A grinding machine comprises a grinding member having a thickness greater than 10 mm and an outer contact surface extending in a thickness direction of the grinding member for contacting a surface of a workpiece. The grinding member is supported by a first rotational shaft for rotation about a first rotational axis. A first moving mechanism reciprocates the first rotational shaft along a first displacement axis. The workpiece is supported by a second rotational shaft for rotation about a second rotational axis perpendicular to the first displacement axis and the first rotational axis. A second moving mechanism moves at least one of the workpiece and the grinding member along a second displacement axis to bring the outer contact surface of the grinding member into linear contact with the surface of the workpiece to grind the workpiece. The linear contact between the outer contact surface of the grinding member and the surface of the workpiece has a contact length greater than 10 mm.

The present invention relates to a grinding machine, a grinding method, a method of fabricating semiconductor devices, and a method of fabricating semiconductor thin-film substrates. For example, the invention relates to a grinding machine for grinding surfaces of semiconductor wafers, to a method of grinding surfaces of semiconductor wafers, to a method of fabricating semiconductor devices by making use of steps for planarizing a substrate surface and a thin film formed on the planarized substrate surface, and to a method of fabricating semiconductor thin-film substrates having a quite thin semiconductor single-crystal film for use in semiconductor integrated circuits, semiconductor devices, or display devices.
Where the surface of a desired workpiece is machined, various machines and various methods can be used, depending on the material of the workpiece, on the shape, and on the surface state to be obtained after the machining process. Where the surface of a semiconductor wafer is machined, it is common practice to employ lapping. In a lapping operation, free abrasive grains are inserted between a platen and a semiconductor wafer that is a workpiece. The platen is made to make a planetary motion relative to the workpiece while maintaining the platen in contact with the workpiece. In this way, the semiconductor wafer surface is machined.
Another machining method is grinding using a cup-shaped grinding wheel as shown in FIG. 6. When a grinding operation is performed with the cup-shaped grinding wheel, a semiconductor wafer 12 is placed opposite to the outer surface of the grinding wheel 11 in such a way that the center of rotation of the wafer 12 substantially agrees with the outer surface of the grinding wheel 11. The grinding wheel 11 and the wafer 12 are rotated in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows D and E, respectively. Under this condition, the cup-shaped grinding wheel 11 is fed into the wafer in the direction indicated by the arrow F. In this manner, the surface of the semiconductor wafer 12 is machined.
Where a curved surface such as of a lens or reflecting mirror is machined, a grinding operation is carried out, using an extremely thin grinding wheel 13 as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. As shown in FIG. 7B, the extremely thin grinding wheel 13 comprises an extremely thin (2 to 3 mm) disklike grinding wheel whose outer surface has been shaped like the letter "R". This grinding wheel 13 and a workpiece 16 are rotated. The grinding wheel 13 is fed into the workpiece in the direction indicated by the arrow H while reciprocating a grinding wheel shaft 14 in the direction indicated by the arrow G of FIG. 7A. In this way, the surface of the workpiece 12 is machined. In this machining process, the extremely thin grinding wheel 13 makes contact with the workpiece 12 at a point. Therefore, a desired curved surface can be obtained.
On the other hand, chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) has attracted attention as a new planarizing technique for semiconductor fabrication processes. FIG. 9 is a cross section of a semiconductor wafer being polished, schematically illustrating the CMP technique. The silicon wafer, indicated by 36, is held to a suction platen 35 and rotated as indicated by the arrow. The wafer is kept in contact with polishing cloth 37 on the surface of a polishing machine. That is, CMP is a process making use of both mechanical processing and chemical etching to planarize the surface of the silicon wafer without damaging it. The mechanical processing utilizes both the polishing cloth 37 and a compound in the polishing fluid. The chemical etching makes use of a chemical solvent contained in the polishing fluid. Accordingly, it is necessary to select the polishing fluid according to the object to be polished. In the CMP, reaction products formed on the wafer surface are removed generally by mechanical polishing between colloidal silica and the polishing cloth and thus chemical reactions are promoted. That is, CMP processes the desired workpiece by mechanochemical reactions. For example, where the polished workpiece is silicon, NaOH which is the main constituent of the abrasive cooperates with the silicon surface layer to form a layer of the reaction product Na.sub.2 SiO.sub.3, as given by the following chemical reaction: EQU Si+2NaOH+H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.Na.sub.2 SiO.sub.3 +2H.sub.2
This reaction product 38 is removed by mechanical polishing of colloidal silica (compound) and polishing cloth to expose a new silicon surface. As a result, the chemical reaction on the surface is continued. Thus, the polishing process is made to progress. The temperature at the surface of the wafer is elevated by frictional heat and so the chemical reaction is accelerated.
Some methods are known to form a single-crystal thin film in a semiconductor thin-film substrate. In one method, gas is supplied onto a crystal substrate and a single-crystal film is epitaxially grown. In another method, a thick semiconductor single-crystal substrate is bonded to a second substrate. Then, the first-mentioned semiconductor single-crystal substrate is polished to form a thin film. Also, the aforementioned chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) has attracted attention as a new planarizing technique for semiconductor manufacturing processes.
The conventional grinding machines and methods using these conventional machines use the several methods described above. However, these have the following drawbacks.
In lapping, if the workpiece is a brittle material such as a semiconductor wafer, innumerable cracks are produced on the surface of the workpiece because of brittle fracture, leaving a deep layer whose property has been modified by the processing. Therefore, it has been heretofore necessary to etch away the modified layer with an acid or the like after the lapping.
Furthermore, the cracks produced by the lapping have nonuniform depths. This increases the amount of the modified layer to be etched away. This in turn greatly deteriorates the flatness. Accordingly, after the etching step, polishing is necessary to modify the shape. In this way, the efficiency of the machining process is quite low. Moreover, the planetary motion makes the machine bulky.
In addition, in the case of grinding using the cup-shaped grinding wheel, the cup-shaped grinding wheel 11 provides a large area in contact with the workpiece 12 such as a semiconductor wafer, as shown in FIG. 6. Hence, the machining load is large. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of the shape, it is necessary to enhance the rigidity. This also increases the size of the machine. Further, if the contact area between the cup-shaped grinding wheel 11 and the workpiece 12 is large, then each individual abrasive grain makes contact with the workpiece for a long time. In consequence, the load imposed on the abrasive grain per rotation of the grinding wheel is large. As a result, abrasive grains tend to come off and to cause rapid wear. When abrasive grains come off, they are dragged on the surface of the workpiece, resulting in cracks. Furthermore, abrasive dust is not efficiently removed, so that the dust is dragged. This also leads to cracks.
In machining processes using the extremely thin grinding wheel 13 shown in FIG. 7, the grinding wheel 13 provides a small area in contact with the workpiece 12 such as a semiconductor wafer. Hence, the machining efficiency is very low. Furthermore, the grinding wheel makes contact with the workpiece at a point and so it is necessary to very accurately align the center position (machined point) of the grinding wheel 13 indicated by the dot-and-dash line P in FIG. 7B with the position of the center of rotation of the workpiece indicated by the phantom line Q. However, if the center position of the grinding wheel 13 slightly deviates from the center of rotation of the workpiece, then some part of the central portion of the workpiece will be left unground.
Where CMP is applied to semiconductor device fabrication processes, the following problems occur.
(1) Where a large area is machined by CMP, the central portion is dished out. Therefore, the surface of the semiconductor thin-film substrate has unevenness on the order of 0.5 .mu.m. PA1 (2) The abrasive used in CMP machining is an alkali solution such as NaOH or KOH containing colloidal silica or the like. Therefore, the abrasive or its reaction products are left on the wafer surface. The remaining abrasive or reaction products deteriorate the device characteristics or production yield. PA1 (3) In the case of CMP machining, the whole wafer surface is machined. Therefore, it is difficult to detect the endpoint of the machining process. This makes it impossible to accurately control the film thickness. PA1 (4) Since a chemical etching is conducted, it is necessary to select the abrasive according to the object to be polished. PA1 (1) The underlying substrate must be a crystal. Furthermore, this is limited to substrates having lattice constants substantially equal to that of the epitaxially grown thin film. PA1 (2) A high temperature exceeding about 1000.degree. C. is necessary for the epitaxial growth. Lowering the temperature deteriorates the crystallinity. PA1 (3) When the film is epitaxially grown, anomalous growth is observed in some portions. This makes it impossible to achieve a uniform film over the whole substrate.
When a single-crystal film is epitaxially grown for fabrication of a semiconductor thin-film substrate, the following problems occur:
Further, where a semiconductor thin-film substrate is formed by CMP machining, the same drawbacks are produced as occurring when CMP machining is applied to the aforementioned semiconductor device fabrication method.


