There is disclosed a method for producing a supported metal nanoparticle, which has the steps of adsorbing a metal ion-containing compound to a support of an organic material and reducing the adsorbed metal ion to form a metal nanoparticle on the support. In the producing method, by using a various organic material as a matrix, the metal nanoparticle can be easily formed in situ with excellent accuracy from the metal ion-containing compound.

It has recently been reported that inorganic compound materials having size, thickness, shape, etc. controlled at nanometer scales (hereinafter referred to as nano scales) can remarkably improve chemical, mechanical, and optical properties of surfaces. Then nanotechnology has actively been studied in the fields of fluorescent materials, magnetic materials, production of various sensors, high-density electronic devices, etc. To create such nano materials, bottom-up synthesis processes from atoms and molecules are needed. Particularly, technologies for designing composition and structure of metal nanoparticles and ultrathin films at a molecular or atomic level can be important, fundamental technologies in various fields.
Known methods for synthesizing the metal nanoparticles controlled at nano scales include methods of reducing metal ions under the presence of stabilizers in uniform solutions, and methods of reducing metal ions in matrixes of uniform polymers.
For example, a method of temporarily using a stabilizer and a reducing agent to produce a metal microparticle has been known (JP-A-2002-146235, claim 11 and Paragraphs [0013] to [0028]). This method can produce a noble metal-containing microparticle having a low impurity content sufficiently for use in fuel cells. However, this method comprises the complicated steps of adding the stabilizer and the reducing agent and removing the added stabilizer and reducing agent, whereby the method cannot be a simple method of producing the metal nanoparticles.
Further, a method of producing a metal nanoparticle in a polymer having a polar group has been known (JP-A-9-188778, claims 1 to 13 and Paragraphs [0007] to [0028]). However, in this method, a metal ion has to undergo ion exchange in the polymer, whereby the polymer must have an ion-exchangeable polar group. Thus, the polymer used in this method is limited, and polymers with no ion-exchangeable polar groups cannot be used.
The inventors have developed a method for easily synthesizing a metal nanoparticle using a metal oxide in a support (He, Kunitake, et al., "In Situ Synthesis of Nobel Metal Nanoparticles in Ultrathin TiO2-Gel Films by a Combination of Ion-Exchange and Reduction Processes", Langmuir, 2002, 18, pp 10005-10010). However, the support used in this method is not an organic component support but a TiO2 thin film. Further, a metal ion has to be exchanged also in this method like JP-A-9-188778, so that the method has a disadvantage of restriction in the matrix.
As described above, a satisfactory method capable of certainly forming a metal nanoparticle from an easily-available, natural or synthetic, organic material with ease and excellent accuracy has not been developed. Under such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a supported metal nanoparticle and a method for producing the same, wherein a metal nanoparticle can be easily obtained in situ with excellent accuracy using a various natural or synthetic organic material as a matrix. Another object of the invention is to provide a continuous metal nanoparticle body easily produced using a natural or synthetic organic material and a method for producing the same.

Metal nanoparticle with support, continuous metal nanoparticle body, and methods for producing these


In a method for controlling and/or regulating industrial processes (1, 20), a standard operating system (3) with a real-time module or a real-time operating system is implemented on a hardware platform (2) and simultaneously at least two real-time applications (7, 8) with characteristic real-time requirements are active under the real-time module or under the real-time operating system. In particular, simultaneously with the real-time applications (7, 8), at least one non-real-time application (5) is active, and the real-time requirements of each real-time application (7, 8) are predetermined on the specification of the applicable industrial processes (1). Each real-time application (7, 8), by means of an allocation module (4) running on the hardware platform (2), is allocated a maximally available component (9, 10) of a maximally available real-time component (11) of one operating cycle (13).

The invention relates to a method for controlling and/or regulating industrial processes, which runs on a hardware platform. This hardware platform can for instance be a PC, in particular an HMI (Human Machine Interface), or an industrial PC. For implementing the real-time capability, in addition to the standard operating system (which as a rule is not capable of real-time operation), a real-time module is also present on the hardware platform, for the controlling and/or regulating operations in real time, or else a real-time operating system is implemented on the hardware platform.
On a hardware platform, non-real-time applications can also run or be active—along with or under the real-time module or the real-time operating system. These non-real-time applications are active simultaneously with the aforementioned module or real-time operating system. This means that the non-real-time application should be allocated a suitable running time, that is, in particular, a component of an operating system cycle.
To that end, it is known for the operating cycle of a standard operating system to be subdivided by an interrupt controller, which for instance acts on the interrupt scheduler, into a real-time component and a non-real-time component. Furthermore, it is known for the time components of the operating cycle that occur in real time and non-real time respectively, to be fixedly allocated in the operating cycle.
Such a method is comparatively inflexible, since it cannot be adapted in a consistent system to all the real-time requirements that are typically required for industrial processes, especially real-time requirements that—depending on the process to be controlled/regulated—differ from one another. In particular, in the aforementioned method, the respective control/regulation of different industrial processes for using the various real-time applications is burdened by capacity requirements. Another factor is that the existing capacities of the controlling and/or regulating systems are poorly utilized, especially in complex processes of the kind that typically occur in industrial manufacture and/or machining.

Method for controlling and/or regulating industrial processes


A method for marketing a plurality of products or services includes the steps of selecting an arbitrary word and appending the arbitrary word to a first and a second product- or service-related word to create a first and a second site name. Each of the first and the second words is descriptive of a product or a service desired to be offered. The method also includes the step of establishing a first and a second electronic site. Each site is accessible via an electronic communications network, and each site offers at least one product or service describable by one of the first and second words. Next a linkage is created between the respective site names and the electronic sites. This linkage permits a user to access an electronic site with the use of the respective site name.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic commerce systems and methods, and, more particularly, to such systems and methods that improve a potential customer's likelihood of reaching a particular electronic commerce site.
2. Description of Related Art
In electronics communications systems, such as the Internet, it is known to have commercial venues, known as "web sites," or simply "sites," that are hosted by a vendor and typically offer a product or range of products for sale. A potential customer may locate a particular site by any of a number of methods, including entering an exact domain name of the site that is either known in advance or guessed at from a known trademark of the product desired and/or its manufacturer.
Alternatively, a search engine may be used to locate a vendor of the product desired. This method can be, however, singularly unsatisfying, as a search based upon a common word will often yield hundreds of search "hits," most of which turn out to be fruitless owing to facetious or frivolous linkages established by an owner or builder of the site. Ferreting out a useful connection can be extremely time-consuming and frustrating, often leading the user to abandon the search entirely and choose a low-tech purchasing option, or to turn to a site already known just because of ease and familiarity. In either of these cases, a vendor that does not enjoy widespread name recognition from long-term existence or from having spent prodigiously on advertising will likely lose out on a possible sale. In fact, it has been the subject of widespread reports that even a large marketing budget does not confer immunity from financial woes, as witnessed by the recent spate of falling stock prices in the e-commerce arena among the so-called "dot-com's."

Method and system for optimizing market accessibility via an electronic network


A latch-type stackable connector includes a base seat having an insulating seat. Multiple terminals are side by side inlaid in the insulating seat. Multiple fixing latch pieces are respectively inserted in two sides of the insulating seat. Each fixing latch piece having a first end extending to a bottom of the insulating seat to be soldered on a circuit board. A connector having an insulating bed. Multiple terminals are side by side inlaid in the insulating bed. Latching pieces are respectively inserted in two sides of the insulating bed. Each latching piece has a first end protruding from a bottom of the insulating bed to be latched with a second end of the fixing latch piece. A second end of the latching piece is correspondingly tightly latchable with the first end of the latching piece of another connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a latch-type stackable connector, and more particularly to a stackable connector in which two fixing latch pieces are respectively mounted on two sides of the base seat. In addition, two latching pieces are respectively inserted in two sides of the connector. When the connectors are stacked on the base seat, the latching pieces are latched with the fixing latch pieces of the base seat or latched with each other to firmly fix the connectors and stack the connectors on the base seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, packaged body such as nand flash is mounted on the circuit board of a computer or other electronic digital product to speed the processing. Conventionally, the packaged bodies are one by one soldered on the circuit board. Accordingly, each packaged body will occupy a certain space of the circuit board. In the case that numerous packaged bodies are to be mounted, the surface of the circuit board must be increased. Under such circumstance, it is impossible to minimize the volume of the product. Furthermore, in the case that a user needs to expand and add some packaged bodies on the circuit board, there will be no reserved space for the additional packaged bodies. As a result, it is necessary for the user to remove the original packaged body and replace the original packaged body with a new one with larger capacity or higher rank. Such replacement can be hardly done by a common user.


A blade of a built-up marine propeller is balanced by forming an open cavity of a predetermined size at a predetermined location proximate to the blade tip, conducting a spin-balancing test in which the blade being balanced and a calibration blade are assembled diametrically opposite each other on a dummy hub to form a simulated two-blade propeller, determining from the test the weight that must be added to the blade to balance the simulated propeller, and affixing a balance member of a predetermined weight in the blade cavity. A cover plate is secured in the cavity opening of the blade in sealed relation, and the external surface of the cover plate is ground to make it fair to the profile of the portion of the blade face adjacent the cavity opening.

