A wafer carrier for controlling downward force and edge effect during chemical mechanical planarization. A retaining ring actuator is disposed within the retaining ring to control the height of the retaining ring relative to the bottom surface of the wafer carrier. An inflatable membrane is disposed across the bottom surface of the wafer carrier such that pressure in the bladder is independently regulated to control the downward force acting on the wafer during CMP. In addition, an edge control bladder may also be disposed within the carrier such that if the pressure in the bladder is also regulated, the amount of force on the edge of the wafer changes. By regulating retaining ring actuator pressure, inflatable membrane pressure, and edge control bladder pressure, non-uniformities in the wafer surface and edge effect may be addressed during CMP.

Integrated circuits, including computer chips, are manufactured by building up layers of circuits on the front side of silicon wafers. An extremely high degree of wafer flatness and layer flatness is required during the manufacturing process. Chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) is a process used during device manufacturing to flatten wafers and the layers built-up on wafers to the necessary degree of flatness.
Chemical-mechanical planarization is a process involving polishing of a wafer with a polishing pad combined with the chemical and physical action of a slurry pumped onto the pad. The wafer is held by a wafer carrier, with the backside of the wafer facing the wafer carrier and the front side of the wafer facing a polishing pad. The polishing pad is held on a platen, which is usually disposed beneath the wafer carrier. Both the wafer carrier and the platen are rotated so that the polishing pad polishes the front side of the wafer. A slurry of selected chemicals and abrasives is pumped onto the pad to affect the desired type and amount of polishing. (CMP is therefore achieved by a combination of chemical softener and physical downward force that removes material from the wafer or wafer layer.) The downward force, referred to in this application as the Spindle Force, is split in the wafer carrier to a Retaining Ring Force and a Wafer Force.
Using the CMP process, a thin layer of material is removed from the front side of the wafer or wafer layer. The layer may be a layer of oxide grown or deposited on the wafer or a layer of metal deposited on the wafer. The removal of the thin layer of material is accomplished so as to reduce surface variations on the wafer. Thus, the wafer and layers built-up on the wafer are very flat and/or uniform after the process is complete. Typically, more layers are added and the chemical mechanical planarization process repeated to build complete integrated circuit chips on the wafer surface.
A variety of wafer carrier configurations are used during CMP. One such wafer carrier configuration is the hard backed configuration. The hard backed configuration utilizes a rigid surface such as a piston or backing plate against the backside of the silicon wafer during CMP forcing the front surface of the silicon wafer to the surface of the polishing pad. Using this type of carrier may not conform the front wafer surface of the wafer to the surface of the polishing pad resulting in planarization non-uniformities. Such hard backed wafer carrier designs generally utilize a relatively high polishing pressure. These relatively high pressures effectively deform the wafer to match the surface conformation of the polishing pad. When wafer surface distortion occurs, the high spots are polished at the same time as the low spots giving some degree of uniformity but also resulting in poor planarization. Too much material from some areas of the wafer will be removed and too little material from other areas will also be removed. In addition to wafer distortion, the relatively high pressure also results in excessive material removal along the edges of the silicon wafer. When the amount of material removed is excessive, the entire wafer or portions of the wafer become unusable.
In other wafer carrier configurations, the wafer is pressed against the polishing pad using a membrane or other soft material. Use of a membrane carriers tend to not cause distortion of the wafer. Lower polishing pressures may be employed, and conformity of the wafer front surface is achieved without distortion so that both some measure of global polishing uniformity and good planarization may be achieved. Better planarization uniformity is achieved at least in part because the polishing rate on similar features from die to die on the wafer is the same.
While many soft backed wafer carrier configurations are used in CMP, their use has not been entirely satisfactory. In some carrier designs, there have been attempts to use a layer of pressurized air over the entire surface of the wafer to press the wafer during planarization. Unfortunately, while such approaches may provide a soft back for the wafer carrier, it does not permit independent adjustment of the pressure at the edge of the wafer and at more central regions of the wafer to solve the wafer edge non-uniformity problems.
In order to correct or compensate for edge polishing effects, attempts have been made to adjust the shape of the retaining ring and to modify a retaining ring pressure so that the amount of material removed from the wafer near the retaining ring was modified. Typically, more material is removed from the edge of the wafer resulting in over polishing. In order to correct this over polishing, usually, the retaining ring pressure is adjusted to be somewhat lower than the wafer backside pressure so that the polishing pad in that area was somewhat compressed by the retaining ring and less material was removed from the wafer within a few millimeters of the retaining ring. These attempts, however, have not been entirely satisfactory as the planarization pressure at the outer peripheral edge of the wafer was only indirectly adjustable based on the retaining ring pressure. It was not possible to extend the effective distance of a retaining ring compensation effect an arbitrary distance into the wafer edge. Neither was it possible to independently adjust the retaining ring pressure, edge pressure, or independently adjust backside wafer pressure with respect to retaining ring pressure to achieve a desired result.
There remains a need for a membrane backed wafer carrier having independent control of both the membrane pressure and retaining ring pressure providing excellent planarization, control of edge planarization effects, and adjustment of the wafer material removal profile to compensate for non-uniform deposition of the structural layers on the wafer semiconductor substrate.

Wafer carrier with pressurized membrane and retaining ring actuator


The invention relates to a method for introducing a tube (3) in order to deliver or remove substance(s) at positions in the gastrointestinal tract by letting a human subject or an animal swallow a firm body (1), the "bead part", to which said tube is fastened and letting the head part (1) be moved by peristalsis to desired positions. According to the invention, said head part (1), which is provided with a bore (2) or cavity running through it and being in fluid connection with said tube (3), is halted at a selected position in any part of the gastrointestinal tract by fixing the tube at the entrance into the body or outside the body. Said tube (3) is marked to indicate length of the swallowed part of the tube in order to guide the finding of said selected position. Liquid or gas is delivered or aspirated through said tube (3) and said bore (2) or cavity running through the head part (1).

It is often of considerable interest and value to be able to administer substances at predetermined locations all along the gastrointestinal (GI-)tract. The same applies to the possibility of aspirating samples or collect measurement signals from different sensors. It is also of interest to test the local permeability all along the GI-tract to investigate new possibilities to develop pharmaceutical preparations or to obtain a better understanding about the kinetics of a certain drug. It is also possible to sample through the tube for analysis of possible deviations in the composition of the gastric or intestinal juice. It can further be of interest to measure some parameter, e.g. pH, pressure, electrolytes, a chemical compound or enzyme at a specified location along the GI-tract.
Today, a number of capsules are described or are available, which can be swallowed freely (without wire or tube) and which can be tracked telemetrically or by X-ray, isotopes or ultrasound during their ride along the GI-tract. Using this kind of capsules it is possible to deliver an isolated dose of some drug (Hugemann, DE 29 28 477 B2; U.S. Pat. Off.: Casper et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,801 and Kambara et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,115; Hemmati 1969; N.Y. State University 1992) and record and transmit signals for measurement of pH (Wolff and Russ 1960) or pressure (Connell and Rowlands 1960; Barany and Jacobsson 1964; Farrar and Bernstein 1968). It is also possible to aspirate a small volume of liquid (Uchiyama et al. 1980). A special form of telemetric capsule can by choice of suitable module, designed to be installed onto a basic capsule, deliver a single dose of selected drug, aspirate a small volume, or sample a small biopsy from the intestinal mucosa (Lambert et al. 1991). However, all of these capsules suffers from the limitation that they are mobile along the GI-tract and that they cannot deliver dose or aspirate repeatedly or continuously. The subject who has swallowed the capsule will also experience a limited mobility due to the need for telemetric recording.
Solid bodies fitted with a wire for "mooring" in a fixed position have been described for delivery of a drug from one or multiple pills mounted (a) at the end of the wire or along the wire in the GI-tract (U.S. Pat. Off: Millard, U.S. Pat. No. 2,483,098 and Kaslow and Saputo U.S. Pat. No. 2,773,502) or in the form of a capsule for pressure recording (Browning et al. 1981) or a capsule for delivery of physiologically active or diagnostic substances to the gastrointestinal tract (Lindstrom et al. Patent application WO 92/05759 A1). These devices can be locked in a fixed position but cannot deliver a solution, time-control dose delivery/aspiration nor execute these operations repeatedly or continuously during a certain time period or at different positions.
A principle for perfusion of the upper part of the small intestine (Lennernas et al. 1992) is applied using a rather thick tube (diameter 5.3 mm) which is introduced into the intestine under X-ray guidance. The tube contains channels which on one hand allow for inflation of two balloons which lock up one segment of the intestine, on the other hand allow for perfusion of the trapped part of the intestine. In this way is it possible to convey substances in solution and also take back remaining, not absorbed substance or endogenous compounds. The method calls for local anesthesia of the pharynx region and will strongly interfere with the peristalsis and physiology in the GI-tract. Furthermore, the experiments cannot be going on for more than a few hours and only the upper part of the small intestine is accessible (risk for ileus if the thick tube is transported further down into the intestine).
Methods using some form of capsule applied to a tube are described. The so called Watson-capsule (Ferraris Medical Ltd, London, UK), is a solid capsule which is pulled down in the upper small intestine dragging an air-filled tube. It has a very limited application (biopsies in the upper small intestine). Another application is a tube applied with loops in the top which will allow the intestine to get a good grip to pull down the tube. In that way one will obtain a route for application of nutrients into the upper part av the small intestine postoperatively (Bengmark et al. 1989). A similar use has an equipment consisting of a tube with a stabilizing inner thread surrounded by an inflatable balloon (Lauterjung. Patent specification SE 448 671 B). It is introduced in a deflated shape, then filled with liquid to allow transport to the upper small intestine. By increasing the pressure of the liquid the balloon opens and the tube can be used for nutrition. These equipments are not useful for deeper positions. A further application is so called enteroscopy, where a mercury- or air-filled balloon is used to pull down a tube (Deyhle et al. 1972) or a flexible enteroscope (Seensalu 1993). In the first case the tube is utilized for guiding a fiberscope down into the lower part of the small intestine, in the latter the enteroscope is directly used to reach the lower small intestine. These methods are not constructed for administration/aspiration or entrance into the colon and would be very inconvenient for ambulant patients or subjects in normal activity or for administration controlled by the subject itself.