A system of drying moist sludge includes a drier as a main component. The drier is composed of a lower gas fluidizing section and an upper high speed fluidizing section. Moist sludge to be be dried is introduced into a mixer in which each particle is coated with the moist sludge, and the coated particles are supplied to the gas fluidizing section. Fine particles flown away from the gas fluidizing section are fluidized in the high speed fluidizing section while they are dried by heating elements. After completion of the drying operation, dried sludge particles are collected in a dust collector. Subsequently, fine dried sludge particles are conducted to a bag type dust collecting unit from which they are discharged to a sludge hopper. A part of the coarse dried sludge particles collected in the dust collector is supplied to the gas fluidizing section, a part of the same is supplied to the mixer to be mixed with moist sludge, and the balance is delivered to the sludge hopper. The gas exhausted from the bag type dust collecting unit is introduced into the gas fluidizing section as fluidizing gas. A part of the exhausted gas is extracted to the outside by a quantity substantially equal to that of the gas vaporized from the moist sludge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for drying moist sludge in the form of pulverized dried sludge in order to treat moist sludge arising in a chemical plant, a sewage treating station or the like in a gas flow type combustion furnace and a swirl flow type melting furnace. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system of the aforementioned type preferably employable as a preliminary station prior to treatment of the sludge by burning and then melting it in these furnaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
When moist sludge containing organic substances such as sludge arising from industrial waste in a chemical plant, sludge arising in a sewage treating station or the like is burnt at an elevated temperature and the residue remaining on completion of the combustion is then treated in a swirl flow type melting furnace by melting it, it is necessary that the residue in the form of particles has a particle size of 700 .mu.m or less. To satisfy the necessity, moist sludge is hitherto first dried in a drier such as a flush drier, a disc type drier or the like, and the dried sludge is then in a crusher until a particle size of the crushed particles remain within a predetermined range. However, this conventional process requires a high magnitude of crushing power for driving the crusher, and moreover, a stator and associated rotational components in the crusher severely wear within a short period of time. In addition, an expensive maintenance cost is required for properly operating the crusher.
A process of drying moist sludge in a fluidized bed type drier has been already employed. However, with this conventional process having dried granular sludge used as a fluidizing medium, the dried sludge cannot be crushed to a fine particle size of 700 .mu.m or less enough to enable it to be supplied to a swirl flow type melting furnace. For this reason, there arises a necessity that the dried sludge is crushed in a certain type of crusher after completion of a drying operation, resulting in the same drawbacks as mentioned above occurring.


A method is disclosed for culling an object database in a graphics processing system. In one embodiment, the method comprises encoding per-object parameters and culling parameters. The per-object parameters are encoded in texture format thereby creating at least one per-object texture containing the encoded per-object parameters. Next, a fragment program used in a fragment processor of the GPU is optionally updated. The updated fragment program embodies a culling operation. A polygon is then rendered, wherein the rendering step includes per-fragment operations. During the per-fragment operations, the updated fragment program is executed. The culling operation embodied therein (i) accesses the culling parameter, (ii) samples the per-object textures, and (iii) produces cull results for a set of database objects. In this fashion, the fragment processor in the GPU is leveraged to perform computationally intensive culling operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer graphics including culling operations using a graphics processing unit.
2. Background
A wide variety of applications rely on computer graphics to generate images. An image is made up of an array of picture elements (pixels) or fragments and can be displayed on a display unit, such as, a monitor, screen or cathode ray tube. Many different types of computing devices with graphics capabilities are used to generate images. Such computing devices use graphics processing. The computational workload in graphics processing systems is generally split between a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU). A combination of software, firmware and/or hardware may be used to implement graphics processing. For example, graphics processing, including rendering can be carried out in a graphics card, graphics subsystem, graphics processor, graphics or rendering pipeline, and/or a graphics application programming interface (API), such as OpenGL.
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the processing power of GPUs, which are now typically able to distribute rendering computations over a number of parallel hardware pipelines. This has led to the transition of several stages of the rendering pipeline from the CPU to one or more GPUs. For example, per-vertex transformations and lighting may now be done on a GPU. At the same time, GPUs have become more and more flexible, allowing user-provided code to be executed at certain stages of the traditional rendering pipeline. However, a number of operations related to the generation of three-dimensional images are still typically performed on the CPU, or on multiple CPUs, and have not yet transitioned onto the GPU. Examples of such operations include computations generically referred to as "culling." Culling operations are typically carried out in the CPU for each rendered frame, in order to determine which portions of the database are visible, and thus should be submitted to the GPU for rendering. Culling operations may also include further processing of visible portions of the database, including, for example, level of detail selection or billboard orientation computations.
Increasing demands are being made upon graphics processing. These demands include realism, speed and cost. Realistic images are desired to be rendered at real-time, interactive rates. Such requirements are computationally intensive. It is beneficial then, to make the most efficient use of the computational abilities in both the CPU and the GPU. The inventor has discovered a way to leverage GPUs to perform computationally intensive tasks, such as culling, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the graphics processing. Any increases in efficiency can be directly translated to increased realism and speed, while also reducing cost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An ink jet printhead body includes one or more zones for cleaning, guiding and stabilizing a printhead wiper of an ink jet printer. The printhead body includes a receptacle providing a reservoir for ink, and the receptacle includes a wall having an outer surface. The wall includes a region at which location of one or more ink discharge nozzles is established. A plurality of ribs is located in each of the wiper cleaning zones, which in turn is located to be adjacent the wall region. The orientation of the ribs may be defined with reference to a first axis extending in the plane of the outer wall surface and intersecting the wall region in a first direction, and by a second axis, or axis of symmetry, extending in the plane of the outer wall surface and extending substantially parallel to an edge of the wall and through a central portion of the region to perpendicularly intersect the first axis. The orientation of the plurality of ribs is such that a direction of elongation of at least some of the plurality of ribs is in a direction substantially non-orthogonal to both the first axis and the second axis. The plurality of ribs defines a plurality of non-rectangular cavities. The plurality of ribs and plurality of cavities cooperate to remove and collect excess ink and contaminants from the printhead wiper.

In an ink jet printer, there is a tendency during printing for ink to mix with dust and paper fibers and dry on the printhead surface surrounding the nozzles, thus interfering with ejection of ink from the nozzles. This problem may be at least partially solved by providing a wiper which extends into the path of travel of the printhead which wipes ink from the printhead surface surrounding the nozzles as the printhead is moved back and forth relative to the wiper.
The wiper may be disposed in a maintenance or service station located to one side of the record feed path. In some cases, the wiper is fixedly mounted at a height such that it extends through the plane of the feed path. In other cases, mechanisms are provided for moving the wiper into an operative position.
In some printhead maintenance mechanisms used in ink jet printers, either each color of the printhead has a separate maintenance assembly or, if all of the colors are housed in one printhead and the monochrome (usually black) housed in another printhead, the two printheads each have a separate maintenance assembly. This is typically the case regardless of whether the color printhead and the black printhead reside in the printer at the same time or if the two printheads are interchangeably mounted on a single printhead carrier.
Some efforts have been made to clean the wiper of removed excess ink and contaminants, so that the wiper can remain effective in cleaning the surface surrounding the nozzles. Such efforts, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,702, are typically directed at providing a protrusion, or raised portion, of the head holder or printhead body which then engages the wiper blade to clean the surface of the wiper. Such protrusions extend substantially perpendicular to the direction of wiping.
Other efforts directed to cleaning a printhead wiper include providing a wiper well, or cavity adjacent to the area surrounding the printhead nozzles so as to remove and collect the excess ink and contaminants that have accumulated on the wiper. This design, however, contributes to increasing the decibel level of the noise generated during a wiper cleaning operation due to the wiper abruptly contacting, or "slapping", the sidewall of the cavity as the wiper enters the cavity. This "slapping" action also creates the risk of inadvertently throwing the removed excess ink and contaminants onto the print media.
In attempting to avoid the above-identified problems, ribs arranged parallel to the wiping direction have been incorporated to bridge across the cavity thereby preventing the wiper from fully entering into the cavity, and abruptly contacting a cavity sidewall. Such a configuration, however, contributes to uneven wear of the wiper, since a portion of the wiping surface of the wiper does not contact at least one of the ribs during a cleaning pass.
Therefore, a need exists for improved means for cleaning excess ink and/or contaminants from a printhead wiper.