Marine propellers are sometimes constructed by fastening individually fabricated blades to a hub. This is always the case with controllable pitch propellers (CP propellers) and can also be the case with propellers having fixed blades. The term "built-up marine propeller" will be used herein to refer to both CP and fixed-blade marine propellers in which individual blades are fabricated separately and are fastened to a hub.
Like any rotating device, it is important that a marine propeller be dynamically balanced to minimize vibration and thereby prevent undesirable loadings of the propeller components, the ship's shafting, and the shaft bearings and their mounts, and minimize noise. At one time, the blades of built-up marine propellers were hand-finished and were balanced against a standard blade weight by removing material from the blade surfaces. The resulting blades often deviated somewhat from the desired profile, which resulted in small, but nonetheless undesirable, differences in hydrodynamic performance among the blades.
With the advent of computer numerically controlled (CNC) 5-axis milling machines, it became possible and highly advantageous to finish the blades with such machines, which enables the blade surfaces to be highly accurate. CNC machine-finished blades, accordingly, require relatively small balance corrections, and such corrections have heretofore been made by providing a cavity on the side of the blade flange that faces the propeller hub and installing in the cavity lead balance members specially fabricated to a have a weight that is determined from a spin-balancing test, i.e., a test in which a simulated propeller consisting of a dummy hub and a set of blades installed on the dummy hub in a configuration corresponding to the actual propeller in which the blade will be used is spun (rotated) and the parameters (direction and magnitude) of the imbalance are determined. The locations and the amounts of the lead balance members required to balance the simulated propeller are calculated from the test results. The balance members are fabricated and installed on the blade flanges as required, which involves removing the blades from the dummy hub. The blades are reinstalled, the spin-balancing test is repeated, and any further balance adjustments are made by altering the balance members.
The effect on the balance of the propeller of installing balance members on the propeller blades is, of course, a function of the masses of the balance members and the distances of the balance members from the axis of rotation of the propeller. When balance members are installed in the blade flanges, the distance from the propeller axis is relatively small, and balance members with relatively large masses (high weights) are required. To minimize the masses of the balance members, it has been conventional to balance the propeller blades in sets and to install them as sets on the propeller. For both balancing and installation, the blades are arranged in a sequence, based on their weights, that will make the propeller most closely balanced before balance members are added and minimize the sizes and the number of balance members required to achieve balance. An important disadvantage of balancing the blades in sets is that they have to be used in sets. If one or more, but less than all, of the blades of a propeller have to be changed for some reason, it is necessary to change the whole set.

Built-up marine propeller blade balancing


The range of digital data communication services, such as a basic rate 2B1Q ISDN channel, to customer premises located beyond the industry standard achievable range of a two-wire loop can be extended by increasing the capacity of the ISDN line code from two information bits per symbol to three information bits per symbol, so as to reduce the effective symbol rate, which is error correction encoded to an effective 4B1H line code for defining a sixteen level PAM signal waveform, and employing enhanced low signal-to-noise ratio signal processing techniques in both the transmitter and receiver to accommodate the increased insertion loss of the two-wire line resulting from its extended length. Such enhanced low signal-to-noise ratio signal processing techniques include a Tomlinson precoder in the transmitter, and an adaptive linear equalizer and a module unit in the receiver.

In order to meet various ANSI requirements for digital data communications, telephone subscriber copper wire lines must meet specified industry standard performance criteria, which limit the operational range of a two-wire loop. For example, in the case of currently installed ISDN basic rate digital subscriber lines (having a data rate of 160 kilobits per second, including bidirectional data payload and overhead maintenance channels), the ANSI standard T1.601 for 2B1Q (two-binary/one, quaternary/four level) modulation, two-wire, full-duplex data transport with echo cancellation, typically describes an ISDN channel as one that does not exceed a two-wire loop loss of 42 dB at 40 KHz, or 1300 ohms, resistive. As a consequence, the operational range of such a two-wire loop is limited to a range on the order of 15-18 kft, using No. 26 (American Wire Gauge) wire, and commercially available ISDN transceiver interface equipment.
To extend ISDN communications to the approximately twenty percent customer premises market that lies geographically beyond this range, it is necessary that the service provider either install repeaters in the loop, or use a different communication medium, such as a T1 carrier fiber optic link. Unfortunately, each of these alternative solutions to the extended range problem carries with it a substantial cost penalty that the customer is unwilling to bear.
For example, the repeater approach requires the installation of both an office end repeater powering unit, plus a repeater mounting pole, or a subterranean, environmentally hardened housing (bell jar) for the repeater. Not only does this involve the use of additional equipment (including the cost of the repeater hardware and its installation), but it entails the expense and labor of maintaining the repeater enclosure.
Similarly, although T1 channel banks, located in both the switch office and another downstream location (office or remote hut) that is geographically `close` to the subscriber premises, are able to accept basic rate interface transmission extender (BRITE) cards for T1 carrier extension, the fact that T1 carrier systems are configured to include capacity for multiple extended basic rate services means that their use to deliver only a single basic rate extended service is prohibitively expensive and impractical.

Use of modified line encoding and low signal-to-noise ratio based signal processing to extend range of digital data transmission over repeaterless two-wire telephone link


A substrate liquid processing apparatus includes a cup 50 configured to receive a processing liquid supplied onto a substrate. The cup includes a ring-shaped first exhaust space 530 in contact with a top opening 50A, and a ring-shaped second exhaust space 540 which is in contact with an exhaust port 52 and is disposed adjacent to the first exhaust space, and the first exhaust space and the second exhaust space communicate with each other intermittently or continuously along an entire circumference thereof. Further, the cup has an inner wall that confines an inner periphery of the second exhaust space, and the inner wall includes a first wall portion 581 serving as an upper part of the inner wall, and a second wall portion which serves as a lower part of the inner wall and is located at an inner position than the first wall portion in a radial direction.

In the course of manufacturing a semiconductor device, various liquid processes, such as a wet etching process, a chemical liquid cleaning process, etc., are performed on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer. A single-wafer processing unit for performing these liquid processes includes a spin chuck that rotates the substrate around a vertical axis line while holding the substrate horizontally; a nozzle through which a processing liquid is supplied onto the substrate being rotated; and a cup that receives and collects the processing liquid dispersed from the substrate after supplied thereto.
The cup has a top opening at a central upper end thereof and an exhaust port at a bottom portion thereof. The top opening of the cup has a diameter slightly larger than that of the substrate. If the inside of the cup is suctioned through the exhaust port, a gas (typically, clean air) that exists in a space above the substrate is drawn into the inside of the cup through the top opening and exhausted through the exhaust port. The cup is provided with a wall for guiding a flow of the gas within the cup (see, for example, Patent Document 1). By allowing the gas to flow within the cup at an appropriate flow rate in a proper direction, the processing liquid once dispersed from the substrate can be suppressed from re-adhering to the substrate, and mist of the processing liquid can be removed from the gas.
It has been required to perform the exhaust effectively even with a low suction force from the exhaust port. In this regard, there still is a room for improvement in the wall structure described in Patent Document 1.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2014-086639


A blender has a container shaped in an oblong cross-section with the opposite ends of semi-circular shape and parallel straight walls inbetween these ends. The rotary cutter is positioned at the center at one of the semi-circular ends giving the container an off-center heavier side. The power base on which the container sits provides a telescoping tower to house an electrical interlock safety switch at its upper end which is engaged by an element on the container cover so that only when the cover is fully on the container can the blender be activated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to kitchen blenders. More specifically, the invention relates to blenders in which a container having a rotary cutter in its bottom wall normally sits on a power base, a motor in the power base being releaseably coupled to the cutter.
2. Description of Related Art including Information Disclosed under .sctn..sctn.1.97 to 1.99
The prior art is loaded with examples of kitchen blenders comprising containers which sit on a power base with automatically engaged coupling means on the bottom of the container and top of the base. Examples are Pat. No. 2,284,155 which issued May 26, 1942 to M. J. Landgraf; Pat. No. 2,758,623 which issued Aug. 14, 1962 to N. Malz et al; and Pat. No. 3,175,594 which issued Mar. 30, 1965 to I. Jepson et al. In the past the containers for such blenders have been more or less symmetrical about the axis of the cutter.
Some of the containers have featured longitudinal inward fins or vanes which assist in the blending process. For instance, in the Landgraf patent, the cutter swirls the fluid within the container in a general rotary direction past the fins which deflect the fluid inward and upward or downward to assist in the blending operation. This phenomenon is generally treated in the Landgraf patent.
The prior art has, as well, disclosed a number of food processors wherein, for safety, the motor has been disabled until the cover is in place. This avoids the risk of injury by someone reaching down into the container while the cutter is rotating. Such devices, for instance as that shown shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,641 which issued Jan. 22, 1980 to M. Coggiolia, have involved a lateral tab on the container cover which causes actuation of an interlock switch only when the cover is in place. The interlock switch is normally at the level of the cover.
Generally, such interlock switch means have not been used on blenders because the distance between the top of the container and the cutter has been great enough so that accidental insertion of one's hand all the way to the cutter has not been likely.