Method and device for administering or aspirating substances along the whole gastrointestinal tract


A semiconductor device and method of fabricating a semiconductor device involves formation of a trench above a fin (e.g. a fin of a FinFET device) of the semiconductor device and formation of a multi-layer dielectric structure within the trench. The profile of the multi-layer dielectric structure can be controlled depending on the application to reduce shadowing effects and reduce cut failure risk, among other possible benefits. The multi-layer dielectric structure can include two layers, three layers, or any number of layers and can have a stepped profile, a linear profile, or any other type of profile.

The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor devices and methods for fabricating semiconductor devices, and particularly to formation of insulating layers within semiconductor devices to provide electrical isolation. As feature size in semiconductor devices continues to decrease, significant challenges may arise with respect to forming thin insulating layers in strategic locations within semiconductor devices. Undesirable effects such as may arise due to these challenges, such as reduced semiconductor device yield. Semiconductor devices are used in a wide variety of electronics, and improvements regarding both production and performance of semiconductor devices are generally desired.

Multi-layer dielectric refill for profile control in semiconductor devices

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LIMITED


A method and code generator system for integrating different enterprise business applications is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for integrating a local business system with an external business system, comprises using a code generator to generate integration source code, wherein using a code generator comprises; interrogating a repository containing integration data by an introspector; and using the integration data with a code filter, wherein the filter generates the integration source code.

According to one observer, if the lifeblood of today's corporations is information, then their arteries are the "inter-application interfaces" that facilitate movement of data around the corporate enterprise. This has more recently become known as an "application network".
For the typical organization, the application network has grown organically into a collection of ad hoc application integration programs. This menagerie has had a very serious impact on businesses as it increases the time for implementing new applications, prevents senior management from getting a clear picture of the business and, in short, clogs the corporate arteries. In spite of the fact that application integration has become crucial to a competitive corporation's survival, it has nevertheless been acceptable in the prior art to handcraft or "hack" custom code for such purposes at enormous long-term cost to the corporation. Long-term application integration decisions have, likewise, been made at the lowest possible levels based solely on individual project criteria. Because of the decidedly difficult nature of these problems, an effective enterprise application integration (EAI) solution has yet to be found.
The advent of the Internet, client/server computing, corporate mergers and acquisitions, globalization and business process re-engineering, have together forced corporate information technology (IT) departments to continually seek out new, and often manual, ways to make different systems talk to each other—regardless of how old some of those systems may be. In the ensuing chaos, inadequate communications systems have had a debilitating effect on IT's abilities to move as fast as the business needs it to.
On the other hand, typical ERP systems are essentially large, integrated packaged applications that support core business functions, such as payroll, manufacturing, general ledger, and human resources. Implementing an ERP system, however, can be an overwhelming process for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, the corporation is buying a product and not building a solution. This means that business units within the corporation must adapt to the product and how it works, not the other way around. Furthermore, today's ERP systems cannot replace all of a corporation's custom solutions. They must, therefore, communicate effectively with other legacy systems in place. Finally, it is not atypical for a corporation to employ more than one and completely different ERP system because a single vendor cannot usually meet every organizational need.
As a result, the options for getting data into and out of an ERP system preclude known approaches used for data warehousing. Each ERP system has a proprietary data model that is constantly being enhanced by its vendor. Writing extract or load routines that manipulate such models is not only complicated, but is also discouraged by the vendor since data validation and business rules inherent in the enterprise application are likely to be bypassed. Instead, ERPs require interaction at the business object level, which deals with specific business entities such as general ledgers, budgets or accounts payable.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a prior art integration system 100 having two different business systems. Local business system 105 represents an ERP business environment, such as those described above, for example a system using the JAVA® environment or SAP® environment. JAVA® is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP Aktiengesellschaft. External business system 125 is an ERP business environment as well, however external system 125 is of a different environment than local system 105; for example a SIEBEL® Business system or Integration Object environment. SIEBEL® is a registered trademark of Siebel Systems, Inc. A problem arises when a user of local system 105 wishes to access external systems 125 within the environment of local system 105. Prior art system 100 solves this problem by having human developer 145 spend hundreds of hours to develop integration code 155. Integration code 155 allows local system 105 to invoke external systems 125 from the local environment. Hand coding by human developer 145 is very expensive, and inefficient because, it may only be used for external system 125. If a second external business system needs to be accessed, human developer 145 must generate new integration code 155. Often, the integration code does not provide a user a coherent interface, with an appearance of being native to local system 105.
In today's rapidly changing environment, the concerted efforts of thousands of developers worldwide are focused on developing a system that satisfies the need for disparate applications to communicate with each other, without the necessity of embedding multiple, customized application-specific translation schemes. This as yet unfulfilled need is grounded in the imperative of the global economy.

Method and code generator for integrating different enterprise business applications


Provided is a semiconductor ceramic composition that is a lead-free semiconductor ceramic composition in which a portion of Ba in a BaTiO3-based oxide is substituted by Bi and A (in which A is at least one kind of Na, Li and K), the semiconductor ceramic composition having a region between a center portion and an outer shell portion within a crystal grain, in which when Bi concentration is measured in a radial direction within the crystal grain, the Bi concentration in the region is higher than both Bi concentration in the center portion and Bi concentration in the outer shell portion.

Conventionally, semiconductor ceramic compositions prepared by adding various semiconducting elements to a BaTiO3-based oxide have been proposed as a material showing PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient of resistivity) characteristic. The semiconductor ceramic composition can be used as a PTC element by providing electrodes thereon.
Most of semiconductor ceramic compositions composed of a BaTiO3-based oxide have a Curie temperature of around 120° C. In these semiconductor compositions, the Curie temperature needs to be shifted according to use. For example, it has been proposed to shift the Curie temperature by adding an SrTiO3-based oxide to a BaTiO3-based oxide, but in this case, the Curie temperature is shifted only in a negative direction and is not shifted in a positive direction. Out of materials used in practice at present, the material known as an additive capable of shifting the Curie temperature in a positive direction is PbTiO3. However, since lead is an element causing environmental pollution, a lead-free semiconductor ceramic material containing no lead is demanded.
As the production method for a lead-free semiconductor ceramic composition, there has been proposed a method for producing a BaTiO3-based semiconductor ceramic composition, in which at least one of Nb, Ta and rare earth elements is added to a composition which is represented by a composition formula of Ba1-2X(BiNa)xTiO3 in which a portion of Ba in a BaTiO3-based oxide is substituted by Bi—Na, in which x satisfies 0<x≦0.15, followed by subjecting the composition to calcination in nitrogen and then sintering in an oxidative atmosphere (Patent Document 1).
According to the production method described in Patent Document 1, the temperature coefficient of resistance as one of PTC characteristics can be prevented from decreasing. Also, in Examples of Patent Document 1, all of raw materials Ba, Ti, Bi and Na in the composition formula above are mixed at a time and then calcined.
In addition, as the production method for a lead-free semiconductor ceramic composition, a semiconductor ceramic composition having a crystal grain which is represented by a composition formula of [(BiNa)x(Ba1-yRy)1-x]TiO3, wherein a center portion and an outer shell portion of the crystal grain are different from each other in composition has been proposed (Patent Document 2). In Patent Document 2, the semiconductor ceramic composition containing the crystal grain above is said to have an effect of increasing the amount of Schottky barrier formation and enhancing the temperature coefficient α of resistance. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of separately preparing a (BaQ)TiO3 calcined powder (in which Q is a semiconducting element) and a (BiNa)TiO3 calcined powder, and then mixing the powders, followed by forming and sintering the mixture.
Patent Document 3 describes a lead-free semiconductor ceramic composition and discloses a compositional formulation where the main component is a BamTiO3-based composition having a perovskite structure represented by formula AmBO3 and a portion of Ba constituting the A site is substituted by at least an alkali metal element, Bi, and a rare earth element. In Examples of Patent Document 3, there is disclosed a semiconductor ceramic composition having a main phase represented by the composition formula of (Ba0.898Na0.05Bi0.05Y0.002)mTiO3+0.00025Mn, in which a Y raw material is added.