Ink jet printhead body having wiper cleaning zones located on both sides of printhead


An apparatus for generating and manipulating a high-pressure fluid jet includes an assembly coupled to a motion assembly that imparts motion to the assembly along one or more axes. The motion assembly includes two motors coupled together to form a gimbal wrist, each motor having an axis of rotation. The two axes of rotation of the two motors can be perpendicular to each other, but are not necessarily aligned with the manipulator's axes of motion. The high-pressure fluid assembly incorporates a swivel that can rotate about two axes which may be parallel to the two motors' axes of rotation, allowing the high-pressure tubing contained therein to follow the motion imparted by the gimbal wrist of the motion assembly.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for generating and manipulating a high-pressure fluid jet, and more particularly, to an apparatus for generating a high-pressure waterjet and manipulating it about multiple axes.
2. Description of the Related Art
High-pressure fluid jets, including high-pressure abrasive waterjets, are used to cut a wide variety of materials in many different industries. Systems for generating high-pressure abrasive waterjets are currently available, for example the Paser 3 system manufactured by Flow International Corporation, the assignee of the present invention. An abrasive jet cutting system of this type is shown and described in Flow's U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,058, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. In such systems, high-pressure fluid, typically water, flows through an orifice in a cutting head to form a high-pressure jet, into which abrasive particles are entrained as the jet flows through a mixing tube. The high-pressure abrasive waterjet is discharged from the mixing tube and directed toward a workpiece to cut the workpiece along a selected path.
Various systems are currently available to move a high-pressure fluid jet along a selected path. (The terms "high-pressure fluid jet" and "jet" used throughout should be understood to incorporate all types of high-pressure fluid jets, including but not limited to, high-pressure waterjets and high-pressure abrasive waterjets.) Such systems are commonly referred to as two-axis, three-axis and five-axis machines. Conventional three-axis machines mount the cutting head assembly on a ram that imparts vertical motion along a Z-axis, namely toward and away from the workpiece. The ram, in turn, is mounted to a bridge via a carriage, the carriage being free to move parallel to a longitudinal axis of the bridge in a horizontal plane. The bridge is slideably mounted on one or more rails to move in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bridge. In this manner, the high-pressure fluid jet generated by the cutting head assembly is moved along a desired path in an X-Y plane, and is raised and lowered relative to the workpiece, as may be desired. Conventional five-axis machines work in a similar manner but provide for movement about two additional rotary axes, typically about one horizontal axis and one vertical axis.
Manipulating a jet about five axes may be useful for a variety of reasons, for example, to cut a three-dimensional shape. Such manipulation may also be desired to correct for cutting characteristics of the jet or for the characteristics of the cutting result. More particularly, as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, a cut produced by a jet, such as an abrasive waterjet, has characteristics that differ from cuts produced by more traditional machining processes. Two of the cut characteristics that may result from use of a high-pressure fluid jet are referred to as taper and trailback. Taper refers to the relative angle of a plane of the cut wall to a plane formed by the vectors of the jet and the direction of traverse. Trailback, also referred to as drag, identifies the phenomena that the fluid jet exits the workpiece at a point behind the point of entry of the jet into the workpiece, relative to the direction of travel. These two cut characteristics, namely taper and trailback, manifest themselves in geometrical anomalies that may or may not be acceptable, given the desired end product. Taper is typically not acceptable and requires an additional machining process to straighten the walls of the cut. Trailback effects cutting around corners and curves, the lag resulting in undesirable undercutting at the bottom (jet exit) side of the cut. In situations where it is desirable to minimize or eliminate taper and trailback, conventional 3D-cutting systems have been used with substantially reduced travel rates, primarily through trial and error, to allow the jet spreading characteristics to favorably alter the geometry of the cut. As this process is typically done by manual trial and error, it is time consuming and often unsuccessful.
Applicants believe it is desirable and possible to provide an improved system for generating and manipulating a high-speed fluid jet, for motion along one or more axes. The present invention provides such a system.

Apparatus for generating and manipulating a high-pressure fluid jet


E-field sensors are used to establish a protection zone around a vehicle so as to detect the presence of objects within the protection zone, be they other vehicles or individuals. In one embodiment the direction to the intruding object is established by virtue of the use of pairs of E-field sensors. In a further embodiment the range of the E-field sensors determines the limited protection zone around the vehicle. Because of the limited protection zone, false alarms are greatly reduced.

As has recently been described, there is a growing market for adaptive cruise control that is designed to either warn a driver of dangerous conditions or to actually take over the control of the car to avoid the dangerous condition. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Agency, dangerous conditions include road run-off, rear-end collisions, lane change and merge, and drowsy driver problems.
Various companies have instituted radar-based collision avoidance and warning systems that use relatively expensive radar units, which require consideration of RF frequency regulations and generally are not able to pinpoint the direction of an object due to the relatively wide lobes of the radar beams. Radar-based systems can therefore not reliably detect, for instance, whether an oncoming car is in the traffic lane used by the vehicle or, for that matter, detect whether or not radar returns are from a stationary target such as a tree or a road sign. Moreover, these systems are incapable of discerning the presence of individuals.
In order to compensate for the deficiencies of radar-based systems, be they laser-based or RF-based, proposals have been made to complement these systems with optical systems to analyze a scene and determine the presence of objects in the scene. These systems, however, suffer from the inability to reliably distinguish between various types of objects and require a considerable amount of computational overload.
As to backup warning systems, these systems typically employ acoustic imaging.
The result is that while there are not only collision avoidance systems, collision warning systems, adaptive cruise control systems, steer-by-wire systems, brake-by-wire systems and other automatic systems, these systems have relied principally on radar or lidar as sensors.
While lidar and radar systems do provide considerable range for the detection of returns from targets, they oftentimes result in false alarms precisely due to the range at which they operate. Moreover, the systems cannot, for instance, distinguish when an object is at car level as opposed to an overhanging sign, which may fool the system into automatically applying braking or other collision avoidance protocols such as collision avoidance steering.
It will be appreciated that if systems are employed that do more than merely alert the driver to obstacles or fast-approaching vehicles, then taking the control of the vehicle from the driver can result in serious consequences without a robust system to be able to differentiate between those objects which could cause harm to the vehicle and the occupants thereof, versus those artifacts which are not to be acted on.
There is therefore a necessity to provide a reliable and inexpensive means for establishing a protection zone around a vehicle and to provide some indication of where a particular vehicle or individual is with respect to the vehicle in question in the protection zone.
It has been reported by the National Highway Safety Agency that the number of traffic accidents can be markedly reduced when using sensors that can detect out-of-normal conditions. In such systems that use microprocessors and radars, if one can anticipate an out-of-normal condition, then one can invoke, for instance, engine controllers to retard or speed the engine towards a desired result, an ABS controller to apply or release brakes toward a desired result or to arm and deploy an airbag to prepare for impact, depending on the expected time, direction and severity of the detected potential impact.
The above-mentioned radar-based systems have been deployed front, rear and side to reduce lane change accidents and to provide advance warning to deploy airbags. Moreover, such systems have been designed to counteract unwanted turning in a panic situation.
However, all of the above systems to some extent require various forms of radar and/or an overlay of optical sensing in order to be able to reliably distinguish the type of obstacle or threat to the vehicle.
Aside from automobiles and trucks, in the military there is a need to be able, for instance, in tanks when one's vision is obscured, to detect the presence of combatants within a security perimeter of the tank. This type of situation occurs when individuals carrying satchel charges or other explosive devices sneak up to a tank unnoticed and attach or explode a device right at or on the skin of the tank. Moreover, for instance in armored vehicles such as Humvees or halftracks, a lookout is positioned at the top of the vehicle to be able to scout the perimeter of the vehicle. Additionally, tanks are sometimes provided with periscope sights and the like that have only a limited field of view and are therefore not useful in detecting close-in stealthy activity. Moreover, at nighttime there is no particularly good way to detect the presence of near-in individuals, which results in each tank or fortified vehicle having to provide for patrols to make sure that the vehicles and the occupants therein are safe.
With the adoption of IEDs, improvised explosive devices, their effective range at 3 to 5 feet is deadly and it is for this purpose that it would be desirable to provide a sensing system for such military vehicles to be able to detect the presence of intruders and to, for instance, be able to automatically actuate vehicle protective devices such as, for instance, shaped charges aimed away from the vehicle to countermeasure the intruder.
Thus, both for commercial auto safety reasons and for military security, there is a need for a sensing system that can detect the presence of individuals or objects within a protection zone around the vehicle, with the sensors providing 360° protection as well as being able to detect not only azimuth but also elevation of intruding objects.

Use of E-field sensors for situation awareness/collision avoidance

BAE Systems Information And Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


A system and method that externalizes mobile device state migration (i.e., checkpointing) without being dependent upon any particular Edge Application (EdgeApp) proxy server or cellular network base station. In this manner, the Edge Application (EdgeApp) proxy server does not have to be aware of a migration process, yet will enable state information to be provided to other EdgeApp proxy/server nodes at the edge of the network (cell tower).