Aspects of the present disclosure involve an apparatus, systems, and methods for providing intelligent laundering alerts. Example embodiments involve an intelligent garment tag that may be affixed to garments, and may store and provide information about the garment to which it is affixed. The information stored thereon describes various aspects of the garment including color, fabric, and laundering information. The intelligent garment tags further include an alert component for providing laundering alerts (e.g., a flashing or colored light, a warning noise, or a vibration) based on, for example, garment color compatibility or laundering device (e.g., washing machine or clothes dryer) compatibility.

Most clothing and other frequently laundered articles include labels with printed information describing a manner in which the article should be laundered. These laundering instructions are typically based on a type or color of the fabric. As an example, clothing labels include information such as "wash with like colors," "do not iron," or "dry-clean only." Failure to follow the provided laundering instructions may result in the item being damaged or destroyed. This type of laundry warning is often conspicuously located on labels that are now relatively ubiquitous, yet despite the potential unwanted effects of noncompliance, because of the laborious effort involved in checking each label in a load of laundry, these warnings regularly go unheeded. Further, the printed information on the labels often fades over time making compliance with laundering instructions even more difficult.

Garment tags for intelligent laundering alerts


An apparatus of one aspect includes a photodetector array, and a peripheral region at a periphery of the photodetector array. A thinner interconnect line corresponding to the photodetector array is disposed within one or more insulating layers. A thicker interconnect line corresponding to the peripheral region is disposed within the one or more insulating layers. Other apparatus, methods, and systems are also disclosed.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to an apparatus having a photodetector array. In particular, embodiments of the invention relate to interconnect lines for an apparatus having a photodetector array.
2. Background Information
Photodetector arrays are prevalent. The photodetector arrays may be used in a wide variety of applications. Commonly, the photodetector arrays may be used to acquire images or video for various electronic devices, such as, for example, digital cameras, camera phones, security cameras, camcorders, medical imaging devices, etc. Examples of other applications include motion detection, position sensing (e.g., an optical mouse), and other consumer electronics, medical, automobile, military, or other applications.
In photodetector arrays, there is a trend toward smaller pixel sizes. The smaller pixel sizes may help to provide higher pixel densities, higher image resolution, and/or may help to reduce the cost of providing the photodetector arrays.
One challenge with reducing the pixel size is that the area available for collection of light for each pixel or photodetector is typically also reduced. This tends to reduce the total amount of energy collected by each pixel or photodetector during photodetection, which may tend to reduce the sensitivity of the photodetector array.

Apparatus having thinner interconnect line for photodetector array and thicker interconnect line for periphery region


A system and method for transmitting telemetry data from an implantable medical device to an external device. A connection-oriented protocol is used to transmit data at a higher data rate while a burst mode protocol is used to transmit data a lower data rate. The lower data rate may be used for remote communications where the received signal is of lower power.

Implantable medical devices, including cardiac rhythm management devices such as pacemakers and implantable cardioverter/defibrillators, typically have the capability to communicate data with an external device called an external programmer via a radio-frequency telemetry link. One use of such an external programmer is to program the operating parameters of an implanted medical device. For example, the pacing mode and other operating characteristics of a pacemaker are typically modified after implantation in this manner. Modern implantable devices also include the capability for bidirectional communication so that information can be transmitted to the programmer from the implanted device. Among the data that may typically be telemetered from an implantable device are various operating parameters and physiological data, the latter either collected in real-time or stored from previous monitoring operations. External devices for remote monitoring may also receive telemetry data from an implantable device where, for the convenience of the patient, the communications must take place over greater distances than with the typical external programmer.

Adaptive telemetry system and method for an implantable medical device


The invention provides a method and system for adaptive point-to-point communication between a wireless communication system and a non-wireless backhaul communication system. The wireless physical layer and the wireless media-access-control (MAC) layer collectively include a set of parameters, which are adaptively modified by base station controllers in multiple cells of the wireless communication system for intercommunication among those multiple cells. The IP layer and QoS (quality of service) parameters for communication between a selected base station controller and the non-wireless backhaul communication system collectively include a second set of parameters, which are adaptively modified by the selected base station controller for intercommunication between that selected base station controller and the non-wireless backhaul communication system. Wireless communication among multiple cells includes adaptive modification of parameters for the physical layer and the MAC layer, so as to optimize intercell communication without excessive interference with intracell communication. Thus, a first base station controller (selected for its relatively central communication position) adjusts communication with each neighbor base station controller individually and adaptively in response to changes in characteristics of communication, including physical characteristics, amount of communication traffic, and nature of application for the communication traffic. The first base station controller accounts for characteristics of communication for both intracell and intercell communication, including the possibility of interference between intracell and intercell communication. The combination of wireless communication and non-wireless communication over the entire channel between multiple customer premises equipment and at least one router in the non-wireless communication backhaul network includes adaptive modification of parameters for the IP layer and QoS, so as to optimize backhaul communication between customer premises equipment and the backhaul network.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wireless communication systems, such as those including integrated backhaul.
2. Related Art
Wireless communication systems include sending information between a sender and a receiver using a wireless communication link. In wireless communication, the sender modulates information onto a wireless communication channel (such as a frequency band reserved for wireless communication between the sender and the receiver), and the receiver demodulates that information from the wireless communication channel (so as to recover the original information). Known wireless communication systems often use a cell structure, in which within each cell a BSC (base station controller) communicate with CPE (customer premises equipment). This provides the features that (a) communication can independently be controlled within each cell, and (b) wireless communication resources, such as frequencies, can be used in multiple cells when those cells are sufficiently distant to prevent substantial interference.
One problem with known systems is the need to provide integrated backhaul connectivity between the wireless communication system and a non-wireless communication system. For example, such non-wireless communication systems might include a wire line or fiber communication system including routers and the Internet. Such backhaul connectivity might should advantageously include inter-cell communication, as well as communication between selected cells (more specifically, the base station controllers in selected cells) and the non-wireless communication system. However, attempts to integrate backhaul connectivity with known systems would suffer from similar draw-backs to those that are common to internal communication within wireless communication systems; these would include drawbacks described in the Incorporated Disclosures (see "Related Applications" below).
More specifically, the physical characteristics of the communication link between a first cell and a second cell can change substantially over relatively short periods of time, even though the physical location of the base station controllers for those cells is not substantially altered. This is particularly so for interference, such as co-channel interference (CCI), and for multipath effects, such as reflections resulting in intrasymbol interference, intersymbol interference, and fading. There are multiple such characteristics of the communication link, each of which can change over time independently of each other. As a result, selection of a single set of such physical characteristics, even when physical conditions of the lines of sight between the first cell and the second cell are known, can result in relatively ineffective or inefficient communication between cells.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a technique for wireless communication including an integrated backhaul capability that is not subject to drawbacks of the known art. For one example, it would be advantageous to provide an adaptive point to point, or point to point-to-point, connection between selected cells of a wireless commutation system and selected elements of a non-wireless communication system. For a second example, it would be advantageous to provide an adaptive point-to-point, or point to point-to-point, connection among multiple cells in a wireless communication system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High-capacity scalable integrated wireless backhaul for broadband access networks


The technology is a system and method for selecting a television lineup. The available television lineups capable of being viewed on a digital device are identified. One of the tuner positions is selected and the television channel designated in each available television lineup identified. If any of the television channels identified is a likely identifiable channel and is designated by approximately half of the available television lineups, available television lineups may be deleted based on the television signal received by the selected tuner position. In on embodiment, the tuner positions are selected in numerical order. In an alternative embodiment, the tuner positions are first sorted before one is selected. It may not be possible to delete lineups based on likely identifiable channels. In this case, a viewer may be prompted to identify a channel.

An Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which is also commonly referred to as an Interactive Program Guide (IPG) is an on-screen guide to scheduled broadcast television. An EPG allowing a viewer to navigate, select, and discover content by time, title, channel, genre, etc., by use of their remote control. The technology is based upon broadcasting data to an application usually residing within middleware in a set-top box that connects to a television set and enables the application to be displayed.
Choosing the right EPG is a difficult, time-consuming process for viewers. There are often many different EPG lineups (also referred to as a "television lineup") for a given postal code. Viewers do not know which EPG will give them the exact lineup they have and often do not have the information they need to make the right choice.
EPG lineups do not map to postal codes. EPG lineups map to geographical regions and are often not named in a way a viewer will understand. For example, a viewer that lives in Renton, Wash. (zip code 98059) and receives television through a cable system may choose between three different Comcast television lineups. Each television lineup includes a different headend: Renton, South King County and Seattle. A viewer likely has no idea which television lineup to chose.


An exemplary backlight module (200) used for liquid crystal display device (20) includes a first frame (261), a light source (240), a heat dispersing member (280) disposed along the light source, and a second frame (270) defining a window at a middle portion thereof. The second frame cooperative with the first frame to form a space receiving the light source and the heat dispersing member therein.