Semiconductor ceramic composition, method for producing the same, and PTC element


Illumination of the back-side of a UV transparent medium significantly reduces the decomposition of organic pollutants to carbon dioxide while significantly increasing the amount of radiation available for catalysis of the organic pollutants by a photocatalytic semiconductor. The UV light illuminates the UV transparent medium such that the UV propagates through the medium, illuminating the back-side of a photocatalytic semiconductor coating on the front-side. The photocatalytic semiconductor dissociates water on its surface to form hydroxyl radicals which in turn oxidize organic pollutants.

Volatile organic compounds including low molecular weight gases, condensable vapors, environmental tobacco smoke, bio-aerosols, among others, including, but not limited to, 1,3-butadiene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene, acetone, methyl-ethyl ketone, hydrogen sulfide, triethylamine, pthalates, mineral oils, volatile fire retardants, etc. and irritants such as pollens or fungus spores, which are commonly referred to as organic pollutants, often constitute both a comfort concern and health hazard in an enclosed environment. Conventionally active cleaning systems such as filters, thermal catalytic beds and others, remove these organic pollutants from the environment. These systems, however, are neither energy nor cost efficient due to the pressure drop across the system or the energy required for thermal oxidation, the post conditioning of the air to acceptable temperatures, and the limited life of these systems.
Another type of cleaning system for removing organic pollutants utilizes ultra-violet (UV) to illuminate and thereby activate a photocatalytic semiconductor. In these systems the organic pollutant contacts the active surface (1), which is directly illuminated by the UV lamp (3), and is oxidized by hydroxyl radicals which have been formed thereon; "front-side" illumination. (see FIG. 1) With front-side illumination, the illumination area is limited to the "line-of-sight" of the illumination source, is inefficient due to light scattering from particulate matter between the source and the surface, and unsafe due to the potential optical hazard. An additional problem with front-side illumination can be the formation of poisonous gas, carbon monoxide, caused by the UV gas phase decomposition of some of the organic pollutants above the photocatalytic semiconductor coated substrate.
What is needed in the art is a system for safely, efficiently and effectively removing organic pollutants from a closed environment while reducing the amount of undesirable by-products.

Back-side illuminated organic pollutant removal system


The present invention provides a dental composition that exhibits excellent long-lasting antibacterial activity even as a cured product, and that excels in aesthetic quality with no discoloration occurring in water or in hydrogen sulfide. The present invention relates to a dental composition comprising a platinum nanoparticle (a) uncoated with a colloidal protective material.

In dental treatment, acrylic bonding agents or cements are often used for restoration of a lost tooth with a restoration material such as a dental composite resin, a dental metal alloy, porcelain, and zirconia. However, bacteria can still find a way through the interface between a tooth and a dental bonding agent or dental cement, and cause conditions such as secondary caries and pulpitis, necessitating another treatment. In order to prevent such entry of bacteria, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 attempt to mix an antibacterial compound into a dental bonding agent or dental cement.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique in which a polymerizable group-containing antibacterial salt compound is mixed into a composition containing an acidic group-containing polymerizable monomer, a hydrophilic polymerizable monomer, water, and a basic compound to enable inactivation of caries-causing bacteria remaining on teeth while maintaining desirable adhesiveness. Patent Literature 2 discloses a polymerizable dental material containing silver particles.

Dental composition containing platinum nanoparticles


A cold cathode electrode for a discharge lamp has a metal substrate supporting a layer of diamond, so as to increase the electron yield of the electrode. The substrate may be a helical nickel wire with a layer of diamond forming it into a continuous tube.

This invention relates to electrodes and to discharge lamps including electrodes.
Discharge lamps have two electrodes spaced from one another within a sealed envelope containing a discharge gas, or mixture of gases, at reduced pressure. When a sufficient voltage is applied between the two electrodes, discharge is produced within the gas, causing radiation. Usually, the radiation is predominantly in the UV or VUV range and, where visible light is needed, the envelope is coated with a phosphor material which fluoresces under UV irradiation to produce visible light.
The electrodes can be heated so that electrons are emitted from the cathode by primary emission. By contrast, with cold-cathode electrodes, ion bombardment of the cathode causes the secondary emission of electrons. Although hot-cathode lamps have a greater electrical efficiency, cold-cathode lamps have the advantage of a longer electrode life. An example of a cold-cathode lamp is described in, for example, GB2244855. Because of the relatively low electrical efficiency of cold-cathode lamps, anything that can be done to increase the production of electrons from the cathode is particularly important to the performance of the lamp.

Smiths Industries Public Limited Company


A shielding element comprises a rigid substrate and at least one electrically conductive two-dimensional structure which is placed on one of the faces of the substrate. The substrate and the electrically conductive two-dimensional structure are such that the shielding element has optical-transmission and shielding-efficiency values at least one of which varies between two zones of the shielding element. Such a shielding element enables easier assembly of a detection system comprising multiple optical sensors.

Numerous applications use optical sensors such as sensors sensitive to optical radiation within the infrared, although the operation of such sensors may be disrupted by electromagnetic radiation, particularly within the ultra high frequency. It is therefore known to arrange a shielding element in front of the optical input of such a sensor, the shielding element being at least partially opaque to a portion of ultra high frequency radiation while being at least partially transparent to optical radiation. To achieve this, the shielding element includes at least one two-dimensional structure which is electrically conductive while being at least partially transparent to optical radiation.
In addition, to be effective, the conductive two-dimensional structure must be electrically connected to the electrical ground of a support or vehicle on which the optical sensor is installed. Thus, the mounting of each optical sensor on its support or vehicle for use requires steps of assembling and attaching the shielding element in front of the optical input of the sensor, and steps of establishing an electrical connection that connects the conductive two-dimensional structure of the shielding element to ground.
More specifically, such a shielding element as known prior to the present invention comprises:                a rigid substrate having two opposite faces and which is at least partially transparent, between its two faces, to at least one electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f between 0.1 GHz (gigahertz) and 40 GHz; and        at least one electrically conductive two-dimensional structure which is arranged on one of the faces of the substrate, and which is at least partially transparent to optical radiation having a wavelength between 0.2 μm (micron) and 15 μm.
The substrate is also at least partially transparent between its two faces to this optical radiation. The optical transmissions concerned, for the substrate and the conductive two-dimensional structure, relate to the optical radiation which is intended to pass through the shielding element between the two faces.
In addition, the shielding efficiency, denoted EB(f) and expressed in decibels (dB), is defined by EB(f)=−10·log10(T(f), where T(f) is an energy transmission coefficient of the shielding element for electromagnetic radiation having the frequency f between 0.1 GHz and 40 GHz, and which passes through the shielding element between its two faces.
In addition, complex optical detection systems are now being implemented which combine multiple optical sensors. These sensors can then be juxtaposed, for example on a mounting head with variable orientation. The assembly and attachment of all the electromagnetically shielding elements required for such a multiplicity of optical sensors—one shielding element per sensor—in order to produce the complete optical detection system then become complex and time-consuming. In addition, a separate electrical connection must be made for each shielding element, which further increases the complexity of manufacturing the multi-sensor system.

Optically transparent electromagnetically shielding element comprising a plurality of zones

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE—CNRS


The invention provides a system and method which can be used for pre-decoding one-byte instruction prefixes and branch instruction indicators. A static line detect generates a number of instruction indicators. Further, a prefix and branch decode unit combines at least two of the number of instruction indicators, and a pre-decode unit decodes the combined instruction indicators. Embodiments of the invention decode one byte prefixes without additional cycle penalty and generate one and two byte branch indications early.