As users of mobile wireless devices (e.g., smartphone, mobile phone, tablet computer, etc.) change their point of attachment in the cellular network (by movement or migration away from a cell tower of a cell region) and start getting served by a new edge-of-network application aware proxy server or "EdgeApp" server, the state in the edge app proxy/server associated with the mobile user might need to be migrated from an old EdgeApp server at the source node to a new EdgeApp server at a destination node.
FIG. 1 shows the current infrastructure 10 for handling phone call handoff (communication connection characteristics) and mobile application state handoff. The cellular network 10 includes a first (source) cell tower A (or base station) having edge of network components, e.g., a proxy server 20a, that is functioning as the cell that the mobile device 12 is in current communications over path 21. The EdgeApp proxy server 20a may reside at a web-site, or a cloud) at the cellular network infrastructure 10. The network 10 further includes a second (destination) cell tower B (or base station) having edge of network components, e.g., an application-aware "EdgeApp" server or proxy server 20b. As known in the art, as the mobile device 12 moves out of communications range with first base station A, the cellular network enables the second base station B in another geographical area to maintain the communications session with the mobile device 12, e.g., over a new communications path 22. That is, functionality is inherent in cellular network 10 to maintain a current communications session between the mobile 12 and the cell tower B as the mobile exits an area 15a serviced by the first (source) tower A and enters into an area 15b serviced by the cell tower B, in a seamless manner.
To effect the seamless transition, cellular network infrastructure 10 includes further network communications nodes or elements including a Radio Network Controller devices (RNC) 25A, 25B associated with cell Base stations A and B, respectively, in a "3G" wireless network, provide control and management of the radio transceivers in the cell node (base transceiver station) equipment, as well as perform management tasks like soft handoff. Additional network components include radio and gateway/router devices including the Serving GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Support Node (SGSN) 23 which handles all packet switched data within the network, e.g., the mobility management and authentication of the users, and relays the data between the SGSN and a relevant Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) 27 which is the IP access point for mobile users to the wider internet, corporate VPN or other IP access networks. Users attach to the network using a PDP (Packet Data Protocol) context activation, once they have been validated and authorized by the SGSN an IP connection is established to the GGSN and allowed services can then be accessed. In an example implementation, when the GGSN 27 receives data addressed to a specific user, it checks if the user is active. If it is, the GGSN forwards the data to the SGSN 23 serving the mobile user, but if the mobile user is inactive, the data are discarded. The operator services network component 30, e.g., a cloud or data center for cellular network operations that provides those wireless communications services for providing mobile user connectivity with the Internet 50 and controls all the elements necessary to sell and deliver services to an end user including radio spectrum allocation, wireless network infrastructure, back haul infrastructure, billing, customer care and provisioning computer systems and marketing.
In the conventional cellular network infrastructure 10, functionality inherent to the base station EdgeApp proxy servers 20a, 20b further maintains any state of an application being run by users on their mobile devices 12. More particularly, mobile device 12 includes one or more applications for communicating (e.g., communications applications components) and mobile (user) applications, e.g., video display, voice recognition, etc. It is a trend that these mobile applications increasingly communicate with the base station EdgeApp proxy servers 15a, 15b. For example, a mobile device 12 with a voice activation may include a voice recognition function at the cellular network itself at an EdgeApp server 20a,b. As a further example, a video display application on the mobile device communicates with a proxy inside the cellular network that may provide the content in a format for use by the particular mobile 12. A current trend in the art is for application service providers to "push" these mobile application proxy server components closer to the network "edge", i.e., place the application components closer to the network proxy server side components including application components, as close as possible to the mobile client (i.e., close to the cell tower, for example) to save bandwidth, minimize communication latency, and off-load functionality. These close to edge of network applications are referred to herein as "EdgeApps". Further, the EdgeApp server maintains state data including, but not limited to: communication state (e.g., connection characteristics) or pre-cached content (media files or web pages) all of which may need to be migrated to another node in order to achieve certain level of QoS for a roaming mobile user. This is migrated from one EdgeApp server to another as the mobile device migrates and is serviced by new nodes.
Currently, as mobile device 12 users change their point of attachment in the cellular network and commence being served by a new EdgeApp server (see FIG. 1), the state in the edge app proxy server associated with the mobile user might need to be migrated from old EdgeApp server (e.g., proxy server 20a) to new EdgeApp server (e.g., proxy server 20b) in order to maintain providing continuous uninterrupted service (e.g. state: connection characteristics) and to continue providing same level of quality of service (e.g. state: pre-cached objects that will be served fast from EdgeApp proxy/server). Currently, the EdgeApp proxy/server needs to be designed and architected so as to support such functionality (handoff and state-migration awareness) enabling state transfer, e.g., according to network controlled, or mobile device controlled techniques, for example.
That is, currently, the EdgeApp/Proxy server are designed and architected so as to explicitly support such functionality (referred to as: hand-off and state-migration awareness) and either uses a cluster-based design, which increases complexity or employs a specific protocol (e.g. multicast) for disseminating that state to multiple other EdgeApp servers. That is, migration aware functionality (multicast, migration-awareness, cluster-based architecture) proxy server has to be aware of migration actions to provide seamless transition to users. Unless EdgeApp/Proxy server provides migration aware services, the system may not be able to meet the QoS or QoE service guarantees. In addition, legacy application proxy software that has not been designed to explicitly support migration of mobile users cannot provide the full benefits while being deployed at the edge of the network.
It would be highly desirable to provide a generic approach for EdgeApp proxies/servers for roaming users without explicitly requiring handoff support by them.

State migration of edge-of-network applications

International Business Machines Corporation


A diaphragm controlled irrigation valve (20) is disclosed which includes a captivated relief member (60). The captivation is achieved by a stop (100) which radially extends from the member to abut the valve housing (23).

Diaphragm controlled valves are used for a variety of irrigation purposes, e.g., watering of lawns and crops. Although such valves are often electronically actuated, they typically include a manually adjustable bleed screw that actuates the valve by venting water pressure from one side of a diaphragm. An anti-siphon valve is sometimes added to prevent contamination of the water supply.

Diaphragm controlled irrigation valve with captivated bleed screw

Champion Brass Manufacturing dba Champion Irrigation Products


A scraper device for a paper machine comprises first and second scraper means that can be pivoted into engagement with a fabric web and with a guide roll, respectively. By combining at least two scraper means in a common assembly, a particularly compact and cost-saving structure is achieved. Due to the fact that the first scraper means is arranged upstream of the guide roll, viewed in the direction of travel of the fabric web, and that it can be pivoted into engagement with the fabric web from below in a manner such that a downwardly open space is left, it is guaranteed that the paper residues will be carried off completely even in case of trouble, for example in case of web failure.

The present invention relates to a scraper device for a paper machine having first scraper means that extend transversely to the direction of web travel and that can be pivoted into engagement with a fabric web guided to travel along an endless loop, and second scraper means that extend transversely to the direction of web travel and can be pivoted into engagement with a roll about which the fabric web is guided.
A scraper device of that kind is known from EP 0 117 670 A2.
The known scraper device comprises two scraper blades arranged below a guide roll about which the fabric web is guided. One of the two scraper blades engages the roll, while the other one of the two scraper blades can be pivoted into engagement with the fabric web. Both scraper blades are arranged on an upwardly open scraper beam extending transversely to the direction of web travel so that any excessive oil is removed from the roll and the fabric web by the scraper blades, and drops into and is carried off by the scraper beam.
However, the described scraper device is located within the loop formed by the endless fabric web and is, therefore, not suited for receiving fibrous residues originating from the paper web.
Paper machines use the most diverse types of felt or screen cloth for various purposes. These endless webs, having at least the width of the paper web and being mostly permeable to water, serve to dewater, guide or dry the paper web and are exposed to different kinds of soiling. On the one hand, paper fibers, fillers or chemicals tend to adhere to them, and sometimes even the paper web itself may stick to them. In addition, residual components of recycled paper used as raw material may also deposit on them. On the one hand, scrapers are employed for removing such undesirable contamination. On the other hand, the web is guided around smooth guide rolls in order to transfer the deposited dirt to the latter. This procedure protects the fabric, since direct cleaning of the fabric by means of a scraper may of course result in heavier wear.
In addition, suction tubes have been used to remove from the felt webs, by the application of a vacuum and in a careful way, any separate loose fibers, fines and chemicals that may have been transferred in a press nip to the press felt from the paper web, which latter has not yet reached a really solid condition at that time, in one operation with the removal of any water attaching to it.
At the beginning of the sheet-forming process, the paper web formed in the screen section first runs through the press section. In case only a single press felt is provided in such a wet press section for absorbing the liquid squeezed out of the paper web, the paper web, as it leaves the press nip, will stick to the smooth press roll and must be detached from it. If, however, each of the wet presses is provided with two endless press felts, the paper web guided between them tends to stick to the lower press felt so that it must be detached from the latter and directed into the next following section. At the commencement of production, and in case of interruptions, care must be taken to ensure that the paper web is not entrained, neither in its entirety nor in parts, by the press felt and carried to the suction tubes as this condition may lead to clogging of the suction tubes. Felt guide rolls that get into contact with the correspondingly soiled outer face of the felt, between the press nip and the suction tubes, remove already part of the paper residues on the felt and must, therefore, be continuously cleaned by cleaning scrapers. In case of trouble, for example if the paper web breaks, the web would stick to the first outer felt guide roll and wrap around it. Consequently, every effort is made to ensure that an entrained paper web, or parts thereof, are removed from the press felt immediately, if possible, and are returned in a controlled way into the production cycle. In addition to providing an outer felt guide roll with a scraper device and means arranged below the latter for carrying off any removed paper web residues, the felt guide roll is preceded by felt scrapers that function to scrape any paper web residues directly off the press felt. However, during normal operation of the production cycle, these scrapers are pivoted clear of the press felt so as not to cause undue wear to the press felt. But when the paper web then suddenly breaks, the felt scraper will not come into engagement in due time so that one has to rely initially on the effectiveness of the felt guide roll which is continuously cleaned by the scraper device.
The scraper device mentioned above is neither intended, nor suited, to guarantee the safe removal of any paper web residues from the felt guide roll in case the paper web should break suddenly, because the scraper device is located within the loop encircled by the endless fabric web. Even if, contrary to the described arrangement, the known device were located outside the loop, it could still not provide the desired safety in case of breakage of the paper web as in this case felt web residues from the felt guide roll and possibly from the felt would get into the scraper beam and would immediately clog the latter in case of failure of the web, with a resulting failure of the scraper function and, thus, of the felt guide roll.