Recently, liquid crystal display devices have been in widespread use as display devices for compact electronic apparatuses. Typical liquid crystal display devices not only provide good quality images with little power consumption, but also are very thin. The liquid crystal in a liquid crystal display device does not emit any light itself. The liquid crystal has to be lighted by a light source so as to clearly and sharply display text and images. Thus, a backlight module is generally needed for a liquid crystal display device.
Generally, a liquid crystal display device includes a top bezel, a plastic frame, and a bottom tray, whereby the top bezel, the plastic frame, and the bottom tray cooperatively form a space for receiving a liquid crystal panel and a backlight module. The bottom tray is made of alloy or metallic material with good heat transmission characteristics and high mechanical strength.
However, the alloy or metallic material of the bottom tray makes the backlight module and the liquid crystal display device incorporating the backlight module somewhat costly and heavy.
What is needed, therefore, is a backlight module and a liquid crystal display device incorporating the backlight module which can overcome the above-described deficiencies.

Backlight module with heat dispersing member and liquid crystal display device using same


A portable terminal includes a storage circuit, a communication circuit, a reading instruction circuit, a target-selection accepting circuit, a scanned-image data acquiring circuit, and a combined image data generating circuit. The reading instruction circuit instructs the scanner to read the document image. The target-selection accepting circuit accepts selection of target image data from the image data inside the storage circuit. The scanned-image data acquiring circuit acquires the scanned-image data from the scanner. The scanned-image data is generated by the reading of the document image by the scanner. The combined image data generating circuit generates single combined image data with a plurality of pages by combining the scanned image data with the target image data, and acquires the combined image data instead of the scanned image data.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In use of scanned image data of a document image read by a scanner, the scanned image data may be transmitted to other terminals via a typical portable terminal such as a mobile phone.
For example, a typical portable terminal transmits scanned image data to a portable terminal from a digital copying machine with a scanner via short range communications, and transmits the received scanned image data to other terminals from the portable terminal via e-mail.
Here, typical portable terminals often store imaged image data by widely spread camera function.
In view of this, a user may desire to transmit image data stored in a typical portable terminal to other terminals together with scanned image data.
However, the above-described technique can only transmit image data stored in a typical portable terminal and scanned image data to other terminals as separate data.
Accordingly, the above-described technique is required to handle both of the image data separately.

Portable terminal and recording medium that handles target image data and scanned image data as single data


A global cylinder group (CG) cache is stored in file server memory and shared by a plurality of file systems supported by the file server. The global CG cache comprises a number CG entries which are pre-allocated in memory. As different file systems are accessed, global CG entries in the CG cache are used to store CG block information for the accesses. With such an arrangement, a file server may support multiple file systems using a single global CG cache without starvation and other the adverse performance impacts of the prior art. According to one aspect of the invention, the global CG cache is periodically scanned to reclaim memory. In contrast to the prior art, where multiple scans were periodically performed of multiple CG caches for memory reclamation, the use of a single CG cache minimizes the impact of CG cache maintenance on file server performance.

FIG. 1 illustrates several components that may be included in a typical UNIX file system (UFS). Available space of a disk storage system 3 is generally shared by one or more file systems such as file system A (8) and file system B (9). File systems define the use of data storage devices that offer access to an array of fixed-size blocks, or sectors. The file system software is responsible for organizing these sectors into files and directories, and keeping track of which sectors belong to which file and which are not being used.
A UNIX file system (UFS) is a file system used by many UNIX and Unix-like operating systems. Each Unix file system is composed of a group of boot blocks, a superblock and a collection of cylinder groups (CGs). The boot block stores code which is used to initialize the file system. The superblock stores statistical, geometric and behavioral tuning parameters associated with the file system. Each cylinder group (CG) has the following components: a backup copy of the superblock a CG block which stores information to the particular cylinder, a collection of inode data structures that store metadata associated with the cylinder group data blocks, and the cylinder group data blocks. Each CG block entry includes a first portion characterizing the state of the associated cylinder, and a second portion including the cylinder group header of the associated cylinder. The state of the associated cylinder may include a cylinder group number, the block number within the cylinder where the cylinder block resides, state and other cylinder group counters. The cylinder group block stores attribute and inode information for the cylinder, and will generally vary in size from one file system to another based on the inode density of the cylinder group.
A file server such as file server 2 accesses storage devices associated with the file systems. File servers generally includes a memory 4, a portion of which is allocated to the temporary storage of data retrieved from the disk device to increase application performance by the reducing delays associated with I/O disk access. To support a typical UFS file system, the file server allocates a portion of memory to each file system to store a cylinder group cache (CG cache 5,6) for the file system. Each CG cache entry stores an in memory representation of each cylinder block for the associated file system. For example, in FIG. 1 the memory includes FSA CG cache 5 for storing CG block for file system A, and FS CG cache 6 for storing CG blocks for file system B. A CG cache is assembled in memory when each UFS is first mounted, and remains in memory until the associated file system is unmounted.
Storing the CG block in memory as described above allows the file server to more quickly retrieve cylinder information, resulting in faster allocation of and access to data blocks. However, as file systems are mounted and storage for the associated CG caches is reserved in memory, memory can quickly become full. Larger file systems, having concomitantly larger CG caches, will receive a larger allocation of memory, effectively starving out other file systems and reducing the performance of the file server.
One technique that is used to reclaim memory to reduce starvation involves searching the CG block entries of each individual CG cache to determine which CGs are least recently accessed. The cylinder block information associated with the LRU cylinder can be deleted, allowing at least a portion of the memory to be reclaimed for use by other file systems. Generally the file systems control the scanning of the CG caches during a synch period allocated to each file system. CG entries which are determined to be 'aged' during the synch period are deleted from memory. While this reclaiming scheme helps to reduce the impact that larger file systems have on file server resources, in heavily loaded storage systems the reclamation may not be sufficient to eliminate memory starvation. In addition, the frequent scanning of CG caches by multiple file systems in the reclaiming scheme reduces the performance of the file server. It would be desirable to identify a CG caching scheme that would overcome the problems of the prior art.

Global UNIX file system cylinder group cache


The present invention provides a process for preparing thermoplastic resin compositions having excellent HCFC resistance which comprises:. a first step wherein 50 to 90 parts by weight of a monomer mixture of 50 to 80% by weight of a vinyl cyanide, 20 to 50% by weight of an aromatic vinyl compound and 5% by weight or less of an unsaturated carboxylic acid or esters thereof or a vinyl acetate are graft-polymerized in the presence of 10 to 50 parts by weight of a rubber latex and also in the presence of 0.001 to 2.0 parts by weight of a polymerization inhibitor to prepare a graft polymer(A); PA0 a second step wherein 100 parts by weight of a monomer mixture of 50 to 80% by weight of a vinyl cyanide, 20 to 50% by weight of an aromatic vinyl compound and 5% by weight or less of an unsaturated carboxylic acid or esters thereof are polymerized, while adding 2.0 parts by weight or less of a polymerization inhibitor to the mixture, to prepare a SAN copolymer(B); and PA0 a third step wherein the graft polymer(A) is mixed with the SAN copolymer(B) to form the composition wherein the rubber content in the composition falls within the range of 10 to 30% by weight of the composition. PA0 Also the thermoplastic resin composition can be provided by mixing the graft polymer(A) with a SAN copolymer(C) consisting of 25 to 40% by weight of a vinyl cyanide and 60 to 75% by weight of an aromatic vinyl compound to form the composition wherein the rubber content in the composition falls within the range of 10 to 30% by weight.

In general, polyurethane foams have been employed as an insulator between an inner box and an outer case of a refrigerator; and CFC(chlorofluorocarbon) has been employed as a foaming agent in manufacturing the polyurethane forms. However, the use of CFC has become restricted since CFC was found to destroy the ozone layer in the stratosphere.
Accordingly, CFC is being replaced with HCFC which is known to be less destructive of the ozone layer. However, when HCFC is employed as the foaming agent, it tends to cause severe environmental stress in the ABS(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resin which is used in building the inner box of a refrigerator, rendering the ABS resin unsuitable for use in the manufacture of a refrigerator cabinet. Accordingly, an alternative resin having suitable HCFC resistance has been sought to replace the ABS resin.
In this connection, it has been known that the more nitrile is added to a resin, the higher resistance to chemicals in general is obtained(see U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,102). However, if the content of nitrile in a resin is too high, the impact strength and the fluidity of the resin are deteriorated and, furthermore, the color thereof tends to change to yellow.
Consequently, needs have continued to exist for the development of a resin which is resistant to HCFC without the above and other deficiencies.

Process for preparing thermoplastic resin composition with excellent HCFC resistance


This invention is a mild personal cleansing bar formulation which lends itself to faster processing comprising: from about 20% to about 50% lathering mild synthetic surfactant and from abut 5% to about 50% of magnesium soap; wherein the ratio of said lathering mild synthetic surfactant to said soap is from about 10:1 to about 0.4:1; said bar having a pH of from about 6.5 to about 8.5 in a 1% aqueous solution at 25.degree. C.