The present invention pertains generally to the field of computer systems and more particularly to a system and method for length decode to detect one-byte prefixes and branch type macro-instructions.
Processors (including, but not limited to, general and special purpose microprocessors, micro-controllers, and digital signal processors (DSPs)) typically include execution units that execute a sequence of instructions, termed micro-instructions, derived from a computer program. Many computer programs are written in a high level language that is not directly executable by the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer and the instructions of such programs must accordingly be decoded into a form suitable for execution by the CPU. For example, a program may be written in a high level language such as C, C++, or Java, and then compiled into a corresponding sequence of macro-instructions, which are in turn decoded into micro-instructions for eventual execution. Programs can also be written directly of a series of macro-instructions (that is, machine code).
Macro-instructions are commonly stored as contiguous data blocks in a memory resource, such as main memory (ergo, RAM) or in a cache, for retrieval and supplied to a decoder unit within a processor for decoding into micro-instructions. To enable the decoder unit to decode macro-instructions successfully, it will be appreciated that it is necessary to identify instruction boundaries within retrieved data blocks, that constitute the instruction stream, that indicate where one macro-instruction ends and the next begins.
In reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor architectures and instruction sets, macro-instructions typically have a fixed length, in which case the boundaries between instructions can be determined with relative ease once an initial boundary is identified, as each instruction has a known length. For a variable-length instruction set, once an initial boundary location is identified, the length of each macro-instruction must be ascertained to identify subsequent instruction boundaries. The task of identifying boundaries is further complicated by a variable-length instruction set that, for the purposes of supporting legacy programs, supports multiple data and addressing sizes.
In one type of reduced instruction set processor, instructions may have one or more prefix bytes preceding an instruction which modify the operation of the instruction. In this type of instruction set, one-byte prefixes occur frequently, however, decoding such instructions add an additional cycle to the decoding process. In addition, when branch instructions are present, instruction flow may need to be redirected to the correct path. In this respect, branch instructions often lead to cycle delays.
A system and method for pre-decoding one-byte instruction prefixes and branch instruction indicators is described. A static line detect generates a number of instruction indicators. Further, a prefix and branch decode unit combines at least two of the number of instruction indicators, and a pre-decode unit decodes the combined instruction indicators.

Length decode to detect one-byte prefixes and branch


A multi-operand decimal adder is described that performs addition on multiple binary coded decimal (BCD) operands. The multi-operand decimal adder uses binary carry-save adders to produce intermediate sums and carries, and outputs a decimal result based on the intermediate sums and carries. In various configurations, the multi-operand decimal adder may perform speculative or non-speculative binary carry-save addition. The multioperand decimal adders achieve a reasonable critical path. As a result, the decimal adders and the techniques described herein may be especially suited for numerically intensive commercial applications, such as spreadsheet or financial applications where large amounts of decimal data typically need to be processed quickly.

Although most people use decimal arithmetic when performing manual calculations, computers typically only support binary arithmetic in hardware. This is primarily due to the fact that modem computers typically only represent two logic values: zero and one. While it is possible to use these two logic values to represent decimal numbers, doing so is wasteful in terms of storage space and often computationally less efficient. For example, in binary, four bits can represent sixteen values; while in binary coded decimal (BCD), four bits only represent ten values. Since most computer systems do not provide hardware support for decimal arithmetic, numbers are typically inputted in decimal, converted from decimal to binary, processed using binary arithmetic and then converted back to decimal for output.
In spite of the current dominance of hardware support for binary arithmetic, there are several motivations that encourage the provision of support for decimal arithmetic. First, applications that deal with financial and other real-world data often introduce errors since many common decimal numbers cannot be represented exactly in binary. For example, the decimal number "0.1" is a repeating fraction when represented in binary. Second, people typically think about computations in decimal, even when using computers that operate only on binary representations, and therefore may experience what is perceived as incorrect behavior when processing decimal values. Third, converting between binary and decimal numbers is computationally intensive. For example, conversion on modem processors may take thousands of processing cycles.
In an effort to alleviate some of the problems that occur when a computer only supports binary arithmetic in hardware, several software packages and programming language extensions for decimal arithmetic have been developed. Although some of these packages are successful in eliminating binary-to-decimal and decimal-to-binary conversion errors, the packages are often hundreds to thousands of times slower than binary operations implemented in hardware.
One conventional method of performing decimal addition is to add two decimal operands to produce a BCD sum. If the sum is greater than nine, a correction value of six is added to the sum. Adding six skips the invalid bit patterns and yields the correct BCD sum digit and a carry-out of the digit. For example, to compute 7+7=14 in BCD, the two sevens are added to produce 1110 binary. Since this sum is greater than 9, a correction of 6 (0110 binary) is added, which yields a carry-out of 1 and a sum of 0100. The carry-out of 1 yields the next decimal digit of the sum. For example, the produced sum, 0001 0100, is the BCD representation of 14.
Adding two BCD operands in this manner is a computationally slow process. One technique used to improve the performance of two operand BCD addition is to speculate that the sum for each pair of digits will be greater than nine. This is done by speculatively adding six along with the original operands. The advantage of this approach is that the correct carries between digits are generated during the first addition. The digits of the resulting sums need to be corrected by subtracting six if the carryout for that digit is zero. The final correction is subtracted using only digit-wide subtractions because all sums are guaranteed to be at least six.

Processing unit having multioperand decimal addition


Gas supplying method and system in which effective component gas in exhaust gas can be separated and purified efficiently to be resupplied regardless of variation in the flow rate or composition of the exhaust gas and consumed gas can be replenished efficiently. In a method for collecting exhaust gas discharged from a gas using facility, separating/purifying effective component gas contained in the exhaust gas and supplying the effective component gas thus obtained to the gas using facility, the exhaust gas discharged from the gas using facility is added with a replenishing gas of the same components as the effective component gas before the effective component gas is separated and purified.

In a process for manufacturing semiconductor products, such as semiconductor integrated circuits, liquid crystal panels, solar batteries and panels thereof, and magnetic discs, a system is widely used in which plasma is generated under an inert gas atmosphere and a semiconductor product is subjected to various treatments using the plasma. As an inert gas forming the inert gas atmosphere in such a plasma treatment, rare gases, such as krypton and xenon, have been recently used. Since krypton and xenon are quite expensive, these gases contained in an exhaust gas discharged from the above-mentioned gas using facility are usually recovered and purified until the impurity concentration is reduced to 100 ppm or less. Also, other than the rare gases used in the above-mentioned plasma treatment, it is desired that fluoride gases used for cleaning and/or etching, such as NF3, CF4, C2F6, C3F8, and C4F8, a semiconductor material processing gas, such as arsine and phosphine, and heavy hydrogen gas for annealing gas are recovered, without being directly discharged outside, and purified to be reutilized.
The above-mentioned rare gases and the semiconductor material processing gases (hereinafter referred to as effective component gases) are discharged from a gas using facility generally in a state mixed with nitrogen gas. Other than nitrogen, moisture, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, hydrocarbons, metal hydride gases, halogenated hydrocarbon gases, etc., may also be contained in exhaust gas in minute amounts as impurities or reaction byproducts which may be generated in association with processes carried out in the gas using facilities and so forth.
As methods for separating a gas component contained in a mixed gas, a low temperature liquefaction separation method, a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) method, temperature swing adsorption (TSA) method, a membrane separation method, and so forth are known. In these methods, however, since a system is designed in accordance with a predetermined flow rate and composition of a mixed gas, a predetermined flow rate and degree of purity of a targeted component gas to be recovered, and so forth, it is difficult to efficiently carry out the separation of a targeted component gas.
In the above-mentioned semiconductor product manufacturing process in which a plasma treatment is carried out, since an atmospheric gas, normally nitrogen gas, which maintains a clean atmosphere in a treatment chamber, is introduced into the treatment chamber, most of the gas discharged from the treatment chamber consists of the nitrogen gas.
Then, the gas introduced into the chamber is changed from the nitrogen gas to a plasma treatment inert gas, for example, a rare gas, such as krypton, so that the rare gas is introduced into the treatment chamber prior to carrying out the plasma treatment. After the rare gas atmosphere is generated in the treatment chamber, the plasma treatment is performed, and the atmosphere in the treatment chamber is returned to the nitrogen atmosphere by switching the gas introduced into the treatment chamber to the nitrogen gas after the plasma treatment. The components contained in the exhaust gas change from a nearly all-nitrogen gas state to a nearly all-rare gas state due to a gradual increase of a concentration of the rare gas, and after the plasma treatment, the concentration of the rare gas is gradually decreased to return to the nearly all-nitrogen gas state. Also, since a vacuum pump used for drawing exhaust gas from the treatment chamber is generally one in which nitrogen gas is passed through the bearings, a part of the nitrogen gas is mixed with the exhaust gas.
Accordingly, in the above-mentioned semiconductor product manufacturing process, most of the components of the gas discharged during carrying in and out of a substrate to the treatment chamber and a standby state of the treatment chamber is nitrogen gas whereas the gas discharged during the plasma treatment contains nitrogen and rare gases. That is, the concentration of rare gas in exhaust gas changes from time to time. Also, since the flow rate of nitrogen gas and rare gas which are introduced into the treatment chamber are not always the same, the flow rate of exhaust gas changes accordingly. Note that the pressure of each gas when it is discharged is usually at atmospheric pressure.
As described above, if a conventional PSA system is used to separate and purify a target gas, for example, effective component gas, such as a rare gas, from an exhaust gas whose flow rate and concentration change from time to time, problems such as significant lowering in purity of collected rare gas due to unstable operational state and uneven recovery rate of a rare gas may be caused since the amount of exhaust gas introduced and the amount of product gas collected vary.
Also, conventionally, a replenishing rare gas is generally introduced at a preceding step in the gas using facility in order to replenish rare gas which will be discharged and not recovered. In such a case, however, it is required to store a rare gas for replenishment in a storage container at a pressure of 0.4 MPa or more since it is necessary to replenish rare gas at a pressure of 0.4 MPa or more. Accordingly, there is a problem in that a large amount of rare gas is initially required, and hence, the amount of rare gas used will increase, increasing the effective gas cost.