The present invention relates to a method for enabling the efficient communication of machine-type communication (MTC) equipment by selecting a connection with a base station during a first allowed time period in a mobile communication system using the MTC equipment, and to a device for same. With regard to an example of the present invention, a communication method for MTC equipment in a wireless mobile communication system may include: receiving a first message, including information regarding the first allowed time period, from a network through dedicated signaling; transmitting or receiving data to/from the network during the first allowed time period included in the first message; and receiving, from the network, a second message including information regarding a second allowed time period different from the first allowed time period.

Machine type communication (MTC) equipment refers to a user equipment that performs communication between machines without manipulation of a user. Services provided through the MTC equipment are different from the existing communication services dependent upon manipulation of a user and may be applied to various categories.
In this case, a plurality of MTC equipments may be used together to provide various services. If a plurality of MTC equipments are together operated within one cell, problems may occur.
In other words, if a plurality of MTC equipments tries connection with a base station at the same time, load occurs in a radio interval, whereby communication of the respective MTC equipments may be interrupted.
Also, if a user equipment which is previously connected with a cell collides with the plurality of MTC equipments for the radio interval, data communication of the user equipment may be interrupted. In this respect, solutions for the problems will be required.

Communication method in a mobile communication system using MTC equipment, and device for same


The a polarized high-order mode electromagnetic wave converter and its coupling method, uses bifurcate structure to divide the input wave into two signals with the same amplitude but opposition phases, which are then inputted into a circular main waveguide through waveguide so that the input wave could convert into linearly polarized high-order mode in the main waveguide, and then undergo the polarization change conversion stage to convert the polarized wave into circularly polarized wave. The coupling method includes the electromagnetic wave bifurcate stage, mode conversion stage, and may combine with a polarization conversion stage. The TE21 coupler is tested with simulation computation and fabricated, and proved to product consistent results with the computer simulation. The coupler has features of high conversion efficiency, high mode purity, wide bandwidth, polarity control, and convenience in processing.

TE21 waveguide converter has been widely applied in many fields, such as the generating microwave sources based on the interaction between the electron beam and TE21 waveguide mode; in R&D of plasma heating, circularly polarized TE21 mode is the best choice for generating symmetrical plasma; in application of antenna, TE21 mode could emit and receive differential signals with enhanced navigation.
There are two common methods for using cylindrical waveguide to generate TE21 mode, one is spiral/wave structure, and another is porous sidewall coupling. The former uses a deformed waveguide structure to gradually convert the wave to the desired mode; the conversion duration is long and different modes could be converted. The latter use a long and straight waveguide, which sidewall contains many coupling holes. Similar to the spiral converter, this type of converter requires longer conversion components and allows electric wave to convert to desired mode gradually. The surplus electric wave generated in the conversion process could affect the electron beams, and result in serious mode competition problem. Therefore, enhancing the conversion efficiency and improving the mode purity could prevent complicated mode competition problem.
Thus, to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it would be an advancement if the art to provide a polarized high-order mode electromagnetic wave coupler and its coupling method, which allows the coupler to have high conversion efficiency, high mode purity, broad bandwidth, polarized controllability, and simplified structure.
To this end, the inventor has provided the present invention of practicability after deliberate design and evaluation based on years of experience in the production, development and design of related products.

Polarized high-order mode electromagnetic wave coupler and its coupling method


A semiconductor device includes an isolation region, a semiconductor element region defined by the isolation region, and having a channel forming portion and a recessed portion, the recessed portion being formed between the isolation region and the channel forming portion, and an epitaxial semiconductor portion formed in the recessed portion, wherein the semiconductor element region has a wall portion between the isolation region and the epitaxial semiconductor portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, techniques of increasing the channel mobility of a MIS transistor by providing strain to a channel region of the MIS transistor have been received much attention. As one of these techniques, proposed is a method in which a region for forming a source/drain region of a silicon substrate is etched to form a recessed portion, and an epitaxial SiGe layer is formed in the recessed portion (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,131). SiGe has a lattice constant larger than that of silicon, and thus an epitaxial SiGe layer can apply stress to a channel region. Therefore, strain is provided to a channel region, and the channel mobility of the MIS transistor is increased.
However, the above techniques have the following problems. The problems are explained with reference to FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A and 2B. FIG. 1 is a plan view, FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B′ of FIG. 1.
In FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A and 2B, reference numeral 111 denotes a silicon substrate, reference numeral 112 denotes an isolation region, reference numeral 113 denotes an epitaxial SiGe layer serving as a source/drain, reference numeral 114 denotes a gate structure formed of a gate insulating film (not shown), a gate electrode 115 and side wall spacers 116.
The epitaxial SiGe layer 113 is obtained by forming SiGe in a recessed portion formed in a silicon substrate by selective epitaxial growth. Under epitaxial growth conditions with high selectivity, the SiGe layer 113 is formed only on exposed surfaces of the silicon substrate 111. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2A, the SiGe layer 113 is not formed on the side surfaces of the isolation regions 112, and a facet 113a is formed in the SiGe layer 113. As a result, a gap 117 is formed between the isolation region 112 and the epitaxial SiGe layer 113. With the gap 117, when a silicide is formed on the epitaxial SiGe layer 113, the silicide is formed also on the facet 113a. Since the silicide formed on the facet 113a is very close to the silicon substrate 111, it causes the problem of deterioration in junction leakage property. Further, the facet reduces an effective channel width, and thus also causes the problem of deterioration in the transistor property.
The above problems may be caused not only when an SiGe layer is formed in a recessed portion of a silicon substrate by epitaxial growth, but also when generally a semiconductor layer is formed in a recessed portion of a semiconductor substrate by epitaxial growth.
As described above, in prior art, there is the problem that properties of the transistor is deteriorated due to a facet formed in an epitaxial semiconductor portion when the epitaxial semiconductor portion is formed in a recessed portion of a semiconductor substrate (semiconductor element region).

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A motor vehicle body includes a longitudinal beam, a bumper cross member, which is fixed to one end of the longitudinal beam, wherein an end section of the bumper cross member protrudes over the longitudinal beam in the transverse direction, and a cantilever beam, which protrudes into a space between a wheel mount and the bumper cross member. The cantilever beam and the end section of the bumper cross member are disposed so as to cooperate with each other such that, during a frontal collision, in particular during a frontal collision with small overlap, the end section of the bumper cross member deformed by the frontal collision impacts an end face of the cantilever beam and can be supported at this end face so that further deformation of the end section of the bumper cross member is prevented.

