This disclosure provides techniques for managing writes of data useful for storage systems that do not permit overwrite of a logical address. One implementation provides a nonvolatile memory storage drive, such as a flash memory drive, that provides support for zoned drive and/or Open Channel-compliant architectures. Circuitry on the storage drive tracks storage location release metadata for addressable memory space, optionally providing to a host system information upon which maintenance decisions or related scheduling can be based. The storage drive can also provide buffering support for accommodating receipt of out-of-order writes and unentanglement and performance of out of order writes, with buffering resources being configurable according to any one of a number of parameters. The disclosed storage drive facilitates reduced error rates and lower request traffic in a manner consistent with newer memory standards that mandate that writes to logical addresses be sequential.

In many storage systems that use solid state drives ("SSDs"), the SSDs can be so heavily used that they experience several full drive writes every day. This implies that a large amount of data on each SSD is needed by the storage system to be there only temporarily. Once the storage system no longer needs specific data, the physical space retaining that data needs to be recovered before that physical space can be used to store new data.
When a host system seeks to update data, it typically overwrites one or more logical block addresses (LBAs) associated with that data; in situations where a LBA is mapped to an address translation-based drive, such as, by way of nonlimiting example, a conventional flash memory drive, a memory controller for that drive typically cannot simply overwrite one or more physical storage locations, but rather, it can only write to physical storage locations which have been previously "reset" (i.e., returned to a writable state) by an erase operation. Therefore, with address translation-based drives, a memory controller for a given drive typically receives the new data associated with a given LBA from a host system, it selects a new physical storage location and it then stores the data in that new physical storage location; the memory controller then records a new logical-to-physical (L2P) mapping in a translation layer (TL) for the given drive, and it marks the old physical location that previously held the old (i.e., now-stale) data as "released," "dirty" or "invalid," to be garbage collected later. The mapping kept by the TL is thereby changed; whereas the TL previously linked the given LBA to an old physical location, it now links the given LBA to a new physical location, and the old physical location is marked "released," as indicated. The given drive still continues to store the old, pre-updated data with no logical address pointing to the old data and, in connection with a later-completed erase operation, the memory controller for the drive will typically at that later time erase or reset each associated physical storage location and will change a status indicator to indicate that the old physical location may now once again be written with new data (and presumably, will also at that time update the TL to indicate that some other LBA now points to the location). Note that not all storage drives operate in this manner, e.g., a magnetic media drive simply overwrites the physical location. Many of the techniques introduced by this disclosure will be applicable to address-translation drives as well as other types of drives (e.g., magnetic media drives); as used herein, "logical address" (or "LA" or "LBA") will be used to refer to any addressing scheme used by a host system to request data from memory (e.g., even if such address is permanently mapped to a given physical location) whereas "physical address" will be used herein to refer to the addressing scheme used by a memory controller in directing commands directly to storage media (e.g., such as a die or memory array, with "physical address"); in some cases, the LA and the PA have the same values.
With the advent of Open Channel-compliant drives and zoned drives, overwrite of data at a logical address by a host system is typically no longer permitted irrespective of the type of underlying memory that is used. That is, these types of drives typically require that a logical address must be explicitly erased or reset by a host system, via a specific operation, before that space can again be written to, even in cases where magnetic drives are used for storage. To modify data, for example, a host system operating in the context of one of these architectures is instead required to read data from a logical address, modify that data as appropriate, and then write the result to a new logical address that the host system knows in advance is available to receive write operations. As stated, these storage schemes typically treat nonvolatile memory as ubiquitous in terms of these operations, such that these addressing and data modification restrictions are required from an architectural perspective even where a given storage drive does not use address translation. Open Channel-compliant drives and zoned drives also typically require that page addresses used for writes to a given physical memory structure must be sequential (e.g., pages must be written in order within an erase unit or "EU," which corresponds to a minimum quantity of memory cells that must be erased together). In these types of storage systems, the host system is typically now charged with tasks such as garbage collection and wear leveling (e.g., including but not limited to situations where the memory type is flash memory). Further, in such systems, logical addresses can only be erased or reset in large quantities in response to a single host-issued request. For a zoned drive, for example, an erase operation is effectuated via a zone reset request, and results in the erasure of the entire zone.
However, as a practical matter, erase units and/or zones typically never have only "stale" data absent some type of garbage collection process. That is, different LBAs containing unrelated data typically become unneeded at different times, and the host system is typically forced, in order to avoid data loss and significant wastes of memory space, to periodically copy the leftover valid data from source physical storage locations to consolidate that data in new destination locations, so that the associated EUs can then be erased or zones can be reset (this is the "garbage collection" process for these types of drives). To implement host-level garbage collection, the host system typically stores a table to track which LBAs contain invalid/unneeded data, and must execute a time consuming process, requiring significant host system processing overhead (i.e., system CPU cycles).
Thus, there is a need for more efficient techniques which can be used with these types of drives, and with their associated hosts, memory controllers, and memory devices. The present invention addresses these needs and provides further, related advantages.
The subject matter defined by the enumerated claims may be better understood by referring to the following detailed description, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. This description of one or more particular embodiments, set out below to enable one to build and use various implementations of the technology set forth by the claims, is not intended to limit the enumerated claims, but to exemplify their application to certain methods and devices. The description set forth below exemplifies techniques that can be practiced in one embodiment by a storage drive (e.g., an SSD), in another embodiment, by select circuitry on such a drive (e.g., a monolithic memory controller integrated circuit) or otherwise, in another embodiment by a flash memory device (e.g., die or integrated circuit), in another embodiment as techniques implemented in logic (e.g., in instructional logic such as software stored on non-transitory media), and in yet another embodiment by a combination of one or more of these things, perhaps cooperating with one or more other devices or circuits. This disclosure also provides improved designs for a memory controller, host, memory devices, a memory system, a subsystem (such as a drive, e.g., a solid-state drive or "SSD"), and associated circuitry, firmware, software and/or other processing logic. The disclosed techniques can also be implemented as instructions for fabricating an integrated circuit (e.g., as a circuit design file or as configuration for a field programmable gate array or "FPGA" configuration) or a collection of circuits. While the specific examples are presented, particularly in the context of flash memory, the principles described herein may also be applied to other methods, devices and systems as well.