A microscope includes a light source(s) which produce an illumination beam path comprising light in a plurality of wavelength regions. A dichroic beam splitter arrangement having a dichroic mirror surface is arranged between objective optics and a tube lens in a beam path portion to produce a reflected partial beam and a transmitted partial beam. The beam splitter arrangement changes a propagation direction of the reflected partial beam relative to the illumination beam path by a specified deflection angle. The mirror surface is arranged at an angle of 22.5±7.5°. The beam splitter arrangement includes a further mirror(s) arranged in the reflected beam path. The propagation direction of the reflected partial beam is changed by the specified deflection angle using the sum of all reflections on the mirror surface and the further mirror(s).

In modern microscopes, e.g. inverted research microscopes, additional light sources for illumination, manipulation and measurement purposes are coupled into the imaging beam path, preferably into the infinite beam path between the objective and the tube lens, for a wide range of experiments. Moreover, microscopes of this kind are generally provided with means for decoupling specific spectral components of the imaging light coming from the sample. Lasers are usually used as light sources, the laser light of which has a longer or a shorter wavelength than the detection light itself. The light is generally coupled in or decoupled in a right-angled arrangement in which the optical axes of the beam paths in which the coupled or decoupled light and the detection light propagate are arranged at an angle of 90° to one another.
An example of a correspondingly designed microscope is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,071,451 B2. This microscope contains an autofocus module having a laser light source that emits a first light beam, referred to in the following as the reflected partial beam, the wavelength of which is in the infrared region of the wavelength spectrum. This reflected partial beam strikes a mirror that is provided with a dichroic mirror surface. Said surface is designed so as to reflect the first reflected partial beam onto the sample to be studied. When reflected on the dichroic mirror surface, the propagation direction of the reflected partial beam changes by a deflection angle of 90°. The autofocus module acquires a signal on the basis of the reflected partial signal reflected on the sample, on the basis of which signal the imaging optics of the microscope are focused. For this purpose, the reflected partial beam coming from the sample is reflected again at the dichroic mirror surface in order to guide said beam into the autofocus module.
While the dichroic mirror surface used in this known microscope thus reflects infrared light, it allows detection light in the visible region to pass through. A second light beam in the form of the detection light emitted by the sample is thus provided in addition to the reflected partial beam, which second beam is transmitted by the dichroic mirror surface. This second light beam is referred to in the following as the transmitted partial beam. The dichroic mirror surface thus merges the two beam paths in which the reflected partial beam and the transmitted partial beam propagate. Consequently, the two beam paths have a common beam path portion located between the dichroic mirror surface and the sample. In this case, the dichroic mirror surface is arranged such that the surface normal thereof is arranged at an angle of 45° relative to the optical axis of this common beam path portion.
This arrangement of the dichroic mirror surface provided in the prior art, which is simply referred to in the following as a 45°-arrangement, is easy to achieve. However, it is also associated with a number of disadvantages. For instance, the 45°-arrangement adversely affects the polarization neutrality of the dichroic mirror surface, i.e. its property of keeping unchanged the polarization state of the reflected and transmitted components of the light striking the mirror surface. In fact, the more significantly the surface normal of the dichroic mirror surface is inclined relative to the direction of incidence of the light, the harder this polarization neutrality is to achieve. Thus, the adverse effect of polarization optical applications increases as the angle of inclination increases. The differential interference contrast method, or DIC method for short, is an example of an application of this kind that is adversely affected by the 45°-arrangement, in which method the differences in the optical path length in the object viewed are converted into image brightness differences, and transparent phase objects thus become visible.
In addition, in a 45°-arrangement of the dichroic mirror surface it is difficult to achieve a sharp separation of the two spectral regions in which the mirror surface reflects and transmits. Thus, the desired reflection/transmission effect of a dichroic mirror surface is generally based on planned interference of the light waves that is produced by a corresponding layer structure which is attached to a transparent plane-parallel plate for example. The larger the angle between the surface normal of said layer structure and the direction of incidence of the light, the more difficult it is to achieve a sharp separation of the spectral regions using the layer structure. This problem is frequently overcome in the prior art in that additional optical structural elements are provided in order to sharply separate the reflection region and the transmission region from one another. U.S. Pat. No. 7,071,451 B2 provides, for example, an additional infrared blocking filter for this purpose, which blocking filter is arranged downstream of the mirror surface in the beam path of the transmitted detection light.
Finally, the conventionally used 45°-arrangement of the dichroic mirror surface also proves to be disadvantageous when, in order to increase the flexibility of application of the microscope, said surface is intended to be designed such that it can be inserted into or removed from the microscope beam path, depending on the application. In this case, in a 45°-arrangement, a relatively large offset of the optical axes of the beam path occurs between the two operating states in which the dichroic mirror surface is or is not arranged in the beam path of the microscope, which offset can impair the quality of the optical imaging or has to be compensated for by further structural elements.
DE 42 31 267 B4 describes a mirror arrangement known as a "Smith splitter". This mirror arrangement consists of two mirrors, one of which is formed by a splitter surface that is arranged not at 45° but rather at 22.5° relative to the optical axis. However, this splitter surface is designed as a neutral separator having a reflection and transmission effect that is independent of the wavelength. Said surface is therefore not suitable for separating different spectral components from one another.

Microscope having a beam splitter assembly


In one aspect, a system for monitoring an area containing sensitive material is provided. The system includes at least one radio frequency identification (RFID) tag for coupling to an object and a reading and warning system including an RFID tag reader operable to receive a signal from the at least one RFID tag. The reading and warning system provides a warning when the at least one RFID tag is coupled to the object and the RFID tag reader receives a signal from the at least one RFID tag, and the object is one of a sensitive material and a prohibited material.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, and more particularly, to systems and methods utilizing RFID tags to track and monitor sensitive material.
Many private, governmental and military installations include "secure" or "closed" areas that have restricted access. Such secure areas often contain sensitive materials (e.g., classified documents, computers, media, etc.) that are prohibited from leaving the area. Similarly, some materials such as cell phones, cameras, memory sticks, media, etc. are prohibited from entering these secure areas. However, despite the best precautions, individuals entering or exiting such secure areas may inadvertently transfer such materials or items from or into such areas. Such violations result in serious impacts on operations, unauthorized classified data transfer, and/or interruptions in the ability to perform required functions. Furthermore, such violations may require costly post-violation investigation and security costs.
Sensitive materials may also be located in or on vulnerable targets, such as embassies, aircraft, ships and unmanned systems. In some routine or emergency situations (e.g., information disposal, downed aircraft, etc.), such sensitive materials must be visually located and manually destroyed to prevent their use or exploitation by enemies or unauthorized persons. However, in some situations, it is difficult to visually identify, to locate and/or to neutralize sensitive materials or systems in a timely manner. As such, a need exists in the art for a system to track and monitor areas containing sensitive materials.

Secure area and sensitive material tracking and state monitoring


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for controlling the thermal gradient and therefore the thermal stress in light-emitting elements in which the light-emitting elements are exposed to temperature gradients caused by varying drive current under operating conditions. The method and apparatus according to the present invention can reduce the thermal stress in a light-emitting element by adaptively determining a drive current transient for a required change in the drive current from a first drive current state to a desired second drive current state, wherein the drive current transient is adaptively determined in order to substantially minimize the change in applied voltage over time, during the transition time period.