The present invention relates to a motor vehicle body for a motor vehicle, which is designed or optimized for a collision having a small overlap with a colliding object.
Efforts have recently been made to increase the crash resistance of motor vehicle bodies for the event of a frontal collision having only a small overlap with a colliding object.
A deflector device for a partially overlapping frontal collision for motor vehicles is known from WO 2007/101285 A2, for example, wherein the deflector device is intended to cause the action of a transverse force on the motor vehicle body or on the vehicle during a collision. The deflector device is composed of an articulated beam construction, which in the event of a collision with small overlap with a collision partner, such as another motor vehicle, ensures that a wheel of the motor vehicle is advantageously pivoted in.
It is now the object of the present invention to create a motor vehicle body that is designed for a collision with small overlap, wherein the body is designed with simple measures such that a transverse force or transverse acceleration acts on the motor vehicle body in the event of a collision with small overlap.
This and other objects are achieved by a motor vehicle body according to the present invention having a longitudinal beam, a bumper cross member, which is fixed to one end of the longitudinal beam, wherein an end section of the bumper cross member protrudes over the longitudinal beam in the transverse direction, and a cantilever beam, which protrudes into a space between a wheel mount and the bumper cross member. The cantilever beam and the end section of the bumper cross member are disposed so as to cooperate with each other in such a way that, during a frontal collision, in particular during a frontal collision with small overlap, the end section of the bumper cross member deformed by the frontal collision impacts an end face of the cantilever beam and can be supported at this end face so that further deformation of the end section of the bumper cross member is prevented.
Therefore, the end section of the bumper cross member is only deformed to a certain degree during a frontal collision, which is to say it is bent or buckles in the collision direction. This partial deformation of the end section already causes a certain absorption of the collision energy, and additionally it is possible for the collision partners to laterally slip or slide off each other. In addition, the end section of the bumper cross member cannot be deformed to such a degree that it reaches a yield point and tears off. The longitudinal beam can be a front and/or a rear longitudinal beam. In a corresponding manner, the bumper cross member can be a front longitudinal beam or a rear longitudinal beam. A section of the motor vehicle body in question which comprises the longitudinal beam and the bumper cross member can be part of a front end structure or a tail end structure.
A "cantilever beam" within the meaning of the invention can be a beam that is essentially fixed on one side. The cantilever beam protrudes in particular in the direction of a vehicle outer side.
A "frontal collision with small overlap" within the meaning of the present invention is a frontal collision of the vehicle body with an obstacle. The obstacle can be a fixed, rigid obstacle, or a colliding party, i.e., another motor vehicle. The expression "small overlap" shall mean that the obstacle and the motor vehicle body, or the motor vehicle, do not collide centrally with each other, but collide offset from each other, in particular in such a way that the frontal collision takes place substantially in a region outside the longitudinal beam, which is to say on a side of the longitudinal beam on which a wheel mount is located. A frontal collision with small overlap may denote an overlap of the vehicle body with the obstacle in the transverse vehicle direction of approximately 25% or less.
The wheel mount can be a left or a right wheel mount.
The cantilever beam can be fixed to the longitudinal beam in a torsion-proof manner.
Due to the fixation to the longitudinal beam, the cantilever beam can deflect energy into the longitudinal beam during the collision of the vehicle body with small overlap.
In the motor vehicle body, the end section of the bumper cross member and the end face of the cantilever beam are designed to cooperate with each other during the frontal collision in such a way that a transverse force acts on the motor vehicle body in the event of the collision.
The transverse force causes the collision partners to be pushed away from each other in the lateral direction, which is to say transversely to the collision direction, whereby the collision energy is reduced.
According to one aspect of the motor vehicle body, the cantilever beam extends obliquely forward from the longitudinal beam between a transverse vehicle direction and a longitudinal vehicle direction. The cantilever beam can, in particular, extend obliquely forward in an angular range of 35° to 55° with respect to the longitudinal beam. An angle of approximately 45° is particularly advantageous. The cantilever beam can therefore also be referred to as a diagonal beam.
In these angular ranges, the end-face support of the deformed bumper cross member on the cantilever beam is particularly suited to generate the afore-mentioned transverse forces between the collision partners.
Advantageously, the cantilever beam, the longitudinal beam and the bumper cross member are located substantially in one plane in the motor vehicle body. This plane is preferably located parallel to the longitudinal axis and the transverse axis of the motor vehicle or of the motor vehicle body.
The motor vehicle body preferably has a left longitudinal beam and a right longitudinal beam, to the front ends of which the bumper cross member, which protrudes over the left longitudinal beam and the right longitudinal beam, is fixed. The motor vehicle body accordingly also has a left cantilever beam and a right cantilever beam. The left cantilever beam is supported on the left longitudinal beam, and the right cantilever beam is supported on the right longitudinal beam. However, additionally the left cantilever beam can be supported on the right longitudinal beam via a suitable connection, and the right cantilever beam can be supported on the left longitudinal beam via a suitable connection.
In this way, particularly high strength of the motor vehicle body in the transverse direction is made possible.
According to one aspect of the motor vehicle body, the bumper cross member, the longitudinal beam and/or the cantilever beam can be made of an aluminum material.
The present invention is particularly advantageous especially when the bumper cross member is produced from aluminum due to the weight advantage of aluminum, because aluminum has a lower yield point, and the cantilever beam can prevent the end section of the bumper cross member from tearing off under excessive deformation as soon as the end section impacts the end face of the cantilever beam.
The present invention is overall suitable for bodies allowing for a lightweight construction with lightweight materials and high safety during collisions with small overlap.
A support beam is preferably provided on the motor vehicle body on the other side of the wheel mount, said support beam being designed in such a way that a load of the frontal collision transmitted via a wheel can be absorbed by the support beam. The support beam is, in particular, designed in such a way that it supports a movement of the wheel in the transverse direction during the frontal collision. The other side of the wheel mount in particular refers to the other side of the wheel mount in the driving direction or counter to the driving direction, wherein the cantilever beam is disposed on the one side of the wheel mount. In other words, the bumper cross member, the cantilever beam, the wheel mount having a wheel, and the support beam are disposed behind each other in the longitudinal vehicle direction.
According to the above-described feature, the wheel can be supported on the support beam during a frontal collision, and additionally the special design of the support beam allows the wheel to be pivoted to the outside, so that it cannot penetrate the vehicle body in the direction of a passenger compartment.
The support beam preferably has a chamfered sliding surface for the wheel, which is designed in such a way that the wheel can slide off in an outward direction. The support beam is preferably fixed to the longitudinal beam.
The support beam can also be fixed to another longitudinal beam, such as to a central longitudinal beam, while the cantilever beam is fixed to the front longitudinal beam.
According to one aspect of the motor vehicle body comprising the support beam, the support beam is provided with a car jack receiving element.
According to a preferred embodiment of the motor vehicle body, the end section of the bumper cross member is designed as a closed or open hollow profile element. A profile reinforcement is additionally formed in the hollow profile element.
The profile reinforcement can, in particular, be a reinforcement that is designed in such a way that a deformation, for example a compression, of the hollow profile element of the end section of the bumper cross member is suppressed, or at least limited, in the event of the frontal collision with small overlap.
The profile reinforcement is advantageous in that it increases a strength of the hollow profile element and limits a compressibility of the hollow profile element. If the hollow profile element is less easy to compress, it can also better withstand a bending moment. In this way, premature failure of the bumper cross member can be better prevented, and the cooperation with the cantilever beam can thus be better achieved.
The profile aspect is advantageous in particular in the case of a hollow profile element that is made of a material having a low yield point, because here a tearing of the end section of the bumper cross member can be effectively suppressed during the collision with small overlap. For example, the profile reinforcement has particularly great advantages when the hollow profile element is made entirely or partially of an aluminum material.
According to one aspect of the motor vehicle body having the above-described profile reinforcement, the profile reinforcement is only disposed in the region of the end section of the bumper cross member which strikes the end face of the cantilever beam in the event of a frontal collision with small overlap.
In this region, the profile reinforcement is particularly effective. In addition, providing the profile reinforcement only locally is a particularly weight-saving measure.
Moreover, the profile reinforcement can be designed in such a way that it is not, or essentially is not, deformable as a result of the collision with small overlap.
The expression "not deformable" in this context shall be understood to mean non-deformability under the forces that occur during the frontal collision with small overlap.
The profile reinforcement is preferably made of a foamed or non-foamed plastic material.
As an alternative or in addition, the profile reinforcement can be formed of a metallic extruded profile element, the extrusion direction of which forms a main load direction of the collision with small overlap.
In this way, the profile reinforcement can have a design that is as light as possible and yet offer sufficient strength and non-deformability. For example, a wall thickness of the profile element of the bumper cross member can be selected to be thinner due to the presence of the profile reinforcement, while maintaining strength, so that the bumper cross member is lighter.
The above-described refinements of the present invention can be combined with each other to the extent possible.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Motor vehicle body designed for a collision with small overlap

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A semiconductor device manufacturing method comprises forming a first insulating film including silicon, carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen above a substrate in a first chamber, carrying the substrate into a second chamber other than the first chamber, and discharging a rare gas in the second chamber, and forming a second insulating film including silicon, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen above the first insulating film after the discharging the rare gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing method, including a process of forming a laminated insulating film which comprises an insulating film including silicon, carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen, and an insulating film including silicon, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accompanying high-integration and increase in speed of semiconductor devices, reductions of an inter-wiring capacitance and an interlayer capacitance are required. Therefore, developments of techniques for making a low resistance metal wiring and techniques for making a low dielectric insulating film have progressed.
As the techniques for making the low dielectric interlayer insulating, there is an example of an introduction of an SiOC:H film which has a relative dielectric constant lower than that of an SiO2 film which has been conventionally used and which is one of the so-called low dielectric constant interlayer insulating films (Low-k films).
When a Cu wiring is formed at the inside of the SiOC:H film by a dual damascene wiring process, a stopper film is formed in advance on a Cu wiring (lower layer Cu wiring) which is at the lower layer of the Cu wiring.
The reason for this is that the lower layer Cu wiring is not damaged by etching in a process of etching for opening a via hole in the SiOC:H film. Another reason is for suppressing the diffusion of Cu into the interlayer insulating film.
As a stopper film, an SiN film has been conventionally broadly used. However, the relative dielectric constant (relative permittivity) of the SiN film is about 7 and high. Therefore, in recent years, developments of insulating films such as an SiC film, an SiCO film, an SiCN film, and the like have been made to progress. Thereamong, attention has focused on the SiCN film because the SiCN film has an etching rate which is sufficiently lower than that of the SiOC film, and is superior with respect to the etching selectivity, and moreover, is superior also with respect to the relative dielectric constant and the leakage characteristic.
However, in a case of a dual damascene process in which a via hole is formed in advance, in the process of forming a via hole in the SiOC:H film, a concentration of a material (NxHy; x and y are positive integers) having an alkalinity such as NH2 including nitrogen and hydrogen, or the like, becomes high.
This type of NxHy can be the reason for inhibiting the resolution of a resist which will be a resist pattern for forming a wiring trench which is formed after forming the via hole, in particular, a chemically amplified resist. This is because the acid generated at the exposed portion of the resist is neutralized, and the dissolution thereof is inhibited.
Therefore, a predetermined-shaped resist pattern for forming a wiring trench cannot be formed, and the problem that it is difficult to form a predetermined-shaped wiring arises (for example, Document 1 (Overcoming of resist poisoning issue during Si—O—C dielectric integration in Cu Dual Damascene interconnect for 0.1 μm technology, M. Fayolle, G. Fanget, J. Torres, and G. Passemard, Proceedings of Advanced Metallization Conference (AMC) 2001, US Session, Montreal (Canada), Oct. 9–11, 2001, p.209), Document 2 (Integration of Cu/SiOC in Dual Damascene interconnect for 0.1 μm technology using a new SiC material as dielectric barrier, M. Fayolle, J. Torres, G. Passemard, F. Fusalba, G. Ganget, D. Louis, L. Arnaud, V. Girault, J. Cluzel, H. Feldis, M. Rivoire, O. Louveau, T. Mourier, and L. Broussous, Proceedings of the 2002 Internatinal Interconnect Technology Conference, San Francisco (Calif., USA), Jun. 3–5, 2002, p.39), and Document 3 (Via First Dual Damascene integration of Nanoporous Ultra Low-k Material, J. C. Lin, H. S. Lee, S. Satyanarayana, H. Martinz, T. Jacobs, K. Brennan, A. Gonzalez, R. Augur, S. L. Shue, C. H. Yu, and M. S. Liang, Proceedings of the 2002 International Interconnect Technology Conference, San Francisco (Calif., USA), Jun. 3–5, 2002, p.48)).
Provided that a dual damascene process in which a wiring trench is formed in advance is used, there is no need to concern the problem about the deterioration in the resolution of the resist. However, in the dual damascene process in which a wiring trench is formed in advance, another problem which does not exist in the dual damascene process in which a via hole is formed in advance exists, and it is not the case that all of the problems are solved by using a dual damascene process in which a wiring trench is formed in advance.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