Techniques for managing writes in nonvolatile memory


An automatic programming system automatically decides which machining system should perform which machining step and generates a machining program therefor. The programming system utilizes a machining step information, a workpiece information, a tool information and a machining step corresponding workpiece information. The machining step information defines a machining step kind and a machining specification for each machining step. The workpiece information defines a workpiece material and a workpiece shape for each workpiece. The tool information defines a specification of a tool used in each machining system, a machining step kind workable and workpiece material workable by the tool. The machining step corresponding workpiece information defines a workpiece used in each machining step. Moreover, a machining system for actually performing the machining step is decided when there are plural workable machining systems on the basis of a system priority rule information which defines a preferred machining system when there are plural workable machining systems.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic programming method and device for multi-system machine tools. Particularly, it relates to a programming method and device for automatically deciding a machining system to handle a particular machining step, deciding a machining order in the machining step or deciding a waiting order between an interfering machining systems, on the basis of machining informations including a machining step information, thereby generating a machining program based on such informations. The method and device is applicable to NC machine tool, Electric Discharge Machine and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 67 exemplifies an automatic programming device for multi-system machine tools in the related art. An operator inputs machining informations such as a machining step information and the like into an automatic programming information control unit 1 through an input unit 3 and an input control unit 4. A machining program control unit 2 generates a machining program on the basis of the machining informations. Thus generated machining program is stored in a memory 8 such as a semiconductor memory device or a hard disk via a memory control unit 7. The operator carries out such successive operations interactively while seeing a screen of a display 6 such as CRT which is connected to a display control unit 5.
A multi-system machining program is generated as follows in the automatic programming device in the related art.
First, the operator inputs a work information, tool informations for respective systems, a machining step information, etc. Then, the operator inputs them through the input unit 3 while checking the input informations via the display 6. The work information, tool informations, machining step information and the like are input thereafter in the automatic programming information control unit 1 from the input control unit 4.
However, a machining program for each system cannot be generated only with the above processes. This is because there remain several matters to be decided. Namely, it should be further determined which machining system is available for each machining step, which machining system should be used for the machining, in which order a plurality of machining steps should be performed in the same system.
Therefore, the operator has to determine first of all which system can handle a desired machining step wherein a particular workpiece and tool are defined in the workpiece information and tool information for each system or the like. For example, in case of drilling, the machining system must have at least one drilling tool, and the tool must have the same diameter as a diameter of a hole to be drilled. If none of the systems is suitable for the machining, the operator must change or add workpieces or tools. Namely, the operator has to consider a variety of things mentioned above.
If a plurality of systems are suitable for machining, the operator must decide only one system for actually performing the machining. For example, he or she determines that, if the first system and the second system are available for a particular machining step, such a machining step should be always treated by the first system. After the operator finishes deciding machining systems which should handle respective machining steps, he or she is required to determine an order of the machining steps in each of the systems. For example, the operator determines that a drilling step should be done always after a grooving step. When the operator decides all the above matters, preparation for generating a machining program for each system is completed.
Then, the automatic programming information control unit 1 outputs the given machining step information, workpiece information and tool information to the machining program control unit 2. The automatic programming information control unit 1 also outputs the information showing which system be assigned to which machining step and the machining order information in each system, both of which are determined by the operator. The machining program control unit 2 generates machining programs for the machining systems, respectively, on the basis of the above informations. The machining programs for the respective systems are stored in the memory 8 through the memory control unit 7.
However, with the automatic programming device of the related art, the operator has to decide and input the above mentioned various matters in advance: which system is available for which machining step, which system should perform that specific machining step if there are plural systems available, in what order the machining steps should be treated in that machining system, etc. Accordingly, it is impossible to make up the machining program for each system until the input work of the above matters is finished.
In addition, another work is required after the operator has decided the machining order in the system and starts machining with plural machining systems at the same time. Namely, he or she must check whether or not it is possible to perform a machining step in one system simultaneously with a machining step in another system. If it is impossible, the operator has to decide a waiting order between the interfering systems, i.e. which system should wait which system. If the program for multi-system machine tool is carried out without such waiting operation, tools may collide with each other. Otherwise, machining becomes impossible with respect to the machining steps which can be performed provided that machinings in the other machining system are completed.
For example, in case of machining the same workpiece in one and the other machining steps which belong to different systems, it is necessary to carry out a step for rough machining before the other machining step. If the other machining step is performed before the rough machining, cutting may be so large that a tool is possibly damaged. In this case, any steps other than the rough machining step should wait completion of that rough machining step. Thus, there arises a necessity for waiting in machining steps which belong to different systems.
Moreover, it is impossible to carry out a machining step in which the workpiece is machined while being rotated at the same time with a machining step in which the workpiece is machined without rotation. Accordingly, unless the machining step to be treated first in one system is completed, the machining step treated in the other system cannot be started. Thus, there is another necessity for waiting in machining steps which belong to different systems.
Furthermore, if there is a possibility that tools interfere with each other in case of performing plural machining steps, unless the machining step to be treated first in one system is completed, the machining step treated in the other system should not be started to prevent collision of the tools. Thus, there is further necessity for waiting in machining steps which belong to different systems. As mentioned above, the operator must consider various conditions for waiting between machining steps handled by different systems in order to designate a machining order therein. Namely, in the automatic programming device for multi-system machine tool of the related art, the operator has to judge and input beforehand all troublesome works by himself or herself, such as a machining order in a machining system, a waiting order between different machining systems and the like.
As mentioned above, the operator needs to do many works for preparation of generating the machining programs for the systems. Therefore, the machining program preparing work depends much upon operator's skill. If the decisions are wrong or improper in such preparatory works, several problems arise. For example, the tool undergoes excessive load and damaged in a short time, machining accuracy of the workpiece is lowered, or the machining becomes impossible at worst. Therefore, the operator is required to be highly skilled. As a result, efficiency for generating the machining programs is very low.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 4-360749 discloses a device in which an operator inputs data of all machining shapes of through holes machined in a combined machining. Then, the device automatically divides the machining shape data into the first machining data and the second machining data to generate a program. However, with such an automatic machining step deciding method, the operator must judge and input several things when performing various machining with the multi-system tool machine, as in the above mentioned related art. Namely, he or she has to determine beforehand which system is available for which machining step, which system should perform that machining step if there are plural systems available, in what order the machining steps should be treated in the system, etc.

Automatic programming method and device for multi-system machine tool


Provided is a piezoelectric composition containing a major component that is a perovskite-type oxide which is represented by the general formula ABO3, which contains no Pb, and which has A-sites containing Bi, Na, and K and B-sites containing Ti. The Ti is partly substituted with a transition metal element Me that is at least one selected from the group consisting of Mn, Cr, Fe, and Co. The content of Bi and the transition metal element Me in the perovskite-type oxide, which is the major component, is 6 mole percent to 43 mole percent in terms of Biu1MeO3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric composition and piezoelectric device widely used in areas such as piezoelectric sounders, piezoelectric sensors, piezoelectric actuators, piezoelectric transformers, and piezoelectric ultrasonic motors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Piezoelectric compositions have the effect of inducing strain when electric fields are applied to the piezoelectric compositions from outside (the effect of converting electrical energy into mechanical energy) and the effect of generating a charge on the surface when stresses are applied to the piezoelectric compositions from outside (the effect of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy). In recent years, the piezoelectric compositions have been widely used in various areas. For example, a piezoelectric composition such as lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr, Ti)O3, (PZT)) is excellent in micro-positioning and therefore is used to micro-position an optical system because the piezoelectric composition induces strain substantially in proportion to the voltage applied thereto on the order of 1×10−10 m/V and therefore is excellent in micro-positioning. In contrast, the piezoelectric composition is used as a sensor for reading micro-force or deformation because the piezoelectric composition generates a charge with a magnitude proportional to the stress applied to the piezoelectric composition or the deformation due to the stress. Furthermore, the piezoelectric composition is used as a piezoelectric transformer, an ultrasonic motor, or the like because the piezoelectric composition has excellent response and therefore can induce resonance in such a way that the piezoelectric composition or an elastic body joined to the piezoelectric composition is excited by applying an alternating-current electric field thereto.
As of now, most of piezoelectric compositions in practical use are a type of solid solution (PZT) containing PbZrO3—PbTiO3 (PZ-PT). Products meeting various needs are being developed by adding various auxiliary components or additives to such PZT-type piezoelectric compositions. Examples of the products include those which have a low mechanical quality factor (Qm) and a high piezoelectric constant (d) and which are used in actuators, required to have a large displacement in direct-current applications, for positioning and those which have a low piezoelectric constant (d) and a high mechanical quality factor (Qm) and which are suitable for use in ultrasonic wave-generators, such as ultrasonic motors, used in alternating-current applications.
Piezoelectric compositions other than PZT-type piezoelectric compositions are in practical use. Most of these piezoelectric compositions are solid solutions made of a lead-based perovskite composition such as lead magnesate niobate (Pb(Mg, Nb)O3, PMN).
However, lead-based piezoelectric compositions contain a large amount, about 60% to 70% by mass, of lead oxide, which has extremely high volatility at low temperature, as a major component. It is desired that the amount of lead oxide used is reduced in view of environmental concerns. Thus, if applications of piezoelectric ceramics and piezoelectric single-crystals are expanded in the future and therefore the amount of the piezoelectric ceramics and piezoelectric single-crystals used is increased, then the production of lead-free piezoelectric compositions will be an extremely important issue.
For example, barium titanate (BaTiO3) and bismuth layered ferroelectrics are known as piezoelectric compositions containing no lead at all. However, barium titanate has a low Curie temperature, 120° C., and loses its piezoelectricity at a temperature not lower than the Curie temperature thereof. Therefore, barium titanate is not suitable for practical use in consideration of bonding by soldering or on-vehicle applications. On the other hand, the bismuth layered ferroelectrics usually have a Curie temperature of 400° C. or higher and are excellent in thermal stability. However, the bismuth layered ferroelectrics have high crystallographic anisotropy; hence, it is difficult to polarize the bismuth layered ferroelectrics by ordinary polarization. Therefore, a technique, represented by a hot forging process or the like, for inducing spontaneous polarization by shear stress is necessary. However, the technique has a problem with productivity.
On the other hand, novel piezoelectric compositions such as sodium bismuth titanate-based compositions are recently investigated. For example, Japanese Patent No. 4177615 (hereinafter referred to as the patent document) discloses piezoelectric compositions containing sodium bismuth titanate or barium titanate.
However, the sodium bismuth titanate-based piezoelectric compositions are unsuitable for obtaining sufficient piezoelectric properties as compared to lead-based piezoelectric compositions. In particular, the sodium bismuth titanate-based piezoelectric compositions are insufficient in spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric constant. Therefore, the sodium bismuth titanate-based piezoelectric compositions need to be improved in piezoelectric properties.
In the case of adding an element for the purpose of enhancing piezoelectric properties, elements contained in a perovskite structure react with an added oxide to produce many secondary phases, resulting in difficulty in polarization.
In general, Bi-based perovskite compositions are likely to have a heterogeneous structure containing coarse grains with a size of more than 100 μm and fine grains with a size of several micrometers because crystal grains are likely to be extraordinarily grown during firing. Therefore, it is difficult to control the structure of the Bi-based perovskite compositions.
A piezoelectric ceramic disclosed in the patent document contains a major component that is a perovskite-type composite oxide represented by the general formula ABO3. In the general formula ABO3, A is one or more selected from the group consisting of Bi, Na, K, and Ba; B is Ti; and B (that is, Ti) is partly substituted with a trivalent element M(III). In the composition range disclosed in the patent document, sufficient piezoelectric properties are not obtained. Since the amount of Bi in an A-site is invariant even if the amount of the added trivalent element M(III) is increased by a method described in the patent document, the deliquescence of an excessive alkali metal in an A-site occurs. Therefore, heterophases may possibly be induced with a change in sintering temperature.