Personal cleansing with mild surface-active cleansing bar preparations has become a focus of great interest. The processability of such bars has also become a focus of great interest. The smear properties of such bars have become a focus of even greater interest.
Some of the problems associated with mild bars comprised of synthetic detergents are bar processability, firmness, smear and mildness. The problems of formulating such bars are not limited to the performance characteristics of the finished bars. Most bars which are made with certain mild surfactants are very difficult to fabricate.
In contrast, the fabrication of relatively pure "soap" bars is a well-worked-out engineering procedure involving milling, plodding and molding. Coco/tallow soap becomes quite plastic when warmed and can be easily plodded and molded under relatively low pressures.
Most synthetic detergents and detergent-filler combinations do not become plastic and the machinery for fabrication must be specially designed. See U.S. Pat. No. 2,678,921, J. A. V. Turck, Jr., issued May 18, 1954.
Ideal processing should be fast and problem free in terms of milling, plodding and molding toilet bar formation. Most mild bar processings fall short in this respect.
The development of soap-synthetic bars dates back to World War II. U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,169, Hoyt, describes a bar having soap and alkyl benzene sulfonate as the active and a substantial proportion of corn starch as a binder; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,511, Mills and Korpi, issued Jun. 13, 1961, describes a nonsmearing bar comprising alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate, sodium and magnesium soaps and binder. U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,735, Blinka and Grounds, Jr, issued May 2, 1961, discloses a detergent milled bar comprising soap, anionic detergent and starch.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,781,321, Mayhew et al., issued Feb. 12, 1957, discloses (Example 19) a 50% Mg stearate all purpose detergent bar with 20% gum, etc. The surfactant system includes dodecylbenzene sulfonate in Examples 26-30, which is a relatively harsh surfactant. STPP is used at levels of 10-15% in Mayhew et al.'s examples.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,547, Charfee, issued Dec. 25, 1962, also discloses a potassium synthetic soap-synthetic bar containing magnesium soap. There appears to be no free fatty acid in the Chaffee exemplified bars, and the pH's of his surfactant systems used in those examples are not disclosed, but are normally relatively high.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,987,484, Lundberg and Blinka, issued Jun. 6, 1961, discloses a closed die injection molded detergent bar comprising alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate and acyl isethionate. Some other uses and procedures for making alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.: 2,094,489, Hulter, issued Sep. 28, 1937; U.S. Pat. No. 2,427,576, Smith, issued Sep. 16, 1947; U.S. Pat. No. 2,427,577, Smith, issued Sep. 16, 1947; U.S. Pat. No. 2,989,547, Whyte, issued Jun. 20, 1961; U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,068, Pilcher et al., issued Sep. 5, 1961; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,024,273, Whyte et al., issued Mar. 6, 1962, all of said patents incorporated herein by reference.
It is noted that surfactant mildness can be measured by a skin barrier destruction test which is used to assess the irritancy potential of surfactants. In this test the milder the surfactant, the less the skin barrier is destroyed. Skin barrier destruction is measured by the relative amount of radio-labeled water (.sup.3 H--H.sub.2 O) which passes from the test solution through the skin epidermis into the physiological buffer contained in the diffusate chamber. This test is described by T. J. Franz in the J. Invest. Dermatol., 1975, 64, pp. 190-195; in U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,525, Small et al., issued Jun. 16, 1987, and in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 294,832, Small et al., filed Jan. 9, 1989, incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,894,912, Geitz, issued Jul. 14, 1959, for "Isethionate Detergent Bar," discloses a detergent bar consisting essentially of from 30-70% of water-soluble alkali metal detergent salts of esters of isethionic acid with mixed aliphatic fatty acids having from 6 to 18 carbon atoms and an iodine value of less than 20, of which mixed acids at least 75% have from 12 to 18 carbon atoms and up to 25% have from 6 to 10 carbon atoms, from 2-10% of at least one water-soluble suds-boosting detergent salt selected from the group consisting of alkali metal and organic amine higher aliphatic fatty alcohol sulfates, alkyl aryl sulfonates, and higher aliphatic fatty acid taurides, from about 1% to about 9% water, from about 2.5% to about 25% of water-soluble higher fatty acid soap, and from 10-40% of at least one higher fatty acid having from about 12 to about 25 carbon atoms as a binder and plasticizer, said bar having a pH within the range from 6 to 8, measured as a 10% aqueous solution of the bar composition at 35.degree. C. No magnesium soap is used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,470, Tokosh et al., issued Dec. 25, 1979, discloses a method for making improved 30-70% acyl isethionate detergent bars with from 2-6% of sodium alkoxy hydroxy propane sulfonate (a synonym for alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate) with alkyl chains of from 8 to 22 carbon atoms in conjunction with a small amount of sodium chloride. C.sub.18 alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate at 5% is used in an example. The added alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate and salt are used to improve bar wear rate without adversely affecting its lathering characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,464, Morshauser, issued Nov. 18, 1980, for "Detergent Bar Composition and Binder Therefor," discloses a detergent bar in Example 6 which comprises: 45% sodium cocoyl isethionate, 5% alkyl amide, 37.5% stearic acid, 5.0% hydrogenated tallow glycerides, and 1% Polymer JR. Morshauser teaches that his detergent bars can contain up to 5% soap "without substantial detriment."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,341, Orshitzer et al., issued Mar. 15, 1977, for a "Unique All Synthetic Detergent Shampoo Bar," discloses a bar comprising a mixture of anionic and nonionic detergents. The Examples are primarily based on sodium lauryl sulfate, which is an unacceptably harsh primary surfactant for the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,418, Parran, Jr., issued Sep. 25, 1973, for "Detergent Compositions Containing Particle Deposition Enhancing Agents," discloses detergent compositions including a bar, whose main surfactant is alkyl sulfate, which is unacceptable for the mild skin cleanser of the present invention.
Major drawbacks of most synthetic surfactant toilet bar formulations are harshness, poor lather, poor smear, and poor processability due to stickiness. The use of high sudsing anionic surfactants can yield acceptable lather volume. Unfortunately, the highest sudsing anionic surfactants are, in fact, poor in processability. While some prior art mild blends of sodium coconut/tallow alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate (AGS) are relatively good in lather potential, they are not so easy to process because of their stickiness or hygroscopicity. It will be appreciated that processability, firmness, smear, mildness, lather, and rinsability make surfactant selection for mild personal cleansing bars a delicate balancing act. Thus, it will be appreciated that rather stringent requirements for formulating mild personal cleansing bars limit the choice of surfactants, and final formulations represent some degree of compromise. Mildness is often obtained at the expense of processability, effective cleansing, lathering, or rinsing, or vice versa. Processability is often obtained at the expense of smear.
Needless to say, a superior processable mild personal cleansing bar formulation with good mildness, good smear, good lather potential and good rinsability is difficult to formulate.

Low pH mild personal cleansing bar with lathering mild synthetic surfactant and magnesium soap


A system, method and program product for stratigraphic layer identification using a stratigraphic knowledge base for machine learning. Reservoir data includes seismic data and well log data for a reservoir area. The well log data is processed to identify well stratigraphic layer features and the seismic data is processed to identify seismic stratigraphic layer features. A feature matching algorithm based on a stratigraphic knowledge base is selected to match the well stratigraphic layer features to the seismic stratigraphic layer features. The matched features are used to define a stratigraphic layer interpretation for the reservoir area and the interpretation is presented to a user.

Computers are used in most areas of complex data acquisition, expert analysis, and system implementation. This is particularly true in areas of deep domain knowledge, such as the analysis of complex physical systems. For example, the planning, implementation, and maintenance of oil reservoirs may include domain knowledge and related computer systems for analysis of seismic, well-logging, structural geology, reservoir geology, etc.
Well-tie analysis may involve using fine-scale well-log data from one or more wells in an area with much coarser seismic data to model stratigraphic layers between and around the wells. Successful well-tie analysis may allow expert users to calibrate velocity models, increase the quality of sedimentary models, confirm or reject hypotheses about the depositional environment, and establish depth locations of confining reservoir horizons, flooding surfaces, traps, etc. Conventional stratigraphic layer identification may involve generating a synthetic trace from the well-tie and overlaying the trace on consistent features in the seismic image, sometimes with the addition of one or more stratigraphic columns. An expert user may iteratively add wells, establish correlations, and refine interpretations as well-log data is added.

Stratigraphic layer identification from seismic and well data with stratigraphic knowledge base

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor chip having a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of pads formed above the semiconductor substrate a first passivating film formed over an entire surface of the semiconductor substrate, and having openings above the pads the surface of the first passivating film being flat, a plurality of interconnection lines formed on the surface of the first passivating film, a second passivating film formed over the entire surface of the first passivating film and having through holes, the through holes being arranged in the form of an array, the surface of the second passivating film being flat, a plurality of contacts for connection to external leads each of the contacts being formed within and above a respective one of the through holes, the contacts being arranged in the form of an array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor chip packaging techniques.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, semiconductor products undergo such various manufacturing processes as shown in FIG. 74 for their completion. The assembly process of incorporating a semiconductor chip into a semiconductor package is essential as one of manufacturing processes for completing semiconductor products.
The object of the assembly process is to facilitate signal communications between components formed in a semiconductor chip and components or devices external to the semiconductor chip, protect the semiconductor chip from humidity and external force, etc.
Some of conventional assembly processes incorporate a semiconductor chip into a semiconductor package such as a thin small outline package (TSOP), a tape carrier package (TCP), or the like.
However, the semiconductor package itself has no function. The cost required for the assembly process causes an increase in the cost of semiconductor products. The size of semiconductor products depend on the size of semiconductor packages, which imposes limitations on reductions in the size of semiconductor products.