An optically-induced dielectrophoresis device includes a first substrate, a first conductive layer, a first patterned photoconductor layer, a first patterned layer, a second substrate, a second conductive layer, and a spacer. The first conductive layer is disposed on the first substrate. The first patterned photoconductor layer is disposed on the first conductive layer. The first patterned layer is disposed on the first conductive layer. The first patterned photoconductor layer and the first patterned layer are distributed alternately over the first conductive layer. Resistivity of the first patterned photoconductor layer is not equal to resistivity of the first patterned layer. At least one of the first substrate and the second substrate is pervious to a light. The second conductive layer is disposed on the second substrate and between the first substrate and the second substrate. The spacer connects the first substrate and the second substrate.

In the field of biomedical science, it is a key technology to efficiently separate biological cells without damaging them, especially for detecting tumor cells, stem cells, embryos, bacteria, etc. However, the conventional cell control technology, such as optical tweezers, electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, travelling-wave dielectrophoresis, electrorotation, magnetic tweezers, acoustic traps, and hydrodynamic flows, can not achieve both of high resolution and high flux, wherein although the optical tweezers can achieve high resolution to capture a single particle, it has a control area only about 100 μm2. Moreover, the optical tweezers achieve a light intensity of 107 W/cm2, which is easy to cause local overheating, easy to cause cells dead or inactive. As a result, the optical tweezers is not adapted to long-term operation.
In addition, although the electrophoresis and the dielectrophoresis can achieve high flux, they cannot achieve high spatial resolution, and they cannot control a single cell. Moreover, the dielectrophoresis flow field chip generally has a single function, such as a transmission function or a separation function. If different flow fields are required, it is needed to redesign a new photomask and to perform coating, photolithography, and etching to produce fixed electrodes, which costs much and expend much time and effort.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An X-ray imaging device is equipped with a solid state detector, for recording image information by being irradiated with X-rays that bear image information and for outputting image signals that represent the recorded image information, and an X-ray dosage detector for detecting the dosage of irradiated X-rays. The X-ray dosage detector is provided between an X-ray source and the solid state detector, thereby enabling accurate measurement of the X-ray dosage, without being influenced by the solid state detector. In addition, the X-ray dosage detector is equipped with a photoconductive layer. Therefore, the X-ray dosage detector can be made thinner than conventional X-ray dosage detectors, which are constituted by a fluorescent plate, a light collecting field, a light transmitting plate, and a light shielding plate. Accordingly, decreases in resolution of images detected by the solid state detector can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an X-ray imaging device that obtains an X-ray image of a subject, by detecting X-rays that have passed through the subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, various X-ray imaging apparatuses, for obtaining X-ray images to be utilized for medical diagnoses, have been proposed and are in practical use. These X-ray imaging apparatuses employ solid state detectors (having semiconductors as main components thereof) as X-ray image detecting means. The solid state detectors detect X-rays that have passed through subjects, and obtain image signals that represent X-ray images of the subject.
A variety of formats have been proposed for the solid state detectors to be utilized in these apparatuses. Regarding a charge generating process for converting X-rays to electrical charges, there is a photo conversion type of solid state detector, and a direct conversion type of solid state detector, for example. The photo conversion type of solid state detector temporarily stores signal charges, obtained at a photoconductive layer by detecting fluorescence emitted by phosphors due to irradiation with X-rays, in a charge accumulating portion, then converts the accumulated charges to image signals (electrical signals) and outputs the image signals. The direct conversion type of solid state detector temporarily stores signal charges, generated within a photoconductive layer due to irradiation with X-rays and collected by a charge collecting electrode, in a charge accumulating portion, then converts the accumulated charges to electric signals and outputs the electric signals. In this type of solid state detector, the main components are the photoconductive layer and the charge collecting electrode.
Regarding a charge readout process for reading out the accumulated charges, there are an optical readout technique and a TFT readout technique. In the optical readout technique, accumulated charges are read out by irradiating a solid state detector with readout light (electromagnetic waves for readout). In the TFT readout technique, accumulated charges are read out by scanning TFT's (thin film transistors), which are connected to a charge accumulating portion. The TFT readout technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-244824.
An improved direct conversion type solid state detector has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,614. The improved direct conversion type solid state detector is a direct conversion type of solid state detector that utilizes the optical readout technique. This solid state detector comprises: a recording photoconductive layer that exhibits photoconductivity when irradiated by recording light (X-rays, or fluorescence generated by the irradiation of X-rays); a charge transport layer that acts substantially as an insulator with respect to charges having the same polarity as latent image charges, and that acts substantially as a conductor with respect to charges having the opposite polarity as latent image charges; and a readout photoconductive layer that exhibits photoconductivity when irradiated by electromagnetic waves for readout; stacked in this order. Signal charges (latent image charges) that bear image information are accumulated at an interface (charge accumulating portion) between the recording photoconductive layer and the charge transport layer. Electrodes (a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer) are provided on both sides of the three aforementioned layers. In the solid state detector having this format, the recording photoconductive layer, the charge transport layer, and the readout photoconductive layer are the main components.
In medical X-ray imaging, there are apparatuses other than those that employ the aforementioned solid state detectors. Examples of alternative X-ray image detecting means are imaging plates and film. However, in all cases, it is necessary to control the dosage of X-rays irradiated onto the X-ray image detecting means during X-ray imaging, to obtain optimal images. Therefore, apparatuses that detect the X-ray dosage irradiated on X-ray image detecting means, and apply the detected X-ray dosage to control the irradiated X-ray dosage are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 2001-305232, 58(1983)-223145, and 60(1985)-198097.
In the X-ray imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-305232, a solid state detector is employed as the X-ray image detecting means, and an X-ray dosage detector that detects X-ray dosages is provided on the rear surface of the solid state detector. However, if the X-ray dosage detector is provided on the rear side of the solid state detector, the accuracy in detection of the X-ray dosage is low. This is due to the fact that a large portion of X-rays is absorbed by the solid state detector. In addition, the X-rays irradiated by a radiation source possess a wide energy spectrum. However, low energy components are largely absorbed by the solid state detector, thereby changing the spectrum balance of the X-rays detected by the X-ray dosage detector.
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58(1983)-223145, an imaging plate is employed as the X-ray image detecting means, and an X-ray dosage detector is provided on the front surface of the imaging plate. However, there is no description regarding what manner of X-ray dosage detector is employed.
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60(1985)-198097, film is employed as the X-ray image detecting means, and an X-ray dosage detector is provided on the front surface of a film cassette that houses the film therein. However, the X-ray dosage detector is constituted by a fluorescent plate, a light collecting field, a light transmitting plate, and a light shielding plate, causing the structure to be complex, and limiting the degree to which the detector can be made thin. Therefore, the distance between a subject and the film for detecting an X-ray image of the subject cannot be made short, thereby decreasing the resolution of the X-ray image.
That is, no X-ray imaging apparatus has been disclosed to date that employs a solid state detector as the X-ray image detecting means and accurately detects the dosage of irradiated X-rays, to be applied toward controlling the irradiated dosage of X-rays, without adversely affecting detection of an image by the solid state detector.


A method for detecting tubing in a radiographic image of a patient, executed at least in part by a control logic processor, obtains a radiographic image data for a patient and detects one or more possible tube segments in the image. At least one tubing candidate is formed by extending at least one detected tube segment or merging two or more detected tube segments.

Portable X-ray radiographs are widely used in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for indicating significant or unexpected conditions requiring immediate changes in patient management. A single diagnostic image may show a condition that is related to treatment procedures, such as a collapsed lung or the proper or improper placement of tubing within the patient. A succession of diagnostic images, taken over a time period, may help to show the progress of a patient's condition and help to direct ICU treatment accordingly.
While portable radiography has advantages for ready accessibility, however, there are some difficulties that limit the accuracy and usefulness of diagnostic images obtained in the ICU. Differences in image quality from one image to the next can be significant, owing to differences in exposure settings, patient and apparatus positioning, scattering, and grid application. Even for successive images obtained from the same patient over a short treatment period, there can be substantial image quality differences between two or more images that complicate or even prevent effective comparison between them, thus constraining the ability of the clinician to detect subtle changes that can be highly significant.
An issue for patient care management relates to the ability to detect the proper positioning of tubing that has been inserted into the patient. This tubing includes, for example, endotracheal (ET) tubes, feeding tubes (FTs), and nasogastric tubes (NGTs), among others. Proper tube positioning can help to ensure delivery or disposal of liquids and air/gases to and from the patient during treatment. Improper tube positioning can cause patient discomfort or can render a treatment ineffective.
In particular, because of poor image quality in portable anterior-posterior (AP) X-ray images, it is often difficult for a clinician to visually detect, with sufficient certainty, the position of the tube tip. Thus, there is a need for a diagnostic imaging method that helps to identify tubing and tube tip position.


Disclosed are a pneumatic tire and a tire cavity resonance suppression device in which noise by cavity resonance is effectively reduced without any changes in tire and rim production facilities. The pneumatic tire is constituted by that an object, which is changed in sectional area in accordance with a position in a tire circumferential direction, is fixed to a tread inner surface by a ring-shaped jig made of an elastic body. The tire cavity resonance suppression device includes an object changed in sectional area in accordance with a position in a tire circumferential direction and a ring-shaped jig made of an elastic body for locking the object to a tread inner surface of the tire.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire and a tire cavity resonance suppression device, and more particularly, to a pneumatic tire and a tire cavity resonance suppression device in which noise caused by cavity resonance is effectively reduced.
A cavity resonance phenomenon that occurs in a cavity formed between a tire and a wheel rim is a major factor of tire noise. For example, the cavity resonance phenomenon is concerned with noise around 250 Hz regularly heard during traveling or impulsive sound generated driving over gaps or the like of on a road.
As a technique for reducing noise caused by such a cavity resonance phenomenon, addition of a sound absorbing material in the tire to absorb resonance sound, and fixing of a shield to the rim to subdivide the cavity have been proposed. However, since the sound absorbing material is not basically designed to suppress the generation of cavity resonance, a sufficient noise reduction effect cannot be obtained by the sound absorbing material that can be fixed in the tire in practice. Besides, the fixing of the shield to the rim has a problem that rim assembling performance is deteriorated.
On the other hand, there has recently been made a proposal that a sectional shape of the cavity is changed in a tire circumferential direction to constantly change a resonance frequency with rotation of a wheel, whereby the cavity resonance sound is effectively reduced only by a slight improvement. However, a change in a structure of the tire or the rim is required in this method. Thus, production facilities must be greatly changed. Moreover, it is difficult to apply the method to the existing tires or rims.

Pneumatic tire and tire cavity resonance suppression device

Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


A communicating apparatus to communicate image data such as in a facsimile apparatus comprises: a receiving circuit to receive image information from a distant side terminal; a recognition section to perform the character recognition on the basis of the received information from the receiving circuit; and a transmitting circuit to transmit an abnormal reception signal to the distant side terminal when the recognition by the recognition section cannot be executed. The recognition section discriminates whether the received image information has been obtained by reading an OCR sheet or not. When an unrecognizable character exists on a received document, the unrecognizable character position, the result of the recognition, an abnormal reception signal, the input image data, and a request for retransmission of the image data are sent back from the distant side terminal to the transmitting side apparatus, so that the image data can be automatically retransmitted therefrom by the simple operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communicating apparatus to communicate image data.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a facsimile apparatus receives a document from a distance side terminal and sends back a normal reception signal on a transmission control procedure to the transmitting side terminal when it is determined from the received document that a deterioration in the image which is caused depending on the quality of a telephone line network or the like lies within a reference decision range.
On the other hand, there has also been proposed an apparatus which receives not only a normal document but also a hand written character document (OCR document) and provides various services. In such an apparatus, the normal document and the OCR document are discriminated and in the case of the OCR document, the pattern recognition is executed and even if the result of the recognition denotes that the document cannot be recognized as characters, a normal reception signal on the transmission control procedure is sent back to the transmitting side terminal.
As mentioned above, in the conventional apparatus, when the deterioration in image which is caused depending on the quality of the telephone line network or the like lies within a reference decision range, the normal reception signal is sent back to the transmitting side terminal. However, as mentioned above, a check is made to see if the received document is the OCR document or not and in the case of the OCR document, the apparatus operates so as to recognize characters with respect to the received document. Therefore, if even one character on the received document cannot be recognized, the received document becomes quite meaningless. In such a case, the operator on the receiving side calls the transmitting side by using a telephone and requests for the transmitting side to again transmit the document.

Pattern recognition communication apparatus for transmitting and receiving image data


The picture mode controller for flat panel and flat panel display device including the same includes an input unit to input a first timing signal indicating transmission sections for pixel data, and a second timing signal indicating a transmission time of each pixel data, a pseudo timing signal generating unit to generate a first pseudo timing signal to be used as the first timing signal, a first selecting unit to selectively output the first timing signal and the first pseudo timing signal to allow one of a video picture mode and a black picture mode to be designated, and a selection control unit to control a selecting operation of the first selecting unit based on whether the first timing signal is input from the input unit and whether a period of the second timing signal changes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display device for displaying an image on a flat panel, and more particularly, to a picture mode controller for selecting one of a video image and a black image on a flat panel, a flat panel display device including the same, and a driving method thereof.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Flat panel displays such as general liquid crystal panels, plasma display panels, and electro luminescence display panels include pixels formed in respective unit regions defined by scan lines (gate lines) and data lines (source lines). A flat panel display can provide a large screen while having a remarkably thin thickness compared to a cathode ray tube (CRT). Furthermore, flat panel displays make it possible to manufacture image display devices having a slim profile and light weight.
Video data corresponding to an image to be displayed on these flat panel displays are supplied in the form of a pixel data stream to the flat panel display device from a video source including a graphic card of a computer system, and a video demodulating unit of a television receiver. Timing signals including data clock and data enable signals are transmitted together with the video data. These timing signals indicate the period of pixel data and the section where pixel data are present to allow the flat panel display device to accurately receive video data.
During an initial booting when a video source has not been initialized, a portion of timing signals are not generated for a predetermined time and another portion of timing signals are generated in a state (i.e., an abnormal state) wherein the timing signals do not coincide with timings of the video data. During the initial booting, data enabling signals are not generated while data clock is generated in a state (i.e., an abnormal state) where the period of the data clock does not coincide with the timing of video data. When a portion of timing signals are absent, a flat panel display device cannot accurately receive video data. Accordingly, an abnormal image totally different from an original image is inevitably displayed on a flat panel.
Also, when the resolution mode of an image to be displayed on a flat panel changes, timing signals temporarily have an abnormal form that does not coincide with video data. Both data enable signals and data clock do not coincide with the timing of video data temporarily. Due to these abnormal timing signals, a flat panel display device cannot accurately receive video data. Accordingly, an abnormal image totally different from an original image is inevitably displayed on a flat panel.
Furthermore, timing signals transmitted together with video data can be interfered and distorted by noises while they are transmitted from a video source to a flat panel display device. Due to this distortion, the flat panel display device cannot accurately receive video data. Accordingly, an abnormal image totally different from an original image may be displayed on the flat panel display.
To prevent an abnormal image from being displayed, a method of displaying a black image has been used in a related art flat panel display device. According to the method of displaying the black image, receiving video data and driving a liquid crystal (LC) panel are performed based on a received data enable signal or a pseudo enable signal depending on whether the data enable signal is present among timing signals from a video source. In other words, when a data enable signal is received, an image is displayed based on the received data enable signal. On the other hand, when the data enable signal is not received, a black image is displayed based on a pseudo enable signal.
However, since a video image and a black image are selectively displayed depending on whether a predetermined timing signal is present, an abnormal image is still displayed on a flat panel display when the resolution mode of an image changes. In addition, when timing signals (particularly, data enable signals) are distorted due to noises, an abnormal image is displayed on a flat panel display. The abnormal image greatly reduces the reliability of a flat panel display device.

Picture mode controller for flat panel display and flat panel display device including the same