Advances in the development and improvements of the luminous flux of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) such as solid-state and certain organic or polymer light-emitting diodes have made these devices suitable for use in general illumination applications, including architectural, entertainment, and roadway lighting, for example. As such, light-emitting diodes are becoming increasingly competitive with light sources such as incandescent, fluorescent and high-intensity discharge lamps.
Light-emitting diodes offer a number of advantages and are generally chosen for their ruggedness, long lifetime, high efficiency, low voltage requirements, and the possibility to control the colour and intensity of the emitted light independently. LEDs provide improved performance in comparison to delicate gas discharge lamp, incandescent, and fluorescent lighting systems. Solid-state and improvingly organic light-emitting diodes have the capability to create similar lighting impressions while typically providing greater flexibility than other lighting technologies.
When electrical current through an LED changes rapidly, the heat transfer properties of the device can cause transient temperature gradients exceeding about 3000° C. per cm as shown by Malyutenko et al. in "Heat Transfer Mapping in 3-5 Micrometer Planar Light-Emitting Structures", Journal of Applied Physics 93(11), 2003, pp. 9398-9400. Rapidly increasing drive currents can generate spatially localized hot spots inside the LED with peak temperatures as high as about 150° C. as shown by Barton et al. in "Life Tests and Failure Mechanisms of GaN/AlGaN/InGaN Light-Emitting Diodes", SPIE Vol. 3279, 1998, pp. 17-27 in spite of effective cooling of the LED package, which typically reduces the average junction temperature of the LED die. Also temperature gradients induced by rapid transient drive currents in high-flux LEDs can depend on the initial current as shown by Farkas et al. in "Electrical and Thermal Transient Effects in High Power Optical Devices", Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual IEEE Semiconductor Thermal Measurement and Management Symposium, 2004, pp. 168-176.
As is known, thermally induced excessive mechanical stress inside an LED can lead to premature lumen depreciation. It can also significantly shorten device lifetime due to a number of catastrophic failure modes which can include wire bond fracture or package-die lift-off, for example.
FIG. 1 illustrates how the junction temperature of a green LED changes over time subsequent to switching the drive current from about 400 mA to about 10 mA. These changes can be inferred from the measured forward voltage Uf(t) indicated on the right ordinate of FIG. 1. As can be seen, the rate of change of the junction temperature rate after drive current adjustment can reach several thousand Kelvin per second. As is known, temperature change rates correlate to respective temperature gradients according to the heat transfer equation and depending on the heat transfer properties of the LED. There are a number of applications in which excessive temperature gradients or hot spots may occur.
For example, light-emitting diodes have proven useful for backlighting of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels as used in color television and computer displays as is discussed, for example, by Folkert(s) in "LED Backlighting Concepts with High Flux LEDs", SID 04 Digest, 2004, pp. 1226-1229, or by Harbers et al. in "LED Backlighting for LCD HDTV", Journal of the Society for Information Display 10(4), 2002, pp. 347-350, or by Sugiura et al. in "Wide Color Gamut Monitors-LED Backlighting LCD and New Phosphor CRT", Optical Engineering Society Bellingham, Wash.: Proceedings of Liquid Crystal Materials, Devices and Applications X and Projection Displays X, SPIE-IS&T 5289, 2004, pp. 151-160, or by West et al. in "High-brightness direct LED backlight for LCD-TV", SID 2003 Digest, pp. 1262-1265.
As is known in the art, display systems are usually designed to receive signals in which information is formatted as a serial stream of data comprising a sequence of frames. Each frame comprises data necessary for rendering a single still picture. In addition, the information signals can comprise data which can identify the beginning or the end of a frame and can aid with synchronizing the display of a single still picture. For example, each frame can comprise a vertical retrace signal. A sufficiently rapid sequence of frames can generate the impression of a flicker free motion picture. The frames may be generated and rendered at a rate dependent upon the desired application of the display. For a number of reasons, certain types of display systems require that backlight LEDs be turned OFF and ON in synchronicity with, for example, vertical retrace signals. The vertical retrace signal time period can be equivalent to several times the thermal time constant of the backlight LEDs which can result in excessive and potentially damaging thermal gradients inside the backlight LEDs which can be detrimental to LED longevity.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, backlighting of a LCD panel can be performed using a technique wherein the backlight LEDs are blanked in synchronicity with vertical retrace signals. In this figure the vertical retrace interval 10 of the video signal 20 for the backlighting of a LCD panel is identical with the OFF time 35 and the ON time 30 of the LED, which is controlled by the LED drive current ID(t).
For example, Yamada et al. in "Sequential-Color LCD based on OCB with an LED Backlight", Journal of the Society for Information Display 10(1), 2002, pp. 81-85, describes a color video display that utilizes a monochrome LCD with sequentially-enabled red, green, and blue (RGB) LEDs for backlighting. This system is in principle simpler and can likely be more economically manufactured than conventional LCD panels that utilize white backlighting and a matrix of RGB filters, wherein color filter elements are configured for each display pixel. However, each colour of LED can only be energized for about 1.2 milliseconds, or approximately 10% of the time allotted for conventional LCD backlighting. The LEDs must therefore be driven with about ten times the amount of current used for conventional LED backlighting in order to maintain the same LCD screen luminance with the same number of LEDs. As would be readily understood, this operating mode can consequently greatly increase thermal stress on the LED die and its wire bonds, for example.
Prior art drive techniques for high-flux LEDs utilize both analog and digital current control as described by Zukauskas et al. in "Introduction to Solid-State Lighting", Wiley-Interscience, 2002. As discussed, the most common form of digital control is pulse width modulation (PWM). Both digital and analog controlled LED backlight blanking during the vertical retrace interval comprises switching the drive current from full power to zero, waiting for the duration of the retrace interval, and then switching the drive current back to full power.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,836 discloses an LED drive circuit wherein the leading and trailing edges of the drive current pulses are extended by a capacitor in parallel to each LED. The effect that the capacitor has on the drive current is illustrated in FIG. 3, wherein the leading edge 40 and the trailing edge 50 of the drive current are elongated by the charging and discharging of the capacitor. However, for this configuration of a LED drive circuit, the capacitor suppresses higher harmonics only in the total current pulse which may otherwise create high frequency electromagnetic radiation which can interfere with radio frequency signals. The total current is the sum of the LED drive current plus the capacitor current. Consequently, the capacitor reduces the drive circuit load for a repetitively-pulsed LED system and can substantially suppress the generation and emission of higher harmonic electromagnetic radiation. The electronic circuit as disclosed, however, does not affect the transient current through each LED nor does it reduce thermal stress in the LEDs.
Therefore, there is a need for a new method and apparatus that can reduce the thermal stress applied to light-emitting elements during operation, for example during repetitive on and off cycling.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.

Method and apparatus for reducing thermal stress in light-emitting elements


The invention relates to a piezoelectric ceramic material having the general composition ABO3 with at least a proportion of the PZT ceramic having a composition of the invention with Cu cations. The proportion of Zr and Ti cations is selected based upon the content of Cu cations, such that the ceramic material is tailored to the morphotropic phase boundary. The invention further discloses a method for producing a ceramic material of this type.

Prior technical solutions have been based predominantly on ceramic masses of the perovskite structural type having the general formula ABO3, wherein the piezoelectric properties are brought to bear in the ferroelectric state. Lead zirconate titanate ceramics that have been modified using select additives, Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3=PZT, the composition of which is tailored to the so-called morphotropic phase boundary of two coexisting ferroelectric phases, have proven particularly advantageous. Between the ceramic layers, which are produced according to methods customarily used with ceramics, especially ceramic foil technology, precious metal internal electrodes, for example Ag/Pd in a 70/30 molar ratio, are applied by means of the screen printing process. With up to several hundred electrode layers per component, these components are burdened with substantial costs. The precious metal electrodes enable the thermal elimination, in air, of dispersants and binders and other organic additives, along with the organic components of the screen printing metal paste, from the multilayer stacks by means of depolymerization and oxidation, thus enabling a subsequent sinter densification at ca. 1100 to 1150° C. without reduction effects that could, for example, be caused by residual carbon, which would negatively influence the properties of the ceramic as a result of reduction reactions.
In the publication DE 20023051 U1 a method for producing piezoelectric components is disclosed, which uses copper-containing electrodes in place of the costly Ag/Pd internal electrodes, wherein the piezoelectric ratings are based upon ceramic masses having the preferred composition Pb0.97Nd0.02γ0.01 (Zr0.54Ti0.46)O3. The symbol "γ" stands for a vacancy in the crystal lattice. Ceramic masses having this type of composition are particularly well suited for use in Ag/Pd internal electrodes and for air sintering at 1120° C., and are tailored with respect to their piezoelectric properties such that they partially take up silver from the internal electrodes. The acquisition of the silver is made possible by the presence of atmospheric oxygen during the sintering process. At the same time, grain growth is promoted, so that in the finished component a ceramic composition Pb0.96Nd0.02Ag0.02(Zr0.54Ti0.46)O3 results, with a grain structure that is favorable for the intended application.
In contrast, the multilayer piezoelectric components that have the same initial composition as the ceramic and copper-containing internal electrodes do not have this type of silver content, with the result that the morphotropic phase boundary that is advantageous for optimal piezoelectric properties is no longer present in the ceramic, and the average grain size is smaller. The latter is primarily also a result of the lower sintering temperature of ca. 1000° C., which must be maintained when internal electrodes containing copper are used, in order to prevent a melting of the electrodes.
Although, with the sintering of multilayer components based upon the PZT ceramic of the composition Pb0.97Nd0.02γ0.01(Zr0.54Ti0.46)O3 with Ag/Pd internal electrodes in an air atmosphere at 1120° C., the silver becomes inserted evenly over the entire cross-section of the sintered ceramic layer, so that the composition Pb0.96Nd0.02Ag0.02(Zr0.54Ti0.46)O3 is established in the piezoceramic, with the sintering of a multilayer ceramic component that has copper-containing internal electrodes the copper content in ceramic layers having the above-named composition amounts to only ca. 0.1 m %.
The deviation from the morphotropic phase boundary is perceived for example in a lower dielectric constant ∈ and in an increase in the temperature coefficient TK∈ of the DK (measured, for example, between −20° C. and 60° C., ascending) and also in a lower degree of deflection S3 at the same field intensity E3 (DK=dielectric constant).
The deflection parameter d33 (=piezoelectric charge constant) is defined by the equation S3=d33·E3. Furthermore, in the assessment of the suitability of a piezoceramic for use in multilayer components the dielectric loss L is the critical factor, which, as a function of the electric activation, causes a more or less significant temperature increase in the component and can be described using the degree of efficiency η=Ea/Ee (Ea=energy that can be coupled out, Ee=coupled-in energy) combined with the electric field intensity that is associated with a certain degree of deflection E=U/d (d=thickness of the ceramic layer), by means of the equation L=(1/2)U2C(1−η) (C=capacitance).