Semiconductor package integral with semiconductor chip


The present embodiments optimize a gradient coil structure with a gradient coil arrangement for a magnetic resonance tomography device. The gradient coil arrangement includes a carrier plate with holes. Inserts are located in the holes. The inserts are made of an electrically isolating, thermally conductive material.

The present embodiments relate to a gradient coil arrangement for a magnetic resonance tomography device.
Magnetic resonance devices (e.g., an MR device) for examining patients using magnetic resonance tomography systems are, for example, known from DE10314215.
Modern magnetic resonance systems (MRT) work with coils for emitting high-frequency pulses for nuclear resonance excitation and/or for receiving induced magnetic resonance signals. A magnetic resonance system may include a permanent magnet or a superconducting coil for generating a basic magnetic field (HO) that is as homogeneous as possible in an examination area, and may include a large body coil that may be permanently incorporated into the MR device and multiple small local coils (e.g., surface coils or LC). To read out information, from which images of a patient may be generated, selected regions of the object or patient to be examined may be read out with gradient coils for three axes (e.g., X and Y axes approximately radial to the patient and a Z axis in a longitudinal direction of the patient). The spatial encoding in the magnetic resonance tomography system may be realized with the aid of a gradient coil arrangement with three independently controllable, magnetically orthogonal gradient field coil systems (e.g., three freely scalable fields). By overlaying the three freely scalable fields (in three directions X, Y, Z), the orientation of an encoding plane ("gradient field") may be freely selected.
Gradient field coils may be operated with high currents and large steady-state power dissipations and are therefore cooled. Because the field efficiency depends on the radius of the field-generating coils, the three conductor-bearing regions (X, Y, Z) provided are fitted on top of and close to one another. To dissipate large amounts of heat, at least one cooling plane directly adjacent to the gradient coils is fitted onto or between the regions.
In the case of thin-walled (e.g., approximately 70 mm thick) gradient coils, an approximately 4 mm thick cooling layer may be incorporated for each of the three primary and secondary gradient axes.
A coil body may be manufactured, for example, from an epoxy resin mass of high electric strength that, in a vacuum casting procedure, fills all hollow spaces of the concentric layer structure of the (gradient) coil sections. The casting compound fills radial gaps between the wire ranges that are advantageous for achieving the electric strength.
Wires for the structure of the transverse coils (X, Y) are fixed on level GRP carrier plates and rolled cylindrically. The GRP carrier plates have a high mechanical strength and support the isolation strength between two adjacent gradient axes even if no casting compound penetrates into the radial gap. The wires for gradient coils for the Z axis are cylindrically wound onto one of the GRP carrier plates. A cooling layer is either built up of metallic, electrically conductive structures or of non-metallic, electrically isolating structures.

Gradient coil arrangement and production method


A deposited multi-layer device of an electronic element and a plastic substrate on which an inorganic substance thin film layer is simultaneously formed on both surfaces of the substrate wherein each of the electronic element, plastic substrate and inorganic thin film have internal and thermal stress not equal to zero. The device is free from peeling, deformation or curl of the substrate and degradation due to impurities such as acid, alkali and water.

The present invention concerns a deposited multi-layer device having a plastic substrate with an inorganic thin film layer on the surface and being suitable, for instance, to a flat panel display used for office automation equipment, a television apparatus and the like.
In a terminal unit for office automation equipment and a liquid crystal television apparatus, the use of a large area liquid crystal panel has been strongly requested and an active matrix system in which a switch is placed on each picture element to maintain a necessary voltage is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI), Nos. 260,219 (1986) and 62,333 (1987).
On the other hand, extensive studies were made recently for reducing the weight and cost of liquid crystal panels and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI), No. 47,769 (1989), for instance, discloses a switching device with a plastic substrate.
However, when a deposited multi-layer switching device, for instance, is formed on a plastic substrate, peeling of the deposited multi-layer is caused by a deformation or a curl of the substrate. Further, since a process for fabricating the device includes a photolithographic step, in which a dipping of the device together with the substrate in an aqueous solution of acid or alkali or water is necessary, an acid, an alkaline or water remains in the substrate and can be a cause of spoiling the device later. Further, when a fine pattern is to be formed in the device, shift of a part of the pattern is caused due to an elongation and a shrinkage of the substrate and results in a problem, for instance, that a simultaneous exposure of a large area pattern is difficult or an anisotropy in an elongation and shrinkage of the substrate makes the patterning difficult.
On the other hand, in the fabrication of a liquid crystal display device with a plastic substrate, alignment of liquid crystal molecules requires a specific and complicated treatment on the substrate. In order to avoid this, Japanese Patent Publication, No. 47,769 (1989) discloses that when an SiO.sub.2 layer is formed on one surface of the substrate, the aligning can be applied in the same manner as on a glass substrate. However, when an SiO.sub.2 thin film is coated on a plastic substrate and a deposited multi-layer device is fabricated thereon, crack formations on the SiO.sub.2 thin film are often observed and give an insufficient reliability to the device.
In order to improve crack resistance and humidity resistance of the SiO.sub.2 film, a technique of applying a plasma treatment with a fluorine containing gas to a surface of the film has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI), No. 25,543 (1989). However, since this method is merely a surface treatment of the film with fluorine and not the fluorination of the entire film and further since the fabrication of the SiO.sub.2 film is based on a wet process by a spin-on-glass (hereinafter referred to as "SOG") method, shrinkage of the film is inevitable and still is a cause of cracks.
The present inventors have made an earnest study with an aim of fabricating a reliable and inexpensive deposited multi-layer device with a plastic substrate and, as a result, have realized that curl is the largest problem of the deformation of a plastic substrate upon fabrication of the device, and that causes of the deformation are an internal stress in deposited thin films, a relation between the above stress and the stress of the inorganic substance thin film layer, thermal expansion and shrinkage of the plastic substrate and further, more or less, a swelling of the plastic material of the substrate. It has been found that forming an inorganic substance thin film on the substrate is an effective countermeasure to prevent these causes of deformation. Based on these findings, they have attained the present invention. Further, when the thickness of the inorganic substance thin film is increased in order to reduce the generation of pinholes and to increase the rigidity of the film, cracks on the film are often observed and it has been confirmed that the use of fluorine-containing silicon compound as the thin film is effective for preventing the cracking.

Deposited multi-layer device with a plastic substrate having an inorganic thin film layer


Various embodiments of a tubular valve assembly for cement completion of wellbores and methods of using the tubular valve assemblies are provided.

The following paragraphs are provided by way of background to the present disclosure. They are not however an admission that anything discussed therein is prior art or part of the knowledge of persons skilled in the art.
Subterranean oil and gas wells require the inflow of hydrocarbon products from reservoir rock formations into the well. Various methods exist for wellbore construction, known as completions, to enable transport of produced hydrocarbon products to the surface. In one well completion technique, known as cemented-back monobore, an operator will leave the distal production section of the wellbore uncased, or open hole, to expose the rock formation and permit flow of the hydrocarbon products, while the proximal non-production section is encased in cement to form what is known by those of skill in the art as a cemented completion. A cemented-back monobore completion serves to replace the intermediate casing in a standard open hole completion, saving the costs associated with this casing level, and preventing the sloughing of the build (curved) section of horizontal wellbores.
In cemented-back monobore completions, the cementing operation initially typically involves the placement of a cement staging tool along a tubular string, and insertion of the tubular string into the wellbore to arrange for the tubular string to extend essentially coaxially within the wellbore from the proximal end of the wellbore to the distal end of the wellbore.
In general, cement staging tools are tubular comprising an inner and an outer surface and ports between the inner and outer surface through which cement can selectively flow into the annular space formed between the tubular string and the wellbore wall, or, in instances where the wellbore is lined with casing, into the annular space formed between the tubular string and the casing. In order to cement the tubular string in place, cement slurry is injected from the proximal end of the tubular string downward to the cement staging tool. By opening the cement staging tool port, the cement slurry is forced to flow upward from the cement staging tool into the annulus and set therein, thereby cementing the tubing string in the wellbore.
The heretofore known cement staging tools are limited in several respects, which may include failure to open and close the ports or retain ports in an opened or closed position when required, the requirement for a separate actuation tool to close or open the ports, the requirement for a drill-out of the cement staging tool and/or a tubular string closure placed downward of the cement staging tool, following the completion of the cementing operation, or hindrance of fluid stimulation operations caused by the presence of cement debris in the tubing string following completion of the cementing operation. It is therefore desirable to provide improved cement staging tools.