Piezoelectric composition and piezoelectric device


A new and distinct variety, called "Benifuji", of a pink dogwood tree substantially as herein shown and described characterized particularly as to novelty by the unique combination of the appearance of a large number of branches with an upright limb growth habit, as tall as the known variety "Miss Satomi", having leaves of medium size substantially equivalent to the wild varieties, a flower diameter of approximately 8-9 cm with the color of the flower being deep purplish pink and the distance between branches being small. The plant substantially does not become unbalanced as a result of trimming.

The variety "Benifuji" originated as a selection from a mass of seedlings cultured by us in our experimental nursery at Shinkyo Gotenba-shi, Sizuoka-ken, Japan. In an effort to improve the range of variation in commercial dogwood trees available in commerce, we collected seeds from wild dogwood trees of the species Cornus kousa, growing on the southeastern slopes of Mount Fuji. A number of seeds were collected in 1970, at an altitude ranging from about 800 to 1,000 meters above sea level. The seeds so collected were sown in mass in the above-identified experimental nursery, resulting in a large population of seedlings showing a wide range of variation in their properties and their characteristics.
The seedlings were allowed to grow. During initial screenings, seedlings having an unusually high amount of reddish coloration in the tips of the stems and leaves were screened and labeled to identify them and to distinguish them from the mass population.
In monitoring the screened and labeled plants in June 1978, an individual plant having a height of approximately 2 meters and in a very rare, red stem color with a high concentration of reddish pigment was discovered. This plant was separated from the remainder of the population, and transplanted to a different location to be further observed. This original specimen plant was observed for a period of several years and found to maintain a stable stem color, and other traits which set it apart from the remaining plants of the seedling population. At present, the original specimen of this plant has grown to a height of approximately 4.5 meters and has attained a spread of about 2.5 meters, with the trunk having a girth of 19 cm (and a diameter of approximately 6 cm, based on calculation) at a height of about 1.2 meters.
We have asexually reproduced "Benifuji" by grafting scions of "Benifuji" into seedling root stocks at our nursery at Shinkyo, Gotenba-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan and have found the specimens so produced to be identical to the original selection in every distinguishing characteristic.
The new variety "Benifuji" holds the following distinct characteristics:


Aspects of the present disclosure provide a method and a system for closing plate take-over in immersion lithography. A plate holder is provided for a closing plate in a wafer holder of an immersion lithography system. An optical detector is provided below the plate holder for determining whether a light signal passing through the closing plate is aligned with the plate holder using the optical detector. If the light signal is aligned, a fluid containment mechanism is lowered, and the closing plate is placed into the plate holder. Alternatively, the fluid containment mechanism is lowered to surface of the closing plate, the closing plate is affixed to the mechanism, and the mechanism is raised with the closing plate. If the light signal is not aligned, an error is triggered and the scanner is stopped.

Immersion lithography is a resolution enhancement technique for exposing images on a substrate such as a surface of a semiconductor wafer. Immersion lithography interposes a high refractive index fluid, such as water, between a projection lens of a lithography system and the substrate. The substrate is typically positioned on a stage or holder, and the fluid is maintained between the projection lens and the stage by a fluid containment mechanism, e.g., a set of "shower heads." An image can then be projected, such as with deep ultra-violet (DUV) radiation, through the projection lens, through the immersion fluid, and then be exposed onto the substrate surface.
In order to isolate the fluid from the substrate surface during loading and unloading, a fluid closing plate may be used. During exposure, the fluid closing plate is placed in a plate holder of the stage. Prior to wafer unloading, the fluid closing plate is lifted from the plate holder and affixed to the fluid containment mechanism. In this way, the fluid is isolated from the substrate surface while the substrate is unloading. After a new substrate is loaded onto the stage, the fluid closing plate is resituated in the plate holder. This allows the immersion fluid to re-interpose between the projection lens and the substrate surface. The process in which the fluid closing plate is dislocated from the plate holder and resituated is referred to as "closing plate take-over."
Currently, the position of the fluid closing plate is calibrated after a defined number of cycles using a transmission image sensor (TIS). The transmission image sensor is mounted inside the substrate holder at a distance from the plate holder. The transmission image sensor calibrates the plate position by detecting the DUV radiation projected from the projection lens and adjusting the plate position based on the distance between the detected radiation and the plate holder.
However, this type of calibration is not efficient because extra maintenance time is needed to adjust the plate position if it is out of specification. In addition, the calibration does not monitor plate position after every closing plate take over. This may result in a collision of the fluid closing plate with the wafer holder or other materials, which may lead to damage of parts, unwanted particles, and machine downtime.
A need exists for a method and system that monitor the position of the fluid closing plate after every closing plate take-over. In this way, collision with the wafer holder or other materials may be avoided and efficiency of immersion lithography may be improved.

Method and system for closing plate take-over in immersion lithography

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


This display device is provided with: a plurality of pixels (3); a plurality of source lines (SL); a source drive circuit (12a); and a plurality of switches (40, 41). The plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix, and form a display region (10a) in which an image is displayed. The plurality of source lines (SL) are wired in the row direction of the pixel matrix on the display region, and connected to the respective pixels. The source drive circuit has a plurality of signal lines (PL) through which signals supplied to the respective pixels via the source lines are outputted. The switches are provided between the source lines and the signal lines. More than one of the source lines are wired to the pixels in the same row in the matrix. The source lines (SLe, SLo) for pixels in the same row and one of the signal lines of the source drive circuit, are connected via the switches.

In display devices using a liquid-crystal panel, there is a known technology for controlling an image to be displayed in an easy-to-see manner, for securing a viewing angle in the liquid-crystal panel and so on (for example, Patent Literature 1).
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology for realizing a liquid-crystal display device with prominent visibility. In the liquid-crystal display device of Patent Literature 1, pixels for displaying an image are classified into main-pixels and sub-pixels. In Patent Literature 1, when two kinds of pixels exhibit the same grayscale, a signal voltage for each pixel of an image signal is controlled so that a voltage applied to a pixel electrode of a main-pixel is higher than a voltage applied to a pixel electrode of a sub-pixel.


An extension for a concrete trowel The extension has a flat, upright frame with a pair of handles at the top for operating the frame and a trowel. A trowel is secured to the bottom of the frame by an adjustable clamp.

This invention relates to concrete troweling apparatus, and in particular to an extension for a hand concrete trowel, which results in a trowel of great versatility and utility.
Hand troweling of concrete along edges of buildings or at columns is done in one of two manners, first either by utilizing knee boards when troweling, or second by simply bending over and troweling. In either process, a conventional hand trowel is used, the trowel comprising a flat blade with a handle secured thereto, the handle extending above and parallel to the length of the trowel. By judicious application of pressure through the handle to the trowel, appropriate pressure can be applied to still-plastic concrete for finishing the concrete surface.
Both current methods of hand troweling concrete have severe limitations. Knee boards are awkward to control, and when the concrete has hardened to a relatively stiff state, it is difficult to apply sufficient pressure to the trowel since the troweler is on his hands and knees, and thus is applying pressure substantially only through his arms and shoulders. Furthermore, many workers become arthritic as they age, and it is painful to kneel on knee boards with arthritic knees.
Bending over to trowel is even more physically demanding. This process, known in the industry as walking the wall, is one that only a minority of concrete finishers can perform. The finisher must be in excellent physical shape, and even so, considerable pressure is applied to the finisher's legs and back. Also, by bending over, the finisher compresses his chest cavity, thus leading to shortness of breath. Also, by bending over, blood tends to rush to the head, causing faintness in some individuals.


A substrate defining an insulating surface layer portion and formed with a wiring groove filled with a wiring line the wiring line is electrically connected to a conductive member. The conductive member occupies an area larger than an area of the wiring line as viewed along a line parallel to a normal to the first surface. An insulating first film is formed on the first surface. A via hole is formed through the first film. The via hole is formed so that a boundary between the wiring line and the insulating surface layer portion passes through the inside of the via hole. The bottom of the via hole is observed with an apparatus for obtaining image information by utilizing secondary electrons and reflection electrons, to judge whether a state of the bottom of the via hole is accepted or rejected.

A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing method and a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device manufacturing method with an inspection for hole opening for via holes to be formed through an insulating film on a wiring layer, and to semiconductor devices manufactured by such a method.
B) Description of the Related Art
Several inspection methods for hole opening are known for inspecting whether a via hole formed through an interlayer insulating film reaches the surface of the underlying layer of the interlayer insulating film.
FIG. 12A is a cross sectional view showing a peripheral area of a via hole to be inspected by the inspection method for hole opening disclosed in JP-A-60-109240. On an underlying interlayer insulating film 500, a wiring line 501 is formed. An upper interlayer insulating film 502 formed on the interlayer insulating film 500 covers the wiring line 501. A via hole 503 is formed through the interlayer insulating film 502. The via hole 503 is disposed so that the edge of the wiring line 501 passes through the bottom area of the via hole 503, as viewed along a line parallel to the normal to the substrate surface.
If the via hole 503 reaches the wiring line 501, a step formed by the wiring line 501 can be observed when the bottom of the via hole is observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). If the via hole 503 does not reach the wiring line 501, a step by the wiring line cannot be observed.
An inspection for opening of the via hole 503 can therefore be made relying upon whether the step by the wiring line 501 can be observed.
As shown in FIG. 12B, if the edge of a wiring line 507 to be formed on an interlayer insulating film 505 having a via hole 506 is disposed in the opening of the via hole, it is possible to detect an alignment shift between the layer formed with the via hole 506 and the layer disposed with the wiring line, by observing the step on the bottom of the via hole 506.
FIGS. 13A and 13B are cross sectional views showing peripheral areas of via holes to be inspected by the inspection method for hole opening disclosed in JP-A-4-12531.
As shown in FIG. 13A, a wiring line 511 is disposed on an underlying interlayer insulating film 510. An upper interlayer insulating film 512 disposed on the interlayer insulating film 510 covers the wiring line 511. The region of the interlayer insulating film 512 above the wiring line 511 is swelled, and the interlayer insulating film 512 becomes thicker near in the central area of the wiring line 511. Therefore, as a via hole 513 is formed in an area corresponding to the wiring line 511, residues 514 are likely to be left on the wiring line 511. The left residues 514 make it difficult to detect a step of the wiring line 511.
As shown in FIG. 13B, if two wiring lines 511 are juxtaposed, the upper surface of an interlayer insulating film 512 between the two wiring lines 511 can be made generally flat. If a via hole overriding at least one of the two wiring lines is formed in the interlayer insulating film 512, residues are not left on the wiring lines 511 and a step of the wiring line or lines 511 can be detected easily.
FIG. 14 is a cross sectional view showing a peripheral area of via holes to be inspected by the inspection method for hole opening disclosed in JP-A-11-297777. On the surface of a semiconductor substrate 520, an interlayer insulating film 521 is formed on which a wiring line 522 is formed. The wiring line 522 is electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate 520 via a via hole 523 formed through the interlayer insulating film 521.
An upper interlayer insulating film 524 formed on the interlayer insulating film 521 covers the wiring line 522. Via holes 525 are formed in the interlayer insulating film 524 to expose the partial upper surfaces of the wiring line 522. The bottom of each via hole 525 observed with a SEM is bright if the wiring line 522 is exposed, and dark if the via hole 525 does not reach the wiring line 522.
Even if the wiring line 522 is exposed on the bottom of the via hole 525, the brightness of the bottom of the via hole lowers if electrons are accumulated in the wiring line 522, and this case cannot be discriminated from the case that the via hole 525 does not reach the wiring line 522. The structure that the wiring line 522 is connected to the semiconductor substrate 520 as shown in FIG. 14 can prevent accumulation of electrons in the wiring line 522.
As compared to a conventional method of forming a wiring line by patterning a metal layer through reactive ion etching (RIE), a damascene method can satisfy more easily high integration requirements of semiconductor integrated circuit devices and can expect a reduction in the number of processes. The damascene method has therefore drawn attention and is suitable for forming a copper wiring with a lowered wiring resistance.
FIG. 15A is a cross sectional view showing a peripheral area of a via hole during a process of forming a copper wiring by a damascene method. In a wiring groove formed in a surface layer of an underlying interlayer insulating film 530, a copper wiring line 532 is embedded. In order to prevent copper diffusion, the inner surface of the wiring groove is covered with a barrier metal layer 531 of tantalum (Ta) or the like.
On the interlayer insulating film 530, a silicon nitride (SiN) film 533, a silicon oxide (SiO2) film 534, a low dielectric constant insulating film 535, an SiO2 film 536, and an SiN film 537 are laminated in this order from the bottom. This lamination structure is formed with a via hole 538 which exposes a partial upper surface of the copper wiring line 532. A wiring groove 539 is formed overlapping the via hole 538, and reaches the bottom of the low dielectric constant insulating film 535.
FIG. 15B shows a SEM photograph showing the peripheral area of the via hole 538. Since the bottom of the via hole 538 is dark, it is not possible to judge whether the copper wiring line 532 is exposed.
FIG. 15C is a cross sectional view showing the peripheral area of a via hole 538A wherein the via hole 538A is slightly shifted from a copper wiring line 532 so that the edge of the copper wiring line 532 passes through the bottom area of the via hole 538A. The via hole 538A is formed by etching the lamination structure to the bottom of the SiO2 film 534 by using the SiN film 533 as an etching stopper film and thereafter removing the SiN film 533 exposed on the bottom of the via hole.
The etching conditions for the SiN film 533 are usually set so that the interlayer insulating film 530 and copper wiring line 532 are scarcely etched. Therefore, a step corresponding to the edge of the copper wiring line 532 is not formed.
FIG. 15D is a SEM photograph showing the peripheral area of the via hole 538A. Almost the whole area of the bottom of the via hole 538A is observed dark and the boundary between the copper wiring line 532 and interlayer insulating film 503 cannot be detected. This is because there is no step as opposed to the conventional example shown in FIG. 12A.
The inspection for hole opening without utilizing a step is possible for the conventional case shown in FIG. 14. However, as a diameter of the via hole 525 becomes small, a difference between darkness and brightness of the exposed and unexposed wiring lines 522 becomes small so that highly reliable inspection for hole opening is not possible.

Semiconductor device manufacturing method capable of reliable inspection for hole opening and semiconductor devices manufactured by method


A poker is provided to a packaging machine which has a former for bending a film into a tubular form and a chute for guiding articles to be packaged into a bag being made below. The poker includes a driver link which is driven to undergo a reciprocating rotary motion around a fixed axis and a generally L-shaped arm member disposed above and behind the former. A base part of the arm member is rotatably connected with a moving end part of the driver link such that the arm member can undergo a reciprocating rotary motion around a mobile axis of rotation which rotates around the stationary axis of rotation. A connecting mechanism is further provided to coordinate these two rotational motions such that the tip of the arm member distal from its mobile axis of rotation will move along a desired trajectory to reach a desired bottom center part of the chute which is likely to become clogged with the articles dropped thereinto. The connecting mechanism may be formed with a cam-following member attached to a part of the arm member and a cam plate with an elongated opening such that this cam-following member is constrained to move along an arcuate path determined by this elongated opening.

This invention relates to a device which is a part of a packaging machine adapted to form bags from an elongated film and serves to poke articles to be packaged to thereby push them into a bag being formed without clogging up the narrow passage of a chute through which they are passed.
Japanese Utility Model Publication Jikko 3-1362 disclosed a packaging machine of the type adapted to form an elongated film into a tubular shape while pulling it out of a roll and to transport it downward, to drop articles to be packaged into it after a lower edge part of this tubular form is sealed and to seal its upper edge part to form a packaged product with the articles sealed inside. As shown in FIG. 9, this packaging machine includes a former 6 having a sloped film guide 6a extending at its back part such that an elongated film F pulled out of a roll is folded, as it slides over this film guide 6a, into a tubular form F' with its both side edges overlapping each other. Thereafter, these mutually overlapping side edges are sealed together by means of a longitudinal sealer (not shown) and the tubular form F' is also sealed transversely by means of a transverse sealer (not shown) to form a packaged bag. A chute 7 with a conical part is disposed above the former 6, and after articles to be packaged are thrown through this chute 7 into a packaging bag with its bottom edge part sealed, its upper edge part is also sealed by the transverse sealer over a seal area and the film is cut transversely to obtain a desired packaged product.
With a packaging machine of this type, articles which have been dropped into the chute 7 sometimes get stuck therein, depending on their shapes and sizes, failing to fall into the bag being formed. If this happens, a product with less than the desired amount of articles may be produced and if the articles which became stuck in the previous cycle of operation also drop, a product with more than the desired amount may be produced. In order to prevent such an occurrence, a device herein referred to as a poker is sometimes utilized to forcibly push down the articles stuck in the chute. As shown in FIG. 9, such a poker may be placed above and at the back of the former 6, comprising a generally L-shaped arm member 94 having a first part 94b extending upward from its base part 94a when it is at its initial position (shown by solid lines in FIG. 9) and a second part 94c extending forward from the upper end of the first part 94b. A driving means 92 such as a motor is provided for causing this arm member 94 to undergo a reciprocating rotary motion such that, as the arm member 94 is rotated in the forward direction from its initial position, the tip 94c' of the second part 94c will enter the interior of the chute 7 as shown by dotted line in FIG. 9, thereby reliably causing any articles stuck therein to drop into the bag which is being formed below.
If the arm member 94 is made of a synthetic resin material, however, forces inside tend be concentrated at its bend between the first and second parts 94b and 94c, deforming the arm member 94 as it swings back and forth many times periodically, and this makes it difficult for the tip 94c' to reliably come to the bottom center of the chute 7. If the arm member 94 becomes significantly deformed, its tip 94c' may strike the inner surface of the chute 7 and it may even break due to the material fatigue.
If the arm member 94 is made of a metallic material, on the other hand, it will be too heavy and the load on its driving means 92 becomes undesirably large. If the articles to be packaged are a food material, furthermore, a metal detector is sometimes provided for detecting any metallic substance which may be mixed in, but the use of such a metal detector will not be possible if the poker comprises a metallic arm member.
It may be thought of using an arm member made of a synthetic resin material containing reinforcing fibers. Synthetic resin materials containing reinforcing fibers are both light and strong but the reinforcing fiber materials are easily peeled off and there arises a problem of hygiene if the articles to be packaged are a food material.
Moreover, there is a problem of layout. As shown in FIG. 9, the poker is generally positioned behind the former 6 and the chute 7, disposed such that the arm member 94, initially standing straight upward above and behind the former 6, rotates forward to send its second part 94c into the interior of the chute 7. In order to effectively remove the jam in the chute and reliably cause the articles remaining in the chute 7 to drop into the bag being formed below, however, it is preferable that the tip 94c' of the second part 94c should pass near the back edge part 7c of the upper opening of the chute 7 as indicated by dotted line X1 and enter the interior of the chute 7, and further that the tip 94c' should reach the bottom center of the conical part of the chute 7 as shown by dotted line X2. Thus, if this movement of the arm member 94 is to be accomplished by a simple rotary motion around its base part 94a, its center of rotation e must be on the line y which perpendicularly bisects the line segment x connecting the positions of the tip 94c' when the second part 94c of the arm member 94 is as shown at X1 and X2. As described above, however, the former 6 has its film guide 6a extending backward, and the base part 94a must be disposed so as not to interfere with the operation of the film guide 6a. If the former 6 is adapted to produce relatively narrow bags and hence its film guide 6a is relatively small, it may not be very difficult to place the center of rotation e on the line y as defined above near the chute 7. If the former 6 is adapted to produce wider bags and its film guide 6a extends significantly, as shown in FIG. 9, it becomes necessary to place the center of rotation e fairly far away from the chute 7. This means that the first part 94b of the arm member 94 must be quite long and this makes the entire arm member 94 heavier, and hence that the load on its driving means 92 increases, requiring a larger motor and making its high-speed operations difficult.