Piezoelectric ceramic material multi-layered component and method for the production of a ceramic material


This invention relates to a toothpick holder and toothpicks. The toothpicks are provided in and securely attached by at least one part to a support means which provides protection on at least one end and both sides of the toothpick or toothpicks in one plane. The toothpick or toothpicks are therefore protected from damage by unintentional forces applied in those planes. The toothpick holder will generally incorporate a plurality of toothpicks, and may also include a holding means for used toothpicks and a base plate for securing the holder in a match-book-type folder. The invention also relates to particular designs of toothpicks held in the support means, said toothpicks having a substantially square or rectangular handle end and a scalpel-shaped blade end, upper and side edges of which come to a point to form the pick end.

Toothpicks are generally provided as single items, or in containers holding a plurality of separate toothpicks. They may be of wood or synthetic plastics. It is not generally practical for an individual to carry single toothpicks in their pockets, purse, handbag, etc. The toothpicks are easily lost, readily broken, and it is not very hygienic. Furthermore, the containers for holding a plurality of toothpicks are not generally designed for personal use, but rather for offering toothpicks for use in public places, such as restaurants.
It is important that toothpicks, and especially the pick end or ends, be protected from damage. Further, where a plurality of picks are provided in a container or holder it is important that each pick be securely retained and protected in the container or holder until it is required.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide toothpicks in a toothpick holder which provides a convenient personal package and which protects the toothpicks from damage, and/or which reduces or overcomes some of the above mentioned problems, or at least which provides the public with a useful alternative.
Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only.


A powered orthotic device, worn about a patient's elbow or other joint, senses relatively low level signals in the vicinity of the joint generated by a patient having spinal cord or other nerve damage. In response to the relatively low level signals, the powered orthotic device moves, causing the patient's joint to move accordingly.

Rehabilitation following severe neurological trauma, such as spinal cord injury or stroke, is difficult, but has been shown to provide useful results. Conventionally, physical therapy methods are used for such rehabilitation. However, these methods are labor intensive, often requiring one or more therapists to work with each patient. Conventional physical therapy methods include repetitive movement of a patient's limb or body part, with therapist assistance, in an attempt to strengthen muscles and improve lost muscle control associated with the limb or body part. This type of therapy is most often performed in a hospital. When the patient can effectively move the limb or body part so as to be able to care for themselves the patient may be discharged from the hospital.
Robot aided therapies have been developed as a way of cutting labor costs associated with rehabilitation. Conventional robot-aided therapy includes repetitive movement of a patient's limb or body part by means of a separate robot arm or the like, in much the same way that a physical therapist would move the patient's limb during conventional manual physical therapy. It has been shown that patients treated daily with additional robot-aided therapy during rehabilitation have improved motor activity at hospital discharge. There is evidence that improved recovery can result from more therapy, earlier therapy, and therapies that incorporate highly repetitive movement training. However, current robotic devices and therapies require the use of relatively large and expensive robots, practically suitable only for inpatient services at hospitals. Although the total labor cost may be reduced with robotic therapies, the therapy is still performed while the patient is an inpatient, still resulting in a relatively high cost.
With both robotic and manual therapies, a patient's progression thorough the therapy is essentially the same, i.e., they are subjected to a period of "rehabilitation" before being able to accomplish activities of daily living. The patient subjected to these therapies is generally not able to quickly return to normal activities outside of the inpatient environment.
For example, following an incomplete C4 (fourth cervical vertebrae) level spinal cord injury, a resulting symptom is almost complete loss of biceps muscle strength. Initial stages of rehabilitation simply involve the patient lifting their arm, in a repetitive fashion, with the assistance of a physical therapist. Once the patient has progressed far enough to lift their arm themselves, they can re-learn how to feed and care for themselves. A conventional robot-aided therapy merely provides the same repetitive lifting of the arm, but with a robot and without the therapist. Still, the patient must progress far enough to lift their arm themselves before leaving the hospital.
It will be appreciated that the patients described above have not lost a limb. Rather, the patients have lost strength in one or more limbs or body parts. Other types of injury, for which a patient has lost limb, are treated with prosthetic devices which replace the lost limb.


A vehicle includes a touchscreen configured to receive a touch input of a driver and display image information corresponding to the touch input, a passenger sensing unit configured to sense whether the passenger is present in the vehicle, a communication unit configured to communicate with a mobile terminal of the driver, and a controller configured to display a call request reception message and identification information of a third party when a call request is received from the third party via the mobile terminal and to provide an audio function of a hands-free service. When the passenger is sensed and the call request of the third party is received in a privacy mode, the controller displays the call request reception message and limits displaying of the identification information of the third party and the audio function.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to vehicles capable of providing a hands-free function, multimedia apparatuses, and methods of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a vehicle is one of transportation apparatuses driving on a road or a railroad line by using fossil fuels, electricity, and the like, as a power source.
In recent years, vehicles are generally provided with an audio apparatus and a video apparatus to allow drivers to listen to music and watch videos while driving the vehicles in addition to simply transporting materials and manpower, and a navigation system displaying a route to a destination is also installed in the vehicles.
Furthermore, a multimedia apparatus in which an audio apparatus, a video apparatus, and a navigation system are integrated is installed in vehicles.
Also, the multimedia apparatus may provide a hands-free service, an audio streaming service, a video streaming service, and the like, via a communication network with a mobile terminal of a driver.
However, when a driver is accompanied by a passenger, telephone conversation contents of the driver may be exposed to the passenger during a hands-free service of the multimedia apparatus.

Vehicle, controlling method thereof and multimedia apparatus included therein


A system and method of intelligently recommending items based on social media communications are provided. A communication in a first format is intercepted from a first service. An intent to transact is then detected within the communication. A recommendation engine can then be used to identify one or more items available at an ecommerce service, the one or more items related to the intent to transact within the communication. Then a reply communication can be posted to the first service in the first format, with the reply communication including the one or more identified items.

Social media websites and services (such as Facebook™ and Twitter™), as well as online discussion boards, provide a forum for users to exchange thoughts and ideas. It can be difficult, however, for services to monetize such thoughts and ideas. While advertising can be displayed, many users have become desensitized to advertisements and have simply learned to ignore them.

System and method of intelligently recommending based on social media


A rescue system and method includes a net which is mounted on a bridge or overpass so that it generally hangs therefrom. Attachment ropes are secured to the upper edge portion of the net and to a suitable vehicle on the bridge or overpass. The net has lateral border straps which are preferably channeled so that a cable can movably pass therethrough. The lower edge portion of the net has a pair of hooks secured thereto to which a ballast weight is attached. The hooks have a quick release mechanism allowing the ballast to be released from the net when an imperiled person is in a rescue position adjacent the net. A pair of lifting ropes are connected to lower corners of the net which allow the bottom of the net to be pulled up and thereby enclose the individual therein and also allow the individual to be lifted out of the body of water.

The present invention relates generally to rescue systems and methods and more particularly to improved rescue systems and methods for removing an imperiled person from a moving body of water.
Rescuing a person from a body of water is becoming a more common problem due to the population growth of areas which are subject to unexpected torrential rainfall. In addition, many heavily populated areas not uncommonly experience flooding due to dam rupture as well as many other causes. The resulting flood waters typically move very quickly through an area and with great force due to the high volume of water involved.
Prior art systems and methods for rescuing a person from a moving body of water have included simply throwing a rope to the imperiled person. Often, a rope may be attached to a flotation device. However, one of the primary shortcomings of such systems and methods is that the person to be rescued is required to have and utilize a very high degree of strength in order to maintain a firm grip on such a rope or flotation device because of the relatively high speed at which he is moving in the water. This becomes even more difficult to accomplish if, as is common, the person in the body of water is unconscious or in a weakened state due to hypothermia or due to exhaustion from attempting to swim to safety or due to injury or inhalation of water. Indeed, since it is very common for flood waters to include a very large mass of water moving at very high speeds, it becomes much more likely that an imperiled person will become quickly weakened due to exhaustion, personal injury or water inhalation. Moreover, it is often difficult for the person to be rescued to be able to grab a hold of such a rope or flotation device because of his speed relative to the rescuing person. In addition, because of this often great difference in relative speed between the rescuer and rescuee, the rescuer is often unable to accurately throw the rope close enough to the rescuee to allow him to grab it. The high degree of force with which the flood waters push the imperiled individual require a correspondingly high degree of strength to grab a hold of and maintain a firm grip on such a rope or flotation device in order for the rescue to be successful. Consequently, regardless of whether the rescue system equipment is thrown to a drowning person from a bridge, a shore or a helicopter, these problems often prevent such a rescue operation from being successful.
A rescue system and method is thus needed that does not require a high degree of strength from the rescuee in order for the rescue operation to be successful. A rescue system and method is also needed that is capable of rescuing an unconscious or otherwise passive person from a moving body of water. A rescue system and method is also needed that may be set up easily and quickly in order to reach the imperiled individual in time for the rescue operation to be successful.