Tubular valve assembly for cementing of wellbores


This disclosure describes techniques that enable a service provider to synchronize public-private Internet protocol (IP) pairs between a central logging entity (CLE) server that attributes network traffic and network address translation NAT device that logs network traffic. The CLE server includes a communication protocol client communicatively coupled to a communication protocol host. The CLE server, in response to receiving a deregistration message from a registration protocol server, sends a clear request message comprising a private address via the communication protocol client. The deregistration message includes the private address. The NAT device includes the communication protocol host. The NAT device, in response to receiving the clear request message comprising the private address via the communication protocol host, clears a binding that maps the private address to a public address to prevent network address translation between the private address and the public address.

A computer network generally includes a number of interconnected network devices. Large networks, such as the Internet, typically include a number of interconnected computer networks, which in this context are often referred to as sub-networks or subnets. These subnets are each assigned a range of network addresses that can be allocated to the individual network devices that reside in the respective subnet. A server in each subnet may be responsible for allocating these network addresses in accordance with a network address allocation protocol, such as a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP).
Service provider networks typically assign private network addresses to subscriber equipment (e.g., cable modems, DSL modems, or mobile devices, also referred to herein as "subscriber devices") utilized by their customers. For example, a DHCP server or RADIUS server may dynamically assign a private address to a subscriber equipment upon establishing a network connection for the subscriber equipment. When not in use, the network connection is torn down and the private address is returned to a pool of provider addresses utilized within the service provider network. These private addresses are not routable outside the service provider network. Instead, a network address translation (NAT) device translates the private addresses currently used by each subscriber equipment to public network addresses that are routable within a public network, such as the Internet.
Service providers typically maintain information such that any given network address that sourced or received certain traffic can be traced back to the subscriber equipment of the particular customer. This may be done for law enforcement, billing, or account maintenance purposes. As a result, service providers typically deploy a Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) archive system that maintains archives of NAT system log ("syslog") files. Each syslog file stored by the CGN archive system potentially consumes a significant amount of information, including each subscriber login and, for each login, the private source IP address, the private source port, any VPN information of the subscriber, tunneling information, any NAT rules/terms, public IP address, and port assigned to the subscriber equipment. As such, in a typical service provider network, the CGN archive system is tasked with burden of correlating subscriber login and address allocation information from databases of, for example, an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server or access gateway with network address translation information from routers or NAT devices forwarding network traffic within the subscriber network. This correlation can present significant challenges and burdens in certain environments, such as large service provider networks where session setup rate is typically very high with tens of millions of sessions being established and torn down each day across the network.


A semiconductor chip may include an internal circuit, at least one power gating transistor, a system manager, and/or at least one current regulator. The at least one power gating transistor may be configured to switch a supply of at least one drive voltage into the internal circuit. The system manager may be configured to generate a control signal corresponding to an activation state of the internal circuit. At least one current regulator may be configured to control an amount of a current flowing through the at least one power gating transistor in response to the control signal.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to semiconductor chips, and for example, to a semiconductor chip supplied with drive voltages by a power gating scheme.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor chips are supplied with drive voltages by means of power gating schemes in order to reduce power leakage consumption. A time for stabilizing an operation after entering into a normal operation mode from a sleep mode in a semiconductor chip is called wake-up latency. In other words, wake-up latency means a time taken by each internal node of the semiconductor chip to arrive at a stable voltage, for example, a time for turning a gate-source voltage (VGS) of a power gating transistor into an operation voltage. The semiconductor chip does not begin any operation until each internal node reaches the stable voltage.
In a conventional semiconductor chip, a power gating operation is conducted to supply drive voltage into blocks by switching power gating transistors in the semiconductor chip. However, internal blocks of the semiconductor chip are different from each other in wake-up latency, e.g., a time for arriving at a stable voltage may differ between internal blocks. The internal blocks of the semiconductor chip have different wake-up latency because the internal blocks are different from each other in a current amount required for charging the stable voltage, but the same in current path, i.e., the same power gating transistor. For example, an internal block, which includes denser and more complicated logic circuits, e.g., arithmetic units, consumes more current than other internal blocks that are relatively less dense in circuit structure.
FIG. 1 shows an example graph illustrating a time gap among blocks of a semiconductor chip in arriving at a stable voltage. Referring to FIG. 1, a relatively less dense block represented by reference VDDmin operates in a shorter wake-up time (or latency) T1, while a relatively denser and more complicated block represented by reference VDDmax operates in a longer wake-up time T2. Because the semiconductor chip does not operate until all of internal circuit blocks are charged up to the stable voltage, a wake-up time of the semiconductor chip is dependent on the wake-up time T2 of the denser and more complicated block that arrives at the stable voltage in the longer time. For example, a conventional semiconductor chip has to wait until the internal block having the longest wake-up time reaches a stable voltage in order to set up a normal operating condition.

Semiconductor chip and power gating method thereof


Internal moire artifacts found in digital halftoning of photographic images are diffused by rearranging the order of grayscale levels in an original screen pattern cell to generate a new screen pattern cell having a different grayscale order of stored screen pattern pixels. The grayscale order of the original cell is modified by the addition of a bump function at each point in the original cell in order of grayscale. The new grayscale order is stored in the new cell. Adding the bump function at the chosen point in the original cell influences the choice of the next pixel in the grayscale so that the grayscale order in the new cell is, in general, somewhat different from the grayscale order in the original cell. Errors caused by internal moire effects are thus both diffused in the grayscale dimension, and also diffused isotropically in the spatial dimension. The effect of rearranging the order of the grayscale levels in the screen pattern cell is to diffuse the internal moire artifacts in the final halftone to nearby pixels, thereby rendering the internal moire artifacts less noticeable.

Images are typically stored in a memory by representing tone values for each pixel of the original image. For a black and white image, the stored pixels represent the grayscale value corresponding to each pixel. For a color image, each color plane is stored as an array of pixels each representing the tone value for each pixel of the image in each respective color plane. For example, if each of the pixels of a black and white image is represented by an 8 bit digital word, then the tone value for a given image pixel may be one of 256 values between the black level and the white level.
Continuous tone images do not print well o most printing devices where typically the absence or presence of the ink on the paper is used to represent the printed image. In order to represent halftones (shades between the presence or absence of the printed ink), the original image is screened to produce a pattern, such as a variable size dots which appear to the human eye as a halftone image.
To prepare a photograph for printing, it is first necessary to perform the step of halftone screening, which converts the continuous gray shades of the original into dots of varying size and shape. Typically, these dots are arranged on a regular grid of approximately 100 dots per inch. This spatial frequency is known as the screen ruling. Thus, one square inch of the final printed photograph will be composed of approximately 10,000 dots.
Screening to produce halftone images is well known. The screen consists of an array of dots, or halftone cells, each of which represents one section of continuous tone in the original image as a single dot of variable size and shape. A halftone cell, in turn, consists of an array of smaller screen pixels, or samples, each having individual values against which the input pixels derived from the original image will be compared. The individual values of the smaller screen pixels, or samples, of the repeating halftone cell which form the variable dots is referred to herein as a spot function.
The halftone screening step consists of a screen pattern generating step, and a comparison step between the input image and the screen pattern. The screen is usually stored as a fairly small pattern that repeats itself or is repeatedly generated by programming. At any point where the original image is greater than the screen pattern, the output is marked. At any point where the image is not greater than the screen pattern, the output is not marked. In other words, if the value of the image pixel is greater than corresponding value of the screen cell, a mark is generated by the marking engine, whereas if the value of the image pixel is less or equal to the screen cell value, then no mark is generated by the marking engine, or vice versa. In this way, the final screened image, composed of dots, is produced. In color printing, there are four separate steps of halftone screening, one each for the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks.
Much prior art work has been devoted to producing screens which will produce good results and avoid artifacts in the final image. One such artifact to be avoided is the moire pattern which results from the interaction between the original image and the screen pattern. To counteract the tendency for moire patterns to result, color screens are angled at 0 (yellow), 15 (cyan), 75 (magenta) and 45 degrees (black). If these angles are adhered to precisely, as well as the screen ruling being precisely identical for all four planes, then optimum results (minimum moire) are achieved. Screening at these angles presents no special problem in photomechanical screening systems (achieved by simply rotating the photographic screen carrier). In digital screening devices and digital raster scan imaging devices there is some difficulty reproducing irrational numbers, such as the tangent 15 or tangent 75 degrees. Rational numbers can be represented as the ratio of two integers; irrational numbers are endless non-repeating decimals. Both rational tangent and irrational tangent digital screening systems are known.
In particular, many screening methods make use of a screen pattern cell, which can be a one dimensional strip, a band, or any two dimensional area, such as a square, that contains a section of the final screen The screening method will repeatedly generate the screen pattern cell, resulting in a final screen of the desired ruling and angle. The critical step in halftone screening is the generation of the screen pattern cell which will be repeated to form the final screen covering the entire input image area. Examples of prior art techniques include rational tangent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,194 to Holladay), rational supercell (European patent document 0 427 380 A2), irrational tangent (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,499,489 to Gall et al, and 4,350,996 to Rosenfeld). In addition, three alternative screening techniques described in three copending patent applications by the inventor of the present invention, Ser. No. 753,893, filed Sep. 3, 1991, Ser. No. 768,135, filed Sep. 27, 1991, and Ser. No. 805,278, filed Dec. 10, 1991 may each be used to generate a suitable screen pattern cell.

Method and apparatus for halftoning of images using grayscale error diffusion


A fastener system and method for supporting and retaining modular insulating quartz liners with gas apertures in close proximity to corresponding apertures in diffusers of gas showerheads. Tubular fasteners have a head, a tubular shank and a foot that extend through a liner plate nozzle into a diffuser plate. A keyway in the gas diffuser, aligned and coaxial with a diffuser nozzle, allows the foot to reach an arcuate concourse through a keyway where it can be locked by bayonet turning. The keyway is machined into the diffuser by EDM and is an inversion of the fastener tip geometry rotated about the axis of the tubular shank. Each fastener and nozzle set form a coaxial path for distributing processing gas to substrates through liner and diffuser plates from a plenum in showerheads of a MOCVD reactor.

In gas reactors, particularly MOCVD reactors, quartz liner plates are used to control temperature. See application Ser. No. 13/316,343 entitled "Diffusers for Making Thermal Gradient Showerheads in a MOCVD Reactor" filed Dec. 9, 2011 by D. Ishikawa et al. and assigned to Alta Devices of Santa Clara, Calif. In the subject application, closely coupled Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) reactors distribute processing gases through water cooled gas distribution plates that form a portion of showerheads. Water cooling is intended to maintain the showerhead diffuser temperature at approximately 65 degrees Celsius, conservatively below the limit at which processing gas precursors prematurely dissociate and react. Compound semiconductor thin film deposition requires substrate processing at elevated temperatures, often higher than 800 degrees Celsius. Therefore it is necessary to establish and to maintain an extreme thermal gradient (from 800 degrees Celsius to 65 degrees Celsius or broader) between the close coupled showerhead and the substrate. As described in the '343 application, a way to maintain the showerhead-to-substrate temperature gradient involves spacing the substrate apart (up to ten centimeters, for example,) from the showerhead diffuser to minimize heat transfer between the two process surfaces. Spacing of this magnitude efficiently reduces heat transfer. There are benefits to minimizing spacing in order to control gas boundary layer thickness including optimal metal organic precursor utilization and better film uniformity. Precursor utilization and film uniformity affect the economic viability of some MOCVD products such as III/V solar cells produced in high volume. Low cost manufacturing is enabled by processing at ten millimeter or less spacing.
Diffuser to substrate spacing at ten millimeters or less requires an insulating material between the showerhead and the substrate providing a thermal gradient. In prior application Ser. No. 13/316,343, fused quartz glass is described for such use. This glass has low thermal conductivity at high temperature and is commonly used in vacuum processing chambers to insulate interior surfaces. However, introducing fused quartz glass to insulate closely coupled high outlet density, low temperature, showerhead diffuser surfaces is problematic in view of gas flow requirements from the showerhead to the substrate while providing a thermal gradient between the showerhead and the substrate.
The process reactor "ceiling" temperature—that is the temperature of the surface viewed from the substrate—must be precisely controlled. The ceiling temperature principally affects the rate of parasitic reactions and unwanted deposition on the showerhead. For instance, some temperature sensitive dopants diffuse and react on the ceiling and are depleted before depositing on the substrate. Introducing a quartz sheet insulator switches the "ceiling" from an actively water cooled showerhead diffuser to the quartz liner, as described in prior application Ser. No. 13/316,343.
The challenge therefore becomes how to passively control the quartz liner temperature and thus the ceiling temperature. Variables affecting the quartz liner temperature include: quartz thickness, opacity, mass, surface finish, and backside gap control. Of these variables, ceiling temperature uniformity principally depends on precisely controlling the gap (for example to 0.010±0.001 inch) between the diffuser and the backside of the quartz liner. Increasing the gap between the liner and the diffuser causes the liner to get hotter; decreasing the gap (or allowing contact between the liner and the diffuser) causes the liner to get cooler. Moreover, variations in gap thickness across the substrate processing area result in undesirable variations in deposition quality. The need therefore exists, especially for large format showerheads spanning multiple substrates, for a way to position and to retain quartz liners with a uniform and precise backside gap, i.e., the gap between the diffuser and liner.
Gas flow from the diffuser surface through the quartz liner to the substrate must be accomplished without adverse effects on showerhead flow conductance and uniformity. This is challenging for showerheads with high density gas nozzles. Showerhead diffusers with closely spaced nozzles, for example 68 nozzles per square inch arranged in a hexagonal lattice pattern, have limited open surface area available for flush mechanical fastening features. The need therefore exists for a fastener that can engage the diffuser surface without interfering with the regular nozzle pattern.
Prior application Ser. No. 13/316,343 described large format showerhead manufacture using electrical discharge machining (EDM). Quartz liners for these showerheads need to be supported in a way that does not obstruct uniform gas distribution nor interfere with water cooling, nor adversely influence the temperature uniformity of the underlying substrates. An object of the invention is to provide a fastener support system between a showerhead diffuser plate and a liner plate.

Fastener system for supporting a liner plate in a gas showerhead reactor


A work tool coupling assembly for a machine with a working implement. The work tool coupling assembly can include an excavator stick and a pin grabber coupler. The pin grabber coupler can include a first plate, a second plate, and a middle plate positioned between the first plate and second plate. The middle plate includes a portion protruding away from the first plate and second plate and is coupled to the excavator stick by a stick pin. The middle plate, the first plate, and the second plate are configured to couple with the working implement.

Excavators, backhoes, and other machines commonly have a movable linkage for controlling motion of an implement, such as a bucket, blade, hammer, grapple, fork arrangement, etc. A coupler may be used to increase the functionality and versatility of a machine by allowing different implements to be interchangeably connected to a stick or arm of the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,455 to Schupback et. al. describes an earth-moving machine that includes a coupling releasably joining a bucket to an end of a dipper stick. The coupling includes a hook pivotably coupled to the dipper stick about a first axis and configured to engage a pin secured to the bucket. The coupling further includes a pair of pins coaxially disposed along the axis and movable between an extended position in which the pins are received within a pair of spaced openings on the bucket to join the bucket to the dipper stick and a retracted position in which the pins are removed from the openings. The pins are actuated between the extended position and the retracted position by an actuator disposed along the axis between the pins. The actuator preferably includes a cylinder, first and second pistons disposed within the cylinder and coupled to the first and second pins, respectively, and at least one source of hydraulic pressure fluidly coupled to the cylinder to pressurize the cylinder and to move the first and second pistons and the first and second pins. The cylinder is preferably disposed within a bushing coupled to the dipper stick.
The present disclosure is directed toward improvements in the art.

Work tool coupling assembly with locking wedge


A nonlinear compensating circuit simplified in structure and reduced in bulk and weight is provided for a microwave-band radio apparatus of which a built-in circuit has a nonlinear input/output characteristic. A parallel circuit composed of linear operating means, which performs a linear operation, and nonlinear operating means, which performs a nonlinear operation, is connected in series with a compensated circuit which is a subject of nonlinear compensation.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonlinear compensating circuit for a radio apparatus, and more particularly, to a nonlinear compensating circuit for a microwave-band radio apparatus of which a built-in circuit has a nonlinear input/output characteristic.
(2) Description of the Related Art
With recent noticeable expansion of portable telephones, there is a demand for development of small-sized, lightweight devices with low power consumption.
Generally, a power amplifier used in a microwaveband radio apparatus has a characteristic such that its output power is proportional to the input power (i.e., the amplification factor is constant) while the input power is small, but becomes unproportional to the input power when the input power is large, causing a reduction in the amplification factor. Such nonlinearity is observed also in the case of phase; namely, while the input power is small, the output signal shows no phase deviation, but when the input power is large, the phase of the output signal advances or lags relative to that of the input signal. A frequency converter used in a radio apparatus also has a similar characteristic.
A conventional means of eliminating the influence of such nonlinearity is to provide a pre-compensating circuit for a power amplifier or the like of a radio apparatus arranged in a base station. Specifically, a distortion is detected through a comparison between the input and output sides of a power amplifier etc., a distortion-compensating distortion corresponding to the detected value is generated, and the generated distortion is combined or synthesized with the input signal for the power amplifier etc.
For portable telephones, the use of a pre-compensating circuit as mentioned above is not favorable because of its bulk, weight, and cost. Therefore, a large-capacity power amplifier or the like is used instead of additionally providing a pre-compensating circuit so that the power amplifier etc. may be used within a linear operation range even when it is supplied with large power.
In the case of the power amplifier or the like of a radio apparatus arranged in a base station, however, a distortion detecting section, a compensatory distortion generating section, a synthesizing section, etc. must be provided as the pre-compensating circuit, with the result that the apparatus is complicated in structure and is expensive.
Portable telephones equipped with large-capacity power amplifiers etc. are free from inconveniences that may be caused in the case where a pre-compensating circuit is used. However, such a power amplifier etc. inevitably have a large size and consume more power, obstructing reduction in size and weight of the battery. This adverse influence is great since the battery accounts for a large percentage of the bulk and weight of a portable telephone. This problem associated with portable telephones can be resolved if a pre-compensating circuit which is moderate in respect of bulk, weight and cost is available.