A lens structure without spherical aberration, formed by a first (S) and second (S') curved surface of transparent material facing one towards the other, wherein the first surface (S) has a configuration chosen between a first and second sub-configuration, the first sub-configuration being obtained by applying the sine of the limit refraction angle (i') of the transparent material, the derived value being the focus location of the first configuration on a horizontal axis (XX'), and the second sub-configuration being obtained by applying the sine of the limit refraction angle (i') of the transparent material, the derived value being the focus location of the first configuration on a horizontal axis (XX'), and the second sub-configuration being obtained by applying the sine of the limit refraction angle (I') of the transparent material for vertex (v) positioning of the second configuration on the horizontal axis (XX'). If a particular lens focus (F) is desired, the second curved surface (S') can be built according to a formula which optically correlates the second one (f") of the second surface focuses (f'; f") with the desired lens focus (F), the first one (f') of said second surface focuses (f'; f") being always in coincidence with one focus (f) of the first curved surface (S). It is also disclosed a stereoscopic camera including such a lens structure.

It is well known that if a beam formed by any set of parallel rays of light, of any spectral colour wave, are directed onto a spherical convex surface of any transparent material, the light reflected therethrough will not provide an exact or punctual perfect focus, because of the spherical aberration phenomenon.
In a similar manner, but inversely, from inside any transparent material of convex spherical shape, any possible parallel beam of light will not be focused in punctual perfect focus because of the same spherical aberration phenomenon.
The same results are obtained if, instead of convex spherical surfaces, concave spherical surfaces are used as, in this case, the same aberration will be produced for the elongation of rays, i.e. the virtual focus will not be a punctual focus.
When spherical refraction surfaces are used, it is known that the normal to all refraction points of the spherical curvature is the radius directed to the centre of the sphere. In spite of this, this will not give us a punctual focus, since it is necessary that the curvature should not be so uniformly continuously curved but, on the contrary, that the same has a constant change, from the horizontal axis to the end of the curve.
Also, for the contrary refraction phenomenon, be it from inside the transparent material to the air, the spherical curvature makes the refraction through the extreme sides of the same impossible, or be it from convex surfaces ends, the light will not be refracted because the rays would go out from the curved surface, with an angle greater than the limit refraction angle of the transparent material, thus being reflected instead of refracted. Also for the rays going out from the surface, within the limit refraction angle, the refraction will not be the same for all the parallel rays, and the rays with angles nearer to the axis will be refracted less than the more separate rays and for this reason the refracted rays will cross the axis at different points, the farther away the rays the neater to the central axis of the spherical convex surface they are arranged.
The above cited difficulties will be resolved by employing the lenses without spherical aberration for the two kinds of light refraction and for convex or concave surfaces.
As to a stereoscopic camera, it is commonly known stereoscopic photography without using any lenses, that is made by a vertical lenticular photographic film, from different objectives placed side by side in order to obtain distinct intercalated images to produce a wide viewing zone of stereoscopic photography.
In spite of this, by employing multiple objectives it is not possible to obtain a perfect change in the stereoscopic vision when the viewer laterally translates his head, producing changes in the vision of the distinct adjacent sides of the distinct images of the multiple objectives. For this reason, it is not known a stereoscopic photography with the high quality standards needed by modern audiovisual techniques.

Lens structure without spherical aberration and stereoscopic camera including such lens structure


The present invention is related to providing, in association with an image, information related to the image capture device used to capture the image. In one embodiment, information related to a first static camera characteristic and camera setting information related to a first captured digitized image is embedded in the first captured digitized image using a watermark. The watermarked information may be used to identify the source or owner of the picture, and/or to aid in the more accurate reproduction of the image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to digital images, and in particular, to embedding camera-related information in digital images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital media, such as digital photographs and video, has become increasingly prevalent as the performance of digital cameras and color printers have improved and their cost decreased. In addition, the popularity of the Internet, which facilitates the distribution, via e-mail or Web sites, of digital images has also increased the creation of digital media.
However, images taken using conventional digital media capture devices, such as conventional digital cameras, typically are not adequately reproduced, whether the reproduction is accomplished using an ink jet printer, a color laser jet printer, a thermal wax printer or on a computer display. This failure to adequately reproduce the captured images may be attributed in part to the fact that image capture device performance characteristics are not taken into account. In addition, little or no information is provided by the image capture device on the camera settings used to capture a given image. Further, even when very limited information is provided, the information is provided as a separate file, which is associated with the given image. Thus, the information is not provided as part of a standard image file, such as a JPEG image file.
Because of the deficiencies noted above, users of digital image capture devices are still often dissatisfied with their performance and the resulting images reproductions.

Methods and systems for embedding camera information in images


For producing (cigarettes) packs (10) with a coupon positioned between the pack and outer wrapper made of film, the coupons are supplied to a packaging machine for the outer wrapper and are transported in the region of the packaging machine by a coupon conveyor (17). The coupons pass into the region of a feeder (20) and are applied by the latter to a free top side (13) of the packs.

The invention relates to a method of handling blanks, in particular of supplying printing carriers, coupons or the like as an insert to a pack—cigarette pack. The invention also relates to an apparatus for implementing the method.
The task of adding printing carriers, that is to say thin folded or non-folded blanks with information and/or advertising, to a pack is becoming increasingly frequent in packaging technology. This applies particularly to cigarette packs. The insert is referred to hereinbelow, irrespective of the configuration, as a coupon.
The coupons, which are produced elsewhere, are to be supplied to the (cigarette) pack and applied to the latter. An outer wrapper made of film integrates the coupon in the pack, with the result that the coupon is to hand when the pack is opened for the first time by removal of the outer wrapper.

Method of, and apparatus for, handling blanks, in particular coupons


A cable connector assembly (100) includes a first connector member (1) and a second connector member (2). The first connector member includes a first housing (13), a number of first contacts (14) received in the first housing and a first shell (11) enclosing the first housing. The first housing has a tongue plate (133). A grounding bar (12) attaches to the first housing and encloses the tongue plate. The second connector member includes a second housing (22), a number of second contacts (23) received in the second housing to electrically contacting with the first contacts and a second shell (21) enclosing the second housing. A room (24) is reserved between the second housing and the second shell adapted for receiving the tongue plate enclosed with the grounding bar of the first housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to a micro coaxial cable connector assembly having a relatively low profile and grounding shield.
2. Description of Prior Arts
A micro coaxial cable connector is widely used in high frequency communication connector field and is required to terminate a coaxial multiconductor cable. U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,013 discloses such a micro coaxial cable connector assembly. The micro coaxial cable connector assembly includes a connector main body and an insertion seat assembled therewith. The connector main body includes an insulative seat forming a hollow projecting section under bottom side thereof and defining multiple holes at top side thereof. A plurality of L-shaped terminals are received in the holes, with vertical sections of the terminals downwardly extending to the projecting section of the seat. An upper and lower covers mate with each other and surround the seat for grounding. The insertion seat includes a seat body retaining a plurality of L-shaped resilient terminals and a lateral cover attached to the seat body. Each resilient terminal includes raised section extending upwardly to electrically connect with the vertical section of corresponding terminal and outwardly extending and exposed out of the insertion seat to electrically connect to a printed circuit board on which the micro coaxial cable connector assembly is mounted.
Since used to transmit high-speed transmission, the micro coaxial cable connector assembly is required to attach the upper, lower and lateral covers thereon to prevent Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) from outer environments. However, because of the exposed resilient terminals of the insertion seat, the micro coaxial cable connector assembly is susceptible to encounter EMI from external sources as well as from each other. Furthermore, since inherent amount of clearance that is designed between the connector main body and the insertion seat, there still remains room for decreasing in the height of such a micro coaxial cable connector assembly and simplicity in the structure thereof.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop an improved cable connector assembly to overcome the above shortcomings.

Low profile cable connector assembly with grounding shield


An extended keyboard includes keys and conductive contact points. Each key is connected to a corresponding one or more conductive contact points. The conductive contact points protrude from a backside of the extended keyboard. The conductive contact points are used to contact with a multi-point touch screen of an electronic device when the extended keyboard is placed on the multi-point touch screen of the electronic device, such that when an operation is applied to one key, the corresponding one or more conductive contact points electrically connected to the key conduct the operation to positions of the multi-point touch screen contacted with the corresponding conductive contact points.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to keyboards, and particularly to an extended keyboard applied to a multi-point touch screen device, an electronic device with the extended keyboard, and a keyboard extending system.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices with touch screen often have a virtual keyboard on the touch screen for inputting text. However, when the virtual keyboard is displayed, a large area of the touch screen is covered by the virtual keyboard, which limits the usage of the touch screen. Many extended keyboards used for the electronic device with the touch screen need to connect to the electronic device via a universal serial bus (USB) port. However, the extended keyboard is complex and needs corresponding keyboard processing circuits and chips, which makes the extended keyboard expensive.
Therefore, an extended keyboard, an electronic device with the extended keyboard, and a keyboard extending system to overcome the described limitations are needed.

Extended keyboard, electronic device, and keyboard extending system


The invention provides a fluorinated surfactant for use with halocarbon and hydrofluoroether solvents. Additionally, the invention provides drying, dry cleaning, and soil repellency compositions containing a halocarbon or hydrofluoroether and a fluorinated surfactant.

The use of aqueous compositions for the surface treatment of metal, ceramic, glass, and plastic articles is well known. Additionally, cleaning, plating, and deposition of coatings on the surface of articles is known to be carried out in aqueous media. In both cases, a halocarbon solvent and a hydrophobic surfactant may be used to displace water from a water-laden surface.
A variety of solvent-surfactant drying compositions for water displacement are utilized. For example, solvent-surfactant compositions based on 1,1,2-trichlorotrifluoroethane ("CFC-113") are used. However, toxicity and environmental concerns are leading to a decline in the use of such CFC-based systems.
The identification of suitable surfactants for use with hydrochlorofluorocarbons ("HCFC's"), hydrofluorocarbons ("HFC's"), and hydrofluoroethers ("HFE's") solvents suitable to replace CFC solvents is proving difficult for a variety of reasons. First, many of the known surfactants cannot be dissolved in such solvents. Further, dry cleaning, drying, and water displacement require surfactants that impart distinct properties to the solvent used. For the removal of oil from machined parts, the surfactant must aid in the removal of the soils that would otherwise only be sparingly soluble in such solvents. Additionally, water displacement requires a surfactant that does not form a stable emulsion with water. Therefore, one must not only identify those surfactants soluble in the HCFC, HFC, or HFE solvent selected, but surfactants that also have the desired activity in the solvents.
The present invention provides a new class of HCFC, HFC, and HFE soluble, hydrophobic, fluorine-containing surfactants. These surfactants exhibit desirable surface activity in the solvents and are useful in displacing water.

Surfactants for use in drying and dry cleaning compositions


A method of controlling a transmission and engine during a coasting downshift is particularly suited to transmission arrangements exhibiting strong inertia coupling. During the inertia phase of the downshift, a third clutch such as a torque converter bypass clutch is modulated to control output torque. Simultaneously, engine torque is modulated to control engine speed. The resulting control scheme is only semi-coupled.

Many vehicles are used over a wide range of vehicle speeds, including both forward and reverse movement. Some types of engines, however, are capable of operating efficiently only within a narrow range of speeds. Consequently, transmissions capable of efficiently transmitting power at a variety of speed ratios are frequently employed. Transmission speed ratio is the ratio of engine speed to driveshaft speed. When the vehicle is at low speed, the transmission is usually operated at a high speed ratio such that it multiplies the engine torque for improved acceleration. At high vehicle speed, operating the transmission at a low speed ratio permits an engine speed associated with quiet, fuel efficient cruising.
Many automatic transmissions implement a discrete number of different transmission speed ratios in which each ratio is establish by engaging a particular subset of clutches. A clutch that selectively holds a gearing element against rotation may be called a brake. Some clutches may be actively controlled devices such as by hydraulically actuated multi-plate wet clutches. Other clutches may be passive devices such as one way clutches. To shift from one speed ratio to another speed ratio, one clutch is engaged and another clutch is released. A shift to a lower speed ratio is called an upshift. An upshift may occur in response to an increase in vehicle speed or in response to a decrease in driver demanded power. A shift to a lower speed ratio, on the other hand, is called a downshift. A downshift may occur in response to a driver demand for more power, or in response to the vehicle slowing down.
During a shift, the vehicle speed changes only slightly, but engine speed may change significantly. The change in engine speed is often opposite to the trend before and after the shift. For example, as a vehicle accelerates in a given speed ratio, engine speed gradually increases. However, during an upshift, the engine speed decreases. The torque exerted at the transmission output during a shift varies both because the torque ratio changes and because torque is either diverted to speeding up the engine or is generated by slowing the engine. Drivers and other vehicle occupants have expectations regarding output torque and engine speed and are dissatisfied when the actual output torque or engine speed behaves differently than expected.
Although the normal flow of power is from the engine to the wheels, power may flow in the opposite direction when the vehicle is coasting. Some power is needed to keep the engine rotating. If the engine generates less than this amount of power, the power is supplied by the transmission. Vehicle occupants experience this as slight increase in deceleration rate compared to how quickly the vehicle would slow down with the transmission in neutral. When a downshift occurs during coasting, the engine speed increases. If the energy to increase the engine speed is provided by the transmission, vehicle deceleration may increase noticeably during the downshift contrary to vehicle expectations. Unfortunately, the torque capacity of the oncoming clutch strongly influences both the output torque and the rate of change of engine speed, complicating the task of matching both output torque and engine speed to driver expectations.
Many transmissions are controlled by an electronic controller. The controller sets parameters such as the pressure provided to various clutches. The parameters set by the controller influence a number of characteristics observable by vehicle occupants, such as output torque and engine speed. The objective of control algorithms is to set the controlled parameters such that the observable characteristics have desired values. In a closed loop control scheme, the controller utilizes a measurement of the observable characteristics as feedback signals, adjusting the controllable parameters in response to differences between the measured quantities and the desired values. A system with multiple controllable parameters and multiple feedback signals is decoupled if changes in each control parameter influence only one feedback signal. Decoupled systems are easier to control than strongly coupled systems because each controlled parameter can be set independently of the others. In a semi-coupled system, the controlled parameters can be set in an order such that changes in later parameters do not influence the feedback signals used to set the earlier parameters.

Method of controlling automatic transmission coasting downshift


Labels having identification tags and tamper evident pattern release layers and methods of producing such labels are disclosed. An example method includes moving a first substrate in a direction. The first substrate has a first side opposite a second side. The first side has a first adhesive and a pattern release layer. The method also includes coupling a third side of a tag to the first side of the first substrate. The tag includes the third side and a fourth side opposite the third side. The method also includes mating transfer tape of a second substrate over the first side and the fourth side. The second substrate includes a liner layer and the transfer tape. The transfer tape is to be positioned immediately adjacent the tag.

Labels may be affixed to packages, containers and/or products for identification and/or shipping purposes.
To clarify multiple layers and regions, the thickness of the layers are enlarged in the drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.

Labels and methods of producing the same


A method for seamless inter-frequency hard handover in a radio communication system is disclosed. The method for seamless inter-frequency hard handover includes the steps of: a) at a mobile station, blocking a first uplink carrier frequency used for communication, transmitting a direct sequence spread preamable signal through a second uplink carrier frequency for a short time, and continuously performing the communication through the first uplink carrier frequency: and h) at a target base transciever station, acquiring an uplink synchronization of a mobile station based on the preamble before performing handover.

It is widely known that a soft handover, in which a frequency change does not occur, can be used generally for handover between base stations of one wireless communication service provider in a CDMA cellular system since all base stations of the one wireless communication service provider can use a same frequency for the soft handover.
The soft handover is a method for maintaining a communication link by simultaneously transceiving communication signal with both a source base station and a neighbor base station without changing a communication frequency when a mobile station is located at a cell boundary of the two base stations, i.e., when the mobile station moves from a coverage of the source base station to a coverage of the neighbor base station, and then disconnecting the communication link with the source base station, if a signal intensity of the source base station is weaken below a standard signal intensity as maintaining continuously the communication link with the neighbor base station. The above-mentioned soft handover provides the unstrained handover by eliminating an instant-disconnection, which is a chronic problem of an analog system, decreases a probability of call loss and maintains high quality communication.
However, the soft handover is not applicable in case a certain wireless communication service provider allocates different number of frequencies to the neighbor base stations according to a call density by considering an economy of a network design and an efficiency of investment, i.e., the neighbor base stations use different frequencies. That is, if the mobile station using a specific frequency of the source base station is moving to the cell of the neighbor base station, which does not equip the specific frequency, the soft handover cannot be applicable. Furthermore, the soft handover cannot be applicable between base stations possessed by two wireless communication providers using different frequencies although they adopt the same CDMA scheme. For these cases, the hardware handover has to be used.
The hard handover needs to be performed between frequencies in case of the handover from a wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) time division duplex (TDD) to a W-CDMA frequency division duplex (FDD) or handover from global system for mobile communications (GSM) to the W-CDMA FDD.
Referring to FIG. 1, an example of the hard handover between a source base station 2 and a target base station 3 is explained as follows.
As shown in FIG. 1, the target base station 3 does not support communication frequencies f1 and f1′ of a current mobile station 1.
In FIG. 1, in case of the mobile station 1 having a dual-mode receiver, the mobile station 1 can measure a signal intensity of a new frequency f2 while demodulating downlink signals through the currently established frequency f1 and acquire synchronization of signals transmitted from the target base station 3.
Such the dual-mode receiver needs an additional hardware for radio frequency (RF) compared to a single-mode receiver and thus the complexity of a mobile device is increased.
To overcome above-mentioned problems, a compressed mode is defined in an asynchronous W-CDMA (FDD) standard (Release '99) of 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), which was released at September 2000.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of compressed mode transmission.
In the 3GPP standard, a frame has a length of 10 msec and consists of 15 slots.
For a transmission gap (TG) region 7 in a compressed frame, data transmission is not permitted. Instead of permitting the data transmission, a rate of frame errors of the compressed frame is maintained identical to that of a normal frame 5 by keeping a transmitting power at a slot region 6 in the compressed frame higher than a power of the normal frame 5.
The mobile station 1 having the single-mode receiver can search the signal intensity of the new frequency f2 in downlink on the handover situation shown in FIG. 1 by using the compressed mode of FIG. 2. That is, it is possible to search the signal intensity by dropping the current established communication frequency f1, changing to a frequency f2 and measuring the signal intensity of f2 in the TG region and after the TG region is over, demodulating the call channel of the frequency f1.
In the 3GPP (FDD) standard, the compressed mode is defined at not only the downlink but also the uplink. The downlink and uplink can be operated simultaneously as the compressed mode and only one of the downlink and the uplink can be operated as the compressed mode. A reason of defining the compressed mode in the uplink is for prevention of interference to the downlink when the mobile station 1 measures a frequency of the uplink and the downlink of a neighbor system such as 3GPP TDD or GSM. Therefore, even though the mobile station 1 employs the dual-mode receiver, the uplink needs to be operated as the compressed mode in case that the mobile station 1 measures the downlink of other system using a frequency similar to the frequency of the uplink.
In shortly, it is possible that the mobile station 1, which satisfies the 3GPP (FDD) standard, monitors a new frequency f2 of the downlink before disconnecting the current established call channel completely in the handover situation in FIG. 1 and call disconnection of the downlink can be avoided although there occurs the hard handover to the new frequency f2 since the synchronization of the downlink transmitted from the target base station 3 can be acquired by using a synchronization channel of f2 and a common pilot channel.
On the other hand, in case of the uplink, since the target base station receives no signal before the mobile station 1 drops the current established frequency f1′ and transmits signals by using a new frequency f2′, i.e., the hard handover occurs, the synchronization of the uplink needs to be started at the target base station 3 from a moment that the hard handover occurs. There occurs call disconnection since at least one frame is required to acquire the synchronization of the uplink even if an outperformed searcher is used in the target base station 3.
Moreover, since, according to the 3GPP W-CDMA (FDD) scheme, corresponding base stations operate in asynchronization, the target base station 3 cannot detect a round trip delay between the mobile station 1 and the target base station 3 and therefore, a time for acquiring synchronization in the target base station 3 may be more than several frames since a search window size becomes very large, which a searcher has to search, in case that a coverage area of the base station is huge. In this case, several frame disconnection may happen and current call disconnection also may be happened in more serious case. Also, in this case, a power may not be controlled properly, so that a capacity of the uplink of the target base station 3 may be incredibly decreased.
In the 3 GPP W-CDMA standard (Release'99), it is possible to perform the handover only in case a difference between a system frame number (SFN) of the target base station 3 and a connection frame number (CFN) of the mobile station 1 is known to the network. Therefore, the mobile station 1 needs to detect the SFN information of the target base station 3 by demodulating a common channel of the downlink of the target base station 3 before performing the handover and transmit the SFN information and a frame offset, which is the difference between the CFN of the mobile station 1, to the base station controller 4. Thereby allowing the base station controller 4 to decide an exact handover time, resulting in performing the handover. Abovementioned operations are well performed in the soft handover between same frequencies. However, in case of the hard handover between different frequencies, the mobile station 1 should use the compressed mode of the downlink for acquiring the SFN information of the target base station 3.
However, in the standard (Release'99), it is impossible to acquire the SFN information by using the compressed mode since at least 50 msec continuous demodulating time is required in the downlink for acquiring the SFN information. In case of the hard handover, since the mobile station 1 has to acquire the SFN information after being completely disconnected with the current established frequency and being connected to a new frequency, there may occur at least 50 msec additional call disconnection.
The above-mentioned problems are not limited to the inter-frequency hard handover in the W-CDMA FDD and they may happen when a multimode device having the dual-mode receiver or the single-mode receiver such as GSM/WCDMA FDD multimode device or W-CDMA TDD/W-CDMA FDD multimode device performs the hard handover from the GSM system to the W-CDMA FDD system or from the W-CDMA TDD system to the W-CDMA FDD system.
As mentioned above, the disconnection is inevitable for performing the inter-frequency hard handover defined in the 3GPP W-CDMA FDD standard. Specially, in case of the mobile station having the single mode receiver, since the compressed mode is used in the downlink for searching signals of the target base station so the frame offset between the target base station and the mobile station is not known to the network. In this case, the disconnection problem becomes more serious since at least 50 msec disconnection is generated during performing the inter-frequency handover. This is indicated as a problem in the 3GPP. Therefore, a handover method, which performs the inter-frequency hard handover without disconnection, is required for addressing the problems in the asynchronous W-CDMA standard.

Method for seamless inter-frequency hard handover in radio communication system

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A telecommunications system comprises a plurality of subscriber and/or junction terminals connected to a local exchanges the local exchange having an Intelligent Network message terminal, a Service Router addressable from the local exchange via the message terminal and a Signal Transfer Point. The local exchange is able to identify an intelligent Network service request from an originating one of the plurality of subscriber and/or junction terminals and to address and transmit a message via the message terminal to the Service Router via the Signal Transfer Point. The message is readdressed and transmitted to an appropriate Intelligent Network Service Delivery Point and upon receipt of the message by the Service Delivery Point a connection between the Service Delivery Point and the originating one of the plurality of subscriber and/or junction terminals is initiated by the Service Delivery Point.

1. Field of the Invention
The objective of the present invention is to simplify the Service Switching Point (SSP) of current Intelligent Network (IN) architecture to allow ease of implementation, and to provide a future-proof IN architecture without the constraints of Capability Sets or similar limitations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Public network exchange requirements are reviewed as are the requirements of the intelligent network components which enable access to IN services.
Typical IN services are described but details of IN service design and the provision of the Service Management platform which installs, maintains and updates the services are not provided. The Service Basement requirement is simplified in that each service is self-contained and there is no common component that accumulates the complexity of all services, as arises in the Service Control Point (SCP) of conventional IN.
Intelligent Network services are available to any terminal connected to the network; subscriber lines, Private Branch Exchange (PBX) lines, Centrex extensions or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) terminals The description includes the means by which IN services are made available to terminals on analogue exchanges. Subscribers wishing to participate in interactive type IN services need a push-button telephone or equivalent facility.
Intelligent Network services are provided in such a manner that the whole of the intelligence is in the intelligent service itself. Public exchanges are required to do very little more than identify IN service codes (triggers) and send a simple message to their local IN Service Router.
All connections to intelligent services are established and controlled by the intelligent service terminal itself, his enables the avoidance of "hacking" and other types of unauthorized access; enabling the service to configure itself as it will before connecting to the caller and avoiding the need to allocate public network addresses to all the facets of intelligent network services.
News services and additional equipment may be connected to any convenient point in the public network without even notifying the adjacent exchanges. All that is required to introduce a new service is to not the local exchanges of the new service code, ie. set the tagger condition. Existing services may be enhanced or even completely restructured with no effect whatever upon the public network equipment

Telecommunications system for establishing connections between intelligent network delivery points and subscribers requesting service


A firearm pin assembly is provided. A firearm pin may have a substantially cylindrical member with a lever on one end and a track running along its side. The track may run helically for a portion of its path. The track may also have at least one dimple disposed within its path. The firearm pin assembly may have an aperture for installing a detent and detent spring. The firearm pin assembly may be used in any firearm, including but not limited to a takedown pin and pivot pin assembly in an AR-15 style rifle.