System and method for rescuing an individual from a body of water


The present invention relates particularly to a laser irradiation light detecting device having detecting means for receiving a reflected light pencil of a laser light pencil applied from a laser irradiating device provided with a non-linear optical medium for generating a second harmonic. A laser light source pumps an optical resonator and a pulse driving means drives the laser light source. An irradiating means applies a pencil of pulse laser light produced from a laser oscillating device to a target device. A detecting means detects a light pencil reflected from the target device. An arithmetic processing means executes predetermined operations, based on the signal detected by the detecting means. The detecting means detects the reflected light pencil of the pulse laser light pencil in synchronism with a period T of a driving pulse of the pulse driving means.

The present invention relates to a laser irradiation light detecting device, and particularly to a laser irradiation light detecting device having detecting means for receiving a reflected light pencil of a laser light pencil applied from a laser irradiating device provided with a non-linear optical medium for generating a second harmonic.
A device intended for use outdoors upon civil engineering construction and surveying work or the like, particularly, a device for providing the reference for a distance location has heretofore been in existence. A visible-light laser irradiating device has been used as this type of device. With technical advances in semiconductor laser emission, a semiconductor laser has been widely used in place of a laser using a gas such as a helium-neon gas or the like. In particular, a battery-operable laser irradiating device for applying red visible light has been used in general. Further, a device has come into being which modulates a laser light pencil, irradiates a target disposed at a distant location with it and detects its reflected light pencil to thereby control the irradiating direction of a laser beam.
However, the conventional visible-light laser irradiating device is accompanied by a problem that constraints and limitations are imposed on the output applied from the laser irradiating device from the viewpoint of the ability of the semiconductor laser and safety's sake and particularly when it is used at a bright location, it is hard to visually recognize red visible laser beam.
With the problem on its visibility in view, an attempt has been made to use the green greater in human relative visibility than the red. A solid green laser using a second harmonic has become a focus of attention. Although a visible-light laser irradiating device wherein this type of solid green laser has been incorporated into a laser oscillating device, has been developed, the solid green laser itself provides more power consumption and hence the visible-light laser irradiating device was unfit for battery driving.
The device which scans and detects a reflected laser light carries out a frequency modulation and a synchronism detection so as to distinguish from noise, however, for solid green laser direct modulation becomes hard at a modulation frequency, e.g., 100 KHz. Therefore, a serious problem arises in that the device must be constructed on a large scale when the device is used in combination with an externally-provided modulation device.

Laser irradiation light detecting device


The invention consists of a device to evaluate hemodynamic response generated by the spinal cord in response to a suprasensorial stimulus applied to a peripheral nerve (medium or posterior tibial) by the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The device consists of 3 main components, an electrical stimulator, an optical recording unit and a signal processing and control module. The device allows non-invasive, comfortable, harmless, portable, home-based, and low-cost evaluation of changes in local hemodynamic parameters in response to neuronal activation of the spinal cord by electrical stimulation of a peripheral nerve. The invention also includes a corresponding method of using the device and monitoring the spinal function.

The present invention consists of a medical device which allows the evaluation and diagnosis of spinal cord functionality, through the characterization of the spinal cord's hemodynamic response thereof as response (neurovascular coupling) to suprasensory stimuli, by the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The device consists of three main components, an electrical stimulator, an optical recording unit and a command and signal processing module. The invention also comprises a method, the clinical protocol and the normal reference statistical values corresponding to the use of the device and monitoring of spinal function. The associated method applies an electrical stimulus to a sensitive nerve in the patient's wrist or ankle at non-painful intensity, which activates the spinal cord generating a local vasodilation response which is extended to the peri-spinal vascular territory, which is optically recorded by sensors that are comfortably attached to the skin of the back. The device object of this invention evaluates the spinal neurovascular coupling, which can be affected in various pathologies such as trauma and spinal sections, intramedullary tumors, degenerative and demyelinating diseases, chronic pain and conditions of spinal neuronal hyperexcitability, arteriosclerosis, aortic aneurysm, arterial hypertension, diabetes, central and peripheral neuropathies, as well as in cases of use of drugs such as anti-inflammatory, anti-epileptic, antiarrhythmic and related with the ability to modify the spinal neuronal excitability or the vascular smooth muscle fiber. In order to better illustrate the invention, the present document describes its application to only a few cases, however, these examples should not be considered as unique or limiting to the broad applications of the invention which have already been mentioned.
Today's optical methods offer non-invasive diagnostics with real-time techniques to measure some important physiological variables. In recent years, the research has focused on the development of non-invasive optical methods based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) which have demonstrated their diagnostic ability by providing real-time information about the various physiological and pathological processes that occur in tissues and organs mainly based on the differential spectral properties of hemoglobin. This technology allows the study of physiological variables such as oxygen saturation, oxygenation index and blood perfusion in any tissue, allowing its application in medicine for the identification of ischemia processes of any etiology and as well as for the measurement of the modification of blood flows dependent on local tissue metabolic activity. The application of this technology also allows the detection of tumors and the determination of the vascularization of extremities, among others.
The device object of this invention allows to evaluate, in a non-invasive way, the local vascular changes in different regions of the spinal cord and peri-medullary regions as a consequence of the spinal cord neuronal activation induced by an electrical stimulus applied to a peripheral nerve. There is currently no device capable of recording this type of spinal cord signal. It is a functional, non-invasive, harmless, portable, home-based technique with low cost compared to computerized axial tomography and magnetic resonance studies focused mainly on structural information. The functional evaluation of the spinal cord provides relevant information in the vast majority of its alterations, among them (traumatic, vascular, degenerative, compressive and neuropathic, among others). These alterations may be due to a primary alteration of either the nerve cells of the spinal cord, the spinal cord vascular and peri-medullary vascular network, or a set of both types of lesions. The device object of this invention, not only extends the application of the functional near-infrared spectroscopy technique of what is currently known which is the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord, but also serves as a vascular response to sensory activation of the spinal cord, which increases its diagnostic value.
To evaluate the merits of the invention described in this document, a brief summary of the most relevant documents of the proposed technique is presented. In general, in the current knowledge review, no explicit references were found to the determination of the hemodynamic response of the spinal cord using the proposed technology. However, some documents describing related inventions were found. Among them, Document US2010268096 (A1) is considered the most relevant. This document describes a method and apparatus to evaluate the hemodynamic and functional status of the brain.
The method and apparatus described in US2010268096 (A1) include non-invasive measurement of intracranial pressure, evaluation of electrical activity of the brain, and measurement of cerebral blood flow. In general, the method described in patent US2010268096 (A1) differs from the present invention, since said patent determines the hemodynamic and functional state of the brain by measuring intracranial pressure using impedantiometry, electroencephalography and intracranial vascular volume changes with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and it does not describe the use of said method for the diagnosis of spinal cord damage or alterations nor the hemodynamic response thereof. In contrast, the device object of this invention determines the vascular response due to the neurovascular coupling of the spinal cord, as a result of a suprasensory electrical stimulus, using NIRS technology, resulting in a different invention and method.
Other related documents are US2016015316 (A1), CN104068829(A) and US2009234236 (A1). The first document describes a method for recognizing pain in a non-receptive patient which comprises to obtain imaging data from functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) of the cerebral cortex. This method uses the comparison of patterns to detect pain in a patient, being different from the method proposed in the present invention wherein fNIRS is used to determine the spinal vascular response (neurovascular coupling) to an electrical stimulus, to diagnose a possible spinal cord damage. The invention CN104068829(A) discloses an invasive system and a method for detecting nerve cell activity in a spinal cord injury. This method requires prior knowledge of the location of spinal cord damage and surgical access to the site of injury by exposing the spinal cord which should be maintained under controlled conditions of humidity and temperature. This method does not use hemodynamic parameter measurement for diagnosis. Finally, US2009234236 (A1) describes a method for visualizing nerves by observing the hemodynamic response of blood flow to a stimulus in a surgical field. It consists of producing a processed image based on a comparison between the pre-stimulus image and the post-stimulus image. Using this method, the hemodynamic response associated to an electrical stimulus applied to the nerves within a surgical field with application in the cerebral cortex can be evaluated, systems and methods for visualizing the nerve trunks are described, observing the hemodynamic response of the blood flow, however, it does not detail the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) nor its application to evaluate spinal cord functionality.
In summary, there are no documents in the state of art, which explicitly describe the obtaining and characterization of the hemodynamic response (neurovascular coupling) of the spinal cord in the presence of suprasensory stimuli and which can provide relevant information on the functionalism of the human spinal cord.

Device for recording the vascular response of the human spinal cord triggered by a suprasensible stimulus through the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy

PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE