accordance with a seat slide operation. The protruding portion is arranged on the retaining member to provide a comfortable operational feeling and a distinct control feeling to the seat slide operation by a frictional force at the protruding portion, which is appropriately restraining the excessively smooth movement.
Nevertheless, in a configuration where a rolling element is arranged between a lower rail and an upper rail, smooth rolling of the rolling element thereat is of at most importance. For example, in a seat slide apparatus for a vehicle, a foreign object may enter between a lower rail and an upper rail of the seat slide apparatus. Quality of operational feeling may lower due to a presence of the foreign object that interferes with smooth rolling of the rolling element, which is considered as a drawback.
A need thus exists for a seat slide apparatus for a vehicle, which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.


A combinatorial library of solid-state fluorescent dyes is prepared by reacting an aldehyde with a solid-supported pyridinium salt having a linker.

Fluorescent compounds are important compounds because of their broad applications, and particularly because of their highly sensitive and specific detection methods. It is desirable to obtain fluorescent compounds that fluoresce in a wide range of colors so that specific compounds can be selected for different purposes. Rational design of compounds with specific emission wavelengths and high quantum yields is difficult.
Combinatorial chemistry is a synthetic strategy that produces diverse, usually large, chemical libraries. It is the systematic and repetitive, covalent connection of a set of different monomeric building blocks of varying structure to each other to produce an array of diverse molecules. It also encompasses other chemical modifications, such as cyclizations, eliminations, cleavages, etc., that are carried out in a manner that generates permutations and thus collections of diverse molecules.
Chemical combinatorial libraries are diverse collections of molecular compounds. These compounds are formed using a multi-step synthetic route wherein a series of different chemical modules can be inserted at any particular step in the route. By performing the synthetic route multiple times in parallel, each possible permutation of the chemical modules can be constructed. The result is the rapid synthesis of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of different structures within a chemical class.
Combinatorial synthetic and screening techniques can identify lead structures from a variety of library compounds, enhancing the success rate in developing useful new compounds while saving much time in trial and error. Following its application in drug discovery, the combinatorial approach now competes with rational design methods in the field of materials science.
While a combinatorial approach has been used in developing fluorescent libraries, the spectral properties and potential applications of the presently available combinatorial fluorescent libraries are still limited.
There is a great need to develop highly specific and rapid sensors/detectors for a variety of diseases (Combinatorial Chemistry-Synthesis, Analysis, Screening, June, Ed.; Wiley-VCH; Weinhein, Germany, 1999). Novel fluorescent libraries, which can recognize many different biological analytes and change their fluorescence properties, are of great interest. (Wurthner et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 1999, 38: 1649; Takasu et al., J. Comb. Chem, 2003, 5:211; Briehn et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2001, 40: 4680; Szurdoki et al., Anal. Chem. 2000, 72:5250; Merrington et al., Chem. Commun., 2002, 140-141) Solid phase combinatorial synthesis and screening can identify lead structures from a variety of library compounds, enhancing success rate in developing fluorescent molecules while saving time.


The semiconductor device has a lead frame, a photo-detection chip and a control IC chip mounted on the lead frame, a first sealing portion that seals the photo-detection chip and the control IC chip, and a second sealing portion that covers the first sealing portion in a state of partially exposing the lens portion. The second sealing portion has a raised portion formed along the lens portion on the basal end side of the lens portion, which makes it possible to obtain a sufficient shielding effect against noise and therefore to improve tolerance to noise.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device that has a photo-detection element and a signal processing section, and in particular to a semiconductor device for optical communications, which is installed in an electronic apparatus of, for example, a TV (television set), a VTR (video tape recorder), an audio component or an air conditioner, and which generates a control signal for controlling the operation of each electronic apparatus by receiving an infrared ray signal from a transmitter. The present invention relates also to the electronic apparatus provided with the above-stated semiconductor device.
As shown in the front view of FIG. 8A, the side view of FIG. 8B and the side sectional view of FIG. 8C, a conventional semiconductor device for optical communications has a lead frame 101, a photo-detection chip 102 and a control IC chip 103 mounted on the lead frame 101, a first sealing portion 110 made of an infrared transmitting resin, which portion 110 seals the photo-detection chip 102 and the control IC chip 103 and has a lens portion 111, and a second sealing portion 120 made of a conductive resin, which portion 120 covers the first sealing portion 110 except for the lens portion 111 (refer to JP H09-84162 A)
The conventional semiconductor device for optical communications receives control signals transmitted from the transmitter by infrared rays to control a variety of electronic apparatuses. Since the signals transmitted by infrared rays are very feeble, a high-gain amplifier is built into the semiconductor device for optical communications. The optical signals of the infrared rays are amplified by this amplifier, and thereafter the optical signal is converted into a digital signal to be output. Thus, the semiconductor device for optical communications is very sensitive to noise.
Accordingly, as an anti-noise measure in the conventional semiconductor device for optical communications, noise is removed by covering the first sealing portion 110 with the second sealing portion 120 except for the lens portion 111 corresponding to the photo-detection region and by electrically connecting the second sealing portion 120 to a GND terminal of the lead frame 101.
However, there are a wide variety of conventional electronic apparatuses equipped with the semiconductor devices for optical communications. The above-sated anti-noise measure in the conventional semiconductor device for optical communications has disadvantageously been insufficient, particularly when the conventional semiconductor device for optical communications is installed in an electronic apparatus (TV or the like) having intense electromagnetic noise.

Semiconductor device and electronic apparatus


A multiple beam array antenna system comprises a plurality of radiating elements provided from stripline-fed open-ended waveguide coupled to a Butler matrix beam forming network. The Butler matrix beam forming network is coupled to a switched beam combining circuit. The antenna can be fabricated as a single Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) circuit.

Not applicable.
This invention relates to radar systems and more particularly to high performance, compact, portable radar systems which are field programmable for use in a variety of different applications.
As is known in the art, there is an increasing trend to include radar systems in commercially available products. For example, it is desirable to include radar systems in automobiles, trucks boats, airplanes and other vehicles. Such radar systems must be compact and relatively low cost.
Furthermore, some applications have relatively difficult design parameters including restrictions on the physical size of the structure in addition to minimum operational performance requirements. Such competing design requirements (e.g. low cost, small size, high performance parameters) make the design of such radar systems relatively challenging.
In automotive radar systems, for example, cost and size considerations are of considerable importance. Furthermore, in order to meet the performance requirements of automotive radar applications, (e.g. coverage area) a relatively sophisticated array antenna and radar and transmit circuitry is required.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a radar system having relatively high performance characteristics and which is compact, portable and relatively low cost.
The present invention provides a millimeter wave (MMW) radar system on a single low temperature ceramic substrate provided from a plurality of Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) circuit layers. The single LTCC substrate has a top antenna cover or radome layer disposed over an antenna element or radiator layer. The cover or radome layer is used to tune the radiating elements on subsequent radiator layers. MMW transmitter and receiver circuit components are disposed on a second or bottom surface of the single LTCC substrate. Transmitter and receiver circuitry is integrated within the layers of the LTCC substrate to couple the antenna to the transmitter and receiver components. In one embodiment, the antenna is provided from an array of radiating antenna elements embedded in the LTCC substrate with array feed and beamforming circuitry embedded and integrated throughout the different layers of the LTCC substrate. Transmitter circuit components including but not limited to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and a power amplifier as well as receiver circuit components including but not limited to a low noise amplifier (LNA), a mixer and a video amplifier are disposed on the bottom surface of the LTCC substrate. The transmitter and receiver circuit components are coupled to transmit and receive antennas as well as other transmit and receive circuitry through via connections provided in the LTCC substrate. In this manner, a highly integrated, single substrate MMW radar system is provided.
Digital signal processing (DSP), power circuits, control circuits and interface circuits are disposed on a printed wiring board (PWB) which can be coupled to the MMW radar system disposed on the LTCC substrate via a flex cable.
In one embodiment, the LTCC substrate comprising the antenna and MMW transmit and receive circuits is disposed in a housing. The LTCC substrate is disposed in the housing over a first support structure which spaces the antenna aperture a predetermined distance from a first or internal surface of the housing. Also disposed in the housing over a second support structure is the PWB. The second structure spaces a surface of the PWB a predetermined distance from the second surface of the LTCC substrate. Thus, the LTCC substrate and the PWB are disposed in a single common housing. In one embodiment, a flex circuit couples the circuit components disposed on the LTCC substrate to the circuit components disposed on the PWB. Thus the radar is provided as an integrated structure having a relatively connector-less interface. The housing is provided having a single connector through which RF, DC and logic signals are provided. Furthermore, an EMI shield is disposed in the housing to reduce the amount of radiation emitted through the housing from locations other than the antenna aperture. While the integrated single substrate MMW radar of the present invention is particularly well-suited for automotive radar systems, especially active electronically scanned antenna automotive radar systems, it is understood that the radar may also be used in other radar system applications.

Highly integrated single substrate MMW multi-beam sensor


In analyzing a coded result to thereby calculate data distribution corresponding to a characteristic of an input image signal, rather than determining data distribution for all of the pictures, an aggregate of such pictures that have roughly the same coding difficulty is captured as one scene. This scene is prescribed as a video edit unit (VEU), so that, in configuration, the input image signal is subdivided into a plurality of video edit units (VEUs) to thereby set an average target coding rate for each of these video edit units (VEUs), which are entered as coding conditions to thereby determine data distribution for each of the pictures at the time of re-coding.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a coding method for high-efficiently coding an image signal and an image signal coding apparatus for realizing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The industries over the world have conventionally been discussing how to high-efficiently code an image signal. The high-efficiently coding methods have been standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), which is one section of the joint technology committee of the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and the IEC (International Electro-technical Commission). This standardization brought about such known results as ISO/IEC 13818-2 "Coding of Audio, Picture, Multimedia, and Hypermedia Information" (MPEG-2 Standard) and ISO/IEC DIS 11172 "Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29 WG11" (MPEG-1 Standard).
To improve the picture quality of an image signal which is high-efficiently coded on the basis of these standards, there is available a method for once coding an image signal under predetermined coding conditions and then re-coding it corresponding to its characteristic. A technology related to this method is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-214962 (1997) gazette.
The following will describe a conventional image signal coding method with reference to FIG. 5. A coding means 501 codes an image signal. A parameter setting means 502 sets coding conditions. An encode information creating means 503 extracts a characteristic from an input image signal based on a coded result. An allocation means 504 calculates optimal coding conditions based on the information of a characteristic extracted from the image signal.
The operations are as follows. An input image signal is coded by the coding means 501 according to a predetermined initial parameter set by the parameter setting means 502. The result obtained by coding and the conditions on coding are sent to the encode information creating means 503 to be analyzed there. The encode information creating means 503 determines coding difficulty of each picture constituting the input image signal by referencing such information as code amount generated on coding, quantization steps used for coding, magnitude of a motion vector, an activity, execution or non-execution of scene change and the like.
The analysis result obtained by the encode information creating means 503 is sent to the allocation means 504. The allocation means 504 calculates data distribution to each of the pictures based on respective coding difficulty of each of the pictures created by the encode information creating means 503. According to the data distribution calculated by the allocation means 504, the parameter setting means 502 changes the coding conditions, so that the coding means 501 re-codes the input image signal based on thus changed new coding conditions.
By the operation above, the input image signal can be coded corresponding to its characteristic. The coded picture quality can be improved as well. In case that a satisfactory coded picture quality cannot be obtained by executing coding only once, the processing steps mentioned above are repeated any number of times in a loop. Each time the processing is thus repeated, the picture quality is improved further. In this case, rather than repeating all the steps of the processing, only the calculation part by the allocation means 504 may be repeated any number of times in the loop, thus optimizing data distribution.
The method for image signal coding mentioned above takes a long time to carry out because the allocation means 504 must calculate data distribution for the whole of an input image signal. The amount of parameters is also huge which is set on coding required to carry out this data distribution. To realize this method, an associated apparatus becomes large in scale and hence in cost. To improve the picture quality, the processing mentioned above must be repeated a plurality of times in a loop, which in turn increases the processing time.

Method for coding image signals and apparatus thereof using an average target coding rate

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The present invention is directed to a system and method of notifying a speech related application of events generated by a speech related engine. A middleware layer receives a notification selection from the application. The notification selection is indicative of a selected notification mechanism for notifying the application of the events. The middleware component receives an event indication from the engine. The event indication is indicative of an event generated by the engine. The event indication is transferred to the application according to the selected notification mechanism.

The Present invention deals with services for enabling speech recognition and speech synthesis technology. In particular, the present invention relates to an event notification system in a middleware layer which lies between speech related applications and speech related engines.
Speech synthesis engines typically include a decoder which receives textual information and converts it to audio information which can be synthesized into speech on an audio device. Speech recognition engines typically include a decoder which receives audio information in the form of a speech signal and identifies a sequence of words from the speech signal.
In the past, applications which invoked these engines communicated directly with the engines. Because the engines from each vendor interacted with applications directly, the behavior of that interaction was unpredictable and inconsistent. This made it virtually impossible to change synthesis or recognition engines without inducing errors in the application. It is believed that, because of these difficulties, speech recognition technology and speech synthesis technology have not quickly gained wide acceptance.
In an effort to make such technology more readily available, an interface between engines and applications was specified by a set of application programming interfaces (API's) referred to as the Microsoft Speech API version 4.0 (SAPI4). Though the set of API's in SAPI4 specified direct interaction between applications and engines, and although this was a significant step forward in making speech recognition and speech synthesis technology more widely available, some of these API's were cumbersome to use, required the application to be apartment threaded, and did not support all languages.
The process of making speech recognition and speech synthesis more widely available has encountered other obstacles as well. For example, the vendors of applications and engines have been required to write an enormous amount of code simply to implement the different interfaces for the different applications and engines that can be used together. In such systems, event notification is very cumbersome. The engines are required to notify the applications directly of events, such as word boundaries, visemes, bookmarks, etc. This has required engines to know exactly how the application wished to be notified of such events. Similarly, output devices (such as audio devices in a text-to-speech system) have also been required to know when events are occurring and how an application wishes to be notified of the events. Since applications traditionally can be notified of events in one of a number of different ways, this required specific code to be written to interface to specific applications.

Speech-related event notification system


It is disclosed that a resin composition comprising EVOH resin (A), polyamide resin (B) and inorganic salt (C) capable of forming a hydrate wherein the content amount of the inorganic salt (C) is in the range of 2 to 50 parts by mass based on 100 parts by mass of the EVOH resin (A), and the mass ratio ((B)/(C)) of the polyamide resin (B) to the inorganic salt (C) is in the range of 95/5 to 5/95. The resin composition exhibits excellent gas barrier property and less elution of EVOH resin even after hot water treatment, and excellent long-run processability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resin composition of saponified ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer (hereinafter, called as "EVOH resin") having gas barrier property against long-time hot water treatment, and more particularly to a resin composition that enables to suppress elution of EVOH resin against retort treatment, and produce a packaging film having excellent gas barrier property and long-run processability, as well as a multilayer structure using the resin composition.
2. Prior Art
Saponified ethylene-vinyl ester copolymer (EVOH resin) is utilized as a food packaging film and the like, because of its excellent gas barrier property against oxygen, odor, and the like. A film made of EVOH resin, however, may be whitened, or the gas barrier property of the film may be lowered, or a package made of the film may be deformed, if the film is subjected to long-time hot water treatment such as retort treatment.
A resin composition comprising EVOH resin and a drying agent is known as a resin composition capable of producing a packaging film having excellent gas barrier property against hot water treatment. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,484 proposes a multilayer film produced by sandwiching an intermediate layer of a resin composition containing dispersed phosphate salt particles such as sodium phosphate, as a drying agent, between thermoplastic resin films of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, or the like. The multilayer film is capable of preventing the gas barrier property of EVOH resin from lowering by water absorption, utilizing that the drying agent absorbs moisture intruded through an end of the film, or moisture permeated through an outer layer of the thermoplastic resin film.
There is also known a technique of adding polyamide resin to impart hot water resistance to EVOH resin. For instance, JP2001-151972A discloses that a multilayer film using a resin composition containing 70 to 95 wt % of EVOH resin, 3 to 25 wt % of aliphatic polyamide resin, and 2 to 13 wt % of semi-aromatic polyamide retains the gas barrier property, even after being subjected to a condition of 20° C. and 65% RH for three weeks; and that the shape of a packaging film using the multilayer film is retained even after heat sterilization, with no or less whitening.
The applicant has filed an application (see JP2000-136281A) directed to a multilayer film for use in boil sterilization or retort sterilization, comprising an intermediate layer of a resin composition containing EVOH resin, alcohol-soluble polyamide resin, and phosphate salt; and outer layers of a thermoplastic resin film. The publication discloses that the resin composition of the intermediate layer has excellent long-run processability, gas barrier property against retort treatment, and appearance (no or less whitening). The resin composition disclosed in the publication is prepared by: immersing a porous precipitate of EVOH resin in an aqueous solution of phosphoric acid to introduce the phosphoric acid in the EVOH resin, followed by drying in a batch type fluid bed dryer and then a batch type hopper dryer; and melt-kneading the polyamide resin.

Resin composition and multilayer structure using the same

The Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.


A meltable crack sealant package that includes a polymeric container and a crack sealant material contained therein. The polymeric container includes a bottom portion including a rigid base and an upwardly extending rigid sidewall that terminates in and define an opening. The rigid base and upwardly extending rigid sidewall cooperate to define a reservoir. A rigid lid portion operatively engages with the bottom portion to close off the opening and thereby seal the crack sealant material within the reservoir in a watertight manner. Methods of making and using the meltable crack sealant package are also disclosed.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to crack sealant packaging and methods of packaging crack sealant and using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
"Crack sealant" is general term for materials which are used to fill and thereby seal cracks and joints in asphalt and cement pavement surfaces. Crack sealant materials are sometimes also referred to in the art by terms such as, for example: hot pour; crack seal; crack sealer; crack sealant; crack fill; crack filler; joint seal; joint sealer; joint sealant; joint fill; joint filler; rubberized asphalt; tar; polymer-modified asphalt; thermoplastic-modified asphalt; para-plastic materials; rubber-modified asphalt; traffic loop detector sealant; waterproofing membrane asphalt; modified asphalt; roofing asphalt; cold joint adhesives; marker adhesives; and other asphalt/resin/polymer compositions. Throughout the present specification and in the appended claims, the term "crack sealant" will be used exclusively, but the term should be understood to encompass all materials having the same general composition, use and/or properties. Crack sealant is widely used to fill and thereby seal cracks and joints in highways, streets, parking lots and driveways from water penetration. The use of crack sealants prolongs the service life of such pavement surfaces.
Crack sealant formulations vary widely depending upon manufacturer and depending upon the particular end use application for which they are intended. In general, crack sealants are composed of base asphalt (bitumen), polymer/rubber copolymers (e.g., styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymers), extenders and reinforcing fillers. At most ambient storage and transportation temperatures, crack sealant compositions tend to be in solid form. At the time of use, crack sealants are heated to temperatures whereby they become a molten liquid and are then applied in a heated liquid form by pouring and/or pumping. The molten liquid seeps into and fills the cracks and joints and then, upon cooling, re-solidifies within the cracks and joints thereby sealing/filling same.
Most crack sealant material is supplied to end users in poly bag-lined, rectangular corrugated boxes. At the time of manufacture, the corrugated box is lined with the poly bag. Molten crack sealant material is poured into the poly bag-lined corrugated box. Once the desired amount of crack sealant (e.g., 20-60 lbs.) has been poured into the poly bag lining the corrugated box, the crack sealant composition is permitted to cool, whereupon it solidifies and takes the rectangular shape defined by the interior space of the corrugated box.
Packaging of this type provides certain advantages and disadvantages. Advantageously, the rectangular corrugated packages can be stacked on pallets and shipped to job sites. The corrugated packages provide a flat surface, which can bear identification information. At the time of use, the poly bags containing the crack sealant can be withdrawn from the corrugated box and inserted into the melting equipment together with the crack sealant material, with the poly bag melting and becoming part of the molten end use material. The corrugated boxes can be recycled.
Disadvantageously, the corrugated boxes must be collected at the job site for recycling. In blustery conditions, the empty corrugated boxes can be blown away from their intended staging location. In wet conditions, the corrugated boxes can break down before or after the crack sealant has been used. And, the corrugated boxes are susceptible to damage (e.g., deformation) due to compression (e.g., from the weight of the material itself, when stacked).
Alternative crack sealant packaging is available in the marketplace. For example, Maxwell Products Incorporated of Salt Lake City, Utah supplies crack sealant packaged within a thermoplastic container that comprises an expanded polymer (expanded polystyrene). Upon information and belief, applicant believes such packaging is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,017,681 to Guymon et al. Packaging of this type provides certain advantages and disadvantages. The principal advantage is that the expanded polymer "shell" surrounding the crack sealant material can be inserted into the melting equipment together with the crack sealant material, with the expanded polymer melting and becoming part of the molten end use material. This means that it is no longer necessary to stage corrugated boxes at the job site for later recycling. Another advantage is that the expanded polymer "shell" is somewhat water resistant, which allows it to be stored in wet environments for short periods of time. Disadvantageously, containers of this type are relatively expensive as compared to corrugated boxes, require much more storage and transportation space (i.e., the packaging has much thicker bottom, top and sidewalls as compared to a corrugated box), and can become damaged if mishandled due to the inherent fragility of expanded polystyrene. Furthermore, due to the thickness of the containers, less crack sealant can be delivered to the melting equipment per charge.
Crafco Inc. of Chandler, Ariz. markets crack sealant in meltable packaging under the PLEXI-MELT™ brand. Upon information and belief, such product consists of a rectangular block of solidified crack sealant disposed in a poly bag, which is overwrapped with and thereby enveloped within a non-woven fiber packaging film material that is the same as or similar to the non-woven polyethylene packaging material available from DuPont Industrial Packaging under the TYVEK® brand. Advantageously, the non-woven packaging film material surrounding the crack sealant material can be inserted into the melting equipment together with the crack sealant material, with the non-woven packaging film material melting and becoming part of the molten end use material. Again, this prevents the need to stage corrugated boxes at the job site. Another advantage is that the non-woven packaging film material is somewhat water resistant, which allows the product to be stored in wet environments with less concern that water will damage the container as compared to conventional corrugated box packaging. Furthermore, the wrapping is substantially thinner, by comparison, than meltable expanded polymer packaging. Disadvantageously, containers of this type are relatively expensive as compared to corrugated boxes, are somewhat difficult to handle (they are more slippery than cardboard boxes) and, the packaging material can become brittle after prolonged exposure to sunlight.
There is a substantial need for improved meltable crack sealant packaging.