This application relates generally to firearms, and more particularly, to firearms that use pins to couple parts of the firearm.
In at least some known firearms, such as but not limited to AR15 style rifles, different parts of the firearm may be removably connected. For example, in an AR15 style rifle, an upper receiver and a lower receiver may be removably connected by a set of pins. These pins include a takedown pin and a pivot pin. Takedown pins and pivot pins may allow for partial separation and pivoting or full separation of the upper and lower receiver portions. It is necessary to separate the receivers for routine maintenance, cleaning, and repairs of the firearm. Manipulating the takedown and pivot pins is consequently an essential task. Sliding a takedown pin into an open position often involves two hands and the use of a tool. This can make disassembly of the firearm, which is an essential task, difficult and timely for firearm operators. Military, law enforcement personnel, or civilian users may have to field strip a firearm to fix a malfunction without tools readily available and with time as an important factor.


Disclosed herein are heterostructure semiconductor nanowires. The heterostructure semiconductor nanowires comprise semiconductor nanocrystal seeds and semiconductor nanocrystal wires grown in a selected direction from the surface of the semiconductor nanocrystal seeds wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal seeds have a composition different from that of the semiconductor nanocrystal wires. Further disclosed is a method for producing the heterostructure semiconductor nanowires.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heterostructure semiconductor nanowires and a method for producing the nanowires. More particularly, the present invention relates to heterostructure semiconductor nanowires comprising semiconductor nanocrystal seeds and semiconductor nanocrystal wires grown in a selected direction from the surface of the semiconductor nanocrystal seeds wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal seeds have a composition that is different from that of the semiconductor nanocrystal wires. The present invention also relates to a method for producing the nanowires.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor nanocrystals produced by wet chemical processes can be utilized in microstructural devices due to their small size. In addition, the inherent characteristics of semiconductor nanocrystals can be controlled due to quantum confinement effects and the like, and as a result, various electrooptical properties can be induced and utilized. As a result, semiconductor nanocrystals have received a great deal of attention.
In particular, nanocrystals in the form of rods or wires advantageously afford the possibility of being able to use mobility characteristics of electrons in a particular direction along with the associated optical properties in that direction. For example, such nanocrystals can be used to induce a polarization phenomenon in microstructural devices in which they are employed. Much research has been conducted to synthesize such nanocrystals.
In this connection, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 14-220300 teaches a method for producing nanowires comprising the steps of depositing microcrystalline silicon particles on the surface of a silicon substrate and heating the substrate to a temperature at which the surface of the silicon substrate is melted under a vacuum. The heating step generates surface segregation on the crystal surface of the microcrystalline silicon particles to allow a plurality of nanowires to grow thereon.
The problems of this method, however, are that both steps are carried out on the substrate using vapor deposition thereby causing an increase in production costs.
Further, Korean Patent Laid-open No. 2004-000418 proposes a nanowire comprising a first segment of a substantially crystalline material and a second segment of a material having a composition different from that of the first segment and joined to the first segment wherein at least one segment of the first and second segments has a substantially uniform diameter of less than approximately 200 nm. This patent publication discloses nanowires having two or more structures and suggests the possibility of using the nanowires in various applications.
However, although the patent publication proposes the basic concept regarding the structure of the nanowire, it fails to disclose detailed production processes, i.e., a process for controlling the reactivity of the second segment. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 15-277029 introduces a method for manufacturing carbon nanotubes by disposing a nanocarbon material on a substrate and selectively growing carbon nanotubes almost perpendicular to the substrate. This patent publication is highly distinguished from the present invention in terms of the final products and processes employed.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 16-122283 introduces a method for manufacturing a nanometer-sized microstructure comprising the steps of forming a material layer on a substrate, forming a pattern on the material layer using pyramidal particles, depositing a metal catalyst on the patterned material layer, peeling the material layer to form a patterned metal catalyst, and growing the patterned metal catalyst into a crystal. This patent publication is highly distinguished from the present invention in terms of the final products and processes employed.

Heterostructure semiconductor nanowires and method for producing the same


A system and method for GPS acquisition in relatively high interference is described. Acquisition is aided by an Advanced Tightly Coupled (ATC) tracking filters that compute a satellite range residuals and range rate residuals for satellites being acquired. Multiple channels are used in parallel to search for the desired satellites. Range residuals from the ATC filters are used to correct the computed receiver offset and thus allow acquisition in the presence of relatively high interference.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a new method of combining GPS and navigation estimates to provide GPS acquisition in the presence of interfering signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Global Positioning System has revolutionized navigation. Prior to the twentieth century, land and sea navigation was performed using angle measurements to celestial bodies, magnetic compass measurements, and time measurements from an accurate clock to determine longitude. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first airplane flight foreshadowed the need for more accurate navigation systems. Radio and inertial navigation systems soon supplanted the old methods.
The GPS concept was developed in the early 1970s as a joint military service project and the first satellite was launched in 1978. GPS satellites transmit time synchronized signals in the L frequency band (approximately 1.5 GHz) using atomic clocks. The signals are BPSK modulated by a spread spectrum ranging code and navigation message. The code, known to the user, is unique for each satellite. The navigation message contains data on satellite ephemeris and clock errors, atmospheric corrections, and general satellite almanac data.
A GPS navigator determines position with time-of-arrival measurements. The navigator correlates a replica of each satellite's code with the received satellite's signal. Accurate knowledge of the code transmit time from each satellite and the receive time at the navigator will determine pseudoranges, ranges which contain an offset because of navigator clock error. Four satellites are the minimum required for determination of a vehicle's three dimensional position and clock offset.
An inertial navigation system, INS, incorporates gyros and accelerometers mounted along three orthogonal axes to measure vehicle angular rates and specific force respectively. An INS measures short term vehicle dynamics and is, therefore, a perfect companion to GPS to achieve high dynamic and high accuracy vehicle navigation.
Standard GPS receivers employ tracking loops to generate pseudorange and delta pseudorange measurements for each satellite. The GPS signal at the vehicle's antenna is amplified, down converted, and digitized prior to entering the tracking loops. It is a composite signal, containing information from all visible satellites.
In each satellite tracking loop, the incoming carrier signal is mixed with a replica of the carrier to produce in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) signals with a small phase error. These Is and Qs are transformed into an explicit phase error signal, integrated, subsampled, filtered and fed to a numerically controlled oscillator to generate the replica carrier signal. This process is referred to as the carrier tracking loop.
An inner loop correlates the Is and Qs with on time, one half chip early, and one half chip late replica codes for the specific satellite being tracked. The Is and Qs are now only a function of the code correlation and phase error. These are transformed into an explicit pseudorange error signal, integrated, subsampled, filtered, and fed to a numerically controlled oscillator to clock the satellite replica code. This inner loop is referred to as the code tracking loop.
A major tracking loop design tradeoff is the ability to handle high vehicle dynamics and to also track through high interfering noise. One way of solving this problem is to aid the carrier tracking loop with an Inertial Navigation Unit (IMU) and let the carrier loop aid the code loop. The IMU will remove short term dynamics from the tracking loop and thus allow the loop bandwidth to be reduced. Lowering the bandwidth results in greater noise suppression.
The output of each satellite's tracking loop includes pseudorange and delta pseudorange measurements. These, along with satellite ephemeris and IMU measurements, are input to a navigation filter which estimates vehicle position, velocity, attitude, user clock parameters, and IMU error terms. In real-time systems, the navigation filter usually runs at a 1 Hz rate. It sends estimates to the IMU strapdown navigator, which corrects the IMU specific force and angular rate measurements and then integrates them to obtain high frequency trajectory estimates. The velocity estimates are projected along each satellite's line of sight for tracking loop aiding. This configuration is called a tightly coupled system.
Standard GPS carrier and code tracking loops, with aiding from a medium grade IMU, normally break lock at jamming to signal ratios of 47 and 57 dB respectively. For high dynamic vehicles, these maximum jamming ratios can be achieved by aiding the tracking loops with IMU data as described above.
Recently, jamming to signal ratios above 60 dB have been attained by closing the tracking loops through the navigation filter. This multi-satellite tracking loop structure is derived from the maximum likelihood estimate of the pseudorange error given the composite GPS signal at the input to the tracking processor. In this configuration, position and velocity estimates from the strapdown navigator are projected along each satellite's line of sight to generate range and range rate estimates to each satellite. These drive numerically controlled oscillators whose outputs are mixed with the digitized I and Q data, processed, and input to the navigation filter as residual (measurement—estimated measurement) estimates for each satellite. The navigation filter outputs vehicle trajectory and IMU error estimates to the strapdown navigator to close the multi-satellite tracking loop.
Because every GPS satellite tracking loop includes the navigation filter, each satellite is integrated with the IMU and other tracked satellites. In this mode the satellites aid each other, and with the IMU, generate a more robust navigation solution.
While the systems described above can track through substantial jamming, the problem of acquisition in the presence of jamming remains.

System and method for GPS acquisition using advanced tight coupling